Sometimes, no matter how well two ponies can communicate, it does not change the fact that cultures are different. Being an earth pony and a pegasus couple, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were accustomed to sometimes having to talk out cultural differences and differing traditions (though some, such as the ‘eat until you physically cannot move anymore every Hearth’s Warming’ tradition, Rainbow easily adapted to).
Anniversaries, though, were one of those common things important to both cultures. So it came as a bit of a surprise when Applejack crunched some numbers and realized that Rainbow was going to miss their fifth anniversary.
She confronted Rainbow Dash about it that very afternoon. “So. Neighagra,” she started.
Rainbow cocked her head. “You mean my next show? Yeah. I’ve heard it’s beautiful this time of year.”
“Also a bit too far away for you to come back for our fifth anniversary, isn’t it?”
Rainbow flinched. “Yeah…” she said hesitantly. “About that… I’m not going to be back in time.”
Applejack pulled her hat lower. “When were you going to tell me?”
“Soon! Really, I meant to tell you!”
Applejack looked up. “Rainbow?”
“What?”
“Our anniversary is next week, Rainbow. Thursday next week, to be specific.”
Rainbow Dash was taken aback. “Really? Next week already? Huh. Time flies…”
“That ain’t the only thing that’s gonna be flyin’,” Applejack muttered angrily as she stomped away. “Tear all those feathers out see who’s laughing then.”
Rainbow darted in front of her, making sure to keep her wings clenched firmly against her side. “Look, I knew. I didn’t forget, alright? I asked for time off, but I’m still a rookie; I got auto-denied.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Rainbow slumped to the ground. “You’re telling me,” she muttered dejectedly.
Applejack exhaled slowly as she realized that Rainbow was being hurt by this, too. Swallowing her anger, she sat down next to her and gently wrapped her tail around Rainbow’s waist. “It’s ok,” Applejack whispered. “It’s just a day. We can do things together any time. We’ll just throw something together when you do get back.”
“Yeah, but… Anniversary…” Rainbow said weakly.
“It’s ok,” Applejack said, giving Rainbow a kiss on the cheek. “Ah promise.”
Rainbow nodded, still unconvinced.
* * *
Rainbow sat on the train seat, watching the scenery outside rush by. It was going to be a great show; but it was overshadowed by the lack of Applejack. It just wouldn’t be the same without Applejack.
She jumped as another pony entered the car. “All right, you slackers!” Spitfire called, kicking the door shut behind her. “Updated schedule just got here. Check it out, and make sure you get where you need to be on time.” She began to pace the car, passing out the papers. “I don’t need to remind you what happened the last time a flyer was late, now, do I?”
“I got back in time for the show,” Soarin’ protested weakly.
Spitfire rolled her eyes. “Yeah. And you got sick on the sidelines in front of everypony. Great example you’re setting, buddy.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened as she looked over the schedule. “We’re not doing the evening show on Thursday?”
“We got bumped. Some egghead convention thing in the small arena and some famous motivational speaker in the big one. So we shifted to a meet-and-greet in the Moon room.”
Rainbow licked her lips. Not every member of the squad went to meet-and-greets. “And who’s doing that?” she asked, hoping she sounded nonchalant.
Spitfire raised an eyebrow. “I dunno. Haven’t assigned that yet. Why?”
“No reason,” Rainbow said a bit too quickly.
Spitfire smirked. “You trying to get that time off, Rainbow?” she asked.
“Uh…” Rainbow couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. Add to that the fact that Rainbow really wasn’t a good liar, and there wasn’t much she could do but stammer, “Just wondering, you know?”, and hope somepony else would break into the conversation. And she couldn’t just come clean; aside from the ‘no married ponies’ rule, the Wonderbolts really frowned on having significant others while in the ranks. Insurance payments and all.
Luckily, Fleetfoot jumped in. “If she doesn’t want the time off, I do,” she said, stretching her wings.
“No,” Spitfire growled, turning her attention and irritation towards her. “I’ve bailed your stupid flank out of jail enough times this tour. You’re staying with me the whole time, morning, noon, and night.”
Fleetfoot grinned and ran a tongue along the front of her teeth. “Night, too? Aw, Spitty, I didn’t know you swung that way.”
“What was that?” Spitfire said, holding a hoof to her ear. “You want the whole team to demonstrate their wing-up endurance? Is that what you said?”
Fleetfoot’s eyes widened. She shut her mouth, and then placed all four hooves in front of it for good measure.
Rainbow was only slightly relieved that Spitfire wouldn’t carry out her threat. She was too busy planning. The afternoon show on Thursday was never as long, so the flyers could be rested for the Friday night show, which was always the biggest.
That meant that as long as she didn’t have to do the meet-and-greet, she could make it home in time for her anniversary dessert.
* * *
By Thursday morning, Rainbow was on pins and needles. Once or twice she caught herself biting her hooves from nervousness. She just had to get that time off. She just had to.
“All right, today's assignments,” Spitfire shouted, getting instant quiet. “Morning flyby is me, Soarin', and Blaze. Firestreak and Silver Lining, you're on call for the opening morning ceremony. Everypony's at the show, and then the meet-and-greet tonight is Wave Chill, Fleetfoot, and Rainbow Dash.”
As she heard her name, Rainbow felt as though she had been punched in the stomach.
Spitfire continued. “And Wave, don't be afraid to smack Fleetfoot if she steps out of line.”
Fleetfoot put on her best innocent expression; but it was somewhat ruined by the way she suggestively flicked her tail.
Wave Chill held out a hoof. “All right!” he said.
Rainbow halfheartedly returned the hoof bump. Any other time he'd be great company.
But not today.
* * *
Later that afternoon in Ponyville, Applejack once again found herself working to cover her emotions. On the bright side, this was looking to be a really good harvest.
On the not bright side, she was going to be sleeping alone tonight, the night of her fifth anniversary. And contrary to Pinkie’s claim, all the sugary goods in the world just couldn’t make up for that.
Not that Pinkie hadn't tried, though. Applejack was fairly certain that she and her whole family would be eating cake for a week straight.
She looked up at the sound of a pony clearing their throat. To her surprise, she saw two ponies wearing long black cloaks. One looked slightly larger than the other, but she couldn’t see much else about them.
“Can Ah help you?” she asked hesitantly.
“You are Miss Jacqueline Apple, are you not?” the larger one, a male, asked.
“Jacqueline is my mother's name. Ah'm Applejack,” Applejack said, narrowing an eye suspiciously. “Who wants to know?”
“That is unimportant right now, Miss Applejack,” the smaller female said. “The thing is, you must come with us. Immediately.”
“It’s quite urgent,” the male added.
Applejack narrowed her eyes. “And if Ah don’t?”
“Oh, I doubt that will be the case,” the female said. “You wouldn’t want us to bring you by force, would you?”
“Just you try it,” Applejack growled, lowering herself into a defensive position.
* * *
Later, after the last question had been answered and the last of the straggling paparazzi had been pushed back by the burly bouncers and they had all met up again at the hotel, Fleetfoot bumped Rainbow right in the flank. By now very used to Fleetfoot’s greetings/borderline sexual harassment, Rainbow merely grunted in acknowledgement.
“Hey, Dash, you ok? You were looking kindof distracted there at the end.”
"Yeah," Wave Chill said. "You're like our mare on statistics, but you missed that last one."
“Yeah, I was a bit off,” Rainbow said. She sighed, looking at the room without actually seeing it. Normally, she’d deny it and tout her own awesomeness; today was not a normal day. “Just tired, that's all. Hey look, you all have fun, but I’m not going out tonight. I’m just going to stay here.”
“Good idea.” Spitfire and Soarin nudged each other playfully.
Rainbow narrowed her eyebrows. “What?”
“No reason. Oh, and next time you want time off? Share the reason, eh?”
Rainbow frowned. “Reason? I... what?”
“We’re a team now, Dash,” Spitfire said. “That means we trust each other. That means we share pertinent information.”
“I... what?” Rainbow repeated, still not understanding any of this.
“Never mind,” Spitfire said, shaking her head. “Just... enjoy your night, all alone and lonely, in a cold bed, all alone.”
It was about at this point that Soarin couldn’t take it anymore and let out a little -snrk!-. That's all it took for Spitfire to quickly lose her poker face and begin laughing out loud, with Soarin joining in, even laughing to the point of losing control and needing to lean on Spitfire to remain standing. With a knowing nudge and a wink, Spitfire and Soarin left, soon followed by the rest of the team.
Rainbow Dash stood there for a few minutes, confused. Eventually, realizing she wouldn’t get any answers here, she decided to go back to her room and order the largest cider the hotel offered.