The treeline ended about fifty yards from the north edge of the plateau, leaving a wide surface of plain, flat rock. Applejack sat alone on the cold ground near the edge, her campfire at her back and the treeline beyond that. She cast a solitary figure as she gazed out northwards over the ravine, the woods, and the river, homewards towards the distant, familiar lights of late-evening Ponyville.
It had been too dark to consider descending the mountain and it looked like she would have to travel miles to circumvent the ravine, so she had reluctantly come to accept she would be spending the night up here, by herself. The thicket of trees provided ample twigs, dry branches and big rocks for a fire pit, and by improvising the basic tools she'd got a good, warm blaze going.
The sky overhead faded to black. Hundreds of perfect stars appeared in the heavens, joined by a moon that was but a sliver of a waxing crescent. The air was biting cold but her fire kept her warm, and while she didn't have all the comforts of home, she was at least comfortable.
The peaceful, darkened landscape before her was still, quiet and beautiful, but she couldn't find it in herself to appreciate it. As much as she tried to tear her focus away, her thoughts always returned to the same subject.
Rainbow Dash.
She'd always believed that she and Rainbow Dash were friends first, friendly rivals a distant second. But after today, it was fairly clear that Dash just didn't see things like that. Rainbow Dash saw everything they did together as a contest she had to win; a way to prove how she was better than Applejack in every meaningful way. Now that she had demonstrated her total superiority with this final race-of-races, Rainbow wouldn't need to hang round with Applejack anymore, and Applejack was just fine with that.
Except... Applejack wasn't just fine with that. She so wanted to be. She should be. After all, why would she want to be around someone who only wanted to make her feel second-rate all the time?
But somehow, she really, really wasn't just fine with never seeing Rainbow Dash again.
Soft steps approached from behind her and Applejack's reverie faded. The owner lingered awkwardly, but Applejack couldn't bring herself to look round.
"I brought your hat back. So, there," came Dash's voice. Then there was a quiet whump as something soft was dropped to the ground behind her, near the fire.
"Surprised you're still here," said Applejack neutrally, still looking towards Ponyville.
"Yeah, well, it's taking ages to get all of that spider-gunk off my feathers."
Nothing else was said for long moments, and after a couple of awkward minutes Dash's steps began to recede, back towards the treeline, away from the fire.
"Dash?" said Applejack, looking round finally. "You... got enough firewood over there?"
"Yes!" snapped Rainbow Dash haughtily, and defensively. "I've got tons of it! I've got more firewood than I know what to do with! Enough for a fire twice this size! Don't worry about me, Applejack. I'll be just fine!"
Applejack scowled to herself. Looking back out at the landscape once more she took a deep breath and let it out, forcing the frown away. "It was just a question, Dash." Her head drooped. "Guess even your fire's gotta be better than mine, huh?" she murmured. She didn't say anything else, and after a few uncertain moments, Dash's hoofsteps faded as she finally walked back towards the trees in the direction of the cave and all was quiet once more.
The solitary silence lingered for long minutes, until a faint, freezing breeze suggested to Applejack that she leave the edge of the plateau and return to her campfire.
Her hat was there, resting against the hollow log that she'd appropriated for a seat. Rainbow had cleaned the cobwebs all off, and it looked just like it always had. It didn't even seem to have taken any damage in the fall. She picked it up with her teeth and flipped it atop her head with a practised, fluent motion. And as it found its seat, Applejack found a smile. It was like welcoming an old friend home.
She had her hat back, thanks to Rainbow Dash.
Her smile faded bitterly...
Rainbow Dash. Who put her through agony that morning with her damn chillies. Who left a big mess on her lawn and scarpered when it was time to clean up. Who borrowed Rarity's best dish and left Applejack to face the music when it got damaged. Who just laughed at her when she was stuck, who never said 'thank you', and who only seemed to want Applejack around so she could beat her at everything. Who...
Who...
Who loved playing with Winona, and who rubbed her belly when she wanted attention. Who'd wrestled so frantically to find the end of that hosepipe, but then pushed it towards Applejack so she could drink first. Who had laughed and joked with her on that first run from Ponyville. Who'd looked so scared in the river, and then so relieved – so confident – when she'd seen Applejack right there on the shore. Who saved her from tumbling into the ravine, and who'd watched over her and kept her talking on the climb up the cliff face, to take her mind off the fall. Who found her hat at the bottom of a chasm, and brought it back good as new.
How could they both be the same pony?
And the strange thing was... Applejack had let Dash goad her into eating those painful chillis. She'd covered for her with Rarity because she didn't want to see her in trouble. She'd run off with her on a foolhardy race deep into the wilderness without even telling another soul where she was going. These were not the kinds of things things she did! But she did them because... well, because Rainbow Dash.
Because they were friends. Because in spite of everything, and for some, unfathomable reason, being with Rainbow Dash made her happy in a way that nothing else quite did. And that one shining realisation was enough to pierce the fog of anger that had descended. She really wasn't okay with never seeing Rainbow Dash again, and the outcome of one silly race couldn't be allowed to break up their friendship. With a grimace, she stood and turned for the treeline. It wouldn't be pleasant: she would have to put up with the gloating, the smugness, the 'look who's come crawling back' speech... but it was worth it. Rainbow Dash was her friend.
Applejack picked her way carefully through the dark copse of trees, back towards the cave. As she approached, she caught a faint, almost whispering sound, staggered and irregular. It got louder as she drew closer, and just before she reached the edge of the copse, she saw why.
A dozen feet from the mouth of the cave, Dash had constructed her own fire-pit and filled it with all manner of logs, wood and kindling. And that was as far as she'd got. Even in the dim light Applejack could see the stressed marks on the bark where Dash had frantically tried just rubbing pieces together to produce a flame, and failed. One of the branches was even broken in two; snapped in frustration and hurled into the dead fire-pit. Dash had been telling the truth: she really did have more wood than she knew what to do with.
She was there. Curled up into a tight ball in the bitterly cold night air, right next to the fire-pit as though the intention to build a fire might in some way count towards the heat provided by one. Her eyes were scrunched shut, her teeth chattered badly, and her whole body shook with powerful shivers and ragged, desperate breaths.
She was freezing. She couldn't get warm. And it was only going to get colder.
Applejack stepped out of the trees towards Dash's failed campfire. When Dash didn't seem to hear her approach, she sat next to her and gave her a gentle nudge. "C'mon, Dash. You ain't staying here."
Dash finally opened her eyes and looked up at her. Her stare found a defiant edge. "What? I'm doing fine here!"
Applejack just smiled. "I never said you weren't," she said honestly. "Come on, Dash. Please? Warm fire's waitin'. Don't make me drag ya."
Rainbow Dash smirked back. "Ha. I'd like to see you try." Then she stood and dusted herself down. "But, y'know, I'm kinda tired. I was sorta in a race today so...?" She risked a quick, uncertain glance at Applejack, but she needn't have been worried. Applejack stood, turned, and led Dash back to her campsite.
* * *
Applejack watched as Dash gladly warmed herself by the fire. The cold seemed to have seeped into her very bones and it took her a long time to excise it all, even sitting so close to the flame that she was almost in it. She kept her wings flared to capture as much of the heat as possible and, not-so-surprisingly, there was no trace at all of the sticky cobwebbing that Dash had implied was keeping her grounded. Applejack gave a hidden smile at that: Dash could have left for home anytime she'd wanted, but instead she'd stayed. And as the slow relief washed over Rainbow's face, Applejack felt a sense of happy contentment spreading. That good feeling – the feeling that seeing Dash safe and comfortable and here was just instinctively right – was proof enough that their friendship might be dented, but it wasn't ruined just yet.
Applejack didn't say anything. She didn't need to. She lay on her back, head propped up onto the hollow log like a pillow, and simply stargazed for a bit while Dash finished warming up.
When Rainbow was finally done, she quietly walked over and sat next to her. With a curious expression, Dash followed her gaze into the sky and, finding nothing of interest, looked around awkwardly. Then, finally, back to Applejack. "What are you even looking at up there?"
Applejack quirked an eyebrow. "Really? You never look up at the stars, Dash?"
"No. Well, not really. I guess I'm always up there looking down instead. Guess I've never really needed to look up before."
Applejack just nodded silently and continued to scan the beautiful, perfect sky, her eyes flicking from star to star, constellation to constellation as they always did, a little smile playing on her lips. Rainbow Dash looked down at her, confused. Then she dropped and lay on her back, propping her own head against the far end of the log, and began to look up at the sky too.
"So? Whaddya see, Dash?"
After a few moments, Dash replied. "Uh... nothing? I mean, they're just white dots."
Applejack just gave a little chuckle and said nothing.
"Why?" asked Dash. "What do you see?"
Applejack's faint smile grew a little, never taking her eyes off the stars. "Everypony. Everypony I care about is up there somewhere."
Dash looked across to her and quirked an eyebrow. "Uh... what?"
Applejack took a breath. "Well, when you got a family as big as mine, it helps to have a way to keep track of 'em all. So, when I was little, I put 'em in the stars. Then as time went on I started puttin' all my other friends up there too. Oh, I know they all got fancy, real names n' such, but to me... well..." she paused, and pointed a hoof at the sky almost directly above them. "You see that kinda hourglass lookin' shape, and those three stars across the middle? That's Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, off doin' some crazy fool thing no doubt." She pointed at another section of sky. "That one up there's Big McIntosh... he hangs out a little closer to Cheerilee than he used to. Then you got Apple Fritter, Golden Delicious, Braeburn and so on. Sometimes... I see mom and dad up there, too. They pass by once in a while. Just checking to make sure I'm still doin' okay."
"Riiiight..." said Dash uncertainly. Applejack had heard that tone many times before. Dash was bored, but trying to be tactful about it. She turned her head to look at her pegasus friend, and Dash looked back, still with that little confused expression.
Applejack sat herself up on her haunches and looked out directly north, towards Ponyville. With a hoof she pointed out the large, bright star in the sky above it. "You see that one?"
Dash sat up to look. "Yeah, that's the North Star. I know that one."
Applejack looked at the star. "That one's Rainbow Dash."
The confused face vanished into surprise, and Dash's gaze suddenly fixed itself on the star in the sky.
"She's a real bright star," Applejack continued softly. "One of the brightest there is. She's where everypony can always see her, and that's just how she likes it. But... she's also kinda by herself, too. Ain't no other stars that are really that close to her, but then she'd just tell ya she don't need 'em. She'd say she's just fine up there, on her own. Alone." Applejack paused a moment, then moved her hoof a little to a small, nondescript star at the tail end of the little dipper; the closest star in the sky to Polaris. "That one there?" she said. "That's Applejack." She paused again, looking at her own, familiar star in the heavens. "You can look, but you won't find any star up there closer to Rainbow Dash than Applejack. And maybe Applejack don't shine as bright as some o' them high-falutin' important stars... but she'd rather be there than anywhere else in the whole sky. Close by, just in case Rainbow Dash ever decides she needs help, or wants someone to talk to. " She smiled. "An' she'll be there for a real long time, even if Rainbow Dash don't notice."
Dash continued to stare. Then after a moment she said, "Cool, I guess." And that was it. She looked briefly back to Applejack with a neutral face, and then lay down again, on her side this time, facing away.
Applejack let out a silent breath and shook her head softly. Never mind. She lay down herself and closed her eyes.
After they day she'd had, sleep came instantly.
* * *
She woke from a restful but dreamless sleep. Only a couple of hours seemed to have passed and it was still the middle of the night. Automatically she looked over towards Dash, only to find her gone. A flash of surprise took her and she jolted upright, scanning around.
Rainbow Dash was over there beyond the low but still-warm fire, sat with her back to Applejack, near the edge of the precipice and looking out at the northern sky. Applejack got up and slowly walked over to her. She sat quietly beside her and followed her gaze. "You lookin' at the stars for once?"
"Not all of 'em," said Dash. Then a brief, stilted pause. "I was just thinking about what you said. About how Applejack is always there for Rainbow Dash. It was kinda cool." There was another awkward pause as Dash looked down at the ground in front of her. "Then I was thinking about how Applejack doesn't know if it works the other way, and that wasn't so cool." Dash gave a little confused frown. She worked her mouth for a couple of moments. It was like there were words that she wanted to say, but her brain couldn't decide on what they might be.
"Dash?" Applejack asked gently after a moment. "I... need the truth from ya. I can't promise I ain't gonna be disappointed or upset, but... I gotta know. Why? This whole race? Is it just so you can prove you're better than me? Is that all I am to ya? Somepony you like to beat?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head slightly. The confused frown deepened into a frustrated one. Then she looked back up at the sky and her face suddenly relaxed. She looked sadly at Applejack, then finally back at the floor. "I... I can't pay you back."
"Huh?"
"The five bits. For Rarity," said Dash, quietly. "I will, I swear. But... I don't have any money right now."
"Dash, if you need–"
"It was those peppers, you know?" she interrupted. "Heh. I wasn't kidding when I said they were super-rare. They cost me everything I had this month. You... you wanna know why?" Applejack cocked her head slightly, but Rainbow just carried on looking at the ground. "Because I needed two."
That little confused frown reappeared. Dash clearly wanted say more than she was saying, but she was frustrated that the words just weren't there. She looked back to the sky, toward the bright north star and took a deep, slightly shaky breath. "You're right, y'know. That is Rainbow Dash. All bright and by herself up there. That's who she is – who she's always been. But..." She blinked something away. "That's not who she wants to be," she almost whispered.
Rainbow Dash's eyes had started to water now, though she made a commendable effort of not letting on. "You know, after Pinkie Pie found out she was related to you, she was so happy it was all she talked about for two weeks. I actually got kinda jealous. I guess, 'cuz I always thought... I mean, I wanted..." She stole a quick, hesitant glance at Applejack, then her gaze found a point on the floor in front of her. "You're really lucky you know? To have such a great family? You got a whole sky full of ponies who'd be there for you no matter what. I... I always wondered what that was like. My sky's pretty empty."
"What? Dash, you've got a family," said Applejack. "You've got friends."
"Sure, now I do. And I've got a mom and a dad, and they're great. But growing up... I was always sorta on my own. I never had anyone close like a brother or a sister who was always there. No-one I could really talk to. Never really had any close friends either. I mean, I met Fluttershy in flight school... right before I got kicked out, and then I was on my own again. After that, Gilda was pretty much the only friend I ever made, but... well she wasn't the sort of friend like I could tell a secret to or something: she'd say that stuff was lame. And besides, we all know how that ended." Dash took a breath and scratched absently at the ground with a hoof. "Then I moved to Ponyville, and it was just the same. Lotsa nice ponies sure, but when they saw how awesome I was... I just ended up by myself again." Her face brightened with a little, wistful smile. "Except there was this one pony. She seemed to get me. Like we'd been best friends since always. We started doing stuff together and hanging out, and it was amazing. It was like I finally knew what it was like to have a..." Rainbow Dash trailed off, losing confidence in the sentence before it was out. She looked back to the sky, except instead of north, her longing gaze fixed on a pair of bright stars above her and to the west.
Gemini.
"Guess I just wanted to know what it was like," she whispered quietly, under her breath. Then she looked forlornly back at the lonesome north star. "She'd never admit it... but Rainbow Dash really isn't okay all by herself. And she does notice that Applejack's always there. And she's really sorry if she made Applejack feel like she wasn't awesome. Rainbow Dash just wanted an excuse to spend time with her on her day off, and maybe got a little carried away. She does that. She didn't mean anything by it, and she'd never want Applejack to think she wasn't there for her too. She totally is. Because Applejack's the closest thing Rainbow Dash ever had to a sss..." She trailed off again, then clenched her teeth and frowned, frustrated at her own inability to say the word.
"A sister?" prompted Applejack softly, causing Dash to look up and meet her gaze.
"Yeah. What you said." Dash looked away, abashed.
Applejack smiled. Then movement overhead caught her attention. A pair of white streaks in the heavens; shooting stars passing from east to west, and leaving long silver trails glittering straight through Gemini. Her smile grew. She wasn't going to get a better endorsement than that, and she looked warmly back to the pegasus. "They'd have really liked you, Dash. Mom and dad. Nothing would'a made 'em happier than you and me growing up as sisters together. But even though we didn't, well... you've been part of my family since the day I met ya. Heck, ya sure act like it. So the way I see it, if Pinkie Pie wants to call herself part of the Apple family, then there ain't no reason you can't too. And I'd feel right proud if ya did."
For a long moment Dash looked at the floor and didn't say anything, just letting a happy, contented smile play on her lips. Then, for an instant there was a tiny glint in her eye and she looked up, quickly putting on an expression of mock horror. "Me? Why should I have to move? Why don't you come over to the Dash-side?"
Applejack met her gaze with a relaxed, cocky smirk. "My side comes with free apples, Rainbow. You want in or not?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes, finally finding her traditional little self-sure grin. She stood and rounded the fire, taking herself back to the hollow log. She flopped onto her back once more, head propped up, staring at Gemini in the heavens. "Rainbow Apple Dash," she said at length, turning the words over in her mouth. "I kinda like it. Ooh, plus, my initials would spell 'RAD'. How cool is that?"
"You'll have to get used to bein' related to Pinkie too," Applejack warned, settling herself back down next to her with her own grin.
Dash actually chuckled at that. "Heh. Yeah. She is so random. Like, did I ever tell you about the time she invited me over to make cupcakes?"
Applejack shook her head slightly. "Nope."
"Yeah, she says she's got this new 'secret ingredient' to try out and she needs my help with it. So I fly on over there and... well, it got pretty messy."
Applejack raised an eyebrow and looked over at Dash. "What happened?"
"Ugh, we ended up with cake mix everywhere. Like... an explosion of eggs and flour and sugar, and no matter what we did it just got worse! We never got one edible cupcake out of it."
Applejack chuckled. "Well, you ain't the only one to have a bad baking experience with Pinkie. Guess that's somethin' else we got in common." She returned her gaze to the stars. Gemini. She was going to have to find somewhere else to put Celestia and Luna, but they'd be okay. It was a big sky after all, though it might have to wait. She felt her eyes getting heavy and sleep beckoned once more.
Beside her, Dash broke into a wide, tired yawn, her own eyelids drooping. Then she blinked as a thought seemed to occur. "Hey, Applejack?" she asked softly, her sleepy eyes still on the sky. "I did say that I think you're awesome, right? I mean, I think you're way more special than just a hill of beans. Probably like, almost two hills of beans or something, but... at some point back there, I did actually tell you that...?"
Applejack smiled through her own, stifled yawn. "Yeah, Dash. I got the message."
"Oh, good." she said, finally settling herself down, turning onto her side and facing away.
Applejack did the same, but just as her eyes closed a stray thought struck her. "Hey, Dash?" she asked quietly.
"Hmm?" came the voice from behind her.
"What was it? The secret ingredient."
"Pineapple."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. Blech. So. Random."
Applejack grinned. "G'night, Dash."