6 Months, Several Eternities

by TheRainbowEffect

Reconciliation

Chapter 15
Reconciliation

Rainbow woke up, but her eyes snapped closed again. She rolled over so her face was in the couch. She didn’t want to get up yet. Unfortunately for her, Twilight spotted the movement.

“Oh, Rainbow, you’re up!” Twilight said cheerfully.

Rainbow gave a muffled grumble into the cushions of the couch.

“Rainbow, it’s highly impractical to attempt avoiding the day,” Twilight said very matter-of-factly.

“Ugh, jus’ lemme sleep, will ya?” Rainbow said, her words muffled, still lying with her hooves at her sides.

“Get up, Rainbow,” said Twilight sternly. “I’m making breakfast, and you can tell me what happened last night while we eat.”

Rainbow looked up at Twilight. Rainbow was a mess. She had dirt in her tail, her mane was a mess, her eyes were red, and to top it all off, she looked dead tired.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Rainbow said, her face plopping back into the couch.

“Too bad,” Twilight said, and Rainbow felt herself being hoisted into the air. Her limbs flailed at the air, as Rainbow saw her vision was coated with an ethereal purple glow.

“Put me down, Twilight, this isn’t funny.”

“If I did put you down, you’d go straight back to the couch,” Twilight said with a knowing tone in her voice.

“Just put me down, Twilight, I don’t like this,” Rainbow said as she hovered in the air while Twilight proceeded to set the table.

“Well, tough love, baby,” Twilight answered as Rainbow began to drift towards the table.

“TWILIGHT, LOOK, AN URSA MAJOR IS BEHIND YOU!” Rainbow yelled, pointing a hoof in Twilight’s direction.

It worked. Twilight’s magic broke as she looked behind her frantically. Unfortunately, Rainbow had drifted so that she wasn’t above the couch anymore, and she hit the library floor hard. Stars burst into her vision as she heard the sound of a dish breaking.

“Oh, my goodness, Rainbow, are you alright?” Twilight said, running to where Rainbow was, levitating her again.

“Twilight, it hurts, but put me down.”

Twilight set Rainbow down on her hooves, and Rainbow stood there, gently massaging her stomach area with one hoof.

“Well, you did your job,” Rainbow said jokingly, although her voice showed the pain she felt on her abdomen. “Now I can’t go back to sleep.”

“Well, come to the table, if you can manage walking,” Twilight said, going over to the table.

“Yeah, my legs are fine,” Rainbow replied, walking over and also sitting at the table.

“So, Rainbow, do you want to eat first, or tell me what happened?”

“Well,” said Rainbow, scratching her neck, “I’m not even hungry, so I don’t see the point of choosing to eat first,” said Rainbow, bracing herself; retelling was coming.

“So, tell me what happened last night.”

“Well, the thing is…”

* * *

“…And then I started slamming my head on your door. I felt like complete crap,” finished Rainbow, surely not the most eloquent of ponies.

“And why did you want to do something big?” Twilight further inquired, trying to find every detail.

“Well, the thing is, I like Applejack, and I really want everypony to know. I don’t know why Applejack freaked out,” Rainbow confessed, scratching her neck and looking down at the table.

“Rainbow, you worded it incorrectly. To her, you made it seem like you thought what you did was small, since all you said was ‘big’.”

“I didn’t think what we did was at all small!” Rainbow defended herself.

“Step one, you should have said ‘bigger’. She might have thought you were just saying that you wanted the spotlight. We do know your tendency to try and grab attention,” Twilight said honestly.

“Hey!” Rainbow retorted, throwing her hooves up to her side.

“Rainbow, you know it’s true,” Twilight explained, pointing a hoof at Dash.

“Well, that’s fair enough, I guess,” replied Rainbow, her hooves dropping.

“And you should have told AJ why you wanted to do something bigger. You didn’t explain why you wanted to do something big, so what you said sounded like you just wanted to grab the spotlight and have everypony see you, not you two,” Twilight explained.

“So that’s what Applejack thought I was saying?” Rainbow asked incredulously.

“Yep, that’s why she was like that. I mean, I don’t think that warranted that level of reaction, but you know us mares. We tend to overreact,” Twilight said, giving a slight shrug.

“Alright, at least I know what’s wrong, but how do I make it right?”

“Tell her what you actually meant, or better, tell her what you didn’t mean. All in all, just tell her the truth. Also, ‘sorry’ isn’t a bad thing,” Twilight added matter-of-factly.

“What if she doesn’t want to talk to me?”

“Well, I suppose that’s something with which you’ll have to deal. I can’t keep guiding you through love,” said Twilight, shaking her head.

“Alright, fair enough,” Rainbow said, standing up. “I’m gonna go now.”

“Rainbow, with all due respect, you kinda look like a mess. Don’t you wanna wash up first?”

“Nope,” said Rainbow Dash, her head held high. “I need to talk to her as soon as I can.”

“Looking like that?” Twilight inquired, cocking her head.

“Why not? I don’t really care, and it’s not like Applejack is going to care either way,” Rainbow said, giving a slight shrug.

“Well, I suppose you have a point,” Twilight said back.

“Anyway, I’m out,” Rainbow said, walking over to the door and opening it with a hoof.

“Alright, I suppose,” said Twilight. She went to the door. “Good, luck with your little reconciliation efforts!” Twilight yelled, waving after Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow waved back briefly before going off to make relationship reparations. Twilight closed the door behind Rainbow, who had, in her haste, left the door wide open.

Rainbow made her way towards the orchard. The spring grass was wet with morning dew and Rainbow’s hooves started getting wet. Some stray grass stuck to her hooves, but she paid no attention. This was no time to be bothering with trivial things like brushing wet grass off of her hooves. No time was to be wasted; there was a big matter at hand. She could do many more Sonic Rainbooms, but she doubted that she could find a relationship such as the one she was going to save.

Applejack had to listen. She had to. The only problem was Applejack’s tendency to be very stubborn. She could very well refuse to listen. Rainbow had to make her listen. There was a misunderstanding, and Rainbow reluctantly agreed with herself to wholly take the blame if that’s to what it came. She wasn’t too knowledgeable on the subject of dating and such, but she knew full well that under normal circumstances, a pony doesn’t like to be blamed. In this state, saying Applejack was partly responsible was probably the worst idea of which Rainbow could think. That’d make Applejack even more mad, which was precisely what Rainbow was trying NOT to do.

Time seemed to stand still as she reached the orchard, a growing anxiety in the pit of her stomach. A Sonic Rainboom involved mere technical things, such as size, weight, velocity, et cetera. Somepony could train to do one, tweaking and perfecting the movements, trying over and over to get it right. Feelings were something else. Flying maneuvers had precious little to do with emotions. Relationship reparations couldn’t be practiced. Well, they could, but it wouldn’t work the same. Everypony is different, and thus reacts differently. It’s a one-shot bid, and if you butcher it, you butcher it. A failed Rainboom might leave you bummed; a failed relationship is an entirely different matter.

As she neared the house, she became more self-conscious. It was completely irrational, she knew, but she feared that Applejack wouldn’t take her seriously. Of course, that made no sense, but this kind of situation can do a lot to a pony. She tried patting her mane down, but her mane stayed where it was. After a couple little tries at bettering her look, she realized that the dirt was staying in her tail, her eyes were going to stay puffy and red, and she was going to look tired. Calm down, Rainbow thought to herself, Applejack doesn’t give two flying feathers about how I look right now. Crap, Rainbow silently cursed herself, I should have gotten her something. She would have given a lot just to keep her mind off of these thoughts for the moment, since they weren’t doing her a lick of good. All they were doing at the moment was scaring her, however much she didn’t like to admit it.

Too long a time later, she finally reached the house. As she grew more nervous, her senses amplified. She could hear her heart beating far too loudly. The grass underneath her hooves tickled her. Her mouth got dry inside, and she became far too aware of her own tongue, not being able to find a comfortable spot for it. She stood there, at the door, bracing herself, and she knocked. Her own temporary house for the next 5 months, and she knocked.

Big Mac opened the door, and a slight frown came upon his face. That wasn’t good. She was unfortunately not surprised that she hadn’t exactly become somepony to be admired in the Apple Family, considering the close knit bunch that was the Apple Family.

“Uh, hey, Big Mac,” Rainbow ventured, realizing that she was treading on broken glass not only with AJ, but with the entire family.

“Howdy, Rainbow Dash,” Big Mac said, not looking entirely too pleased.

“Look, Big Mac, I’m gonna skip the pleasantries and cut to the chase. I need to talk to Applejack alone,” said Rainbow, forgoing the butter-up act.

Big Mac turned his head inside and yelled, “Applejack!”

“No!” Rainbow heard Applejack say indignantly. “Ah don’t wanna talk about it!”

“Applejack,” Rainbow called past Big Mac, “Please just listen to me!”

“Ah heard enough last night, thank you!” Applejack called back.

“Applejack, I’m sorry! I want to explain what I meant!

“Ah know exactly what ya meant! Yer the one and only Rainbow Dash and nothing is enough for you, and you want everyone to notice how radisome ya are, or whatever!”

“It’s ‘radical’ and ‘awesome’, but that’s beside the point! The point is that it’s all my fault!”

“Go on.”

“When I said ‘doing something big’, I didn’t say what we did was small. I wanted to do something that everypony at the gala would see and note. And before you say anything, I want to explain that it’s not that I was trying to grab the spotlight, even though I know I have a tendency to try and hog the limelight. The thing is, this relationship is exciting to me, and I want everypony to know about us, not me. I’m not trying to get the spotlight; I’m trying to give our relationship the spotlight. Applejack, I came over here as soon as I could. I can prove it, since I look like hell. AJ, I love you.”

Rainbow Dash heard naught but silence from the other room. That worried her. What was that supposed to mean?

“Applejack, please come out here. Honestly, I love you, and I need you to forgive me.”

Rainbow heard the sound of things shuffling and moving, and finally, nudging Big Mac out of the way, there was Applejack.

Applejack too didn’t look like she’d had a great night either. Her mane was out of its ponytail, her mane and tail looked disheveled, and her eyes also looked puffy and tired. Of course, that wasn’t the time to mention it.

“So, whaddaya say?” Rainbow said apprehensively, very slightly cocking her head to the side.

“Well,” Applejack started, and paused for a while.

“Well?” Rainbow asked, curiously leaning forward a little bit.

“Well,” Applejack said, pausing, “Yer right, ya do look like hell.”

“…What?”

“Oh, Rainbow, ah can’t stay mad at you,” Applejack said while shaking her head, going forward to hug Rainbow Dash.

“So, it’s alright?” Rainbow asked, returning the hug.

“Yeah, ah forgive ya,” Applejack answered. “And ah realize that ah can’t really say ya look like hell when ah do, too.”

“It’s alright. If you want my opinion, I actually find it kinda hot,” said Rainbow, breaking the hug to look at Rainbow.

“Ya do?” asked Applejack, face reddening.

“Yeah, I really do,” replied Rainbow. “Now, can I return living here? Twilight’s place is nice, but it’s nothing compared to being able to sleep in a bed with my marefriend,” said Dash, smiling and blushing too.

“C’mon inside, we’re havin’ breakfast,” Applejack said, leading Rainbow in.

Rainbow pumped a hoof in the air before following her in, ready to eat.

(AN: This is by no means the last chapter, and the story will continue, but my good pal and editor MidnightWhisper are starting a new collaboration between the two of us, so it might be a while until we return to this story. You'll see what our new bit is once we have the first chapter done. The story will be uploaded on MidnightWhisper's channel/page/user thing, so go watch his page to see it when it comes out. It'll be good, we promise.)

Comments

[DontWakeTheNeighbour]

Personaly I love this story. I personaly like to read a story purely based on romance and the pursuit for it. Your story is well written, you keep the emotions of the characters nice and raw which is what I like to see.

Just one TEENZY WEENSY spelling mistake. Near the top where you say Twilight broke the spell and Rainbow --->HID<--- the ground hard. Unless it's suppose to be like that. :)

All in all, I love it. (Bit bummed about hearing that your gonna be a while but oh well I can wait.)
Hope the ending is an adorable one.

[quick_study]

I only saw one thing and it was near the end:
"said Rainbow, breaking the hug to look at Rainbow."

She broke the hug to look at herself?
I know what you mean, of course; it was still amusing, though.

[MidnightWhisper]

sorry guys that's my fault on there but thanks for pointing those out

[Jahk Observas]

Story is nice but your Twilight is a little mechanical. I think your going for nerdy but I don't feel a lot of emotion from her. Twi is best.

[Bigshot232]

hmmm, in all honesty this now feels rushed, if anything, each chapter feels more rushed than the last. i liked the story and the plot, but at one point during the story, it felt like you were going through a checklist of what needed to be in the story. not to mention that the outburst from applejack felt out of place but it had me to believe that tension could be created from it, unfortunately it seems to have been completely rapped up.

obviously this is your story and you have ideas where you want to lead it, but at the moment, i'm losing the feeling i had when i read the first chapter. of course this is just my opinion thus far and i understand if everyone doesn't feel the same way

[Material Defender]

You had indenting in the first five chapters or so, and then you suddenly decide to drop it. It's like it went backwards in terms of readability. What gives?

[TheRainbowEffect]

511090 I don't know. I had always indented while writing, but evidently, something went awry.

[Material Defender]

515218 Any chance that it could be fixed?

[TheRainbowEffect]

516472 Yes, indeed. I just went through and put in the indenting for every chapter.

[Material Defender]

519970 You are a true gentlecolt and a scholar.

[TheRainbowEffect]

520267 Thank you, sir.

[Delicious]

502627 I completely agree. This story could work great without this chapter/conflict. If your going to introduce a conflict; make it believable and make it last longer. The first few chapters were gold to me, but now It's fallen flat. You know what I'm tired of? Unneeded or terrible executed conflicts. I've quit reading at least ten storied that are considered 'popular' because I felt that at some point the author decided to trade quality for quantity. (Making unneeded conflicts to make the story last longer then it should/rushing a conflict to please fans.)

[TheRainbowEffect]

524247 I'm awfully sorry you feel that way. This is my first story, but that should be no excuse, considering you really liked my first chapters. I might just be doing a little rewrite at some point in the future, so watch for that. I'll try to improve in my next few stories and I hope you stick with me to watch and help me get better.

[Delicious]

526140 I know this is your first story, and I can only hope that if I ever decide to write something it would end up as good as this. The only major problem I have with this story is what I've already posted in the previous comment. I'll stick around and I wish you the best of luck.

[YipWolf]

Amazing, this is one of the few fics that go on after the ponies decide to get in the mood , ya know. I would greatly appreciate if this was continued! :D

[YipWolf]

Update pleeeeeeeeaaase?

[TheRainbowEffect]

593896 Right now, it'll be a while until the next update. A couple of other people and I are starting a little writing project, so the next update might be quite a while. Believe me, I'll get it finished, because it would totally irk me if I left this amount of non-resolution in my own story. In the meantime, you might like to watch the page of my good friend and editor, MidnightWhisper, for we are going to be uploading the story onto his account. We don't have any of it up yet, but we'll get working. For now, here's some mustache.

[MidnightWhisper]

dangit car-...i mean TheRainbowEffect we need to get back to work. Season three is here and we havnt done anything!

[Orrianna Dyre]

599464 Hey ^.^ would you happen to know when you are going to update? I love your story. It is one of my absolute favorites. And it's killing me not knowing whats next, so do you have any idea when you will? I'm goin crazy waiting

[StormHoof32]

i want more

[MidnightWhisper]

1842985
youre tellin me lol

[Appledash122]

will there be an update?