Rainbow Dash grunted out as she bucked behind her. Her target disseminated into mist and she smirked as she zipped towards another cloud and immediately dispersed it with another kick. Within minutes, the Ponyville Market glistened in the sunlight, no longer rendered dim and dreary by the morning clouds. Rainbow ascended up into the sky and smiled as she stared down at her handiwork.
“Aww yeah! Ten seconds flat, every time! I still got it!”
Rainbow flew to the left and observed the Market. Dozens of ponies were putting together their stands, revealing wares of food, drink, and luxury that brightened under the sun’s newfound freedom. Nearly every farmer was out in the marketplace today, and the sudden rumbling of Rainbow’s stomach reminded her of yesterday.
Rainbow placed a hoof over her stomach as she slowly descended back to the ground, landing right in the middle of the marketplace. Some ponies gave her a glance as they continued their work, one of whom being Applejack. The orange mare adjusted the Stetson on her head and smiled when the two met eyes. Rainbow trotted over to Applejack’s stand and smiled while she held out a hoof.
Applejack turned to finish setting up her sign and looked to Rainbow. Instantly getting the message, she bumped her hoof against Rainbow’s and smiled brighter upon seeing another pony pass her stand. However, the pony didn’t meet eye contact with her and simply trotted past her. Applejack turned her glance back to Rainbow.
“Howdy, Rainbow. How ya doin’ today?”
As if on cue, Rainbow’s stomach gurgled in response. She coughed into her hoof, her cheeks slowly starting to redden as she quickly thought of an answer. “I was just... finishing up my work for today. I had a rough day yesterday and I just wanna go back to bed.”
Applejack chuckled. “You sure do love them naps, don’tcha, Rainbow?”
Rainbow nodded and ran her other forehoof through her hair. “Heh... yeah.”
Rainbow’s ears perked up as she heard hoofsteps behind her. She turned around to stare at the new customer, a light gold mare who stopped the moment she was behind Rainbow. Raindrops smiled sheepishly and scuffed her hoof along the ground, her cyan hues barely able to meet Rainbow’s. The two mares stared at each other in silence until Rainbow sighed and stepped to the side.
Raindrop’s eyes widened. “Oh, sorry. I thought you were in line.”
Rainbow smiled lightly and chuckled. “That’s funny, most ponies think my actions are out of line.”
Raindrops blinked. “What?”
“Nevermind.”
Rainbow shook her head and motioned towards the stand. Raindrops smiled and took Rainbow’s place as both her and Applejack began to haggle.
Rainbow turned to look at the other stands and noticed that most of them had set up around the same time that Applejack did. Her stomach rumbled again and Rainbow sighed again as she turned back to Applejack’s stand. Applejack looked away from Raindrops for a moment when she realized that her friend was staring at her. “Gonna go look at the other stands?” she asked.
Rainbow nodded.
Applejack smiled again and tossed an apple at Rainbow. “There’s a little thank you for making the sky nice and clear for us. I heard your tummy was rumbling. Ya can’t go walking on an empty stomach!” she said.
Rainbow smiled as she caught the apple. She gently flapped her wings, bringing her a few inches off of the ground while she ate her new lunch. “Thanks, AJ. I owe you one.”
Applejack merely waved away her apology and turned back to Raindrops as Rainbow flew away.
Rainbow munched on the apple in silence as she hovered past numerous stands, many of which were raising their hooves and yelling out to try to get her attention, to no avail. The stands became merely a blur, forgotten once she passed them as she ate her snack and stared ahead.
Within a few minutes, Rainbow had flown out of the marketplace and onto the road that lead to Fluttershy’s cottage. The talking and clinking of bits slowly faded into running water and the faint croaking of frogs. Rainbow finished off the apple and pressed her now free hoof to her head. A faint pain echoed in the back of her mind and she sighed.
“Ugh... don’t come back. I’m really not in the mood for it.”
Rainbow stopped and glanced behind her at the hustle and bustle of the Marketplace. She shook her head and dropped to her hooves as she began to walk towards Fluttershy’s cottage.
“I need some time to think alone. Yesterday was just... too much in one day.”
Rainbow chuckled and covered her face with a hoof.
“If I sucked more at my job, I wouldn’t have to think about yesterday. I guess when you can do it in ten seconds, it kind of sucks when you don’t have it as a distraction anymore.”
Rainbow lowered her hoof to the ground and continued her trek along the dirt path. She sighed once she saw Fluttershy’s cottage and looked down once she heard another croak. Below her, a river slowly melded its ambiance into the surroundings, providing a perfect background for the frogs to add in their vocals. Rainbow sat near the edge of the bridge and closed her eyes, her hind legs dangling a foot away from the water while the natural sounds permeated her thoughts. Her mind felt like cotton, as the foreboding pain in the back of her head slowly melted away like ice cream upon her tongue. Rainbow inhaled deeply and as she let it out, she stared into the water.
A frog sat upon a lily pad, its gaze unable to meet Rainbow’s since its throat continued to inhale and exhale from constant croaking.
Rainbow looked back to Fluttershy’s cottage and stood up. She brushed the dirt off of her rump so that she didn’t track any into her friend’s house and walked over to the doormat. Not a single light illuminated the inside of the house and the window shades were shut, prompting Rainbow to sigh as the realization hit her: Fluttershy probably wasn’t home.
Rainbow turned around and sat down on the doormat. She cradled her head in her hooves and leaned back against the door as she sighed again. She started to bump her head against the door, sending small knocking sounds through the empty house.
“Of course Fluttershy isn’t here when I need to talk to her,” Rainbow muttered.
Rainbow turned to the door and pounded on it before she pressed her ear to the wood, listening for a response. The house remained quiet. Rainbow’s ears flopped down to her head as she returned to the bridge and sat down. Between the loud knocking and her talking, the croaking had stopped. Rainbow turned back to the lilypad and saw that the frog had disappeared, leaving her alone with the running water.
Rainbow leaned back against the bridge and covered her eyes with her forehooves once more.
“If I just went to bed instead of going out to eat, I wouldn’t have pissed off Discord. Now there’s two problems that I have to fix. Good job, Rainbow.”
Rainbow craned her neck to search her surroundings for any pony that was around, one that she could see or talk to. However, as far as she knew, she was all alone. She sighed again.
“I guess everypony is probably getting their stuff done today. It's early,” Rainbow said. She looked ahead at the large bird house, its sturdy and lavish exterior prompting Rainbow to think that Fluttershy probably built it. Her eyes widened as one of the birds flew over to her and hovered a foot away from her nose. She chuckled and offered her hoof for the bird to sit down. However, the bird merely flew back to its house and disappeared inside. Rainbow sighed.
“I don’t blame you,” Rainbow muttered as she laid back on the bridge while her hind legs kicked back and forth. “If I’m as big a jerk as Discord says, I wouldn’t want to hang out with me either.”
Rainbow stared up at the sky and placed a hoof over her eyes to shield them from the sun before she closed them once more. She arched her back and let out a groan as she felt a few bones pop back into place. After another ten seconds of agonizing silence, accentuated by the river’s flow, Rainbow sat up again.
She groaned and looked down at the water as another frog jumped onto an adjacent lily pad from the first frog and croaked once more.
“This is how it’s going to be, huh?” she asked the frog. The frog merely croaked in response. “This is how I’m going to deal with this? Finding new ways to distract myself until I completely run out of distractions?”
Rainbow roughly ran a hoof through her mane, almost pulling out a few strands of hair in the process.
“Come on, Rainbow. You can’t ignore what happened yesterday. All of that... in one day. Dad... Twilight... Scootaloo... Discord, all in one day. Then I hugged Tank while I broke down and cried like a filly that just got grounded for a month.”
Rainbow covered her eyes with her hooves and let out a depressed groan.
“I haven’t cried like that since Mom... and...” Rainbow sighed, her train of thought trying to elude her. “Before that, when Twilight became a princess.”
Rainbow lowered her hooves to her hind legs and looked around as she quickly straightened her posture and opened her eyes completely just in case somepony was going to approach her. However, once she saw that nopony was around, Rainbow retreated back into a slouch with lowered eyelids as she looked to the river.
“Element of Loyalty. That’s what I am. I’m... the most loyal pony in Ponyville. I stuck with Twilight through thick and thin.”
“I don’t have to be loyal to you because I wasn’t your friend! I am loyal to my true friends!”
Rainbow winced, as if she just ripped off a bandage.
“That’s what the Element of Loyalty says to someone that is trying to be their friend.”
Rainbow laughed softly and rose to her hooves. She looked down at the river and then slammed her hoof on the bridge, ignoring the stinging pain that shot up her foreleg.
“He was just being himself, and I stomp into his room as if he did something wrong. Ugh...”
Rainbow turned to the sky and she spread her wings.
“I need to tell him that I’m sorry. Even if he won’t listen, I still need to say something.”
“What the buck do you know!? You aren’t my mom!”
Right when Rainbow was about to ascend into the sky, she stopped and her wings slowly folded back, her second guess making the decision for her.
“But do I... apologize for that?”
Rainbow let out a groan of irritation as she looked back the way that she came, the road that lead to bugging merchants and an approaching headache. She brushed the dirt off her back and rose back to her hooves. She began to walk down the path, the flow of the riverbed slowly fading away as the talking of ponies replaced it within minutes.
~~~
Applejack smiled as she emptied a bucket of apples into another mare’s saddlebag while the buyer threw a bag of coins onto her counter.
“Thank ya very much!” Applejack said as she placed the bucket nearby her stall. “Pleasure doin’ business with ya, ma'am.”
The other mare smiled and nodded as she walked away.
Rainbow trotted past the now weighed down mare and stopped in front of Applejack. The orange mare removed her Stetson to wipe off a bead of sweat and smiled as she added the bag of bits to the half-full chest that she brought with her.
“Hello again, Rainbow. Feelin’ any better?”
Rainbow nodded her head and smiled lightly in response, but it quickly faded as she looked left and right. “Applejack, can we talk?” Rainbow asked as she met her gaze with the farmpony.
Applejack blinked and chuckled. “Aren’t we talking right now?”
Rainbow shook her head. “No. I mean... yeah we are talking... but I wanted to talk to you about something else, alone.”
Applejack blinked again before she gave a glance towards the stall owners that were adjacent to her own. She frowned slightly. “Well uh... I can’t just leave my stall like this. I trust everypony, but I don’t feel comfortable leavin' it unattended.”
Rainbow brushed a hoof past her mane as she broke her gaze with Applejack. She stared at the ground as she tried to think of a response.
“Well... can I go get Big Mac or Apple Bloom to watch the cart for you?”
Applejack shook her head and upon pausing to pick up another apple and hand it to Rainbow, she raised an eyebrow.
“Why do you need to talk to me so badly? And why do we have to be alone? I wouldn’t pin you as somepony that would want to ask me for advice. I’m not complaining... but...”
Rainbow shook her head a little harder than was needed. “Nevermind. I shouldn’t have asked.” She turned her back to Applejack and spread her wings, her eyes fixed on the horizon, where her home was. “I’ll just go back home. I’m done with work anyway.”
“Wait, Rainbow.”
Rainbow jumped into the air but stopped upon hearing her friend’s voice. She turned back to Applejack, who was inspecting her stall. After moving around a few buckles and planks, she placed her sign on top of the counter. “I guess I can close up early. I already emptied out half of the apples for today.” Applejack turned to Rainbow with a small smile, as if a day’s worth of bits was nothing to her. “Just help me carry this back to Sweet Apple Acres. We can talk along the way.”
Rainbow smiled and nodded her head as she descended to the ground once again. She held her head high and let out a small groan of discomfort as a warm, metal ring lightly tapped against her back, a leash following it. Applejack locked the metal ring in place along Rainbow’s midsection and Applejack did the same with herself. She looked back at the stall and nodded once all of the cargo seemed situated enough to not fall or bounce around.
“Here we go,” Applejack said as she started to walk. Rainbow followed alongside her, not talking despite Applejack’s previous suggestion.
Applejack glanced towards Rainbow as she continued walking in silence. She tilted her Stetson back up over her head and stopped for a moment to wipe the beads of sweat that collected on her forehead before she continued with Rainbow.
“So.” Applejack paused, dragging out the word so that Rainbow would get the hint. “How have you been? I haven’t talked to you in a while, just seen you around the sky.”
“I’ve been fine,” Rainbow replied without looking at Applejack, her gaze focused in front of her.
“Anything interesting happen lately?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow stopped for a moment and looked up at the sky menacingly, as if it contained all of her problems. Applejack stopped as well and right when she was about to speak, Rainbow sighed and shook her head before she continued to walk. The two mares were now able to see Sweet Apple Acres off in the distance and Applejack smiled upon the sight of her home.
“We’re almost there,” Applejack said, excitement lining her tone.
“Yeah,” Rainbow replied in an absentminded fashion.
~~~
Upon the farm, Big Macintosh pulled a plow across the dirt, tilling perfect spots for the seeds to be planted. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and looked up from his plow once he heard the shuffling of bits and apples that came from Applejack’s stall. He waved at Applejack, who waved back and let out a sigh of relief as the apple cart finally reached the barn. Applejack slid out of the metal ring around her abdomen and smiled as Rainbow did the same. She opened up the apple cellar and lifted one of the buckets of apples onto her back before she slowly descended down into the cellar. Rainbow picked up a bucket as well and followed. Within minutes, the apple stand was emptied of all its cargo and Applejack wiped her brow once more as she kicked the cellar door closed.
“Well, that’s the last of the apples,” Applejack said as she turned to Rainbow.
“Uh... yeah,” Rainbow replied as she glanced away, once again looking as spaced out as ever.
Applejack frowned and nudged Rainbow on the side, who blinked and turned her gaze back to the farmpony.
“Uh... huh?” she asked.
“Sugarcube, are you doing okay?” Applejack walked around to Rainbow’s other side and looked towards her house. “Maybe it’s the heat. Does it get hot up in the sky?”
Applejack nudged Rainbow again towards the house and she began to walk. Rainbow beat her wings, hovering an inch off the ground as she followed Applejack. She nodded, deciding not to verbally respond while Applejack waved at Big Mac and made a few unknown motions to him. Applejack smiled and turned back to Rainbow as the two arrived at her door. She opened the door and held it open for Rainbow, who followed inside.
Rainbow ignored the spotless kitchen and leaned against the counter while she placed her head in her forehooves. She let out a sigh in relief at finally being not only away from the Marketplace, but from anyone that could be listening in. Her few glances behind her and around the room accentuated this desire.
Applejack walked over to the pantry and pulled out a juice box before she tossed it at Rainbow, who caught it in one hoof despite not seeing it. She popped the straw into the box and took a small sip while Applejack grabbed her own.
One minute, two minutes, nothing but slurping and gulping broke the silence in the room. Applejack crushed her juice box and tossed it in the nearby trash can and finally grabbed her hat to place on the kitchen counter.
“Alright, Rainbow. What’s the matter?”
Rainbow lowered one hoof from her face and rubbed it against the kitchen counter as she formulated a response.
“I... I’m just having a bad day,” Rainbow responded.
Applejack nodded. “Alright. You’re havin' a bad day. We all get them every now and then. I’m just wonderin' why you’re not talkin', even though you just asked me fifteen minutes ago that you needed to talk.” Applejack shrugged. “Just wondering why I had to close down the apple stand early.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened as she let the other hoof fall to the kitchen counter. She stared into Applejack’s eyes as her wings flared up.
“Was it really that much of a burden?” she asked in a low tone. Before Applejack could answer, Rainbow Dash found her tongue again. “I knew I should have just went to freaking bed. One day and now I’m inconveniencing everyone around me.”
“Rainbow.”
“First my dad, now Discord, and now I’m moving onto my friends.”
“Rainbow.”
Rainbow slammed her hooves against the kitchen counter, ignoring the pain that radiated through her hooves as the wood recoiled. She turned towards the door and started to walk.
“I’m just gonna go eat again and go to bed. Sorry for wasting your time, Applejack.”
“Rainbow!”
Applejack sidestepped from the counter to the door as Rainbow moved towards it and she placed a hoof onto Rainbow’s shoulder, a comforting smile adorning her features. “It’s fine. Something is obviously botherin' you. I’m not doing anythin' else today. Let’s just sit down and talk.”
Rainbow looked at the door before her gaze shifted back to the eyes that threatened to shatter her composure. Rainbow cleared her throat and gave a glance to the living room behind her.
“No one else is here?”
Applejack followed Rainbow’s gaze and shrugged. “Probably not. I remember Apple Bloom saying somethin' about the Cutie Mark Crusaders, so she’s out playin' with them. And Granny is usually nappin' around this time. As long as Big Mac doesn’t come in, we’re all alone.”
Rainbow walked back to the kitchen counter and placed her head onto her forehooves once more. “Good. I don’t really want to talk to anyone except you about it. I’ve already talked to someone else, and it just made me feel worse,” Rainbow muttered.
Applejack walked back to the counter and leaned against it, opposite Rainbow. “Who did ya talk to?”
Rainbow shook her head. “I’ll bring that up later. I just...” Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane again. “AJ, can I ask you a question?”
Applejack nodded with a smile.
After a sigh, Rainbow asked, “What does it mean to you, to be the Element of Honesty?”
Applejack’s eyes widened, but she smiled and took the question in stride.
“To me... bein' the Element of Honesty means that I am an honest pony, that bein' honest is a part of who I am.”
Rainbow let her hooves drop back to the counter. That answer wasn’t helping her. “I figured that much. How honest are you?”
Applejack shrugged. “Well... I don’t think it really works like that, Rainbow. I don’t think of honesty as a certain amount. I just... am. Ponies are either honest, or they aren’t.”
“Like Flim and Flam,” Rainbow interjected.
Applejack nodded and smiled lightly. “Right. I give the truth to others because I respect whoever asks me the question.”
“Well... what if you don’t?” Rainbow asked. “What if the pony that asked the question is somepony that you don’t like?”
Applejack pursed her lips, not liking where this was going. “Well... I'd still give them the truth because I want the same from them. Lying to everypony doesn’t solve anything, it just leads to more problems.”
Rainbow straightened up from the counter. “What if a bad guy wants you to tell the truth about the location of your friends, and you know that if you do, they will hurt your friends?”
Applejack raised an eyebrow as she stopped pursing her lips. “You been reading more of them Daring Do books, Rainbow?” she asked.
Rainbow shook her head. “Just answer the question!” she replied as she leaned over the counter, her muzzle merely inches from Applejack’s. Upon realizing her aggression, she reared back and looked down at the counter. “Sorry,” she muttered, her voice losing its tenacity.
Applejack kept her eyebrow raised, but waved off Rainbow’s apology. “Well... to answer your question... no. I wouldn’t tell him where my friends are.”
Rainbow nodded, her voice regaining some of its vigor, but still remaining hesitant. She fixed her eyes on Applejack’s as she continued. “So... you don’t feel like you have to be honest to everypony that you meet?”
Applejack frowned. “I’d rather not think of it like that... but I guess. I just prefer to be honest whether the other pony is the same or not. I like to give everypony the benefit of the doubt,” Applejack replied. “I’d rather not think that everyone I’m going to meet is not going to be honest with me. That’s not friendly and is quite frankly, rude.”
“Okay.” Rainbow placed a hoof underneath her chin, thinking for a moment while Applejack smiled, satisfied with her improvised answer. Rainbow lowered her hoof as she thought of another question.
“Well... what about white lies?” Rainbow asked. “What if you need to lie in order to spare someone’s feelings?” Rainbow paused. “Let’s say... there's something you really hate, but someone you care about likes it. Should you lie and say you're okay with something you hate, or is it better to tell the truth?"
Applejack sighed. “Rainbow, just because I’m the Element of Honesty, doesn’t meant that I’m going to be completely honest for the rest of my life.” She paused. “I would rather avoid having to tell white lies, but you know as well as I do that I would. Remember the surprise party that we threw for Pinkie?”
Rainbow smiled as the memory popped into her head. “Yeah... you looked like you were going to confess though. Good thing she didn’t get you to Pinkie promise.”
Applejack chuckled and smiled. “Yeah... then I’d have to admit it.” Applejack paused as she noticed that Rainbow was beaming in her direction. “Um... why do you ask?”
Rainbow blinked. “Uh.” She didn’t think she would get this far in the conversation, so her train of thought was nonexistent at best. She tried to pick it back up. “I just... I had a big reality check yesterday and I’ve been thinking about my Element ever since.”
Applejack chuckled. “Reality check? That’s a fancy way to put it. What happened?”
“Well... I went to go see Discord.”
Applejack frowned again as she straightened her posture. “I don’t like the sound of this already.”
“I know. Well... I went to go see Discord, and I didn’t exactly cheer him up with my visit.” Rainbow said as she brushed a hoof behind her head, her cheeks reddening due to a mixture of embarrassment and irritation. “I kind of... pissed him off.”
Applejack stared at Rainbow with a blank expression. “How did that happen?” Applejack asked. “Last time I checked, he seemed like he had his mood in check.”
“Yeah, he told me that you baked a pie for him from the apples in his house.”
Applejack nodded and chuckled at the memory. “Yeah... the filling was on the outside when it came out of the oven. Say what you want about Discord, he sure can entertain you if he has the chance.”
Rainbow glared at Applejack as she continued to chuckle, only stopping once she realized that Rainbow wasn’t going to join in. Applejack cleared her throat and got back on topic. “So... how did you piss him off?”
“I kind of... barged into his room and blamed him for a bunch of stuff that wasn’t his fault.”
Applejack paused. “Yeah... that’ll do it.”
Rainbow covered her face with a hoof as she sighed. “I don’t know why I did it. It just... all made sense to me at the time.”
“What made sense?”
Rainbow shook her head, her face still obscured from Applejack’s view. “It’s just bucking stupid now. I mean, Discord had no reason to do it, and I just broke into his house like he was some kind of criminal. Like... just because he had a record of chaos, he’s automatically guilty of whatever bad happens next.” Rainbow removed the hoof from her face and stared at the wall to the left of her, her eyelids drooped slightly. “He already probably gets enough of that from the guards and the Canterlot public. I just had to add to it.”
“Uhh, Rainbow?” Applejack waved a hoof into Rainbow’s face, who blinked out of her self-attack and stared ahead at Applejack.
“I... sorry. Got a little carried away, I guess.”
Applejack nodded. “Let’s put Discord aside for a second. What made sense?” she asked, leaning closer to the counter. “What were you blaming Discord for?”
Rainbow sighed. “I... blamed Discord for making my father and Twilight fall in love.”
Applejack blinked. “Wait... what?”
The scenario was too odd for Applejack to laugh. She merely blinked again while it was her turn to lose her train of thought.
Rainbow growled and placed her hooves over her eyes once more. “My dad and Twilight are dating... and I blamed it on Discord.”
“Wait... wait a minute.” Applejack tapped Rainbow’s shoulder to get her attention. “Your dad? Blue Streak? And Twilight?”
Rainbow merely nodded.
“That’s... um... I didn’t expect that.” Applejack stared down at the counter, her eyes as wide as they could be. A frown slowly took over her confused complexion. “How old is your dad?”
“Fourty-one,” Rainbow replied, not taking her eyes off of the counter as she clenched her head between her hooves. “And he used to be married.”
“Hmm.” Applejack walked back to the pantry and opened it. She returned to the counter with an apple in hoof. She took a bite and the room remained in silence as she swallowed. After a few moments, she spoke again. “So... that’s what you were all stressed about? I don’t blame you.”
Rainbow dropped her hooves back to the counter as she stared at Applejack. The farmpony refused to meet her gaze, preferring to stare at the wall.
“So... I’m not just overreacting?” Rainbow asked. “Do you admit that there’s something just... wrong about the two of them dating?”
Applejack nodded, but didn’t say anything. Rainbow gritted her teeth at the passive response.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she yelled. “Don’t you have anything else to say?”
“I do, but it’s not constructive,” Applejack replied. “What I think about it doesn’t matter, because it’s my opinion. Honestly, I don’t really take kindly to the idea of someone that is old enough to be my dad, dating my best friend. It just...” Applejack shuddered as she took another bite and chewed. “It wouldn’t be any different to me if Apple Bloom was dating someone who’s eighteen years older than her. There’s a lot of stallions in Equestria... or mares... if you are into that sort of thing. Dating someone who’s double your age or more is just... gross to me.”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah! And they never told me about it either! I just came to visit my dad yesterday, and after almost an hour, there she was, kissing my dad as if it was nothing!”
Applejack winced, but took another bite of her apple with a sigh. “I don’t know, Rainbow. That doesn’t seem like something that Twilight would do.”
Rainbow growled and slammed her hooves on the counter. “Are you saying that I’m lying?!”
Applejack steeled her composure and tossed the apple behind her, where it perfectly landed in the garbage bin.
“No... I’m just saying that when you’re angry, it’s easy to... never mind what I said, Rainbow. I really don’t want to talk about this if it’s making you this angry.”
“But, you’re on my side, right, Applejack?” Rainbow asked.
Applejack shook her head and slammed her forehoof on the counter in response, causing Rainbow to flinch.
“Stop trying to make this a thing, Rainbow. I have nothing to do with it. I just said that I don’t like the idea of Twilight dating your dad. That’s it. I’m on no one’s side,” Applejack replied, slightly irritated.
Rainbow’s wings flared up and right as she was going to respond, she leaned back from the counter and sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you,” Rainbow muttered. She covered her eyes again. “I just never thought that this day would come. The day when my dad started to date again... after what happened to Mom.” Rainbow chuckled lightly. “Of course, it’s just my luck that he finds another mare that’s an egghead just like him... and just happens to be my best friend.”
Rainbow blinked back tears and sniffed. Applejack’s eyes widened upon the sudden mood shift and she moved around the counter to comfort her friend. She placed a hoof on Rainbow’s back and rubbed it in circles while she remained silent.
Rainbow sniffed again, tears sliding down her hooves as they soaked into her fur. Her labored breathing slowly started to calm down as the relaxed rubbing on her back eased her nerves.
“I just... I’m so upset because of this, and I’m not sure if I’m right or wrong. If I disagree with the two of them, especially my father and one of my best friends, am I breaking my Element? Do I have to be loyal to their choice?” Rainbow asked.
Applejack shrugged. “That’s not something for me to decide. I don’t know everything about Twilight, your father, or you, and it would be unfair of me to make a judgment. I said that I didn’t like it, that’s it. I didn’t say who’s right or wrong, but I know what I can tell you.” Applejack paused and placed a forehoof back onto Rainbow's shoulder. “You don’t have to be loyal to Twilight’s choice just because it’s your element. You are allowed to disagree with it, that won’t make you any less loyal.”
Rainbow wiped her eyes and smiled. “Do you think that Twilight will agree with that?”
“I think that you should talk to Twilight, alone. Go visit her at her house and tell her how you feel,” Applejack replied.
“I already—”
“Without yelling,” Applejack added as she walked back to her side of the counter.
Rainbow sighed and lowered her forehooves with a nod.
“You’re right. I need to talk to her,” Rainbow muttered.
Applejack smiled in consolation. “Yep. Don’t get angry, don’t be confrontational, just talk to her. That’s it. I think that if you do, you’ll save everyone a lot of heartache.” She reached across the counter and grabbed Rainbow’s hoof, holding it softly as she continued. “I can’t honestly say that I know how you feel, but I understand the pain. That’s why you need to talk to Twilight, now.”
Rainbow nodded and wiped her eyes with one more sniff before she walked over to Applejack’s door. She opened it and gave one last glance to Applejack, who smiled and tossed an apple at her from the nearby opened pantry.
“Take one for the road,” Applejack said with a chuckle.
Rainbow caught the apple and nodded as she closed the door behind her. She rose up into the air with the apple clenched in her mouth and soared towards the Golden Oaks Library, the wind fluttering past her fur while dread began spreading through her chest.