//------------------------------// // And You May Find Yourself in a Beautiful House... // Story: Do These Waffles Taste Funny to You? // by tin77 //------------------------------// The thing about happily ever after is that they never quite say what you’re supposed to do when you get there. When one is chasing the future for so long, it’s easy to forget that someday it might be more than just a far-off fantasy. This was a realization that every pony had to decipher at some point. This was the realization that Rainbow Dash had one morning, her breakfast fading from memory. She shook her head, blinking the intrusions away until the waffles on her plate became real again, their warmth an anchor of comfort that reminded her to stay cool, collected, and ready for anything. Yet she could not help but look around and find her surroundings foreign, the solace of the food at odds with a house she had known for so long. The light pouring through the window, the kitchen filled with dirty silverware, these were details turned against her, everyday sights that could no longer be trusted.  At the end of the table was Applejack, investigating the day’s newspaper. For what, Rainbow Dash did not know. There were two types of ponies in Equestria, those who read the newspaper, and those who would much rather live in their own world for a while. Rainbow Dash found herself returning to her waffles. They held but a single bite, the other squares untouched and unloved.  “Hey, Applejack?” AJ dropped her newspaper and stared at her partner, ready for any possible question Rainbow Dash could begin to ask. “Are we… boring?” The farm pony held her gaze, unable to reply. Perhaps she had failed to consider the questions Rainbow Dash was capable of asking. “Now what in tarnation is making ya’ say that?” Dash tensed, forgetting that she had to follow up on the things she said out loud. That was always the hard part. “Don’t get me wrong, my life is pretty awesome as is, but I don’t think I ever realized how… different things are now.” The room grew smaller. Applejack could only do her best to decipher the hidden messages buried underneath, Dash’s statements the surface of a pit much deeper. “Rainbow, if it’s something with us—” “No, of course not! This’ll never get old, ever. That’s a promise. I just… I didn’t think things would be so… slow.” She winced at the word, unable to think of a replacement. It represented everything she sought to avoid, but here she was, saying it right after she had gotten everything she wanted. “Ain’t having too much fun with the Wonderbolts?” “No. It… it isn’t that either.” Applejack let the urge to demand an exact answer pass through her. She had been with Rainbow for too long to do such a thing. Problems like this were vague in nature, they took time and care, and she wanted to find that with as little obstacles as possible. This was the life they lived now, one of simplicity and understanding. To choose any other path would be to undo years of work that only looked to make them happy. “Like I said, life is awesome… It’s that special kind of awesome. But everyone’s so far apart, so far apart…” The sentence trailed off, Rainbow pausing as a second realization dawned upon her. With a single flick of thought, her face plummeted into the waffles, the only means of escape from the consequences of her words. “Uh… Rainbow?” “AJ… I think I miss the past.”  These words came out muffled, Dash’s breakfast acting as a pillow of smothering sympathy. However, the second the room grew silent, the ridiculousness of this washed over her in a wave of self-awareness, embarrassment setting in.  “Well now, nopony said that’s gotta be a bad thing sugarcube. It’s nostalgia. Ah reckon that all you need is something new and exciting, and you’ll be all back to normal.” Rainbow did not budge. To lift her head would require her to acknowledge the possibility that nothing was new and exciting, and she much rather preferred the shelter of the existential batter below. “How about a trip? Or… or a race! Hay, we could go and do that right now! Just get your head out of the waffle, would ya’?” With her pride swallowed, Rainbow faced Applejack directly, no longer interested in breakfast, or any food for that matter. Even in her confusion, there was still somepony sitting across from her. She was glad that somepony was Applejack. “Thanks…” she said, stuttering. "I think it has to do with all of us being… being scattered, y’know? Yeah, we still see each other, but it’s… it’s different. It’s like we’ve…” It’s like we’ve had all the fun that we can have. Even after years of blurting out her thoughts, she could not bring herself to say this. She wasn’t even sure if it was true. She didn’t want it to be true. That was the best part about having friends, right? There were always new ways to fall in love with them. The weight of shared memories worked to make everything more meaningful. Except new experiences could only be new if they were different, and Rainbow Dash didn’t want different. Except she did. But that was the old different, forever locked away in the past. She wanted the new old different and thinking about that for more than thirty seconds revealed it as an impossible paradox that could never exist in any shape or form. The waffles were beginning to seem nice again, but their sogginess offered little protection in the face of a dilemma still growing. “And I feel the same way sometimes Dash. But I grew up with a scattered family, and that only ever made us stronger, ‘cus we always knew we were there for each other, even when separated.” Rainbow Dash finally met Applejack’s eyes. The care, the affection manifested so early in the morning, it was genuine in the truest sense of the word, present in the smallest detail. “Both of us are still here sugarcube. Let’s give one another a helping hoof, alright?” “…Yeah. Alright. That… that would be great.” Despite the offer, Dash couldn’t shake the feeling that she was attacking the very foundation they had built together. No Applejack, I’m not satisfied. That’s what it sounded like. No Applejack, you haven’t made me happy. Panic was setting in and her breakfast could no longer solve anything. “I’m going to fly around for a bit,” she said, moving away from the table. “To gather my thoughts and all that. But when I get back, you still owe me that race, alright?” “Darn tootin’ I do.” Rainbow Dash went through the door, taking flight the second the roof vanished over her head. Applejack watched her go, locked in place long after her partner disappeared. Whatever interest she had in reading the newspaper was gone.