Azure Edge

by Leaf Blade

39. Right In Front of the Door

Rainbow and Rarity shared one more hug as they got off the train and went their own ways from the station, Rarity bolting toward the library like a bullet and practically leaving Rainbow in a cloud of dust behind her.

Rainbow lingered at the station for a moment before slowly walking in the general direction of the smithery, wondering if she really should go that way.

She promised Rarity she would, so she kept walking down that route, but every step felt heavier than the last, weighed down by a constant squall of anxiety and horrible thoughts about how things could go wrong or how she could mess everything up with Applejack.

She stopped in her tracks, looking down at her hooves buried in the snow, and took a deep breath.

She promised Rarity, and she didn’t want to run away anymore. She wanted Rarity, and Twilight, and Spike, to all go after the things that made them happy, and she couldn’t feel good about supporting them and their efforts to do that if she couldn’t do the same.

She’d just have to go talk to Applejack, even if she became more and more certain with each step that it’d be the worst conversation of her life.

“Rainbow Dash!”

Hearing Pinkie Pie’s voice calling out to her from nowhere made Rainbow nearly want to throw up, and she darted around to see where it was coming from, only to feel like a total stooge when she saw Pinkie and Applejack walking up to her from directly in front of her.

“Hey, you guys,” Rainbow said nervously, waving at the pair as they approached. “What’re you guys doing out so late?”

“Could ask you the same thing,” Applejack said with a smile that melted Rainbow’s heart. “Surprised yer back already. Didn’t you just leave this mornin’?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck and tried to keep her breathing steady, “Rarity had some important stuff to handle, and she didn’t want to wait to come back. That’s not—we both had important stuff.”

“Oh,” Applejack said, “we won’t keep ya then. See ya ‘round, Rainbow Dash!”

Applejack moved to walk away and Rainbow was seized by an incredible desire to just grab her and shake her and admit she had a huge crush on her but that would be incredibly stupid and bad but she didn’t know what else to do so she just stood there frozen, hand on the back of her neck, and did nothing.

“Wait, hold on, AJ!” Pinkie grabbed Applejack’s hand and the larger mare stopped, turning to look at Pinkie. “I wanted to hear Rainbow’s cragadile story! I’m sure it’s really exciting! Plus I wanted to tell her all about our trip to the library!”

Rainbow’s breath hitched.

They went to the library?

“C’mon, Pinkie,” Applejack sighed, “we don’t wanna keep her from whatever made her rush home so quick. It’s gotta be a big deal if she’n Rarity didn’t even bother to rest ‘fore comin’ back home.”

“Actually,” Rainbow choked out, sliding her hands into her pockets and feeling pretty good about how calm she was coming off, “you guys are headed home for the night, yeah?” Applejack nodded once, and Pinkie nodded so hard her head looked ready to fall off. “I actually gotta head home first, and it’s on the way… maybe we could walk and talk? I’d love to hear what Twilight talked you guys’ ears off about.”

“If you’re sure we ain’t gonna bother ya,” Applejack chuckled, and Rainbow could’ve sworn she sounded nervous, but that couldn’t be right, “then I guess it’s fi—”

“We accept!” Pinkie cheered, jumping into the air and pumping her fists.

Rainbow walked alongside Applejack and Pinkie Pie through the sleepy Moon District of Canterlot, and Pinkie happily regaled Rainbow with stories about Twilight.

She talked about how Twilight lectured them all on the importance of proper mane maintenance, how she taught Pinkie this really cool spell to aid stomach aches—which of course she demonstrated on Spike—and how highly she spoke of Rainbow Dash whenever the pegasus became the topic of conversation.

“Which was all the time, by the way,” Pinkie said, “because you’re all Applejack wanted to talk about!”

Applejack coughed, and Rainbow felt her entire face burning up. She was sure Pinkie was just trying to be a tease, but was less sure on who she was teasing.

“Pfft,” Rainbow scoffed, “yeah, I’m sure Applejack didn’t have anything more interesting to talk about than me. Don’t be silly, Pinkie.”

Rainbow looked over at Applejack, who had been weirdly quiet the whole walk. Rainbow figured it was her fault somehow, but she chose not to dwell on it.

“We did talk about you,” Applejack said calmly, “a little bit at least. Twilight’s real fond of ya, it’s sweet.”

Applejack smiled at Rainbow, and Rainbow forced herself to smile back instead of biting down on her lip because sweet Celestia she has such an incredible smile!

“Twilight’s a cool girl,” Rainbow shrugged. “I’m glad she recognizes another cool girl when she sees one!”

Pinkie giggled and bumped her shoulder against Rainbow’s side.

“Couldn’t agree more, to be honest,” Applejack said, her smile somehow becoming even brighter and beautifuller.

Suddenly Applejack stopped, and it took a sec for Pinkie and Rainbow to halt and see what she was looking at. Rainbow turned away from the two to hide the look of frustration on her face as she looked up at her house.

“This is yer stop, ain’t it?” Applejack asked.

“Y-yeah,” Rainbow said, her hands fidgeting in her coat pockets.

“Awwww,” Pinkie bemoaned, slouching forward and letting her arms dangle sadly in front of her, though she just as quickly perked up and beamed at Rainbow. “Oh well! I guess we’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Uh, sure,” Rainbow said hesitantly, looking up at the house that she wanted nothing more than to not go inside of right now.

“Unless,” Pinkie said slyly, “somepony has something else that they wanna say? Something to get off their chest?”

Rainbow frowned at Pinkie with an arched eyebrow, and Applejack cleared her throat rather abruptly, causing Rainbow’s gaze to shift to her. It was the first time during the whole night that Rainbow had actually looked at Applejack for more than just a second, more than just stealing guilty glances at her while they walked, and Rainbow felt her cheeks heating up again as she remembered oh no she’s hot!

“So,” Applejack said awkwardly, holding out her hand to Rainbow, “see you tomorrow, I guess?”

“Y-yeah,” Rainbow hesitantly reached out for Applejack’s hand, and a wave of electricity shot through her arm as their fingers touched and wow did Rainbow feel stupid for it. “I guess so.”

Rainbow stood there for a moment, her hand clasped in Applejack’s, and while she wanted to relish in being that close to her— in actually touching her just for a moment— the longer their hands were together the more Rainbow felt like her hand was pressed up against a hot grill.

Rainbow yanked her hand back.

“Okay, yeah. I’ll, uh, see you guys later I guess. G’night!”

Rainbow turned to her house and stomped away quickly before either of the mares could say anything else, before they could comment on what a lousy exit that was, or how stupid Rainbow was, or how she was obviously hiding a pathetic crush that was super obvious and totally pathetic.

Rainbow opened the gate in front of her house but didn’t bother to close it behind her, and she quickly stomped up the path to her front door, but her hand hovered over the knob and she hesitated.

Even in the middle of a winter night, she felt like the sun itself was beating down on her inches from her neck. She couldn’t bear to turn back to see if Applejack and Pinkie were still there, no doubt staring at her in utter bewilderment at the stupid loser, and they were only staring cuz they were too polite to point and laugh.

Rainbow placed her hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath.

Oh well. At least I… sorta tried. I guess.

Geez, I am the worst.

“Rainbow! Hold on a tick!”

Applejack’s voice made Rainbow’s ears fly up and she nearly jolted around on the spot, but she caught herself and forced herself to turn around slowly, so she didn’t look so pathetically eager.

Applejack walked up the path halfway to Rainbow’s door, and Rainbow stepped off her porch to meet Applejack there.

“What’s up, Applejack?” Rainbow asked, trying and failing not to get her hopes up.

“Uhhh,” Applejack said eloquently, and Rainbow would’ve laughed if it didn’t remind her so much of herself. Applejack cleared her throat and pounded a fist against her chest, before clearing her throat a second time for good measure. “You wanna grab some coffee? Maybe this weekend?”

“Uhhh,” Rainbow’s mouth hung open but she swallowed the supernova of anxiety she suddenly felt in her throat and forced herself to act like an adult, even if she could feel sweat pouring down her face like Neighagra Falls. “Say what?”

“It’s just,” Applejack cleared her throat again, “me and Pinkie are headin’ to the library again, Saturday night. We’re gonna bring more pies and make a big thing outta it. Pinkie’s gotta stay home and actually make the pies, and I gotta do some shoppin’ that mornin’. That leaves a bit of time before the party, I was thinkin’, maybe, if you wanted to, maybe— we could, um—”

“You’re going shopping by yourself?” Rainbow asked, holding back an excited smile.

“Yeah?” Applejack tilted her head, confused by Rainbow’s seemingly unrelated question.

“Maybe I could help with that?” Rainbow smirked. “We could grab some coffee after, like to celebrate a job well done… at shopping. I dunno, is that totally dense?”

“Nah, that sounds great!” Applejack said with a bright smile, and this time Rainbow couldn’t stop herself from biting her lip because holy crap she is SO cute! “I’ll swing by your place Saturday morning, I guess? That alright with you?”

“Yeah, go for it!” Rainbow nodded, and Applejack nodded in turn with an even bigger smile that made Rainbow practically go weak at the knees.

“It’s a date then!” Applejack said, but quickly stammered. “Well I mean not a date date, but you get me!”

“Y-yeah,” Rainbow chuckled nervously, “totally.”

“See ya then, sugarcube,” Applejack held out her hand, and this time Rainbow took it without hesitation or reservation, delighting in the sensation of warmth and comfort that washed over her once their hands were connected.

“Lookin’ forward to it.”

Author's Note:

Appledash: LEVEL UP!!
(and tomorrow... raritwi)

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!