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// Chapter 3: Opportunity Knocks 
// Story: Broken 
// by Blue Cord Dragoon 
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Chapter 3: Opportunity Knocks


        Fluttershy emptied the rubber water bottle of its used tepid water and filled it with fresh ice. She returned the cold pack to Angel’s forehead when a knock came from her cottage’s door. Before she could answer it, the door swung open, and Applejack let herself in.
        “Howdy, Fluttershy.” Applejack said her normal boisterous tone. “I got that order of apple juice here fer ya.” She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a six pack of glass bottles with the Sweet Apple Acres logo on them.
        Fluttershy flew over and paid her friend. “Oh, thank you so much delivering it as quick as you did, Applejack. Little Angel bunny woke up with a fever this morning, and I’ve just been so worried. I hope that this juice will help him fight whatever he has.” A soft cough came from the tiny bed where the rabbit was recuperating. “Oh, he’d better have some right now.” 
        Using her teeth to pop open one of the bottles, Fluttershy placed in a straw and brought the beverage to her ailing pet. “Here you go, Angel. Be sure to drink in slow sips now.” Angel did as he was told, drinking only a small amount at a time. After the bunny had enough juice, he laid back in his bed, and shut his eyes in hopes of getting some sleep.
        Applejack lowered the volume in her voice to keep from disturbing Angel. “I’m sure that Angel will start gettin’ better real soon, Fluttershy. While our apple juice is packed with lots of vitamins, I reckon it’ll be the great care that he’s gettin’ from ya that will make all the difference.” 
        “I hope so, Applejack.” The pegasus pony walked away from the sleeping bunny with a distraught look on her face. “When I found out he was sick, the first thing I did was to have one of my bird friends take a message to your farm for the juice. Then I sent another one to Sugar Cube Corner, to have Pinkie Pie bake a carrot cake for Angel to have as a treat once he gets better. I was supposed to meet up with Rarity at the spa today, but it looks like I’ll need to send another bird to let her know I won’t be coming.”
        Upon hearing the words “Rarity” and “spa”, gears of thought started to move in Applejack’s mind. It wasn’t long before she was struck with an idea. 
“Hey, Fluttershy, since yer busy lookin’ after Angel, why don’t I go and tell Rarity that you won’t be able to make it to the spa today?”
        The canary hued mare had a look of mild surprise on her face when she heard the offer “Are you sure? I don’t want to inconvenience you.”
        “Aw, heck, it’s no trouble. I’ll just swing on by there as I’m headed home” Applejack couldn’t believe her luck. In offering to help Fluttershy with one of her problems, she had found a way into solving one of her own. It was the perfect plan to spend some quality time with Rarity and maybe even confess her feelings.
        “But the spa is on the other side of town, in the exact opposite direction from your farm.” Fluttershy commented, demolishing the meticulous daydream that the earth pony was crafting in her head. Applejack had not expected for reality to deal her a setback like this, but she knew she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be alone with Rarity. 
“Well, I’m sure that I could get on over there real quick like so she won’t be left waitin’.” Applejack said trying to salvage the situation. While she wasn’t lying outright, she was concealing her true intentions, which was difficult for her. 
        “Actually, she won’t be going until the afternoon, so you don’t need to rush over there.” Fluttershy had again crushed Applejacks hopes. But hope is a stubborn thing and refuses to stay down for long.
        “Then I’ll just go to her place and tell her there.” Applejack was tired of misleading Fluttershy and so desperate to see Rarity that she decided to come as close to the truth as she could without revealing her motivation. “Please, Fluttershy. I really want to tell Rarity that yer lookin’ after Angel.” As if on cue, the sick rabbit had a coughing fit, which distressed Fluttershy. “It’ll be one less thing for ya to worry about.” Applejack said with a begging look on her face. 
        Fluttershy looked back at her pet, thought for a moment, and finally acquiesced to Applejack’s appeals. “Okay, if you really want to Applejack, you can tell Rarity that I won’t be joining her at the spa today.” The yellow mare trotted over to Angel’s bedside and returned to being a nursemaid. 
Applejack tried as hard as she could to hide her sense of victory. “Thanks, Fluttershy. I’ll leave ya be, I don’t want to disturb Angel any more than I already have.” She made her way to the door, but before the earth pony left, Fluttershy spoke to her. 
“Applejack, if you want to impress Rarity, you should do it more subtly. She likes it when she has somepony listen to her.”
        Applejack’s jaw dropped while her brain went into panic mode. She whipped her head towards Fluttershy. The kind pegasus pony had a gentle, reassuring smile on her face and gave the marmalade mare an encouraging wink.
The hysteria in Applejack’s mind abated. Without speaking, she mouthed “Thank you”, gave a reciprocal smile to her friend, and walked out of the cottage.


***

        
        The sound of rushing wind from flying did little drown out the confusion in Rainbow Dash’s mind. She had hoped that clearing the skies above Ponyville would do the same for her thoughts but it had not. Her heart still panged with her new found affection for Rarity. The only thing she had managed to do was get rid of the clouds and work up an appetite. Her stomach rumbled as she looked down at the town, spied her favorite sweet shop and figured it was a good a place as any to get something to eat. 
        Rainbow Dash flew inside Sugar Cube Corner, the door chime signaling her entrance. She decided to buy something steeped in chocolate to fill her stomach and help lift her spirits. She came to the sales counter and saw Pinkie Pie behind it, humming to herself while putting the finishing touches on a cake.
        “Hey, Pinks!” Rainbow Dash said to her friend as the last of the decorative frosting was applied.
        “Hi, Dashie! I’ll be with you in two shakes of my tail.” Pinkie Pie shook her tail twice and zipped over to the counter. “What can I do you for? Oh, wait that came out wrong. Hee hee! I do you for something, that’s crazy. Although, hmmm…” The earth pony brought a contemplative hoof to her chin and thought for a moment. “I suppose that I could turn you into cupcakes, but that wouldn’t be very nice of me. Also, I’m sure you wouldn’t like it either, What’s more, how could somepony even make pony cupcakes?” Pinkie Pie stopped her inquisition and looked at Rainbow Dash as though the pegasus pony knew what went into making pony cupcakes.
        “Pinkie Pie…you are so random.” Rainbow Dash replied dryly instead. She then returned the conversation to the reason why she was at Sugar Cube Corner in the first place. “I’d like a double chocolate chip muffin, please”
        The bubblegum colored pony reached into the display case and pulled out her patron’s order. “That’ll be six bits.” Money exchanged hooves, and Rainbow Dash, not one to waste time when it came to food, ate her muffin voraciously.
        After throwing her muffin wrapper in the trash, Rainbow Dash saw Pinkie Pie placing the cake she had just worked on in a box. “Is that a special order, Pinkie Pie?” She inquired. 
        “It sure is. A little birdie told me to make it. Well, not literally, but a little birdie did show up at my window this morning with a note in its beak from Fluttershy. It said that Angel was sick and Fluttershy asked if I could make a carrot cake as treat for when he recovers.” The smile on Pinkie Pie’s face quickly turned into a frown. “I feel bad for Rarity, though.”
        Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up at the mention of Rarity’s name, but she was confused by the usage. “Wait, why would you feel bad for Rarity if Fluttershy’s pet is sick?”
        “Because this is their spa day together, duh.”
        “How do you even know that, and what does it have to do with Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked skeptically.
        “Because they always go to the spa together today, and if Fluttershy is busy taking care for her sick bunny, she won’t be able to meet up with Rarity at the spa. That means that she’ll be at the spa all by herself today, which doesn’t sound like fun if you ask me.” 
Pinkie Pie became distracted by something shining in her eyes. She looked to see that Rainbow Dash had strips of glittering fabric on her forelegs. She then realized that they were actually band-aids. “Say, how did you get those band-aids?” Pinkie Pie asked. 
Rainbow Dash looked down at the garish band-aids that Rarity tenderly applied yesterday. “Oh, I got scratched up pretty bad when I tried to get Opal out of a tree by Carousel Boutique. Rarity felt bad about it, so she patched me up.” Her mind went back to yesterday and how Rarity cared for her.
“That was really nice of her.” Pinkie Pie commented
         “Yeah, it was really nice of her.” Rainbow Dash said dreamily, half to Pinkie Pie and half to herself. Rainbow Dash continued to gaze at the glinting bandages, not realizing that a small smile formed on her face and that her cheeks were reddening.  
        Pinkie Pie saw the look on Rainbow Dash’s face and couldn’t stop herself from teasing her friend. “Dashie’s got a crush on Rarity! Dashie’s got a crush on Rarity!” Pinkie Pie bounced around as she chanted. The taunt snapped Rainbow Dash out of her daze.
        “I do not!” the cyan pony replied furiously.
        “Yes, you do! I can tell because you’re blushing!” 
        Rainbow Dash looked at her reflection in the display case glass and saw that she was indeed blushing. 
        Pinkie Pie broke out into rhyme. “Dashie and Rarity! Sittin’ in a tree! K-I-S-S-S-S…S, wait, how do you spell kissing?”
        A polychrome bolt pounced on the hyperactive earth pony, pinning her to the floor. Pinkie Pie thought that maybe she had gone over the line with her goading and made Rainbow Dash just a little too annoyed with her.
        Instead of being angry, however, Rainbow Dash had a look of desperation on her face. “Please, Pinkie Pie, you can’t tell anypony. I’ve just figured out what Rarity means to me, but I don’t know what she thinks. I don’t want to risk losing her.” Feeling hot water build up in her eyes, Rainbow Dash released her friend and turned away so Pinkie Pie wouldn’t see her cry.
        Pinkie Pie was surprised. She thought that she was just teasing her friend, not uncovering a secret crush. She had never seen Rainbow Dash act like this before. Rainbow Dash was always so confident, so brazen. But now the bold pegasus pony was hiding her feelings and even her face in embarrassment. It was so unlike her.
        “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash…I was just teasing…I didn’t think…” Pinkie Pie tried to apologize, but she couldn’t find the right words. Rainbow Dash just kept looking away, rubbing her eyes to try and stop the developing tears from flowing. 
        Pinkie Pie hated seeing ponies sad, so she racked her brain to come up with a solution. It wasn’t long before inspiration hit her. “Hey, Dashie! You know what you should do? You should go to the spa and hang out with Rarity.” 
        Rainbow Dash stopped rubbing her eyes and looked back to her friend. “What?”
        “Rarity’s going to be at the spa by herself, it’s a perfect time for you to get close to her.” Pinkie Pie bounced as she spoke, hoping her enthusiasm would be contagious. It was.  
        Rainbow Dash’s expression gradually changed from distress to hopefulness. Pinkie Pie had delivered the solution to her conundrum. She pounced on the earth pony once again, but only to deliver a powerful hug. 
        “That’s a great idea! Thank you so much, Pinkie!” She squealed with alacrity while she embraced Pinkie Pie with all of her might.
        “If you go now…you might just…beat…her…there!” Pinkie Pie tried to speak, but her friend was squeezing the breath out of her. 
        Rainbow Dash realized she was suffocating Pinkie Pie, and released her from the powerful bear hug. She gave a hasty apology before she beat her wings and went out the door like a shot. She returned a half-second later, with had a sheepish grin on her face. “I’ve forgotten where the spa is, could you remind me?”