“What? How? When!?” Twilight exclaimed, completely confused.
“Can I come in? I’m very cold, wet and… My heart is broken…”
“Oh, of course! Come in, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy said as she and Twilight moved aside. “Let me get you some hot chocolate!” She added before trotting to the kitchen. Twilight, on the other hoof, helped the cyan Pegasus sit on the couch by using her magic to cover her with a blanket. The Unicorn didn’t say anything until Fluttershy was back, she only stared at her friend. It was clear that she'd been crying. Her eyes were bloodshot, and tears were still coming out. Twilight had seen the mare cry before, but it was never as bad as this. After a couple of minutes, the timid pony came back with a cup of hot chocolate in her mouth. Rainbow Dash took hold of it, shakily. Twilight looked at where Spike was, and found him fully awake.
“Spike, why don’t you take Angel and go upstairs?”
“Sure.” He said, taking the unconscious bunny upstairs. The couple waited until hearing the sound of a door closing before speaking.
“What happened, Rainbow…” Twilight said.
“Well… When I went to the farm to check on Applejack and Scootaloo, I found her working really hard. I saw see her sweating a lot, so I offered her my help. She was angry, and she told me to leave her alone….”
____________________________________________________________________________________________
“Leave me alone, Rainbow Dash, Ah don’t need yer help! Go somewhere else!” The farm pony exclaimed, not stopping working.
“Why are you so mad, AJ? I was just trying to be nice…!”
“Well, Ah don’t need yer help, now go!”
“Fine, then I’ll let you work all alone. Just don't ask me for help if you change your mind!” The cyan Pegasus flew to the barn, laying in a pile of straws. “Stupid cowgirl… She didn’t have to yell at me…”
“Rainbow Dash?” A filly walked into the barn, staring at the older mare. “What happened?”
“Oh, Scootaloo. It’s nothing, Don’t worry about it…”
“It didn’t sound like it was nothing… Apple Bloom and I saw everything…”
“I'm Sorry… I didn’t want you to see that, but I don’t know what happened… Where’s Apple Bloom?”
“She went to talk to Applejack. Are you two going to be alright…?” The young Pegasus worriedly asked before getting closer to her idol and hugged her.
“Don’t worry about that, Scoots. Couples argue all the time; it’s normal… Applejack is just tired. Once she’s done with apple bucking…”
The filly looked up and Rainbow could see tears on her eyes. “Do you promise…?”
“I promise…” Rainbow Dash patted her tiny head and they both fell asleep.
They both woke up a few hours later. It was already dark, and rain was pouring loudly just outside.
“Well… We better get inside or we'll freeze in here!” Rainbow Dash said. Scootaloo just nodded and followed the older mare. Rainbow Dash covered the young pony with one of her wings when they walked to the house. However, she heard something that made her stop.
“She can’t be serious!” The cyan Pegasus exclaimed, angry. She'd recognized the sound and ordered Scootaloo to get in the house. It could only be made by hooves kicking a tree. She trotted to where the sound was coming from and saw Applejack still apple bucking.
“AJ, are you crazy? Get in the house now!”
“But Ah’m not finished; Ah can’t rest until ah do!”
“Applejack, come in before you catch a cold!”
“Stop bothering me, Ah’ll get inside when Ah’m done!”
Rainbow Dash tried to force Applejack to stop by taking her hooves and pulling her inside, but the earth pony was too strong. Because of the rain, however, Applejack's hooves slipped, causing the Pegasus to collide with the buckets of apples which Applejack spent harvesting all day. Most of them were crushed.
“Applejack, I’m sorry…”
“Yer sorry? Do you realize what have you done…?”
“I’m…”
“You just made me lose all those bits! Ah can’t get 'em back!”
“But…”
“Look around, all… Lost…!”
“You still have more apple trees!”
“That’s not the point! You should've left me alone when Ah’ asked you to!”
“I was just trying to get you inside! You were going to get sick if you kept at it…!”
“Ah’ was going to after Ah was finished… Ah don’t care if Ah catch a cold as long as it was worth it…!”
“If you would've let me help you earlier, we could have finished before now!”
Applejack looked at the Pegasus with a very unhappy expression.
“Leave.”
"What?" Rainbow Dash asked, confused.
“You heard me, now get out! Ah can’t look at you right now!” Applejack said in an anger that Rainbow Dash had never seen before.
“Fine! If that’s what you want, I’ll leave!” the cyan Pegasus said while she started to cry. Applejack seemed to notice because she calmed down a bit. The Rainbow Dash trotted away, reaching the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres. She prepared for flight, but a voice stopped her.
“Wait, where are you going, Rainbow?”
“Scoots… I need you to stay here for now…”
“But, Rainbow Dash…”
“Just do what I say and get inside!” She shouted without looking at her, not wanting the little Pegasus to see her crying. Scootaloo trotted back inside as soon as she was told to do so, not wanting to be yelled at again. “Sorry…” The older Pegasus whispered before flying away, the darkness swallowing her up.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
“And that’s when I came here…” Rainbow Dash finished her story with another sob. Fluttershy sat with her while she was speaking, her head on her lap. The cyan Pegasus started to cry again while Fluttershy tried to comfort her. Both she and Twilight had tears in their eyes. The Unicorn thought on what should they do.
“Why was Applejack apple bucking by herself? Where’s Big Mac?” Twilight finally spoke after several moments of silence, other than Rainbow Dash' sobs.
“He went to visit his cousin, he’ll be back by the end of the week… So, she’s been apple bucking all by herself since she refuses to let me help her…” Rainbow Dash said, wiping her tears away.
“She had no right to treat you like that! But we can’t do anything tonight… I’ll talk to her tomorrow. As for you, Rainbow… You’re staying with us tonight; you can sleep on the couch…”
“Thanks, Twilight…”
“Do you want me to stay with you, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy questioned sincerely.
“No… You go with Twilight… I’ll be fine…”
The couple stayed with their friend for a few more minutes before wishing her a good night and heading upstairs.
“Twilight, Do you think it’s a good idea to talk to Applejack?” The yellow Pegasus expressed her concern.
“I have a word or two I want to say to that pony... I’ll go tomorrow morning while you stay here with Rainbow Dash.”
“Okay, if you say so… I trust you…” They opened the door to find both Spike and Angel awake.
“What are you two doing awake?” Fluttershy asked.
“Sorry, but how were we supposed to sleep after seeing Rainbow Dash like that?” Spike crossed his little arms over his chest.
“Well, Do you want to give her company? She told us to leave, but I’m sure that she doesn’t really want to be alone right now…”
“Alright… Good night, girls…” The baby dragon said as he and Angel left the room.
Neither Twilight nor Fluttershy said a word as they laid on the bed. The room was engulfed in silence for about ten minutes before Fluttershy finally spoke.
“Twilight, Are you awake…?”
“Yes…”
“I’m worried about Rainbow Dash and Applejack… Do you think they'll be okay…?”
“I hope so, Shy… We have to try and fix this…”
“Poor Rainbow... She was the first friend I ever had, and she protected me from the bullies don't like to see her like this."
“Neither do I. Tomorrow will be a long day, so let’s get some sleep.”
Fluttershy cuddled up next to Twilight, using her chest as a pillow. “Good night, Twi…”
“Sweet dreams, Flutters…” The Unicorn kissed her forehead before falling asleep in her fiancée’s embrace.