//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Chocolate Covered Grapes 
// by Callisto 
//------------------------------//

Applejack woke up from her nap.  She needed to get as much sleep as she could during the day so she could last the night.  Still, she had trouble resting when she was supposed to be working, let alone sleeping, and only managed about thirty minutes.  The rest of her 'sleep' was spent tossing, turning, and thinking.  She made a mental list in her head of everything to get done on the farm. She thought about some things she had to tell Apple Bloom about helping out when she was gone.  Thought about what she needed to bring with her.  

And every once in a while, she would think of Rainbow Dash, and her stomach would tighten.  Why did she agree to this?  Why did she let Twilight talk her into this?  Everything was so awkward between them.  She could hardly think about Rainbow without getting nervous.  Just being near here felt like there was an electric wall between them.  And when they touched, now, after what happened?  She was so hyper aware of any little contact.

Then she would think of her parents.  What would they have said? What would they do, if they knew?  

That spiraling thought process made her feel queasy, and made for a restless nap.

She looked outside.  The sun was starting to hide behind the distant mountains.  It was time to go.  Come what may.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Rainbow Dash stood on the hill next to Twilight, who was busy explaining the maps she was giving to her, and pointing out which star she was to follow.  But Rainbow Dash wasn't paying attention.  She was watching Applejack talk to her family and hug them goodbye.  She hung her head a little when she saw Big Macintosh looking at her, and looked away completely when Granny Smith looked over, as well.

"Rainbow?" Twilight asked in annoyance.  "Are you paying attention at all?"

"What?  Oh, right...maps of stars in the sky...or...something."

Twilight groaned in frustration, folding up her map and putting it in her saddle bag.  "I'll explain this to AJ when she gets here."

As though on cue, Applejack trotted up to the two.  "Alright, Twi.  So, Ah'm guessin' that bright star over yonder is the star we're supposed to be followin'?"

"Err, yes," Twilight said.  She had a big speech prepared on the importance of the star and how they were taking part in an ancient tradition.  But Twilight simply placed the map in Applejacks bag with her magic.  She didn't seem any more receptive to what she had to say than Rainbow Dash did.  Understandably, they both probably had a lot on their minds.  Still, she had at least SOMETHING to tell them.  "The ceremony is in five days.  It will probably be at the shore - it usually is. Something about the water that the Princess likes.  It will be quite a trek in such a short amount of time, but you guys are fast."

"Thanks for not tellin' the others 'bout this, Twi," Applejack said, taking her hat off her head and holding it to her chest to show her sincerity.  "Last thing Ah need is for them to try and cheer me up right now."

"Yeah," Rainbow said.  "Tell them we said bye.  Oh! And tell Pinkie I'm going to have to cancel tomorrow's poker game.  I would have done it myself, but then I'd have to explain everything, and she would insist on making me carry five packages of sweets for the road."

Applejack looked at her quizzically. "Who else is in your poker game?"

"Just Pinkie.  She plays four different players because she feels like it makes things more challenging.  Though, it's weird when she gets into fights with herself."

"Hmm," Twilight said. "I think I need to have a talk with her..."

Applejack stepped up to Twilight and hugged her.  "Thanks, Twi, for tellin' me 'bout this."

"Yeah, I'm blaming you for any calluses I get on my hooves from WALKING the whole way."

"Rainbow!"

"I'm just saying!"

Twilight took a step back as the two ponies were gearing up to start running. Rainbow Dash stretched her legs, adjusting her saddlebag around her.  Applejack curled her back, stretching her muscles not unlike a cat, before letting out a satisfied sigh.  Then Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at each other.  Rainbow raised an eyebrow.  Applejack stepped back, accepting the silent challenge.  She reared up on her back legs, and bolted forward just as Rainbow took off in a full gallop.

-=-=-=-=-

At first, the two were completely silent.  Any communication was non-verbal, which was something that was very odd for the two.  Rainbow Dash was mainly following Applejack.  When she ran forward, Rainbow followed.  When she stopped, Rainbow stopped.  Applejack sometimes consulted a map, and Rainbow waited and watched.  Then they were off again.  To Rainbow's surprise, she didn't find it boring or annoying.  Rather, she was glad to have the time with Applejack without worrying about having to say comforting words or talk about anything they didn't want to talk about.

They passed a few ponies who seemed to be on the same journey they were on.  Some waved, some nodded; they were all passed quickly enough.  Applejack was determined to cover as much ground as possible that first night, so stopping and talking to other ponies was not an option.

Finally, Applejack trotted to a stop and sat down.  Rainbow Dash looked around.  They were in a grassland area.  She could see some travelers off walking about, and what looked like the lights of a small town in the distance. 

"Are ya hungry?" Applejack asked, unpacking her saddlebag.  "Ah packed some apples."

"Of course you packed apples," Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes.  "I could have packed apples while standing in your orchard, AJ.  Anything else?"

Applejack tossed an apple at Rainbow's head, which she caught with her hooves before taking a bite out of it.  "Some bread.  A daisy sandwich. Trail mix.  Honey oat bars.  And water, of course."

"Sandwich me," Rainbow said, holding out a hoof.  "I thought there was supposed to be food on this trip."

"There is," Applejack said.  "But we haven't passed one of them rest areas, yet.  Keep an eye out for lanterns."  Rainbow searched the night sky, hoping to see something Applejack might have missed.  Then she looked to the mare, laying down, an apple in her hoof that went uneaten while she looked up at the sky.

Rainbow Dash sighed.  Again, with the sad look on her face.  Rainbow hated that look.  "Hey, do you remember when we were younger, and I used to play in your apple trees?"

Applejack pried her eyes away from the stars above to look back at Rainbow Dash.  "Hmm?"

"You know... I used to fly around from apple tree to apple tree, and you couldn't find me 'cause I was so fast.  And I finally had to stop because I kept knocking down the ripe apples, and Granny Smith was getting upset with me."

Applejack smiled at the memory.  "Yeah, Ah remember that."  Then she frowned.  "Now, you just sleep in 'em."

"Well, I don't do any damage that way."

"But ya still DO!."

"Oh, come on! Like what?"

"Please, Rainbow. Your snorin', alone, could knock down all the apples in a tree."

"I do NOT snore," Rainbow said, throwing an apple core at Applejack.

The earth pony chuckled.  "Okay, Rainbow."  She looked back up to the sky.

Rainbow looked up as well, then sighed.  "Okay.  I have to ask.  What's so interesting up there that is more interesting than ME?"

"Oh, Rainbow," Applejack said, shaking her head.  "Always gotta be the center of attention."

"No, seriously," Rainbow said.  "What are you looking at?"

Applejack turned to look at Rainbow.  She furrowed her brow, wondering if she should tell her.  "Well," she said.  "Ah...saw somethin' kinda funny before the reunion."

"Uh-huh?"

"And it got me thinkin'...you don't see that kinda thing every day.  And it was just as we were talkin' about how we don't know how long anypony is ever there with us.  Ah don't know...it just seemed like they were talkin' to me or somethin'."

"Uh...who?"

Applejack shifted, getting a little closer to Rainbow, leaning in close like she was about to tell her a secret.  "Ah know it's kinda silly, but...stranger things have happened to us, y'know?  And...I swear, those two shootin' stars were like my parents were talkin' to me."

Rainbow's ears went back against her head.  She hadn't heard Applejack talk like this before.    

Applejack turned away.  "You think it's silly."

"No!" Rainbow Dash said quickly, walking in front of the other mare.  "Not at all!  I don't think it's silly at all!  I mean, they're you're parents. Anything's possible."

Applejack wasn't sure if she believed Rainbow, but she continued on that train of thought. "It is, right? Ah mean, how often d'ya see two shooting stars at once?"

"Never," Rainbow said, shaking her head adamantly.  "I've never seen it, at least.  I bet Twilight's never even seen it."

"Ah swear, if Ah could just..."  She shook her head.  "It'd be nice to hear from them again. Just once."

Rainbow's ear fell back on her head.  She nodded in agreement.  The two were silent for a while. Applejack seemed to give up her desire to look at the stars, and started taking small bites from her apple.  Rainbow could feel her pain.  Finally, Rainbow Dash had to say something, even if it was completely the wrong thing to say.  "You know, you're lucky in a way."

"Ah, know," Applejack said, losing interest in her apple again.  "Everypony always tells me.  Ah got Granny, Ah got Apple Bloom, and Ah got Big Macintosh.  Got a whole buncha great cousins and uncle and aunts.  Just missin' mah parents."

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Yeah, sure, you got them, but that's not what I meant."  Applejack looked at her, frowning.  "I mean, your parents loved you!  Some ponies would kill for that!"

Applejack's ears went flat against her head, this time.  She remembered all the times that she heard Rainbow Dash regaling about her past to her other friends.  Her parents were loving. Her parents were supporting. Her parents were kind and did anything for her.  Applejack was the only pony among their friends that knew the truth.  She was never talking about her parents. She was talking about her grandparents who raised her like their own.  Applejack could remember all the times Rainbow Dash's parents let her down in some way or another. 

The first time they met, Rainbow had crash landed in her orchard.  Her scraggly looking mane on her thin, small body that made her look younger than what she was.  She was very angry, bucking an apple tree like she had gone insane, screaming in frustration every time she did.  Applejack, still growing into her freckles and not quite big enough to wear her precious hat yet, watched the pegasus until she wore herself out.  Little Rainbow Dash caught her breath, pawed at the ground a few times, before turning to go on her way.  Only She was now face to face with Applejack.

"Howdy," said little Applejack.

"Oh, uh...hi!"  Rainbow Dash said, sitting down, looking back at the tree she had been bucking.  "I can't pay for that."

"Ah didn't ask you to."

"Oh, good!"  She jumped to her feet.  Then she looked at the young mare suspiciously.  "How much of that did you see?"

"'Bout all of it."

"Great..."  Rainbow Dash shook her head in annoyance.  Then, as though deciding that her prior tantrum wasn't enough, she went into a fit.  She acted untamed and unruly, using her entire body to vent her frustration.  She went into hoof stomps and bronco bucks, twirling around in a circle, and shaking her wings, before she finally sat down.  She panted, staring intensely at the ground.  "She was finally watching!"

"Who was?" Applejack asked, picking up a fallen apple and taking a bite.

"My mom! She was finally watching, and I messed up."

"Oh!" Applejack said, looking up at the sky where the pegasus fell, furrowing her brow in thought.  "Well, it's like mah papa used to say: ain't nothing wrong with dustin' yourself off and tryin' again."

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said, before blowing her bristly-looking mane out of her eyes.  "If you're anypony else.  My mom has a VERY busy schedule.  I need to be perfect, or I might as well not even try."  She poked at the ground with her front hoof, suddenly sullen. "I can't believe I messed it up."

"Aw, don't worry 'bout it," Applejack said, walking up to this strange young Pegasus and putting a hoof around her.  "Look, if you'd like, you can have a snack before goin' back up there!  Looks like ya used a lot of energy to buck that tree."

Rainbow Dash looked at her like she was insane.  "What?"

"We made a whole buncha tastey treats for the day - maybe too many.  Granny Smith loves guests!  Would ya like to have somethin' 'fore you go?"

Rainbow Dash sat on her haunches.  "Uh...sure."  

"Great!"  Applejack started forward, smiling back at the Pegasus following her in confusion.  "Name's Applejack."

"Rainbow Dash," said the mare, cautiously smiling to the farm pony.

Back in the present, Applejack smiled at the memory as it drifted off to the recesses of her mind.  She had no idea she was making a friend for life, and certainly no idea that would lead them to this day.  But looking back at the sad Pegasus, she also remembered all the other times she had been so upset over something her parents had failed to do.

"You know," Applejack said, "Ah don't think they didn't love you.  Just--"

"Oh, don't defend them, Applejack," Rainbow Dash said, waving a hoof to dismiss the idea.  "I lived with them most of my life, I think I would know."  She got up, about to walk off, but Applejack knew Rainbow well.  And just as she predicted, the pegasus turned back to Applejack, with the same wild look in her eye she had the day they first met.  "You just can't understand it when you grew up the way you did.  You HAD family to see you off today.  You always had the love of your family.  And, okay, sure, I might be being a little selfish here.  My grandparents are awesome.  This kind of awesome doesn't come from just anywhere - it's inherited.  But you don't get it unless you've lived it, Applejack. S-so..."  she seemed to be holding back in saying what she really wanted to say.

"Well?" Applejack asked.  "Go on! Say what you're gunna say.  How badly d'you think you can hurt mah feelings, anyway? What? Don't act so sad cause Ah still got good things in mah life?  Is that it?"

Rainbow Dash breathed out hard, tossing her head to the side.  "Nevermind. I've lost the moment, anyways."  She sank down to her haunches like a deflating balloon.

Applejack wasn't upset, really.  She expected some sort of selfishness from the mare - to make this trip focus on her was not a surprise.  Her skin was pretty thick to Rainbow Dash' anger when she was like that.  So whatever Rainbow Dash had to say, she almost welcomed it. It was better for her to get it out than leave it in.  Otherwise, she was faced with the sadness in her eyes that reminded  Applejack of the Pegasus flying about the air, like a mad mare. She had the same look in her eye.  Like something one of her parents did made her act that way that day.  Before they had their awkward moment they were still trying to recover from.  She had been wanting to ask her this entire time what they did to make her so mad.  But to bring that up seemed like a descent into chaos, and she was not ready for that.

"Things were so different when we were young, huh?" Rainbow Dash said out of nowhere.  She was now looking at the sky, herself.

For the sake of argument, Applejack nodded her head.  But nothing seemed to change that much.  Rainbow Dash was still seeking her parents approval.  Applejack was still hoping she was the pony her parents wanted her to be.

-=-=-=-=-

Applejack once again led the way through the night, following the star.  Rainbow Dash was following behind, not paying much attention.  It wasn't until the two were finding it difficult to walk in the thick mud that they realized something was off.  They had found their way into a bog, not unlike Froggy Bottom Bog.  After the hydra incident, a bog was not a place Applejack wanted to be again.  It was getting hard to think with the sound of crickets and frogs chirping as loud as they could, in hopes of being heard.  She turned around to look at Rainbow Dash, then yelled over the frog chorus, "Ah think we went the wrong way."

Rainbow Dash strained her ears forward.  The frog chorus was quite loud.  "What?!"

"Ah think we went the wrong way!" she repeated.

"Oh, good," Rainbow Dash yelled.  "It's too dark here to see that well, anyways."

"Let's head back," Applejack said, her hooves sticking in the muddy ground  as she turned around.  "Maybe we turned left instead of--"  she stopped when she couldn't get her back hoof out of the mud.  "Oh, horseapples!"  She yanked her back hoof up, trying to get it free.

"What's wrong?" Rainbow asked, still trying to hear over the loud chirping of the native frogs.  

"Mah hoof," She said, pulling hard, trying to get the mud to release her.  "It's--"  She made one final tug. There was a sucking sound as the mud released her hoof.  She hurtled forward.  A moment later, a splashing sound made the frogs go quiet.

Rainbow looked wide eyed at Applejack, who had scrambled to her feet, soaked from the bog water.  Rainbow tried to hold back a laugh.  And failed.

With a boisterous laugh, Rainbow Dash fell on her back, kicking her legs in the air in amusement as Applejack examined at her condition.  She was soaked. And so was her saddle bag.  "This ain't funny, Dash!" Applejack said, making her way out of the water.

Rainbow Dash's laugh settled to a titter.  "It's a LITTLE funny," she said, wiping a tear from her eye, still on her back.

Applejack dragged herself onto the slick mud, then managed to find stability on some peat moss.  She opened up her saddle bag.  "The maps are all wet!  And the food is soaked."

Rainbow Dash stopped laughing.  "Okay.  Not cool."  She went to get up, but made no progress.  "H-hey..."  She looked back to see if something was holding her back, before tugging again.  It took her a moment to realize...with all her laughing, her wing had sunk down into the mud.  "Oh, great!" she moaned, letting her head fall back on the wet ground.  "Now I'm stuck."

Applejack shook herself off before frowning.  "What?"

Rainbow Dash tried to turn, but she was trapped on her back.  She twisted to try and free herself, but that only seemed to make the mud angry and clasp on tighter to her wing.  She grunted with effort as she tried to yank her wing free, but to no avail. "My wing is stuck in the mud. Now, I can't get up!"  Applejack was silent for a moment.  Then Rainbow Dash heard her chuckling.  "Hey! This is NOT funny!"

Applejack was busy ringing the excess water out of her mane. "Serves ya right for laughin' at me."

"Will you just help me up?!"

"Alright, alright," Applejack said.  She hopped over the mud and into the knee-deep bog water.  "Y'know, they say they've found pony fossils in bogs like this one.  Guess we know how they got there."

Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack from the ground. Applejack smiled and reached out a hoof. She grabbed hold, and the earth pony started to pull.  Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and groaned in pain as the mud held tight to her wing.  Applejack tugged hard once, twice, three times, and with a noise of surprise, Rainbow Dash was pulled into the water, free.  

Rainbow Dash immediately jumped to her feet, and looked at her wing, caked in mud. "Eeew," she said.  "And jeez, Applejack, you could have been a little gentler?  I thought you were going to pull my wing out of it's socket."  She rolled her wings to stretch them out, and sighed with relief.

"Weren't mah, fault," Applejack said, rolling her eyes.  "You woulda been fine if ya hadn't laughed at me."

"Geez, it's really sore," Rainbow Dash said.  "Maybe you should kiss it to make it be..." Her voice trailed off before she could finish that sentence.  She was already mentally kicking herself.  She didn't dare look at Applejack.  She stared at the reflection of the moon on the bog water.

The blood rushed to Applejack's face, and now she couldn't even look at Rainbow.

For a few moments, nopony said anything.

Then Rainbow Dash rubbed her head.  "Wow," she said.

"Yeah," Applejack agreed.

"The FIRST day."

"Yeah."

"I thought we'd have managed to get a few days in before I managed to say anything that stupid."  Rainbow Dash busied herself by trying to get the excess mud off of her wing.

Applejack was silent.  Were they really going to talk about it now when they were alone, a few hours from home, and no one but the frog chorus to interrupt their conversation?  The sky was their only witness.  Applejack took a quick look to the stars, before letting out a sigh.  "Y'know, that's what you do with fillies and colts when they're hurt, right?"

"I had grandparents, Applejack," Rainbow said, still not looking at her.  "I know."  

More silence.

"You know," Rainbow Dash said, shaking her hoof free of some mud.  "I'm not a filly."

"Right."

"I'm a grown mare. A grown PEGASUS mare.  You don't just go kissing wings, AJ."

"Ah wasn't thinkin'," Applejack said, closing her eyes, wishing they didn't have to be having this conversation.  Then she frowned.  "Why can't Ah kiss your wings?"

"I mean, it was one thing when I let you tie my wings for the race," Rainbow said, spreading her wing for inspection.  "But you don't put your mouth on another ponies wing's unless you're...you know...intimate...with them."  Rainbow Dash said.

Applejack couldn't believe she could be more embarrassed - yet, she was. "Rainbow, Ah was NOT trying to be intimate with you!"

Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack in shock.  "I didn't say you were!" she said, equally embarrassed.  "Jeez, what is it with everypony being repulsed by that thought? I'm going to get a complex..."  She looked at Applejack, who was looking away.  "No, Applejack, I don't mean just THAT. I mean, you know...intimacy.  Like...I wouldn't just let anypony preen my wings. Actually, I wouldn't trust these puppies to anypony, but you know what I mean.  It's just...something you do with somepony you're very close to you."

Applejack wasn't sure she understood.  "Ah thought we were close," she said.  "And...well, Ah guess, after you...kissed me, you're not--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rainbow Dash said, getting up, turning away from Applejack.  "Kissing...you know, sometimes kissing is just kissing. It doesn't mean anything, Ms. I'm-Going-To-Kiss-Your-Wing-Now. I, uh..."  Rainbow Dash dared to peak at Applejack, who was watching her with a sad expression.  She sighed.  Who was she kidding?  "I just wanted some comfort, okay?  I didn't plan that.  I'm not sitting around, pining for you or anything, okay?  I-I like you and all, but not that way."  She looked away, shaking her head.  Her whole body felt empty all of a sudden.  "I'm sorry I scared you, alright?  You're my best friend. I don't want to lose you over something silly."

Applejack looked down to the water, feeling completely unfilfilled by their talk.  She didn't want to harp on it anymore.  So instead, she asked, "Why did you need comfort?"

Rainbow Dash's wings folded to her sides, and she turned towards the entrance of the bog, jumping over the mud they had gotten stuck in.  "We should find that first rest station now that our food is ruined.  I'm hungry."

Applejack frowned.  She wasn't in the mood to try and press the issue.  She felt drained.  She had a few days to get to the bottom of things.  But for now, she just followed Rainbow Dash out of the bog to try to find some food.

-=-=-=-=-

Muddied, tired, and emotionally spent, Rainbow Dash and Applejack trodded along.  Instead of trying to rely on some wet, muddied maps, the two decided to try and keep up with some travelers they saw in the hopes that they knew the way.  While they were passing by a small lake, Applejack was seriously thinking of drinking her weight in water when something caught her attention at the corner of her eye: The first lantern she saw flying overhead.  The moment Applejack saw it, her face lit up.

"Rainbow!" She said, taking hopping bounds to race forward and chase a lantern floating overhead.  "We found it!"  A few more lanterns trailed after the first one.  "Oh, they're beautiful!  D'you see 'em?"  She turned to Rainbow Dash, who was smiling as she watched Applejack.

"They're RIGHT there, AJ," she said, chuckling a little. "I don't think they give you bonus points for excitement."  Applejack glared at her, which made Rainbow Dash laugh some more. "No, don't stop, it's cute how excited you are."

"Well, it IS why we're here, isn't it?"  She looked back to the lanterns flying into the sky.  "It's mighty nice.  We never do anything back on the farm to remember mama and papa aside from talking and pictures and stuff.  Nothin' so nice as this."  She started prancing towards the make-shift area in the distance, consisting of tents, lights, tables, foods, and lots of talking ponies.  She even saw a few royal guard standing at the entrance.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Rainbow Dash said.  "There is NO way I'm going there smelling like muddy bog water."

Applejack stopped in her tracks, before looking back at Rainbow Dash.  She was silent for a moment.  Then she sat on her haunches, thoroughly confused.  "You're tellin' me you care 'bout how you look for that?"

"Look at that!" she said, pointing to the festivities in the distance.  "Royal guards? This is WAY more important than I thought it was going to be. What if there's a Wonderbolt there? I can't let them see me with my wings all muddy.  They'll think I don't take flying seriously!"  Rainbow Dash got up and walked towards the lake.

"So you're just gunna take a bath in the middle of nowhere?  In what must be freezin' cold water?" Applejack asked, looking around.  "With ponies passin' by?"

"What else can I do, AJ?"  She took off her saddle bag and looked at the water with some concern.  She cautiously dipped in a hoof, before jerking it back out.  "Hooo, that's cold!"  Applejack walked up next to her, dipping her muddy hoof in, before taking it out.  It certainly was cold.  Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, shook her out wings, and dove it, splashing Applejack with cold water in the process.

"Rainbow!" Applejack said, once again drenched.  

"Oh, you're f-f-f-f-fine!" Rainbow Dash's whole body shook from the sudden cold.  "G-g-gotta m-make this qqqquick!"  She dipped her head in the water and brought it up fast, wetting her mane. The she dipped her right wing in the water, then her left, fluffed them both quickly, and repeated the process several times so swiftly that water danced away from her blue coat..  Applejack couldn't help but think of watching birds bathing when she watched the spectacle.  It made her chuckle.

Not to be outdone in cleanliness, Applejack jumped into the water, before letting out a yelp from the sudden cold.  She took a deep breath, plunged herself into the water, and came out soaking wet.  "Be nice if we had some shampoo or somethin'," Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash was shivering, but determined to get her wings completely clean before getting out of the water.  "I don't have shampoo, but can you me get me the bottle from my bag?" she asked, working on some stuck-on mud at the end of one of her contour feathers.

Applejack hopped along the water towards Rainbow's bag, shaking herself off, before opening it up.  There was a bottle inside that looked like shampoo.  Applejack turned it over.  "'Bumble Bee's Beautiful Wing's - Conditioner for your feathers.  The only brand trusted by the Wonderbolts.'  Dash, is this a beauty product?"

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash yelled, putting her hoof out. "You weren't supposed to read that!"

Applejack tossed the bottle to Rainbow Dash.  "Then why'd ya have me get it?"

"Well, how was I supposed to know you can read?" She asked, fumbling with the bottle with her shaky hooves.  A moment later, she lost her grip on the bottle when Applejack tackled her.  They were both submerged in the water, before Rainbow Dash breached the surface, gasping for air.  "Applejack!"

"Well, that's what you get!" Applejack said, smiling mischievously at the mare.  

"Where did the bottle go?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking around the water.

Applejack picked it up.  "Right here.  Ah-ah!" She said, pulling the bottle away when Rainbow Dash reached for it. "Feather conditioner?  Ah didn't realize you thought so much of your looks, Rainbow."

"It's to keep my wings in top condition," Rainbow Dash said, blushing.  "You can't just use anything on feathers!  Now give it BACK!"  The small scuffle was interrupted when a bunch of fillies and colts raced towards the lake, squealing in delight as they jumped into the water. A second later, the dragged themselves out of the water, screaming from the cold, back to their parents.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash froze as they realize they were attracting a crowd to the lake.

One of the parents sighed.  "I told you it would be cold," she said to her little colt. Then she turned to Rainbow Dash and Applejack, both still in shock that anypony else would be stupid enough to try and go into the cold water.  "You know, some ponies are here to mourn, not play around."

Applejack lowered her head.  "S-sorry, ma'am."

"Oh, geez, AJ, what are you apologizing for?" Rainbow Dash said, glaring at the mare.  "This is a celebration of LIFE.  It can't all be crying and moping." She pointed to the little fillies and colts shaking off their coats. "At least they have the right idea."

The pony scoffed, pushing her colt towards the festival, and the other ponies in their group followed.  Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack, who was looking sullen. And cold.  But mostly sullen. "Don't let her get you down," Rainbow Dash said, taking the bottle from Applejack and quickly working the substance into her wings.  "Some ponies just think they can control everything."

"But we have to be respectful, Dash," Applejack said, getting up and splashing through the water to get to dry land.  "Mah parents died a long time ago, but for some people, it's still new."

Rainbow Dash stopped lathering her wings, thinking about that statement for a moment.  Then she continued, "It still holds true.  I mean, come on! What does she expect, the world is going to stop so she can have time to mourn?  If she didn't want to deal with anypony, she should have stayed inside."

Applejack shook herself off yet again that night.  "T'aint that simple.  Not every pony can just put away their feelings for later."  Rainbow Dash watched as Applejack adjusted the items in her saddlebags - busy work to get her mind off of things. Rainbow Dash frowned.  Again, having to see Applejack sad.  She wanted to hug her tight, kiss her on the cheek, and tell her that everything was okay.  But that certainly couldn't happen - not anymore. 

Rainbow Dash finished lathering up her wings and once again shook them out by dipping in the water and spraying droplets everywhere.  It took a few seconds to realize that some ponies were trying to avoid getting splashed by her antics while they tried to dip into the lake.

Rainbow Dash quickly hopped out of the water, still wet, and stood by Applejack, both watching as a small group of ponies dared the frigid water.  They, too, were dirty, and seemed grateful for the chance to clean themselves off before the festival.

A stallion brushed past Rainbow Dash.  "Sorry about that," he said, putting a hoof in the water.  "Oh! Cold...  But better than nothing, right?"  He walked into the water.

"R-right," Rainbow Dash said.  She looked over to Applejack, pointing a hoof at the ponies, giving her a look like, 'are you kidding me?'

"Look at what you started," Applejack said, smiling again.  

"See!" Rainbow Dash said, as though it were her plan all along.  "We're not the only ponies who want to look good for the festival."

"Look nice for their loved ones, more like it," Applejack said.  She looked over to Rainbow Dash.  They caught each other's glances. Both smiled; both looked away.  "You're shiverin' a bit."

"Well, the water IS pretty cold," Rainbow Dash said, trying to wring water out of her tail.

Applejack nudged her with her nose.  "Come on, Sugarcube.  Let's go warm up by the fire."  Rainbow Dash blushed slightly at the contact, before muttering an, 'okay'.  Then she followed Applejack to the festival grounds.

=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twilight wasn't kidding when she called it a celebration of life.  There were cheerful ponies everywhere, a play area for fillies and colts, lots of food, drinks, and games. And stories.  Oh, the stories.

There were small bonfires set up by different groups. Some intermingled. Some kept to themselves.  Some circles were crying, some were laughing.  It was an odd mix of emotions that washed through the festivities.

Rainbow Dash was glad that Applejack had taken refuge in a happy emotion.  They sat in a small bonfire with three other ponies - two stallions and one mare, siblings who were traveling together.  Applejack stayed very close to Rainbow Dash.  But she was telling a story like a pro. "That's when Granny thought we was havin' an earthquake.  She gathered me and mah baby sister and my big brother up and threw us outside for safe keepin', should the barn fall.  Little did she know that's where papa was trying to drive the stampede from."

"Oh, gosh," Rainbow Dash said, putting a hoof to her forehead, as the other members of their bonfire both gasped and chuckled.  "I thought Granny Smith had more sense than that!"

"She's got a thing 'bout startlin' easily.  You drive her crazy when you fly overhead right quick, and knock the apple trees about. Gives her palpitations, she says."

"Aw," Rainbow Dash said.  "You should have told me!  The last thing I need to do is give your grandmother heart problems!"

Applejack nudged the Pegasus.  "Like you would listen."  Rainbow Dash smiled to her.  Applejack caught the look she was given, but tried to ignore and turned back to the siblings.  "So after Granny Smith scoops us up and throws us back inside, and the stampede's under control, she gave papa a good tongue lashin' 'bout safety.  He was right mad, himself, for Granny havin' thrown his kids in danger."

There was chuckling among the siblings, when the sister said, "I would imagine.  I can't say I have any stories like that about my mom."  The siblings shook their heads.  "You know, we've been talking for almost an hour.  I don't know about you, but I haven't eaten a thing. Plus, the lanterns...What's say we have some dinner?"

"Great!" Rainbow Dash said.  "I'm famished!"  She hopped to her hooves and made her way over to the food tables.  Applejack noticed one of the brothers watch Rainbow walk to the tables, and follow close behind.

Applejack was salivating at the sight of all the food.  She piled her dinner onto her plate - far more than she could ever actually eat - but darn it, she was going to try and put it all away.  She went to sit back down at the bonfire, where one brother and the sister had sat back down.  Looking around for Rainbow Dash, she saw her sitting on her haunches, eating her food with one hoof while she listened to one of the brothers talk.  She looked uninterested, but trying to be sociable.

After talking some more, and eating as much as she could, Applejack took a moment to digest, leaning back, patting her full stomach, and looking up at the stars.  

Funny, but the stars didn't seem to speak to her at all.

She was interrupted from her thoughts when Rainbow Dash finally joined her again, looking bored.  "Alright. Now what?"  Applejack hoisted herself up and pointed to the paper lanterns.  "Oooh.  That part sounds fun!  Shall we?"

The two sat at a lantern making station.  "Alright, Ah'm gunna make one for mama.  D'you mind startin' one for pa?"

"Sure...uh...what do you want me to put on it? Apples?"

"Yeah," Applejack said, smiling.  "Ah thought that was obvious."

"Well, what KIND of apples?"  Applejack spent some time describing her father's cutie mark, while she tried to remember how her mother's looked.  Then, the two fell in a contented silence while painting.

The silence was broken, however, when the sibling brother sat down next to Rainbow Dash.

"I see you got started without me," he said, smiling.

"Uh-huh," Rainbow Dash said, focusing on the lantern.

"So...you know, I was thinking, I don't live that far from Ponyville. I bet we could keep in touch after this."

"Mmm, I don't really live IN Ponyille," Rainbow Dash said, holding the paint brush with her hoof to explain.  "More like in Cloudsdale.  But it's all kind of in the same area."

"Oh, right," said the stallion.  "You're a Pegasus and all.  That must be interesting."

"Uh...sure," Rainbow Dash said.  Applejack, who had been listening to this entire exchange, caught Rainbow Dash giving her a sidelong look, like, 'is he serious?' before  going back to her painting.

"Anyways," he continued, to which Rainbow Dash sighed.  "Since you're so close by, I was thinking if I could manage to get my hooves on some Wonderbolt tickets...maybe we could go, sometime?"

Rainbow Dash made a big to do about setting the paint brush down, before frowning to the stallion.  "You know, I already get season tickets.  I don't really need someone to buy me some."

"Oh!" he said.  "So, then, if I bought a ticket, we could meet each other there?"

Rainbow's ears went flat on her head.  "I kind of like to take in the show without distraction."

"I see," he said, sulking slightly.  After a few moments of peace, he turned to her again.  "What if we--?"

"She ain't interested, all right?!" Applejack said, or rather, she yelled.  Everypony within ear shot turned to look at Applejack.  Even Rainbow Dash looked shocked at the mare.  The earth pony fought the desire to shrink down into the ground.  She did, however, pull her hat down over her eyes until all she could see was the lantern in front of her, and continued to paint as though nothing had happened.

"Fine," the stallion said curtly.  "I'll be on my way, then."

After a few moments, Applejack dared to look out from under her hat.  The stallion was gone.  Everypony had stopped staring at her. Except Rainbow Dash, that is.  The Pegasus bit back a laugh. "Geesh, AJ, he was annoying me, too, but that was a bit much, wasn't it?"

"Well," Applejack said, not sure why she was upset.  "If you got everything so figured out, why didn't ya tell him yourself you weren't interested?  Or were you just havin' fun that a stallion was flirtin' with you?"

Rainbow Dash tilted her head to the side.  "What?"  She shook her head.  "He wasn't flirting with me!"

"Rainbow!" Applejack scoffed.  "How can you not notice when somepony is flirtin' with you?"

Rainbow shrugged, looking over her shoulder, trying to spot this alleged flirter.  "I don't know!  Those things always made me uncomfortable when I was a young.  He was hitting on me?"  She kept looking back.  "I didn't even see what he looked like."

"What?" Applejack said, raising an eyebrow.  "He was talkin' with you all throughout dinner."

"I know, don't remind me!"  She rolled her eyes.  "Sheesh, he kept asking me questions."

Applejack smacked forehead with her hoof.  "Cause he liked you! He wanted to get to know you!"

Rainbow Dash shifted uncomfortably in her seat.  "Well, the feeling was not mutual.  Can we drop this, now?"

Applejack wasn't sure what made her more confused - the fact that Rainbow was so uncomfortable talking about a pony who was so obviously interested in her, or the fact that something so simple could make her blush, yet the conversation on the night of the bonfire came so easily to her.  The earth pony frowned.  She was almost tempted to think that Rainbow didn't flirt with anypony else but her...

But there must have been other ponies...

"Hey, AJ?"  Rainbow Dash was holding up her painted lantern.  A little wobbly, but the apples were apparent.  Applejack looked at her stick figure pictures.  There was a reason neither of them had a paint brush for a cutie mark.  "You think they're ready?"

Her mind shifted as she remembered the reason they were there.

Applejack took her lantern, Rainbow Dash had it's pair, and they walked to the launching area.  A unicorn pony was standing by to light the lanterns.  For the launch, each pony went up with their lantern - most went up by themselves.  They took their time, as much as they needed, then sent their lantern to the sky.

Applejack was starting to shake.  She didn't know why.  It was a simple little ceremony.  Perhaps the sudden intimacy of it all became very apparent.  She came from a practical family - symbolic gestures were few and far between.  Suddenly, the weight of the meaning of it all bared down on her.  When the unicorn pony lit her lantern and told her to go on up, she found herself completely unprepared.

She looked to Rainbow Dash, who was holding out the other lantern to her. "No," Applejack said.  "Ah want you to go with me."  The words spilled out of her before she realized what she was asking.

"Oh," Rainbow Dash said, taken aback.  "O-okay."

Applejack reached out and clasped Rainbow Dash's hoof for a second to try and steady her nerves.  It was such a brief amount of time, but it did her good.  She took a deep breath, walked up to the launch area - just far enough away from the other ponies to say whatever she needed to say in private.  Taking a deep breath, she held the lantern.  She really didn't know what to say.  Or if she needed to say anything.  

She felt a hoof on her back.  Rainbow Dash used her free hoof to rub Applejack on the back, smiling for encouragement.  The earth pony looked to the lantern in her hooves.  "Ah love you, mama," she said, before letting the lantern float up.  She watched it as it joined the trail the other lanterns were taking.  The painted cutie mark became nothing but a light dancing in the sky.

She took a moment to recollect herself before turning to Rainbow Dash again.  She didn't look at the mare.  Just stared at the painted cutie mark on the lantern.  Holding it in her hooves, she felt tears beginning to form, burning in her eyes as they threatened to escape.  She took off her hat, holding it to her chest.  "Ah miss you so much, papa."  

After watching the other lantern become an indiscernible light in the sky, she kept this one in her hooves for a few moments longer, studying the cutie mark, trying to remember things about the stallion it once belonged to.  But her memory failed her, as it had been doing so much as she got older.  The time that she had spent with her parents were so far in the distant past, she could hardly see it anymore.

With a shaky breath, Applejack let go of the lantern.  She watched it take flight, wobbling and steadying as the night air helped to lift it higher.  And like the lanterns before it, it flew farther and farther away, until Applejack couldn't tell which one she had let go.

Rainbow Dash watched Applejack carefully.  She had just witnessed a very private moment for her, that she had been invited into, and felt both awkward and grateful to trusted with those emotions.  Still, she didn't know what to do as she watched Applejack struggle to hold back tears.  Her beautiful green eyes were reflecting moonlight as they became more and more watery.  Of course, the moment she blinked, the tears escaped down the side of her eyes, creating a trail down her cheek for more tears to follow.  

It hurt to watch Applejack in pain.  Rainbow hated to see her cry.  Whether she was supposed to let her have a moment or not, she ignored what might have been protocol and stepped up to the mare's side.  She put a wing out around her.  The motion shocked Applejack back to the present. Then she crumpled against Rainbow Dash.  "Ah feel so silly," she said, sniffling softly.

"No, you shouldn't," Rainbow Dash said, getting up, with Applejack following suit.  She led the earth pony away from the launch area, keeping her as close as possible with her wing. The orange mare sniffled, trying to contain her emotions, but Rainbow Dash just nuzzled her.  "You don't have to keep those feelings bottled up."  She leaned in to her ear and whispered, "Not around me."