Rainbow Dash soared through the evening sky, heading for Twilight's new castle. They had only just decorated it earlier that day, but Pinkie Pie had insisted on holding a new housewarming party for Twilight and Spike almost immediately, seeing as they were now more comfortable with calling it a home.
Touching down, Rainbow knocked on the door, then entered after hearing Twilight's voice call out, "Come in!"
She found the main room covered in confetti, balloons and other decorations in Pinkie's trademark style. Seeing only Twilight, Spike, and the party pony in question, she asked, "I'm not too early, am I?"
"No, you're right on time," Twilight answered. "In fact, it's just two minutes past eight."
"Well, that's good. I don't want to show up before everything's ready, after all. Speaking of which, are you done settling in?"
"We're mostly there, but we don't really know our way around this place yet. It's just so huge..."
"Oh, don't worry, Twilight," Pinkie piped up. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventu–" Suddenly, her nose scrunched up. Her tail swished left and right, followed by her ears briefly folding back and her mane shaking, its tip brushing her nose. Finally, her eyes blinked four times in rapid succession.
Spike was the one to break the brief silence that followed. "...Well, that was convoluted, even for Pinkie Sense. What the heck does it mean?"
"Hold on, this is a new one..." Pinkie closed her eyes, focusing on decoding the message's meaning. After a few seconds, she opened them, and her mouth drew wide in an excited smile. "It means somepony here in Ponyville is going to compare their crush to a forest and a pegasus tonight!"
"How can you even get that much information out of–" Twilight started, then paused, having seemingly thought better of it. "Never mind."
Half an hour later, with all the guests accounted for, the party was in full swing. Applejack looked around the room, seeing Rarity giving advice on customizing the dinner room for special occasions to Twilight, the latter taking extensive notes; Spike and Pinkie, immersed in a game of checkers with little candies and sweets taking the place of usual pieces; and Rainbow and Fluttershy, standing near the food and drinks, talking about something she couldn't quite hear.
Since the others seemed far too occupied, Applejack decided to approach the pegasi. As she came closer, she started picking out the words.
"...so, as long as you don't overdo it, feeding him snacks should be just fine," Fluttershy said.
"Thanks, Flutters. I really appreciate everything you've done to help me take care of Tank." Noticing Applejack, Rainbow gave a little wave. "Oh, hey, AJ!"
Applejack raised her hoof in greeting. "Uh, don't take this the wrong way, but..." she hesitated, unsure if she should finish her question.
"Yes?"
"...don't ya already know how to take care of Tank?"
"Oh yeah, of course I do. It's just that he's been looking kind of tired lately, and, well... sometimes..." Rainbow paused, searching for the right words. "...sometimes I just get this really paranoid feeling that I'm doing something wrong, y'know? I really don't want anything to happen to him just because I messed up."
"I suppose that makes sense," Applejack said. A moment later, she gave a small chuckle.
"What is it?"
"Oh, nothin'," she responded, waving a hoof dismissively while she turned towards the food table.
"Oh, c'mon. What's so funny?"
"Oh, alright," Applejack said as she poured herself a glass of fruit juice, her back to the others. "I just thought it silly how you're wilder than the Everfree on the surface, but on the inside, you can be almost as much of a softie as Fluttershy." She chuckled again as she prepared for Rainbow's inevitable indignant response.
None came.
Confused, Applejack turned around to find that four of her friends' jaws had hit the floor – literally, in Pinkie's case.
"Y-Y-Y-You..." Rainbow stuttered. "You... have a crush on me?"
Applejack froze. "Wha–?"
"I... I..." Rainbow took a deep breath. "Back at the start of the party, Pinkie's Pinkie Sense told her that tonight in Ponyville, someone would compare their crush to a forest and a pegasus. You just compared me to the Everfree Forest and Fluttershy."
"Wha– but... uh... that could mean somepony else, couldn't it?" Applejack asked nervously.
"I kinda doubt it. I mean, what are the odds of something that specific happening twice in one night? Plus, you're kind of dodging the question here."
Applejack could feel beads of sweat on her face. "Well, uh, it must be about someone else, since I have absolutely no feelings or anything towards you." She tried to keep a neutral expression as she glanced from left to right.
Rainbow's expression was unreadable. "Uh, Applejack?"
"...Yeah?"
The pegasus smirked. "You're a terrible liar."
The room had become silent. Had Rainbow looked around, she would have seen everyone in the room now watching the two of them. However, she was only paying attention to Applejack, who was starting to bite her lip while looking at her hooves. Rainbow had expected her to stop lying, not become even more nervous than before. Just as she opened her mouth to ask what was wrong—
"It could never work."
The words were as soft as a whisper, yet they carried easily through the quiet room.
"Wh-What? Why?"
Applejack looked up. "There's no way we could stay together. I can't leave the farm behind, and you can't stick around, on account of the Wonderbolts."
"That's only a problem if–" Rainbow tried to interject.
"Rainbow, you know as well as I do that you getting into the 'Bolts is a question of when, not if."
"But what if I–"
"There's no way I could ever live with myself if I made you give up your life's dream. I can't handle long-distance relationships either, and call me old-fashioned, but I can't start datin' somepony if I know there's no future in it for us."
"But–"
"So, there." Applejack sounded like she was trying to hold back a sob. "Is that enough reasons, or do you need more?"
"I... I..." Rainbow Dash tried to say something, to do something, but she could think of nothing that could help.
"Thought so." Rainbow could swear she saw Applejack's eyes glistening as she turned away and walked towards the door. Soon, her pace quickened to a trot, and it kept increasing until Applejack practically galloped out of the castle.
For a moment, no one moved. Rainbow Dash's head and ears drooped.
Slowly, Fluttershy came up to her and gave her a comforting hug. One by one, the others followed suit, until Rainbow was gently embraced by four ponies and a dragon.
Rarity decided to speak up. "Rainbow Dash, darling, if there's anything we can do for you..."
"She's right." Rainbow breathed slowly. "There really is no way it would work out." Her friends let go of her as she sank to the floor. "We're bound to go our different ways, no matter what."
The others stood awkwardly around her, not quite knowing what to do.
Suddenly, Rainbow's head shot up. "Unless..."
Applejack lay on her bed. The sun had already set, and she kept the lights off, so the room was lit dimly.
Slowly, the door pushed open, and a light-blue pegasus peeked through. "AJ?"
"Rainbow, please. I'd rather be alone for a while."
Wincing a little, Rainbow nevertheless slipped into the room. "AJ, I... I figured it out." A gentle smile formed on her lips. "I figured out how we can be together."
Applejack didn't voice any interest in the pegasus's plan, but she didn't ask her to leave again, either.
"If..." Rainbow paused. "When I get into the Wonderbolts, you can come on tours with me. The longer ones are only a few times a year, and they usually don't use all their members, so you can still be here with your family most of the time."
Applejack remained silent.
"While you're gone, the other girls and Spike can work here in your place. They may not have your experience and skills, but they can make up for it by working together."
This time, the farmpony opened her mouth to object, but Rainbow raised a hoof to silence her.
"I'll pay them. The Wonderbolts' salary is good enough for me to do that and still have plenty of bits left. I've already talked with both them and your family, and they've all agreed to it."
"How'd they take it?" Applejack suddenly asked. "The idea of us datin', that is. How'd my family take it?"
"They were pretty cool with it, actually." A look of guilt flashed on Rainbow's face. "Sorry for just telling them like that without asking you, actually. I just figured I should—"
"It's fine. Really, it's fine. I mean, I would've liked to tell 'em myself, but makin' sure they're okay with your idea was important. Wouldn't want to get your hopes for nothing."
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
A brief silence followed.
Rainbow fidgeted a little. "So... um... I guess I never actually asked, but here goes. Applejack..." she looked the other mare squarely in the eyes. "Will you go out with me?"
The farmpony took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Hold on, sugarcube. I need to ask ya something first."
"Yes?"
"Why are you doing this? We both know yer not usually a pony to go about things carefully, yet you went through all that trouble to plan this thing out. So... why?"
"Be-because I... I..." Rainbow stammered, her cheeks turning slightly rosy. "BecauseI'minlovewithyoutoo!" she finally blurted, her blush deepening.
Applejack blinked... then smiled teasingly. "What was that, sugarcube?"
"You heard me," Rainbow answered in a huff, her face becoming even redder.
Applejack chuckled. "I suppose I did." However, her expression soon turned more serious. "But... why didn't ya tell me? I mean, you know why I didn't tell you about my feelings, but why didn't you say anything?"
"Well, about that..." Rainbow took a deep breath. "I'm demi." At Applejack's befuddled expression, she gave a bitter chuckle. "Yeah, I'm not surprised you don't know what that means. Not many ponies do, and even fewer actually understand. Hang on, I'll try to keep this from being too... Twilight-y.
"Basically, what it means is that I don't get feelings for anypony who's not already close to me. It's not just a thing of wanting to know someone better — I just don't feel anything for anyone I don't know well. No crushes on ponies I've just met or anything like that.
"There's a lot more to it than that, and really, I'm still figuring it out myself, but that's the main gist of it. So, to answer your question, I didn't tell you about having a thing for you because... well, because I didn't have a thing for you. Not until recently."
With Rainbow's explanation over, Applejack sat up on the bed, motioned for the pegasus to sit next to her (which she did), and asked, "How'd you find all this stuff out, anyway?"
"Fluttershy helped me figure things out. I dunno what it is about her, but I've always been able to just... talk to her. I guess it helps that I've known her for most of my life."
Another moment passed in silence. Then, somewhat awkwardly, Applejack said, "I'm sorry, sugarcube, I'm afraid I still don't entirely get this whole 'demi' thing."
"Nah, it's fine," said Rainbow with a casual hoofwave. "Like I said, I'm still getting my head around it myself. Really, when you think about it, emotions are just a big ball of wibbly-wobbly..." the pegasus motioned with her hooves uncertainly. "Feely-wheely... stuff."
Applejack snorted. "Started well, that sentence."
"It got away from me, yeah. Point is, I like you, you like me. What's stopping us?"
"I..." Applejack hesitated.
"What is it?" Rainbow asked, concerned.
"...What if it doesn't work out after all?"
Rainbow looked her in the eyes with a confident expression. "Then we'll make it work. Together." She smiled. "I swear I'll back off if you say no, but I think we could have something awesome here. So what do you say, Applejack? Wanna give it a shot?"
The earth pony paused to think for a moment. She evaluated everything the pegasus had told her that night, from the party all the way to the present moment.
Her lips curved to a small smile. "I think I'd like that." She leaned in to nuzzle Rainbow Dash, who was more than happy to return the gesture. "Now c'mon, we should let the others in on the good news."
"I could use some partying after all this planning and worrying." The two mares got up and prepared to leave through the door.
"One more question, though."
"Yeah?"
Applejack smirked. "How long did it take you to convince the girls and Spike to take your payment?"
Rainbow Dash matched her expression. "About ten minutes."
Laughing, the new couple exited the room and began the next chapter of their lives.