Chapter 1-Discovered Feelings
Storm clouds formed in the eastern sky in Ponyville, as the weather pegasi did their best to whip up a storm big enough to compensate for the close to a fortnight without any rain whatsoever. Apparently, the plans for two light showers over the course of that time frame were dropped by a certain gray pegasus with a blonde mane during their transit to the weather HQ of Ponyville. So today, the pegasi worked tirelessly to make up the loss of rain, as it was rather important for the local apple farm on the edge of Ponyville. It was from this apple farm, Sweet Apple Acres, that an orange coated earth pony looked up, as the dark clouds drifted closer. Gust after gust swept through the orchard, causing the leaves on the trees whip around and her mane to dance like wildfire. The fresh air that always came before a rainstorm filled her nostrils, as she closed her eyes and concentrated on the smell. Opening her eyes once again, she looked up longingly into the sky. Applejack loved to look into the sky before the rain started to fall. Her gaze fixed in the east as the dark clouds slowly approached the farm, but it wasn’t the beauty of the clouds or the awe inspired by the power of nature that kept her gaze fixated upon the eastern sky. No, instead it was a hope, deep down in her heart, that she would catch a glimpse of a rainbow as it streaked across the sky. Every time there was a storm she would glance periodically towards the sky all day, just for a chance to see the sign that a certain rainbow-maned pegasus was hard at work.
A sudden memory pulled her away from the billowing clouds. A week ago she had been in Sugarcube Corner with the rest of her friends, and as she was turning to browse one of the store’s many shelves, her sister and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders entered, along with the vibrantly pink pony Applejack and the rest of her friends had been waiting for. As soon as they entered, Scootaloo yelled, “Rainbow Dash, you’re here!” Applejack had been approached by the Cutie Mark Crusaders earlier that day, and they had told her that they were looking for Rainbow Dash in order to hear how she had gotten her cutie mark. She had even told Rainbow that the cutie mark crusaders were looking for her.
Dash immediately turned around and said, “I hear you’re looking for my cutie mark story.”
Scootaloo let out a big sigh, “You have no idea what I’ve been through today to hear that story,” as she hastily flopped onto the floor. That is when Rainbow went into her dramatic retelling of how she got her cutie mark. Applejack realized that she had never heard this story herself, which was surprising considering how long they’d known each other. As Rainbow told her story, Applejack realized something. The rainbow that pointed her home and led her to get her cutie mark was the result of the cyan pegasus’ sonic rainboom. In fact, her friends stated that it was not only true of Applejack, but each and every one of the group had found their cutie mark because of Rainbow Dash. In the days that followed this incident Applejack slowly felt feelings come over her that she had never felt before. Ever since then, Applejack had obsessed over those strange feelings.
Her eyes fell from the sky and onto the dirt path before her. Dust blew past her, covering the orange pony’s legs in the process. Suddenly, a rainbow streak caught her eye and drew her gaze back to the sky as her thoughts immediately drifted away.
‘We’ve had a special connection even before we met,’ AJ thought. ‘Ah mean, Ah liked her since the day Ah met her, but this is more than just friendship.” Applejack paused, as her next thought sent tingles down her spine, ‘Do Ah...love Rainbow Dash?’
Applejack shook her head before continuing her thoughts. ‘Oh snap yourself out of it, Applejack. Rainbow Dash is a mare and so are you. Ah couldn’t possibly love another mare. That’s just plain wrong, isn’t it?’
As these thoughts circulated in Applejack’s head, similar thoughts also made their way into the mind of another pony, who flew carelessly through the air as she finished up her work for the day.
Dash looked down at the ground as the landscape rolled lightly beneath her. She felt cold and tired after all the effort she had put into her work, and her cyan coat was wet from the humid weather she had been working in for hours. Each beat of Rainbow’s wings grew more and more exhausting. She noticed Sweet Apple Acres in the corner of her eyes and she felt new energy emerge from somewhere inside of her. She couldn’t help but smile, as her thoughts drifted to one of the farm ponies that lived there. Her orange coat, her beautiful blonde mane and the well known trademark stetson on her head. She had felt a connection with the earth pony on the day they met. At that thought, streams of memories flooded her mind.
It was a warm summer evening. The sky was the color of pure amber, dotted with red clouds. The first part of Luna’s moon could be seen on the horizon, and the stars started to shine through the fading light of the sun. It was in this peaceful setting that a very distraught pony could be seen flying through the air. It wasn’t visible from the ground if one wasn’t looking for it, but twin streams of tears trailed down her face. Words of sorrow echoed in her ears. It was these words that caused her pain. So much pain, that she was now flying to … to … she didn’t even know where. All she wanted to do was to get away from the pain, and all she could think of was to fly. To fly faster and farther than ever before, and leave everything behind.
Dash was so focused on this mindset, she didn’t even realize that her vision was beginning to blur from the tears in her eyes. Nor did she notice the sudden loss in altitude. The next thing she knew there was a flash of green and the sharp feeling of pain overwhelming her, as a constant stream of blunt objects hit her body. Her head suddenly felt as though it had split open, searing pain shot through her wing, and nothingness overtook her.
Rainbow Dash felt something soft against her coat. She tried to open her eyes, but to no avail. Her eyelids could have been made of lead as far as she could tell. She tried to open her eyes once more and was able to open them a tiny bit. She didn’t quite know how long she was out for, but through a window she could see that the beautiful amber sky had darkened to a deep navy blue, Luna’s moon hanging high in the night sky. Wait...a window? Eyelids becoming lighter, she looked blearily around at her surroundings, as the smell of apples assaulted her nostrils. Sure enough, she was inside. She found herself lying on a soft bed with a wooden frame. The rest of the room consisted of a small desk in the opposite corner and, true to the smell, a distinct theme of apples. Her attention finally focused on one thing, the other filly in the room.
“Well now, it’s about time you woke up!” the filly exclaimed. She had a bright orange coat and a beautiful blonde mane tied back with a hair tie and topped with a brown Stetson. "Ah wasn’t sure if you’d wake up at all tonight, that was quite a nasty run-in ya had with mah' apple tree!”
“Wh-where am I? How did I get here?” Rainbow stammered weakly, “A-and who are you?”
“Why this here is Sweet Apple Acres!” the orange filly said with a smile. “Y’all went and crashed into one of them trees out in the orchard and Ah carried you back to my house to fix ya up. The name is Applejack, pleased to meet ya!”
“Likewise. I’m Rainbow Dash. Sorry about crashing into one of your trees, I guess I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
‘That explains the green blur,’ she thought to herself.
“Ah don’t think that was the reason you crashed,” Applejack stated.
“What? What do you-” Dash began to say but was cut off by Applejack.
“Ah saw the whole thing,” AJ snickered. “You were looking straight ahead when you crashed. Heck, Ah was only 10 feet away from that tree when you hit it. In fact, Ah’m surprised ya didn’t see me.”
AJ paused for a moment, sizing up Rainbow's distant stare before continuing.
“Then, when Ah went to check on ya, Ah noticed that your cheeks were soaked with tears and when Ah opened you eyelids Ah could see that they were all red and bloodshot,” the farm pony said, leaning in towards Rainbow. “It can’t be easy to fly in that condition. What in Equestria happened?”
At this, Rainbow Dash just looked away, tears starting to reform in her eyes.
“Ah’m sorry,” said Applejack, “Ah can see that you don’t want to talk about it, and that’s okay. Ah won’t bring it up again. Fer now you should focus on gettin’ better. After all, you got a pretty darn good bump on yer head.”
This was the first time since Rainbow Dash had woken up that she thought about her condition. Her head felt like it had been split open, and her wing felt as though somepony had taken an axe to it. She raised it to take a look, and found that it was bandaged up just like her head was.
“What happened to my wing?”
“Well, Ah’m no doctor,” replied the farm pony, “but it took a nasty hit from a branch when ya ran into the tree. When Ah took a look at it, it seemed to be in pretty bad shape, so Ah wrapped it up myself. It should be fine for now, but I’d take a trip to the hospital tomorrow morning to see if it’s broken.”
Rainbow Dash nodded and said, “Thanks for all the help.” She smiled looking into Applejack’s emerald eyes. “I needed somepony like you tonight.”
AJ walked over and put her arms around Rainbow. Rainbow hugged her back, feeling comforted for the first time that day. As she inhaled, she giggled lightly. Even the earth pony’s mane smelled like apples.
They released their hug, Rainbow a little more reluctantly, and Applejack headed to the door. “Ah’m really glad to have met ya. Have a good night’s sleep, Rainbow.”
Rainbow gently knocked on the wooden door of the farm house. After a few seconds of waiting she heard hurried footsteps approach, and the door opened to reveal a red colt. “You must be Rainbow Dash,” he said in a low voice, “AJ told me ‘bout what happened last night. She’s out in the barn, if yer lookin’ fer her.”
Rainbow glanced over at the barn. “Thanks, um...”
“Big Macintosh is mah name, but ya can call me Big Mac.”
“Thanks Big Mac,” she said, and then she quickly spun around and trotted toward the barn.
As Rainbow approached the barn, she caught a hint of fresh apples in the air. The source became apparent immediately upon entering the iconic structure. Basket upon basket of every kind of apple imaginable was piled high. Unloading yet another basket of Red Delicious apples was the pony she was looking for. As Rainbow approached, Applejack turned around with a start. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, I didn’t expect you back yet. How’d things go at the hospital? What’d they say?”
“It’s broken, like you thought. Just a fracture though. They said that it will heal fine, but they said no flying for at least two weeks.” Rainbow paused, a million things were flying around in her head and the next thing she said needed to be perfect. “And I wanted to speak with you about that.”
“Of course, sugarcube, what’s on yer mind?”
Rainbow paused for a second to collect the words she wanted to say. “I owe you, Applejack. If it weren’t for you, I might not be here now. I want to help on the farm, to repay your kindness.”
Applejack was taken aback by the overwhelming statement of gratitude. “Rainbow, you don’t need to do that,” she replied, “I just did what anypony would do. You crashed right in front of me, anypony would have done what I did.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you did it. I owe you, and I can’t fly anyway. I’m not going anywhere, so you might as well accept my offer,” Rainbow said and she stomped her hoof.
Rainbow Dash had a point. Losing the ability to fly extremely limited how far she could go, and she wasn’t 100% sure where exactly she came from, anyway. “Alright, Rainbow, you win. If ya can’t fly, then yer more the welcome to stay here until you heal, and Ah’ll allow you to work on the farm while yer here. But don’t feel obligated to stay here once ya heal.” Applejack quickly thought of what she just said and realized what it sounded like. “Of course ya can stay as long as ya want, but once yer healed ya don’t have to work to repay me anymore.”
“Woohoo! You won’t regret this, Applejack, I promise.”
The next two weeks were the happiest of both Rainbow Dash’s and Applejack’s lives. They both felt it was kind of funny that such a terrible event could create such a wonderful friendship. After the two weeks were up, Rainbow Dash decided to stay in Ponyville. She made herself a home from the clouds and got a job as a weather pony. And although she no longer stayed at the ranch with Applejack, she frequently stopped by for a visit.
Rainbow Dash smiled even wider at the memory. She and Applejack had been the best of friends ever since, and now, with the new information that she had discovered the previous week, she could feel that friendship growing into so much more.
She shook herself out of the thought when something cold hit her coat. Looking around, she discovered that the rain had soaked her. Rainbow Dash immediately retreated to her house as the rain got heavier. She walked in the door and closed it fast behind herself. It was only a matter of time, she knew that she couldn’t stay quiet for long.
‘I’m in love with Applejack,’ she thought. She blushed slightly at this, and started to walk into the kitchen to make herself something to eat before she went to bed.
Then another thought drifted in, ‘I doubt Applejack feels the same though. She doesn’t seem like the type to be into fillyfooling.’ The happiness she had felt earlier disappeared, and her heart sunk at the prospect. It was too much to bear, she couldn’t imagine being without Applejack. She looked up in a mirror with tears in her eyes, and another memory drifted into her head, the Running of the Leaves. There was something about that race, something that pulled her and AJ closer. She felt a spark from the tip of her tail, all the way up her spine, before it reached her head. She couldn’t resist the urge to tell Applejack. Even if there was only the slightest chance that the farm pony could feel the same way, it was worth it to be with her. So, as Rainbow listened to the falling rain outside, she vowed to tell Applejack the next day.
She ate a sandwich and walked toward the stairs leading to her room. Once she entered the room, she threw herself on the bed. She was too tired to care if she lay under the covers or not. Her eyelids became heavy, and she drifted off to sleep.