It had only been a few minutes. To Applejack, they felt like interminable months.
She and another pony that she called her friend sat on the hilltop, overlooking the western fields. The farm was beautiful, serene, gorgeous.
Applejack saw nothing but the ugliness. The rot. The decay of fruit between the bucking hooves. She thought of Filthy Rich and the farm's declining profit. And in so doing, she realized that she was thinking of Filthy Rich and the farm's declining profit.
Where had her mind been? Where had her mind always been?
She went to the Gala for one reason and one reason alone. Meanwhile, all of her friends were simply trying to live in the moment... to realize dreams that mattered to them.
What mattered to Applejack? She already lived her dreams... and they were very dull dreams indeed.
Then again, what glorious fantasies could possibly be eked from a stone? Or two of them, for that matter?
"Oh Rainbow Dash," Applejack muttered spontaneously. "I’m awfully sorry.”
Rainbow looked at her curiously, and her tone was as friendly and innocent as ever. "Huh? For what?”
Applejack paled. Her heart jumped. Mind racing, she settled for a half-truth. "For bein’ such a sour apple to ya earlier." She slumped down until her chin rested on two folded hooves. "T’ain’t proper.”
“Heh…" Rainbow casually shrugged, as always. "I’d rather you apologize for all the darn apple jokes.”
“I’m serious, sugarcube.” Applejack gave her a melancholic glance. “I had no business tryin’ to shoo you away earlier like I did, especially when all you wanted to do was lend me a helping hoof.”
“Well, if I recall, all I wanted was some apples for… erm… stuff. Who says that’s changed?”
“But yer always chompin’ at the bit to help yer fellow ponies. It’s built in yer blood, Rainbow. Loyalty and all.”
“Heh… eheheh…” Rainbow kneaded the grass in front of her. “Yeah, well…”
“Figures it’d only be right if I was half as honest as I’m expected to be.” Applejack’s looked ahead. “Instead, I’m growin’ more and more tense with each passin’ day, and I’m usin’ it as an excuse to shrivel and hide in my own troubles." Rainbow Dash was a friend. The tiny creature Applejack cradled in an alleyway dwindled further and further away. Nevertheless, Applejack felt immeasurably guilty about harboring the memory. "Well, hidin’ the truth is just as bad as messin’ with it, and it ain’t true to my element. Nope, it ain’t true to it whatsoever.”
“Hey, AJ. You’ve got stuff to deal with. Best that you do it the way you know how.”
“And just how is that helpin’ me, huh?” Applejack felt the flutter under her hat, and for a moment there she didn't know which pegasus she was grumbling to anymore. "I’d not have gotten nearly as far as I did today if it weren’t for yer help, Rainbow. It’s about time I learned to stop bein’ stubborn and just… j-just share in the falls as much as the riches.” A sigh. “Tchhh… Reckon that came out crooked. Ya see, this is why I tend to keep it to myself n’all. It’s always like dancing with four left hooves.”
“You don’t have to keep it from me, Applejack.”
Applejack sucked her breath in. She thought of the shattering statue. Of the tears... the clinging forelimbs.
Six precious words... mewled foalishly...
Vulnerable and needing...
“You’ve been real with me before, remember?” Rainbow Dash spoke: When we hung out at Canterlot? You… do remember, right?”
Applejack clenched her jaw even tighter. Any second, and she might burst... melting from the heat of every thought that had hounded her since that weekend. That still flustered her now. That made it hard to look at her best friend straight in the face while thinking about the mare... the soul that almost was... that could have been...
Thus, Rainbow's next few words were all the more piercing: “H-how bad is it, Applejack?”
Applejack realized Rainbow was staring at the same thing she was: the farm. The fields. The apples and the verdant green leaves beyond. She was yanked back to the weekend at the Gala—but this time to a memory that they both shared. And she inhaled deeply.
“Real bad, sugarcube," she muttered. And—for once—she was telling the full truth to both halves of the rainbow.