Rainbow groaned as she flapped her wings much harder than was strictly necessary to keep herself afloat. She was angry with herself and she honestly did not know what she was going to do about it. So, she did what she always did when she was too frustrated to think properly, she flew.
The chilled air wrapped around Rainbow Dash as she propelled herself higher and higher into the sky. At the higher altitudes, even pegasi started to dislike the inescapably sharp coldness that sunk deep through even the thickest of furred coats. Normally Dash was no exception, but with her thoughts in such a mess, she relished the constant reminder of reality around her. The discomfort had never been so wonderfully comforting to her. The lack of other pegasi was also a nice bonus. If she was hovering on the tropo layer she would've already gotten a lot of fans badgering her, but up on stratos, it was a different deal. Even a hard-core fan wouldn't try to follow, most were likely not even capable.
At ten thousand cubits up the thinned air made breathing harder, and every wingbeat was a far cry from the power it had lower. Here even hovering was hard, but Rainbow Dash wasn't hovering. She was training. Lower down, moving fast was just what she did, but up here she had to earn every wing beat. Rainbow Dash forced herself through the thinning air, the exertion slowly pulling her mind into a softer calming state as she let her thoughts fade, leaving her with just pure focus.
For half an hour she threw herself through the air, beating the air into submission as she soared through the empty expanse. However Rainbow Dash still had her own limits. Eventually she ran out of steam and was forced to land on a cloud to rest. Rainbow Dash groaned as she laid back on the cloud, staring up into the sky and tried to ignore the strained muscles in her wings. She was all too aware that she would be feeling it for the next few hours. Unfortunately the calm also meant that she no longer had any way to distract herself from the mess that her light had become.
She just wanted to hang out with friends, but instead the day had turned into a confusing mess. She wasn't into dating at the best of times, and it was not made easier with two friends trying to double team her into one. She understood why they asked, but that didn't make anything easier to figure out. How was she supposed to tell her friends that she didn't have an answer?
That was the real problem, she just did not know what she wanted.
Rainbow Dash knew that her friends did care about her and would respect her wishes. However that didn't help much when she didn't even know what she wished for them to do in the first place.
Did she want to take them up on the offer and try to get closer? Did she want to just stay a close friend and pretend that they weren't even interested in her? Did she want something more? Or did she not?
"I can't figure out this mess myself," Dash muttered, annoyed that something so seemingly simple was impossible for her to deal with. Glancing around to get her bearings, she was not all that surprised to see that she had drifted out towards Ponyville. It seemed whenever there was a problem that she couldn't work out herself, there was only one pony smart enough to help her.
It was time she paid Fluttershy a visit.
Fluttershy smiled as she cuddled up next to Pinkie Pie, happy that the hyperactive mare was finally sleeping. It had taken a lot of effort to tire her out, and Fluttershy was appreciating the silence that her efforts had finally produced. They had worked together for hours at the bakery, working together from a ridiculously early hour to get the store ready for the day. Eventually, the Cake twins had taken over the register and Fluttershy took the chance to enjoy some solo Pinkie time. It had taken a lot of effort to drag Pinkie Pie back to Fluttershy's cottage for some gentle cuddles away from staring eyes.
The effort had paid off and Fluttershy couldn't help smiling as she looked over at Pinkie Pie's sleeping muzzle. The pink pony softly snored, her nose occasionally wrinkling as she unconsciously nuzzled into Fluttershy's mane. To Fluttershy the peaceful cuddle was bliss, and it was only early afternoon. If her luck held out, she would get to enjoy hours of peaceful rest beside Pinkie Pie.
Unfortunately, it was exactly at this point that fate decided that Fluttershy was no longer allowed to enjoy the peace and quiet.
At first, it was just some distant wing beats, but already Fluttershy knew that the peaceful afternoon was going to end. While she was slightly miffed that her peace was ending, she was happy to recognise the tell-tale flight of Rainbow Dash. There was only one pegasus that she knew that flew with such a violently aggressive wing beat.
The distant wing beats soon sounded to considerably closer ones, and Fluttershy sighed as she knew that it was time to get up and greet one of her closest friends. She quickly squirmed out from Pinkie Pie's constricting cuddle, pushing Gummy into Pinkie's embrace to take her place. It mostly worked, and a part of Fluttershy did wish that she could capture that brief instant of adorableness that was on her couch. However, she knew that she needed to see what Rainbow Dash needed before the speedster woke Pinkie Pie.
She pushed open her cottage door just as Rainbow Dash flared her wings wide and landed hard in front of her, skidding to a stop a mere few inches away from her with her blue hoof raised. Rolling her eyes, Fluttershy gave her friend a hoof bump. Naturally Rainbow Dash pretended that the hoof bump was extra powerful and jumped into a backflip as if pushed.
"Hey, Fluttershy" Rainbow Dash greeted her with an unconscious flap of her wings, the speedster clearly still a ball of energy. "Do you have time for a quick bit of talking? Twilight and Rarity asked me about something that was a bit out there, and I kind of need some advice."
"Oh, did she finally ask you out?" Fluttershy asked, smiling in the hope that Rainbow Dash had agreed.
"Wait, how do you know about that?" Rainbow Dash frowned, taking a step back from Fluttershy in surprise.
"Twilight and Rarity have mentioned their interest in you quite a few times to Pinkie and me" Fluttershy chuckled. "Those two together can act just a tad like love-sick school fillies. So, you said that they finally managed to ask you out?"
"Yeah, I didn't really have an answer though." Rainbow Dash admitted nervously, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. "I kind of thought it over before flying straight over here to talk to my main mare."
"I can see, you look a bit tired from the flight." Fluttershy politely didn't mention the strong smell of sweat coming from her friend. "I'd invite you in for a tea, but Pinkie Pie is asleep right now. I don't really want to wake the sleepy head."
"Does she actually sleep?" Rainbow asked, tilting her head to one side, before shaking herself. "Actually, scratch that, I don't think I want to know. I just wanted to talk in private for a bit about what Twilight and Rarity said because I don't really know what I should say."
"Oh?" Fluttershy frowned, "Do you not feel the same way?"
Rainbow Dash sighed, sitting down on the soft lawn in front of the cottage and looking away from Fluttershy. "I really don't know what I feel. Yesterday I would have thought of them as friends, and today now I know that they both think of me as somepony more. I love my friends, but I don't know if I feel the right thing."
"Is it really such a difficult thing to know?" Fluttershy softly asked, sitting down beside Rainbow Dash and pulling a wing around her close friend. She gently pulled Rainbow Dash closer with her wing, smiling as Rainbow Dash let herself be pulled into the embrace. There was a quiet silence as they both sat there, one lost in her thoughts.
"It's not just Twilight and Rarity," Rainbow Dash finally responded, "I'm not sure how much she has talked to you and the others about this."
"You don't need to worry about accidentally revealing anything." Fluttershy quickly assured her, nuzzling her in as comforting a manner as she could. "Rarity and Twilight did talk to us a week ago about the idea of a herd. I know that they wanted to ask you first, but your busy schedule with Wonderbolt training has made it difficult."
"If it was just Twilight, I might've had an answer." Rainbow Dash admitted, before letting out a bitter laugh. "It'd probably be a no as I would push her to be with Rarity. Herding is a completely different deal though. A part of me is worried that we're just friends, but another part of me is interested."
"If you are interested," Fluttershy smiled, hope filling her, as she saw the spark in Rainbow Dash just begging for a bit of kindling, "then you should let yourself try."
"It's not that simple, Fluttershy. You know that this stuff is never that easy," Rainbow Dash responded with a shrug. "If this goes wrong, then it could hurt our friendship."
"Hiya Dashy!" Pinkie Pie suddenly called out, clearly the mare had just woken. Neither Fluttershy nor Rainbow Dash got a chance to respond before they were engulfed in the forelegs of Pinkie Pie. "Now how about you stop being so mopey wopey and tell me what has twisted you up my little Dashy."
"I'm not much smaller than you." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, before pushing her way back out of Pinkie Pie's brutally tight hug. "Twilight and Rarity asked if I wanted to herd."
"Oh, they finally asked you to join our herd?" Pinkie Pie asked, her voice rising at least two octaves higher than it should've.
"Wait, are you all already in a herd?" Rainbow Dash asked nervously, suddenly feeling a lot more left out. If they had formed a herd without her, then did that mean that she was just an afterthought?
"We're not yet in a herd," Fluttershy quickly clarified, "Twilight and Rarity have talked with us about herding, but they wanted to talk with you and Applejack to see your thoughts on it before rushing into things."
"Oh, they still haven't asked Applejack?" Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of relief, glad to know that she hadn't been last.
"Don't be silly," Pinkie finally released her crippling tight hug of them, sitting down in front of them. "I've been having super special private cuddle time with Applejack for like two weeks now. I would bet at least five cupcakes that she would totally be on board with it."
"So, you are all herding without me then!" Rainbow Dash growled, angry that her closest friends had been keeping something so important from her until the last second. "Twilight and Rarity didn't ask me to join a new herd, I was just the straggler that they asked to complete the set."
"Rainbow, it's not like that." Fluttershy quietly interrupted Rainbow Dash with just a gentle nudge. "You are entirely correct that Rarity and Twilight have been getting closer. You're also correct that Pinkie and I have also been spending a lot of time together. Applejack has been spending a lot of time with us as well."
"Though apparently one of us neglected to tell me that they had taken a few more steps with her." Fluttershy paused and gave Pinkie Pie a rather curious look, before turning back to Rainbow Dash. "The point is that right now none of us has really worked out what we are. We know that there is a connection between all six of us, and we also know that it is getting stronger."
"So, Twilight started doing a whole bunch of reading," Pinkie Pie interrupted with a laugh. "You should have seen how high the piles of books were a fortnight ago. Apparently, somepony messed up her book fort."
"It was a good landing area," Rainbow Dash muttered with a shrug. "Wait, that was what she was looking into? She kept on asking me weird questions about icky stuff and took forever to get me the next Daring Do."
"I heard that the next one in the series has a super awesome twist ending," Pinkie Pie whispered to Rainbow Dash, though with her lungs it was closer to a quiet yell. Volume management was still a talent that the pink mare lacked by choice.
"Hey, no spoilers!" Rainbow Dash playfully shoved away Pinkie Pie. "Nah I'm already like halfway through."
"We should probably get back on topic," Fluttershy pointed out quiety. "The point is that Twilight only approached us about herding a few days ago. I'm not entirely sure she has even had a chance to talk to Applejack about it yet."
"Why doesn't Dashy tell Jackie?" Pinkie Pie suddenly cut in, staring contemplating at the sky. "That way every pony pretty much gets a turn asking somepony out."
"I'm not sure about this, Pinkie. I didn't exactly accept Twilight and Rarity's offer." Rainbow Dash admitted.
"Why not?" Pinkie Pie asked, reaching out to Rainbow Dash and pulling her into a hug. "You love us, we love you. If we're all in a herd I can do this to you all the time." Pinkie Pie then proceeded to nuzzle into the side of Rainbow Dash's neck.
"Knock it off," Rainbow Dash quickly pushed Pinkie Pie away slightly, not entirely liking the ticklish feeling of Pinkie Pie's muzzle's fur on her neck. Somehow it was even more annoying than getting her hooves pedicured. "It's not like I don't want to be with you girls, it's just that something seems to not quite fit, you know?"
"What do you mean, Dashy?" Pinkie Pie tried to throw her best pouty face at Rainbow Dash, however, the pegasus easily countered with the strongest of eye rolls.
"I understand that you're a little bit hesitant to go for this," Fluttershy told them, stepping in between the two silly fillies. "I'm not sure if Pinkie or I are going to be all that helpful with this. However, Applejack isn't currently dating, so she is probably the best for you to talk this through."
"It's worth a shot," Rainbow Dash muttered, frowning a bit. "Do you think Twilight will mind if I tell Applejack about this? You know as well as I do that, she probably has a twenty-step plan on how to ask her."
"Although, I didn't see a single flashcard in Twilight's hooves at lunch." Rainbow Dash paused before chuckling, "In hindsight, Rarity was clearly the one running it. So, I don't think she would worry all that much."
Rainbow Dash quickly pulled herself out from the constructing cuddle of Pinkie Pie and unfurled her wings. "Thanks for the talk, I'll see you two later."
And with that Rainbow Dash was in the air seeking out yet another friend in the hope that they could help her work out the confusing mess that Twilight and Rarity had caused. Surely, Applejack would be able to give her some down-to-earth advice on this stuff.
Sweet Apple Acres was a ridiculously large expanse of land that covered almost the same area as the entirety of Ponyville itself. Despite the ridiculously large size, it was still super easy for somepony as awesome as Rainbow Dash to spot Applejack within seconds of flying overhead. To be fair, Applejack was standing out in a field messing with some large machinery on her carrot field.
Rainbow Dash tried to get Applejack a quick scare by buzzing the farmer, but her plan was quickly halted when Applejack grabbed her by her tail, throwing the two of them into the dirt. Groaning, Rainbow Dash rolled over and pulled herself back onto her hooves, shooting Applejack a glare.
"You didn't have to pull me out of the sky," She complained, checking over her wings for any bent primaries.
"You didn't have to try and buzz me." Applejack chuckled, trying to pretend that she hadn't just bruised herself as well.
"Fair." Rainbow Dash huffed.
"So, were you just here to crash? Or was there something you wanted?" Applejack asked, turning back to the farming equipment in front of her. Though whether she was attempting to fix it, or just regretting its existence was not clear. "Make it quick if you can, I've got to get this rust bucket working, either that or I am going to be manually harvesting four acres of carrots."
"We both know that you are going to give up and ask Time-Turner to look at it tomorrow long before you ruin your back harvesting the field yourself." Rainbow Dash countered with an eye roll. "Anyway, Twilight and Rarity made me an interesting offer today and I kind of wanted to get the option from somepony that I trust. You think you have a few minutes to chat?"
"I always have time for my friends." Applejack turned and gave Rainbow Dash a smile, before giving the machinery behind her a swift kick. The harvester suddenly roared into life. Applejack jumped up onto the harvester and fiddled with some of the controls before it began slowly trundling forward at a walking pace. "However, sometimes you can work and chat. So, jump up here and tell me about what seems to be the issue?"
"Twilight and Rarity asked if I wanted to be in a herd," Rainbow Dash blurted out, without any of the preambles that she thought of on the fly over.
"Figured that they would start asking about that sooner or later," Applejack admitted, keeping her eyes on the carrot rows and angling the machine as best as she could. "So, what is the issue? Did you not want to do it?"
"Of course, I didn't want to not do it, I think?" Rainbow Dash paused, not sure how to continue. Applejack paused and looked over at Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes as the pegasus continued to not say anything.
"You're being more difficult than Apple Bloom was whenever we have early morning harvests. Stop stalling and just blab it out." Applejack pointed out with a smile, checking that the harvester was still running smoothly between the rows of carrots, pulling the fully grown food out of the ground and straight into the hopper. "They asked you to herd with the two of them, you were interested but it sounds like you've somehow managed to talk yourself out of it for some reason. Does that sound about right?"
"It wasn't just a herd with them," Rainbow Dash awkwardly pointed out. "They wanted to herd with all of us. You, me, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie. All six of us."
"What?" Applejack turned back to look at Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow, before nodding to herself and returning her attention back to the harvester. "Okay, in hindsight that actually makes a lot of sense. Pinkie Pie has been hinting at that for the last week. I thought they were going to be going a bit slower than that, but I suppose one of them got a bit too impatient. I guess they surprised you with it and you didn't want to answer?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Rainbow Dash agreed though a small part of her seemed to not fully agree. Sure, she had been surprised by the offer, but that didn't explain why she still felt so distant from the idea in general. "Though I am not sure if I feel the right thing."
"That's the point of dating, sugar." Applejack chuckled. "You never really know if you're compatible without taking the chance and trying it out."
"I guess?"
"I didn't take you for being unwilling to take the risk." By this point, the harvester had reached the end of the row so Applejack had to stop talking while she turned it around and got ready for the next pass. A minute later it was lined up and she returned some of her attention back to Dash. "The way I see it, you really only have one question to answer."
"And what would that be? Do I want to make out with Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash responded, starting to feel annoyed by the whole thing.
"Nope," Applejack shot back with an eye roll. "The question is whether you want to try and date the five of us. It's not about whether you know already, or whether you have everything worked out. You just need to tell me if you are interested in trying, and it sounds to me like you've answered that question a few times already."
"I think I know what my answer needs to be," Rainbow Dash muttered, narrowing her eyes a little as she tried to mentally work her way through the confusing thoughts in her head. However, she knew what she needed to do next, though that didn't mean that it was going to be easy.
"Applejack?" Rainbow Dash began, swallowing nervously before continuing. She knew that it was time to stop thinking and make things happen. "Do you want to go out with me for dinner tonight? There is that new pegasi-friendly restaurant on the north side of Ponyville that we could check out together."
"I'll see you there, sugar cube," Applejack gave Rainbow Dash a quick nuzzle. "Now I've got to get back to my job, so you better dash off before I get some free labour out of you."
"Thanks, AJ" Rainbow Dash blurted out, quickly pulling away from Applejack and hovering in the air out of reach of her friend. There was an awkward pause as Rainbow Dash just hovered there, unsure what to say next.
"See you later Dash," Applejack chuckled at the pegasus.
"Yeah, see ya," Rainbow Dash quickly responded before throwing her wings down and rocketing herself into the sky and away from the increasingly awkward conversation.