//------------------------------// // Makin' Things Right // Story: Dash’s Little Big Secret // by pandaxxus //------------------------------// Big Macintosh and Applejack quickly headed up to Rainbow’s room. Her door was closed, and Applejack was afraid that it would be locked. Big Macintosh stepped up and knocked on the door, his hand shaking. When there was no reply, Mac tried again. Rainbow still hadn’t answered the door. Applejack had thought that Rainbow was either ignoring them or drowning everything out with music. “Hold on, Mac.” Applejack whispered and carefully placed her hand on the doorknob. As she turned it, she saw that the door opened. Applejack continued opening the door as slowly as possible, trying not to make any sounds. She frowned when she opened the door completely. On the bed, Rainbow Dash sat up against the head. Her knees were brought up close to her chest, and she hugged one of her pillows. She was still in the same clothes she had worn all day, and her hair was messier than usual. Her blanket hung halfway over her bed. Rainbow was sleeping. Even though she was resting, she looked exhausted. There were visible stains running down her cheeks from crying, and overall, Rainbow looked miserable. It was as if she had lost all of her energy, and everything that had made her who she was. Applejack’s mind suddenly traced back to a conversation that she and Rarity had months prior. She remembered how Rarity described how terrible she felt when she had broken up with Blue Blood, and now Rainbow had to go through the same. All because of her. She looked over at her brother, who still stood in the doorway. There was a deep frown on his face, and in his eyes were the feelings of guilt and sadness. His heart probably broke even more at the sight of his former girlfriend, and it hurt Applejack even more. Both of them still clearly had real feelings for each other, and neither of them planned on breaking up anytime soon. She was the only thing coming in between the two, and she had to make things right. “Mac, stay out here. Ah don’t know if she’s ready to see ya just yet.” Applejack instructed quietly and suddenly. “What are ya doin’?” “Ah’m gonna talk to her first. Ah honestly don’t even know how she’s gonna react when she sees me.” Big Macintosh nodded and closed the door, leaving only the two girls in the room. Applejack grabbed a chair from Rainbow’s desk and brought it closer to the bed. She looked at her sleeping friend and felt terrible. Slowly, she raised her arm and nudged her rainbow haired friend. The girl stirred in her sleep and remained silent. Applejack nudged her once again, this time, seeing her magenta eyes flutter open. Both of them were lined with red, due to her excessive crying. Rainbow was finally able to keep her eyes open and immediately looked at Applejack. She didn’t seem surprised to see her, in fact, she didn’t give any reaction at all. Applejack could tell that her state had worsened dramatically since that morning. The last time she had seen her, you were able to read Rainbow’s face. You could see how she was feeling, but now, as Applejack looked into her eyes, they were emotionless and drained. “Hey,” Applejack said, not knowing how to start the conversation. “‘Sup,” Rainbow replied with little emotion. Her voice sounded strained and it cracked even with that one single word. Applejack cringed a bit before speaking again. “You skipped practice today?” “Yep..” “Why?” “I didn’t feel like it.” Applejack was desperate at this point. She wanted Rainbow to be angry at her. She wanted Rainbow to yell and glare at her. She wanted Rainbow to give her any signs of emotion, she didn’t care. Rainbow sounded broken and lost, and it killed Applejack every time she talked. “Dash,” “Yeah?” “Look at me,” Rainbow did as she was told and stared blankly at Applejack. Was she really this torn up about it? Maybe Rainbow still needed to let some things out, as Twilight suggested earlier. “What?” Rainbow asked. “What happened to ya, girl? Ah’ve never seen you so upset before. And for what? Some boy?” Applejack provoked. “He wasn’t just some boy, Applejack,” Rainbow replied, her eyes brimming with tears that were threatening to fall. Applejack watched as she blinked them away. “Then what was he?” “He was your brother, AJ,” Rainbow started, “He made me feel like I could do anything. I felt safe, and I was actually happy with him. When I met you and the girls, you guys changed me. I felt low and worthless, and you guys picked me up again, and I’ll always be grateful for that. But, I always had those voices in my head still telling me that I still wasn’t enough. After Sunset broke us up, that really tore me down. I thought you guys would never leave me, but all it took was one small misunderstanding to break it apart.” “I was lonely, but I had to pretend like it was all okay. I’ve always been paranoid that things like that would happen again. I think that if I tell myself how great I am all the time, that I’d actually believe it, but deep down I never do. Big Macintosh actually pushed those thoughts away, AJ. He made me feel like I was worth being your friend, that I was worth being with him, that I was worth it in general.” Rainbow shifted a bit on her bed and her voice became tight. “The first time I told him about how I felt and when he told me how there was nothing wrong, I knew that he was important to me, just like the rest of you girls. That’s why I was so afraid of telling you. I wanted you to see how important both of you were to me, and I wanted you to accept it. I didn’t want our friendship to go up into flames and I didn’t want to lose him either.” “But n-now he’s gone. It sounds so stupid but I feel like I lost a piece of me. He gave me strength and hope and now it’s gone. I can’t even be mad at you, because you were just looking out for our friendship. I was being a terrible friend and didn’t realize how I was acting. I didn’t deserve Mac. I don’t deserve to call you girls my friends. I d-don’t even know w-what to think anymore.” By now, Rainbow was full on sobbing. Applejack had climbed onto Rainbow’s bed and hugged her tight, tears beginning to form into her eyes as well. She had no idea that Rainbow had felt like this at all. Rainbow had always been smiling and bragging about how amazing she was. She didn’t know how much their friendship meant to her and neither did her relationship with her brother. Rainbow had felt terrible, and it’s all because of a few things she had said because she was angry. She couldn’t believe that she had actually felt relieved at first when she had heard that the pair broke up. She couldn’t believe that she had thought Rainbow wasn’t loyal enough. “Ah’m so sorry, Sugarcube.” Applejack mumbled into Rainbow’s hair, “Ah’m so, so sorry.” Rainbow continued to cry in Applejack’s arms. It had been years since Applejack had comforted her friend like this and she never thought that she’d had to. Rainbow sounded just like how she did when she was younger. She was in the exact same position that Applejack had found her in when they had first met. Applejack remembered seeing Rainbow curled up behind the tree, crying her heart out. Applejack decided to talk to her and offered her friendship. It seemed like it was what she needed at the time. Rainbow’s attitude and competitiveness would soon grow on Applejack, and the two had been best friends since. Applejack looked at Rainbow, who had begun to quiet down. “Dash, my brother still loves ya.” Rainbow didn’t respond. “He only broke up with ya because he didn’t want to see ya hurt. He loves you, Dash.” “I don’t know, AJ. He didn’t look that upset at school, he’s probably over me already.” Rainbow croaked. “No, Rainbow. That’s only because he’s just like you. He keeps it all in like a dummy ‘till he can’t deal with it on his own anymore. He’s just as upset as you are.” Applejack explained. “Ah talked to him earlier, and Ah told him that Ah was sorry. But he was wrong to break up with ya. As you said, you were already upset that we fought. When he broke up with ya, that made things ten times worse. His heart was in the right place, but he wasn’t thinkin’.” Applejack smirked a bit and looked at her friend. “Besides, if he were over ya already, Ah don’t think he’d be here right now,” she said a little loud so that Big Macintosh would hear. The orange haired teen opened the door and looked at his former girlfriend. “Hey,” was all he said. Rainbow’s lip quivered and she responded with a simple, “Hi.” Seeing her so upset clearly hurt Big Macintosh, and he quickly rushed over to the two of them. “Ah’m so sorry about everythin’, darlin’. Applejack’s right, Ah shouldn’t have broken up with ya. We could have figured somethin’ out together.” “Did you want to break up with me?” Rainbow asked. “No! No, of course, Ah didn’t. Ah never wanted to break up with ya, Dash. Ah’d never let ya go that easy.” Big Macintosh explained and reached out to hug Rainbow. Rainbow threw her arms around Big Mac and a single tear slid down her cheek. “Rainbow, do ya think you could forgive us?” Big Macintosh asked. Rainbow looked at both Big Macintosh and Applejack before smiling a bit for the first time all day. “Sure,” she said, “Only if you could forgive me, AJ.” After receiving a confused look from Applejack, Rainbow continued. “I never meant to ignore you or leave you out. I should have been more aware of you and the girls. I’m sorry.” “It’s all good, ya doofus.” Applejack smiled and hugged her friend, happy that everything seemed okay again. “You should probably get cleaned up, Dash. Ya look terrible.” Applejack smirked. Rainbow groaned. “I know I do,” she said and got up from her bed, “If you two tell anyone about how much I cried, I’m going to kill you.” “Darlin’, there’s no need of being ashamed. It’s normal to be upset over a breakup.” Mac said, back hugging her. “I know, but crying doesn’t fit my image,” Rainbow whined and rubbed her eyes. Applejack smiled as she saw the Rainbow she knew return. She felt relieved that everything seemed to be going back to normal. “Mac?” Rainbow called. “Yes, darlin?” Bic Macintosh smiled at Rainbow. “Does this mean that we’re back on?” Big Macintosh laughed at the seemingly stupid question. “Come here and Ah’ll answer that for ya.” he said, grabbing Rainbow and pulling her into a kiss. Applejack pretended to gag and smiled as she teased the couple. “Get a room you two.” Rainbow stopped her session with Mac to answer Applejack. “We’re in one, genius,” she said before turning back to her boyfriend. Applejack laughed and smiled as she gladly turned and left the bedroom.