//------------------------------// // Chapter Three - Help Without Words and Help With Promises // Story: Two Eyes, One Heart // by Tropical Applejack //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash arrived at her cloud house not five minutes later. She slammed the door behind her - unknowing that she’d awoken her pet turtle, Tank, in the process. She proceeded to stomp around the room, but the soft cloud didn’t produce the noise she wanted. Dash groaned in self-pity. “Stupid wings!” she yelled, jabbing one of them. She grunted. That wasn’t enough. She punched the other one, much harder this time. She bit her lower lip, holding back a tear as a result of pain. That would leave a mark. Rainbow fell on her bed and rolled around for a long time - partly because of her now aching wing, and partly because of confusion. How did Pinkie know what a… who was she kidding? That kind of thing became common knowledge upon a certain age. Everypony knew that. Even Pinkie Pie. But no, that wasn’t the main reason she was confused. Rainbow was mystified by her feelings. She knew when her wings extended back in the shop that adrenaline played no part. It was all Pinkie and the way she just laid there looking back. There wasn’t an ounce of lust or anything like that in those blue eyes, but Rainbow saw something beyond friendship. The first word that came to mind made Rainbow shake her head and outright gag. Love? No, never! Rainbow couldn’t just fall in “love” with somepony she saw as a friend. However… a sick feeling in her stomach and a fluttering in her heart told Dash that the opposite may be true. She reached over for Tank and held him close. “Oh, Tank… I made a total fool out of myself tonight,” she admitted. The turtle tried his best to look interested - still very tired. Dash squeezed him tightly. “Pinkie and I were messing around, and I got too excited.” The sadness in her voice concerned him, and he licked her hoof. She ignored it and continued. “I don’t know what happened… maybe I can ask AJ tomorrow.” The tortoise blinked in response. Dash nodded. “Yeah, tomorrow is good. I can figure everything out then.” Rainbow loosened her grip and put Tank back where he was. “Goodnight, Tank,” she whispered. * * * The shining of the sun through one of Rainbow Dash’s skylights left her eyelids twitching and her subconscious in a momentary daze as she woke up. She was excited for what a new day would hold, but then she remembered the night before - how she had made a mockery of the pegasi name and fled the scene because she didn’t own up to it. Now Rainbow had to go to Applejack and see if the farmpony could help with the circumstance Dash had put herself in. She got off the bed with a sigh. “Outside, Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack,” she thought. Tank was left sleeping on the bed. He spent most of his day lazing about, so Dash wasn’t worried about him as she left the comfort of her cloud home. She was more scared that Pinkie might see her. Luckily, once outside, the pink party pony wasn’t underneath Rainbow Dash waiting for her to emerge. Dash let out a sigh of relief and continued on in the direction of AJ’s farm. Not seeing the poofy, pink mane below didn’t help. It only made here paranoia increase more each minute. * * * She never got lost because she knew her way around, but she felt like she was being watched. She wasn’t, of course. Not Pinkie, not another pegasus, nopony was even in her vicinity after she left the town. Seeing the farmhouse getting closer, Rainbow touched down. Her wings folded in snugly to her body. Upon reaching the door, she knocked. It wasn’t exactly what a pony, especially Applejack, would call “early,” so Dash was surprised when the door was answered by the one she sought discussion with. “Howdy there, Rainbow! Whatcha doin’ over here at Sweet Apple Acres?” the orange earth pony asked politely. “Hey, AJ,” Rainbow greeted very nonchalantly, “I… didn’t expect you to answer the door.” “Huh? Oh, yeah, we don’t start harvestin’ in the fall until about noon. The house has plenty of work that needs to get done. Do ya need somethin’?” “Yeah, I wanted to talk to you in private,” Rainbow said discreetly, “Is there somewhere we can do that?” Applejack stepped out of the house and closed the door behind her. “The barn’s empty,” she said, leading Rainbow to the big, red building a hundred yards away. When they got there, AJ unlatched the door, opened it, went in with Dash, and closed it. “Alright, what’s on your mind, sugarcube?” Rainbow Dash started out slow. “Pinkie and I were playing in the meadow yesterday… and then it started raining. We took shelter under a tree; I went to sleep,” Dash’s voice began to speed up, “and Pinkie woke me up to show me a heart she made on the tree. I was embarrassed, but I hid it. We got zapped by lightning, laughed at what happened, and headed over to Sugarcube Corner when the storm was over.” She took a breath. “When we got to Pinkie’s pink bedroom, she convinced me to do a sonic rainboom. I did it, and thenshemadefunofhowIwasscaredofthedarkandthatleadtoahoofwrestleandmebeingatotalidiot!” Applejack put one of her hooves in the air and motioned for Rainbow to slow down. “Cool it there, Rainbow. What happened after you did the rainboom?” Dash took a very deep breath in an attempt to slow her racing heart. “She made fun of how I was scared of the dark…” she started, and AJ snorted. “Sh- shut up! I don’t like to talk about it, okay? Anyway, that lead to me wanting to show her a thing or two, and I made her hoof-wrestle me.” Rainbow chuckled. “I pinned her in seconds.” “Alright, and?” “We just sat there looking at each other for awhile. I stared into her eyes, and she stared into mine. She was beautiful…. Then she pointed at my wings. They were…” “Ah,” Applejack nodded knowingly, “adrenaline from the wrestle, huh?” “Well, that’s what I tried to tell her it was.” “She believe it?” “N- no…” Rainbow confessed, “and I don’t know if I did either.” Applejack looked around for anypony that might be watching, despite the barn being free of other life. “Listen, sugarcube,” she said softly, “Y’all are askin’ the wrong pony about this. Ah don’t know the first thing about love beyond my family.” “Please, AJ… I need your help,” Rainbow pleaded. “...But maybe Twilight does,” Applejack replied hopefully, “She’d at least know more than me from all the books she’s read.” Rainbow Dash pointed her head at the ground and nodded silently. “...You aren’t gonna try to convince me it was adrenaline?” “Ah’ll let you figure that one out, sugarcube.” “Can you promise me that you won’t tell anypony about this?” AJ shrugged. “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” she said, slightly smiling. Dash knew she couldn’t just ask AJ to lie for her, so she smiled back - knowing that this was the best she could get out of the Element of Honesty. “Hey, AJ?” “Yep?” Applejack acknowledged after breaking open the barn door an inch and making sure nopony was listening to anything that was being said. “Thanks.” “My pleasure.”