Rainbow Dash Is Jealous!

by GalaxySwirl22

It Makes No Sense!

I had to admit, even after everything I had just heard and thought about this morning, seeing Applejack brought some relief to me and the fact that she was greeting me just as she'd normally do made me forget about the thought that there could be a chance she might've been angry at me or something. So I walked up to her.

"Don't ya usually sleep until noon?" Applejack questioned, keeping a smile on her face.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't get up early if I want to" I said and laughed a little.

"I'd say ya look more like as if somepony forced ya out of bed at 5 AM" she said as she took another sip of her coffee. "In case ya haven't had any breakfast, we got some left in kitchen"

The mention of breakfast made me realize that I had been hungry all morning. I glanced at Applejack, searching for any glimpse of boredom in her but there was none. Her eyes were just expressing pure joy and amusement. None of this made any sense and none of the pieces fit together. She was acting just like her usual self, as if nothing had happened.

Well, nothing had really happened.

Except that she was together with somepony and everyone except for me knew.

I then realized I hadn't responded to Applejack and quickly shook myself out of my thoughts and directed my attention back to her again. "Breakfast would be nice" I finally said and forced a smile.

Applejack turned back around and opened up the front door. I stepped into her living room and followed her into the kitchen. I gasped in surprise as I saw the dining table. On the table was a plate with freshly made waffles and a thermos flask with hot chocolate inside and some other delicious stuff I'm lazy to describe.

"Woah, all of that looks delicious" I said as I sat down at the table and took a bite out of a waffle. It felt great to finally have something to eat and the waffles were so delicious I had forgotten about everything I had been worried about before. Everything felt just the same as it was two days ago, before I had known anything about Applejack getting a present for somepony.

It didn't take long for me to finish the two waffles I had put down on my plate. I then poured some hot chocolate into a cup and took a sip out of it.

"I forgot how hungry I was, thanks" I said as I smiled at Applejack. Damn, I liked her so much. She had always been so awesome, okay, not as awesome as me but except for me, she was the most awesome pony I ever knew and...all of this reminded me about the conflict I had in my mind earlier. That I couldn't like the pony I wanted to like as much as I wanted to.

"Is something the matter?"

I looked up from the cup of hot chocolate and at Applejack who was looking at me with furrowed eyebrows.

"I'm fine, why?" I asked as I took another sip of the hot chocolate.

"Ah dunno, ya frowned for a second there" Applejack replied.

I hadn't realized I had been frowning. Jeez, why does she gotta notice everything. I let out a short laugh. "Oh no no, I'm great" I said and finished my hot chocolate. "So" I started as I put the empty cup back down on the table. "Whatcha gonna do for the rest of the day?" I asked.

Now don't get me wrong, I didn't ask that only because I wanted to know more about the whole secret special somepony thing, I really wanted to know what she was gonna do.

"Heh, I'll be goin to the stores, gotta pick somethin' I ordered from there, then I just gotta get some stuff ready for the party n' all, and that's that" Applejack said with a smile. She put away the remaining waffles into the fridge along with some other leftovers from the breakfast.

I knew the New Year's Eve party was gonna be awesome and a blast, but wait, did Applejack mention something about going to the stores to pick something up? Could this be my way to finally get an answer?

"That's cool" I said as I fidgeted around with the empty cup in my hooves. If I also went to the stores that Applejack went to, without her knowing of course, I could find out who the present was for. "Sooo, when are you going?" I asked.

"Uhh" Applejack thought for a moment and looked at the clock that was hanging on the kitchen wall. "In about an hour or so" she then said and sat down on a chair which was right across mine.

I just didn't get it. How could she act so casual as if everything was the same? Because it wasn't, right? And if what Pinkie Pie had mentioned really was true, why in Equestria was Applejack acting the same way toward me as she always did? None of this made any sense at all.

"So, have ya played any hockey like ya always do this winter? Cause I haven't seen ya do it" Applejack asked, almost hesitatingly.

I leaned back in the chair and laughed. "Not really. My helmet broke, remember? And I was saving up for a new one...until the mayor insisted on that everypony needed to donate some bits in order to fix the roof of the town hall" I said and rolled my eyes.

"Uh huh" Applejack said as she put her hoof under her chin as if she was thinking about something. "So ya don't have a helmet for hockey at all then?"

"Nope" I said and sat up in my chair again. I glanced at the clock. It was around 2 PM now and Applejack was probably gonna leave for the stores in around 15 minutes. The party was gonna start at 5.30 PM, but Pinkie Pie wouldn't mind if anypony showed up a little early.

"Heh, well, I guess I'll cya at the party then, I just gotta fix up the kitchen a little bit then head to the stores, but I'm glad ya stopped by for some breakfast" Applejack smiled as she got up from the chair and went to the sink to wash some dishes that were on the kitchen counter.

"No problem, it was really delicious, but yeah, I'll see you at the party" I said and headed toward the exit.

As I came out of the farmhouse it had started to darken. The snowfall had stopped though and the newly fallen snow glistened as it was layered over the grass that could not be seen during this time of the year. I looked up at the sky and saw a few clouds above the orchard. I thought I'd sit and wait until Applejack came out of the house so I flew up to one of the clouds and sat down, keeping my eye on the front door to the farmhouse.

---

I woke up by cold snowflakes falling onto my face. I sat up and after a split second, I realized that I had fallen asleep. I quickly turned my gaze to the front door to Applejacks house but understood shortly after that she had probably left and already gone to the stores.

"Aw, come on!" I exclaimed and flew off the cloud and toward the main area of Ponyville where most of the stores were located. It had started to snow again but unlike the blizzard earlier, the snowfall was more gentle and slow. There were more ponies walking around town now as they were getting ready to celebrate New Year's Eve together.

I scanned the area with my eyes, searching for Applejack. She could be anywhere in this crowd of ponies and yet, it didn't take long for me to recognize her typical hat in the large crowd. I could recognize my friends anywhere, plus I was really talented at multitasking while flying so that made it a whole lot easier too. As I followed Applejack with my gaze, I saw that she walked into the sports and gear store.

So, the pony she liked had an interest for sports, huh?

Well, so did I!

But how come she chose them and not me?

I mean, could there even be a better athlete than me in Equestria? I don't know, but I did know that I was one of the best athletes in Equestria, and again, probably the best too. But maybe it wasn't only because of that interest she had chose to be with whoever her special somepony was.

I flew down and carefully peeked through one of the windows to the store. Applejack was talking to the pony at the counter, giving her a receipt of some sort. I then saw the pony at the counter nod and disappear into a room located behind the counter. After a while, the pony came back with a medium sized packaging box that she put on the counter in front of Applejack. I saw them say a few words to each other before the pony at the counter opened the box up and was seeming to show its contents to Applejack. The way Applejacks eyes lighted up as she saw what the box had inside was, well, adorable, but that also made me think about how happy and excited she was to give the present to her special somepony.

Okay, I gotta admit it.

I was jealous.

But not only that. I felt left out. You know, when you think somepony that means a whole lot to you also thinks you mean the world to them and then find out that they, in fact, never felt the same, that thought is, well, heartbreaking?

Haha, that's silly, never once in my life did I think that I'd feel that way, but here I was looking through a window as the pony I had wanted to ask out for so long, had found her happiness in somepony else. And I didn't even know who that pony was!

Anyway, so, as I looked, I saw Applejack closing the box back down again. It's a shame I couldn't see what was inside of it though. She and the pony at the counter talked a little more as the pony wrapped the box in red wrapping paper. At last, she tied a multicoloured string around the box, followed by a multicoloured ribbon at the top and gave it to Applejack. I saw how Applejack smiled as she took the gift box, waved bye to the pony at the counter, and started to head towards the exit. I was quick to fly back up into the sky and find a cloud to sit on where I could still see Applejack as she walked out of the store.

And there was the present. The box that was wrapped in red wrapping paper with multicoloured strings and ribbons. I could see it clearly now, and I had to admit it was so nicely wrapped, and you could tell that whoever the present was for, it meant a lot for Applejack to show them just how much they meant for her.

A part of me wanted to be happy for her as I saw her walk through the path toward Sweet Apple Acres. I really did. I really wanted to, and I would because as a friend, I'd do that. But then again, another part of me was wishing that I would've taken the chance when I could and asked her out before somepony else had. But now it was too late. She obviously loved the pony she was together with and I was definitely not the kind of pony who would interrupt such relationships and plot to break them.

I sighed and laid down on the cloud as I saw Applejack disappear into the depths of the orchard.

At least she was happy, right?

And again, I was Rainbow Dash, if anything ever bothered me, I'd move past it and find something else to do. But this time I didn't feel like it. Maybe I would sooner or later, but at the moment, I just wanted to have some time for myself and think. So I flew off of the cloud and toward my house. I had a little time before I had to go to the party so I thought I'd take some time to calm down and find something that could distract me from all that craziness.

I entered my house, closed the door and flopped down onto the sofa in my living room. I had always been lucky throughout my whole life, well, almost, but this time I had been the unluckiest out of all the unlucky ponies that could even exist. Okay, maybe I was over-exaggerating but that's how I felt.

I groaned into the pillow that had been on the sofa. "Who could she possibly like?!" I said in frustration as I sat up and looked at the ceiling. "I thought she liked me" I continued, then sighed and face planted into the pillow again.

At first I had thought that maybe Rarity and Fluttershy were making things up. That maybe they just, as a joke, mentioned Applejack buying a present for somepony and didn't really mean it. But now that I had seen it with my own eyes, I had to accept that what I had seen was true after all.

So, maybe I cried cause I didn't really know what else to do. I said maybe.

I just know that when I looked back up at the clock again, the party was gonna start in about 10 minutes or so. So I had to get up and leave soon. That was totally fine, who knew, maybe a party would be the perfect distraction considering the fact that Applejack was gonna bring loads of apple cider, and I always loved to have some of that. Then again, I really didn't want to miss out on the party because I mean, who would want to miss out on one?

Hah, not me. Definitely not me.

So I got up and got ready as much as I needed to, and by that I mean looking at myself in the mirror and admiring how awesome I was, then went outside and toward Sugarcube Corner.