She was lost again. Lost in those deep, green eyes. She felt as if she were afloat on a vast green ocean, the warm sunlight glinting off the waves. Her environment faded from view; only these two brilliant pools of light remained. They gazed back at her with warmth and compassion. And … determination.
Determination?
That thought jolted her from her trance. She felt momentarily like she was plummeting, and instinctively unfurled her wings to compensate. But she’d never left the ground. Waking from her stupor, she realized with a knot in the pit of her stomach that her gaze had lasted far too long; surely Applejack was suspicious. She looked at her hooves, and gently kicked the loose dirt from the well-packed road.
“Ha! Ah won! Y’see, Ah can beat you at anythin’!” Applejack exclaimed. Her jovial demeanor didn’t fail to lift Rainbow Dash’s spirits, but her words left only a confused expression. “Well, anything but flyin’, of course.”
Rainbow frantically tried to recover the situation, her eyes darting from tree to tree, to the distinct line separating those conspicuously free of apples from those still carrying their crop. Her heart still racing, she tried to understand what had been won. After what felt like an eternity of mad thought, but was of course only several seconds in reality, she stopped, realizing she would have to say something.
“... won?”
“Oh. Darn. Ah thought we were havin’ a staring contest, seein’ as how y’all were lookin’ at–”
“Oh yeah! Well, I guess you got me on staring, AJ, but I can still beat you nine times out of ten!”
“Whew,” Rainbow thought, “she doesn’t think I …” She couldn’t even admit it to herself.
With a flick of the tail and a leap into the air, Rainbow Dash was gone, leaving behind a brilliant rainbow trail. A very careful observer may have also noticed a thin streak of moisture flanking the rainbow on both sides, Rainbow’s nearly-suppressed tears. Luckily, Applejack was not such a careful observer.
“Heheh, that Rainbow sure can be a strange one.” Applejack said to the empty air, while continuing her trot into town.
Dash flew, faster than she usually flew on a lazy afternoon. She hoped she could fly faster than her emotions, somehow escaping what she’d felt. The fact that she was flying over an orchard of apple trees, each one a testament to Applejack’s hard work and diligence, not to mention a symbol emblazened on Applejack’s flank, made that escape more difficult than usual. “Why do I keep doing that?” Rainbow thought, trying to push the inevitable conclusion from her mind. “Why can’t I stop looking at her? Why can’t I stop … staring at her? Why can’t I get her out of my mind?! Why can’t I look away from those beautiful eyes?” She bit her lip, as if that would stop the onslaught of her mind. She had had this conversation with herself hundreds of times, and each time she’d come to the same, inevitable conclusion, but each time she nonetheless started it afresh. “I can’t … I can’t lo–” She bit harder. “I can’t like her … like that … she’s a mare …”
Although her fast flying had taken her from Applejack’s farm, and hence from the reminder all around her, she was by now too lost in her thoughts to stop them. She flew at the edge of the Everfree Forest, towards nowhere in particular. She couldn’t keep her tears in; they washed over her neck and mane, forming a light mist wherever she flew.
“No!” she screamed in her mind. “I can’t love her!” This was the point in this well-rehearsed conversation where she gave up on comfortable euphemisms. “I just … I can’t.”
“But I do. I do love her.”
She thumped down unceremoniously on a tree branch overlooking the winding path to Zecora’s hut.
“And … I wish she could love me too.”
She did a quick inspection. She was well covered from above, no other pegasi would see her.
“But I could never tell her.”
This path wasn’t often used, so she wasn’t likely to get company from below.
“If I told her … I could lose her.”
The trees were thick and wild on either side.
“OK,” she thought, pushing her mind to change the subject, “I can nap here.”
Even that was a lie.
She lay there, body strewn haphazardly over the branch, and she cried. Somehow she kept quiet, but she couldn’t stop the tears. The image of Applejack’s eyes were seared into her memory, but unlike her last encounter, this image only brought her fear. And misery.
“This isn’t right, Rainbow. You’re braver than this. You’re the bravest pony in all of Ponyville! You’re the bravest Pony in all of Equestria! You can face this like any other challenge!” Her mind’s lies did little to help.
So, she still lay there. And she still cried. And she continued to cry until there were no more tears in her. Then she stared at the simple dirt path below, hoping she could somehow fill her mind with this trivial detail of life, forcing out the thoughts that made her fret so.
“HIYA Dashie, funny seeing you here!”
Rainbow was startled but kept her precarious balance. Why, of all ponies, would Pinkie Pie have to be the one to find her here like this?
Pinkie let out an exaggerated gasp. “Dashie, you look sad!” Rainbow couldn’t determine if the concern in the ever-joyful earth pony’s voice was genuine or not. “You shouldn’t be sad, that’s like … that’s like me being sad!”
This comparison almost got a chuckle from Rainbow Dash’s lips. Almost.
“What’s wrong?”
The enormous grin Pinkie wore wouldn’t fit the question for any other pony. But somehow with Pinkie it did. Rainbow was in no mood to talk, though, so she simply shifted her position, hoping Pinkie would leave.
“Oooh! A guessing game! I LOVE guessing games! Lemme think, hmmmm …”
Pinkie hopped about, raising dust that seemed never to cling to her bright, pink fur, and not even pretending like she was actually thinking.
“Did your favorite napping cloud float away so you had to sleep here?”
That one actually succeeded in getting a small smile on Rainbow’s lips. Pinkie was ecstatic; she was determined to improve her friend’s mood.
“No.” Rainbow replied, momentarily too lost in the absurd moment to remember her troubles.
“Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiid you try the Sonic Rainboom again?”
Rainbow’s smile vanished as fast as it had arrived. She hadn’t even had the courtesy to add “and fail.” She just implied it.
Still, the guess was wrong. “No.” The blue pegasus’ tone was sour.
Pinkie didn’t seem to take notice of the changing mood, as her expression morphed to a facade of intense investigation. She walked around Rainbow’s precarious perch, looking at her from every angle, as if her troubles would be conveniently painted on her flank.
Rainbow just wished her enthusiastic friend would leave.
Another exaggerated gasp.
“Oooooh, I know! I knooooow! You’ve fallen madly in love with Applejack and you’re afraid to tell her!”
Rainbow’s body turned stiff. Her mind raced. She fell from her tree, landing on the soft earth with a solid, but not damaging, thud. “Am I really that obvious?” her mind screamed. “Does everypony know?! Can they all just read me like a book?”
“Does Applejack know?”
As Rainbow’s thoughts spun in her nearly-motionless body, Pinkie hopped jubilantly in a circle around her.
“I’m right! I’m riiiiiiiiiiiiiight! This is why I love guessing games!”
Rainbow hyperventilated. She felt suddenly more like Fluttershy than herself. She pulled herself into the fetal position, burying her head in her hooves, as if she could simply squeeze away from the world and be free of this feeling. Her body trembled in fear and shame. This moment was more terrifying than any stunt she had ever performed. It was more terrifying than being face to face with Nightmare Moon.
Her head spinning, she pushed herself to form a coherent plea.
“P–please don’t hate me, Pinkie.” she wimpered.
Even in her addled state, she realized immediately how ridiculous that request had been. Was Pinkie Pie even capable of hate?
Pinkie just laughed gleefully, still dancing as merrily as if she was at one of her parties, and not choking out a confession of her friend’s deepest secret.
Rainbow felt trapped, like Pinkie was an oddly-upbeat spider ensnaring its prey. With much willpower, she managed to squeak out the more important imploration.
“Please don’t tell anypony. Please don’t tell Applejack!”
Pinkie stopped in her tracks. She leaned close to Rainbow’s ear and said in an uncharacteristically soft, compassionate voice, “I would never tell your secret, Dashie. Never.”
Rainbow Dash was surprised at how much this simple promise relieved her. She calmed slightly, and raised her head to meet that strange pink party pony’s gaze. In that moment, Pinkie was no longer the unpredictable force of nature she usually seemed. She was this pegasus’ best and most trusted friend.
“Oh!” Pinkie chirped, jumping back to the path as if the entire altercation had never occurred. “I’m supposed to be going to Zecora! Seeya later, Dashie!” And with that, she was hopping merrily down the path once again.
Rainbow let out a deep sigh. Maybe things weren’t quite as bad as she thought. Realizing how tired she had suddenly become, she decided this quiet spot outside the Everfree Forest was as good a place as any, and drifted into a troubled sleep.
I as so very, VERY tired of appledash.
142892
really? I never really cared for Appledash either. To be honest I just started reading these 2 days ago. They have turned me into a Rainbow Dash fan.
I for one like this fanfiction. 4/5
i never tire of any apple-dash shipping, or any shipping at all for that matter. -tracking-
Looking good, I'll be tracking.
Looking at the other comments and ratings, I feel that I must say, simply being tired of appledash by itself is a very poor reason to give a fic a low rating, and I really hope that reason alone is not what led to that 3 star rating. If it is, then, well, for shame.
I love apple-dash too
Oh boy another fan fic featuring my favourite pairing that will probably have the most trite...
.....hhhheeeeeyyyyyy this is pretty good. Your prose is actually vivid and demonstrative, particularly the beginning where Rainbow loses her train of thought around Applejack. And the story seems to keep up that momentum throughout. (DISCLAIMER: I'm actually fatigued and not thinking as clearly as usual so I'll give this a go over later and see if there's anything I missed or more constructive I can add.) This is actually off to a good start, so for now I'll give it a '3.5'. Why?
Two things:
- I'm willing to accept that Dash's emotions might come on quickly like that, though as fair warning you are treading risky territory here. Not so much that Dash is anguished and has these buried feelings (though as I said, I am feeling foggy right now), but I've read more than my fair share of AppleDash fics that mine the whole 'buried' feelings thing. PARTICULARLY the fear of homophobia thing.
Almost of none of them back it up.
Soooo, I guess what I'm saying is that at this juncture I can see your story going either way. I'm hoping you're planning to seriously develop Dash's fears by way of backstory and making it a concrete danger for her in Ponyville which makes this persistence of these fears real. If this is the case my rating of the story is likely going to go up, though at this point it's too early to tell if it will go higher.
- “P–please don’t hate me, Pinkie.” she wimpered.
I can certainly understand why you wrote this line, though it comes off as unnatural and I've seen too many bad writers run this into the ground. Unfortunately I'm having trouble thinking of alternatives. You might be better off just cutting that part altogether, but I'll sit on this.
Either way you've caught my interest and I'm tracking this despite having a huge backlog of stories to read.
Two words...
More shipping :)
Added to my track list as I am a big fan os rainbow dash shipfics
Two words...
More shipping :)
Added to my track list as I am a big fan os rainbow dash shipfics
"Appledash shippings are the best"
Pfft. Hell no. If anything, they're probably the worst. TwiDash is where it's at.
And I feel like I'm ragging too heavily on things that may or may not come up down the road in the story, so I'll add...
...I like how you handled Pinkie Pie here. I have talked with a good friend a lot about these ponies. She's shown some unusual and perceptive insights about them, including Pinkie Pie whom she identifies with (and is kind of like). Your depiction of Pinkie being utterly ebullient only to show a great sensitivity towards the need of her friends when things call for it rings utterly true to my view of the character that's developed out of those discussions. I can easily see the fact that she seemingly changes gears from assuring Dash to acting like nothing is going on is simply her getting on with business while she figures out how to best help her friend out. (And frankly it would be good story material to have Dash leaning on Pinkie as a friend for support here.)
Of any Rainbow Dash relationships, Appledash seems best in my opinion. I just can't see Rainbow or AJ with anyone else. Great job on this one, I'll be watchin' for it.
Opinions are ... mixed. I suppose I'll write at least one more chapter.
A couple notes in general response:
1) Yes, it's the oldest ship in the book. Yes, part of why I decided to write in that direction is the sheer volume of other sources to draw inspiration from. Cliché, hooray. Basically after reading altogether too many of these, I had unwittingly started to put together one of my own, and that's what's going here. If you feel I'm setting up the pair poorly, I'd love your feedback, but if you just don't like that pairing ... well, then read something else
2) The two vital pieces of backstory to explain Rainbow's reaction are in the pipeline. From a word-count perspective they're soon (although from a scheduling perspective Idonno, I'll be ever on the edge of canceling this ;) ). I'm quite sure that the backstory regarding Rainbow's fear of a homophobic reaction will disappoint. Oh well. The relevant dissipation of that fear will disappoint as well. If I have divine inspiration before the relevant chapter, I may even change it, but I've got a roadmap in mind.
3) My gloriously trite chapter-introductory sentences are to keep a certain degree of focus. There are only so many scenes that can possibly fit this description, so by forcing myself into one of them every so often, the story has a sort of heartbeat. It also gives me an excuse to make my favorite character very perturbed at least once a chapter. Although there are other green eyes in Ponyville ...
Oh, and in direct response to 143328; thanks, I actually did try very hard to get the presentation of her character right, and I'm glad to say that that came through for at least one reader. I think a lot of fics end up presenting her as this odd mashup of wise sage and lunatic, which can actually work, but I'm trying to keep her a bit more grounded.
143325
You have obviously not seen the adorkableness that is TwiShy.
Look up "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and read it. I guarantee it will change your mind.
either Pinkie is psychic or...now she's psychic
This has been in my to be read for a good while now and today I thought it was time to take charge and read it...
anywho Haha oh that pinkie is always pulling something crazy.