//------------------------------// // Chapter 6- The Conversation // Story: The Book of AppleDash // by Twinsez //------------------------------// Ring Ring “C’mon Rainbow, ah know you’re in there!” Applejack yelled. Still, no response came from the large cloud house. Not that it could really be called a cloud house, seeing as it looked more like a mansion. What with its flowing rainbow waterfalls and palace domes, the whole place seemed to be built just to contain the awesomeness that was Rainbow Dash. Or maybe just to contain her massive ego. Applejack was starting to lose patience with Rainbow. It was getting dark out, and the longer she stayed on the clouds, the less time she had before Twilight’s spell ran out.  “Darn it Rainbow, ah jus’ wanna talk!” Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Rung Ring- The door flew backward and a certain blue Pegasus stood in the opening. Her eyes were puffy and her mane a mess. Her bathrobe was wrapped loosely around her body, and distant mechanical whirring suggested Tank was nearby. It was quite obvious that Rainbow Dash was crying in her bed with her pet turtle before Applejack got here. “What do you want?” Rainbow spat in a hoarse and strained voice that was obviously the result of crying fits. Applejack tried to keep herself from jumping right off the cloud steps right then and there out of guilt. So instead she just chuckled. “Heh, come on Rainbow. It’s what ah was yellin’ about. Ah jus’ wanna talk about what happened. Now let me inside and we’ll jus’ talk this out.” Rainbow instead kept her position in front of the door, preferring to ask another question. “Okay, well how are you even walking on these clouds? Did Twilight have something to do with this?” “As a matter of fact, she did. She said somethin’ about Spike tellin’ her Apple Bloom needed some advice for her and the crusaders. She certainly helped me though more than she helped mah sister.” “Did you tell her anything specific?” Applejack shook her head. “Nah, just that you and I were havin’ friendship problems. That sure convinced her. Listen, can we jus’ talk about this whole thing inside? Mare to mare?” Rainbow Dash just eyed Applejack up and down as if looking to see if this was some big prank for some reason. Applejack couldn’t help but fidget with her hat as Rainbow silently watched her. “Listen Rainbow, it’s fine if you don’t want to talk to me if you’re still angry, but at least tell me you want nothin’ to do with me. It’s gettin’ late, and I don’t want the spell to run out. Heh, that wouldn’t be good, now would it?” Rainbow didn’t seem to care. She seemed perfectly content on just glaring at Applejack, keeping the situation tense. Finally, after what seemed like hours. Rainbow sighed and moved to the side of the foyer to make way for Applejack. “Fine,” Rainbow grunted. “Though I can’t promise I’ll listen to anything you have to say. I’ll meet you in my living room.” Applejack smiled and nodded. “Ah appreciate it sugarcube.” Hey, she’d take anything she could get right now. With that, she entered Rainbow’s house to talk. Applejack visited Rainbow’s home several times before, and yet it still amazed her how incredibly bland her house really was on the inside. You’d think, from the view on the outside, that the inside of the house would be heaven on Equestria. Yet one only needed to step one hoof in her foyer to realize that was just a fantasy. Everything interesting or decorative went to Rainbows bedroom. That’s where she spent the most time in her house when not practicing with the Wonderbolts or showing off in front of Scootaloo. The rest of the house was left in the wind. Literally. The cloud floor and walls were horribly unkempt, with a crack and even a hole appearing every few feet on the surfaces. Applejack was fairly certain that the stove hadn’t even be used, let alone cleaned, in years. She didn’t need to even see the second floor to know that it was probably in a similar shape.  The lights were working fine, but would it kill her to leave the lights on? Only the foyer light was left  Applejack hated to think she’d been crying in the dark. And where was Tank? Probably in the kitchen, but Applejack wasn’t going in there if she didn’t have to.  The “living room” sure was a sorry sight. While the clouds were better kept in here than the other rooms, it was also essentially barren of anything remotely interesting. After turning on the lights herself, Applejack saw… nothing much. There was just a cloud sofa against the right wall, a cloud armchair facing the sofa a couple of feet away, and a cracked glass coffee table in the middle. It was as if somepony told Rainbow that ponies had conversations in living rooms, so she went and put in the most minimal effort to fit the bill. Applejack was no Rarity, but she knew a badly furnished room when she saw one. “Alright, go ahead and take a seat,” Rainbow Dash, causing Applejack to jump. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts that she forgot about the blue Pegasus she was supposed to be talking to. Nodding her head, Applejack made her way over to the armchair (at least it was comfy) and gently sat in it. She watched as Rainbow shuffled over to the sofa before plopping on it and laying down on her back. Good to know she was looking forward to this conversation.  “Alright, well ah guess ah’ll get this thing started,” Applejack started nervously. ‘Come on Applejack. Just like you rehearsed.’ Clearing her throat, Applejack continued. “Ah’m… ah’m sorry with what ah did back at the farm.” “Oh, yippee,” Rainbow Dash said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “You apologized. Now everything can go back to normal again. What joy. Look how happy I am.” Rainbow then clapped her hooves together with the least amount of enthusiasm possible. Applejack fought the urge to face hoof and storm out of the house. She knew Rainbow would be difficult to talk to, but did she have to be so… Rainbow about it? “Alright, let me try that again,” Applejack said, losing patience. “Everythin’ you said about me was true. Apple Bloom made me realize that, in a way. Throughout mah life, ah’ve struggled with my stubbornness. With mah work, mah hobbies… mah friends. All of those ah’ve affected with mah stubborn attitude. Far back as a teen, ah was too scared to make decisions ah was afraid wouldn't turn out too good. And they all cost me too much. “This is just another example, and now it got one of mah friends hurt. Ah shouldn’t have said that to you. Not like that. Ah was too focused on how the whole hat thing affected me that ah forgot you were a part of it too.” That made Applejack remember something. “By the way, where did you put that Oatson?” “Huh? Oh, it’s in my room. Why?” “So you didn’t get rid of it?” Rainbow Dash didn’t answer, but the silence spoke for her. Applejack smiled in the armchair, certain Rainbow Dash was listening to her even if she hadn’t taken her eyes off her ceiling since she laid down. “So ah guess what ah mean by all of that is ah really understand this problem now. And ah promise ah will do mah best to change, and keep ponies from gettin’ hurt.” Rainbow Dash chuckled without any humor added. “Well, I bet you’ll try to do better. But how do I know you’re actually going to keep your word? Because I’m sure we’ve gone through this whole conversation before. What makes this the last time?” Applejacks smile faded. So she was going to have to say it. “Ah can’t promise you ah won’t ever do it again, but ah can promise you I’ll do my best to stop it. And I know one thing that ah should be honest with you about now.” For the first time in the whole conversation, Rainbow turned to look at Applejack, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. “Oh yeah? And what would that be?” Well, here goes nothin.’ “I like you.” To say that sentence made Rainbow Dash happy would be a cosmic understatement. In one swift motion, she was in the air, wings flapping madly. A wide grin was plastered on her face, and even her mane and bathrobe seemed cleaner than they were mere seconds ago. “Are you serious?” “Yes.” “You actually like me?” “Ah jus’ said that.” Like, ME me?” “Darn it Rainbow, how many times do I have to tell ya? Ah like ya, okay?” Rainbow gently lowered herself down on the floor while muttering to herself in her own language. Once she landed, she finally began speaking Equestrian again. “Why didn’t you tell me before?” Okay, NOW Applejack facehooved. “We just went over this sugar cube.” Rainbow paused before rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. “Heh, oh yeah. Guess I kinda forgot why I was mad at you in the first place. Just excited is all. “Well, what do we do now? We both know we like each other, so are we a couple now, or…” Applejack shrugged. “Well ah don’t know about bein’ a couple, considerin’ we haven’t even gone on a date yet.” Applejack looked down on the floor feigning disappointment before looking up at Rainbow with only her eyes while smiling smugly. For once, Rainbow took the hint, and her grin somehow grew even wider. “Oh ho HO! Well then, I think we could arrange one d-“ Rainbow abruptly stopped speaking, her bottom lip quivering and face flushed.  Applejack had a worried expression on her face, and reached over a comforting hoof towards the Pegasus. “Uh, you okay there sugarcube? Is there somethin’ wrong?” “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” “Okay, that can’t be good.” Rainbow was back in the air, her body nearly hanging limp as Rainbow muttered: “I’m not available for, like, two weeks. The Wonderbolts have to practice for a special performance in Canterlot for Nightmare Night. I’m going to be swamped with practices all week.” Applejack nodded sadly. “Come to think of it, ah have to work at the farm also for Nightmare Night. Ah guess we should wait till after, when we find a day all to ourselves so we could talk more about this.” Rainbows head drooped even further. “Yeah, okay. I guess that makes sense.” Rainbow then lifted her head and tilted it slightly to her left. “ “Hey, why are you sinking in my chair?” “Sinking into your chair? Rainbow, what in Tartarus are y-GAAAAAAHH!” Applejack quickly shot out of the armchair. She had been sinking in the seat, nearly reaching her stomach. And she hadn’t even noticed! Darn it, of course Twilight’s spell had to stop working now! Couldn’t it just give her a few more minutes? Before she could start panicking, Applejack felt something wrap around her armpits and lift her effortlessly in the air.  “Hey, dont panic,” Rainbow said calmly. “It’s getting late anyway. Why don’t I fly you back to Sweet Apple Acres, and we’ll talk about the date another time?” There was nothing stopping Applejack from refusing. Most days, she would have. If she moved quickly, she could get down the cloud steps before the spell just stopped working altogether. It wasn’t even that far from the farm, so there would be no real danger in walking alone. The big reason why Applejack would refuse would be the flying itself. Applejack was an earth pony, and on the earth she liked to stay. It took a lot of convincing from Twilight to even come up to the cloud house in the first place. Being up in the air just didn’t sit right with her. She didn’t trust it, so she tended to avoid it at all costs. But today was different. Maybe she should give it a shot. She trusted Rainbow, so she surely would be alright. Maybe she would even like it in a weird sort of way. It was worth a try at least. “Sure sugarcube,” Applejack said, relaxing in Rainbows arms. “Let’s try it.”