Apple Dash

by Stormbringer

ACT THREE: Spirits in the Desert

It was so hard saying goodbye to her family. She was glad that her friends weren’t there. She didn’t know if she could have said goodbye to Rainbow Dash.

Applejack had packed a saddlebag with enough supplies for an extend trek in the desert. She’d taken the train to Appleloosa, but she was going to walk the several days to Dodge Junction. She’d told Cherry Jubilee that she might be needing a job while she tried to figure where she was going for sure.
It was the second evening out from Appleloosa and the stars were bright out in the middle of nowhere. Applejack hadn’t used the sleeping bag the night before, but here the ground was rocky, so she needed the extra ground cover. As she rolled out her sleeping bag, she saw that there was an emerald that Apple Bloom had placed in there. She’d said that emeralds are a symbol of hope. And that it was her hope that her sister found what she was looking for and her hope that her sister would return soon.

The sight of the stone brought a smile to AJ’s face. Perhaps the first smile since she left Sweet Apple Acres several days ago.
“Thanks Apple Bloom,” said Applejack to nopony there.

Applejack built a small fire and ate some apples and carrots she’d brought with her. After eating, she got in her sleeping bag and looked at the sky. A sky she knew was the home of a very special pony. She was thinking of how many times she’d see RD fly overhead and the feeling in her heart when she did. She thought of all her interactions with this special friend. Perhaps all the adversarial interactions was a way she didn’t have to face the real feelings she had.

No pony knew of the evening walks AJ would take. She’d ‘just happen’ to walk out to where Rainbow’s cloud house was hovering. AJ would sit and look at the lights in the windows, occasionally a shadow would pass across a curtain and her heart would skip a beat. Applejack thought how unfair it was that she couldn’t just drop in on her friend. Knock at her door and spend an evening with her. Perhaps if she could have, she might have been able to tell Rainbow how she really felt. But the whole Earth Pony not walking on clouds and getting up to the cloud house (without Unicorn help) made it next to impossible. She had thought about calling out to Rainbow, but she never could work up the nerve.

“Dagnabit!” said Applejack out loud, noticing she was crying again, “Ah ain’t cried this much since Ah was a foal!”

‘Applejack,’ her inner mind said, ‘ya ain’t gotta put up with this! Get yer chicken self up, grow a set o’ ovaries and get yer flanks home!
An’ don’t even give her a chance. As soon as you see her, give Rainbow the biggest kiss ever! Then tell her how ya feel.
Or do ya really wanna hide in the desert cryin’ fer the rest o’ yer life?’

Applejack didn’t sleep much that night. Variations of the conversation in her head continued. She knew it was the right thing to do. She didn’t know why she was fighting it so much. She didn’t like the feeling of fear and she didn’t like the tears.

As she lay there in the deepest part of the night, the only sounds were crickets, the occasional coyote and once was the faint sound of a train whistle. She saw two shooting stars go overhead. She always had thought when she saw two shooting stars in the sky, that it was the spirits of Bright Mac and Buttercup, her parents.

“Oh ma, pa what do Ah do? Ah need yer help so bad!
Ah get so jealous when Ah see my friends talkin’ to their folks. Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Hearth Warming and Hearts and Hooves Day.
They have their parents to ask the hard questions. Yeah, Ah got Granny, but it ain’t the same. An’ now Ah’m starting to have trouble ‘membering yer voices and faces. Ah can only imagine what it’s like fer Apple Bloom, if’n she can even ’member ya.

What do Ah do? Ah’m in love, an’ Ah know it now. So why am Ah so ‘fraid to admit it to the pony Ah love?”

Applejack suddenly got a slight chill. There sitting on either side of her were ghostly forms of her parents. AJ sat up straight.

“Am Ah goin’ crazy?” said AJ out loud.

“No honey,” said Buttercup. AJ wasn’t sure if she heard it in her mind or with her ears. “Yer not crazy. An’ we’ve always been right beside ya all along.”

“That’s right,” said Bright Mac, “ya can’t believe how proud ya’ve made us feel. Yer friends and ya have done so much fer so many other ponies, fer Equestria and fer the world.”
“So why can’t ya do something fer yerself?” asked Buttercup.

Applejack wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Ah don’t know,” said Applejack.

“Jackie,” said Bright Mac, with a bit of sympathy in his voice, Applejack had goosebumps, she had almost forgotten the nickname her father used to call her, “yer the Element o’ Honesty. Ya can’t be dishonest with us, or ‘specially yerself.”

“Ah’m ’fraid to love,” said Applejack, “because… Because…”

“Because of us,” said Buttercup hugging Applejack. Bright Mac hugged her too.

Now Applejack was really concerned. She really felt her parent’s forelegs around herself. She started crying harder than she ever had. Not since that day of the accident that took her parents away.

“Mommy! Daddy!” said AJ between sobs, “Ah can’t ever go through that again. What if’n something happened to Rainbow during an air show? Or caught in bad weather. Or somethin’ like when she was caught in that avalanche in Ghastly Gorge?”

“So ya wouldn’t feel bad if’n yer closest friend was killed, ’cause ya never told her ya loved her?” asked Bright Mac.

“Of course Ah would,” said AJ.

“So, honey,” said Buttercup, “yer ‘kay with hurtin’ over yer friend. But are ya ‘kay with missin’ all chance of feeling love with her.”

“Yes, Ah… Ah mean no!” said Applejack more confused than ever. “Ah don’t know.”

“Jackie,” said Bright Mac, “we know ya met Grand Pare. Ya know yer mother’s an’ my story o’ how we met. The troubles we went through. And then deciding to step out of our comfort zones, follow our hearts and not do the safe thing and just live as our parents told us.
If’n we hadn’t taken a chance, we would’ve missed the greatest love ever. And missed out on the three foals that made us, and still make us, so proud.
Yes, our lives were short, but we wouldn’t have traded the short time together even if’n if it meant we’d live ferever!”

“But what if’n she don’t love me?”

“Honey,” said Buttercup, “yer still tryin’ to find a reason not to tell her. Instead, ask yerself; what if’n she does love ya?”

“Yer strong, Jackie,” said Bright Mac, “an’ ya need to be strong fer yerself and fer yer sister. But ya need to be strong fer Rainbow Dash as well. An’ if’n she does love ya, imagine what she’s goin’ through right now.”

“She’s probably at home, tryin’ to be cool ‘bout all this,” said AJ.

There were odd looks on her parent’s faces.

“No honey,” said Buttercup, “she’s not.”

“She’s not?”

“What would you be doing if’n ya were her?” asked Buttercup.

“I’d be lookin’ fer her…

So what am Ah doin’ here?” said AJ, but then something struck her, “but…

Ah don’t wanna go…

An’ leave ya, again.”

“Jackie,” said Bright Mac, “yer mother an’ Ah’ll never leave ya. Ya can be certain o’ that.”

“But…”

“Honey,” said Buttercup, “ya have to go. An’ we do too.”

“Will Ah ever see ya again? This side o’ life?”

“We can’t tell ya that,” said Bright Mac, “’cause we don’t know. But when ya feel that slight breeze on yer cheek in a still room. Or that ray o’ sunshine when it’s cloudy. Or you have a warm feeling in yer soul for no apparent reason.”
“That’ll be us lettin’ ya know ya ain’t alone.” Said Buttercup. “But fer now, ya need to sleep, ya’ve got a long trek back to Appleoosa.”

“But…”

“Go to sleep, our darlin’ daughter. ’Member we love ya so much. Tell yer brother an’ sister that.” Said Buttercup.

She and Bright Mac kissed her. Buttercup took the flower from behind her ear and put it in Applejack’s mane. Then the parents, lay AJ back to the sleeping bag and faded from sight as AJ drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

The sun awoke Applejack. She opened her eyes, sat up and saw she was in the desert, alone.

“Just a dream,” said Applejack, a tear running down her cheek.

As she went to put her hat on, something fell from her mane. Looking down, AJ saw it was a buttercup. She quickly looked all around her. No flowers were blooming anywhere near her.

“Sweet mother of Celestia an’ Luna!” said AJ. “Ah need to get goin’!”

Applejack wanted to gallop all the way back to Appleloosa, but it was just too far. So she trotted as much as she could. But it felt as if it was going to take forever. Two days in the desert and another day and a half on the train.

“Hang on Rainbow!” said AJ, “Ah’m a comin’.”