Rainbow lingered behind Applejack and Pinkie Pie as they followed Twilight into the den where Spike was—Fluttershy having slithered off to say goodbye to her animals and make sure her forest would thrive without her care.
It was cold— obviously it was cold, it was winter— but Rainbow still felt like she was sweating, running her hand through damp fur on her face over and over again. No matter how much she tried to act like everything was fine, like she could totally deal with Twilight and Fluttershy and everything else, Rainbow couldn’t run away from the fact that she was terrified.
She knew that everything would be fine; Twilight and Fluttershy had no reason to go all hostile, and even if they did, Applejack and Rarity, and to a lesser extent herself and Pinkie Pie, could totally take ‘em! Right?
Right, of course!
…but what if they couldn’t?
What if something happened, a fight broke out, and Rainbow froze? What if Twilight was everything she claimed to be, just a humble librarian trying to live a peaceful life, but Fluttershy was everything Celestia always said dragons were? What if Twilight wasn’t what she claimed to be, and was leading Rainbow’s friends into a deathtrap? It’s not like Twilight was unfamiliar with lying to them, after all.
For every reason Rainbow could think of not to worry, she could find three or five or ten reasons to freak out, and she didn’t realize she had fallen so far behind the rest of the group until she looked up and found no one there.
“Guys?” she whimpered pathetically. “Guys!?” she screamed desperately, running through the trees and slamming right into Applejack within seconds, tumbling back and falling on her butt.
“Woah, sugar, you okay?” Applejack asked concernedly, helping Rainbow back to her feet. Rainbow nodded weakly. “You get a little sidetracked and fell behind, huh?” Rainbow nodded again, and she couldn’t bring herself to look at the others.
Applejack sighed, and Rainbow winced, thinking about how Applejack probably thought she was a big loser.
“Y’all wanna hurry on ahead? We’ll catch up in just a sec?” Applejack called out to Pinkie and Twilight.
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie cheered, and off she and Twilight went to the cave.
Rainbow didn’t know what to say, and she dreaded whatever Applejack was gonna say, but then she didn’t say anything; Applejack just lightly grabbed Rainbow’s chin and planted a kiss on her lips.
Rainbow closed her eyes and let herself fall into Applejack’s embrace, Applejack putting her hands on Rainbow’s lower back while Rainbow put hers around Applejack’s shoulders, Applejack delivering one passionate, warm kiss after another until Rainbow had to pull herself away, breathing heavy and cheeks burning, cuz now she was feeling hot for a totally different reason.
“Wh—what was that about?” Rainbow asked, giving a high pitched chuckle and adding “Not that I’m complaining!”
“Figured that’d do ya a world better’n words would,” Applejack said, leaving another gentle kiss on the bridge of Rainbow’s nose. “How ya holdin’ up, hon?”
“Could be better,” Rainbow bit her lip and thought about kissing Applejack, but she couldn’t bring herself to, “but I feel a lot better now, so thanks.”
“Anytime, sweetheart,” Applejack gave Rainbow’s nose another kiss, getting a coy giggle out of Rainbow that instantly embarrassed her, but Applejack crushed that embarrassment into a profound sense of joy by holding Rainbow tight against her chest.
“And hey,” Rainbow said, nuzzling against Applejack’s chest, “please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you feel okay. I know I’m not the only one struggling to deal with this whole… thing.”
“Honestly, Rainbow,” Applejack said as she stroked Rainbow’s mane, “takin’ care of you does make me feel better. But I promise I’ll let you know if there’s anything else, okay?”
“Sounds good,” Rainbow smiled and pounded her fist against Applejack, “uhhh… I still haven’t come up with a cute pet name for you yet.”
“You’ll think of somethin’,” Applejack ruffled Rainbow’s mane, and Rainbow puffed up her cheeks, “you’re a smart pony.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow stuck out her tongue, and Applejack just winked at her teasingly as she turned around, and Rainbow bit her lip cuz damn Applejack was hot.
When Rainbow and Applejack made it to the cave nearby, guided by a faint trail of light left by Twilight, they found Pinkie cuddling Spike in a big, fluffy hug, but no sign of the dragon herself.
“Where’s Twi?” Applejack asked, and before she could get an answer, she was distracted by Spike’s gasp as he noticed them. “Hey kiddo, how’re you doin’?”
“Applejack! Rainbow Dash!” Spike tore himself away from Pinkie and rushed toward the two, Applejack running to him and scooping him up into her arms, where he hugged her and nuzzled against her while she held him up. “You guys don’t hate me, do you? For hiding everything from everyone this whole time?”
“Nah, Spike,” Applejack said comfortingly, “we know you were just tryin’ to do the right thing and protect yer ma, we can respect that.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said hesitantly. Applejack wasn’t wrong, but it still left a bad taste in Rainbow’s mouth to be made a fool of for so long, and by a dragon no less.
“You guys probably hate Twilight though, huh?” Spike said sadly as Applejack put him on the ground.
Pinkie sucked air in through her teeth and shot a pained glance at Rainbow, who quickly looked away from Pinkie and shrugged for no one’s benefit but her own.
Applejack got on one knee and put her hand on Spike’s shoulder.
“Spike, you know I ain’t no liar,” she said solemnly, “so believe me when I tell ya, that nopony hates your mom. We’re all a wee bit mad at her, and some of us are gonna need a lot of time to get our feelings sorted out about this whole mess, but nopony hates her. I promise.”
“Cross your heart?” Spike said weakly.
“Hope to fly,” Applejack said sweetly, holding out her pinkie finger. Spike put his pinkie around Applejack’s and the two said together “Stick a cupcake in my eye!”
The two laughed, and Pinkie joined them for a group hug, leaving Rainbow kinda on the outs. She thought about just bailing, thinking that maybe she wasn’t really needed here, but then Spike walked toward her.
“Rainbow?” he said awkwardly, fidgeting his fingers. “Are you mad?”
Rainbow looked down at the kid and wondered how she could ever justify being mad at a child. Of course she was mad, but… but Applejack wasn’t wrong. Rainbow hated this whole crappy situation, but she didn’t hate Twilight, and she sure didn’t hate Spike.
And she didn’t have the words, or the guts, to articulate any of that garbage.
“I brought you something,” Rainbow slid her bag off her shoulder and put it on the ground, squatting down to rifle through it and procuring a single book; Daring Do and The Razor of Dreams. “A lot of the library got kinda… burned up. But I managed to salvage some stuff. You wanna read it?” Rainbow asked, forcing a weary smile and cursing the damn tears forming in her eyes for like the thousandth time today.
Spike didn’t say anything; he tried, but it came out as blubbery sobs, so he just nodded a bunch and snuggled up with Rainbow and Pinkie Pie as Rainbow cracked open the book.
A lot had changed in a single day, but not everything had to.