"Rainbow Dash..."
Her eyes fluttered open. A blink, and she sat up in a breathless stupor.
"Rainbow Daaaaaaaaaaaash..." The voice wafted over the clouds.
Rainbow looked from side to side.
The misty beds of Cloudsdale undulated with a shifting wind. In the far distance, a series of pegasus columns raised a pale gazebo made out of cloud stone above the fluffy drifts. A golden figure stood in the center of the platform. Rainbow could taste the glimmer of her freckles from afar.
"Sugarcuuuuuube..."
Rainbow's fuzzy ears twitched. "Don't have to tell me twice." She flew forward without flapping her wings.
The heavens corkscrewed over and over while Rainbow Dash floated to her destination. At last, she landed on the lower steps of the gazebo. She took one pensive step after another, ascending the circular staircase until she stood at even level with the blonde goddess in a flowing red robe.
Applejack gazed at her. There was love in her eyes and flowers in her mane.
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow Dash shivered. Gulped. "AJ...?"
Applejack sighed. With a calm smile, she answered in Rainbow Dash's voice: "Think again."
Rainbow's ears folded back. "Mrmmmfff... figures."
Applejack's voice cracked with giggles.
Rainbow Dash plopped down on her hooves. "Shoulda known this was a dream."
The rainbow-voiced farm mare brushed her yellow bangs back. "What was your first clue?"
"I dunno." Rainbow glanced aside. "Maybe the fact that the shadow of Epcot is riding a dolphin into an exploding cider factory over there."
"Excelsiorrrrrrrrr—" KABOOOOOM!
Applejack winced, rubbing her ears. "Do our dreams have to have such loud sound effects?"
"Hey." Rainbow shrugged. "It's no stranger than real life."
"Heehee..."
"Do you suppose this is Epcot's subconscious act of jealousy?"
"Huh?" Applejack asked.
"Y'know... for me calling Applejack 'best pony.'"
"Oh..." Applejack twirled her skirt. "I don't think she'd mind in the least."
"Heh. Good point. Still..." Rainbow Dash rolled over and laid on her back across the gazebo. "This is an improvement."
"Over our usual dreams?" Applejack belched, cracked her joints, and laid down next to the pegasus. "Pffft. Totally."
"Can't count how many times that I've failed the Wonderbolts tryouts."
"Or kicked a cloud apart to find dad's body lying in the center of it."
"Eeugh..." Rainbow Dash shuddered. "There's an old chestnut."
"Still..." Applejack shrugged, playfully kicking at the air with her hooves. "I'm pretty impressed with how well we can keep our cool when we get lucid."
"Pffft... what's so difficult about it?" Rainbow gazed at the stars peeking through the cloud cover. "Most ponies wanna achieve lucid dreaming so they can fly. Pffft... that's like a downgrade for me!"
"Well?" Applejack smirked devilishly, gazing at Rainbow upside down as she fluffed her mane. "How do you feel about this?"
Rainbow smirked. "You know how I feel about it."
"Still, it totally begs the question."
"Why I'm dreaming this up and not some stupid anxiety bomb?"
"Right."
"Probably 'cuz I'm sharing the tent with you-know-who."
"Omigoshomigoshomigosh!" Applejack cooed, squishing her freckled cheeks. "I totally am!"
"I wonder if this is what it would feel like."
"You mean to sleep in the same room—er... tent as her everyday?"
"Yeah..."
Applejack sighed. "If only life could always be so awesome."
"It's awesome enough, don't you think?"
"Why? Because I'm her friend?"
"And that seems to make AJ happy," Rainbow Dash said. "And... I-I like it when AJ is happy."
"Then why I am I not happy all the time?"
Rainbow bit her lip. "Yeah. I guess... th-there'll always be that one regret."
"Forever and ever?" Applejack snorted. "Most uncool."
"Yeah. But... will I ever be the same without the regret?"
"AJ will always be the same. Isn't that enough?"
"I'm just... n-not sure I want to lose what I have."
Applejack looked over. "And what do you have?"
Rainbow hugged herself. "Love." A gulp. "The craziest... stupidest... awesomest love." She grimaced. "Settling for friendship is like... purposefully aiming to come in second." She sighed, closing her eyes. "And I hate losing."
"But if Applejack is guaranteed to be winning—"
"I know." Rainbow Dash sniffled. "I just wish I felt it as much as I knew it."
"Then I guess you should enjoy it while it lasts," Applejack said. "Before you lose it."
Rainbow Dash turned towards her. She smiled, her mane billowing in a sudden, brisk wind. "I love you, AJ. I love you so friggin' much." She exhaled with a happy flutter to her heart. "And, more than anything, I wish I—"
Applejack's teeth glinted while the world drew dark around her. "Don't say it out loud."
Rainbow's eyes widened. The mare gasped, and then...