What If

by elPossenreisser

Equestria, the morning after

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, only to close them again immediately. She was definitely not ready to deal with the bright sunshine. Her head was a throbbing disaster zone, and her mouth felt as if a small furry critter had died in there.

It didn’t take her long to remember where she was—on the ground, in that earth pony filly’s bed. Applejack. That was her name. Her vague memories of the night before included the mug of surprisingly strong cider they had shared after arriving at Applejack’s home. And then—

“Ponyfeathers,” she groaned, only to open her eyes and bolt upright. Her fear that Applejack might have heard her outburst proved to be unfounded though—the room was empty. She sank back into the pillow, again closing her eyes against the harsh morning light. The bed was no match for a cloud, obviously, and brought back very unwelcome memories of certain mornings in a certain Cloudsdale Academy bed. From below she heard muffled voices.

She really wanted to go back to sleep.

“Let’s get this over with,” she murmured to herself and forced herself upright again. The world was not spinning, which was a good start. With slow motions she climbed out of the bed, ignoring the scent of last night’s activities. She spread her wings and shook them a bit; they felt like they were in bad shape, but preening would have to wait until she was at home.

Rainbow quickly let her gaze wander around the room. It was very orderly and clean, the wooden floors almost shiny. In a cupboard stood about a dozen rodeo trophies.

“That explains that,” Rainbow mumbled.

Suddenly she felt like in intruder in Applejack’s room. She had no place being here. It was only because Applejack had not woken her up that she was still in here. With slow steps she left the room and made her way downstairs, following the faint, pleasant smell of waffles.

“Good morning, sugarcube,” Applejack greeted her from the table where she was sitting amidst what Rainbow Dash assumed were members of her family—a huge red stallion, a frail-looking elderly mare and a cream-colored young filly. As if following a silent command all heads turned towards her as she entered the big room. “Everypony, this is Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash, my family.”

“Um, hi—“

The elderly mare was the first one to speak. “So you’re Applejack’s new friend,” she said, her drawl so thick that Rainbow’s tired brain refused to process her words for a second or two. “I’m Granny Smith. Sit down, sit down, there’s plenty. You sure look like you need it.”

“Um, thanks.”

She sat down between Applejack and the young filly, who stared at her with unabashed curiosity.

“Waffles?” Applejack asked, and without waiting for a reply heaved several waffles on Rainbow’s plate, followed by a gratuitous scoop of apple sauce. “Assuming you’re up for food already,” she added with a smirk.

“Were you as drunk as my sis?” the filly asked. The stallion and Granny Smith laughed, while Applejack reached past Rainbow Dash and gave the filly an affectionate clout. “What? You said you two had too many drinks!” the kid defended herself.

“I said we maybe had a drink too much. That just means we were a bit tipsy,” Applejack explained.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Rainbow Dash agreed, eying the stack of waffles on her plate. They looked delicious, but she wasn’t overly confident that she would be able to keep that much food down.

“So what’s the difference between tipsy and drunk?” the filly continued asking.

Rainbow heard Applejack sigh over the laughter of the other two. Something like the difference between going down on somepony and remembering it, she thought, grateful that she wasn’t the one who had to explain this.

“That doesn’t matter for you, Applebloom, cuz you’re too young for alcohol anyway, and if I ever catch you tipsy or drunk, you’ll be in a lot of trouble, understood?”

“Alcohol is disgusting anyway,” the filly declared. “I’m never going to drink it. Have you also moved to Ponyville?” she continued, directed at Rainbow.

“Um, no, I’m here for Fluttershy’s welcome party. She’s a friend of mine.”

“And how did you and my sis meet?”

“Last night, um. At the party.”

“You’ve only known each other for one night and you’re already such good friends that you have sleepovers?” the filly asked. “That’s cool!”

“Um, actually, um…” Rainbow stuttered. “I wanted to stay over at Fluttershy’s, but um…”

“It got late,” Applejack chimed in. “Fluttershy went home early, we didn’t want to leave yet, and so I offered Rainbow Dash that she could stay here.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed, relieved. “Thanks for havin’ me over, by the way.”

“Anytime, dear,” Granny Smith beamed.

“And where do you know Fluttershy from?” Applebloom continued her interrogation.

“She was a year above me in my school,” Rainbow said. As the filly kept looking at her expectantly, she added, “But she graduated this year and moved here.”

“So you’re still in school?” Applebloom asked. “No way! You look way too old to still be in school!”

“I’m in my last year,” Rainbow said.

“So what’s your favorite subject?” Applebloom asked. “Mine’s workshop!”

“Cloudball,” Rainbow said without thinking twice. “I’m on the varsity team.”

“I like PE too,” Applebloom said. “And I really hate history. Sooo. Boring!”

“Heh, tell me about it,” Rainbow Dash agreed. As she grinned at Applebloom she was overly conscious of how absurd the situation was—having breakfast with her fling and making friends with said fling’s little sister.

“What’s your teacher like?” Applebloom asked. “We have Miss Cheerilee, and she’s—“

“Applebloom,” Applejack softly interrupted her. “I’m sure Rainbow’d like to head over to Fluttershy’s now so she doesn’t get worried about her.”

“Oh, okay,” Applebloom chirped. “May I get up?” Applejack nodded, jumped up. “Nice meeting you, Rainbow Dash!” With that, she darted away.

Rainbow looked down at her plate and realized that somehow she had eaten all the waffles. “Yeah, I guess I should get going,” Rainbow said, also getting up. “Thanks for everything, Mrs. Smith!”

“You’re very welcome, dear.”

“I’ll show you out,” Applejack said and also got up. Rainbow followed her outside, shielding her eyes from the bright sun with a wing. Applejack chuckled. “You okay, sugarcube?”

“I’m fine,” Rainbow Dash growled. “Just a bit hungover.”

“Me too,” Applejack said. For a few moments they just looked at each other awkwardly. “Listen, Rainbow, last night was fun, but—“

“It was a one-off thing,” Rainbow completed the sentence for her.

“Look, it just wouldn’t work out, what with you back in school… and me havin’ to take care of the farm, and my family—“

“Applejack, it’s cool,” Rainbow chuckled. “It’s… I, um, I kinda don’t do relationships anyway. We’re cool.”

Applejack smiled at her. “Good!” She sounded relieved. “Listen, when you’re in Ponyville again, drop by.”

“Sure,” Rainbow agreed, knowing fully well that even if she was going to visit Ponyville ever again she wasn’t going to visit an ex-fling, even if Tartarus froze over—way awkward.

“So um, take care!” Applejack said. She made a step towards Rainbow Dash, and they embraced each other in an awkward hug.

“You too!” With that, Rainbow Dash took off for Fluttershy’s cottage, hoping Fluttershy wouldn’t be angry that she had spent the night somewhere else. Then again, she thought, when was Fluttershy ever angry?