It had been a week since Applejack had seen Rainbow Dash. Granny Smith had begun to worry about Applejack's depressed attitude, and so Applejack found herself pushed out the door to go to yet another of Pinkie's welcoming parties, where she was surrounded by happy, laughing ponies playing games.
She, on the other hoof, was sitting at a table, looking despondently at her cup of punch. Someone had informed Pinkie Pie that this new pony’s favorite color was bright blue, and so Pinkie had provided blue punch. Unfortunately, she had chosen to serve it in white cups, which made the drink appear cyan, and Applejack couldn’t help but think of Rainbow Dash every time she saw it.
In hindsight, she probably should have stayed away from the brightly-colored cupcakes that were currently sitting in front of her, as well.
Pinkie, somehow summoned by the feeling that somepony wasn’t having a good time at her party, poked her head out from under the table. “Hi, Applejack!” she called.
Applejack, by now very used to Pinkie appearing in various ways, merely sighed. “Hi, Pinkie,” she said.
Pinkie climbed out and sat down right next to Applejack, pressing against Applejack as she ignored all social bounds and personal space issues. “So, you’re not being very party-like. What’s up?”
“Ah just… Ah’m thinkin’ of Rainbow,” Applejack admitted. “Ah’ve tried bakin’ ‘most everything Ah could think of and sending it to her, but she’s still holed up in there, not wantin’ to come out.” She sighed. “Ah just want to see her happy again.”
Pinkie gigglesnorted. “You don’t make ponies happy by giving them things, you silly. You make ponies happy by doing things for them. Sure, I give ponies presents, I give them cupcakes, but what really makes them smile is the fact that somepony cared enough about them to do something for them that they really didn’t have to do. Ponies don’t really care about cake and parties; they really care that somepony else took the time to think of them. That’s it, really.”
Applejack pondered this for the rest of the party.
* * *
Applejack stood under Rainbow’s cloud house and steeled herself. “All right,” she whispered. “You’re there for her.” She took a step back and began spinning her rope over her head, spinning faster and faster until the metal weight at the end whistled from the speed. She released and it flew straight and true, wrapping itself around one of the many columns on Rainbow’s house. The weight fell, wrapping itself around the rope a few times and then embedding itself in the cloud, keeping the rope in place.
Hopefully.
Applejack tightened her saddlebags and began to climb. Climbing with hooves is not the easiest of activities, and more than once she slid and left small rope burns along her body and inner forelegs.
But she was there for Rainbow, and it would all work out.
Probably.
She grit her teeth. She had to think more positively. This second-guessing herself was really getting old.
Arriving at the top of her rope, she pulled herself up onto the porch and relaxed. Now the hard part. She walked up and knocked on Rainbow’s door.
No answer.
She knocked again, a bit harder this time.
“Whaaat?” Rainbow whined.
“Ah came to see you again,” Applejack said.
“I noticed.”
Applejack chuckled. “Just open the door.”
A few minutes later, Rainbow did, her scowl still etched on her face. “Ok. You’re back. More food, then? Gonna fatten me up before winter?”
Applejack chuckled. “Ah'm no Granny Smith, shovin’ food down your gullet until you can barely move. Today, Ah'm here to help.”
“Help,” Rainbow said flatly.
“Yep! Anything you want me to do, Ah'm here for you.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I take it ‘go away’ is not on your list of tricks?”
Applejack shook her head. “Not today, sorry.”
“Fine,” Rainbow grumbled, stepping back to let her in. “If you’re here to help, you think of something that would help.”
“A’ight,” Applejack said, pulling a book from her saddlebags. “How’s this?”
Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Is that…?”
“Yep. Daring Do and the Search for the Golden Bridle. Newest book in the series, right off the press. Ah figured we could read it together or somethin’.”
Rainbow stared at the book and licked her lips once before the walls came crashing back into place and her glare returned. “Nah, I’m not interested,” she scoffed, looking away.
Applejack’s jaw dropped. “Say wha-?”
“I really don’t want to read it,” Rainbow insisted.
Applejack gave her a look that she had perfected over the many years of raising Apple Bloom. This look was perfectly designed to crush defenses and bring forth the sweet, sweet taste of truth.
Rainbow tried to glare back, but soon cracked under the pressure. “I just… kindof haven’t finished the last one yet,” she admitted quietly. “It’s hard to get comfortable like this, and so I haven’t had a chance to read it all the way yet.”
Applejack tried to hide a frown. “You haven’t been able to read?” What had Rainbow done all day?
Rainbow shook her head. “I tried so many times… the book falls on me or my foreleg starts to ache. I’m not even halfway done yet.”
Applejack put the book away. “Ah’ll help you finish that one, then. Where is it?”
“In my room, on the bottom of the third pile from the left.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Rainbow understood the silent observation, and shrugged—and winced. “Yeah, I guess I’ve been here a while. It’s not so bad, though.”
Applejack trotted off and soon returned carrying the book and all the blankets off of Rainbow’s bed. “Try this,” she said, folding and refolding the large comforter into a thick nest of sorts, and the lighter sheet into a cover and pillow.
Rainbow frowned, but the curiosity inspired by the sight of the book by Applejack’s hoof made up her mind. She painfully settled down on the blanket, wincing and groaning, but soon managed to get somewhat comfortable.
“This isn’t half bad,” she said, letting her wings extend their full, albeit reduced, length.
Applejack leaned up against the makeshift bed and opened the book to the marked page. “All right. Where were you?”
“The part where Daring is just realizing that the idol she was carrying was a fake and she’s been betrayed by Shortstack who was only pretending to be her friend to use her to get past the tricks and traps but he was actually working for the Darkness, the secret cult who wants to use the curse to infect thousands of ponies in Chario city in revenge for having started the banishment process for Nightmare Moon’s first paladin Darkness Rising that eventually led to Nightmare Moon's downfall.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“Ok, so maybe I’ve really wanted to read this,” Rainbow admitted, looking away to hide her slight blush.
Applejack smiled and began to read. “‘Daring’s eyes widened in horror as the scale came to a stop a full three ounces before it should have…’”
* * *
“‘This isn’t over, Daring Do!’ he howled. ‘This isn’t over!’ Daring just smiled as she walked slowly away, leaving him behind, buried up to his neck in his own trap. ‘Maybe you should just stick to selling souvenirs,’ she jabbed, ‘but if you ever want to try again, know that Daring Do will always be ready for you!’ The end.”
Rainbow cheered and pumped a hoof into the air. “That was so awes- ow!” She quickly retracted her foreleg and rubbed her shoulder gently. “I mean, that was pretty cool.”
“Yeah,” Applejack said. “Ah think Ah could get into this series.” She looked up and to her astonishment, it was dark. “Huh. Guess Ah was here longer than Ah thought.”
Rainbow nodded and then something else occurred to her. “How did you get up here, anyway?”
“Ah climbed. Threw a rope up and climbed up myself.”
“Impressive,” Rainbow said, before frowning again. “This isn't over. I'm still mad at you. And don’t want you here. And everything.”
Applejack smiled. “That’s ok. Ah’ll be like Daring Do, back in a bit and ready to go again. We still have this new book to read, after all.”
“Huh,” Rainbow muttered. “You do that.”
But the biting sarcasm was not as strong in her voice as she would have liked.
* * *
It was the next day that Applejack climbed the rope again. This time it was evening, but she had enjoyed her visit so much that she had eaten dinner at record speed just to have time to come back. She knocked on the door and waited patiently.
Rainbow answered a bit more quickly this time. “Hey, AJ,” she greeted her coolly. “What’s up?”
“Not much. Brought you some dinner.”
Rainbow grinned, but then hid it behind her trademark scowl. “Fine. It’s about time you got here. I was getting hungry, anyway.”
Dinner (and dessert) was eaten fairly quickly. Applejack did most of the talking, as she’d already eaten, and Rainbow listened politely. As not much had happened in Rainbow’s life, Applejack found it less awkward to talk a bit about herself instead, and Rainbow chuckled and groaned at all the appropriate places as Applejack discussed Apple Bloom’s latest experiment.
“So this cart thing is held together with bent nails, spit, baling twine and good luck, and Scootaloo’s in the front seat, hollerin’ for the others to push faster and so they’re tearing down the dirt road and she gets maybe fifty feet before the left rear wheel falls off—and Ah’m too far away t’ do anythin’ but watch at this point—and she goes off the road, hits a bump, gets airborne and so she’s just flailing and then she slams into a tree. She slides off and lands in a basket Ah’d left underneath, pretty as you please, covered in leaves, and right as Ah get there an apple falls and bounces off her head.”
Rainbow laughed. “That must have been something to see,” she said.
“All Ah could do was laugh.” She paused. “Then Ah made them restack the hay bales they knocked over, but yeah.”
Rainbow grinned as she shoved the rest of her sandwich in her mouth. “Wish I could get out there again.”
Little warning flags flew up in Applejack’s mind, and she needed something to change the subject—and fast. The first thing that came to mind was how bad this place smelled, and how it really could use a tidying. “Ya know, as long as Ah’m here, how’s about Ah clean up a bit?” she asked, getting out of her chair and trotting purposefully over to the living room. “Ah’ll start with this.”
“My house isn’t that bad,” Rainbow protested.
Applejack turned and gave her a look.
Rainbow wilted slightly. “Ok, maybe it’s a little bit bad,” she admitted. She slowly walked into the room. “That pile probably goes in the trash, that one’s probably laundry, I think that one used to be food of some kind…”
* * *
Rainbow nodded appreciatively as she looked over her now clean living room. “Huh, so that’s what the cloud is supposed to look like.” She turned to Applejack and gave her the first genuine smile AJ had seen in a long time. “Maybe having you over here all the time isn’t so bad after all.”
Guess miracles do happen, Applejack thought to herself with a small smile. What next, Twilight getting sick of books?
* * *
Twilight looked up, a haunted look in her eyes. “Spike?” she called.
Spike shoved the rest of the gem in his mouth, sat up and looked back. “Yes, Twilight?”
“I… I think I’m getting sick of books,” Twilight whispered.
Spike rolled his eyes and returned to his reading, grabbing another ruby and tossing it into his mouth. “You and me both, sister.”
* * *
As Applejack left, Rainbow called after her. “Come back soon, ok? You still owe me that new Daring Do book!”
Applejack smiled. That was the least of her worries. Rainbow had asked her to come back. Everything was right in the world again.
For now.