Chocolate Covered Grapes

by Callisto

Chapter 2

Rainbow Dash managed to pry her eyes open. They felt like someone had attempted to glue them shut. She heard a pathetic moan, before realizing it was coming from her. Her head was throbbing. 'You did it again, Rainbow,' she thought to herself, before adjusting herself in bed and trying to go back to sleep. She closed her eyes, ready to sleep off her hangover when...

"Books?!" She said, raising her head. She was surrounded by bookshelves. After a few moments, her addled mind finally arrived at the conclusion she needed to be at - she was in Twilight's library. Sleeping in Twilight's bed. Another few moments, and then her eyes widened. "Oh, no..."

She hopped out of bed, immediately regretting the decision. She felt like she was about to throw up. After waiting a moment, holding her hoof to her mouth, she took a few deep breaths and managed to curb that horrid sensation. Then, slowly, she made her way out of the bedroom, her wings drooping at her side.

Once on the stair case, she could see Spike running around the room, humming to himself, dusting off book shelves. Rainbow Dash held her head and glared at him, until he finally turned around and saw her. "Oh! Rainbow Dash! Didn't see you there. How'd you sleep?"

"Do...you need to...talk so...loud?" she asked. Speaking any faster threatened to send the contents of her stomach onto the staircase.

"So loud?" he asked. "This is my regular voice."

"Rainbow!" Rainbow Dash groaned as the cheery, and all-too-loud voice of Twilight Sparkle shot through her head like a bolt of electricity. "Good to see you're up! How'd you sleep?"

"Loudness," Rainbow Dash whispered. "Too loud..."

"What?"

Spike answered in a whisper, "She thinks we're talking too loud."

"Oh," Twilight said. "Yes, Spike. When somepony drinks too much, they get something called a hangover. Any loud noises will be amplified to a very disagreeable level." To Rainbow Dash, she said in a piercing voice, "isn't that right, Rainbow?"

"Geez," she said, putting a hoof to her head. "If you don't want me to puke on your stair case, pleeeaaaase be quiet." The pegasus made her way down the stairs and over to where Twilight had set up a breakfast for her. Just looking at the food made her queasy, but she took a few sips of the water to ease the dryness in her mouth.

Twilight watched her, shaking her head. "Maybe next time, you can limit how much you drink, so I won't have to drag you to my bed in the middle of the night."

"Yeeaaah," Rainbow said. "About that. We didn't...do anything...last night, did we?"

"Do what?" Twilight asked, lifting a blueberry smoothie with her magic.

"You know..." Rainbow looked back to Spike, who was busy taking individual books off the shelf to dust, humming all the while. She looked back at Twilight. "Bed...stuff?"

"Like a sleepover?" Twilight asked. She was about to take a sip of her smoothie when her eyes widened. "Oh, NO! No, no, no, we didn't do anything like that! Oh, my goodness, that would be horrible."

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. "Thanks..."

"No, not because I wouldn't want to do anything with you," Twilight said. Then she shook her head. "Ok, well, I wouldn't at all, but what I mean is--"

"Your repulsion to sleeping with me is not what stopped you from sleeping with me."

Twilight put her hoof to her head. "I'm not repulsed by-- That's not what I meant! I just meant that it would be a bad idea since you're so in love with Applejack."

That woke Rainbow up.

"What?!" She jumped to her feet, regretting ever inch of movement. "What do you mean? Where did you hear that?!"

"From you. Last night. You were quite upset." Twilight tilted her head to the side at the memory. "And you kept comparing her to food."

Rainbow tried hard to remember. The conversation trickled back into her mind. Something about eating emeralds and cutie marks being made of candy and chocolates and grapes. Even thinking about those comparisons made her queasy. But she did remember saying something along those lines. "Oh, nooooo," she moaned.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The look of sympathy from Twilight reminded her of how she sobbed into the unicorn's purple coat. Now she not only felt queasy - she felt ashamed.

"No," Rainbow Dash said, looking down at her hooves. "Twilight, don't tell anyone. Please."

"I won't tell anyone, Rainbow." She scooted closed to the Pegasus, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "But you didn't see how you were last night. I don't want to see my friends in pain like that. You have to do something. Talk to Applejack. Get everything out in the open. Just don't do that to yourself again. Alright?"

Rainbow Dash sighed, taking a few more sips of water. She hardly wanted anyone to know what she was feeling, let alone Twilight. She didn't know what she and Applejack had been through together, why it was so difficult for them to talk to each other now. She had ruined everything, and she didn't know how to fix it. But feeling Twilight Sparkle's eyes staring at her, she had to say something.

Rainbow put down her glass of water. "Sure, Twilight. Whatever you say." She got up and headed for the door. "I'm sorry about last night. But thanks for everything." The moment the door opened, she spread her wings and took off as gently as she could as not to upset her headache and her stomach.

-=-=-=-=-

Twilight Sparkle was flipping through the pages of a new book Princess Celestia sent her when the door to the library opened. Applejack peered her head in, before stepping inside. "Is she here?" she asked.

"She left about an hour ago," Twilight said. "But I'm glad you stopped by. Do you mind if I talk to you for a second?" She closed her book with her magic to show that she meant business.

"Oh. Sure, Twilight. What can Ah do for you?" She walked up to unicorn, dreading what she was about to be told.

"Is something wrong, AJ? You seem to have been a little distracted, lately."

Applejack sighed. Not what she was expecting. "Ah've just got a lot on mah mind, lately. T'aint nothin' new."

"Well, it seems like it could be. You're not usually so withdrawn."

"Nah, Ah guess not," Applejack said. She paused for a moment, going over the pros and cons of telling Twilight what was bothering her, before settling on just admitting it. "Ah don't know. Ever since the reunion, Ah've been thinkin' 'bout mah parents, alot." She shrugged. "It's hard to explain."

"I see," Twilight said, sympathy in her voice. "I'm so sorry, AJ. I know that must be hard on you."

"Ah guess," she said, looking away. "Like Ah said, Ah really don't wanna talk 'bout it much. You know, Ah actually came here lookin' for Rainbow. Ah wanted to apologize for bein' so snippy with her, yesterday."

"Oh!" Twilight's eyes lit up. "That's really good! She was really upset last night."

"She was?"

"Well...I probably shouldn't say much more."

Applejack's heart jumped into her throat. "Why? What did she say?"

Twilight looked trapped. "Oh.....uh...nothing! She didn't say anything."

"Oh, consarn it!" Applejack said, stamping her front hoof on the floor. "Ah knew she couldn't keep somethin' like that a secret when she gets that way! How much did she tell you?"

"Nothing, I swear!" Twilight said, looking around for something to distract Applejack with so she would get off this train of thought. If only she had a bushel of apples, or something...

"Look, it didn't mean anything!" Applejack went on, looking to the side and blushing. "Ah didn't mean for it to get that far. Ah wasn't thinkin' that would make her kiss me."

Twilight looked back at Applejack, shocked. "She WHAT?!"

Applejack took a few steps back. "Err...what?"

"She KISSED you? When did she kiss you?"

"Er, uh," Applejack found herself taking several steps back as Twilight kept trying to close the gap between them. "A few weeks ago. After Ah kissed her. By accident."

"Y-you-you--" Twilight's mouth was open, but there was nothing coming out. She shook her head to dislodge the words from her throat before continuing. "WHAT?! Okay, okay. We need to get this sorted out. WHEN did this happen? And how? HOW?"

Applejack was now backed up against a book case, leaning back from Twilight's momentary loss of sanity. "W-well, Ah guess this means she didn't say nothin' 'bout no kiss."

"Tell me!"

"Okay!" Applejack sighed. "We were just on a run. We do that from time to time, and we stopped in a field." She didn't mention how she knew something was wrong with Rainbow Dash by the way she was acting. She didn't say that she was worried about her friend. "Rainbow started doin' flyin' tricks in the air, which she don't normally do when we're runnin' together, but Ah guess she was just feelin' that way that day. She was workin' really hard, and suddenly she raced to the ground, and Ah ran up to her. Her wing was crampin' up somethin' bad from flyin' too hard. And she was in pain and all, so Ah started massagin' her muscle and all."

"Wait, her wing muscle?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah," Applejack said, slightly confused. "What else d'ya think Ah'd be massagin'?"

"Just clarifying," Twilight said. "Go on."

"Okay. So, After a while, her muscle relaxes, and Ah asked if the pain was all gone, and she said yeah, and..." Applejack shook her head, her face turning red. "Now, ya see, when ya got a little sister, and they get a boo boo, you kiss it ta make it better. And this weren't planned or nothin', just habit!"

"You KISSED Rainbow Dash's wing?" Twilight said, her jaw dropping. "AJ!"

"Ah didn't mean nothin' by it!" Applejack defended, looking down at the floor, her face bright red. "Thinkin' back, Ah'm thinkin' Ah mighta... given her the wrong signal."

"Ya think?"

"And when Ah looked at her, she was lookin' bout as shocked as you look, and when Ah asked her what's wrong, she...well, she leaned in and kissed me."

Twilight sat down, her mouth ajar. "W...well, what did you do?"

Applejack closed her eyes. She couldn't admit that she liked it. She couldn't admit it made her feel funny. And she certainly couldn't admit how scary that feeling was. When Rainbow Dash pulled back from that kiss, she didn't want it to end. But in the seconds it took for Rainbow to try and pull her closer for another kiss, too many thoughts came crashing down like a wave on the calm shores of her mind. What would her family think? There weren't any ponies like that in her family. At all. She didn't even know how Granny Smith or Big Macintosh felt about such things. And how would that affect the rest of her family? They were all so tight knit, that something different with one member of the family, it affected all the members of the family.

But them, she could handle. It was her parents, fresh on her mind after the reunion, that gave her pause. Even though her parents had been gone for so long, she couldn't help but think about them whenever something big happened in her life. She could think back to all her achievements and know her parents were proud of her. She could look back at her mistakes, and know that she learned well from them and continued to be the pony they wanted her to be.

But this was very different. And that made her panic.

Applejack opened her eyes again, away from that tumultuous moment in time and back in the quiet library. "Ah ran."

Twilight sighed, sitting down on her haunches, shaking her head. "Oh, AJ."

"Ah know..."

"You don't run from anything!"

Applejack thought for a moment, trying to dissect her feelings and retrieve the right words to make Twilight understand. Finally, she said, "Ah don't remember much a'bout my parents. From what Ah do remember, they had strong family values. They knew what they wanted for their kids. It was either me or Big Mac who was gunna inherit that farm and continue on in the Apple way. Ah was supposed to marry, have a family, and carry out that family tradition. Ain't nowhere in those plans say Ah'm supposed to...y'know...be that way." She struggled to get out the next words. "Ah think they'd be ashamed of me."

"Applejack," Twilight said. "You put so much pressure on yourself. Your parents died a long time ago. You said so yourself that you don't remember much about them. Don't you think that they'd want you to be happy?"

"Oh, you don't know what would make me happy," Applejack said, walking away from Twilight and stopping in the middle of the room. "Ah don't know what would make me happy. Ah...Ah need time to think. And Ah can't think when she's near me."

"Can't you talk to Rainbow about this?"

Applejack sighed. "Ah've tried! And she's tried. But, Ah don't know, after all that, every time we're near each other, we keep messin' up our conversation, or snappin' at each other, or one of us chokes, or we pretend like nothing happened, and we're just sittin' there with these apples ripe for buckin', and ain't nopony kickin' em down!" She frowned at her analogy. Rainbow Dash didn't buck trees... "Or Ah guess like an over-full rain cloud that ain't been hopped on. Or whatever they do to make it rain..."

"Well, that isn't important, AJ." They both sighed. Twilight sat down next to her, and they were both silent for a while. She just had to think of a way to get them talking. But it was hard to get two stubborn ponies to admit anything, let alone something so personal to both of them. And she couldn't do it for them. What was she going to do: bring up the obvious point - that they kissed - and then let them at it? They needed more incentive to talk than just a sit down and an admonishment from a friend.

Then an idea struck Twilight. "Of course!" She went over to one of her books she had out, opening it to a specific page. "You say you've been missing your parents, right?"

"Yes, Twilight. You don't need to sound so happy 'bout that."

"Oh, sorry. It's just..." She levitated the book in front of Applejack. A picture of a star and a depiction of ponies lining up in a curve to follow the star caught her attention. "I was trying to explain this to Rarity last night. Have you ever heard of the Star Lighting Festival?"

"Can't say that Ah have."

Twilight levitated the book to herself, flipping the pages a few times before continuing. "I went to one once when I was a filly. It was after my grandmother died. Once a year, Princess Celestia honors the dead by placing a new star in the sky. Though, I think now Princess Luna would be doing it. It's kind of a way to help with the mourning - remembering the dead and all." She turned to Applejack, a little too happy for such a sorrowful conversation. "I asked the Princess once I was under her care why they have the ceremony. She said since she lived for so long, she saw a lot of sorrow and a lot of friends and comrades passing. So they began this tradition. It's not very well known - I think the Princess likes to keep the crowds down, since some ponies go there just to see the stars being lit. But a lot of ponies make the sojourn every year.

"There are little stations along the route to feed the travelers. But you can only travel at night, because the Princess lights up the star that was lit the year before to lead the way. It's at a different location every year. I was looking for the star last night - I can show it to you. And the stations have these little paper lanterns you can paint and light with a candle and send it up into the sky. It's like you're sending up a star, yourself! I really loved it when I was a kid. Plus, it made my mom smile. It also made her cry, but it was good to see her smiling after being so sad for so long."

Applejack went over to the book, frowning at the picture of the star. Twilight had just given her a lot of information to take in about something she had never heard of before. "Well, it does sound like a nice little festival and all. But what does that have to do with me? Mah parents died when Ah was a filly."

"It's not about the year your parents died," Twilight said. "It's about mourning and remembering. A lot of ponies go every year just to remember a loved one who passed. The journey to the star lighting location is traditionally done on hoof, even for Pegasi. No magicking your way there, but some ponies still do. You're not supposed to go alone. You're supposed to go with someone...celebrate your love one's life with stories and such things."

This idea cheered Applejack up. "Oh, that'd be really nice!" Then she thought about who she could take with her. "Ah don't suppose Ah could take Apple Bloom...she's got school, and all. A journey on hoof...well, Granny Smith wouldn't be up for that. And somepony's gotta run the farm while I'm gone..."

"Exactly!" Twilight said, holding her head high and nodding at her cleverness. "That's why you should take Rainbow Dash."

Applejack's excitement came to a grinding halt. She huffed. "Twilight! What part of everything Ah just said about Rainbow makes you think Ah'd want to take her with me on this trip?"

Twilight closed the book and put a foreleg around Applejack. "Don't you see? Maybe it's not Rainbow you have to be away from so you can think. Maybe it's everything else. You're removing everything you have except for the two things that you can't decide over. I think once you get thinking about your parents, you'll have a better answer for how you feel about Rainbow Dash."

"Twilight, that's a TERRIBLE idea!" Applejack said, shaking her head. "And if Ah decide Ah don't wanna be near her anymore? Then what? Everything 'bout this here festival of yours'll go sour."

Twilight frowned. She hadn't thought of that. She looked away for a moment, let the gears in her head run for a moment, until they powered the light bulb over her head. "Isn't it better to finally know how you feel, instead of what you've had for the past few weeks?"

Applejack narrowed her eyes at Twilight. "Ah hate it when you're right."

-=-=-=-

Rainbow Dash was laying on a low cloud, trying to rehydrate herself with some water. Her nausea had gone away, but her head was still hurting. She didn't want to attempt to fly any farther up until her head ache was completely gone.

"Rainbow?" The Pegasus tensed up at hearing the familiar twang to the voice that called her. She couldn't see her like this! Not after last night...

Slowly, she pulled her tail up onto the cloud, the crouched really low into the white, fluffy substance.

"Oh, for Pete's sake, Rainbow. D'ya really think Ah didn't see you just now?"

Rainbow Dash sighed. "One second," she said. For once in her life, she wished she had a mirror. She probably looked horrible. She fluffed her mane a little, shook out her wings, and took a few deep breaths. She got up and jumped off the cloud, flapping her wings to cushion her landing. She still managed to hit the ground a little too hard, but she bit back a pained yelp. "Yeah?"

Applejack's eyes shifted from one magenta eye to the other. "Good gravy, girl. You look worst than chicken that got chased by a dog all day."

Rainbow sighed, turned and started to walk away. "If you just wanted to give me a hard time..."

"N-no, Rainbow!" Applejack raced in front of the mare. "T'aint like that. Ah was just..." She sighed. "Look, 'bout last night. Ah'm sorry Ah snapped at you like that."

Rainbow teetered back a bit. She hadn't expected to get an apology so quickly, if at all. And suddenly, she felt guilt ridden, as well. "I'm sorry about last night, too," she said, poking at the ground with her hoof. "I feel a little silly, drinking so much."

"Well, ya probably wouldn'ta done so much drinkin' if Ah hadn'ta been so sharp with you."

Rainbow looked at Applejack, grateful that she was being so gentle with her when she was feeling so lousy. But she also hated it, a little. She would have loved to hug her to end this circle of forgiveness they had taken on, but she felt so wrong even trying to touch her now. Not when she'd made it so clear she wasn't interested. And especially after last night. Even if Applejack apologized, her words still stung.

But they were still friends. And friends hug, don't they?

Before Rainbow could get into more thought about this, Applejack stepped a bit forward. "Listen, Ah was just talkin' to Twilight..."

"You...you were?"

"Yeah. And Ah was tellin' her 'bout how Ah've been missin' mah parents, lately."

"You have?" Rainbow felt even worse about this. They used to tell each other just about everything - at least what they thought was important. Now, there was this barrier between them. Rainbow didn't even know what was bothering Applejack. Aside from the obvious.

"Yeah. It's been on my mind a lot lately, and Ah can't seem to shake it. And she mentioned that there's this here festival not too many ponies know 'bout where you can honor the dead and all. There's a star lightin' ceremony the Princess' do. It's s'posed to be real nice."

"Oh," Rainbow said, her interest peaked. "It really does sound nice."

"Right. And Twilight was sayin' that Ah should go. But your not s'posed to go alone on this trip and all."

"Uh-huh," Rainbow said, wary for a moment. "And what did Twilight say about who should go with you."

"Well, Ah can't take anypony in mah family, like Ah woulda liked, but then she said maybe you'd like to go." She drew a circle in the dirt with her hoof.

Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment. "Do YOU want me to go?"

"Well, honestly," Applejack said, "At first, Ah thought maybe t'weren't such a good idea. But then...well, Ah couldn't think of who Ah'd rather have go with me."

Rainbow Dash's stomach flipped, but she tried to keep her response even. "You...really can't think of anyone else you'd rather go with you?"

"Well, 'side from mah family. And they can't go with me. Really, there ain't no question 'bout who should go." She smiled to Rainbow Dash. "Would you--"

"Yes!"

"--like to go with me?"

"Yes! Absolutely, yes." The words rushed out of Rainbow so fast, she thought her stomach was going to be pulled out along with the air it took to say them.

But it was worth it. She could barely contain herself when she saw Applejack smile.

Comments

[Jackie]

And thus, the journey begins.

[Dragon Master Spike]

I like this, I like where this is going, and the journey that could await. Not many approach AppleDash like this.

More, now!!!

[Yakurenazea]

This is really well done so far. It's quite interesting to see this kind of a take on the AppleDash relationship, so I hope this gets updated frequently!

[v-invidia]

Oh, I love this story <3

[Callisto]

1899449 It's not even done yet! >_<

[Kail]

This looks like it'll be an interesting journey. Can't wait for more.

[v-invidia]

1899799
Oh, I fell in love with it after

"She doe-doe-doesn't w-want me!" Rainbow said, gasping heaves becoming more prominent than actual words.

Aww, Rainbow's drunken heaving is accentuated from Twilight realizing whom Rainbow is talking about, heehee, so accurate Poor Rainbow!

[Callisto]

1901723 <--the smile on my face right now

[StormtrooperSteven1]

denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw177_130791448368.jpg

This was my response when I got the email saying this updated. :D

[Callisto]

1903980 Hmm, yeah, Drunkeness can be a turn off in stories, but glad you liked it! And, ugh, don't get me STARTED on how much trouble I have writing Twilight. My head canon of her is so inconsistent.

[malikvamp]

Very well done so far, and I look forward to seeing it continued! Great job :)

[MellowMabari]

Aw! This is pretty adorable so far, and I really like the idea of the star lighting festival. It seems fitting, like if the show could actually deal with the subject of death in a non-vague way it could be the focus of an episode. Nice work so far, looking forward to wherever you take this next

[Callisto]

1906596 Thank you! I like doing festivals - I wish they would do more events in MLP.

[canius]

awwe :

[BronyNeumo]

Wow.

Absolutely phenomenal follow-up, this chapter is. I absolutely love the idea of the star-lighting festival, and the way Twilight describes it is just so darn cute (with a touch bit sad when she talked about her mother) without coming across as dry at all. And believe me, I know how hard it is to sell an original idea and describe it to your readers within the context of a story. You did it marvelously.

Applejack's confusion was very well-done, as well. I especially enjoyed the way you flipped from AJ explaining things to Twilight to a look into Applejack;s mind's eye and her memories. It was a very good way of describing the story to us, without drowning it in dialogue.

Of course, the final reconciliation scene with AJ and Dash was wonderful, too.

Color me impressed. I hope I don't lose too much sleep reading the rest!

[Hesitant Brony]

Less emotions, but more feelings.

That is all for now.

[JosephRascon1789]

Really good story. I love the whole story line. Im now hooked and will be reading and suggesting it. For your awesome story so far i give you a moustache

[TheaOchiMati]

This is great so far. Love the humor. Been looking for a good AD story recently with this kind of conflict about being with another mare.

One thing: instead if 'interest peaked' it should be 'piqued'