Rarity’s fainting couch had many uses. One turned out to be supporting the casts on an earth pony’s hind legs. It was ideal for the purpose, though the casts were not ideal for it—soiled by farm dirt and mud, they left untidy marks on the upholstery, and the fashion unicorn was plainly horrified by this result, though it had been her idea.
Applejack gulped. “I cleaned off them things as much as I could… well, Dashie did, I can’t reach ‘em. Awful sorry about messin’ up your nice couch—an’ again, sorry for bein’ such a pain the other day. Dashie’s sorry too, though it’s my fault really. We’re goin’ around sayin’ sorry to everypony, an’ I hope it makes you feel better ‘cause it’s real important.”
Rarity smiled, her coat gleaming white once more. “Quite all right, darling. I dare say we all needed to sleep on it, no?”
Applejack nodded. “Yeah! Uh, I mean, no! Er… let’s jes’ say that we sure did need to sleep on it? You look fine, Rarity, and again, thank you for all your efforts…”
Rarity’s smile was a little forced. “Ahaha! Yes. For my looks, you must thank the efforts of Aloe and Vera at the spa. I quite exhausted them, I fear, but they performed like grooming champions.”
“Funny you should mention it,” said Applejack, “cause we’re jes’… ow! Dashie!”
Dash looked innocent, though she had just kicked Applejack’s foreleg. “What?”
Applejack glared at her. “Seriously? I can’t even say… all right, all right. Rarity, again we thank you, and we’re jes’ goin’ out to enjoy th’ nice day.”
Rarity’s little half-smile admitted nothing. “Of course. Enjoy it in good health, both of you, and thank you for the charming and gracious apologies. Ta-ta!”
Outside, they paused while Dash adjusted her grip, her forelegs wrapped around Applejack’s hind legs. Her face was nuzzled into Applejack’s silky blonde tail, and her wings beat strongly, supporting both her weight and her marefriend’s hindquarters complete with the weight of the casts. Rainbow Dash had no trouble with this—certainly not the tail nuzzling, but no trouble with the weight either, because Rainbow Dash flew everywhere and rarely touched the ground anymore.
Applejack had learned why, the previous night.
They’d gone to bed, Rainbow helping her get in, and Applejack had asked Dash to stay. That wasn’t unusual. But Rainbow Dash had landed for a moment, taken a step towards the bed, winced, limped, and taken wing again just to move a few feet—and Applejack had seen her.
“Dashie, the hell? Show me your hoof.”
“Nah, it’s…”
“Show me!”
It had been five minutes of argument at the end of a very long day. Applejack thought, for a while, that Dash was simply going to fly off in a huff—but finally, she had allowed Applejack to inspect her hooves, and all was revealed.
Dash flew everywhere because she had to, and that was the direct result of flying everywhere, flying nearly every waking minute. Her hooves were flared out, overgrown, hadn’t even been walked on: as a result, they almost couldn’t be walked on. Applejack cursed herself for not noticing earlier. The problem was in plain sight, but they’d all grown used to how Dash looked, and she’d never complained.
Now, she had reason to, for her right forehoof was actually cracked up the middle. She needed a pony farrier desperately, yet she hadn’t seen one.
“How did this happen?”
“Stupid cliff…”
Dash had explained that for hoof care she flew out to a particular rocky cliff and kicked it. Applejack’s jaw had dropped, and Dash put on a sulky look and refused to explain further, until ten more minutes of argument dragged the truth out of her.
Rainbow Dash had split her hoof against this cliff, desperately trying to wear her hooves down so she would not have to see the farrier.
“I don’t like ponies touching my hooves, okay?”
“Sugarcube, I’ve touched your hooves.”
“But not with… the clippers…”
More truth came out. Rainbow Dash had a raging phobia of the farrier, and his scary and intimidating tools.
It was a little bit understandable. Little colts and fillies often feared the farrier. The files, the hoof-knives, and most alarming, the big chomping clippers that could bite huge chunks out of your hoof—there was no sensation in the hoof itself, but the grinding crunch and the gruesome kachunk as the clipper’s teeth met, nipping off big lumps of keratin, took some getting used to. Applejack had no special fondness for the farrier, but considered it part of keeping in good health, and her hooves were working farm implements that required special consideration. Clopforth considered her an exemplary pony regarding hoof care. She tended to get under-run heels because of her applebucking posture, but he kept it in check.
Rainbow Dash did no hoof care at all—other than bucking at cliffs—and flew everywhere she went. The situation was grim.
Now, Applejack and Rainbow Dash hesitated outside the Carousel Boutique, because that had been the last stop of the day… almost. Applejack glanced back at Dashie, who wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“Ya promised…”
“Yeah yeah,” said Dash, unhappily.
“Are you sure ya want Aloe and Vera? They ain’t exactly professionals, not of this. I swear by Clopforth…”
“No! Not the farrier! I’ll have them do it. Not him!”
Applejack sighed. “Well, all right, honey.”
She trotted off towards the spa, not too quickly, Dash bringing up her rear. As she trotted, she talked. “I promise, it’ll be wonderful. First of all, we got to deal with them hooves to let that crack heal. That gits worse, you could lose a hoof, and I am not standin’ for that…”
“If I drop your ass in the dirt you won’t be standing at all,” said Rainbow Dash, but she did no such thing. She flew steadily on, holding up Applejack’s hindquarters, her only sign of distress the look in her eyes and the skittish flicking of her tail.
“You’ll enjoy standin’ again. Won’t that be nice? I always feel like jes’ running around for the sheer pleasure of it, when I’ve had my hooves done. Get ‘em nice and even and it’s like you got an extra sure footing. You could run all day.”
“I’d rather fly all day.”
“Yeah,” said Applejack, “and look where that got you! You’d better do at least some runnin’. No more buckin’ cliffs! Even I wouldn’t buck no cliff, crazy pony.”
“My hoof still hurts.”
“It’ll heal up—once we get it taken care of. Right, Dashie?”
Rainbow Dash grunted, and Applejack didn’t press her further.
At the spa, Aloe blinked, looking out the door. A strange procession was arriving—no, it wasn’t a procession, it was just Applejack, who trotted up with her rear end sporting wings. Closer inspection revealed the wings belonged to Rainbow Dash, and Aloe tittered to her sister Vera, and then turned to her new guests. “Greetings, Rainbow Dash! Are you bringing us a new customer? We thank you!”
Applejack smirked. “I think y’all mixed up the bring-er and the bring-ee, to be honest…”
“Oh!” blinked Vera. “Really? Rainbow Dash is here? Honored, I’m sure…”
“Don’t get used to it,” said Dash, laying Applejack’s hindquarters on a couch and landing very gently, still with a visible wince.
“It’s like to an ee-mergency, sugar,” said Applejack. “How are you on hooves?”
“We’re good at polishing and touch-up, of course,” said Aloe.
“Din’t mean that. Show ‘em, Dashie.”
Rainbow stood uncomfortably. Applejack narrowed her eyes.
“If you expect to use these nice mares instead ‘a Clopforth… show ‘em!”
At that, Rainbow Dash lifted her cracked, overgrown hoof for Aloe and Vera to see. Their eyes widened, and they moved in closer, causing Dash to back up against Applejack, who remarked “Steady, pony girl…”
“This is terrible,” said Aloe.
“This is horrific!” said Vera.
They glanced at each other and nodded. “This is a job for Clopforth-” and then ducked, for a light blue projectile pegasus flung itself past them in an attempt at escape, the instant they’d got the word out… and stopped, with a twang, as Applejack lunged and snapped at Dash’s tail with practiced expertise.
“Oh no y’ don’t!”
“Let go!” squealed Dash, flapping frantically.
“No!”
Aloe and Vera cowered back, glancing at each other. Dash noticed their alarm, and fought for self-control. She came back down to another wincing landing, observing the spa ponies’ delicate cringes as her damaged hoof took her weight. Their hooves were insultingly pristine. They seemed to be conferring without even uttering a word.
“Fine,” said Dash. “See? I’m calm. Now, are they going to help me or not?”
“I’m thinkin’ yeah,” replied Applejack, still without releasing Dash’s tail.
Aloe and Vera looked at each other some more, and then glanced at Applejack, together, their faces a stereogram of woe. Applejack gave them a level gaze back, and one word of command. “Go!”
They rushed off madly, leaving Applejack and Rainbow Dash alone in the spa.
“What are they going to get?” said Dash.
“Ain’t so much what, as who.”
“Oh, no, nooo….”
“Now you listen!” said Applejack, through gritted teeth. “I saw their faces. Them’s some nice mares an’ ain’t no fools, neither. You need real help or y’all be crippled, right quick. You set tight. Soon be over.”
“Fine!” wailed Dash. “Awesome! Let’s get it over with!”
“Yep.”
“And you can let go of my tail now!”
“Nope,” said Applejack.
Rainbow Dash pivoted, wincing at each little step, and gave Applejack an imploring, adorable look, her eyes wide and irresistible. “Awwww… c’mon, don’t you trust me?”
Applejack was implacable, though her eyes were soft. “Darlin’, I love you. Worse’n that—I know you. Nothin’ doin’.”
Dash sagged in despair. “You said it’ll be over soon?”
“Hard ta say. But I will tell you this—he’s good, real good.”
Already, pounding hooves could be heard in the distance, and Applejack winced. “Reckon he’ll need ta dial it down a notch, though. Don’t you panic, I got this. I’ll straighten him out.”
Through the door came a massive black earth pony stallion, with heavy, clanking saddlebags and a shiny eyebolt literally set into his right forehoof. He pranced, beaming, and his voice boomed, “I came as fast as I could! Now who do I…”
“Clopforth!” snapped Applejack, as Rainbow Dash shrank back against her.
“Wait, don’t tell me—Rainbow Dash! Oh, my, look at those…”
“CLOPFORTH!”
The farrier stopped, and looked at her. “Yes, Applejack?”
Applejack just glared at him, still holding Dash’s tail. She felt Dash’s body pressed against her, shaking. Dash stood about three seconds of the resulting silence—and sank to the floor with a wail, bursting into tears and trying to hide her head under her forehooves.
Applejack’s eyes never left Clopforth’s. “Little respect for th’ feelings of my friend. My special friend. You be quiet. None of your Clopforthy ways this time.”
The farrier blinked, and looked down, abashed. “I’m sorry, Applejack. It’s one of those ones? You know, like a little filly?”
Rainbow wailed harder, and Applejack glared at him. “Think real hard, sugar. An’ yeah—kind of. Maybe worse. I don’t know exactly why.”
Clopforth sagged a little. “Usually it’s impatient parents—rushing the practitioner through things, and they make a mistake. Or the kid flinches and it turns into a wrestling match. I’ve heard of a kid yanking his hoof away with a hoof-knife still in it, and trying to run off.” He winced. “Bad business. Miss Dash got something like that as a filly, did she?”
“I reckon,” said Applejack. “Something like that.”
“Impatient parents?”
“Maybe worse,” said Applejack, thinking back on Dash’s amazing lack of family connection. “That ain’t the point. Point is, you gotta help us.”
“Of course,” said the farrier, solemnly. “How should I go about it?”
“First,” said Applejack, “shut that door.”
He did, and Applejack turned to the cowering, sobbing Dash. “Sugarcube, let’s get this over with. You listen—he’ll do whatever I say, and you know we got to go through with it, don’t you?”
Dash nodded, tearfully, peeking out from behind her hooves.
“So we need you to stand and hold up your hoof for the…”
“Actually,” said Clopforth, “I’m very good with these ca… in these situations. I can work in any position she can stand. Doesn’t mean she has to literally stand.”
Rainbow Dash seemed to get even smaller, on the floor, as if she thought he could come and start nipping at her right where she lay. She whimpered, “I want…”
“Want what, sugar?”
“I want a hug. Notfromhim!” she squeaked, and scrabbled back a few inches. Clopforth sighed.
“Mind th’ door, Clopforth. You stand over there. Dashie—c’mere.”
Applejack released Dash’s tail, heaved herself backwards on the couch, and held out her forelegs. Dash stood, wobbling and wincing, and gave her a worried look.
“I said hug. I didn’t mean hold me down…”
Applejack’s eyes were sad. “Would you believe a lil’ of both?”
Rainbow Dash’s wings fluttered anxiously. “But I really want a hug… and I didn’t want him to see me like this, I didn’t want anypony to see me like this…”
“He don’t hold it against ya.”
“I won’t,” rumbled Clopforth, at a safe distance. “About one out of ten ponies get this, Miss Dash.”
That got her attention, and she looked over at him, her eyes wide. “Really?”
The farrier nodded solemnly. “Really.” He willed his face into seriousness, refusing to let it reveal his exaggeration. At the levels of anxiety Rainbow was experiencing, the numbers were more like one in ten thousand, but technically one in ten did suffer anxiety, so it wasn’t a lie.
“Gosh,” said Rainbow.
“Now, come on, Dashie,” said Applejack. “Ya know I can’t chase you. I need you to get off’n this couch, in fact. But more’n that, I need you to get better…”
Rainbow Dash turned to face her, and managed a weak laugh. “The tables are turned, huh? I remember you had me hold you when… when your legs broke.”
“I was meaning to ask about that,” said Clopforth. “Why the casts? How are you able to do your farm work?”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “It’s a long story…”
Rainbow laughed harder. “A long and ugly story!”
“You’re right, though, sugarcube,” said Applejack. “Th’ tables are turned—and now I need to hold you, an’ I need you to be th’ brave one.”
Rainbow Dash took a hesitant step towards her, and stopped. “I’m… not as brave as you.”
“Here’s hopin’ you’re not as dumb as me neither!”
“And… that hurt you a lot worse than what you’re asking me to get through.”
“There’s all kinds of hurt, sugar,” said Applejack gently. “Whatever the kind, how about we git us through it? You can explain more—afterwards.”
Rainbow Dash hesitated more—and then, in a rush, she ran to the couch and flung herself into Applejack’s embrace, joining her marefriend in spoon-fashion with her back to Applejack’s body, Applejack’s forelegs wrapping her, and with her legs sticking out stiffly. Dash’s body trembled, and Applejack could feel her heart pounding.
“Tighter!” begged Dash.
Applejack obediently clutched Rainbow to her, and chuckled. “You got your legs all stickin’ out! It’s like you’re askin’ me to restrain you…”
At that, Dash twisted her head around to glare at Applejack. “Of course I am, stupid! Don’t let go! Let’s do this!”
“Come along now, Clopforth,” said Applejack.
He looked quizzically at her. “Would it help if… I, you know, showed her the tools and stuff? Like you might do with a…”
He caught a glare from Dash and a longsuffering look from Applejack, who said, “Naw. I reckon she knows that stuff. Just you git started, we got this.”
Clopforth sighed again. “If you say so…”
“You be careful,” said Applejack to him—and to Dash, “YOU be good.”
“All right, all right!” said Rainbow, angrily, and then she fell silent, her eyes wide and panicky as the farrier approached.
He had the fearsome nippers clamped tightly in his mouth, one handle sticking out in an ungainly arc, a hook on the end catching the light. As he settled into position, a look of concentration in his eye, he lifted his hoof and the eyebolt in it made a matching glint, and then a delicate metallic clank as he latched it onto the hook at the end of the nippers. Clopforth’s teeth bared slightly around the sturdy wooden handle as he moved in, positioning the nippers, a task made more difficult by Rainbow’s trepidation. As he got closer and closer to her poised forehoof, she kept drawing it back further, and further…
“Uh…” said Applejack, but she was too late.
When the shining steel of the nipper’s blades touched Dash’s hoof, she squealed and kicked with blinding speed, and continued to thrash and squeak as Applejack struggled to hold her. Past the blur of thrashing pegasus pony, Applejack could see the farrier reeling back, dropping his tools, cursing. He’d dropped to the floor and wasn’t getting up.
“Clopforth? Clopforth!”
“Urgh! It’s okay! My… ow… mistake!”
When he rose into sight again, Applejack gasped. Rainbow had clobbered him—socked him in the eye with a hoof. It was already swelling shut, turning into a proper black eye.
“You call that okay? Dashie, you apologize!”
“No, it’s my fault!” insisted the farrier. “She’s just too fast, I should have known better!”
“And how could you have known that?” said Applejack. She continued to hang onto Dash, and demanded, “You settle down, missy! Look what you done!”
“But I did know,” said Clopforth, and there was something in his tone—something that stopped Applejack’s scolding, and even got the attention of Rainbow Dash, so that she quieted her struggles just enough to hear what he’d say.
He cleared his throat.
“Miss Dash, I had the honor of attending the Young Flier’s competition. Three pegasus friends and clients carried me so I could see it. I’d never seen anything so wonderful in all my life, and I thought it was the experience of a lifetime—and then, it was time for the final acts.”
Dash had frozen as soon as she got a sense of what he was telling her, and she stared out of tear-streaked eyes as he continued.
“I watched you do the impossible, create the Sonic Rainboom—and save the lives of four ponies, including three Wonderbolts, who are my favorite pegasus acrobatics team and the reason I’d come to Cloudsdale that day… so I should know how fast you can be, and how determined.”
Dash wiped her nose with a hoof, sniffling. “You’re… a fan of me? And the Wonderbolts? Oh gosh, like this couldn’t get worse…”
Clopforth gazed levelly at her. “I am. And that’s how I know you can be brave—and I hope you’re ready to be brave again. I’ll do my part and keep out of range of those incredibly fast hooves, but I hope you can be as determined as me. Do you know why I say that?”
“Uhhh… no?” said Rainbow Dash.
“Because if I can’t help you nopony can—and if nopony helps you, you’re going to end up crippled the way you’re going,” said Clopforth. “And I will not let that happen. No matter what it costs me, I am going to save your hooves.”
Rainbow stared back at him, jaw hanging open. It was a dramatic pronouncement, but just the sort of dramatic pronouncement she always wished she could say, and it underscored the seriousness of her situation. She gulped, and turned to ask Applejack, “Is he for real?”
“Yep,” said Applejack. “Go figure, you know a fellow for years an’ suddenly this. If he asks for your autograph, I’ll kick him myself. Do you think you can avoid killin’ the poor thing so he can work?”
Dash gulped again, looking back at the farrier. Unsteadily, she said, “I’m gonna hold my hooves out as straight as I can. That way, if I snap again, I can’t hit you. I hope I don’t break your mouth through that nipper thing. I’ll try my best.”
Applejack blinked. “You mean that, sugar?”
Dash twisted around again. “Hold me really tight, Applejack!”
“You bet,” said her marefriend, and clamped on for all she was worth. “Yeeha!”
Dash’s body was always awkward to hold, coltish and unrelaxed, but now it was ridiculous, like holding a statue. Clopforth moved in with grim determination, squinting through his one good eye, and positioning the clippers against Dash’s outstretched, trembling hoof. His own eyebolt-fitted hoof latched onto the tool, bore down…
Applejack felt Dash’s body jolt as if she’d had a thousand heart attacks at once, right when the clippers met and crunched off a chunk of hoof. Applejack knew that was a funny sensation—the grinding kachunk took some getting used to. She wondered if she should mention this to Clopforth, and even opened her mouth to say it, but he was already making a second clipper-bite in a feverish concentration, and it became apparent that he’d noticed.
The farrier had a gentle touch, Applejack knew, though that didn’t usually enter into it. This occasion was different. Applejack blinked, while still holding Dash tightly. Clopforth’s eyebolt had made a strange clinking noise against the handle as he closed the jaws of the clipper the last little bit, and that time Dash hadn’t shuddered. He’d managed to modulate the pressure so adeptly that there was no final crunch—a gentle wiggling of the tool, and another chunk of hoof came away, this time in silence.
“Dang,” said Applejack. “Whyn’cha do that on me, Clopforth?”
“Shh. You don’t need it.”
Applejack fell silent, watching his performance. He sweated, working with incredible speed and precision, attending one outstretched hoof after another without a pause, and lumps of light-blue keratin fell quietly to the floor around him with gentle clunks.
And all the while, Rainbow Dash held herself rigid, her heart pounding and her eyes squeezed shut, and didn’t even squirm, much less kick or squeal.
“Miss Dash?” came the farrier’s voice.
“Whuh?” managed Rainbow.
“I’ve put the clippers away, Miss Dash.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes flew open, to see Clopforth’s smiling face, though the effect was a little spoiled by the black eye.
“If that was all you can take, you can be done. The rest is just cosmetic,” he said.
“Really?” squeaked Dash. She looked at her hooves, and they looked like regular hooves again. “Oh my gosh!”
“Now hang on, there,” said Applejack, though she did the opposite—she let go of Dash. “She don’t rate cosmetic? I happen to think Rainbow would look real fine with pretty hooves. Hell, son, you do so good with mine, I wouldn’t ever need to come to this spa here on account of that.”
“Of course she can have the knife work and polishing if she wants, but she’s done so well already…”
“It wouldn’t be as bad… not as bad as the clippers.” Rainbow peered around as if fearing they would leap out from some hidden spot and attack her. “The other things make me think of the clippers. And… and I did the clippers. Didn’t I?”
“You sure as sugar did, darlin’! Does that mean ya want to be pretty now, too?”
“Oh, like I’m not?” retorted Dash. “You take that back!”
“Aw… got me there, sweetie, you’re real pretty. Now—about them hooves?”
Dash glared at her, and then smirked. “Fine. After all that, this is nothing. You don’t even have to hold me. You do have to pet me.” With a flourish, she extended a forehoof to the farrier once more.
“Ya don’t have to ask me twice,” said Applejack, and stroked Rainbow’s no longer shivering sides while Clopforth, a sturdy and sharp hoof-knife in his teeth, groomed her hooves attentively, shaping them into pristine cerulean semicircles. When he was done, he smoothed them with a rasp, and finished up with a polish. Rainbow’s body was less tense for the hoof-knife work, though Applejack knew why—Clopforth’s knives were so sharp that she’d never felt any tugging or scraping when he used them. When the rasp came out, Rainbow tensed again, and gritted her teeth dreadfully, but Clopforth noticed this and cut that stage short, replacing it with delicate hoof-knife work and turning to the final polish early.
Finally, he inspected his work, squinted his one good eye, nodded, and said, “Congratulations—you’re now the owner of a set of state-of-the-art hooves. I think you’ll find the split one won’t trouble you too much. I’ve got the base slightly convex so your weight is no longer prying it wider. Try it.”
Rainbow Dash glanced back at Applejack, as if she had the final authority over whether it was okay to get up. She got a smile and nod, and rolled off the couch, her wings flaring out in readiness, hooves hitting the floor—and her eyes widened, as Clopforth beamed in delight.
“Oh my gosh!” said Dash. She trotted in place, then banged the floor with her cracked hoof in disbelief. “This is incredible!”
Clopforth’s grin threatened to burst from his face. Behind Dash, Applejack’s grin threatened to become weepy and wobbly, as she watched her marefriend prance.
Rainbow Dash whirled, tail up and flicking. “Race ya home, Applejack!” she teased.
From behind her, she heard a gulp, and looked around to see Clopforth, eyes wide and staring, ears back—and then glanced back hastily, as Applejack had burst out laughing.
“Serves you right for makin’ her too pretty!”
“Oh, right, like I could be too sexy?” protested Rainbow, and frisked in a circle while they laughed, the tension of the last hour evaporating.
“Now,” said Applejack, “what do you say?”
Dash settled down, and turned bashfully to the farrier. Her eyes dropped, but all that did was show her the scary eyebolt set into his hoof. When her eyes met his again, they were filled with apology and sympathy—and then, she’d lunged forward and nearly knocked him over with a hug, with her wings demurely folded, but nuzzling under his chin.
“Thank you so much, and I’m sorry I’m such an idiot and hit you and stuff…”
“It’s okay,” said Clopforth, hugging her back. “Something to remember you by.”
“Please don’t tell anypony!”
“He won’t,” said Applejack. “Right, Clopforth?”
“I promise,” he said.
The hug stretched on, until Applejack cleared her throat and said, “Makin’ new friends?”
At that, Clopforth broke away with an apologetic glance at Applejack. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am that Rainbow has allowed me to help her. With her hooves.”
“Yep,” said Applejack archly. “I know we appreciate it. I reckon that’ll do. Thank you, Clopforth.”
He gathered up his things and trotted off, and Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash with an understanding but exasperated smirk.
“Honestly, Dashie, y’all winkin’ at th’ farrier? Really?”
“Hey, I kept my wings to myself!” protested Dash. “Didn’t I?”
“No, it’s all right—but what on earth could you be thinkin’?”
“Well,” said Dash, and paused for thought. “The thing is… I can’t let it get to that state again. I have to be able to see him without flying away at a million miles an hour. So it’s sort of like hugging the boogy-man, and I wanted to remember that hug.”
“Jes’ hugging?” said Applejack.
Rainbow shrugged with her wings. “Busted. I’ll think whatever I have to—if it’ll help me get over my fear. Don’t you dare tell him! Even I have limits. I mean, he’s the farrier!”
Applejack stared—and laughed. “That was all so you could distract yourself with other thoughts—and start doin’ hoof care right for a change?”
“Hey, if I have my own way of doing things, you shouldn’t complain. I’m doing it for you. That and my hoof hurts… or it used to. Now it’s great!”
“Well, that’s th’ important thing,” said Applejack. “Shall we go?”
“After this,” said Dash—and hugged Applejack, even more lingeringly, while saying “Thank you. I didn’t think I could do it, but you stuck with me.”
“Course I did,” said Applejack, her voice soft and tender.
Rainbow Dash gave a sigh, and then flew up into position as Applejack clambered off the couch, and swooped down to seize Applejack’s immobilized legs, nuzzling into her silky tail as before and flapping her wings to support both her weight and Applejack’s hindquarters—and the two headed back to Sweet Apple Acres.
As they headed down the street, Applejack turned her head to look back at Rainbow.
“Ah am SO proud of you!”
She chuckled as Dash’s cerulean wings revved up in delight, unthinkingly hoisting her ass to awkward heights for a moment.
“Oops,” said Dash, and they headed on their way.