//------------------------------// // Part Three // Story: Couples Retreat // by bats //------------------------------// Applejack groaned as she tromped down the hotel hallway. Everything felt like a disaster. The afternoon had drifted to evening, which swirled by in a rush of faces and voices, strong hooves in her spine and a mostly disappointing dinner, sights, sounds, smells, and overwhelming, mind-numbing frustration. “What’re we even doin’ here, Dash?” “No idea,” Rainbow mumbled, her expression worn. Applejack sighed and fetched her hotel key out from under her hat. She pulled the door open and flicked on the light, igniting the crystal chandelier. “Ugh, and this awful room ain’t no different, can’t believe we gotta stay here.” She groaned again and stamped across the floor. “How can nopony, nopony have any problems goin’ on? Even when the map’s been none-too-friendly about sendin’ us somewhere with a problem front and center, we should’a stumbled into it by now.” “Yeah.” Rainbow pulled the door shut and leaned against it as the lock clicked. Applejack glanced back at her, winced, and forced herself to take a deep breath. “Sorry, me bein’ bent outta shape ain’t helpin’, I don’t mean to be unloadin’ on ya, you been there, too.” She rubbed between her eyes with a hoof and sat down on the squishy bed. “Thanks for bein’ there. And for skippin’ the dang movie night.” Rainbow gave her a wan smile. “Psh, it’s fine, When Berry Met Jolly seems like more your sort of movie, anyway.” They shared a grin, then Rainbow’s expression drifted back to reserved. “… You doin’ okay, Dash? You been kinda quiet all day.” Rainbow stopped mid-step in the center of the room, her expression guarded, then she chewed her lip and looked away. “Sorry, just thinking about … stuff.” The anxiety which had been simmering in Applejack’s stomach all day grew hot again and she fidgeted on the bed. “What sorta stuff? You can talk to me about anythin’, you know that, right?” “… Yeah.” Rainbow’s preoccupation only grew on her face, and she quietly slunk over and sat down next to Applejack. “… I know I can, but I dunno if I should.” Applejack fidgeted again, then put her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. Rainbow’s muscles tensed for a bare moment at the contact, then relaxed. “If it’s buggin’ you, I wanna hear it, don’t matter what it is. If I’m doin’ somethin’, I’d want you to tell me.” “It’s not that, it’s just …” She chewed her lip. “I’ve been kinda thinking about, like, why the cutie map might’ve sent us here. Nopony really needs our help. There isn’t really anything special going on where it makes sense for us to be here. The only thing that’s even felt close to being a reason for us being here is …” “… Us talkin’ out when we broke up,” Applejack finished, hesitating for a moment before taking her hoof back. “You still sore, Dash? AB is fine ‘n all, it happened years ago, there ain’t a reason to hold onto bein’ angry over what we almost did.” Rainbow cast a look from the corner of her eye. “Yeah, Dash, we, you weren’t racin’ against yourself. It’s somethin’ we bring out in each other’s all. Can’t really help it none, don’t think. And we can be cross with ourselves all we want for gettin’ that way and nearly hurtin’ AB, but I don’t see no point now, it was a long time ago, ‘n we’ve grown up.” She gave Rainbow a half smile. “Comes a time when ya gotta forgive yourself for stuff.” Rainbow let out a long breath, drawing circles on the bedspread with a hoof. “I know that, and I’m working on it, it might’ve happened a long time ago, but me feeling like this about it’s kinda new, I just need a bit, y’know?” Applejack nodded. “And …” she turned and met Applejack’s gaze, then turned away again, dots of pink on her face. “… B-being angry at myself over what almost happened isn’t really what I’ve been thinking about with all of this, anyway.” Her brow knitting, Applejack cocked her head to the side and leaned forward, trying to catch Rainbow’s eyes again, but Rainbow sunk further down, hiding her face. “… All right, Rainbow, what’s on your mind about it?” Rainbow shrunk in more, and Applejack’s frown deepened. “… Y … you think the friendship problem’s still between us.” Rainbow took another deep breath and ran her hoof through her mane, sitting up straight and giving Applejack a guarded look. Applejack rubbed her muzzle and looked away, staring at the wallpaper’s ugly paisley pattern. “Are you still angry at me?” she asked as a whisper. “No. Are you still angry at me?” “Of course I ain’t, Rainbow.” “… Then how come every time anypony’s even, like, looked at us and smiled this weekend like we were a couple, you’ve flinched? Is the thought of being with me like that really that bad? I know I messed up then and you don’t owe me your forgiveness, but if the cutie map sent us here to fix whatever the heck’s wrong between us, then I want to fix it. You mean too much to me to let it go, anyway, and if I knew you were still angry over this, I would’ve done anything about it before, but you’ve gotta talk to me. Please. Please.” Rainbow grabbed Applejack’s shoulders and looked Applejack in the eyes, her expression full of pain. Applejack felt a ball of guilt well up in her stomach, curdling her dinner, and she squeezed her eyes shut to block out the look. “I ain’t …” She chewed her lip and turned away, hugging herself around the middle and staring at the wall. “I ain’t angry at you, Rainbow, I swear it, I forgave you a long, long time ago and there ain’t nothin’ you need to do to make up for nothin’. Took me longer to forgive myself than it did you, and there’s nothin’ there for us to fix. You’re my best friend, Rainbow Dash, and what happened then don’t change that one bit.” Rainbow slowly turned and joined her in staring at the wall. The beat of silence stretched out as they sat, until finally Rainbow asked, her voice barely above a whisper, “So what’s going on with the flinching stuff? I thought it was funny at first, but I can tell it’s bugging you for real. You don’t want to think of us being together, even for a minute. I know I wasn’t a good girlfriend …” “Dash,” Applejack said sharply, cutting Rainbow off. She looked at Rainbow from the corner of her eye, feeling her pulse in her ears and letting the swirl of emotions that had been threatening to overwhelm her throughout the weekend wash over her. She huffed and closed her eyes. “I ain’t tryin’ to not think about us bein’ together because it was bad.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m tryin’ to not think of it because I miss it so much it hurts.” “Wh-whuh …?” “The two of us are bad for each other, but we’re so good for each other, too, and even when we ain’t gettin’ reminded of what we used to have, I still think about it a lot. I miss how it felt bein’ with you, and it makes me feel like a lovesick filly still holdin’ onto it, but I can’t help it, ‘cause all I remember is …” She dared a sidelong glance, catching Rainbow’s dark blush and look of surprise. “… All I remember’s the smell of you under the apple trees.” She closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. “I ain’t done much datin’ since we, uh … ‘cause every time I try, I keep measurin’ ‘em up against you, and truth is, nopony measures up. Nopony makes me feel the way ya made me feel. And it’s over, and I know I gotta let it go, but I don’t know how.” She ran a hoof through her mane and let out a long sigh. “I’m sure if I just tried with somepony, I’d figure out how, and I’d get someplace where I could feel that way about somepony else again, but life keeps me busy enough I ain’t really got time for that sorta thing. Maybe someday I’ll have time for that and’ll be able to let it go for good, but right now I’m just sorta stuck with … me and my thoughts. So I just try not to think about it.” Feeling her cheeks burn, Applejack hugged herself tighter and looked at the floor. The awful paisley pattern continued in the carpet. “This weekend’s been makin’ me think about it a lot, whether I want to or not, though, and seein’ everypony look at us and smile like that just makes me jealous of the version of us they’re imaginin’.” She felt the strength in her voice trail off, and forced out barely about a whisper, “Sorry for flinchin’ left ‘n right about it, Dash. Wasn’t tryin’ to make you feel bad.” Rainbow shuffled back and forth on the bed. “… You know, I haven’t really ever dated anypony longer than, like, six months?” She let out a weak snicker. “Part of that’s just me, I think, but I’m pretty sure I push everypony away, too, keep them from getting too close, and eventually they figure out that I’m not gonna let them in, and they get tired of it and leave. It hasn’t really bothered me, either, I haven’t wanted to let anypony in since …” Applejack felt some of the shame in her guts unravel as Rainbow spoke, and a heavy, bittersweet wistfulness settled over her. “Yeah …” “… I still think about it a lot, too. I didn’t have to, like, dig deep for that memory I told Morning Breeze. It’s just in my head. A lot.” “… We had somethin’ real good together, sugar—” her voice caught and she cleared her throat “—cube. I wish we didn’t bring out the worst in each other, too, but we did. We still do. We still drive each other into doin’ stuff that can hurt us ‘n the ponies we love, like we almost did with …” She reached for Rainbow’s hoof, hesitated, then let her leg fall to the bedspread. “Ain’t we a fine mess,” she muttered. “Couple’a mares lookin’ for a problem to fix, but there ain’t anything for us to fix. We both want the same dang thing, but know we can’t have it, because all it’d do is end up hurtin’ some more.” She closed her eyes. Rainbow reached a hoof toward Applejack in the silence, then let it fall to the bed. She turned away and fidgeted in place. “… Do … do you think if we were harvesting the orchard right now, it’d end the same way?” She rubbed her shoulder, her gaze dropping to the floor. “I’m not sixteen anymore, and neither are you. I know we can still bring out the worst in each other sometimes, but you’ve grown up so much, AJ, and you were already way more of an adult than I was back then, your worst now is a lot better than it was then.” A beat of silence passed as Applejack held her breath, looking at Rainbow. “… Have I changed at all to you? Am I more of a grownup now, or am I the same dumb kid trying to argue that Apple Bloom wasn’t hurt so why should I have to say sorry?” She turned back to Applejack. “Is that still me?” Applejack kissed Rainbow. Rainbow gasped in surprise into Applejack’s mouth, then pressed in. Applejack felt hooves in her mane, wings on her back, and she tumbled forward until Rainbow was pinned beneath her on the bed. Rainbow smelled the same as she remembered. A knock at the door cut through the silence, and Applejack sat up with a tiny groan. Rainbow panted as she stared up at Applejack, face dazed and flushed. “Who’s there?” Applejack called out. “It’s me, Double Diamond,” he called back through the door. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything, there’s just something going on I think you’ll want to see.” Applejack cleared her throat and climbed off of Rainbow. “Be right there.” She ran a hoof through her mane, then fetched her hat off the floor where it’d fallen. Rainbow got back to her hooves and straightened out her feathers, then patted down her mane, not meeting Applejack’s eyes. She gave a nervous chuckle. “Our, uh, cutie marks still aren’t flashing. Guess that wasn’t it.” Applejack pressed in close until their muzzles were almost touching, earning another gasp from Rainbow. “If it is or ain’t, either way we’re continuin’ this … conversation … later.” Rainbow’s blush darkened and she smiled. “Okay.” “Sorry for kissin’ without askin’ first.” “I’m not complaining.” “No,” Applejack whispered, close enough to feel Rainbow’s breaths on her muzzle. “You ain’t.” She lingered for a moment, feeling the tension between them catch on fire, then turned and headed for the door. She heard Rainbow clear her throat and shuffle in place behind her, and she smiled in satisfaction. It was an old, familiar feeling. She opened the door out to the hallway. Double Diamond gave her a strained smile. “Hi, sorry, I know it’s late.” Applejack shrugged and glanced past Double Diamond, but he was alone in the hallway. “Ain’t a problem. What’s goin’ on Double?” “Well, uh, I’m not sure, but I think maybe your friendship problem finally showed itself?” He turned and took a step, then hesitated, looking back at them. “It’s back in the convention center.” Applejack nodded and stepped out of her room. She glanced back and watched Rainbow fumble with closing the door. She smiled and rolled her eyes, then followed alongside Double Diamond. Rainbow caught up and walked next to her, close enough to where she felt Rainbow’s wing brush her side, then Rainbow flinched, fell behind them a few steps, then caught back up, giving her a wide berth. She looked at Rainbow from the corner of her eye and smiled. Rainbow smiled back, her cheeks pink. “… You two, um, having a good night?” Double Diamond asked, his tone somewhere between amused and puzzled. “I definitely interrupted something, didn’t I?” Applejack’s smile faltered and she chewed her lip as her face warmed up. “… Maybe ya did interrupt somethin’. Somethin’ that, ah, probably should’a happened earlier.” Rainbow shot her a smoky sidelong glance and closed the gap between them by a step. Double Diamond giggled out, “Sorry,” and Applejack felt her blush darken. “I thought that there might have been a, erm, reason why you skipped the movie night, especially after seeing you two at lunch today. This all could maybe wait until morning …” With a sigh, Applejack shook her head. She muttered, “‘Course now everypony’s knowin’ looks are right,” to herself, then turned back to Double Diamond and answered, “Figurin’ out why the dang map sent us here’s real important, and our somethin’ can wait a bit.” She looked to Rainbow. “Yeah?” “Yeah, it’d be super awful if we missed fixing the stuff we got sent here for because we didn’t check.” Rainbow flashed a lopsided smile. “Plus I think that afterwards you’re gonna have the chance to pin me to the bed a bunch of times.” Double Diamond snorted as Applejack’s eyes shot open, her steps faltering. “Rainbow!” “What, is it a secret now?” Rainbow grinned and stepped closer. “You’re right it should’ve happened earlier.” Applejack smiled despite herself. They’d fallen behind from Double Diamond, barely moving forward in the hallway as they paid closer attention to each other than where they were walking. “Yeah, but …” Rainbow stepped closer again, until their flanks were touching, and she dropped her tone to barely above a whisper. “Everypony here thought it already, anyway.” Applejack let herself snicker and pressed her neck into Rainbow’s. “All right, fine, you’re right, sugar, it don’t matter none who knows or not, ‘n they can think what they want while we figure out what all this is now.” A bit of the uncertainty reentered Rainbow’s expression. “You want me to give you some space ‘til we figure this out?” “… No.” After a few steps in silence, flank to flank, Rainbow opened her wing and slipped it over Applejack’s back. Applejack felt her heart thunder in her chest as a nostalgic hum of emotions made her shiver. She pressed into Rainbow. “Oh, stars and moon, I missed how that felt.” She resisted the urge to bury her face in Rainbow’s mane. “We really gotta talk all this out, sugar, I still ain’t sure this is a good idea of if I’m just lettin’ my feelin’s drag me along, but wonderin’ about that that can wait ‘til later. Right now, let’s just … let our feelin’s drag us along some, and see where they take us. Stay as close to me as ya want, okay?” “Okay,” she whispered back. Applejack straightened up, but kept close enough for the wing to stay on her back, and they sped up to rejoin Double Diamond, who looked like he was about to start whistling nonchalantly. They crossed out of the hotel hallway and walked into the convention center. “So what all is it you’re showin’ us?” “It’s, uh, somepony put up … I guess graffiti outside of the movie room. You’ll see in a second.” “Figures,” Applejack grumbled. “Spend all day lookin’ high and low for anythin’, and somethin’ happens at the first thing we decide to skip.” Double Diamond flashed a knowing smile. “I don’t blame you for skipping to try and sort out your something instead.” Applejack chuckled. “That wasn’t why we skipped, it just sorta ended up workin’ out that way.” She lowered her tone and said to Rainbow, “Really I wanted to skip ‘cause sittin’ through a romantic movie with you when I was tryin’ to not think about this sounded like torture. Watchin’ it sounds a lot better now, but, ah, I recall that somepony said it wasn’t her style’a movie, huh?” “I’m up for watching it if we can just make out the whole time.” Applejack chuckled and shook her head as they slowed, stopping just outside of the convention room that had been set up for the movie night. Double Diamond turned away from the door, facing the outer circle of the convention hall, and pointed at the wall. Across the wall, scrawled in spray paint, read, ‘The honeymoon phase never lasts,’ in jitters and drips. A jagged spray underlined it back and forth, making the message look far angrier than the words itself would imply. Double Diamond gave a strained smile, swept his hoof in a circle, and said, “Ta-da …” Applejack frowned at the wall and shook her head. “Eesh. That probably ain’t the healthiest thing to be writin’ on a wall.” She felt Rainbow’s wing slip off her back and tried to ignore the pang of disappointment she felt. Rainbow jumped up and hovered in the air a few feet off the ground, just in front of the writing. “I don’t think an earth pony could’ve done this, unless they had a ladder.” She moved sideways the few feet the message took up on the wall. “And enough time to move the ladder a few times.” “Well, they might have had time, the movie basically just started, it’s still going on,” Double Diamond said. “I only noticed it because I had to use the little colt’s room, and between that and getting you two, it’s been a few minutes and it doesn’t look like anypony else has seen it yet. They could’ve painted it right when the movie started and nopony would have bothered them.” With a shrug, Rainbow turned to Applejack. “Still, probably more likely it’s a pegasus or a unicorn, don’t you think, AJ?” Applejack looked the wall over with a frown and took the few paces down the hall to cover the length it took up. “I ain’t so sure. I reckon I could probably write it without needin’ a ladder or nothin’ if I used my tail.” She gave a faint smile. “I mean, I reckon I could if I practiced for a while first, ain’t never used a can’a spray paint before. But I learned how to lasso with my tail, spray paintin’ ain’t gonna be that much different.” “Huh.” Rainbow landed and shrugged. “So I guess it could be anypony, then.” “Eeyup.” Applejack turned to Double Diamond. “Know if anypony else skipped the movie night?” He shrugged. “No idea, but probably. It isn’t a packed room in there.” “Hrm.” The door to the movie room opened and Party Favor slipped out into the hall. “Oh, that makes sense,” he said, glancing around. “I was wondering why it was taking so long, Double. I thought maybe you fell in.” Double Diamond smirked and rolled his eyes. “Not getting rid of me that easily, Party.” Party Favor snickered as he walked over and nuzzled Double Diamond’s neck. “Sorry I’m missing the movie.” “It is awfully cold without you in there.” He straightened up and looked over the wall. “I understand why, though.” He flashed a look over at Applejack and Rainbow. “Can’t catch a break, huh?” Applejack shrugged. “It’s nice to have somethin’ to go off of for why we’re here, at least.” She added in a mutter under her breath, “Could’a waited ‘til mornin’, though.” Rainbow snickered and Applejack cracked a grin. “Heard that, did ya?” “You’re not wrong.” She pressed into Applejack’s side. Party Favor looked from Rainbow to Applejack, then turned and gave Double Diamond a wry smile. “Did you interrupt them, hon?” He sighed. “Of course I did, my timing’s always terrible.” “Well, thank Celestia there was something to interrupt, I thought I was going to have to meddle.” He flashed a smile at Applejack and Rainbow, then looked over the graffiti. Applejack muttered, “Is it really just ‘cause we’re at a couples retreat that everypony’s been thinkin’ it, or is it that everypony could tell we were makin’ moon eyes when the other wasn’t lookin’?” She sighed. “‘Course I’m the last to know.” Rainbow shrugged. “Hey, I thought you were still pissed at me.” Party Favor shrugged at the graffiti and said, “Well there’s at least one couple that didn’t skip the movie to resolve their relationship issues, I guess.” He turned to Applejack and Rainbow again. “So what sort of thing happens now? Do you interview people or something? Do you have any leads?” Applejack cracked a smile and shook her head. “We ain’t exactly the city guard or nothin’, Party, we’re just a couple’a ponies who’re gonna try and …” She looked at the graffiti and let out a little sigh. “Fix a broken heart, I guess. Or at least try and push ‘em in the direction of fixin’. We’ll keep pokin’ around ‘til we find somethin’ out, more or less, and hopefully things’ll start to fall into place.” With a nod, Party Favor said, “Sounds messy, I like it.” He pressed into Double Diamond’s side, and feeling Rainbow’s warmth next to her, Applejack realized the two couples were mirroring each other. “Need our help?” Applejack frowned and turned to Rainbow, who felt tantalizingly close as she shrugged. Applejack shrugged back. “’Preciate the offer, but I think we can manage for now. If we need some extra hooves or somethin’, we’ll ask, all right? Y’all can go back to enjoyin’ your movie.” Double Diamond muttered, “It wasn’t the movie I was enjoying,” making Party Favor’s cheeks turn red and Rainbow snicker, then the two waved and headed back into the movie room. Applejack sighed again as she stepped away from the warmth of Rainbow’s side and looked over the graffiti with a frown. “… You, uh …” Rainbow cleared her throat. “You want to see what we can figure out about this tonight, or …” Biting her lip, Applejack buried her face in Rainbow’s mane, making Rainbow let out a breathless chuckle and nuzzle back. “What I wanna do is kiss you again, sugar, but I’m afraid I got an idea about where to start lookin’, so we better not.” As Applejack leaned back from the nuzzle, Rainbow’s hoof caught her jaw and led them muzzle to muzzle. Applejack closed her eyes as Rainbow kissed her, pressing into her mouth with a firm, but calm certainty, far away from the electrifying kiss in the hotel room. Applejack let out a sigh through her snout and pulled Rainbow closer. Rainbow felt more gentle than she remembered, more patient. As the kiss broke and Rainbow pressed their foreheads together, Applejack didn’t feel overwhelmed by nostalgia. She wondered if maybe change could be a really good thing. She grinned. “I said we better not now, sugar.” “I kept it short.” “You’re a real pain in the rump, you know that?” “Duh.” Rainbow straightened and turned to press into Applejack’s side again. “So what’s your idea for where to start looking?” Applejack straightened her hat on her head, then started walking down the hallway, heading back past the entrance to the hotel. “It ain’t much of an idea, to be honest, but seein’ it up on the wall like that reminded me that the ticket salespony said honeymoon phase to me after you headed for the room.” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “She did?” “Eeyup. It ain’t much of a phrase only she says or nothin’ though, but it’s somethin’, anyway, and plus I ain’t sure Double Diamond told anypony else ‘bout it but us, too, so we oughtta tell somepony who works here about it.” “I guess so.” Rainbow frowned and rubbed her cheek as they walked. “Why’d she say it to you, anyway? That’s sort of a weird thing to just say when buying tickets and stuff.” “We weren’t talkin’ ‘bout tickets then. She said she reckoned we’d be back in our honeymoon phase after the weekend was over, seein’ as she thought we’d come as a couple’n all.” She felt her mouth twitch up in a half smile. “She also called you my firecracker. Didn’t seem so fittin’ at the time, but I gotta admit …” Rainbow snickered. “I bet you were super annoyed by the end of talking to her.” “The real thing that’s annoyin’ is that it’s lookin’ like she was right about us. Feelin’ less and less like ponies assumin’ things and more that everypony knew it before we did.” She bumped her shoulder playfully into Rainbow, who bumped back with a laugh. “To be fair, they were just assuming things, right up until the point where they weren’t anymore. And, like … maybe they won’t all end up being right.” Rainbow’s smile faded and she gave Applejack a guarded look as they walked. “Listen, Dash …” “I know, we’ve still got stuff to figure out and we’re just enjoying this for now, I’m cool with that. And I’m cool with it if, when we do figure out the stuff, we decide to just, like, leave it here as a weird weekend or whatever.” Applejack frowned in thought. “You feelin’ right now like you’re gonna want to leave it here as a weird weekend?” Rainbow fidgeted. “… I mean, I dunno. I could deal if that’s what we end up doing. Whatever happens …” She stopped short and met Applejack’s eyes. “Whatever happens, this time it’s not gonna end with me lying again and telling you it didn’t mean anything to me.” Applejack studied Rainbow’s face for a moment. For all the years they’d known each other, it had gotten really easy to tell when Rainbow was being earnest. It poured off her like heat from a fire. “… You really have grown up a lot since then, sugar.” Rainbow cracked a lopsided smile, then turned back toward walking. “Still bounce around on trains without something to read, though.” “I said grown up, not keeled over.” Rainbow laughed as they rounded on the doorway they’d come in through the day before. The ticket box office sat dark and empty, and the doors outside had been locked up for the night. Applejack stepped up to the box office and peered inside through the glass. The small room was also shut down and dark, with the desk cleared and the register tucked away somewhere else out of sight. A lone bell for service sat on the counter, just in front of the opening in the window. Applejack dinged it. Rainbow lifted up in a hover and squinted into the tiny office. She landed with her hooves up on the counter next to Applejack and rubbed their shoulders together. “Think they’re closed up.” A sly grin spread across her muzzle. “We could check in with her in the morning and for now go back to our hotel room and continue where we—” the light in the box office snapped on and Rainbow’s teeth clacked together. “Rats,” she muttered, stepping back from the glass as the back door in the office opened. Applejack shot an amused smile at Rainbow as a member of the convention’s staff came into the box office. It wasn’t the same pony that sold them their tickets, but rather a stallion just a scant few years older than Apple Bloom, looking anxious and like he hadn’t quite finished growing into his teeth. “Can I help you, ma’am? Is something the matter?” Rainbow grumbled and said, “We were looking for—” “Actually,” Applejack interrupted, “we wanted to make sure y’all knew that somepony defaced somethin’ on the wall outside the movie room.” He raised his brows. “Defaced?” “Yeah. It looked like somepony took a spray can to it and wrote somethin’.” He let out a long sigh, then gave Applejack a strained smile. “Thank you, ma’am, someone will have it cleaned up right away, ma’am.” He turned away, muttering, “Sternbuck’s gonna love this, he’s probably gonna make me clean it,” under his breath. Applejack called after him. “I also got somethin’ I wanna ask you.” He stopped short, then cast her a wary look, and Applejack got the impression he was fearful she was about to dump more work on him. She gave him a polite smile. “Do you know if the ticket salespony who was in this booth yesterday’s here right now?” His brow knit. “The, uh, salespony …?” “Mare, red mane in curls, wears readin’ glasses, couple years older’n me?” “Oh, Candy Drop,” he said. “I’m not sure she’s working tonight. I could, uh … check for you if you want …” He shuffled his hooves, the wary look growing stronger. Applejack sighed internally. “That’s all right, I’m sure ya got the paint to deal with already, we’ll check in the mornin’.” She stepped away from the box office and turned to Rainbow. Rainbow waggled her brows. “Checking in the morning now?” She gave Rainbow an amused glare and headed back down the hall. “Real temptin’ and all, but we gotta at least try.” “I know, I know,” Rainbow giggled, catching up and pressing into Applejack’s side. As they walked, Applejack felt Rainbow’s wing slide over her back and grip her flank, feathers tickling along her sides, sending a shiver up her spine. “Not totally ruining some poor teenager pony’s night isn’t a good reason to stop, we still have to do the whole cutie map friendship thing if we can.” She pressed in closer to Applejack’s ear and murmured, “A girl can still think about other stuff, though.” Applejack shivered again. Rainbow chuckled, nipped Applejack’s ear, then refocused on looking ahead of them. “So where should we look next and stuff? Do you want to, like, poke around looking for Candy Drop, or whoever, or should we just see what we can find?” Applejack cleared her throat and tried to will the fine hairs of her coat to stop standing on end. “Li’l of both, I’m thinkin’. We’ll see what we can find while keepin’ an eye out for Candy Drop. Worst comes to worst, we can take a gander at everypony soon as the movie’s over, see if anypony there looks like they know somethin’ or they’ve got a guilty conscience.” “Sounds good. After that, if still nothing, we calling it a night?” “Eeyup, reckon so, there ain’t gonna be a ton of ponies hangin’ around after that.” She leaned in closer. “Plus we don’t wanna be up that much later before headin’ back to the room, if we plan on sleepin’ at all tonight.” Rainbow’s cheeks turned red and she bit her lip. “I like where this is going.” “Figured you would.” They crossed back in front of the graffiti and movie room, rounding the convention center together. Most of the other rooms sat dark as they passed, poking their heads in here and there where lights were on, looking for anypony out of the ordinary. The warmth of Rainbow’s body right next to hers grew more distracting to Applejack over time, as their slow circuit around the convention center felt less like a search for somepony and more like a quiet walk. A quiet walk at night with a pony who made her heart race. Applejack wasn’t positive she took much of anything in from their surroundings, but was pretty sure they didn’t pass by anypony who wasn’t convention staff, none of whom were Candy Drop. They slowed in their circling as they came to the movie room again, casting sympathetic looks at the poor teenage stallion up on a stool scrubbing off the graffiti. Rainbow murmured, “Oof, we did ruin his night.” “Had to ruin somepony’s, I guess.” “Only fair after Double had to go and ruin ours.” Applejack dropped her tone lower. “Our night ain’t ruined yet,” she said, and Rainbow ran the tips of her feathers over the base of Applejack’s tail, making her laugh. The stallion glanced down at them as they passed. “Oh, excuse me, ma’am?” As Applejack glanced up, he offered a strained smile. “Candy Drop’s shift ended early this afternoon, but she’s scheduled tomorrow morning. I checked the board for you.” Applejack sighed inwardly, but returned the smile. “Thank ya kindly, sir. Hope that paint’s comin’ off without too much fightin’.” He shrugged and returned to his work, muttering, “It beats cleaning the toilets,” mostly to himself. As they circled away again, past the same empty rooms, Applejack said, “There went my idea.” “Another time around, see what we see?” Applejack nodded. “Guess so.” She cracked a grin and pressed her shoulder into Rainbow. “And knock that off with your wing.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Rainbow flashed a grin as they continued their loop around the building. A loop made up of far more light touches and stolen glances than any sort of focus on what they passed, followed by a third loop with even more distraction. Between everything, Applejack couldn’t even be sure if they ran into any of the staff as they went. She let out a chuckle as Rainbow’s feathers drifted over her cutie mark. “You’re doin’ that on purpose, sugar.” “What, and that thing you’re doing with your tail isn’t on purpose?” She flicked her tail back into Rainbow’s side. “Course it is.” Rainbow giggled and flicked her back. “AJ, I thought we were supposed to be looking for somepony, not trying to see who can get the other one worked up the most.” “We can do both.” She winked and flicked Rainbow harder, earning a small gasp. “Plus we both know who’s gonna win.” Rainbow’s blush darkened and she smiled. “Maybe. Something like this really isn’t about winning, though.” She leaned closer. “Also I can still try to win.” She pressed in the rest of the way and licked Applejack’s neck. Applejack let out a laugh, then bumped shoulders with Rainbow as she giggled. “Knock it off, sugar, we are distractin’ ourselves too much, we’re gonna miss somethin’ important if we’re not care—” “You’re both enjoying the con, I see,” said Morning Breeze, peeking out from the therapy room with a smile. “… Ful,” Applejack finished as they came to a halt. She felt a chagrined smile spread over her face at the same time as a blush heated up. “This is your fault, Dash,” she muttered under her breath. Rainbow snickered and bumped her. “I think it’s both our faults.” She turned to Morning Breeze. “Pretty good con so far.” She flashed Applejack a sideways grin. “Is this a recent development?” she asked, looking back and forth between them with a polite smile. “It wasn’t my place to say it, but after our initial session, I suspected this might be the outcome of the weekend between you two.” “Tellin’ you, everypony knew except us, sugar.” “If everypony knew, they could’ve waited for the dumb graffiti ‘til morning and given us a break.” Morning Breeze’s smile vanished and she raised an eyebrow. “Graffiti?” As Rainbow explained what happened to Morning, Applejack let her thoughts wander and found herself focusing on the feeling of the wing over her back. She pressed in closer to Rainbow’s warmth, feeling a well of different emotions churn inside. In the brief reprieve, an antsy thought broke through the giddy excitement, and she wondered if letting her emotions drag her through the night was actually a good idea. She wondered if they ought to sit down and sort everything out soon as they could, before things got out of hoof and they ended up hurting each other. She knew they were too close for there to be any possible way for their friendship to be in jeopardy, but it didn’t make any sense to cause each other pain just because it would be okay in the end. Another part of her was really, really content to let her emotions drag her through the night, because she knew exactly where they’d end up. “Hmm,” Morning Breeze said as Rainbow finished. “And you believe the graffiti is likely the friendship problem you’ve been sent to fix? Is it a typical sort of friendship problem?” Rainbow’s smile faded and she exchanged a look with Applejack. “I mean …” Applejack sighed and shook her head. “Bein’ honest, no, not really. Friendship problems from the cutie map are about somethin’ breakin’ down between ponies, somethin’ that’s leadin’ them to hurt each other, ‘n maybe everypony around ‘em, too. Bit’a paint on the wall ain’t really a friendship problem, it’s a problem for the staff, maybe the city guard. All we’re goin’ on from it is maybe whatever led to somepony puttin’ it up is what we’re here for, that it ain’t the friendship problem, just a sign of the real one.” “Plus it’s, like, the only thing that’s happened this weekend,” Rainbow added. Her eyes narrowed and she gave Applejack a thoughtful look. “Only thing that happened that wasn’t … y’know.” Applejack searched Rainbow’s face, letting herself cast a fleeting, fond smile, then sighed and nodded. “Eeyup, ain’t gonna try and deny that none. Only thing that’s really felt like it’s what we’re here for was what’s goin’ on between us.” Rainbow gave a rueful smile and shook her head. “But then our cutie marks didn’t flash and now we’re back at the start.” Her smile turned warmer and she pressed her neck against Applejack’s. “Well, okay, not totally back at the start.” Applejack chuckled and hugged her close. Morning Breeze tapped her chin. “Hmm, that is quite interesting. I can’t say I’m an expert on, ah, magical forces by any stretch of the imagination, but it strikes me as odd that you’d get sent all the way here and go through an emotional upheaval like rekindling a relationship, and for that to be a coincidence.” Applejack held Rainbow’s gaze in silence for a few moments. “… That is pretty dang odd.” “But our cutie marks didn’t go off.” Applejack chewed her lip. “We, uh, still got some talkin’ to do, though, huh?” A brief look of dread passed over Rainbow’s face, then she sighed and nodded. “Yeah, guess that’s true.” She turned her attention to Morning Breeze, her stance suddenly feeling rigid and awkward against Applejack. “We, uh, haven’t really, like, decided anything with this yet, it just sorta happened.” Morning’s expression smoothed back into a mask of polite professionalism as she glanced back at the door to the convention’s couples therapy room. “Well, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, if you wanted a safe space to talk these things out, you do have an unused private session for today. It’s a little late, but …” her doctorly smile cracked to something more genuine for a moment, “for colleagues of Princess Twilight, I’m comfortable making an exception.” A wave of unease settled over Applejack again, and she saw it reflected in Rainbow’s face. “… Um,” she muttered. Rainbow forced a smile. Applejack leaned in closer, her voice barely above a whisper. “Ya wanna, sugar?” “… Um.” “… I know we were plannin’ on …” she dropped her tone lower for a moment, “goin’ back to the room next.” She felt her face warm up at the same time as Rainbow gave her smoky eyes. She cleared her throat and shuffled her hooves, trying to not feel reluctant as she continued. “But, uh, we probably oughtta talk it out first. If not with Mornin’, then on our own.” “… Yeah, you’re probably right.” Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane and glanced sidelong at Morning Breeze. “Think I’m … feeling a little private about it right now.” “I getcha.” Applejack felt some of the tension unravel in her stomach. “Me too, I think. Might be better if we did, though, it was talkin’ things out with her that got us here in the first place.” “We were, like, working it out on our own before, though.” A lopsided smile crossed her face. “And I don’t mean before we got interrupted, we’ve been talking about figuring all this out off and on all night, we’ve just been busy with the graffiti thing.” “Fair.” Applejack shifted her weight from one set of hooves to the other. “… If we don’t figure it out just us before tomorrow, you up for another therapy thing then?” Some of the tension left Rainbow’s shoulders. “That works.” Applejack smiled, then turned back to Morning Breeze. “I think we’re gonna pass for the night. If’n things still ain’t on solid ground, we’ll take ya up on it tomorrow.” Morning gave them an indulgent smile and nodded. “That sounds reasonable. I hope you two have a nice night then.” She headed off in the direction of the hotel while the anxiety grew back in the pit of Applejack’s stomach. Rainbow shuffled next to her. “Should we, uh …” She glanced around the empty hallway. “We could probably grab a spare room and talk? Or, like, are you hungry or something? We might find some place that’s open where we could sit with coffee …” She scuffed her hooves on the ground. “Or, like, we could go back to the hotel room.” The antsy feeling in her guts flipped and Applejack chewed her lip. Coffee or a spare convention room sounded really public to her, even if they were left well enough alone, but the hotel room’s privacy carried other tantalizing distractions and thoughts. Applejack wasn’t sure that was a negative. After a moment, she said, “Hotel room okay with you? We can put up the do not disturb tag’n know nopony’s gonna bug us.” “Okay.” As they headed in the same direction Morning Breeze had gone, the late night walk turned stiff and nervous, their bodies still side by side, but the playful touches and stolen glances vanished as they pointedly kept their eyes trained forward. Tension mounted as they crossed the convention center and Applejack felt swallowed up by the silence, trying to think of something to say. She let out the breath she was holding as they approached the movie room and hit the crowd of ponies milling in the hall. “Looks like the movie’s out,” she said as they got swallowed up by the group. As they walked, the flow of ponies pushed them closer to the outside wall, and Applejack slowed as they neared what remained of the graffiti, mostly scrubbed away to a faded haze. A small group of ponies stood around beneath the teenager as he cleaned, and Applejack raised her brows. Bunnyhop and Clydesdale stood next to a staff member, a unicorn stallion a touch on the portly side with sharp features who Applejack guessed must be Sternbuck. With the crowd noise, Applejack could only barely hear the string of conversation coming out of Bunnyhop and Clydesdale as they talked over each other. “I’m so, so sorry this happened—” “I wasn’t thinking straight and immediately regretted it, that’s why we’re telling—” “Bun and I just had a … not really an argument, but—” “I’m so embarrassed—” “If you need to get the city guard involved, I understand, and we’re happy to pay any cleaning fee—” Applejack let the crowd push her along and she shook her head. “Figures.” Rainbow leaned in closer. “You say something, AJ?” Anxiousness danced back to life in her stomach. “Oh, nothin’, just, uh, got reminded why leavin’ things alone forever ain’t always the best idea.” She cracked a small smile. “Also, our cutie marks ain’t flashin’, so it wasn’t the dang graffiti, neither.” Rainbow glanced over her shoulder and gave Applejack a chuckle. “Of course it wasn’t. Everypony’s just messing with us at this point.” Rainbow bumped her shoulder into Applejack, who laughed and bumped back, taking care to be gentle and not send Rainbow careening into somepony else. Some of the tension felt like it left with the laughter, and Applejack reveled in the reprieve of needing to think of something to say, if only for a few minutes. She knew they had to face things head on, before one of them ended up painting something on the wall. They crossed into the hotel surrounded by the hum of the crowd. As they broke away from the group and approached their hotel room, the tension redoubled in force so hard, Applejack wondered if the comfortable moment even happened. Her throat felt dry as she unlocked the room and stepped inside. Rainbow headed deeper into the room as she put up the card on the door, then chewed her lip as she turned to face Rainbow. “So, uh …” Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her head. “Are … do you wanna figure out if this is a good idea?” She scuffed a hoof on the carpet, looking down. “How, uh, do we figure that out?” “… I dunno, sugar. I dunno how we figure that out. I wasn’t plannin’ on thinkin’ about this ‘til tomorrow.” “… What were you planning on doing tonight?” Applejack met Rainbow’s gaze in silence. A blush spread over Rainbow’s face. “O-oh, right.” “I was just … lettin’ my feelin’s drive,” Applejack said quietly. “There’s a lot new I noticed walkin’ around with you tonight, Dash, but a lot I remember, too. Lot of … missed things.” She took a step forward, which Rainbow matched. “If this just ended up bein’ a weird weekend, and nothin’ else, I wanted to feel some of that again and …” She sighed and shrunk back a step. “But I don’t wanna hurt you none. I don’t wanna turn this into somethin’ ‘n then we decide it ain’t what we want. It’s probably better to not, and figure it out now.” “… Maybe you taking me to bed is part of us figuring it out, though.” Applejack felt her face heat up and she searched Rainbow’s expression. “… Maybe. I don’t wanna hurt you, though, sugar.” “I don’t want to hurt you, either, AJ.” She stepped closer, turning the gap into inches. “… Maybe we’re gonna hurt each other a little bit no matter what we do, or maybe not. Stuff like that just sorta happens sometimes. Either way, I’m not gonna get angry at you over it, we’re both figuring this out.” She took another step, their muzzles close enough that all Applejack would need to do was sway forward for them to meet, then Rainbow hesitated, leaning back again. “… We could still try to figure it out now, though. Where’d your feelings end up driving you, AJ? Do you know what you’re wanting from this any more than you did when you kissed me?” Applejack’s throat still felt dry, but the tension in the room had shifted the closer Rainbow got and the more she spoke, and Applejack’s thoughts felt scattered and half-formed. Being honest with herself, she wasn’t sure she knew anything about her feelings, with one exception. She took the step forward, their muzzles almost touching. “I want you, sugar,” she breathed. “I dunno the other stuff, but right now, I …” She felt Rainbow sway closer and their lips met again, not frantic and rushed like the first kiss, nor sweet and gentle like the second, but instead bare, earnest, and yearning. Applejack leaned into it, feeling Rainbow slip backwards, and swept Rainbow up in one leg. Rainbow wrapped her hooves around Applejack’s neck and let herself be carried, the kiss breaking for a bare moment as they crossed to the bed, just long enough for Rainbow to whisper, “I’ve missed you,” before pressing in again. Applejack slid Rainbow onto the bed and kicked the canopy closed behind them. Rainbow felt warm and wild underneath her, nostalgic and new, rough and gentle, a delirious whirl of contradictions and sensations Applejack couldn’t hope to make heads or tails of in her thoughts. She didn’t try to. The sunrise filtered through the canopy drapes as Applejack fell asleep with Rainbow in her hooves. Applejack stretched and felt Rainbow against her. She stifled a yawn and blinked herself awake while staring up at the bed canopy, then rolled over and wrapped Rainbow up in her legs. “Mm,” Rainbow murmured, pressing back into her. “Hey, AJ.” “Mornin’, sugar.” She kissed Rainbow’s neck. Rainbow chuckled. “It’s afternoon now. Late afternoon. The convention’s over in, like, half an hour.” Applejack let out a sigh and nuzzled in closer. “Course it is. We should probably get up then.” “Ugh, why would we do that?” She reached back over her shoulder and stroked Applejack, running her hoof along Applejack’s jawline and into her mane. “Mm.” She kissed Rainbow’s neck again. “Stayin’ like this is awful temptin’. You’re gonna miss out on that last massage if we do that, though.” “Aw man, you’re right.” “And if we were gonna take Mornin’ Breeze up on that last round of talkin’, we’d need to get a move on now. Probably ain’t got time for both.” She felt her stomach rumble. “Plus I’m gettin’ hungry, might be better to grab … lunch, I guess? Dinner? The heck time is late afternoon, anyway?” Rainbow chuckled and rolled in the embrace until she could press her face into Applejack’s neck. “Too late for lunch and too early for dinner. But food sounds good, even if we miss out on massages and stuff. Maybe we can actually for real get poutine this time. I asked around a bit yesterday, there’s a food cart a block and a half away that’s supposed to be good.” “Maybe third time’s the charm.” Applejack cracked a grin. “How angry are you gonna be if it turns out the cutie map sent us here to get me to try real poutine?” Rainbow snorted, then laughed against Applejack, hugging her closer. “After this weekend? I’m not gonna be angry at all.” Applejack’s grin widened. “Me neither.” After putting it off for several more moments, languidly stretched out in each other’s embrace, they got out of bed and milled around the room to get ready. Cleaned up and straightened out, they headed out of the room, through the hotel, and out to the streets in a comfortable silence. Past an office building and a series of apartments, they came to a little wedge of a park running between buildings. Calling it a park was maybe a stretch of the word, Applejack thought, as it was barely more than a patch of grass with a hoofpath and a few cement picnic tables, but she couldn’t think of a better thing to call it. A food cart sat on the sidewalk just in front of the park. Applejack paid for a pair of poutines, then they crossed over to a picnic table. “So,” Applejack said, looking down at the light brown blobs of gravy studded with pops of white cheese and fried hay in paper baskets, “is this real poutine?” She slid one over to Rainbow. “Yep. We found it.” Rainbow took a bite and smiled. “And it’s good poutine, too!” “The search is over, Rarity ain’t gonna be cross with me, it’s a miracle.” Applejack took her own bite, feeling the cheese squeak in her teeth. Crispy and gooey, mild and savory, she recognized bits and pieces of the almost-poutines she’d had over the weekend, and understood why Rainbow had kept saying not really when asked whether they tasted like the real thing. Applejack understood why Rarity pushed for her to try it in the first place, too. “Well, that hits the spot. Real stick-to-your-ribs sorta thing.” Rainbow nodded as she demolished her order. She sat back on the bench and mimed looking down at her side. “Crud, that wasn’t the mission, either.” Applejack snorted and shook her head. “I’d be havin’ some choice words with the dang map if it was. “So that means the only thing left is that it wants us to start a roller derby team, right?” “That’s gotta be it.” Her smile turned small and shy as she looked over Rainbow’s face, her tone lowering to match. “Jokin’ aside, I think we both know what the mission is for real.” Rainbow met Applejack’s gaze and returned the smile. She ran a hoof through her mane and dropped her gaze back to her food. “You, uh, wanna try and figure it out now?” “Reckon we probably oughtta.” “So, uh … last night was really fun. You, um, have any thoughts?” She reached a hoof across the table and took Rainbow’s. “You keep askin’ me how I’m feelin’ about it, how are you feelin’, sugar? You ain’t never been one to dither in as long as I’ve known ya, and I’ve been thinkin’ you’ve been just keepin’ quiet on your feelin’s to try and give me space.” Applejack took a bite of her food. Rainbow mumbled under her breath and shuffled on the bench. “I was just … what was your plan when you kissed me?” Applejack started laughing and nearly choked on her mouthful. She reigned herself in and swallowed. “Plan? I ain’t got a plan, and I definitely didn’t have one when I kissed ya. If you wanna know why I kissed ya, it’s …” She paused and chewed her lip. “I’ve just been … overwhelmed, I guess. More this weekend’s gone on, the more it’s felt like a fight to keep my hooves off you, ‘cause I’ve just wanted to feel close to you again. I was just tuned up and …” She smiled and felt her face heat up. “Tuned up and turned on, I reckon. All I knew for sure was that I wanted last night so much it made my dang teeth hurt.” Rainbow gave her a wan smile, then shrunk in on herself. “I know what you mean. I guess for me I was seeing where it goes with you, is all.” Applejack let out a long sigh and took Rainbow’s hoof again. “This ain’t somethin’ where it’s right for me to just take the lead and you figure I know what I’m doin’ and can go along with the ride like we’re walkin’ to the convention center. I don’t know what I’m doin’ here, Dash, I’m stumblin’ along and hopin’ I can find my way as we go.” She sat back to rub her face, then took another bite of food. Rainbow shuffled in place, looking down at her mostly gone lunch. “… I meant what I said about you not ditherin’. And I know it can’t just be that you’re worryin’ how I’m gonna take it and maybe don’t wanna say, ‘cause we’re both the sorts’a ponies to lay everythin’ out plain and simple. Just tell me what you’re feelin’. I think you probably know better’n me.” Rainbow gave her a wary look, and she smiled. “We’ll figure this out together, sugar.” Rainbow held her gaze in silence for several moments. Eventually she straightened up and let her focus fall back to the table. “I don’t want to just let this go as a weird weekend, AJ. I want this. I want you. I want us.” She slid her hooves back and forth over the cement tabletop in little patterns. “I, uh, wanted us when we were sixteen, and I thought I just sorta screwed it up forever, but if we’ve grown up and it isn’t screwed up forever, I want to try again. Or … try for real this time, whatever. Not just, like, a fling, not something for six months that doesn’t mean anything. I’ve loved you as a friend since forever, and …” she looked back up and met Applejack’s eyes again with a smile much more timid than Applejack usually saw from her. “I want to love you as a partner someday, too.” She chewed her lip and looked away. “Like, what I said yesterday’s still true, if we end up leaving it here in Whinnypeg, I can deal, but the truth is, I don’t want to deal. I want you.” Applejack stared at Rainbow in silence. She glanced for a bare second at her half-finished poutine, then got up and circled the table. She sat down next to Rainbow and swept her up in her hooves. Rainbow sighed into her neck and hugged her back. Applejack nuzzled into Rainbow’s mane. “And if we bring out the worst in each other again?” she asked in a whisper. “It still happens sometimes. We poke and prod and get caught up in it, and the whole world falls away, and it feels so good, but we need the world there, too. We need to be there for Twilight, and for all our friends, and Ponyville, and all of Equestria if they need us. What if we let everypony down ‘cause we can’t let go?” Stirring in the embrace, Rainbow pulled back enough to study Applejack’s face again. “… You never answered me last night, AJ. About if you thought I was the same pony I was when I was sixteen. If that day in the orchard would’ve ended the same way now as it did then.” Applejack closed her eyes and breathed in deep. “… Of course I don’t think it would, sugar. You’d be askin’ after AB, hopin’ she was okay, and worried just as sick as me about it. I knew it was the plain truth the moment you asked me, and I couldn’t help kissin’ you again and lettin’ my guard down. It’s just like what Mornin’ Breeze told Double Diamond ‘bout his sister. We ain’t the same ponies we were then, and we ain’t gotta make the same decisions if we don’t want to. If we got too rowdy and somethin’ went wrong all over again, you wouldn’t be tryin’ to not apologize any more’n … any more’n I’d be tellin’ you to get out and that I wouldn’t be lookin’. There ain’t a single chance it’d end the same way as it did then.” She opened her eyes as a growing sense of unease expanded in her stomach, threatening to curdle the poutine she’d just eaten. “… But I can still see us crashin’ into AB in the first place.” Rainbow winced, then nodded slowly, looking down. She ran a hoof over Applejack’s chest, making Applejack shiver. “I can see it, too. I can sorta see it even if there isn’t an us and we’re just messing around as friends. We just sort of do that sometimes. We try to not, but, like, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to stop all the way.” “Probably not,” Applejack said. “We’re both too dang stubborn.” They shared a rueful smile, then Rainbow ran her hoof through her mane and pressed back into Applejack’s embrace. “Maybe being together will make it worse, I dunno. I’d rather struggle to try and be better about it like this, though.” Applejack breathed in deep with her face buried in Applejack’s mane, smelling the hint of their wild night mixed in with shampoo. She tightened her hug. “Okay,” she whispered. “Okay?” “Yeah. Let’s try it, sugar. I wanna try it. I want us, too.” Rainbow pulled away enough to find Applejack’s muzzle and they leaned back into each other. Without reservations weighing her down, the kiss felt happy and hopeful, the start of something new built off of something old, familiar, and warm. As they pulled away and Applejack smiled at Rainbow, wondering just how long they still had the hotel room before they’d have to check out, a pulse of light flashed around them. Applejack let out a low chuckle as they checked their sides, watching their cutie marks flash in sync. She shook her head and clicked her tongue. “I ain’t too sore about this one, but we oughtta give the cutie map a talkin’ to about meddlin’. Helpin’ ponies out is one thing, but actin’ like a matchmakin’ aunt is another thing entirely.” Rainbow laughed and bumped her shoulder into Applejack. “Who knows, though, pretty sure the last thing for the con just got over now, maybe it’s just mission accomplished because it wanted us to have a good weekend.” Her eyes glittered with amusement. “A weird weekend, but a good one.” Applejack returned the grin and pulled Rainbow close again. “Eeyup. A real good one.” Rainbow kissed her on the muzzle, then said, “Your poutine’s getting cold.” Laughing, she got up off the bench and crossed back to her meal. “What’cha wanna do after I finish up? Wanna hang around a bit longer, or check out of the hotel and head on back home?” She took a bite, and while it had cooled off a little, her meal still hit the spot. Heavy as it was, though, the hanging around option might need to include a nap. “We should probably say bye to Double Diamond and Party Favor first, and maybe thanks to Morning Breeze, but yeah, heading back sounds good.” She flashed a wicked smile. “Or we could go back to the hotel room and take turns cosplaying as Daring Do.” Applejack snorted and shook her head. “Speakin’ of Darin’ Do, wanna stop and grab a book someplace first?” “Eh. I’m not gonna be bouncing around if we’re making out the whole train ride.” Applejack laughed around a mouthful of food. “Ain’t so sure everypony else on the train’s gonna be too happy with us if that’s our plan.” “We could take a balloon back instead and have the whole place to ourselves.” “More temptin’. I think I’d rather be sittin’ for a while after eatin’ this, though.” “Fair. Is us falling asleep against each other on a train gonna bug anypony?” “Probably not.” Rainbow reached across the table and took Applejack’s hoof. “Let’s do that, then.” Applejack laughed again and finished up the last few bites of her poutine while holding Rainbow’s hoof. After they tossed out their garbage and headed side by side back toward the convention center, feeling overfull and a little sleepy, Applejack couldn’t help but have a growing sense of optimism. She knew Rainbow drove her crazy sometimes, for good and for ill, and that she did the same to Rainbow. She knew there’d be bumps and scrapes along the way, too. But for as bad as things could get, she knew they brought out the best in each other all the same. Rainbow slid her wing around Applejack and pulled their sides close. “You know what the worst part of all this is, AJ?” “What’s that?” “Even if a whole weekend hadn’t taken us out of the running for the fastest friendship problem record, everything went right, and we figured all of this out on Friday … if Spike’s didn’t count, then this one wouldn’t have counted, either. We’ve totally got this next time, though.” Applejack snorted and pressed into Rainbow’s neck. “Ya know what’s really the worst part’a this, sugar? Even if the dang map’s why we came here, it ended up bein’ the two of us goin’ on a couples retreat together, and there ain’t no way I can in good conscience send the bill for our couples retreat to Twi.” “… Crap.” Rainbow snorted, then they both started laughing, pressed into each other as they stepped back into the convention center.