Decision in Applebuck Season
A new day was here and Dusk got up slowly from his bed, in a good mood, stretching his muscles and smelling a pleasant smell in the air.
"Hmm... it seems like Spike's cooking breakfast." Dusk thought out loud, smelling a delicious scent.
Dusk happily went down the stairs and approached the library's small kitchen.
CRACK!
"Good morning Dusk!" Spike said smiling, wearing a kitchen apron, standing on a stool, breaking some eggs and putting them to fry in the pan. "I made fried eggs want some?"
Dusk's good mood was extinguished when he heard the eggshells cracking, immediately reminding him of yesterday's terrible scene.
"No... I... I've lost my appetite." Dusk answered as his stomach churned.
Dusk walked over to the table, thinking about what else he could eat for breakfast when a sudden memory came to his mind. Today Applejack had promised to help Pinkie Pie with the bakery, which was the perfect opportunity to talk to her again and try to convince her to ask for help for the harvest, also see Applejack in town, away from the apple trees, had the advantage that Dusk could prevent the accident yesterday from repeating.
"I think I'll go get breakfast at Sugarcube Corner," Dusk said thoughtfully.
"I'm coming too!" Spike said quickly, eating his breakfast quickly and approaching his brother. "I love Pinkie Pie's cupcakes!"
Dusk and Spike left the library and headed to Sugarcube Corner, which would be taken care of by Pinkie Pie today since the Cakes had left her in charge due to an important appointment in another city. Upon arriving and entering the bakery, both could see that the place was full of ponies, all sitting, waiting to be served. As soon as Dusk entered and walked between the tables, he could tell that something wasn't right, it was as if all eyes were focused on him, and not normal looks, but looks of anger and distrust.
"What's going on? Why do they all look at me like that?" Dusk thought uneasily after entering the bakery, thinking that maybe it would be best to leave.
"Dusk! I'm so happy you came! I was about to go looking for you!" Pinkie Pie suddenly said with her usual joy, coming out from the kitchen. "Come, come, come with me."
Immediately Pinkie Pie pushed Dusk into the kitchen with her.
"Pinkie, what's going on?" Dusk asked confused.
"Well, you remember that I'm in charge of Sugarcube Corner today? Well, I thought that I could promote the bakery by giving some free samples of my new cupcakes!" Pinkie Pie responded excitedly. "We've been cooking all morning with Applejack, so now-"
"Applejack?" Dusk asked, looking around. "Where is she?"
"Well, she's-" Pinkie Pie answered turning around to point at Applejack but was surprised to not see her. "Huh?"
Both ponies perked their ears to the sound of snoring, then went through the kitchen, behind the main counter, and could see that there was Applejack, sleeping soundly on the floor.
"Applejack?" Pinkie Pie asked worriedly.
"Huh! I'm awake! "Applejack shouted, waking up with a start at hearing her name. "Ju-Just resting my eyes..."
"You... can barely stay awake..." Dusk said worriedly.
"Can so!" Applejack replied annoyed, not paying attention to the fact that Dusk had suddenly appeared there. "I have energy ta spare, so much that I'll even go help Fluttershy after this."
"Applejack, enough! At least let me help you." Dusk said trying to make his friend come to her senses.
Applejack looked at Dusk and then glanced at Pinkie Pie, who was also looking at her with concern.
"I can't let you help me!" Applejack thought conflicted looking at Dusk and then at Pinkie Pie, remembering how competitive her friends had become when talking about Dusk and remembering how they wanted to fight for him. "I... I don't want to lose my friends."
"I don't need help." Applejack finally answered, looking away.
Pinkie Pie looked worried at Applejack, she noticed that she had arrived tired at the bakery, but didn't think it was due to exhaustion, she thought that she only had a little sleep because she woke up was so early, so when they both started cooking, her giving the instructions and Applejack pouring the ingredients, Pinkie Pie only concentrated on the cupcakes and unfortunately didn't pay much attention to her friend, which was now making her feel guilty, because if what Dusk said was true, apparently her friend needed help with something and she I hadn't noticed.
"Pinkie, are the cupcakes ready?" Applejack asked suddenly, dragging Pinkie Pie out of her thoughts. "I'm in a hurry."
"Huh? Yeah... They must be ready by now." Pinkie Pie responded approaching the oven.
Dusk looked at Applejack with reproach, she had suddenly changed the subject just to stop him insisting, annoying Dusk, but he decided to follow the game and not continue insisting for the moment.
"So..." Dusk said looking at Applejack one last time before looking at Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, you told me about the free cupcake samples, but I still don't understand something. When I arrived... it seemed as if all the ponies looked at me with suspicion."
"Oh, that," Pinkie Pie said, still crouching, taking the cupcakes out of the oven. "Do you remember that after you shouted at Princess Celestia, many ponies became angry with you and continued to be angry with you despite everything you did afterward to save Equestria?"
At Pinkie Pie's question, Dusk didn't respond, only blushed remembering that shameful event.
"Well, I thought it would be nice to gather all those ponies in one place and make them change their minds." Pinkie Pie added smiling, holding up a tray full of cupcakes. "So I invited them and told them that you had prepared a tasty surprise for them. You will give them these tasty cupcakes, we'll say that you made them and so they'll know what a good pony you are!"
Dusk looked at the cupcake and immediately noticed that they had a peculiar green color, and their smell was also peculiar, if they had shown someone else, Dusk thought they would've said they were bad, but since they had prepared Pinkie Pie, he could take for granted they must be tasty that in spite of his appearance.
"I... I guess it's a good plan..." Dusk said taking the tray, thinking that what Pinkie Pie was saying was true, it was best to improve his image with those ponies of the town that still distrusted him.
"Well... I'm going then," Applejack said, grabbing her hat and staggering toward the back door of the kitchen.
"Oh no, you don't! You wait here, we still need to talk." Dusk said seriously looking at Applejack. "I'll quickly deliver these cupcakes and then we'll talk."
Then Dusk went to the main room of the bakery, followed by Pinkie Pie, both carrying two trays full of cupcakes. As soon as Dusk walked through the doors, he immediately felt the piercing gaze of the ponies digging into him.
"Err... I..." Dusk started stuttering, still getting nervous in front of the crowds and even more knowing that the crowd hated him. "Pinkie Pie and I... well... she cooked and I... eh..."
"Hello everypony! Thanks for waiting!" Pinkie Pie yelled with her usual joy, coming out and seeing how nervous Dusk was. "Our dear Dusk has prepared these delicious cupcakes! A gift from you! I hope you enjoy them!"
Immediately Pinkie Pie and Dusk began to distribute the cupcakes throughout the room to each pony present, and each pony took the cupcake they gave them and looked at it with suspision, which was reasonable given their ugly appearance, in fact, more of the ponies wondered if they were poisoned. When he finished distributing the cupcakes, Dusk immediately realized that none of the ponies were eating them, instead, they all stared at him, as if they expected him or someone else to taste it before to check that the cupcakes were good despite its appearance.
"Mmm...! They're delicious!" Spike said suddenly, who hadn't paid attention to the worried looks of the ponies and had just started eating the cupcakes as soon as they had been served.
When Spike ate the cupcakes calmly and with pleasure, the rest of the ponies present also began to eat the cupcakes. Dusk held a cupcake to his mouth when he suddenly heard a noise behind him in the kitchen, so he put the cupcake down and went back into the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, Dusk saw that the noise had been the back door closing, Applejack had left.
"That stubborn mare..." Dusk thought, who immediately went to the back door to go to follow Applejack, however again stopped to hear another strange noise, this time from the main room.
Dusk turned around and reentered the main room of the bakery again, there, for some reason, it looked like a war scene, all the ponies were lying on the floor, moaning in pain while the only one standing was Spike, who failed to noticed what was happening around him and just kept eating cupcakes with a smile on his face. Dusk immediately focused his eyes on Pinkie Pie, who had also fallen to the ground and holding her stomach while her face had a faint greenish hue.
"Pinkie! What happened!?" Dusk asked worriedly.
"I think... I think Applejack mixed the ingredients wrong..." Pinkie Pie said as she tried to avoid vomiting. "There were worms and... inedible things... Blugh!"
"You...!" One of the mares that was lying on the floor shouted with effort, pointing to Dusk. "You poisoned us!"
Then, while half of the ponies present were vomiting, the other half stared sobbing with hate at Dusk as their sore stomachs ached.
"Well... now my reputation will improve..." Dusk thought sarcastically with a sad smile of resignation while trying to think quickly about what to do to solve all that disaster.
'Doctor Horse, medical diagnosis.' That was what it said written on the door of the most famous doctor diagnosed by Equestria, an old stallion who limped on one leg, with a disheveled beard, a look of few friends, and an addiction to painkillers. The doctor was always accompanied by three other doctors who helped him and were in his charge, a dark-fur stallion, another blond-fur stallion, and a mare with reddish fur.
"We have ruled out Pancreatitis, Zollinger Disorder and Prune Syndrome, what other rare disease is left to test the patients for?" Doctor Horse said, writing on a blackboard and crossing out the diseases he had already ruled out after doing a series of tests on the patients.
An hour ago a crowd of ponies had arrived at Doctor Horse's office, all with stomach problems. Immediately the doctor started with a series of dangerous and unnecessary medical tests.
"Maybe it's Lupus," said one of the doctor's assistants, the blond stallion.
"It's not lupus! It's never Lupus!" Doctor Horse shouted angrily.
"Maybe you have to believe the patients, they said they ate something that fell badly in the stomach," The assistant said, the reddish mare.
"No, patients always lie... It can't be that simple..." Doctor Horse replied, with his characteristic antipathy.
While all this was happening in the doctor's office, Dusk Shine had spent hours waiting in the hospital waiting room. Using his magic, Dusk had loaded the ponies that were sick in several groups due to the huge amount of ponies, so he had led group after group until all the ponies, including Pinkie Pie, were finally being taken care of by the doctors of the hospital. Finally, after a wait that seemed eternal, a young doctor colt came out to speak with Dusk.
"Good news, after many expensive studies and failed tests, we finally discovered that patients are only suffering from simple indigestion. All thanks to that bloody but brilliant Doctor Horse!" The doctor said cheerfully, before the confused face of Dusk, since he didn't understand how it had taken so long for the doctors to diagnose something so simple. "We already gave them some medicines, for now they only need rest and lots of fluids." The doctor finished saying, seeing a huge amount of medical records that had had to fill and now held in his hooves, a medical record for each pony entered that Dusk had brought and had unconsciously given toxic cupcakes to eat.
"T-That's a relief..." Dusk said sighing. "Can I go see them?"
"I'm afraid not." The doctor replied somewhat worried. "When I asked them if they wanted to receive visitors, all the patients answered unanimously, and in their own words: 'Anyone could visit, except that treacherous lavender colt', only a pink mare was opposed, but since they are all resting in the same room, I'm afraid it wouldn't be good to let you in."
"Yes... I imagine... Sorry for the trouble." Dusk said sadly, lowering his head resigned and confirming that his reputation was in tatters.
Finally Dusk left the hospital, meeting at the entrance with Spike, who had been waiting for him there, still eating the cupcakes prepared by Applejack.
"Doesn't your stomach hurt?" Dusk asked his brother, seeing how calm and happy Spike ate the cupcakes.
"Of course not, they're delicious! I guess the stomachs of the ponies are too weak to appreciate these delicacies." Spike replied, finishing the last cupcake and savoring his fingers.
Dusk smiled faintly at Spike's comment, but quickly returned a look of determination.
"This is Applejack's fault," Dusk said seriously, beginning to walk back to town. "She's so exhausted that she doesn't realize the damage she's doing to others, in addition to the damage she is doing to herself."
"Why didn't you say that it was Applejack who made the cupcakes?" Spike asked, walking alongside his brother.
"I... I don't know." Dusk answered uncertainly. "I think I prefer that the ponies hate me to hate Applejack... she's already too tired with her work and her tasks, I know she doesn't want my help, but at least I'll try to avoid giving her more problems, and if I serve as the scapegoat, so be it. I... I just want to see her happy."
Suddenly Dusk stopped looking horrified, causing Spike to do the same.
"What's wrong?" Spike asked worriedly.
"Fluttershy..." Dusk said worried as he realized something vital. "Applejack said she'd go help Fluttershy! If she left all this mess just by follow Pinkie Pie's instructions badly, I don't even want to imagine what will happen to Fluttershy's little animals, come on! We've gotta hurry!"
At once Dusk began to run to the center of town, as the hospital was at one end of Ponyville and the road to Fluttershy's house was at the other end. While Dusk and Spike ran, none of them noticed that someone had been close to them, a big red stallion who was going to get a medical checkup for lumbar pain and who had heard what Dusk had said.
When Dusk and Spike approached the other end of Ponyville, a loud shout made them jump.
"Stampede!" Rainbow Dash yelled, flying all over Ponyville.
Then the ponies of the town began to run, to close the stores and hide inside their homes.
"Wow... and I thought this alarm system didn't work." Dusk thought as he watched Rainbow Dash fly, thinking that he would have to give an apology, because apparently it served as an efficient alarm against stampedes, since all the ponies acted immediately upon hearing her cries.
"Wait a second! If there's a stampede, why doesn't the ground shaking like the last time?" Dusk said thinking aloud.
Dusk and Spike looked up and saw that a cloud of dust was rapidly approaching the town, as Dusk had seen with the cows, however, this cloud was much less noisy, and in contrast, much faster. This was how the cloud of dust approached the town until finally Dusk and Spike could see the animals causing the stampede, something that surprised and stunned them for a few seconds. In front of them, running towards the town, there were hundreds of little bunnies, running scared and finally entering the town.
"Hahaha! What the heck? They're just rabbits! What harm can simple rabbits cau-?
Spike stopped talking when he saw his mortal enemy face to face. A few meters away from him, as if he were a military leader, was Angel bunny, for some reason riding Winona as if she were a steed, with a carrot in his paw that simulated a sword. As soon as Angel saw Spike, he stopped and saw him with a penetrating look, the same piercing look that Spike gave him.
"Squeak!" The little white rabbit shrieked, pointing his carrot at the dragon. Then a dozen little rabbits, like a battalion following their general, followed Angel and jumped Spike.
"Aaahh!! Not again!" Spike screamed as he saw the white rabbit and his comrades approaching.
Spike immediately ran to escape the attack, while Dusk just stared incredulously at the bizarre image of seeing a dragon running scared of some bunnies. Besides, he didn't know what to do, he couldn't attack those cute bunnies, so he just watched as they and the other rabbits entered the town and began to eat in some stores that hadn't closed, like stalls vegetables, and the flower stand, where the three mares that Dusk knew and who attended that place were already fainting.
Finally, the initial chaos began to clear as the rabbits dispersed, each rabbit calmed down after eating, and the great majority fell asleep after satisfying their hunger, which calmed the environment and allowed the ponies to leave their homes. As for Spike, Dusk couldn't find a trace of him.
While Dusk walked the streets doing a count of damages, which in reality weren't many, then finally the mare responsible for watching over these bunnies appeared. Fluttershy appeared running, scared to see how the bunnies had caused havoc and annoyance among the ponies, she immediately began to apologize to everyone, although no one blamed her for anything.
"Are you okay, Fluttershy?" Dusk asked kindly, approaching the pegasus.
"I-I'm so sorry, this was all my fault," Fluttershy replied with her eyes almost ready to cry. "I should've been more careful."
"Don't worry, nothing serious happened, although if any of your bunnies know where Spike is, I'd appreciate it, hehe," Dusk said jokingly trying to calm Fluttershy. "By the way, shouldn't Applejack be helping you?"
"Uh... Yes, she was with me. She tried to herd the rabbits, but they got scared and ran away." Fluttershy said timidly. "I... I should have seen how tired she was, I should have let her rest and have taken care of everything on my own... I'm sorry."
Dusk saw how affected Fluttershy was and again he remembered the incidents with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
"It's not your fault, it's mine for not having been firmer when talking to Applejack," Dusk said, he turned around and starting to jog in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, he had made a decision, couldn't keep wavering, Applejack wasn't only being a problem to herself but to her friends as well, so he wouldn't leave Applejack alone until he got her accept his help.
It didn't take long for Dusk to run to the farm of the Apple family, and even less to find Applejack, who was at the end of one of the orchards that had already been harvested almost in its entirety. When approaching, Dusk could see that Applejack was practically a zombie, she had her eyes closed, with a tremendous dark circles under these, beating the apple trees monotonously with little force, it seemed that at any moment she would fall faint.
"Applejack! I've come to help you!" Dusk hollered once he reached the mare's side, knowing that she would not hear him any other way.
Applejack was startled by the yell and realizing Dusk's sudden presence.
"Uh? Help? No... I don't need help..." Applejack finally answered after a long silence in which her sleepy brain processed what she had just heard, with her eyes barely open. At once she turned her back on Dusk and started walking slowly towards another apple tree.
Dusk put on a face of determination and used his magic to teleport and appear right in front of Applejack, causing her to almost fall backward in surprise.
"Enough Applejack! Please let me help you," Dusk said, putting a hoof on Applejack's chest. "I know you asked me to trust you, and I really do trust you! You know I do! But now I want you to trust me. You're wrong, you can't do this alone, trust me and let me help you."
Applejack raised her tired head to see Dusk in the eye and saw his determined gaze seeing her. Everything Dusk said was true, she knew it, she was so tired of working this whole harvest all alone that she could barely stand, she wanted to ask for help, and she would have loved to ask for the help of that particular colt that really wanted to help her, but then Applejack remembered her friends again, she didn't want to be hated by them, she didn't want to fight with them just for a colt, even if that colt was Dusk Shine, the only colt she could think of every time she felt helpless and needed help.
"I... I can't..." Applejack said with her glazed eyes, having a struggle of feelings inside her, feelings that she wanted to express and feelings that she wanted to repress. "I-"
Applejack couldn't finish due to a sudden warm hug from Dusk, which left her totally speechless. When Applejack was talking, Dusk could see the doubt in his friends eyes, instantly he knew she would refuse him again, which immediately gave him a twinge in his heart, he didn't want to keep seeing Applejack in this state, he didn't want to see her suffer anymore, it was then that Dusk's mind stopped thinking clearly and without realizing it, he was guided only by his emotions and his heart, those who told him to embrace her and be totally honest.
"I don't want to see you suffer like this," Dusk said tenderly with his eyes closed as he continued to hug Applejack tightly. "It hurts to see you like this, you don't know how important you are to me, so, please. Please! Realize that I am here and that I want to be by your side. Let me help you."
This was too much, more than Applejack's heart could handle. She was the bearer of the element of honesty, very few ponies were as openly honest as she was, so she realized when the ponies were lying or telling the truth, a sixth sense that she always had, so, she could know when someone was lying because she felt that the heart of that pony hid something and knew when someone was telling the truth when she didn't feel it, but now she felt something that she had never felt, she felt that Dusk's heart wasn't hiding anything, it had opened completely, and for the honest Applejack, there was nothing so beautiful as hearing the words from the heart being totally open and honest. Upon hearing those words of deep affection and concern in her ear, being embraced tenderly and warmly, Applejack felt helpless, she felt that her strength left her completely, all her muscles relaxed but one, her heart, that began to beat fast. The memories of her friends began to circulate Applejack's mind, causing tears to fall when she realized that she'd surrendered, she knew that for the sake of her friends she had to keep Dusk away from her heart, but she couldn't anymore, after that hug her heart wouldn't allow her to do so.
"Okay..." Applejack finally replied as she continued to be hugged, with her eyes closed and a tear on her cheek, a tear that symbolized two things for her: guilt for believing that she was betraying her friends, and happiness, for not wanting that moment or that hug to ever end.
Those words were the last she could utter and hear before finally falling asleep completely exhausted, due to the great fatigue that had accumulated in her body all those days and that she couldn't take anymore.
Applejack awoke with a shock, not because she had heard a noise or something, but because her nap had been as if she had blacked out, and having already rested, her mind went on quickly, making her remember that she was working and that she should keep doing it.
Upon awakening, Applejack looked around confused, she was not in the orchard where she thought she'd be, she was in her bed, wrapped comfortably. Then she took her head and tried to remember what was the last thing that happened before falling asleep, then she remembered Dusk's arrival and everything that had happened.
"I... I fainted..." Applejack said, thinking aloud.
The door of her room opened softly and through it came Big Mac, holding a tray with a plate of food and a glass with apple juice.
"Morning, little sis," Big Mac said, laying the tray on Applejack's bed.
"Big Mac... what happened?" Applejack asked still confused.
"Well, it looks like you fainted," Big Mac replied trying to see his sister seriously, but deep down he was just glad to see that she was alright. "You've slept a whole day since yesterday, I told ya that overwork was dangerous and that the harvest was no job for one pony."
Upon hearing that, Applejack immediately tried to get up but was quickly stopped by her brother.
"What're you doin'? I gotta go back to work," Applejack said confused.
"Nope, what you need is to rest a little more." Big Mac replied, looking calmly at his sister. "Besides, there's already somepony doing your job... five to be exact."
Applejack didn't understand what her brother said, so she got up from the other side of the bed and went to the window of her room, from there she was surprised to see in the distance the colorful manes of her friends, who seemed to be harvesting the apples of the orchard.
"At first Dusk started to harvest on his own, but I told him it was a lot of work for a single pony," Big Mac added, approaching Applejack. "Then he asked me if there was any problem with him calling his friends to help too, I said no and then all your friends came to help. You know, it seems that Dusk had this silly idea that the harvest could only be done by the members of the Apple family, some family tradition or something like that. Wonder where he got that idea from."
"And despite all that, he still wanted to help," Applejack said with a small smile.
"Eeyup, he said that your welfare was more important to him than what you could ask or demand, he even confronted me, thinking that I'd stop him," Big Mac said with a small smile that he quickly hid. "It was real similar to what I heard him say when he left the hospital that afternoon, he said he was willing to do everything, even to blame himself, just to not cause you more problems and to see you happy."
At Big Mac's comment, Applejack couldn't help but blush as she continued to see her friends in the distance.
"That doesn't mean I like him," Big Mac added quickly, trying to look serious. "But... at least now I know he's a trustworthy pony."
"Yes... he is..." Applejack said with a sigh, leaning her head against the window frame, not knowing exactly how to feel about it, although little by little her thoughts and feelings that were once turbulent, became clearer.
After convincing her brother that she was really fine, Applejack left her room and went to where her friends were, after all, she had many things to tell them. As Applejack left the house, Big Mac stared at her as she walked away.
"Wonder if I should tell her what Dusk said after she fainted..." Big Mac thought, remembering the day before when he was going to talk to his sister and saw that she and Dusk were holding each other, then he saw how Applejack fainted without Dusk noticing it at first, so Dusk, totally blushed, said something that Applejack could not hear.
"Hey girls," Applejack said once she got to her friends.
"Applejack!" Her four friends said in unison, who immediately approached their friend and asked her if she had had enough rest and if she felt better, questions Applejack answered affirmatively with a big smile.
"Yes, I'm better, thank you so much," Applejack said, who only then realized that in that group was missing someone important. "By the way, where's Dusk? Big Mac said he was also helping."
"That's right," Rainbow Dash replied. "Until Dusk hit an apple tree and Spike fell from it, it seems he hid on top of an apple tree since yesterday, so Dusk took him to town. That was a relief since we were all worried about where the little guy was."
"Yes, I asked Angel yesterday and he told me not to worry," Fluttershy added sadly. "I'll have to have a serious talk with that naughty bunny for scaring poor Spike."
"Anyway, Dusk left but said he would be back soon." Pinkie Pie added.
"That's good... it's easier to say what I have to if he's not here," Applejack said biting her lip.
"Uumm... Applejack, I... I'm sorry," Fluttershy said suddenly sadly. "I should've noticed how exhausted you were, I shouldn't have asked for help when you were so tired, I... I'm really sorry."
"Me too," Pinkie Pie added drooping her ears. "We're your friends, and we didn't realize what was happening to you."
"Even I didn't know how exhausted you were, I'm sorry," Rainbow Dash added, embarrassed.
"Don't worry, it was not your fault, it's mine." Applejack said with a small smile.
"But darling, if you had so much work, why didn't you ask for our help?" Rarity asked worriedly. "I mean, you know I don't like getting dirty, but I would definitely make the effort to help you as much as I could, darling."
"Yeah... that's what I wanted to talk about," Applejack said, embarrassed, head down. "That morning of the stampede, I saw how all of you left me aside after Dusk tried to talk to me, then we talked about friendship and love, and you said you'd all fight for Dusk. That's why I didn't want to ask for your help, neither yours or Dusk's, I... didn't want to put our friendship at risk."
The four mares were surprised to hear that, and this time it was their turn to be ashamed.
"Applejack, I... we're sorry we made you feel bad," Rarity said sadly. "Jealousy definitely got away from us that morning, but that doesn't mean we would stop being your friends, I thought you understood that with what we talked about later."
"Yes, what we did definitely wasn't good," Fluttershy said.
"But when we said fight for Dusk, we meant to fight for his love, not really fight each other," Pinkie Pie said with a tender smile. "Each one of us wants to win Dusk's love, but no way would we let go of our friendship for that."
"I... I knew it, deep down I knew it, but... I needed you to tell me because I... I was terrified that you would tell me something different and you'd hate me for it." Applejack said with a tender smile, happy to have solved that doubt she had about the feelings of his friends. Then Applejack sighed heavily and looked a little seriously at Rarity.
"Now I understand what you said that morning, about one of us not understanding her feelings. It was me, I was the one who doubted what I really feel about Dusk. But I think I know now," Applejack said with determination, with her mind clear, and her ideas and feelings in order. "I still don't believe in love at first sight, and I still believe that I didn't fall in love with a crush like you did..."
At that, Rarity prepared to interrupt, but Applejack continued talking after that short pause.
"However... I know now, that I... I'm really starting to fall in love with Dusk," Applejack said with determination filling her eyes. "I don't know what the future holds for us, so, I won't close myself to fighting for his heart, because I can't deny that with each passing day, he takes a bigger place in my heart."
Then Applejack stretched out one of her hooves between all her friends.
"That's why it won't be only four fighting for Dusk, it'll be five! Five friends who will always be friends and who will fight in their own way to conquer Dusk," She finished saying, with her characteristic look of security and a smile of determination.
The other mares smiled the same way, and one by one they brought their hooves closer to Applejack's.
"That's right!" Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie said, who had brought their hooves together. Then the four looked at the only one left to put on her hoof, Rainbow Dash, who was only blushing, trying to look away from her friends.
"I... I told you I'm not in love with that idiot," Rainbow Dash said, blushing, but bringing her hoof closer to her friends. "So-I'll just put my hoof in so I won't be left out, that's all!"
The other four mares looked at each other, and they all burst out laughing seeing the bad girl in their group blush like that. Thus, after a long time, the five mares could finally laugh together as they hadn't done for a long time, all with the same goal in common, all fighting with each other but determined to continue being the same friends as always.
# End of Chapter 22