"Good night, everypony!" Rarity's voice rang. Night had fallen and the friends were finally parting ways outside the entrance to Sugarcube Corner. "It was a most delightful dinner! We must do it again soon!" Rarity motioned at Fluttershy. "Come along, darling. I'll escort you home."
"Oh, Rarity, that's so kind of you."
"Yes, well, one does emulate another's grace after much exposure."
"So long!" Twilight Sparkle gave a wave and made her way for the library in the center of town. "I'll have done lots of research before we hang out again so I can tell you all about it!"
Mixed groans and giggles filled the starry air. Pinkie Pie was saying something, but Applejack scarcely made it out. Something to do with "cupcakes" or "muffins" no less.
The day had died. This very moment—like all others—was fleeting. Only now, with her tail flicking anxiously, Applejack was nakedly aware of it. Her wandering eyes fell on Rainbow Dash—reduced to a prismatic glint hovering at roof-level. Any second and she would be gone. This opportunity would be gone.
Opportunity for what?
Applejack had no answers... just a burning desire to stop all of time itself.
Before the farm mare knew it, a pink hoof was waving.
A blue fetlock waved back. Wings blurred. Ruby eyes glinted with starlight and approached the vanishing point—
"Hold on...!!!" Applejack caught the lilt in her throat and finished with meager grace. "...there just a second, Sugarcube."
To her joy, Rainbow Dash stopped.
To her horror... Rainbow Dash stopped.
"You need something, Applejack?" she asked.
"I..." Applejack threw her voice over the hurdles of her own heartbeat. "...just wanted to ask ya somethin'." She stood dead still. "If y-ya don't mind."
Rainbow Dash lowered and lowered, hovering at eye level. "What's on your mind? I mean... I've totally got places to be."
"Heheh..." Applejack laughed nervously, masking the urge to tremble. "More Gorges to fly through." A gulp. "I reckon."
Rainbow's response was awkwardly delayed. "Maybe?"
Then, with a deep breath, Applejack boldly asked: "Ya mind standin' for a second? I can't see yer face from here."
"Oh... r-right. Uhm." Rainbow deflated. She shrank—and yet she didn't. She was always this small. Only—now, with a fresh stab of confidence—Applejack had skewered the truth and forced it to stand in place before her.
"I was just wonderin', about that amazin' tale you just spun today—" Applejack began speaking, but tripped over herself. She literally had to tilt her head down to look at Rainbow Dash directly. Her heart skipped a beat, like cresting the first hump of a roller coaster. She wondered why she never obsessed over it before. Perhaps that's why—on this particular occasion—she allowed the thoughts to pierce the air. " Whoah Nelly!"
"What?!" Rainbow's shadow twitched.
"I just realized, I'm a good three inches taller than you!" Applejack wheezed halfway through the stupid statement. She hoped to Celestia that the moonlight didn't catch her burning freckles. In truth, she counted something closer to "five" inches, but she compensated before the sentence was done—for Rainbow's sake. "Unless it's just my imagination speakin'," she further blurted. Then, daringly: "You ever noticed that?"
"Yes. I totally have." It was a swift and firm response—one that Applejack didn't expect. "Er, I mean... pfft. It's all in your stupid hat, silly."
Applejack blinked. "How in tarnation does that work?"
An awkward breath rippled between them. "I have n-no clue."
Silence.
Rainbow Dash drew the topic of conversation back into the starlight. "You... uh... w-were gonna ask me about Ghastly Gorge—?"
"Oh! Right." Applejack took a breath. "You said that you escaped the eels by kickin' the walls of Boulder Pass and makin' the rocks fall on them until they let up and stopped chasin' you, right?
"I'm pretty sure that's the awesomeness that took place. Why?"
"Not tryin' to sass you none, but I couldn't help but wonder..." Applejack leaned forward. "It had to been pretty dark, right?"
"I could barely see the end of my own muzzle. Yeah. What's your point?"
"Well... I mean, sure—you had the Gorge memorized from years and years of flyin' through it, but... How could you have seen through the rain of boulders to have come out of the whole mess safely yourself? I reckon you were familiar with Boulder Pass, but it's not like you had the power to see the fallin' rocks yerself, right?"
"Oh... yeah... well..."
"Was it... was it just dumb luck?"
Rainbow Dash didn't respond. Applejack sensed she was looking towards the surrounding rooftops.
"Sugarcube...?"
"I... uh..." Rainbow looked back. "I'm gonna tell you something, AJ. Something of a secret."
Applejack's heart ran cold. "S-secret?" she stammered.
"It's something that no other ponies know," Rainbow said. Then she said something that froze Applejack even harder. "Not even Fluttershy."
The farm mare's trembles caught up to her. She hid it beneath a smirk. "Now this should be interestin'."
"Well..." Rainbow began. "You see... the reason I could make my way through Boulder Pass... or half of the Gorge for that matter... is because of the eels."
"Huh?" Applejack blinked. "I'm afraid you've lost me."
"That's okay. Uhm... Y'know how I told you that the Quarry Eels are used to livin' in the dark?"
"Right..."
"Well, turns out Mother Nature built them something to deal with that. Basically... their eyes glow."
"Really?"
"Yup! It's got this freaky pale green shine to it too! Like someone vomited over a flashlight and decided to aim it at a wall or something. Heheheh..."
"Land's Sakes, that's mighty unbelievable..." Applejack shook her head. Then, her neck snapped in thought—like a petite pegasus colliding with a granite statue. "Wait a minute, then that must mean—"
"Having them chase me was the only thing lighting my path," Rainbow said. "And, y'know, in the heat of the moment, I had kinda lost my bearings. I was a lot younger then, so... eheheh... even more stupid. I didn't even remember Boulder Pass was in front of me until the eels' eyes light it up. So, you see, Applejack..." The pegasus shrugged. "To finish my flight through Ghastly Gorge, I needed them to chase me."
Applejack felt like grimacing. What Rainbow Dash did was so dangerous... so suicidal... sto stupid....
"That's... that's plum incredible!" she ultimately said.. "Why didn't you tell that to the girls at the table? It woulda absolutely floored them!"
"Heh... because it's much cooler the way I told it," Rainbow Dash replied suavely, looking adorable in the process. "Not to mention a lot more suspenseful to make it look like I relied on total luck in the dark. Well, the luck part still applies, but if they knew about the eels and their eyes lighting up everything..."
"But wait..." Applejack squinted. "Does that mean that you could've flown out of the Gorge at any time? I mean, if they had to light you up to see you—"
"Ehhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeahhhh. I guess I could have."
"Rainbow!" Applejack frowned. Genuinely. "No kiddin' about being young and stupid! Shoot, you could have been gobbled up at any moment! What was so important about flyin' through that Gorge that you had to nearly kill yerself doin' it!"
"Because..." Rainbow Dash hesitated, then ultimately said, "Because sometimes fear is the one thing that makes me feel like I'm really alive. And conquering it."
Silence.
Applejack couldn't imagine the sheer amount of courage that somepony so small and...
...so precious as her best friend had to possess to take on the world... to take on this moment.
"It's just that... y'know..." Rainbow tossed her mane and looked straight at her. "Some fear is... easier than others."
Applejack understood that.
But that wasn't all she understood.
"Yer..." She smiled warmly. "Yer an amazin' pony, Rainbow Dash."