Rainbow continued to run her hoof slowly over the scars. Applejack's cries had settled to the occasional sniffle, her shoulders only jerking once in a while. A strange calm had descended over the two, despite the emotional outbursts and the heavy revelations. There was a new weight in Rainbow's chest, yet she somehow felt lighter at the same time. It seemed wrong to think it, but she seemed to feel almost...content.
At last Applejack broke the silence. "So what happens now?"
"I dunno." Rainbow's voice was thick from disuse. "What do you wanna do about it?"
"What do you mean, what do I want?" Applejack looked at her in shock. "It ain't up to me."
"Sure it is. I'm not gonna tell anypony about what you told me. I..." Rainbow hung her head. "I'm sorry for dragging your secret out like I did. I know you didn't want me to know and I get why. So if you want to go on keeping it a secret...that's your business."
Applejack stared at her with a piercing glaze for a moment. "So what you're sayin' is....if I wanna pretend this never happened....you ain't gonna rat me out?"
"Did you really think I would?"
"No... I just figured you might have some speech about how I'd feel better if I came clean with everypony."
"I wasn't gonna...I mean I wouldn't..." Rainbow bit her lip in frustration as she tried to summon the right words. "...Do you feel better?"
Despite the question, silence fell again for a moment. Rainbow watched A.J as she hung her head in contemplation. And then A.J broke the silence with a small chuckle.
"Does it sound wrong if I say I kinda do feel better?"
"What? No, of course that's not wrong! Why would it be wrong?"
Applejack looked up at the stars. "Dunno. I guess maybe some might say I don't deserve to feel better after what happened."
"Pfft! Yeah right!" Rainbow giggled, in spite of the incredulous look Applejack was now sending her. "Who would say that kind of thing?"
"Um...I don't know if you were listenin' to me for the last half hour or so..."
"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow cut her off with a wave of her hoof. "You screwed up. Big time. I think anypony would agree on that." Applejack's head sunk, only to be stopped when Rainbow pushed her chin up again to look her in the eye. "But I said it before and I'll say it again. You. Were. A. Kid. You didn't mean for any of that stuff to happen, right?"
Applejack swallowed. "Well no, but-"
"But nothing!" Rainbow took A.J's face in her hooves. "Kids screw up all the time! Heck, grownups screw up all the time! The only thing is most of us are lucky enough that our screw ups aren't a big deal. But...sometimes stuff happens."
A.J raised her old familiar eyebrow. "Stuff...happens."
"You remember when I saved Rarity with the Sonic Rainboom?" Rainbow waited for Applejack's nod before she continued. "Remember what you said to me, after I got back from hanging with the Wonderbolts?"
A.J laughed despite herself. "I said you were about the biggest dang fool I ever did see, pullin' a stunt like that. I said you coulda broke your neck."
Rainbow grinned. "And I said, 'coulda done, but I didn't'. Y'see? Everypony said I was a hero, but that was only cuz I got lucky. Well, I mean my awesome skills had a lot to do with it too," Rainbow ignored A.J's snort, "but the point is, if I had smacked my head into the ground and croaked right then, ponies would have said I was stupid. That I went and risked myself for nothing. But...I guess that's kind of it. When things work out for you, no matter how stupid you might have been, it's not a big deal. But the one time something goes wrong, suddenly the fact that you were dumb is the most obvious thing in the world."
A.J laughed again. It was good to hear her laugh. "Except it was obvious that you were dumb that day. Obvious to me anyways."
"Well that's the cool thing about me and you. If we do good, you can still tell if we did something stupid. And if we do bad, I can see that it was bad luck and it totally wasn't our fault."
A.J smirked. "So that time you tried napping in the Tree o' Harmony..."
"Shut up. My tail grew back just fine."
A.J nuzzled her. "I'm just messin' with you." She kissed Rainbow gently on the cheek. "Thanks Sugarcube. I still don't know if I deserve it...but you made me feel better."
"Aw yeah, another win for Rainbow Psychotherapy Dash!" Rainbow jumped up and punched the air in celebration. She settled down as a thought occurred to her. "So...since this talk went so well and all...you think you'll tell your family as well? Might be good to..."
She trailed off as Applejack's face darkened. She mentally slapped herself. So close and she went and ruined every-
"Maybe." Or perhaps not. "I'ma have to take some time to think things over. I gotta think about whether this'll be good for them, not just for me. I don't want to hurt them, but I don't want to run from the truth no more either."
Rainbow pushed her face into Applejack's neck, resting just below her chin. "Whatever you choose, I'll back you up no matter what. I'm cool like that y'know."
A.J chuckled once more and wrapped her foreleg around Rainbow's shoulder. "I know Sugar. And I can never thank you enough."
"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow threw A.J's foreleg off and stood up. "Now enough of this mushy stuff already! I wanna get back to bed. Gotta get a good night's sleep so I can totally own you at water-skiing tomorrow."
Applejack rose to her hooves as well, clearly ready to meet the challenge. "Oh is that a fact now?"
"Pfft, you're totally gonna suck. You're gonna be all like: 'oh no, Rainbow done figured out mah see-kret an' now Ah cain't kon-sehn-trait on th' dag-blasted gahme'!"
"...I don't sound like that."
"You kinda do though..."
"Well I reckon that makes us even then."
"Huh?"
Applejack let loose one last, evil chuckle. "You don't think you're the only one who figured out somepony's secret now, do ya?"
"...What?"
Applejack kissed Rainbow deeply on the lips. "I know about the Darin' Do plushie Sugarcube."
The End