//------------------------------//
// Making Your Bed 
// Story: Appledashery 
// by Just Essay 
//------------------------------//

	Rainbow Dash gazed across the dark room.

Applejack lay in the next bed.  She was silent for a prolonged period of time.  Her body rose and fell in tiny little motions.

Rainbow Dash's ears drooped.  Convinced that Applejack had fallen asleep, she nuzzled her cheek against her pillow and began navigating a clustered web of regretful thoughts.

And just then:

"Reckon I just want to feel needed."

Rainbow Dash blinked.  She peaked out from underneath her duvet.  "Needed?"

The figure on the other bed nodded. "Everypony calls me the town's most loyal and dependable mare.  Well, that may or may not be true, but I wouldn't mind livin' up to it.  There's just somethin' that makes me feel... complete when I'm doin' my all for others.  When I feel like somepony... when ponies are needin' me.  Dependin' on me.  I feel like I'm doin' somethin' mighty wonderful when I'm providin' for them.  I know it sounds silly, but it's kind of like buckin' apples for a good harvest.  It's all about earnin' that... that wonderful feelin' of accomplishment.  A love... a love is best when it's earned, ya feel me?"

Rainbow Dash chuckled.  "What makes you think you gotta earn all love, AJ?"  She was halfway through that sentence when she winced at herself.  She curled her limbs to her chest, fidgeting.

"Maybe I ain't sayin' it right.  I guess... I guess the reason I never see myself gettin' hitched is that it'd be too darn selfish."

"Oh?"

"I'd be too possessive, y'know?  That stallion would have to be mine.  Like... he belongs to me and nopony else and he knows it.  And he'd show it.  Out in public.  Home on the farm.  At night, sittin' by the fire.  Just the two of us.  Inseparable."  Applejack yawned.  "Because he'd belong to me.  And... and I'd be takin' care of him, y'know?  I mean, he'd have his place in the family too, of course.  He'd be responsible and thoughtful and workhardy.  But..."  She yawned again, settling further into the mattress.  "But I'd be able to take care of him in ways that only I could, in ways that he'd need me for, 'cuz he wouldn't be complete without."  A long pause.  The next breath came out raspy and exhausted.  "I could hold him real close... look 'em in the eyes... and tell him that 'he was mine,' and he'd agree.  Maybe even finish..."  A yawn.  "...the sentence before me."

Rainbow Dash laid her head against the pillow.  Eventually, she hummed:  "And kids?"

Silence.

"I... could never be as wonderful as my Ma was to me," Applejack slurred.  Half a minute later.  "But... what I wouldn't give for... for the chance..."  One orange ear twitched, then the other.  "...so many lovely little un's.  All takin' after me and their Pa.  As... a little filly, I had a doll.  Prettiest lil' thing in the world.  I know it sounds awful silly, but... b-but I would do anythang to have one again..."

Rainbow Dash felt a lump forming in her throat.  She gnashed her teeth, fought it, but ultimately mewled, "Someday, AJ, you're going to find the pony of your dreams.  And they... he will give you all the kids you could ever ask for.  And you'll be so happy, Applejack.  And you'll have earned it.  Because you're you.  And..."  She froze in place.  The place was abysmally silent.  "Applejack?"  No response.  Rainbow Dash poked her head out from beneath the blanket.

Applejack was sound asleep.  Her body lay limp in the bed, her muzzle slightly agape as she slumbered away.

Rainbow Dash blinked.  She deflated once more to her own bed.  With a soft smile, she murmured:  "I'd do anything... I'd give anything... to be the one who earns your love, AJ.  I'd give you all the dolls in the world.  And... if you let me... I would be yours.  In a heartbeat."

Rainbow's ears thundered with bloodrush at the end of that.  She inhaled, only then realizing how much her lungs had emptied to complete the previous statement.  She felt a tingle in her legs, wings, and spine, as if a gigantic load was taken off her back.  And yet, Applejack kept sleeping, mute and oblivious.  It was the most joyful thing Rainbow Dash had experienced in months, and yet the most miserable.  She didn't know whether to laugh or sigh.  Instead, she chose to curl underneath her covers and closed her eyes.

It wasn't long after that she considered the reality of the moment.  Applejack was a farm filly.  Surely she would wake up well before the pegasus did.  And when she was awake, there'd be no stopping her from hearing things then.  Rainbow Dash fidgeted, suddenly feeling trapped inside the hotel room.  At last, with a sullen sigh, she slipped out of bed, dragging two blankets and a pillow along with her.

Minutes later, after toweling the bottom of the shower stall dry, Rainbow closed the bathroom door behind her and laid her blankets out inside the tub.  Fluffing her pillow, she laid down and sighed contentedly.  She produced six words to the tile walls, and fell asleep with a dull smile across her face.