Reunion
Edited by Lycan_01
“Now where did that mare go?” Applejack muttered to herself as she walked the grounds of Sweet Apple Acres. The Apple Family Reunion was in full swing, yet her marefriend was nowhere to be found. Since this was the first Reunion since they started dating, Applejack figured Rainbow Dash would have been the center of attention, trying to get to know as many of her family members as possible. Instead, she hadn’t seen so much as a prismatic tail since the first ponies arrived in town, and it was starting to seriously tick her off. There were only so many times you could be asked where your new marefriend was before getting tired of saying you didn’t know and they would have to wait to meet her, after all.
So now Applejack found herself walking in the middle of the orchard instead of enjoying catching up with her cousins like she wanted. Her current goal was to check all of their favorite spots to see if Dash fell asleep there and hadn’t woken up yet, but she was having no luck with that so far. Dash wasn’t at the hill where they shared their first kiss, she wasn’t in her favorite napping tree, and she wasn’t in the field where they had spent that night looking up at the stars, eventually falling asleep in each other’s hooves. Applejack even checked the secluded area where her parents were buried, but the pegasus wasn’t there, either. She now had one last place to check, the barn, before she gave up the search and joined the festivities herself. Peeking her head in gave her no immediate results, and she was ready to give up after a quick scan of the interior turned up no sign of a cyan pegasus. Her head was almost out the door when she heard a slight rustling in the hay loft. She headed back into the barn, climbing the ladder to the second story to investigate.
Applejack had to stifle a snort of laughter once she got to the top of the ladder and surveyed the area. Nothing looked out of place, if you didn’t count the rainbow tail sticking out of one of the piles of hay. Quietly stepping to the pile in question, Applejack whispered, “Dash, it’s time ta wake up. The rest of the family’s here an’ the Reunion started a little while ago.”
Applejack almost had time to finish her sentence before a cyan blur rocketed out of the pile, and Rainbow Dash started speaking. “I knew that! I was just uh…napping! That’s it, I was napping and I didn’t wake up in time for the start of the Reunion! You should go join everyone else outside, I’m gonna stay in here and properly wake up before I come out.” Applejack didn’t need to see the forced grin on her marefriend’s face to know something else was going on.
“Dash what’s goin’ on? Wait…were you cryin’?”
A cyan hoof found itself reaching towards one of Rainbow Dash’s bloodshot eyes before it was hastily moved back down as its owner began trying to form a response. “Of…of course not, AJ! Why would you think that? I just, uh…I just got something in my eyes when you startled me just now. It’s pretty dusty in here, that’s what probably did it. What a silly question to ask, AJ. You know I never cry.”
Applejack wasn’t convinced. “Dash, you can tell me what’s wrong. I’m your marefriend, you should be able to trust me when somethin’s botherin’ ya and talk to me about it.”
It wasn’t long before Applejack’s guilt trip won over Dash’s desire to keep her problems to herself. Dash let out a defeated sigh and said, “You’re right, I should be able to talk to you about this. I’m just nervous and stressed out about meeting the rest of your family. What if they don’t approve of mares dating mares, or don’t like that I don’t work with you on the farm, or secretly don’t like non-Earth ponies, or – “ Dash found herself releasing her worries so quickly that Applejack had to stuff a hoof in her mouth to stop the flow and get a word in herself.
Applejack gently smiled and looked into her marefriend’s eyes before answering. “I can see you’ve got quite a bit eatin’ at ya, so I’ll answer your questions one at a time. Mares dating mares? Shoot, I don’t know why everyone thinks most of the family disapproves of it. Sure, a few do, but they’ll be quiet and’ll accept ya once they get to know ya a little better. The fact that ya don’t work with me on the farm? Weather management’s a fine profession, and you and your coworkers give the farm the sunlight and water the crops need to grow, so in a way you do more work for the farm than I do. The family not likin’ anyone that’s not an Earth pony? Do I really need to explain that one? Seems ta me like you’re reachin’ a little bit there. The fact of the matter is that you’re my marefriend, so most see ya as part of the family already. There are a lot of ponies out there waitin’ to meet ya, and I don’t think we should keep em waitin’ much longer.”
The two made no moves to get down from the loft, however, choosing instead to sit there and enjoy each other’s company. After a minute, Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “Thanks for finding me, AJ. If you hadn’t, I probably would’ve stayed up here all day, making some lame excuse about sleeping through the entire Reunion so you wouldn’t get too angry at me for skipping out. I’m just really nervous about meeting the rest of your family. You only get to make first impressions once, and I was just so worried about messing things up that I wasn’t even going to try to meet them. You gave me the courage to get out of here to meet them, and you’ve also given me the courage to do something else.” Dash stopped for a moment, giving Applejack a quick nuzzle on her cheek before continuing in a somewhat subdued voice. “I’ve wanted to say this for a while, but I never thought the time was right, but now I realize I should’ve just come out and said it as soon as I could. I love you AJ. I love you with all of my heart and would do anything to make sure you stay safe and next to me. I don’t think I could live without you any more.”
Tears crept their way into Applejack’s eyes at the end of her marefriend’s speech. She didn’t know how to respond to Rainbow Dash’s confession, so she did what came naturally. She turned her head and gave Dash a kiss filled with love. Pulling back, she joyfully whispered, “I love you too, Dashie. I don’t think I could bear not havin’ you in my life any more either.”
After that, the two of them made their way down from the hay loft. After sharing a quick grin, and another nuzzle for good measure, with Rainbow, Applejack opened the barn door, followed by her marefriend. Leading the way to her cousin Apple Fritter, it took no time at all before Rainbow Dash and Apple Fritter were in the middle of a deep conversation about differences in Earth and pegasus ponies’ irrigation methods, allowing Applejack to slip away and mingle by herself. Every few minutes, she would glance over and find Rainbow in conversation with another family member, each check coming after ever-widening intervals until she stopped checking altogether. Before she knew it, the day was coming to a close and it was time to take the family picture. In the middle of the picture, hanging on the wall of the farmhouse for many years afterwards, were an orange, Stetson-wearing Earth pony and a cyan pegasus, each with a hoof around the other and smiling the biggest smiles out of everyone there.
Author's Note
Welp, that's it. My first foray into AppleDash. I will admit this isn't my best work, but I still had a lot of fun writing it. If you spot something that needs fixed or you just have some suggestions to make, please feel free to leave a comment!
