//------------------------------//
// FaR Chapter Eleven 
// Story: Following a Rainbow 
// by malikvamp 
//------------------------------//

FaR Chapter Eleven- Apologies are Over Rated

Applejack was always amazed by how quickly a scenario could change. One moment she was sleeping peacefully, wrapped in a warm embrace with Rainbow Dash; what she wouldn't give to make it last just a little bit longer. Then, before she knew it, there was Pinkie Pie.

"Gooooooood mooooooorning sleepy pies!" Pinkie Pie had snuck into the room, silent as a spy, and crept her way up beside the bed. After ensuring that both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were asleep, the Pink pony struck like a lightning bolt. She yelled so loudly that both occupants of the bed were shocked up in place, manes on edge. 

"Agh, Pinkie!" Rainbow was the first to react. "Where the hay did you come fro-" A flash of pink shot by Applejack, taking her off guard, and sending Rainbow once again to the cold wooden floor. For a moment Applejack was shocked, fearful that Rainbow had not yet had a full recovery; the sound of Rainbow's laughter pushed away any and all worry. 

"Pinkie!" Rainbow giggled and flailed in a mad attempt to dislodge the pink one from her back. "You are so random!"
"I'm just glad that your back, Dashie!" And suddenly Pinkie was dislodged, flying across the room and landing like a pillow on the bed beside Applejack. Pinkie giggled happily, and rolled away just in time to avoid Rainbow Dash plummeting into the bed where she had been. 
"What'd you call me, you bug pink marshmallow?" Rainbow Dash sprung from the bed in hot pursuit of her assailant, always missing by just a hoof.

"Dashie, Dashie, Dashie!" Pinkie bounded around the room in a happy blur, somehow always staying a step ahead of the lightning fast Rainbow Dash. Applejack could have sworn that Rainbow said something about it being because she was not fully recovered yet. 

Things were as they should be. Applejack sat back on her haunch for a moment, watching the sun rise on the horizon. She began to ponder the beauty of life, the never ending circle of tranquility and- 

A hair brush struck Applejack in the forehead, thrown by a certain pink earth pony. 
"Bwahahaha, headshot!" Rainbow laughed happily, cartwheeling through the air. "Good throw Pinkie!" 

Rainbow and Pinkie Pie sat side by side on the opposite part of the room as Applejack, both receiving an evil glare from AJ. "Now Pinkie, what was that for?"

"Well, AJ." Pinkie bent her legs as if preparing to dive out of the way. "Your hair looks pretty funky this morning, so I just thought I'd- Eep!"

Pinkie dove into a dive roll just in time to dodge Applejack's pounce, which was quickly re-directed at Rainbow Dash who was laughing at Pinkie's words. Rainbow. Also got away, and soon all three were chasing around the room wildly. They jumped off walls, bounded off the bed, and occasionally used each other as pony shields. Soon enough, though, they tired out. 

Applejack and Rainbow Dash had slowed to a walk, unable to keep their pace. Pinkie, however, seems to have an abundance of energy and hopped happily over the two tired ponies. They knew what had to be done. Together Rainbow and Applejack cornered the pink pony, and jumped at her together. With a loud clang and another fit of laughter the three friends found themselves laying across the wooden floor, each unable to hide their happy smiles. 

"Hay, Applejack and Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie, who finally seemed to have calmed down, spoke with a strange calmness. "Thank you for coming back. I missed you guys... A lot. 

"There's nowhere we'd rather be... Pinkamina." Rainbow rolled quickly to the side, avoiding Pinkie's pounce. 

Pinkie feigned anger, but couldn't hide her happy smile. "Bring it on, Dashie!"

It wasn't until both Pinkie and Rainbow had leapt into the air at each other that Applejack realized where she was sitting. Right between two very enthusiastic ponies. "Oh dang'it..." 

With a loud thud the three ponies collided, resulting in a tight group hug. For a while they just sat there, content. Rainbow leaned in and kissed AJ on the cheek before finally speaking. "Thank you, guys. For rescuing me. Pinkie, no matter how random you are I'll always enjoy hanging out with you! And attending your parties! And Applejack?"

"Yeah, sugarcube?" AJ turned her head to face the cyan beauty, the rest of her body was too restricted to move. They locked eyes for a moment, making both blush. 

"I love you."

"Well..." All three of the huddled together ponies turned at the sound of a new voice in the room. There, standing in the doorway, was Twilight sparkle. "This is awkward." 

For a moment no pony spoke; Twilight happily sauntered into the room, steadily approaching Rainbow Dash. Once close enough she spoke. "Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah?" 

A tear swelled in Twilight's eye. "It's good to have you back, Rainbow. I've- We've all missed you so much!" 

"I know, and I'm sorry!" Rainbow began to speak but was cut off by another tackle by Pinkie Pie and Applejack. 

"Sugercube, listen to me." Applejack smiled broadly.

"Yeah, AJ?"

Pinkie took over for AJ. "No more apologizing!"

"But-"

"But nothing!" Twilight interjected this time. "In truth, Rainbow, I'm here to apologize to you!" 

Rainbow, confused out of her mind, slowly stood up. "What?"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow!" Twilight spoke, her head lowering to the ground. "I'm sorry that we ignored you, that we couldn't see that you needed us!"

"Twilight, it's-" Rainbow began advancing towards Twilight, but was cut off by the lavender pony. 

"It's not okay, Rainbow! You guys, you mean the world to me! Without you, life would be so dull, so empty... Rainbow, this isn't something I can. Just look the other way on." 

Twilight paused for a moment, but the room was silent. No one interjected. "I don't just want to be forgiven. I want to make it up to you!"

Several tears streamed down Twilight's cheeks, but Rainbow simply smiled. "Uhm, Twilight, you helped save me. Not only did you write a spell that kept me alive, but..." Rainbow looked around the room. "Please, just listen to me for a moment, all of you."  

They all nodded, agreeing to remain silent. And so Rainbow began speaking, her head low and avoiding their eyes. 

"When I woke up here, after Luna casted Twilight's spell... I was horrified. The first thing that I did was get up and fly away." Applejack began to speak, but stopped herself cold, allowing Rainbow to finish. "I flew out into the orchard, but my wings hadn't recovered so I ended up crash landing into the ground below. When I looked up, princess Celestia was there, waiting for me."

Rainbow Dash was struggling to speak, as if it was something she never wanted to say, but knew she had to. "The princess, she asked me where I was going. I told her that I was leaving, running away in fear that I'd disappoint all of you again. The princess, however, told me that running away was the only thing that I could do to truly disappoint you."

Twilight's horn began to glow, magically wiping tears from Rainbow's eyes. Rainbow continued. "For so long I thought that I was done for, that I had nowhere left to go. I figured I was only bringing you guys down. Then the princess reminded me of the day I first met Applejack." 

Rainbow looked up, meeting Applejack's emerald eyes. 

"She told me that I needed to stay, if not for me than for my friends. All along I thought I was being loyal to my heart, but I was just lying to myself. My heart wanted me to stay here, and live with all of you. My mind told me that I wasn't good enough. But so what if the Wonder Bolt's didn't accept me! Celestia told me that dreams come and go, and when the present one leaves you just gotta' make a new one. 

Rainbow tried to smile, and propped herself up on all four, trying to remain proud. She slowly lifted her head as she spoke. "A new dream, that's all I needed! Celestia also told me that dreams are created around what we want most in life, and after being away from all of you for so long... Well, I've realized that I can't reach any dream without my friends!" 

Rainbow smiled, and advanced towards Applejack slowly. "My new dream is to stay here with Applejack. I want to help you with the orchard, because then you'll have more time to spend with every pony else! More than anything I want all of us to remain friends, for ever."

"Rainbow..." Twilight spoke now. Rainbow had made her way beside the orange earth pony, wrapping one of her wings around Applejack's shoulders. "I may be moving away, and so may the other's but our friendship is eternal! We'll come visit often, I promise!" 

Finally it was Applejack's turn to speak. "Well, Twilight, when you do come back... You know where we'll be." Applejack nuzzled Rainbow's cheek happily. "And our door'll always remain open for friends."

Happily the four friends smiled to one another.

"Oh! Dashie, Applejack, Twilight!" they all turned to Pinkie, waiting for their friend to continue. "I just remembered that I was sent up to tell Dash to tell Applejack to come down stairs when she woke up!" 

At this Twilight laughed. "And I was supposed to remind you Pinkie!"

"Well, then, Ah reckon we've kept every pony waiting long enough, don't y'all think?" Applejack, no longer caring for her messy hair, made her way to her desk where her Stetson sat peacefully. After quickly adorning the hat she began to make her way for the door. 

"Wait!" Rainbow called out to her friends, who all in turn faced the Pegasus. "Um, if you guys wouldn't mind, could Applejack and I talk alone for a moment?" 

Quickly Twilight's face reddened. "Oh, of course! C'mon Pinkie, we need to give them some privacy!"

"Oooh," Pinkie chimed happily. "Rainbow and AJ, sitting in a tree! K-I-s-s-I-"

Pinkie was cut off by a purple hue developing around her, magically pulling Pinkie from the room, Twilight quickly following. 

"Wait!" Rainbow called after them, her face hot with blush. "That's not what I-" But it was too late. The door had closed behind the fleeing ponies, and giggling erupted from the hallway. "Pinkie's never going to let us live this one down..."

"So then, Dash, what is it that you needed to talk about?" Applejack trotted over to her filly friend happily.

Rainbow steadied herself, questioning if she really wanted to say what was on her mind. After several slow breaths, she decided that she had to. "Applejack, are you sure I can stay here, with you on the orchard? I don't want to cause you any more trouble." 

"Uhm, Rainbow. Ah never said you could stay with me on the orchard, you just said that it was your dream to." Applejack spoke with a giggle, but after Rainbow's face twitched in fear she quickly continued. "But of course you can! Ah would love the company, and havin' a hard workin' Pegasus like you around will make my life a lot easier." 

Applejack turned to make her way towards the door. As she did so she looked back over her shoulder and the bewildered Rainbow Dash. "Besides," Applejack added in. "Ah could get used to wakin' up beside the Pegasus of my dreams."

Happily the Applejack and Rainbow Dash made their way thought the hallways of the old house, every once and a while Rainbow pointing out a crack in the ceiling, or a broken support beam that she could fix up. Soon Rainbow simply decided that she would help AJ renovate the whole house, including adding on a guest bedroom for their friends to stay in when they were visiting, from Canterlot. 

After finally making their way down the stairs Applejack and Rainbow entered the main room of the house, only to find... Applebloom?

"Uhm, Applebloom? Where is every pony?" Applejack approached her sister, who seemed to be designing some sort of strange contraption, with the phrase 'Cutie Mark Crusader Scuba Divers!' printed on the side. Applejack decided not to even bother asking about the strange device. 

Applebloom turned, smiling happily. "Oh, there you guys are! The other's told me that they had to run, somethin' about settin' up one of Pinkie's famous parties! They left a letter for y'all on the counter."

The two filly friends, side by side made their way over to the counter. There, marked in the princess's personal seal, was a fancy looking letter. Quickly Rainbow opened it, and began reading.

'Dear: Applejack and Rainbow Dash'

'Meet us all at Rarity's boutique at sundown. Today will be, for some of your friends, their last night in Ponyville.'