Chapter Ten: Revelations

An Appledash-Scootabloom Fic

Applejack was trying to remember the events that transpired in the last minute. It all happened so fast that she couldn’t make muzzle nor tails of it. She was in a pitch black room with colorful strobe lights. She could only make some outlines of some ponies’ bodies when the lights hit them.

There was a loud and electronic sound. No… it was music, music so loud that it made the whole structure of the place tremble. But the most important thing in the room, apparently, was a white unicorn with a wild, cobalt blue and cyan mane and a pair of big electric purple glasses.

Five minutes ago, she was having dinner with a beautiful, rainbow pony she loved, talking about the past. One minute ago, she was about to have a walk at the park… How did she get in this strange place? She had no clue, but intended on asking Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow?” Applejack found her voice lost in the sound she couldn’t even hear herself, so she got closer to the cyan speedster mare, who luckily never let go of her hoof, and shouted, “RAINBOW DASH!”

The pony turned around and asked her, “WHAT’S WRONG?”

“WHERE ARE WE? HOW DID WE GET HERE?”

“IT’S JUST VINYL’S CAVE! GREATEST NIGHTCLUB IN ALL OF PONYVILLE!”

“A NIGHT WHAT NOW?” asked Applejack, dumbfounded.

“GAH! WAIT, FOLLOW ME!” Rainbow Dash said, taking the orange mare by the hoof and walking to the corner of the club, and entering through a strange-looking door, dragging Applejack behind her.

Suddenly the music lowered as they entered the room, and as she closed the door, it came to a stop, letting her ears rest a moment.

“Wow… what happened?”

“Soundproof walls. Pretty neat, huh?”

“Yeah, mah head is welcome…” she replied, raising a hoof to her forehead.

“What’s wrong farmfilly? I thought you listened to electro music, too.”

“Ah do, jes not this loud!”

“Well, it’s a nightclub. What did you expect, a lullaby?” asked the Best Young Flier Champion.

“Ah didn’t knew this was a nightclub, Ah don’t even know what that is!”

“You don’t… How can you be a grown-up sociable gal, and not know what a nightclub is? Who are you, Twilight?”

“First of all, apologize to Twi fer that. N’ second, y’all know mah work takes most of mah time, n’ if Ah’m not workin, Ah’m with y’all, or the gals! Ah never had a night-out.”

“Wow… I didn’t know that.”

“Well, now do y’all have anything to say?” she asked, staring at her cyan friend.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Though I still can’t believe you never had a night out… Damn it! I should have made this more special!”

“It’s okay, RD, as long as y’all are here with me, the night is special enough.”

“No, it’s not okay! Come with me, let me try something you may like,” she said, pulling Applejack out of the room and back into the music.

“What are y’all gonna do, Dashie?”

“WAIT HERE, APPLES,” She stated and flew towards the place where the DJ was.

Somehow, in the place where the unicorn was playing, the music was not so loud, making it possible to have a talk in a normal tone.

“Yo, Vinyl!”

“‘Sup, my sis Dash?” Vinyl Scratch answered.

“How’s the DJ PON-3 doing?”

“Awesome night, awesome crowd, and now I have an awesome friend and flyer here by my side… Which makes me wonder, why are you up here and not down there on the dance-floor?”

“Look, I know your job is to make these ponies crazy down there with your amazing mixes, but I was wondering if I could request something,” Rainbow Dash said, brushing her right hoof lightly with the left one.

“Hmm… a request? Depends, tell me what you wanna hear and gimme a reason.”

“Look, I was thinking… Maybe you could put on some old yet cool music, you know? A Classics Revival you may say.”

“Maybe… Tell me the reason,” the wild maned pony asked, never leaving the turntable unattended.

“You see, I’m on a… Something kinda similar to what you would call like a date or something like that…” Rainbow Dash admitted blushing.

“Something kinda similar to what you would call like…? Look Dash, if you’re on a date that’s great. You don’t have to go around being shy, like your other pegasus friend, whose name I couldn’t get ‘cause as soon as I said hello, she went running back to her cottage.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled both in relief of her words, and because of Fluttershy’s behavior.

“Her name’s Fluttershy. Well, I’m on a date, and this pony likes old music and is an amazing dancer, so I wanted you to play some old tunes, so everypony can see it,” Rainbow Dash said, trying not to say the pony’s gender. “Oh, and this is this pony’s first night-out… ever.”

“Hmm… okay, but now let me guess who your date is.”

“I doubt you can guess who the pony is,” The pegasus said, confident on herself.

“It’s Applejack isn’t it?”

And all of Dash’s confidence went down the sink. “H-how did you know that!?”

“Well, that Fluttershy one is too much of a shut-in to be in a nightclub. The same goes for the librarian. The one with the curly, purple hair would think this place is for ‘ruffians’ and if Pinkie Pie was here, I’d have already saw her bouncing up and down the whole place… That, and I saw you two entering the soundproof room.” The white pony laughed and said, “That’s kinky, Dash! Does the possibility of being found turn you on?”

Rainbow Dash blushed madly and quickly corrected her friend. “No, no, no! You got it all wrong, really! We weren’t doing anything you gutter-brain!” She stared at the unicorn and continued, “The music was too loud for her, that’s all.”

“Oh, lemme fix that…” The DJ said while turning down the volume enough to relief Applejack’s ears yet not much to make the ponies angry. “Ok, ok, let’s say I believe you did nothing in there, but you gotta spill the beans… Does she really taste like apples? I swear the doubt’s killing me!”

“Ooookay, this chat is becoming a bit too weird for me. Could you just do me the favor and put Micolt Sembello’s Mane-iac on?”

“Ok, ok… You’re no fun, Rainbow. Oh, and one last thing.” Rainbow turned around to hear her. “If you swear not to tell anypony, I’ll let you know that’s one of my favorite songs. Tell AJ she’s cool for me, would ya?”

“Ok, thanks for everything, now watch her dance!” Rainbow Dash said as she flew back to Applejack’s side.

While the cyan pony was flying back to her date, Vinyl Scratch started turning down the volume and announced, “HOW ARE MY PARTY PONIES DOING!?”

The whole crowd started hollering and whistling.

“WELL I’M HAPPY TO HEAR THAT, BUT I JUST RECEIVED A REQUEST. YOU BETTER LIKE IT ‘CAUSE I’M GONNA DO IT WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!”

The ponies in the dance-floor looked at her dumbfounded.

“IT’S TIME TO BRING SOME CLASSICS BACK FROM THE GRAVE!”

While she looked through the infinity of discs in her collection, Rainbow Dash was already next to Applejack, and before she could say anything, the orange pony asked, “Rainbow Dash, what did y’all asked for?”

“Just wait and see. I’m sure you’ll like it.”

Vinyl Scratch pressed a button, and the dance floor below the dancing now still ponies started flashing with different colors, reminding the older ponies of the old Disco dance floors. Dimmer colorful lights started flashing everywhere re-creating the atmosphere of a discotheque.

Before Applejack could ask Dash what was happening, she heard a sound she knew too well. “Oh no y’all didn’t!”

“Hey, I thought you said you liked this song!” asked the cyan pegasus with a hint of worry in her face.

“Ah do, but Ah don’t like dancin’ on public!” Even saying so, the orange mare’s hooves were moving to the rhythm of her favorite song, “N’ Ah told y’all when I hear it Ah can’t help myself n’ Ah gotta dance!”

“Come on AJ! You’re an amazing dancer, and people should know it!” Rainbow Dash tried to make the orange mare lose her fears. “Besides, you always tell me I should also show my other qualities, besides flying. Why don’t you show yours?”

“Ah… Because…” it was useless, she had no good reason to argue and it was difficult to make a point about why not to dance, if her body was following the music.

“No buts nor complains. Just let your body move to the music… Let yourself go with the flow AJ!”

The emerald-eyed mare decided to do just that, there was no use in fighting.

It was in that moment that she realized all the ponies had stopped dancing just to look at her. Everypony was watching her move with open mouths and awe present in their eyes.

Somepony in the crowd recognized her and said, “Hey… isn’t that Applejack?”

Other ponies seemed to be asking the same thing or recently realizing the member of the Apple family was there. A stallion commented aloud, “She looks really pretty without the hat and the mane bands!” Among other compliments, some of them less classy and more colorful than others.

Even the DJ took off her glasses in being unable to believe her eyes. “Dash said she was a good dancer, but I didn’t expect this! In fact, I thought Dash was lying. Who’d say the farmer had these moves?”

The strong and hard-working country mare was dancing better than any dancer she had ever seen and she wasn’t even trying to show off.

Quite the contrary in fact, even if Dash told her to go with the flow, she was still unease about being watched by everypony.

When the song reached its chorus, every single pony in the club was looking at her. Even Berry Punch, who was trying hard to stand up straight, was awed by her skill.

Slowly but steadily, Applejack decided to listen to Dash’s advice and forget all about the ponies around her. Just listening to the rhythm, enhanced by Vinyl’s good quality speakers.

“These nightclub speakers really leave mah ol’ trotpony cassette player in the dust …” the blonde mare thought.

When the music stopped, so did Applejack. Panting and breathing heavily, the orange coated pony dared to open her eyes and lift her head. As she did so, the crowd exploded in cheers and applauses. Even the DJ was whistling at her performance.

Applejack was surprised to see how many eyes were set on her. She was only seen by these many ponies when she was with the other girls, or when she was about to take the train ride to Canterlot, or for the Rodeo Competition, and that was because the Mayor was counting on her bringing home the money to repair the Hall.

She wasn’t used to be the center of attention, and especially not for her dancing skills. So, she just gave a shy smile and tried to go back to the soundproof room, not caring about Rainbow Dash for a minute, she just wanted to stop being in the spotlight.

“LEMME HEAR A BIG YEEHAW FROM THE AMAZING COWPONY DANCER TRYING TO GET AWAY!” Vinyl said as she manipulated the lights to center them all on Applejack.

“Darn it.” Applejack turned around with a very awkward smile just to find everypony on the club once again looking at her, but this time, their faces were full of expectancy. There was no way out of this one.

“GIVE US A YEEHAW, AND I’LL LET YOU CONTINUE YOUR LITTLE DATE! BUT YOU’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE IF YOU DON’T!” Vinyl threatened.

Her eyes grew wide, her cheeks flushed red, and her throat went dry. Her mouth, along with many other ponies’ on the crowd mouthed voicelessly, “Date?”

Everypony was looking to the sides to find any evidence on who could be the one dating Applejack, and Rainbow was about to take a step forward, not thinking ahead, as usual. The farmpony had no choice, the only way to get out of here before everything became worse was doing it.

“Ye…Y-YEEHAW!” Applejack hollered, letting the adrenaline from the dancing take over side-to-side with her inner cowpony roots.

Everypony in the crowd mimicked it and started hollering in a country way. Even the DJ gave a short yeehaw before playing the next song.

Applejack realized this could be her only chance, so she ran away from the club by the only door she found, not really knowing where the stairs back to the restaurant were.

As she exited the club, her head and ears could finally relax. She was feeling exhausted, though she didn’t do anything really demanding. She decided to breathe deeply, lowering her heartbeat rate.

It was then when she realized where she was. She was in a very dark dead-end alley, which seemed to be connected to one of the streets where the restaurant’s entrance was.

“Huh, who’d believe the fanciest ponies ‘round are jes some hooves away from the drunk wild ‘punks’ they hate so much.”

Applejack looked at herself, and realized her dress had been ragged while she was dancing. Luckily, it was a clean cut, and resembled one of those open thigh dresses.

As soon as she realized this, she heard some hoof steps behind her.



While Applejack escaped the club, Rainbow Dash was once again next to the DJ. “Vinyl, why would you do such a thing? You knew she was terribly embarrassed!”

“Yeah… but she needed to chill out! Geez! I was only teasing, Dash. Don’t go around being the ponyguard to the girl you have the hots for.”

“Hey! First of all, I’m not acting like a ponyguard or anything. I’m standing up for my friends like I always do! Also, I really love her… I do! It’s not a one-night stand I’m looking for or anything. And finally… SHE DIDN’T KNEW IT WAS A DATE!” Dash exclaimed, a bit angry at her friend.

The pair of glasses slipped from the white unicorn’s muzzle and crashed into pieces on the floor, revealing the worried look the DJ had. “Ouch… Sorry, Dash. I hope I didn’t screw up too hard.”

“It’s okay, Vinyl, and I’m sorry for the glasses.”

“Nah, don’t be. I have like… A hundred more at home,” she said smiling and waving a hoof dismissively. “I always break them, so I have plenty in case I need another.”

Dash started chuckling and gave her friend a little punch on the shoulder, making her scratch the vinyl record unexpectedly in a way that made everypony in the crowd look at them confused. Suddenly, Vinyl Scratch made another one, expertly mixing the song getting a big cheer from the ponies in the crowd.

“Hey, talking about it Casanova, shouldn’t you be spending time with your date-that’s-not-actually-your-date?” the blue maned pony said, glancing to the side at Rainbow Dash.

“Oh darn, you’re right! You saw where she went?

“I think she took the back exit, to the alley. Good luck with that, Dash.”

“Thanks, Vi. See you on Sunday?”

“Can’t, I have an anniversary date…”

Rainbow Dash looked at her dumbfounded for some seconds. But some seconds later, she put two and two together and grinned as she exclaimed, “Oh, ok, good luck with that. Tell Tavi she’s awesome for me!”

And before her friend could ask her how she found out, she was already out the door.



As soon as she left the nightclub, she was met by one of her worst nightmares in front of her eyes.

“C’mon, sweet apple-flank, don’t fight it. You’ll enjoy it! Actually… You may not, but I can assure you I will…” A dark red coated pegasus with a dark indigo mane said while swinging a knife between his hooves.

“Hey, dumbflank! Leave her alone!” Dash said as her heart started pumping adrenaline through her veins, and her muscles tensed.

“Oh no! Looks who’s here! Dykemare, every villain’s terror!” sarcastically said the assaulter. “What are you gonna do ‘bout it, sugar?”

Applejack said through her gritted teeth, “Dash, step away.”

“I’m not going to let a stupid pony get his way with you just like this!”

Her words were strong and confident, but she was actually frozen with fear as the other pony got closer, with his knife pointing at her.

“Listen to me, Dash, Ah’m telling y’all to get away.”

“Oh how noble, the farm gal is trying to save her ‘knight in a lesbian armor’,” he said with a twisted laugh. “But you know what? I’m gonna start having my fun with this rainbow one. It’s always funnier to see the noble ones fall… They make the cutest squirms…”

The cyan pegasus’ eyes went wide and she started sweating from fear. As the knife got slowly closer, she started backing up, only finding the wall.

His face was frightening. Dark eyes reflecting the dark and sick mind behind them, a twisted grin and some scars across one of his cheek and the muzzle.

Suddenly, his face contorted and twisted as a pair of orange hind hooves bucked him across the alley.

“Ah ain’t letting y’all have no fun with mah best friend, n’ Ah don’t need no Dykemare nor knight in a lesbian armor. Ah can take good care of mahself, thank y’all.  Next time, y’all should choose yer targets better, y’all good-fer-nuthin’ vermin’!” Applejack angrily exclaimed. “N’ jes fer yer information, she might not be Dykemare, but we are part of The Elements of Harmony. We did save yer ass from every villain that hit Equestria recently, y’all useless son of a-”

“Applejack… I think he’s unconscious…”

Applejack looked at her friend and then growled at the blacked out colt. “Lucky devil.”

They took a minute to recover from the shock, and then Applejack asked, “Y’all ‘kay Dash?”

“Y-yeah… I’m fine,” the cyan pony said as she looked back at her friend “How about you?”

“Ah’m fine, though y’all should check yer plans.”

“Huh?”

Applejack chuckled and explained, “Ah dunno ‘bout y’all, but Ah’ve heard the savior has to save the damsel in distress, not the other way ‘round!”

“Heh, yeah… Hey, listen, I’m sorry I brought you here. I didn’t knew you’d never been to a nightclub, or that you were so afraid of dancing in public,” Rainbow Dash said lowering her head and staring at the ground.

“Hey, hey, don’t beat yerself up, Sugarcube. The intention was nice, n’ Ah love y’all fer jes tryin’,” Applejack said as she got closer and nuzzled her friend’s neck.

A soft pomf was heard as Dash’s wings sprung wide open. She decided to flap them a bit and start hovering, to conceal the real reason they opened. “S-so… you said something about a second walk through the park?”

Applejack nodded gently and with a little smile, she lead the way through Ponyville’s street, towards the park.

“Judgin’ by the moon’s position, it’s still not even midnight. Ah don’t have much time left. Ah said Ah’d confess today, n’ by mah family’s name Ah will! Besides…” Applejack pondered back to the talk she had with his brother, and all that happened up to this very moment. Her mind was made. “There’s no way ‘round it. Ah know its true n’ Ah’m no longer ashamed or afraid of admitting it. Ah knew it all along, but Ah was tryin’ to lie to Dash… N’ to mahself too.”

Rainbow Dash looked down to her best friend and found her looking forward to a point past the horizon, with a smile on her face and a determined look.

“I wonder what AJ’s thinking.” “A bit for your thoughts, AJ?”

“Huh?”

“Spill the beans, what’s getting you so worked up?”

“Oh, nuthin’ y’all should worry ‘bout. Y’all will find out in a minute.”

Rainbow Dash grinned slightly and thought, “Okay, it’s all settled, you wait until she tells you whatever she’s going to tell you, and then BAM you confess and she obviously says yes, ‘cause awesome ponies like you get awesome confessions like those with awesome results.”

“So… While we get there… What do y’all wanna do? Jes walkin’ is not our style.”

“I guess you’re right. We could… Uh…” Dash pondered. “Compete?”

“That’s no news, Dash. We would compete anyways, the problem is what to do!”

“Well I don’t see you trying to think about something to do! ‘Hard-working’ ponies these days…”

Both mare chuckled at their silly fight and kept thinking about what to do.

“We could run?”

“You do remember you’re using a dress right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yeah, but it’s ruined anyways, Ah seem to have torn it out while dancin’.”

“Still, I don’t want you to lose and excuse yourself saying it’s the dress’ fault.”

“Well… then what can we d-”

Applejack stopped dead on her tracks as she saw a very peculiar scene in front of her eyes. They had turned around the big block where the restaurant and the nightclub were, getting back to the restaurant’s front door.

Every single house in the street leading to the front door, was written with big pink letters.

“Oh. My. Celestia… You think it was…”

“Uh… ‘Pinkie Pie was here,’ ‘Party, Party, Party,’ ‘Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty…,’ ‘Listen to the jingle jangle of my gypsy tambourine’… Ah’m pretty sure it was Pinkie.”

“C’mon, we should follow them to… Uh… check if Pinkie’s okay?”

“Y’all jes wanna read’em, ain’t that right?”

“Heh, kinda,” Rainbow Dash guiltily confessed.

“Okay, let’s see what else she wrote ‘round the place.”

“ Let’s see… ‘Fun Fun Fun,’ ‘Blame Twilight Sparkle’…”

“Oh, read this one ‘Actually, don’t blame Twilie, jes ask her to wake me up n’ make me clean all this.’ This one must take the golden medal!”

“Hey, talking about Twilie, check the library, looks like the door is open!” Rainbow Dash said as she trotted there, followed closely by Applejack.



When they got there, they could see the lights turning on, and they heard somepony talk inside.

“Ungh… P-Pinkie? What are you doing here this late? Why are you on my bed!?”

“I’M SO SORRY, TWILIE!” Pinkie wept.

“Are you crying? What happened?” After some seconds of what the two mares would supposedly call investigation, Twilight continued asking, “Were you drinking again? I thought I told you drinking had strange effects with your rather special mind and body.”

“I’M SORRY FOR EVERYTHING BAD I MAY HAVE DONE TO YOU!”

“Ugh, just shut up and let me sleep…”

“Spike, don’t be so insensitive! Pinkie, stop crying, you never did anything bad nor wrong, and if you ever did, I’m not mad at you. Let me get you a glass of warm milk and walk you to Sugarcube Corner.”

Spike groaned and added, “And don’t forget to buy a new door lock, one that resists Pinkie Catastrophes.”

The cyan pegasus and the orange mare chuckled at the scene and kept walking towards the park.

“We should get out of here. If Twilight sees us, she will blame us and we'll be lectured to death!”

“Yeah, though Ah’m impressed by how calm Twilight was in this situation. If Pinkie just appeared in my bed at night, Ah’d probably not be so sensitive…”

“Judging by her and Spike’s reaction, I’d guess this happened before… More than once. I pity Twi a bit. I mean, Pinkie’s cool and I love spending time with her, but being visited at night by a drunk, crying Pinkie must be awfully exhausting.”

“Probably…”

“So…” Applejack said as soon as they got to the park. “We’re here. Ah was actually thinkin’ ‘bout walking up to that lil’ hill over there, with that nice big tree. Looks like a good place to have a chat.”

“It’s like… On the other side of the park…”

“Well… Ah guess we’ll have to do something to get ourselves busy while we get there, what do y’all say?”

“Sure, we could talk!” After thinking for some seconds she said, “You know what? I wanna ask something I was thinking about right now. When’s the next cider season?”

“Ah’ll leave a whole barrel jes fer y’all in mah barn, y’all can take it fer free.”

“Really!?” The rose eyes went wide as saucers and expectantly look at her friend.

“Eeyup. Ah feel bad fer y’all always losin’ the chance to drink all ‘cause of Pinkie. In fact, Ah’ll have to create a Pinkie Cider Tax, after the fifth mug, Ah’ll start chargin’ her more. We need to give everypony in Ponyville a chance.”

“Are you seriously giving me a whole barrel for free?”

“Eeyup.”

“To me?”

“Ah said yes like four times already!”

Rainbow Dash started flying upwards and hoof pumped, “Awww Yeaaaaah!!!!!”

After seconds of cheering she looked to her side and found Scootaloo doing the same in the other end of the park.

“Hey AJ! Looks like your sis said yes!”

“Huh? How do y’all know?” the orange mare asked at her friend in the skies.

“Because I can see Scootaloo flying and hoof pumping on the other end of the park!”

“Scootaloo is flyin’!?”

Rainbow Dash stopped for some seconds and got her mind working. Scootaloo couldn’t fly before, yet she was flying now. “SCOOTALOO LEARNED TO FLY! THE PIPSQUEAK DID IT! WOHOO! I should go and congratulate her.”

“N’ Ah though we left Pinkie Pie at Twi’s home…”

“Oh… Right… They’re kinda on a date together and I have nothing to do there…” Rainbow said while rubbing the back of her head with one hoof and slowly landing next to the emerald eyed cowpony.

Applejack rested one hoof on her friend’s shoulder and said with a sympathetic smile, “Cheer up, this means y’all can take’er home now!”

“Yeah… You’re right!”

“Seems this is yer lucky night ain’t it Dash? Free barrel of cider, Scoots learnt to fly… Y’all got to see me in a dress, n’ dancin’, which is a rather rare sight…” Then the apple farmer said under her breath, “Ah jes hope Ah’m as lucky tonite…”

“What was that?”

“Ah… Ah jes said Ah wish Ah get lucky too!” “Not a lie!”

“If everything goes smooth tonight, we both will.” “I’m sure you will!” The cyan pegasus flew up once more and looked towards where she found Scootaloo. “Lemme check on the girls once more…” With her enhanced eyesight, she was able to spot the girls kissing. “Aww, they’re kissing now!”

“SCOOTALOO IS DOIN’ WHAT WITH MAH SISTER?” Applejack suddenly growled.

“Hey, hey, AJ. they’re just kissing! Besides I suppose they’re fillyfriends now, what did you expect them to do? Not kiss ‘til getting married?” Rainbow Dash mocked looking down at her friend with a questioning look.

“Ah… Ah know y’all are right, but Ah dunno… Ah guess mah sister instincts are kickin’ somethin’ fierce. That’s all.”

“Okay then, let’s just try to get you back on your good side, and let’s walk to your little hill, and forget all about Scootaloo and Applebloom. I assume she’ll just walk your sister home and then go back to her home, or something.”

They were slowly but steadily getting closer to the hill. Applejack was already thinking how and what exactly she was going to say, while Rainbow Dash was thinking what else they could talk about until they got to the long awaited mysterious surprise Applejack had for her.

“Talking about the girls, no. Talk about our date, it’s not even technically a date, and if I ask her what she thought of our get-together, I would sound awfully silly. I already asked about cider, and got a free barrel…” She was running out of ideas, so she tried to remember the classic conversation starters. “How’s work?... Nah, I already know what she does every single day, and she knows I know. The weather? I kind of create and manipulate it, there’s not much to talk. How’s the family? I already know the answer: ‘Big Mac is fine, studying and working hard. And Granny Smith keeps cooking awesome pies and rant about the old times.’” After thinking hard she said the only thing she could think of.

“So… How’s Winona?”

“Wha-?” was the answer the earth pony gave her after being dragged out of her train of thoughts by a quite unexpected question.

“I Uh… I just wanted to know how’s she doing and… stuff.”

“Umm… She’s fine, she’s a real miracle y’all know? Always lends a very helping hoo… paw ‘round the farm, n’ thanks to that diet Flutter gave us, she’s healthy and fresh as could be.”

“Yeah, I heard that Flutters is taking her for a walk each week.”

“She does! Ah don’t get how Winona, the most active pet Ah’ve ever seen, walks slowly when she’s next to Flutters.”

“Listen to me, I tell you that Flutter’s real talent is mind control! I assure you the butterflies are just a sticker cutie mark she uses to cover her real one.”

“Y’all are jes bein’ silly now. She’s just loveable,” the earth pony said chuckling.

“She is…” Rainbow Dash said while her mind drifted away.

“Bein’ so loveable… Ever got a crush on’er? Ah mean, y’all two know each other since flight camp…” asked Applejack.

A blush covered Rainbow’s face as she remembered the events two days ago. “Eh… Hehe, it was kinda uh… The other way around…” the pegasus nervously said.

“What do y’all mean?”

“LOOK, WE’RE HERE!” she hastily spurted.

Applejack started taking deep breaths as she mentally prepared for what was going to happen next.

Rainbow Dash looked at her friend and realized what she was doing. “Oh dear Celestia, I know what that deep breath means. Applejack only does that when she’s going to say something life-changing. Whatever it is I… I’m not ready for it! What if she tells me she has to go to Manehattan again? O-or to Appleloosa!” Her mind started racing and each scenario was worse than the prior. “What if she tells me she really enjoyed this night but it’s going to be the last time we see each other because she doesn’t want me as a friend anymore? We’re not in the restaurant anymore so it doesn’t care if I make a scene. It’s late, so she’ll have an excuse to go away after telling me the bad news! Oh Celestia I can’t let her talk!”

“T-the other day I was working in the weather, and I saw this wild nimbus that was trying to get away and I had to chase it and…”

As they get close to the tree atop the hill, the orange mare realized she had waited for far too long. She had realized from the moment the date started, that she truly loved her polychromatic friend. In fact, she now couldn’t understand how was she able to be so blind and doubt it to begin with.

“... so after kicking that cloud I realised that the big one I-”

“Rainbow...”

“- was moving around had lost the way and-”

“Rainbow Dash!”

“-and I had to-”

Applejack shoved a hoof in Rainbow Dash’s mouth to make her stop talking and took a deep breath.

“Rainbow Dash, Ah’m awfully sorry fer bein’ this rude, but Ah don’t really care what y’all were about to say. Ah have something really, really important to tell y’all, n’ Ah can’t wait any longer.”

Rainbow Dash’s heart stopped for some seconds while Applejack’s was beating madly. Emerald met rose as their eyes locked, one was hoping, the other was dreading. Two were drying, two were getting wet.

Completely determined to take the biggest leap of hope towards a brighter future, leaving behind a perfectly harmonic relationship, Applejack spoke.





“Rainbow Dash, Ah...”