Rainbow's Choice

by Metaphor

Chapter 10

When Rainbow awoke the next morning she felt refreshed and relaxed. She had slept surprisingly well given the events of the previous day but was no closer to the answers she was seeking. As she lay in bed staring at the ceiling the previous evening began to filter back into her mind. She had enjoyed a quiet and relaxing meal with Rarity, the unicorn treating her to a delicious barley stew. They hadn’t spoken much but Rarity had acted with such care and love that Rainbow could have mistaken her for her own mother. She had even allowed Rarity to tuck her into bed.

Rainbow couldn’t help but chuckle, that wasn’t like her at all; maybe it was all the sudden mood swings? She remembered the doctor telling her she would get them. Slowly she extracted herself from the bedsheets, Rarity having tucked her in so tight it was almost like a straightjacket. Soon after she was in the shower, sighing contently as the warm water washed the ebbs of sleep from her body. She unfurled her wings for a moment, fanning them in the running water. Pegasi were naturally at home in the sky but Dash felt it was the only place for her. She missed the tingle she felt in her wings as the air rushed past them.

As she arrived at the bottom of the stairs a look of melancholy had etched its way onto her face and Rarity was quick to pick up on it.

“Feeling alright this morning dear?” she commented cheerily as she levitated a bowl of apple sauce onto the breakfast table.

“Better than last night Rarity,” replied the Pegasus as she slipped into her seat, “My head is still a mess though…I still don’t know what to do. I had been so dead set on not having this foal that…well I hadn’t considered the other options.”

Rarity quickly levitated a glass of orange juice down onto the table in front of her, “Drink up now dear, foal or no foal you have to keep your strength up, I understand the first pregnancy can be very tough on the body.”

“Yeah I heard that too.”

Rainbow raised the glass to her lips and took a sip. For a moment she watched as Rarity worked her way around the kitchen, the unicorn was making pancakes.

“Now then my dear I must let you know,” announced Rarity as she continued cooking, “I have a full schedule today. Several of my clients are coming in for new fittings, I have a batch of twenty dresses to finished for a company in Manehatten and at some point I have to dash out and pick up my new shipment of thread from the post office. They were supposed to be delivered yesterday but something must have happened to the post.”

“No problem Rarity,” replied Rainbow before taking another sip of juice, “I might head into town, need some space to try and collect my thoughts.”

“That sounds like a good idea, and even though I’m busy today if you need me PLEASE let me know. I know your pride often gets in the way but we all need a shoulder to cry on from time to time.”

“Thank you Rarity, really.”

“Not at all!” Rarity quickly levitated a stack of pancakes onto a plate in the centre of the table, “Now then you go ahead and eat up, I’ve already had breakfast and have to get to work right away. Call me if you need anything dear.”

Rainbow gave a nod before staring hungrily at the stack of pancakes. Rarity quickly trotted off, humming lightly to herself as she did. Rainbow meanwhile helped herself to a stack of pancakes and started smothering them in syrup. Yes a walk was just what she needed today.

It was a short while later that Rainbow found herself trotting through Ponyville. It was market day and all of Ponyville was out on the streets. Different ponies rushed one way and another carrying bags or pulling carts. She recognised many ponies as she wandered the crowds but nopony seemed to pay her much attention, each of them busy with their own business. She had hoped to get a little quiet time but it seemed that unless she felt like walking out of town she wasn’t going to get it. Maybe she could visit Fluttershy but as quickly as the thought appeared she dismissed it, she wanted peace right now not more emotions and explanations.

As she pressed on through the crowd though it seemed that fate wasn’t willing to allow her to have the peace she desired.

“Apples! Git your apples here! Fresh from the farm!”

Rainbow winced, she knew the voice all too well. She looked around but in the hustle around her she couldn’t make out where the voice was coming from nor see the orange coloured farm pony either. What did she do? Stay still or press on? Where exactly was Applejack? Did she really want to see her right now or not? Looking around Rainbow finally decided on a direction and quickly slid herself between two stands. If she had been allowed to fly she would have simply taken off straight up and hid in the clouds but right now she was grounded. What made matters worse was that as she emerged from the other side of the stands she came face to face with that which she was trying to avoid.

Applejack stood only a few feet away, the farm pony looking happy and content as she finished selling a basket of apples to Lyra. Beside her Applebloom looked on intently as Applejack completed the sale.

“Ya come back now,” smiled Applejack as Lyra trotted off happily, “And that’s how it’s done Applebloom. Ya don’t need to go getting right up in customers faces, just smile, be polite and add a little flourish to your sales pitch. Now we’re all done for today so you take the saddlebags and head back to the farm, I’ll join you soon.”

“Sure thing sis! See ya later!” replied the small filly as she flipped a rather heavy looking saddlebag onto her back and set off into the crowd.

Applejack gave a small sigh and leaned back against stall. She flicked her Stetson up and looked ahead. It was at the moment that the two ponies made eye contact for the first time. Applejack looked surprised but Rainbow looked nervous. For a moment they looked at each other, both speaking and neither moving.

“…well,” announced Applejack finally breaking the silence, “Howdy Rainbow.”

“Err…yeah, hi Applejack.”

Rainbow looked away slightly, glancing back at her friend as if expecting her to pounce on her at any moment. When they had last spoken Applejack had been so angry she would have pounded the Pegasus into dust had it not been for Twilight stopping her. She had always felt secure around the strong work pony, liking nothing more than a friendly competition or a playful argument. In a way she was very much like Rainbow; headstrong, competitive and playful. And yet right now all she felt was nerves.

“Are…are you alright sugarcube?” asked Applejack after a moment.

“I uh…well…”

“Ya still nervous about how I acted at the hospital the other day aren’t ya?”

Rainbow bit her lip as she slowly nodded, she didn’t like to admit it but it was true. Applejack smiled softly as she approached her friend, gently laying a hoof on her shoulder.

“Ah’m sorry Rainbow, ah shouldn’t have acted like that,” she said calmly, “I just got so angry and I lost ma temper.”

Rainbow felt herself relax slightly, she had expected a hard punch or another episode of angry words not an apology. She just nodded in reply, sheepishly kicking the ground with one of her hooves.

“Tell ya what, why don’t ya walk with me back to the farm? We can discuss everything as we go,” suggested Applejack.

“Alright Applejack,” replied Rainbow after a moment as she looked back at her friend with a sheepish look.

Applejack smiled, playfully jostling the Pegasus, “Well look at you, ah ain’t seen you this nervous…well, ever.”

Rainbow managed a weak smile, it was true that she hardly ever showed much negative emotion. She was a proud pony and hated being seen as weak or frail. She even denied the fact that she had got scared at ghost stories as a filly. The last few weeks had certainly seen a drastic change in her outward emotion, she had cried more times than she could remember and certainly the way Rarity had treated her the previous evening was something she had never expected to happen ever.

The two ponies fell into step beside each other, making their way slowly through the crowd as they headed towards the edge of town. For a time neither of them spoke, at least until they had cleared the crowds and moved onto the quite track that led out towards the farm. Rainbow was busy remembering back to that day in the hospital. The way Applejack had acted was a little odd, it was natural to be upset when someone did something you didn’t approve of…but the degree of rage she had exhibited was higher than anything she could rationalise.

“Just ask your question already…” stated Applejack with a sigh.

“W-what?” replied Rainbow as she snapped herself back to the present.

“You want to know why ah got so angry back at the hospital don’t ya? I can tell by looking at ya, can’t hide nothing from this apple.”

Rainbow didn’t say anything for a moment, “I guess I do.”

“Let me start by asking you something then,” replied Applejack as she came to a halt on the outskirts of Ponyville, “You got any siblings Rainbow?”

The Pegasus shook her head, “Uh, no, just me.”

“Figured as much, you never did mention anyone but ah don’t like to pry you know. Well as an Apple I have tons of siblings, not all directly related you understand but us Apples are like one big family regardless of who your parents were. Despite all that though it’s still down to us to run the farm, Granny, Big Mac, Applebloom and maself. Our other relations don’t have time to help us, they are all too busy with their own farms and such.”

Applejack paused and trotted over to a patch of grass, slowly kneeling down and then rolling onto her back. Rainbow followed, sitting her rump down on the ground as she continued to listen to Applejack.

“Things would have been fine but fate can be a tricky thing. Ah was a fool as well, can’t go blaming it all on fate now can ah. Happened about five years ago, there was a big storm and the roof of the old barn was threatening to come loose. We’d just finished harvesting all the hay too and if that roof had come off it would all have been ruined. Big Mac was out of town on business so ah decided to try and fix it. Granny warned me not to go but ah didn’t listen. If I had it might have meant we lost a harvest of hay but…anyway. So ah climbed up on the roof and tried to fix the loose planks. Several of the joists had worked their way loose due to the wind but I managed to hammer them back in. Ah was just about to come down when a gust of wind knocked me off balance. Ah stumbled on the wet roof and fell.”

Rainbow felt a little of the colour leave her face as Applejack paused in her story. She couldn’t bring herself to interrupt, the earth pony didn’t look very comfortable telling the story.

“Ah’m not sure how many bones ah broke, a lot,” continued Applejack after a moment, “but that wasn’t the worst of it. Ah hit the roof of the old tool shed and went straight through it, ah landed on some…rather choice implements.”

Applejack sat up and brought her front hooves down on her right thigh. She parted her coat over her inner thigh and Rainbow could clearly see a small scar. It was circular, a few centimetres in diameter, like a puncture wound.

“Pitch forks can be mighty useful but that day ah wish ah’d never laid eyes on them. That is one of the scars, the others are in…rather choice locations,” Applejack blushed strongly, Rainbow catching the idea quickly and blushing too, “The wounds themselves weren’t life threatening and the broken bones healed up just fine but…well the internal damage was something else. Ah remember one of the doctors talking to a nurse when they thought I was asleep, he said it was a…harrumph…shredded pile of meat.”

Applejack paused again to allow the realisation to sink in. It didn’t take Dash long to work out where the end of the story lay.

“So you…you can’t have…”

“Ah can’t have foals,” finished Applejack with a solemn expression, “They had to remove it all or it could cause further complications down the road.”

“Applejack I…I had no idea…” stammered Rainbow as she tried to think of what to say.

“Ah’m not surprised sugarcube, ah don’t exactly go around telling every pony.”

Applejack’s earlier anger suddenly made sense; it was just like Blossomforth all be it slightly different in circumstance. Applejack nodded to herself as the realisation passed over Rainbow’s face.

“So ya understand now huh?” she said flatly, “It’s why ah spend all my time on the farm, ain’t no point in fraternising with stallions.”

Rainbow bowed her head, Applejack’s admittance was more than she had been expecting. She had figured the farm pony had been mad because she was such a family orientated pony. As she raised her head again a glum expression had plastered itself across Applejack’s face. It was quite a sight, Applejack was not a pony to let something get her down and to see her upset was a very rare sight. This was more than simply sadness though, it was something much deeper and Rainbow could only imagine how deep her pit of despair must be.

“I’m sorry Applejack,” she said at length, “I guess I never stopped to consider other ponies feelings about what I was doing.”

“Ah…ah…ah…”

Applejack was on the verge of tears, her voice stammering with every choking gulp of air she inhaled. She rose a hoof to her eyes and casually wiped the forming tears away, trying her best to remain calm and collected; it wasn’t working.

“Ah just don’t want you to throw something away before you realise what you’ve got. Normal ponies don’t think about this type of stuff…but us unfortunate ones think about it all the time.”

Applejack leaned forwards grabbing both of Rainbow’s front hooves in her own. For a moment their eyes met and Rainbow caught a glimpse into the inner feelings of the work pony. There was no anger, no malice, no hate or revulsion. Instead Rainbow saw something quite different, hope.

“Ah just want you to promise me one thing Rainbow.”

“What?”

“Think about how your decision will affect other ponies, least of all those two little ones inside you,” Applejack moved one of her hooves and gently prodded Rainbow’s stomach, “Ah can understand that you wouldn’t have chosen this path under normal circumstances but what’s done is done. Just keep an open mind…and ah won’t judge you regardless of which way you decide to take this.”

Rainbow paused, considering the request. Truth be told ever since her conversation with Rarity the previous evening she had been having doubts over her decision already. Did she really want to do this? She hadn’t thought about it this way before but if she went ahead with the abortion she would be ending two lives. Two lives that didn’t even know they existed yet. Could she really do that? But then was she willing to let go of all the accomplishment and skills she had so far attained. Could she simply abandon her old life on a whim?

“Alright Applejack, I promise,” she said at last, reinforcing her words with a nod of her head.

Applejack released her hooves and sniffed hard, “Thank you sugarcube. Ah didn’t want to lay my own problems at your door, ah heard about what happened yesterday with Scootaloo from Applebloom, but you deserve to know why ah got so angry.”

“Yeah…that…” replied Rainbow with a sigh.

“Cheer up darling, ah’m sure that little filly will come around eventually. Just give her some space for a while.”

“Thanks Applejack.”

The orange mare gave a small nod and slowly pulled herself to her hooves.

“Well ah ought to get back to the farm, lots of apple bucking to do this afternoon to restock our supplies. You take care of yourself now Rainbow.”

“Yeah…you too Applejack…”

Comments

[TheGreatEater]

Go through this chapter and fix your use of y'all.

As a southerner it's a pet peeve when peeps use y'all inappropriately. It takes me out of the story and is confusing.

Ya = You.

Y'all = You all.

You only use y'all when talking to multiple people. I don't know if you do the same mistake in later chapters. But it's something that I ask you to please fix up.

[TheGreatEater]

My other problem with this fic is that no one is actually "Talking to Rainbow Dash". They are all to busy saying how wrong she is. Are you ever going to have them shut up and listen to the fact that Rainbow Dash in all of her recollections never went that far with a Stallion? Are you ever going to address the fact that she was either raped and suppressed the memories or was drugged then raped? And the emotional repercussions of such a thing?

I've read 10 chapters waiting for it to come up. And now I'm off to the other chapters.