• Published 4th Dec 2013
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Appledashery - Just Essay



Rainbow Dash lives an exciting life and is swiftly becoming the most daring, awesome pegasus in all of Equestria. She would gladly give it all up, though, just to confess her love to Applejack.

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A Zebra Thing to Do

“Mmmmm...” Zecora took a sip of the bubbling potion, leaned back, and licked her lips. Her eyes darted across the roof of her hut as she savored the taste. A few blinks later: “It certainly hasn't lost its potent taste. I doubt this will make your remedy go to waste.”

“You sure about that?” Rainbow Dash asked, balancing nimbly in the crook of the zebra's glass-less window. “Won't you be spreading the juice a little too thin?”

“Not at all, my pegasus friend!” Zecora chuckled while continuing to stir the larger pot. “I'm certain it will still have the desired effect in the end.”

“'Cuz I'm all for watering the stuff down so that I won't be overdoing it,” Rainbow muttered as she stared out into the humid Everfree Forest. “But—like—I don't want to be underdoing it either.”

“Trust me, Rainbow Dash, this plan is hardly rash. If I'm right, the only thing that will be lost are the ingredients' weekly cost!”

“Hmmm... I hope you're right.”

Zecora glanced up with a raised eyebrow. “Is somepony I know losing her financial glow?”

“I've been... uh... sl-slacking off on the delivery front,” Rainbow said with a nervous shudder. She ran a hoof through her prismatic bangs and shrugged. “Not like I can help it. I live a busy life, y'know.”

“Hrmmm...” Zecora smirked as she trotted across the hut to fetch a spice jar. “Too busy for the daily grind? A life like that, I wouldn't mind!”

“It's more complicated than that...”

“And most certainly you will not inform me.”

“Uhhhhhhh...” Rainbow sweated.

Zecora chuckled. “It's quite fine, Rainbow. Such info you need not bestow. I am quite aware that you are a most secretive mare.”

“You're...” Rainbow winced. “...n-not ticked off by that?”

“Is there a reason that I must?” Zecora balanced a jar on her neck and glanced at Rainbow as she trotted by. “You definitely have my trust.”

“Yeah well—”

“And before you start, allow me to impart.” Zecora smirked. “Nopony is completely perfect. We each deserve to keep something secret.”

“Yeah, but... b-but what if the secret... like...” Rainbow sighed, draping against the window sill. “...hurts us.”

“Then it is not a secret at all.”

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow tilted her head aside. “Then what is it?”

“Why, nothing less than a burden!” Zecora glanced back at her. “Hardly a pleasant state to be living in.”

Rainbow bit her lip.

Zecora squinted knowingly. “Do you find yourself unnecessarily fettered? Surely a mare like you deserves better.”

“I... w-wouldn't exactly put it that way...”

“If I may be so precise, you do seem like you're in a vice.”

“But how can you tell the difference between what screws you over versus—like—what makes you you?!

“Heh heh heh...”

“Take your whole shamanism schtick for example.” Rainbow gulped and gestured as she spoke. “You rhyme all the time—but, like—you don't have to!”

“Indeed.”

“But you do it almost everytime you speak! But you've told me before that it's a discipline that you use to keep yourself more focused on your studies and your potion making and your—”

“Do your secrets help you in such a way?” Zecora asked while stirring the pot. “Or do they simply lead you astray?”

“H-huh?”

“Hmmm... let me put it in another fashion.” Zecora glanced over your shoulder. “Do you find yourself making progress or feeling passion?”

Rainbow blinked. Slowly, her ears folded. “No... I-I mean... I-I guess not...”

“Then clearly your secret is a bind, as opposed to a factor of a liberating kind.”

Rainbow Dash signed. “But... wh-what if my freedom isn't what matters?”

“I'm... afraid that I don't follow you. If not your freedom, than whose?”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She fidgeted, trembled, then eventually blurted, “Somepony that I care for more than anyone or anything in this whole friggin' universe...”

Zecora turned, blinking at her.

Rainbow gulped. “A pony I would gladly give up my life for.”

Zecora cocked her head to the side. Suddenly, she guffawed in a foreign tongue's jubilant laughter.

Rainbow grimaced. “Yikes... I-I didn't know you could bray!

“Haah! Oh, blessed Rainbow...” Zecora wiped an eye dry and smiled warmly. “You are positively aglow.”

“Huh...?”

“With love, of course,” Zecora said. “You are a positively smitten horse!”

“I... I-I thought I made it clear to you that there was somepony in my life who—”

“A divine truth, absolutely! I simply couldn't see it before through all the melancholy!”

“Uhhh... what?” Rainbow's eyes blinked.

“You heard my word.”

“You think I look sad?!

“Rainbow Dash, you are sad,” Zecora said. “You're positively the saddest pony friend I've ever had!”

“But... but...” Rainbow hugged herself, curling. “I-I'm awesome...

“Of that, there is definitely no denying. But a pony capable of winning is also capable of crying.”

“It's... it's not that obvious, is it?”

“Yes, to trained eyes such as mine, I'd venture,” Zecora said, nodding. “Albeit, probably not to those of familiar nomenclature.”

“Eh?”

“Your friends are likely used to you being you. They can't always be helped to know that you're secretly blue.

“Well, they shouldn't have to!” Rainbow frowned, folding her forelimbs. “I'm the loyal one! It's not their place to sweat it!”

“It seems to me you've bested the image you've held close to your chest.”

Rainbow hung her head.

“Yes?”

“I...” Rainbow squirmed. “I-I don't want them to ever have to feel sorry for me...”

“I doubt pity is all that they would give. Your friends are there to help you live.”

“Yeah, I-I know, Zecora, but—”

“I you seek a way out of the melancholic sphere, you should overcome your stubborn fear—”

“What... wh-what if...” Rainbow's voice squeaked pitifully. “...I-I wanted more than friendship from one of them?”

Zecora turned to look at her.

Rainbow trembled, staring at her through glossy eyes.

Softly, Zecora dropped what she was doing. She crossed the length between them.

Rainbow bit her lip. Her wings twitched, but she fought the urge to fly away.

Zecora came to a stop before the window sill. Gently, she took two of Rainbow's hooves in her own and smiled at her. “Rainbow, you are a most wholesome and valued peer. Your love of life have brought much-needed warmth to my life in Ponyville here. However...” She blushed slightly. “I... am sorry to say that the door of my hut does not entirely swing that way.”

Rainbow stared at Zecora.

Zecora pensively stared back.

At last, Rainbow blinked. “I didn't mean you!”

Zecora exhaled. “Oh! Ohhhhh...”

“Snkkkt—” Rainbow's cheeks exploded.

“Hrkkk—Hah hah hah!” Zecora leaned back, a hoof over her chest.

“Heeheeheehee!” Rainbow fell off the windowsill, pounding the floor of the hut.

“Haaaah-hahahah!” Zecora fell on her haunches, brushing her mane straight. “By the stripes! I certainly blew the wrong pipes!”

“Ohhhhhhhhhhh wow...” Rainbow rolled over, grinning up at the zebra, red-faced. “D-don't get me wrong! You're totally a smexy... r-robust mare, but... uhhhh...”

“A thousand pardons, dear friend.” Zecora breathed regularly, still smirking. “Sometimes I do not know which way my ears bend.”

“It's... uhm...” Rainbow gulped. “It's another friend of mine. One of the—y'know... one of the five.”

“I understand that now,” Zecora wheezed. “Being mistaken earlier, I cannot ascertain how...”

“So... like...” Rainbow Dash gazed up at her, blinking innocently. “That d-doesn't freak you out, or...?”

“Nay, it does not.”

“Really?” Rainbow squinted. “Why?”

“Why should it bother me so?” Zecora smirked. “Your heart is your own, Rainbow.”

“Yeah... well... eheheh...” Rainbow sat up, slicking her mane back. “There are other organs attached to that, y'know.”

Zecora chuckled. “I very much doubt that this is an issue of orientation, but perhaps one of personal validation?”

“I just...” Rainbow winced. “...d-don't want to freak out the ponies I'm close to.” She gulped. “Sure, maybe none of the girls would have a problem with me liking mares... but one of them?”

“Your concern is a signature of your utmost respect,” Zecora said. “But I do believe you should keep your paranoia in check.”

“But what I have is so great right now, y'know?” Rainbow stammered. “I don't want to ruin it just because... like... I-I want more.” She sighed. “I want to want what she wants, and... w-with each passing day...” She gazed sadly towards the floor, rubbing her forelimb. “...I start to feel like that's never going to happen.”

“And do you progress by staying in the same place?” Zecora leaned her head aside. “Always bearing the same old face?”

“Well... n-no, I guess not—”

“You've shared a dear secret with me,” the zebra said. “Awkward or not, do you feel any less free?”

Rainbow opened her mouth, but hesitated. She blinked a few times, staring pointedly at Zecora.

Zecora smiled back pleasantly.

Rainbow exhaled, her ears folded back as she bore a calm smile. “Smooth sailing...”

“Smooth sailing indeed. Now...” Zecora gestured towards the potion. “Back to the other thing that you need...”

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