"It begs the question," Epcot said, touching down on a floating patch of golden landscape. "Have you been getting any sleep, Rainbow Dash?"
"Well?!" Rainbow huffed and puffed, pacing in tight circles across the nebulous environment. "I'm here, aren't I?"
"Uhhhhhhhh..." Epcot brushed a hoof across her sparkly black mane. "It's... not exactly the same." She cleared her throat. "Although there are many similarities to be drawn between a mortal's visit through Cider Space and natural REM Sleep, I do believe that it's a gross generality to compare—"
"I just... can't sit still without understanding it!"
"Understanding what, Rainbow Dash?"
"How?! Like... how how how could she get so wrapped up in a dude like Stu Leaves?"
Epcot giggle-snorted. "Is this another one of your 'Stu-is-lamest' rants? Those are always so poetic."
"No, this time it's about AJ being lame!"
"Oh..." Epcot blinked. "Wow..." She blinked again. "That's a new one." She squinted at Rainbow Dash. "You sure you're actually Rainbow Dash and not some ghostly spirit of a regal demon crystalmancer infecting her shell?"
"What?"
"What?"
"Epcot... girl... listen to me!" Rainbow slid towards her, grimacing. "Applejack just... just isn't herself!"
"Uh huh..."
Rainbow resumed pacing. "She's not only spending all of her friggin' time with Stu! But she's talking about him nonstop! Basically parading him around like a trophy in other ponies' faces! In my faces! Er, I mean face! Tartarus, she even confessed to it! Just an hour ago!"
"You drank your way into Cider Space right after seeing her?" Epcot gasped, then pouted. "I knew you were missing out on sleep!"
"Epcot... please. I'm being serious with ya." Rainbow's face grew long. "I... I think she might be sick or something!"
"Sick, you say?" Epcot tapped her fuzzy gray muzzle. "Hmmmm..."
"She's... she's just so... weird and absent minded and... and short-sighted. Applejack's never short-sighted! She's an athlete! A champion! A long-endurance racer! Rrrrrgh... she keeps her eyes on the finish line and doesn't know when to quit!"
"Something I've observed about mortals—that differentiates them from my alicorn progenitors—is that they are extremely bound by the senses," Epcot said. "And, in truth, I find it rather endearing, because they have so few years to enjoy such senses. In fact... when the senses shift and change, the fluctuation might be so dynamic that a mortal simply can't help but... be overwhelmed by them."
"Are you saying that Applejack is stupid?"
Epcot giggled... then giggled harder.
Rainbow frowned. She plopped down on her haunches and glared at the chaperone.
Epcot wiped her muzzle dry. "Oh... oh Rainbow, I'm so sorry." She snorted through another chuckle. "I don't mean to imply that at all."
"Good." Rainbow grunted. "So long as we're on the same page—"
"I mean to say that Applejack is in love."
Rainbow froze in place.
"And... even the most faithful, strong, and dependable of ponies can... mmm... falter a bit when confronted with such amorous emotions." Epcot cleared her throat. "Mortals most especially."
Rainbow bit her lip.
"But not forever. I assure you." Epcot rested a hoof on the pegasus' shoulder. "Just give Applejack time. Whether or not there's any true... opportunity here with Stu, I do believe Applejack is just... having to adjust course, so to speak. She'll be back to the mare you know."
"But..." Rainbow Dash winced. "I-I can't buy that for a minute."
"I'm not asking you to."
"How can a pony screw up that much over some... supposed infatuation? I mean, even if Stu Leaves was it... which he can't be... frickin'..." She shook her head. "To mess up and almost ignore your own best friend while going out wagon riding? To turn her into a third wheel for over an hour? I mean... that's a lot to swallow, Epcot! Pffft... silly Epcot..."
Epcot's eyes darted about... then found their way back to Rainbow Dash. "Almost as hard to believe as a loyal... awesome... courageous mare scarcely seeing any of her friends for months on end?"
Rainbow Dash instantly paled.
"Isolating herself? Hiding herself away? Because the mortal life she has is somehow all that much colder when lived within the absence of the one love she desires most of all, but can't seem to afford?"
Rainbow's ears drooped as her muzzle hung lower and lower.
Epcot finished, "And so she becomes a ghost, a phantom to the friends she's always been loyal to, because she can't seem to express the most concentrated feelings of loyalty to a singular member..."
Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut.
Epcot cleared her throat, smiling gently. "Mortals can be silly too, Rainbow Dash. They can be the silliest ones of all."
Rainbow bit her lip. At last, with a squeaking tone, she spoke: "I... I'm not at all bummed out that Applejack is in love, Epcot. I... I'm happy for her..."
Epcot leaned in. "But...?"
"I just... j-just hoped that the first time I got to see it happen to her..." She looked up, eyes moist. "...it was because she was in love with me."
Epcot leaned in. With soft limbs and an even softer mane, she held Rainbow Dash tight and nuzzled her. In a warm voice, she purred past Rainbow's ear: "You still can let her see, Rainbow..."
"I... I-I have to be visible first, Epcot." Rainbow sniffled. She gazed off into dream space with wet, twitching eyes. "And... for the first time in ages... you've m-made me realize..." She gulped. "I've been invisible to everypony for too long."
"Applejack appears to see you."
"That's... that's not enough." Rainbow bit her lip. "Before I can be anything with her... anything with myself..." She gulped. "I... I gotta start being a friend again..."