//------------------------------//
// Not an Ending... 
// Story: Appledashery Vol. Two 
// by Just Essay 
//------------------------------//

"Httt... gnnngh... mmff!"

With a lasting grunt, Applejack landed outside the walls of the royal district.  She was sweaty, tired, and bruised.

She also wasn't alone.

"Hrmmmmfnnghlll..." A drunken pegasus lay petitely draped over her back.  Carrying her out of the Palace grounds was no small feat—much less climbing over the northwest walls to accomplish it.

Nevertheless...

"Come on... come on...!"  Applejack galloped straight into Canterlot urbanity.  She heard the metallic hoofsteps of patrolling guards behind her.  They didn't appear to be pursuing the two ponies, but Applejack wasn't about to linger around and tempt fate.  She bolted into the nearest street she could find... then ducked into a dark alleyway, safe from the glow of lamplights.

It was there... in a dank crook of concrete and cobblestone... sandwiched between a flower shop and a bed and breakfast... that Applejack finally settled down with Rainbow Dash.

"Guhhh!"  Rainbow Dash exhaled, jostled in her sleep.  She rocked as she was peeled off Applejack's backside, and a foalish giggle escaped her lips as she was laid down onto the floor.  "Pffft... hee-hee-hee..."

"Rainbow Dash!"  Applejack frowned—but for no longer than two seconds.  She was a panting, sweating mess, and she couldn't let the pegasus go.  "Dang it, sugarcube!  T'ain't no giggling matter—"

"Heeeheeheee—"

"Snap out of it!"  Applejack shook the mare, but only briefly.  Huffing and puffing, she cast a forlorn glance out the side of the alleyway, afraid of random midnight strollers spotting the two.  "Don't you realize how much trouble we coulda gotten in?"  She gulped.  "You done committed property damage!  You've been drinkin' and flyin'!  You... you..."

The farm mare clenched her eyes shut.  She shook... seethed... then sighed...

"Awwwww shucks..."  Her eyes reopened, glossy and apologetic.  "It's all my fault, darlin'..."

She reached down and grasped Rainbow's shoulders, then fussed with her prismatic bangs.

"I shouldn't have left you alone hours ago.  I shoulda known that you weren't in the right mind to... to..."  Applejack lingered.

Rainbow's bangs were unbelievably soft.  Softer than silk.  Softer than Apple Bloom's tuft of head hair when she had been freshly-foaled.

"...to... t-to be left..."  Applejack stammered.  She reached a hoof down to steady Rainbow Dash, and her fetlock brushed against the pegasus' wings.  And they were even softer.  "...uhhh..."  She gulped.  Feeling a heartbeat racing.

But it wasn't her own.  A warmth spread outward from Rainbow's fuzzy tummy, accompanied by a racing pulse.  It finally manifested itself in Rainbow's muzzle:  "Mmmmff—Applejack...?"

"Errr..."  Applejack felt like she was shrinking.  She had nowhere to go but into the alley wall resting solidly behind her.  Nevertheless, she pressed herself against it.  Cold and frightened.  "Yes, sugarcube?"

"AJ..."  Rainbow Dash's muzzle melted into a grimace.  Beady tears formed along the edges of her lashes.  She was whimpering at this point.  "AJ...?"

Applejack inhaled.  Exhaled.  "What is it, sugarcube?  What's wrong?  You c-can tell me—!"  Her eyes widened.

In her stupor, Rainbow Dash had flung herself forward.  Two unconscious forelimbs clung to Applejack's shoulders while the rest of her tender body draped over Applejack like a cloud.  Hot, earnest tears christened the farm mare's chest.  There was a sniffling sound, and then Rainbow Dash spoke.

And when she spoke, she did so with six lonely words: