//------------------------------//
// Dal Niente 
// Story: Dance of the Rainbow 
// by Masterweaver 
//------------------------------//

	The orb of Celestia the lifegiver hung in the summer sky, illuminating the entirety of the land owned by the founding family of the local hamlet. Stretching from the ground were a multitude of carefully arranged brown pillars, each with thousands of green feeding flanges basking in the light granted by the day. There was much to celebrate, in their opinion, as quite a few of them had sprouted red bulges with hung from their limbs enticingly, soon to be gathered by their benevolent lords as the only payment they ever demanded for granting them such a wonderful realm to exist in.

This poetic environment entirely escaped the attention of the youngest of the lords, who was currently attempting to cause an image to magically appear upon her hindquarters.

"Aw come on! Ah was sure that Ah'd get mah cutie mark in botany!"

Her elder sister turned around, looking at the filly with confusion. "Er, what?"

"Ah was tryen ta record all tha branches on this here apple tree." The young lord pointed to one of her subjects, which was wearing a number of orange ribbons. "Ah finally got tha last one marked, but Ah don't even have mah cutie mark!"

"...Ya were counting branches?" The older mare pushed her hat back, looking at the orange streamers now decorating the tree. After a moment, she glanced down at her sister. "How many do ya reckon?"

"Eight hundred thirty two thousand and forty." The filly pounded her hoof into the ground. "And still no cutie mark."

"Eight hund--How long were ya doing this Apple Bloom?"

"Um.... all... week?"

After a moment, her sister gave a low whistle. "Wow. Ah don't know what ta say, sugarcube. It's dissappointing ta see such hard work go unrewarded, Ah know, but..." She floundered. "...well... Ah don't know what ta say, cept yer cutie mark will come--"

"--in its own time, Ah know..."

"...How bout we head inside fer some fritters?" The orange mare gave the yellow filly a gentle smile. "Mah treat.

"Thanks, Applejack. That sounds mighty fine right about now." Apple Bloom gave her sister a brief hug. "Are yah mad that Ah tied all them ribbons up there?"

"Not really."

"Cause, ya know, Ah can take them off--"

"It's fine, sugarcube, they ain't hurting anything." The farmer rolled her shoulders. "Now come on, the fritters are--"

A sudden streak knocked her into the ground, and she tumbled hooves over tail as she struggled with the interloper. When the dust finally cleared, she found herself staring up into the focused face of a lean blue pegasus, breathing heavily just inches away from her. 

"...Applejack."

"Yeah Rainbow Dash?"

"I.

Need.

Your.

Barn."

The farmer narrowed her eyes.

"....please?"

"....Give me back mah hat, Rainbow."


***


"It'll only be for a day, I swear!"

Applejack snorted, unwilling to drop the plate of fritters she was carrying to the table. Her pegasus friend was once again violating her personal space, pleading expression mere inches from her shoulder.

"Look, I'll even pay you, okay? I just need to borrow the barn Thursday, that's all. Please AJ? This is super important here."

The farmer put the plate down on the table. "So ya give me four day's notice when ya need some big space." She paused. "What the hay do ya'll need tha barn for anyway?"

"It--Look, I just need it. I'd have told you if I found out sooner." Dash was rocking form one hoof to another, trying desperately to keep from panicking. "I only got the letter today. Please? I promise we won't wreck anything, I swear by Celestia's--"

"We?"

The pegasus winced.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "...Yer gonna hafta tell me what's going on here."

Rainbow glanced at Apple Bloom, who was focused on the fritter she had just grabbed from the platter. Then she leaned in. "It's... a family reunion, okay? Grandma's birthday. A different one of us hosts it every year."

The farmer narrowed her eyes. The story felt true, but there was something about the way Dash had said it that made her feel a few pertinent details might have been omitted.

"Come on, AJ... you'd do the same if it was Granny Smith, right?"

There was a tense moment.

Then the farmer smiled. "Ah get ya, Dash. Alright, ya'll can use the barn Thursday."

"Ohmygosh, thank you!"

"Ah'll even help ya set up--"

Rainbow's eyes turned into pinpricks. "NO! Um, nonono, that, I should, yeah, do it by myself! Also could you not tell anypony about this?" She glanced at the ceiling. "See, Grandma's kinda fragile, you know, and, well, if Pinkie hears I'm having a party without her--"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Fine. Ah'll let ya use mah barn, in secret, with ya setting up tha party alone, fer a family gathering."

"Great!" The sarcasm flew over the pegasus's head. "Also, don't take this personally, could you maaaaaaybe, um, get Big Mac and Granny Smith to... I don't know... not be here?"

"....what."

"It's not that I don't like them!" Rainbow backpedaled. "It's just, well, um, you see, TASTES! Grandma's kinda like Rarity, ha ha--Actually, Rarity really needs to not hear about this ever. I mean it."

The farmer stared at the serious expression on the weathermare's face.

Apple Bloom, having finished three fritters, was looking at the two of them with no small amount of curiosity.

"...Ah can't promise anything. But..." Applejack sighed. "Ah'll see what Ah can do."

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of relief. "Oh my gosh, thank you. Thank you so so much, you have no idea how much this means--"

Applejack snorted and turned away, sitting down across from Apple Bloom and snagging herself a fritter.

The pegasus gave her a confused look, then lowered her head as she kicked at the floor. "So! I'll just, um, I'll just go and... do some stuff. And I'll be back Thursday. For the barn."

"Eeeeyup." Applejack bit down on her fritter.

"...Seriously, AJ, you're an awesome friend. You know that?"

"Eeeeyup."

Rainbow stared at her for a moment. Then with a groan, she turned away. "Anyway, going now! Bye AJ! Bye Bloomers!"

"Bye Rainbow!" Apple Bloom waved enthusiastically as the cerulean pegasus took to the air. Then she turned to her sister. "Wow, Ah didn't know Rainbow had a grandma. Did ya'll know that?"

"Eeeenope."

Apple Bloom gave her a flat look.

Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. No, Ah didn't know bout Rainbow's grandma. Hay, I didn't know anything bout her family before today." She glanced toward the door. "Ah just can't help but feel she's hiding something...."