//------------------------------// // 5: Does Time Heal All Wounds? // Story: When A Door Closes, Another Opens // by Intet22 //------------------------------// “It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.” - Rose Kennedy It didn’t take long for Rainbow to get back to the library, only a couple of minutes had passed after she left. In that time, Twilight had started a fire in the library’s fireplace, and was nestled inside of a warm blanket. A large book lay open in front of her, and a refreshing glass of juice sat next to it on the oak floor. As Twilight gazed at the surprisingly boring novel, she tried to get her mind off of the situation with Applejack and Rainbow, but her thoughts continued to drift back towards the explosive fight. Today could have gone so much better… Twilight let out an exhausted sigh as she magically flipped a page in the book. The last thing that I wanted was to get those two in the same place like that, especially after Applejack had already been through enough from telling me about her feelings towards the break up. I guess it could have been worse. At least… They didn’t hurt each other, and Applejack seemed to be okay… Well not ok… But better than how I thought she would have taken it at least. With a gust of wind, Rainbow floated down towards Twilight, a small rainbow striped blanket in her mouth. In a simple elegant motion, Rainbow laid the blanket down, and lay on top of it, letting out a sigh as she dropped down to the hard floor below. “That was fairly quick,” Twilight said, as she took a sip of juice. “Did you get everything that you needed?” “Of course I did! What else would you expect from the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria?” Rainbow said with mock excitement, her typical demeanor clearly absent from the statement. Her mind was constantly looping back and forth between the conversation with Fluttershy, and her violent rage towards Applejack moments ago. No matter how hard she tried, Rainbow felt guilty for tearing into Applejack like that. There were parts of her that thought it was correct to act like that, but deep down she knew that it was a terrible thing to do to the broken farmer.   “Hey, Twi,” Rainbow said, her gaze fixated on the flames as they licked their way around burning logs. “Sorry about blowing up like that when Applejack was here… I don’t know what came over me, but everytime I think about her, I can’t help but get angry at what she did… All of this pain, for no reason… Part of me wants to think that I was right, acting the way that I did… But I know it was wrong...” With those words, Rainbow felt a feathery limb making it’s way over her back, the warmth from the violet wing instantly spreading through her body. “I wonder how she’s dealing with how I acted…” Terrible… Depressed… Guilt… Lost… Somewhat relieved… That last one was interesting, of all things that Applejack could be feeling right now, relieved definitely was the odd one out. The meeting with Twilight had gone a little bit better than what she had thought it would. It shocked her, how well Twilight took the her side of the story. The whole morning she had been preparing herself for how she thought Twilight would react. She was expecting that Twilight would be angry, maybe even yell at her for doing something so hurtful to one of their friends, but instead she was understanding… Trying to put herself in Applejack’s hooves, and see what she would have done, if she had been the one that saw Rainbow so depressed instead of her. Applejack continued to walk down the street, her mind constantly debating about what she was going to do now that she had told Twilight. Deep down she knew it didn’t change much. Rainbow was still hurt, the only difference now was that somepony knew what why she truly pulled Rainbow along like that. Applejack began to notice that the pain of guilt was less than what it was before, it now feeling like a stab with a thin knife every time she caught herself thinking about the situation. Maybe Rainbow was right… Applejack let out a sigh as she continued to walk, no particular destination in mind, her head low to the ground as she continued to think. I should have just left her alone, and let her deal with the rejection in her own way… Of course she would have been able to get over it… I have seen her fight through worse things, so why did I think that I had to help her by lying to her? Stupid idiot… Stupid… Applejack let out a defeated sigh, because deep down she knew that she shouldn’t be doing this to herself. Maybe Rarity will be willing to listen… I need to at least tell somepony else about what happened. Even if Twilight knows, it isn’t fair to be keeping my terrible actions from the rest of the girls…  Yeah that’s what I’ll do… I will tell them all! What they decide to do afterwards is their choice, but I can’t continue to lying like this… I just can’t…  Finally with a goal in mind, Applejack set out for Carousel Boutique, keeping to herself as she walked down the always busy streets. As Applejack stood in front of the integrate store’s violet door, a loud noise radiated from behind. In seemingly no time at all she reached the clothing store of her friend, a knot of nervous started to form as she stood in front, trying to gather the courage that she desperately needed. Reaching out with a hoof, Applejack grabbed one of the handles and knocked. “Hey Rarity!” Applejack shouted. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine darling!” Rarity yelled from inside, clearly annoyed with something. “You mind if I come in? I need to talk to you about something important.” “The door is open! Just mind the mess!” Rarity's voice radiated from behind the door.  As Applejack opened the door, she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at the beauty queen. Her mane was dishevelled beyond recognition, parts of sticking up at seemingly impossible angles, and other places comedically out of place. Rarity was busy at work, constantly checking the manikin in front of her, carefully measuring each possible stitch to make sure that they were done with the utmost precision and care. “Uh…” Applejack said from the doorway. “You okay there Rarity? You seem a little..” Rarity let out an exhausted sigh, her gaze still tied to the manikin in front of her. “Sweetie Belle and her friends were here a couple minutes ago. I had specifically set some time aside today to finish these dresses for a very important client, and now I will be up all night trying to get these designs together.” “You’re busy… I’ll leave you alone.” “Don’t worry about that Applejack! I have been needing a break anyway... Please make yourself at home,” Rarity said, while gesturing a hoof in the direction of the small pink cushions that lay scattered across the disorganized floor, her gaze unwavering from her work. “I haven't got the chance to clean up what those fillies have done. I will never be able to understand how they can cause so much destruction wherever they go...” Applejack walked in and looked around the disordered boutique, there was dresses and pieces of models scattered around all over the place. Pieces of torn fabric were splayed across all of the walls, and the curtains on the presentation stage at back of the store had been ripped down the centre. Unravelled bolts of fabric lay scattered along the floor, coating the typically normal tile floor in a sporadic rainbow coloured mesh. “Wow,” Applejack said, mouth agape. “They really did a number on this place didn't they. I know there destructive little filles, but this is outrageous.” “Don't remind me,” Rarity said, clearly annoyed at the whole entire situation. “I left them alone for ten minutes Applejack. Ten whole minutes! And they destroyed my store in that short amount time! It truly is the worst possible thing!” Applejack let out a sigh. She had heard it all before, the worst possible thing gets a little old after the tenth time hearing that month. “And… With this...” Rarity levitated one of the stray red bolts of cloth over, and cut out a large chunk of fabric. The piece fit perfectly around the dress, and provided a nice accent to the orange piping that stretched down the figure of the dress. “I am done! With the first dress at least…” Rarity's gaze shifted over to Applejack, who had sat down on one of the few clean cushions left on the floor. “Applejack, darling, what in Celestia’s name happened to you? You look absolutely dreadful… Your mane is all matted, and you look like you haven’t slept in months!” “Well it has been only been a couple of days since it happened...” Applejack said while taking her hat off and placing it on the only clean table top that she saw around her. “Do I really look that awful? Because I definitely feel like it.” “Applejack dear... If I said that you look like you've gone a couple of rounds with an Ursa Major, it would be a major understatement... Please tell me what happened to you...” “Well...” Applejack said while rubbing her front hooves together. Nervousness began to spread its way throughout her body, it's effect almost immediate as Applejack tried to find the strength to tell Rarity what had happened. What if she doesn't take the news like Twilight did? What if she hates me for how I treated Rainbow? I don't think that I could handle losing another friend because of my stupid choices. “Please Applejack...” Rarity pleaded while gently placing a hoof on Applejack's shoulder. “Please tell me what happened. Whatever this is can't be good if you keep it to yourself.” Applejack let out a sigh. Rarity was right, if she kept this hidden from everypony else, it would just cause more pain. “Well Rarity... Rainbow and I have been going out for the past couple of months behind everypony’s back.” Rarity nodded her head in acknowledgement, clearly unphased by the news, as if she had already known all along. Applejack stared at Rarity, and then it finally dawned on her why Rarity wasn't freaking out after hearing such jarring information. “Y-Y-You knew?!” Applejack yelled. “Well...” Rarity said, her voice trailing off near the end. “Not at first. I had a feeling that something was going on with Rainbow, but I couldn't quite put a hoof on it. Rainbow seemed a little bit less...” Rarity waved a hoof through the air, as she tried to find the right words. “Herself, when all six of us were together. She almost looked like she was trying her hardest to impress somepony in our group. At first I didn't really know why she would be acting like that. Rainbow must have known that she didn't need to prove herself to any of us, so that idea didn't really make much sense... After a while, I guessed that she had developed feelings for one of us, and was too scared to tell anypony about it... It was the only thing that fit really. Why else would the most fearless out of all us be hiding something from her friends like that. I don't really blame her... I would never be able to bring myself to tell any of you girls about something like that. As time went on, Rainbow seemed to gaining a little bit more courage, as she was sneaking hints in here and there. Very subtle hints mind you, but definitely noticeable if you paid close attention. Then there was that time that none of us had seen her for a couple of days... Before she vanished from all of us, Rainbow came by the store wanting to talk about something, but she was never able to gather herself long enough to tell me what had happened. The poor dear was in a terrible state, her fur was matted with tears, and that radiant colour of hers was replaced by some dreadful, dull wash of the old colour that remained. When Rainbow came back after a couple of days, she acted differently… There was a new spring in her step, the sadness that had dwelled on her before had been replaced with something much nicer, and those magnificent colours had returned to their original pristine state. But if I had to bet my guess on one thing in particular, it would have been the way that she looked at you, Applejack.” With that statement, Applejack tilted her head in confusion, not quite sure where Rarity was going with her point. “Every time she looked at you she seemed... Happy... It wasn’t much, just simple body language, but I could piece together the pieces from there.” “Well...” Applejack said, still completely dumbfounded that Rarity had put that all together from just small little ticks in body language. “You really do have a knack for noticing the small details don't you?” “Of course I do darling. I wouldn't be able to do all the magnificent work that I do here in the boutique without it. But that can't be the reason for why you're feeling so terrible. Did something happen between you two or?” “Well…” Applejack ran through the story as she had done with Twilight, starting with how Rainbow had first asked her out, and finally finishing with the fight between them. At every moment through the story, Rarity was silent, only nodding her head a couple of times to signal that she was still listening. Applejack let out a sigh once she had finished, and sat patiently waiting for some response to come from her friend. The two mares sat in complete silence for what seemed like eons, until Rarity finally spoke, breaking the awkward silence between them. “So…” Rarity stammered, truly at a loss for words. So many thoughts coursed through her mind, anger, hatred, sympathy, but mostly sadness. No matter how Rarity looked at situation, there was no ending where neither Rainbow or Applejack would end up hurting each other in the end. Either Applejack would have gone living the rest of her life with Rainbow, constantly maintaining the charade until she couldn't handle it anymore, or Rainbow would have noticed that something was wrong, and they would be in the exact same situation they were in now. “What are you going to do now?” Rarity asked, her mind still trying to figure out how to feel about how Applejack treated Rainbow. The thoughts of anger constantly fought against her sympathy towards Applejack, cancelling each other out one by one. Each time her mind would come close to settling on a solid emotion, it was directly pushed away by another feeling, as they all tried to fight for the right to be called the appropriate response. “I don’t know Rarity… I really don’t know…” Applejack let out a muffled sob, slowly wiping the stray tear that had been sneaking down her muzzle with a hoof. “Rainbow was right… Why would I do that to her? Something so cruel, and I didn’t even take any time to think what would happen. Part of me wishes that I could go back, and change the stupid choice that I made. But I know that’s impossible, and I’ll have to live with the choice that I made.” “Applejack...” Rarity said. Sympathy had finally won the battle of Rarity's mind, taking it's rightful spot as the appropriate choice. “Every fibre of being tells me that I need to talk with Rainbow, to sit down and let her get all of the anger out her system. I don’t care what Rainbow would do to me… Maybe she would yell at me again, or maybe she would hit me... Quite frankly I know I deserve it… But I know that won’t change anything. No matter how much I hope it would change, everything would still be the same. Rainbow would still hate me for what I did to her, and I would still feel like I just went a couple of rounds with Discord, while trying to fight the entire Changeling army. I just don’t know what I should be doing now. Everything seems to have the same terrible outcome, and no matter what I think about doing to help, it looks like it will just make it worse.” “Have you thought about doing nothing?” Rarity asked. “What do you mean?” Applejack asked confused, her head tilted at an odd angle. How could I do nothing after all of this?! I have torn apart Rainbow’s feelings, destroyed the friendship that we had, and who knows what the other’s will do once they find out… And you want me to do nothing about this? Nothing at all? “Let me explain…” Rarity said. “You keep saying that no matter what you think of, it always ends up just making everything worse. If that is the case, why do anything at all? Why do anything, when all possible choices lead to a worse outcome... Sure Rainbow is feeling terrible now, but from what you tell me, she has Twilight to help her, so we don’t have to worry about her. Rainbow will get over this Applejack… It might take some time, but she will get over it… What I want you to do however, is make sure that you look after yourself.” Rarity said, while putting a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder. “You can’t do this to yourself darling… There is no sense treating yourself like this, when it doesn’t change anything. Just make sure to take care of you first, and the rest will work itself in the end. Rainbow might eventually forgive you, or she may not, but she will come to you at some point. When she does, you will have to be ready for whatever she may do, and you can't if you keep beating yourself up like this…” “But Rarity…” Applejack said with a whimper. “I have to do something… I can’t just sit here doing nothing.” “Applejack… You can be so stubborn sometimes… Remember what got you here in the first place. You made the choice to do something when you saw no other way to help, and it ended up destroying a close friendship. This is no different… So please, just try to look after yourself, and let Rainbow deal with it in her own way.” Applejack let out a defeated sigh. She knew that Rarity was right, and if she did anything it would just end up making things worse. “Thanks Rarity,” Applejack said, with a small smile stretching across her face. “Applejack will be okay,” Twilight said. “It would take much more than that to keep her down.” “Yeah, you’re right…” Rainbow let out a sigh. “I just wish that I could have seen the breakup coming at least. I mean all of the signs were right there in front of me, and I didn’t even consider the fact that things might have not worked out between us. All that time, I was so absorbed with trying to find somepony special, that I guess I forgot to remind myself that things could fall apart in front of me… I feel so foolish…” The only sound that could be heard throughout the library was the quiet soft crackling of the fire, and the occasional sob that came from Rainbow. “How did I not see this coming? Everything was there. She was getting further and further away from me each and everyday, and I didn’t even stop to ask her what was wrong… I just continued on like it was nothing... I was just happy that she said yes, and all I really cared about was myself. Why did I have to be so selfish... Maybe if I did something...” “Rainbow, you may be many things but you’re definitely not selfish.” Twilight reached a hoof under Rainbow’s chin, and pulled her gaze to hers. As Twilight stared into Rainbow’s eyes, she could see that deep down, Rainbow was still trying to make sense of all that had happened. She was just looking for somepony to help, somepony to help her make sense of everything. “You were happy with how everything was going, so it only makes sense why you would focus on that. Nopony wants to look on the bad side of things, so we focus on the things that make us happy. The things that bring joy to our lives are the moments that are truly worth remembering, not these terrible moments that bring us so much pain and sorrow.” “But why didn’t I see it?” Rainbow said with a whimper. “I should have been there for her, I should have seen that something was wrong… Maybe… I deserve this for not noticing…” Those words bore directly into Twilight’s soul, each small word hurt like a thousand blades piercing through her skin. “Now Rainbow, listen to me!” Twilight said, while grasping Rainbow’s muzzle in her fore-hooves. “You should never think that you deserve something like this… Never… You are one of the most brave, thoughtful, and kind ponies that I know. You’d give up on your dreams, just to be with those who you hold dear to your heart. So don’t you ever think that you deserve this kind of pain, because you’re better than all of this.” Rainbow opened her mouth to interrupt, but Twilight continued. “Rainbow… You have done so many things, that everypony thought was impossible. You stood tall when they told you it couldn’t be done, that it was a lost cause, but you still tried your hardest and look what happened... Not only did you prove them wrong, but you proved to yourself that it could be done. If you deserve anything, it would be happiness... Not this pain and suffering.” Twilight reached over and put a hoof on Rainbow’s chest, a serious look on her face. “So don’t you ever think that you deserve something like this to happen to you… Don’t you ever say that again.” Rainbow just sat there, looking into Twilight’s eyes, only able to blink as the words of her close friend filled her mind. No matter what she felt like right now, Twilight’s words had filled her with a sense of pride and accomplishment, something that she desperately needed right now. Rainbow laid her head on Twilight’s shoulder, and let out a deep sigh, as she squirmed around trying to find a comfortable spot. “Thanks for being here for me, Twi, it really means a lot to me that you’re listening.” “What do you mean?” Twilight asked, a confused expression now making it’s way over her face. Of course I would be here for you Rainbow… Why wouldn’t I? “Well… It’s nice to have someone to talk to.” Rainbow let out loud yawn and nestled her head deeper in Twilight’s shoulder, finally finding a comfortable spot to relax. Rainbow’s eyes remained fixated on the fire in front of them, the majestic flames oddly tiring as Rainbow continued to watch. “You know what I mean? Just having someone that is willing to listen to you is such a relief. I know that no matter what happens with this whole Applejack thing, that I can at least talk to you about it…” “I see what you mean.” Twilight said with a smile. “Not having anypony to talk to would be absolutely terrible. Nopony there to help, and all of those thoughts coursing through your head. But I know that you’d be there for me... In fact you’ve been there for me more times than I can count, so of course I would help you through this. Why wouldn’t I be there for my friend?” With that, Rainbow closed her eyes, and finally started to relax. The warmth of the fire relaxed her body to the core, the thoughts of day slowly clearing from her mind. “Don’t worry Rainbow… I will always be here to listen, no matter what happens,” Twilight said, as she slid a hoof through Rainbow’s mane. Both of the mares quietly lay there, neither saying anything to the other, as the burning logs provided the only sound that filled the library. Eventually the flames had started to die down, leaving behind only a couple of ash coated logs, a few small glowing embers still clinging to the side. Twilight closed the book in front of her, and levitated it back up to the shelf, making sure to remain as still possible, as Rainbow continued to lay perfectly still. “Hey Rainbow…” Twilight said, turning her head to face the pegasus on her shoulder. The only response that came from Rainbow, was a playful chuckle, followed by a quiet snore. “I guess it can wait for later...”