//------------------------------// // That Time You Go Somewhere New For The Pony You Love // Story: Awkward, But Worth It // by bahatumay //------------------------------// “Who’s flying fast? Raaaainbow Dash! Who’s flying fast? Raaaainbow Dash!” Applejack adjusted her hat as she watched Rainbow spin loops and do aileron rolls so fast that it was surprising that she could even speak coherently. “Ah’m sure. Now get down afore you pull something.” “I’m going to the invitation-only tryouts! I’m gonna be a Wonderbolt!” “Ya still gotta try out, ya know.” “Invite only!” Rainbow emphasized. “I’m as good as in!” Applejack grinned. “Well, Ah have faith in you. But if’n you wear yourself out before the tryouts, you won’t do as well.” She smiled wryly. “Learned that my second rodeo...” “You underestimate my awesomeness! Training with Scootaloo has given me abilities beyond beli-ah!” Rainbow jerked to a stop and glared at Applejack, who was holding Rainbow Dash’s tail in her mouth and sitting primly. “Would you stop doing that already?” “Doin’ whaf?” Applejack asked through Rainbow’s tail. “You know, grabbing my tail.” “Ah happen to like your tail.” “Yeah? Well, I like my tail too. And if you pull it off, I won’t be able to fly anymore.” “Really?” Applejack asked, spitting out Rainbow’s tail. “Yeah,” Rainbow said. “It’s good for balance and besides, what do you think would happen if I didn’t have a tail? I’d be leaving a blue contrail with my butt or something, and that’s totally not awesome.” “Ah see.” The two turned and with a wordless agreement, headed back towards the farmhouse. “Hey, Rainbow?” “Yeah?” “Did we just have a conversation about your tail?” “We did.” There was a pause. “You know what else I like about my tail?” Rainbow asked. “What’s underneath it?” Applejack teased. “That's your favorite part. I was thinking of this.” Rainbow flicked her tail as hard as she could, snapping it against Applejack’s flank. “I like doing that with it.” “Ah do too.” Applejack returned the gesture, but her strike was much sharper and louder, and left a bit of a sting. “Ow! How are you so good at that?” Rainbow demanded, bringing a hoof up to rub her flank. “It’s an earth pony thing. Ah’d be lost without my tail, too.” “Yeah. I like your tail.” “And what's underneath it?” “Oh, yeah.” There was another pause. “New topic?” “Yes, please.” * * * Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean you can’t go? Applejaaaack...” “Ah’m sorry, sugarcube, but Ah fell behind and if’n Ah don’t get this done, we’re gonna lose a lot of money and Ah might not make the payment.” Rainbow sighed. “Well, that’s cool, I guess. I mean, Fluttershy said she’s coming, and that’s cool; and Scootaloo is at camp so I already knew she couldn't come; but I was really hoping you’d be there. I mean, they gave me two will-call tickets and I'd like to use them both.” Applejack gave her a kiss on the tip of her muzzle. “Ah know, and Ah wish Ah could be there, but, ya know...” “I do,” Rainbow said. She sighed. “Well, they want me there way early, so I guess I’ll grab something to eat and then head out.” “See you when you get back,” Applejack said, “And don’t come back without a full uniform.” Rainbow grinned and shook her head. “They don’t send out the letters of acceptance for another six months or so. They have to travel other places and such, in the sense of ‘fairness’.” She rolled her eyes. “I know, though. I wouldn’t be surprised if Spitfire just skipped the tryout and gave me my badge right then and there.” “You get a badge?” Rainbow nodded. “It’s pretty sweet-looking. It’s big and shiny and it's got Celestia’s cutie mark and wings and everything.” “Then you’d better get goin’!” Applejack said, giving Rainbow one last kiss on the cheek. “Yeah, and you’d better get working,” Rainbow retorted, “because when I get back, I’ll be wanting an apple pie with plenty of sugar.” The way she winked and ran her tongue along the front of her teeth indicated clearly that she was not thinking of the dessert pastry, and Applejack pulled her hat over her eyes to hide her embarrassment. And with that, and a quick “Bye now!”, Rainbow turned and flew off. Applejack watched as her marefriend flew towards Cloudsdale, shrinking away into the distance. As soon as she had faded from view, she turned back towards the house and called, “She's gone, everypony!” The rest of her friends emerged from the farmhouse, and Applejack had to fight back a brief tear. “Really means a lot t' me that y'all'd help me finish today,” she said. “Oh, pish-posh,” Rarity said. “I, for one, am not about to allow something as insignificant as mud to ruin true love!” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “I don't suppose you'll be wanting to make that pie right now, though, right?" Rarity continued. "I mean, it'll be cold by the time she gets back.” Twilight hesitantly raised a hoof. “I... I don’t think she really wanted apple pie, Rarity.” “Oh, pish-posh,” Rarity said. “Why would she ask for it if she didn’t really want it?” Twilight opened her mouth, and then slowly shut it, deciding it would be best to not reply. Applejack smiled nervously. “Well, alright then. Let's get to work!” * * * They say many hooves make light work, but that’s less true on a farm. There’s always something more to do, some new chore to complete, some new task to fulfill. Fluttershy paused as she hauled empty baskets from the barn. She looked up at the sun, mentally calculated the time (the only real skill she had retained from flight camp) and then looked over at Applejack. “Applejack?” she asked. “Yeah?” “I don't mean to pry, but aren't you a little bit worried about being late?” Applejack looked up at the sun, mentally calculated the time, and chuckled. “Why would I worry about being late?” “Oh, it’s just... not that I don’t think you’re fast enough, of course; but Cloudsdale time is an hour ahead of Ponyville’s and-” Applejack dropped the basket she was carrying. “Say what?” “You might be late if you don’t leave now?” Fluttershy whimpered. She hated being the bearer of bad news, and the shocked expression on Applejack’s face made her feel guilty. Twilight snapped into action. “Fluttershy, head up there and get the tickets. They'll sell them at the door if you don't claim them on time. Applejack, come with me and we’ll fly you up with the balloon. I’ll fly you up, and then take the balloon down.” “You can’t stay?” Twilight shook her head. “No Cloudsdale parking pass.” “You need a parking pass for balloons in Cloudsdale?” Fluttershy wondered. “But the harvest...” Applejack protested weakly. “Can go on without you!” Rarity finished. “We can finish here, but I know that you will never forgive yourself if you miss this tryout. So go! Go, and let true love conquer!” She finished by striking a pose, one hoof pointing up as if she were an explorer and true love her sought treasure. Taking this as a command, Fluttershy quickly unhitched herself and took off. Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Well, that was a bit overdramatic." * * * Fluttershy arrived in Cloudsdale in record time. She froze as she saw the huge crowd of ponies in front of the Ponydrome and suppressed a squeak. Rainbow had said that these tryouts were very popular as a date location since it was basically a cheap Wonderbolts show, but this crowd looked like it would actually fill the Ponydrome and then some. Scanning the crowd, she observed the ponies seemed to divide into lines and, choosing a shorter one at random, flew towards the end and walked slowly up to the end of the long line of ponies. “E- excuse me, is this the end of the line for will-call?” she asked the closest pony. “Nope,” he said, pointing a hoof. “Try that one.” Fluttershy nodded her thanks and tried the next line over. This one looked much longer. “Is this will-call?” she asked. “Yeah,” the mare said. “Lucky us, eh?” Fluttershy gulped nervously as she saw just how far away from the ticket booth they were. “Oh, my...” * * * “All right, you're wearing your amulet, you know where the Ponydrome is, I think you're good to go.” “Thanks, Twi,” Applejack panted. “Ah'm so nervous Ah'll miss it.” “We made good time,” Twilight said. “You should be fine.” “Ah sure hope so.” Giving her friend one last hug, Applejack leapt out of the balloon and landed on the clouds running. At least, she tried to. She landed, expecting hard ground. However, the amulet had lifted off ever so slightly in the fall, meaning that for a split second, it was not active. She hit the clouds face first and sunk halfway into the ground as if it were mud before it touched her body and activated again. Her head and hat were under the clouds, but her tail and hindquarters stuck out, looking almost like Winona digging a hole.. Twilight couldn't suppress a giggle. “Need a hoof?” she called. “If'n it's not too much trouble,” Applejack said with just the tiniest hint of sarcasm. Lighting her horn, Twilight pulled Applejack out by her tail and set her on the clouds again. “Bye! Run!” Twilight waved as Applejack turned and sprinted over towards the Ponydrome. * * * Fluttershy held the tickets to her chest as if they were a precious treasure; which, to some, they were. She decided that she would wait close to the sidewalks, so she could see Applejack when she came. “Hey there, little filly. Whatchu got there?” Fluttershy flinched and looked over at the stallion who had spoken. He was standing a little further back in an alley, and she walked a bit closer so she could hear him better. “Uh... tickets, for the closed tryouts. My friend is competing.” “That’s nice,” the stallion said. He took a step backwards, and Fluttershy instinctively took one forwards, deeper into the alley. “But you know what? I don’t have tickets, and I’d really like to go see the show. See, my son’s competing, and I didn’t get mine in time. Do you think you could give them to me?” He sounded so pitiful, Fluttershy almost gave the tickets to him right then and there. Almost. “I’m going to have to say ‘no’,” she said firmly. “These are for me and my friend who is coming to watch her marefriend fly, so I can’t give them to you.” The stallion frowned. “Wrong answer, sweetheart,” he snarled, before lunging at her. “Eep!” * * * For such a main cloudmark, the ponydrome can be rather hard to reach. Not that it's hard to see, of course; but hard to reach. Especially if you’re unable to take any flying shortcuts or hop up onto the floating cloudways. To be honest, Applejack was an earth pony in a pegasus city--and she felt as out of place as if she were working in a pear orchard. Pegasi were flying and walking all around her, and she just couldn't relax. This feeling of unease wasn't helped any when she noticed a little colt following her. She paused, and he did too. When she stepped forward again, so did he. She finally decided to confront him and came to a stop. “Can Ah help you?” she asked, confused. He walked around her, examining her closely, and then planted himself in front of her. “You’re no pegasus, and you’re not a unicorn. What are you?” he demanded. “Ah’m an earth pony,” Applejack answered, somewhat surprised that that would be a question. The colt laughed. “Yeah, right. There’s no such things as earth ponies.” “Sure there are,” Applejack said, completely unable to believe she was having this conversation. “Ah am one.” “Oh, sure. And next you’re going to tell me there’s a place called earth, too, and it’s underneath Cloudsdale.” “There is. Where do you think the unicorns go at night?” The colt rolled his eyes as if it were blindingly obvious. “Space. Duh.” Applejack wasn’t sure how to respond to this. “Have you ever seen a unicorn fly into space?” “Have you ever seen earth?” the colt shot back. “Uh huh,” Applejack said, incredulous. “That’s where Ah grow fruit and such.” “Fruit comes from space, too! Don’t you know anything?” Quickly realizing that she would have had better luck arguing with a fencepost, Applejack decided to end this with a, “Ah know Ah’m late for the Wonderbolt tryouts that Ah came up here to see, so beggin’ your pardon,” and she sprinted away. * * * Applejack was getting desperate. Time kept moving, and she was certain she was going to be late. After pushing through the absolute wall of ponies and not seeing any improvement (but plenty of off glances and glares), she decided that she needed a new strategy. She remembered the letter she received when she got the amulet, how it mentioned that if she wore it in her mane it was very likely she’d fall through the clouds and be held up by her hooves. She could just walk underneath the clouds and get there even faster! Without a second thought, she did just that--brought the amulet up, tied it into her mane, and then rolled over, falling through the clouds, falling all the way through until she hit the other side with a quick jerk. She cheered as her plan appeared to work. Underneath the cloud streets, there were no ponies and she had free range to move wherever and however she wanted. Then she realized she had forgotten two important details. One, how she was going to flip back over. And two, now she had no idea where the Ponydrome was. “Oh, horseapples!” * * * It looked a bit like slogging through mud, but it was like no mud Applejack had ever experienced. It sortof swirled around instead of sticking to her fur, and she missed that feeling of connecting with the earth. This felt more like wading through a heavy stream, and she found herself tiring quickly. It also didn't help that the blood in her body wanted to pool in her head. She stopped and listened. Was that wing beats? She twisted and looked behind her. Sure enough, three young colts hovered nearby. One was red, one was a light blue, and one was green; and they seemed to all be brothers. The green one nudged his red companion. “Toldja there was an earth pony up here.” “Wow...” the little blue one said reverently. “I want to touch it.” “No!” Applejack protested loudly and shuffling over to one side. “Hooves off the earth pony! This ain’t a petting zoo.” The blue one looked legitimately disappointed. “Aww...” he pouted. He was obviously the most sensitive of the trio. "How are you on the cloud if'n you don't have wings?" the green one demanded. Applejack gestured at the amulet she wore in her mane. "Magic." "That's always the answer," the green one mumbled as he crossed his forelegs in frustration. "How do we fly? How does the sun come up? Where do foals come from? Magic. Always magic." The red one, obviously the oldest, flew closer. “What are you doing here, anyway?” “Ah was tryin’ t’ get to the Wonderbolt Tryouts.” “To try out?” The blue one was confused. How were you supposed to fly without wings? “No, ‘cause my marefriend’s trying out. She’s gonna make it in, too. Ah just know it.” The green one pumped his hoof in the air. “See? Even earth ponies know the Wonderbolts are awesome! I’ll be one one day, you’ll all see.” “I’m sure,” the red one said, rolling his eyes. "But Ah'm kindof stuck," Applejack said. "And lost. And late." "You can't be late!" The blue one raised a hoof to his mouth in horror. "What if she doesn't see you there and she messes up? What if she crashes because she's looking for you and isn't watching where she's going? What if she thinks you don't love her anymore because you didn't go?" The green one slapped him upside the head. "Not helping." "Ok then, what do you think we should do?" The green one thought for a moment. "I got it. We get a cloud, put it under here, and then grab on to her. She can take off her necklace thingy, and we'll hold on to her and flip her over in recovery position, just like they taught us in flight school. Then she puts the necklace on again, rides the cloud, and we just push her around and up topside." "That's... actually a good plan," the red one said, as if surprised. "Well, yeah. All my ideas are good," the green one grinned. "Oh, so what was your idea to turn our bedroom into an indoor racetrack?" "Ok, most of my ideas." "And the time you cut class to practice your aileron rolls and crashed into our teacher's house?" "Ok, some of my ideas." "And the time you..." "Boys!" Applejack shouted. "Ah don't mean t' interrupt, but Ah'm gettin' mighty dizzy here, and Ah'd greatly appreciate it if'n you'd go ahead with the plan!" * * * To her pleasant surprise, Applejack found herself safe and topside and within sight of the Ponydrome in just a few minutes. To her unpleasant surprise, she realized that the lack of ponies standing in line and only two security guards visible indicated that the show had already started a while ago. “Thanks, boys! Ah owe you one!” she said as she sprinted towards the gates, head swiveling to find Fluttershy. She found her towards the back of an alley, sitting on a dumpster, which seemed to be protesting her weight. This surprised Applejack, as Fluttershy was a fairly light pony, and besides, dumpsters usually didn’t complain anyway. Applejack cocked her head. “Is there a reason you're sittin' there like that? And what're those noises comin' from inside?” “Oh, there's a pony in here. He wanted my tickets,” Fluttershy said primly, “but I didn't want him to have them. So when he tried to take them, I put him in here.” “That makes two of us,” Applejack growled. “Git off.” Fluttershy obeyed, and Applejack walked up and lifted the lid. "About time that bi-" But that's as far as he got, because Applejack slammed the lid down on his head, knocking him out cold instantly. Fluttershy was shocked that first off she had actually done that, and secondly how she had managed to grip the lid hard enough to slam it down with only the tips of her hooves. "C'mon," Applejack said, grabbing Fluttershy's tail. "We're gonna be late!" They ran inside together, showed their tickets, were briefly mocked for being late, and then were shown to their seats. Pushing their way through the crowd (that means Applejack was pushing and Fluttershy followed, holding her tail in her mouth like foals do so as to not get separated from their mothers), they found their seats and sat down, and not a moment too soon. The announcer's voice rang out, magically amplified to fill the arena. "Next up, we have Rainbow Dash, a young firebrand of a mare from Ponyville! Currently working as a member of Ponyville's weather squad, she attended Cloudsdale flight school, where she was MVP for two years on the Junior Speedsters stormball team. Those of you who follow flying sports know that we've seen her before as the winner of the Best Young Flyer competition three years ago, and she expects nothing less than victory this time. Rainbow says she's here to kick flank and chew bubblegum, and she's all outta bubblegum!" Applejack couldn't suppress a facehoof, but Fluttershy giggled. Rainbow Dash flew in her warmup circle, but she seemed distracted. She curled around the cloud pillars and nearly took out one of the rings because she wasn't looking where she was going. Instead, she seemed to be scanning the crowd. She soon spotted Applejack, and a wide smile spread across her face. She faced forward and resumed flying, but this time with renewed vigor in her wings. You didn't have to know the difference between a red delicious and a golden delicious to know that Sweet Apple Acres grew the best apples in Equestria, and you didn't have to know the difference between a barrel roll and an aileron roll to know just good Rainbow Dash could fly. Applejack found herself on her hooves stomping and cheering wildly with the rest of the spectators as Rainbow Dash flew fast and easily pulled off stunts that could only be described as 'death-defying'. And, of course, her performance was rounded off by a Sonic Rainboom big enough and close enough to shake the foundations of the Ponydrome, which was soon drowned out by the cheers of the crowd. * * * Meeting the competitors after the show was a time-honored tradition, but only for those who had VIP passes. And, of course, Applejack had one of those. She flashed her passcard and trotted past the security guard back into one of the many conference rooms, which was filled with ponies who either knew the competitors or had won the tickets by random draw, and by newsponies with cameras. As this had been a large try-out, the conference room chosen was rather large, and Applejack found herself in a sea of ponies, scanning fruitlessly for her cyan mare. She did, however, notice when she was physically tackled from behind. “I knew you’d come! I just knew you would! Did you see me out there? Didja? Didja? Was I awesome or what?” Applejack grinned from her position on the floor. “Let me up and Ah'll tell you.” Rainbow did, and Applejack wrapped her forelegs around her. “You did wonderful,” Applejack whispered in her ear. “Ah’d bet my farm and both cutie marks you’re in.” “Aw, Applejack,” Rainbow said, blushing slightly. “That means a lot to me.” “Kiss her!” Both ponies turned and stared at the speaker. “Fluttershy?” “I- if you want to, that is,” Fluttershy said softly. “I just think it’d be sweet.” Rainbow grinned. “Works for me!” And she did just that. Applejack didn’t mind this too much. She did mind the flash of someone taking a picture, though. “Hey!” she protested. “Yeah,” Rainbow said, glaring at the photographer. “Don't take a picture of that! Take a picture of this.” And Applejack was startled to find Rainbow’s tongue inside her mouth. She took a step back, but Rainbow had placed a hoof firmly on her cutie mark and didn’t seem to want to let go. Three flashes later, though, she did. “There, you got your picture. Now go away,” Rainbow growled. The photographer turned and quite literally sprinted away, running into a streamer and ripping it to the ground. “Ah can’t believe you did that,” Applejack grumbled, but judging by the blush on her face, she wasn’t entirely angry. “Calm down,” Rainbow said lazily. “I'm just a candidate right now. That picture will be printed once and then we'll never see it again.” “Ah sincerely doubt that'll be the case,” Applejack remarked dryly. “Mark my words, that picture's gonna come back again and bite you in the flank.” “Maybe,” Rainbow said dismissively. “But it was worth it.” Applejack licked her lips and had to agree. “Come on,” Rainbow said, tapping Applejack with her tail. “There's cookies and punch over there by the door and I'm pretty hungry. You coming, Fluttershy?”