//------------------------------// // Five: Her Success // Story: Clear // by Drizzle Quill //------------------------------// Clear By Drizzle Quill Five Her Success "Run! For Celestia's sake, Pinkie, run!" The two earth ponies pounded through the cave, hooves slamming against the rocks, eyes wide, chests heaving, tongues lolling out of their mouths. Every once and a while Applejack would reach up and feel her head to make sure that her beloved hat was still there; it was, and she continued to run. The two had both run fast before. Applejack was reminded of the Running of the Leaves she had partaken in with Rainbow Dash, where she had been forced to use up all of her speed just to prove a stupid point. Princesses, Pinkie probably darted this fast regularly. But it had never seemed so life-threateningly necessary in either of those times. "Who dares to come in my cave?" something roared behind them; it was a very, very low voice, almost like what the earth would sound like if it could speak. "We didn't know this was yer cave!" AJ called over her shoulder between panicked breaths. "We'll leave if you stop being a meanie pants and trying to make us into pony pancakes by crushing us!" Pinkie screeched; the cowpony groaned as the roars intensified. "Pinkie, that ain't helpin' us one bit right now," she called over the rush of adrenaline in her ears, blocking out almost all sound as another boulder crashed behind her, nearly catching her back left foreleg. "I thought it would be nice to -" Pinkie was cut off as her tail twitched rapidly; she zipped to the side and watched as a boulder slammed right where she had been only moments before and resuming her sentence, "-let him know the truth!" AJ groaned but said nothing more, putting all of her strength into sprinting forward, around the boulders, coughing because of the smoke and rubble that flew in her face. How long did this tunnel go on? How long could she run like this? True, most Apple family members were known to have a lot of stamina, but at some point she was going to have to rest, and who knew how long Pinkie could keep up at the pace she was at. They were doomed. A stalactite fell from the ceiling and landed right next to Applejack's tail, nearly pinning it to the ground. Luckily she whipped it out of the way and silently thanked Celestia. That would have been a disaster. As they ran, the cowpony noticed that the tunnel was going to split into a fork up ahead. Two were pitch black, while the third was shining with a fluorescent light. Perhaps it led back out into Appleloosa? It made sense, right? AJ looked over to Pinkie and tipped her head to the left; Pinkie nodded and together they darted into the tunnel. For a moment, all they could hear was their own panicked breathing and the stillness of the cave. Whatever had been chasing them had stopped. Applejack started to wipe her brow, but suddenly... "AJ?" Pinkie called, voice starting to get breathless. "What?" "Do you see that?" Green eyes squinting, Applejack looked and stared. They had entered not the outside world, but an even deeper portion of the cave. The reason they had seen light was because of the treasure. So much treasure; so many jewels. They clashed in color and complimented each other beautifully. Some seemed to glow with radiance and some were dusty, not having been polished for what looked to be weeks. Applejack removed her hat and held it over her heart. "Sweet Celestia..." Pinkie's eyes were as wide as the moon. "Shiiiiiiiny..." Together the two earth ponies started towards the jewels, too entranced to realize what they were doing was most likely a horrible mistake. She loves Applejack, not me. I'm fine with that. Fine with it. A-OK. I have to be. Am I keeping her strong? Does she appreciate what I'm doing for her? "Applejack! Applejack! Look at this one!" A frilly hat was placed atop Pinkie's head, a feather sticking out of the pointed ends, and the fabric bedazzled with shimmering rubies. AJ clapped her hooves, nodding in approval. "Pretty spiffy. Bet Rare could use a design like that in her next ensemble. Can't take it with us, though." "Got it covered!" Pinkie scrutinized the hat, squinting her eyes until she just looked silly, though the expression on her face was dead serious. About thirty seconds later, she looked up and grinned. "It's etched forever in my brain!" AJ was incredulous. "Since when do you have a photographic memory?" Pinkie giggled. "Since never!" With a flying kick she sent the hat soaring to the other side of the pile; she rolled her blue eyes and began searching for a new piece of jewelry. Topaz shells...topaz shells. Shutting her eyes tight, Applejack wished she had a photographic memory to remember what the picture Rarity had shown them looked like. There were so many different types of jewels here there had to be at least a few topaz shells, right? They were spiral... ...they had patterns etched onto them... ...they were dark blue... ...were they circular of oval shaped? Applejack groaned and put her hoof to her head. "This hurts," she moaned out loud. "Ah'll just go an' look for the topaz shells. Ah'll have to run into a few sooner or later, an' Ah'll know 'em when Ah see 'em." So that is what she did, beginning at the right end of the pile and moving all the way to the left, scrutinizing every detail that she could find on any remotely blue shell-shaped objects, Pinkie bouncing along behind her with about thirty necklaces all clanging against each other around her neck, when they both heard it. The roar. The horribly loud, ear-shattering, heart-stopping roar. But I love Rarity. I really do. Doesn't that mean I should do what's best for her? If she's happy, shouldn't I be happy too? ...even if she's not with me? Applejack's head jerked up, and she yelped as a giant grey-gold talon smashed onto the ground next to her, creating a large dent in the ground and causing dirt and dust to stream upwards. Darting away, the orange mare watched in horror as into the cave stepped a dragon. It wasn't a terribly big dragon - this made sense, for the cave wasn't terribly big itself, but it was rather large, larger than at least two houses stacked on top of each other, with grey-golden scales and ebony spines going down its back. Its green eyes were narrowed, and sharp teeth were bared as its tail lashed, gaze fixated on the two earth ponies. Pinkie's ears lowered. "AJ?" "Yeah?" The word came out more as a grunt, a grunt of panic and fear. "We should probably go now." "You're not going anywhere," the dragon answered, voice low and rumbling. "Not until you explain why you're in my cave, and why you're taking my treasure." Applejack laughed, sweat pouring down the side of her head. "Treasure? Ha, what treasure?" All eyes turned to Pinkie and her thirty necklaces; the dragon snorted a puff of smoke, engulfing the room and causing the two ponies to cough loudly. "That's not very healthy," Pinkie wheezed, trying to blow it out of her face with one hoof. "You should really see a doctor about that." The dragon ignored her and instead gave another loud and thunderous roar. "Why have you come to my dwelling?" "We didn't know it was your dwelling, honest-to-Celestia!" Applejack called, placing a hoof over her hat to make sure that it didn't fly off. "We came here to gather some topaz shells for our good friend Rarity!" "Uh-huh!" Pinkie agreed, nodding her head rapidly. The dragon lifted an eyebrow. "Topaz shells? And why would she need topaz shells?" "She's a dressmaker," AJ called. "She makes the most fancy-shmancy designs you ever will see. Hats and gowns, tiaras and scarves, Rarity can make it." Talking about the white mare she had longed for for such a long time gave her strength; Applejack felt her chest puff out a little bit, and before she knew it, she was rambling, and she couldn't stop it, and Pinkie was staring and the dragon was just watching, eyes cold and expression, well, expressionless. "She's the prettiest mare in the world, Rarity. When she's happy, her smile could rival Celestia's sun and Luna's moon, rolled up into one. Her voice is like an angel - heck, her whole bein' is like an angel, like somepony from the stars come to tell me it's alright, that she's still here. Ever since Ah met her I thought she was an angel come to tell me...come to tell me..." The tears started to fall. "...come to tell me that mah parents are alright." Pinkie let out a gasp. Not an extravagant gasp, like she sometimes used, but an actual, honest to Celestia gasp. The dragon's eyes twitched ever so slightly at seeing the pony's tears. "Rarity is one of the kindest, most generous ponies Ah've ever met, ever. Ah need to help her, and Ah need to make her feel better...and Ah need these topaz shells to do that." Applejack's chest was heaving now, heaving because of the tears and heaving because of the smoke. "So please don't kill us, or eat us, or do whatever you were gonna do to us, because right now she's out there lookin' in the forest for the gems she needs, and if Ah bring them to her, she'll know..." Swallow. "She'll know Ah love her." Pinkie put her hooves to her mouth and the dragon's wings lowered. Slowly it turned as if to walk away, and AJ, for a moment, crying in the cave with nopony that understood but herself, wondered if all was lost. Of course it wouldn't care. It was a dragon. But Spike was a dragon too. And he cared about Rarity. Perhaps not as much as Applejack did, but he cared about her. And clearly she cared about him. AJ remembered what Pinkie had said, right before the rocks began to fall. She had been waiting for three years for the pony she loved to notice her. And if Pinkie Pie, the most impatient pony in the world, could wait, why couldn't she? "Here." The voice startled her; Applejack looked up to see a claw-ful of deep blue gems, gripped tightly in front of her. Slowly the dragon placed them on the ground; Pinkie hopped over and began to place them in her back as the cowpony stared up into the green eyes of the dragon, tears still flowing. "Why?" she whispered. "You deserve it," was the answer. "You go now. Go and tell her how you feel, before I get in a bad mood and eat you both for dinner." As they turned to exit the cave, Applejack thought about those words, and a decision was made. Ah'll tell her. Ah'll tell her it's alright that she's datin' Spike. Because Ah just want her to be happy. She can have him. Applejack smiled. Ah think she'll like that. I care about Rarity more than this. If she truly loves Applejack, I should let her have her. I'll tell her it's alright if she wants to date Applejack. Because I just want her to be happy. She can have her. Spike smiled. I think she'll like that.