Applejack spat out the handle of her shovel. "Thanks for helpin' me out today, Pinkie. So, you got any plans this afternoon?"
Pinkie nodded excitedly, saying with a wide smile, "I'm gonna go dye with Rarity."
AJ paused, scratching a hoof at one ear, and her brow furrowed. "Come again?"
"Well," Pinkie said with a chuckle, "actually, I'm just gonna help Rarity dye."
Applejack's eyebrows rose a little. "You're... gonna help her..."
"But maybe, if I'm really good, she said she might let me dye, too."
Applejack's eyebrows shot up. "What?"
"Hey, if you're all done on the farm, maybe you could come with me, and then we can dye together!"
Applejacks's eyebrows went into orbit. "What?!"
Pinkie wrapped a foreleg around her friend, tugging her away from the barn. "C'mon, I'll bet dyeing is super-duper fun!"
"Pinkie, no!" Applejack slid out from under Pinkie's leg. "I don't wanna die, and neither should you!"
"Huh?" Pinkie stopped, turning and raising one eyebrow, her smile gone. "Why not?"
Applejack was blinking rapidly and raising a hoof to her forehead, eyes squinting. "Wh-why not? Why not?! Whaddaya mean 'why not?!' Why would I want to die?!"
Pinkie sat back on her rump, forehooves twiddling around one another, and she glanced at the ground. "Because it sounds like fun?"
"Fun?!"
"Yeah, fun. Don't you like having fun?"
"F-fu... I... you... how can you... I don't..."
Pinkie put a hoof on the shoulder of her hyperventilating friend. "Um, you don't have to come and dye with me if you don't want to. It's okay. I can just go dye alone."
A sigh escaped Applejack, followed up a deep breath, and she turned her eyes to Pinkie. "Sugarcube," she said softly, "I don't want to you to die, either. You're one of my best friends, and if there's somethin' botherin' you, you should talk about it."
"Bothering me?"
Applejack nodded, taking Pinkie's forehooves in her own. "You can talk to me anytime. I know what it's like to deal with... hard stuff, you know. We're all here for you, Pinkie Pie. Don't you go doin' some fool thing like this."
Pinkie's mouth opened, but she closed it after a second of looking into AJ's emerald eyes. She sighed, pulling her hooves back and standing up. "Well, if it really means that much to you... okay, I won't go and dye."
AJ gave Pinkie a hug, letting out another sigh of her own. "Thank you." She let go after a moment, asking, "Now, what's gotten you like this? Come on, now, you can tell me."
"It's like I said: Rarity said she was gonna dye today, and asked if I wanted to help. Then that got me thinking that it might be fun to dye. I mean, I've never tried it before, but Rarity said she'd been putting it off for a long time and she seemed excited, and it sounded like fun."
* * * *
Rarity hummed a happy little tune, her hooves tapping the floor in time. At the sound of hoofsteps in the hallway outside, she turned toward the door. "Pinkie, is that you? Do come right in. I hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and got started without you. But don't worry, you didn't miss mu—"
Pinkie exploded through the door, almost tearing if off its hinges. "Rarity!" she screamed, sliding in on her hind knees and flailing her forelegs toward the ceiling. "Don't dye!"
"Whatever it is your thinkin', don't do it!" Applejack leapt into the room, skidding to a stop. "Think of little Sweetie Belle! Remember the good things! Don't..." Applejack opened her mouth again, but whatever she was going to say died before it could escape her throat. She furrowed her brow, looking from Rarity to the stack of white cloth next to her, to the little bottles of colorful liquid next to that, to the big vat of steaming, yellow liquid set up in the corner. Her eyes narrowed, and her tongue ran across her teeth.
"Um, Applejack? Are you feeling alright?" Rarity inquired, her magic poking a hook-ended stick into the vat. She withdrew it, pulling out a pale yellow dress. "You seem just a bit distressed."
Applejack closed her mouth, stood up, turned her eyes to the ceiling, and let out a deep sigh. "Nope," she said simply, turning and walking out of the room without another word.