A Helping Hoof

by kbooms

Chapter Four

Applejack had slipped out of that stifling restaurant as soon as Fluttershy had turned her attention to that snobby stallion. She’d trotted as quickly and quietly as possible, feeling more and more unworthy of the pegasus’ attention than ever as she listened to her tirade. She hung around the door nonetheless, loathe to leave her friend behind.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid…” she muttered under her breath. Her hooves hit the ground with extra force as she paced around in the empty road, nervously eyeing the entrance to the restaurant.

“Hey, Applejack,” a familiar voice sounded from behind her. “Didn’t think I’d ever see you run from something so easily.”

The farmpony snorted as she turned to face the pegasus looking at her with a challenge in her eyes.

“Oh really?” she drawled. “An’ what exac’ly is it Ah’m runnin’ from?”

“You know as well as I do what it is.” Rainbow Dash gave her a flat look. “You’ve had a crush on Fluttershy for pretty much forever.”

Applejack glared at her friend. “Yeah, an’ what of it?”

“What, you’re just gonna leave her in there?” Rainbow pointed a hoof toward the table where the lone pegasus was seated, looking glumly out the window. “All alone?”

The orange mare felt a rush of guilt as she looked upon the silhouette of her dinner partner, framed perfectly by clouds colored by the setting sun. She felt each beat of her heart more keenly than ever before.

“Ah don’ know how Ah can go back after that display,” she whispered. “Now everypony must think Ah’m jus’ a cowardly, simple farmer.”

“Since when do you care what anypony else thinks?” The pegasus next to her snorted in derision and continued with a smirk,

“You’re nearly as tough, brave and loyal as I am!”

Applejack’s ears folded back, her features displaying an emotion caught somewhere between sorrow and anger. When she replied, her voice grated like a plow through a rocky field.

“Why’re you even here?”

Rainbow Dash smiled as innocently as a filly with a hoof in the cookie jar. She gave a strangled laugh. “Just gotta make sure everypony’s remembering to be loyal to everypony else…”

The farmpony eyed her friend, an eyebrow raised in disbelief. “You really think that’s gonna fool th’ Element of Honesty?”

“Fine.” The blue pegasus crossed her forelegs in front of her chest. “I’m here to make sure you don’t bail on Fluttershy ‘cause I know how much you hate going to places like this.” She waved a hoof at the ornate sign.

Applejack regarded her friend silently for a moment. “So you’re in cahoots with Rarity an’ Pinkie Pie? Tryin’ t’ get me ‘n Fluttershy t’ be the next new, happy couple?”

“Well… I don’t know about that.” Rainbow fidgeted with a hoof. “I just don’t think she deserves to be bailed on by her date!”

“Uh-huh,” the farmpony uttered for what felt like the thousandth time that evening. “An’ did anypony stop t’ think that she deserves way better?”

“What are you—”

“She loves this place, Rainbow!” Applejack gestured angrily toward the door. “She speaks Prench better’n the ambassador of Prance, an’ is right at home in there!” She steadied herself with a breath. “An’ Ah… Ah’m jus’ a simple pony who cain’t touch that tablecloth without feelin’ like Ah’m destroyin’ it.” She hung her head.

“So… what?” Rainbow Dash didn’t sound convinced. “You’re just going to give up?” She scratched her head with a hoof. “What did you do with my best friend?”

Applejack sighed. “Nothin’. But Ah still don’t know how Ah can go back in there.”

The blue mare made a strangled sound of frustration and threw her forehooves into the air. “I’ll tell you how.” She shoved her friend toward the door. “You put one hoof in front of the other! You heard her defending you just as well as I did. Obviously she thinks you’re great.” She grunted as she met with stubborn earth pony resistance, then gasped in exasperation. “She doesn’t do that for just anypony, you know!”

The farmpony stood stock still, then turned wide eyes toward her friend. “You really think Ah have a chance with her?”

“Not if you don’t get in there!” Rainbow rolled her eyes, then smiled triumphantly as the orange mare trotted back inside with a look of determination.

Fluttershy sighed quietly. It had been a good while since Applejack had disappeared, and she was currently fretting about how awful her friend must feel after that mean stallion had come over here! She gazed out the window, hoping that the farmpony wasn’t too upset.

Her ear swiveled at the small scratching sound of a chair being pulled back from the table and turned to see Applejack re-seating herself across the table. Try as she might, Fluttershy just couldn’t keep the smile from her muzzle at the sight.

“Heh, sorry sugarcube,” the farmpony muttered. “Jus’ had t’ get mahself a breath of fresh air.”

“Oh, not at all!” She looked over to size up the level of her friend’s distress. “I was worried that rude stallion made you leave completely!”

Applejack’s face flushed red once more. “T’ be honest, Ah almost did. And… it wasn’t jus’ him.” She raised her eyes to meet Fluttershy’s. “But Ah couldn’t bring mahself t’ leave you here all on your own”

The pegasus frowned with concern. “Um… if you don’t mind me asking, what else made you want to leave?”

The apple farmer sighed quietly, her eyes focused now on the fancy water glasses in the middle of the table. Her voice was soft and rough when she finally spoke.

“A while back, when mah Ma an’ Pa were still here, we used t’ go out an’ eat at restaurants ev’ry blue moon or so.” She ran a hoof over the elegant tablecloth. “Ah remember clear as day th’ las’ time Ah ever ate out with mah Pa. It was jus’ th’ two of us – Ma had jus’ gone back t’ Manehattan, never t’ return. We were at a restaurant nearly as fancy as this one.”

“What happened?” Fluttershy asked, wide-eyed.

Applejack gave her a weak smile. “Ah didn’t know mah Pa had started drinkin’ early in th’ day. He started talkin’ a mite too loud an’ a mite too crass. Another customer complained an’ we got kicked out afore we could eat anythin’.” Her green eyes were now wavering with emotion. “Ah’ll never forget what that pony said t’ me an’ Pa – how we didn’t deserve t’ eat their fancy food, how Ah’d never grow up t’ be anypony special, an’ how Ah’d end up jus’ as useless as he did.” She looked back down at the tablecloth. “Ah ain’t been to a place like this since then.”

Fluttershy’s hooves had risen to her muzzle in disbelief, her eyes even wider than before. “B-but… you’re the best pony in Equestria!”

“Ah’ve been workin’ awful hard t’ prove that pony wrong, that’s for sure.” The farmpony chuckled quietly. “Goin’ t’ Manehattan for mah Cutie Mark was a part o’ that, but Ah’m sure you noticed that didn’t work too well.”

The yellow pegasus frowned and shook her head. “Applejack, you don’t need to measure up to other ponies’ expectations to be special – at least, that’s what my mother always told me.” She looked up, her eyes half-hidden behind her mane, her cheeks turning pink. “I think you’re very special.”

“A-hem.” Their server cleared his throat for their attention. Once their eyes were trained sheepishly upon him, he gestured to the tray of food beside him. “Your dinner, mademoiselles,” he said tonelessly.