Restless Nights

by DJ Dreamtheater

Secrets pt. II

Chapter 4

Secrets pt. II

She laid there in her bed for a while with her arm across her forehead. The sun came in through the window illuminating her room. She could do nothing but think about that dream and what it could possibly mean. Rainbow let out a sigh and got out of bed then walked to the window. Looking out over the land below her she thought if it would be best to just stay home and away from Applejack for a while or at least till she was able to clear her head of these thoughts and now DREAMS too.

“I can’t do that. Applejack could actually use my help. Besides I do have to beat that challenge.”

She walked around her room for a little while longer thinking if going to her friend’s house today would be a good thing or if it would be better to call things off. She thought about it and decided that this wasn’t going to stop her from hanging around her friends especially Applejack.

She started to get ready to leave her home and head to Applejack’s farm. After breakfast she grabbed her bags and left her home going towards the farm.

She arrived at the farm to find her friend waiting at the front gate. She landed and trotted up to her acting like nothing was wrong but the dream still lingered in her mind.

“Mornin’ Rainbow, Ah didn’t think y’all would come honestly.”

“What?! You think I would just back out, no way!”

“Well that’s good. Now come on back to the barn and we’ll get started.”

The two started walking down the dirt road. Rainbow was lost in thought and AJ noticed it. AJ noticed that Rainbow had been distant recently and she wanted to know why but didn’t know how to go about confronting Rainbow on what was bugging her, especially about something she doesn’t even know. During the walk an idea hit her.

“Okay so Rainbow will be here working for the week. Ah’ll just talk to her until she spills what’s buggin’ her.”

They kept walking down the road and the barn started to come into view. Applejack turned her head to Rainbow and tried to start a conversation.

“So Rainbow, how y’all been since that incident at the plateau?”

“Alright, nothing to special really.”

“How’s yer wing healin?”

“It’s fine. Lucky me nothing was broken. Just a little bruised but I’ve flown under worst circumstances.”

“Well that’s good.”

Applejack thought to herself the different things that could’ve been wrong. “Well she seems to have gotten over the plateau thing. Also her injured wing isn’t the issue either.”

They reached the barn and Applejack opened the door. They walked inside and Rainbow sat her bags on the ground.

“So what kinda challenges am I going to be testing my awesome skills against?”

“Hehe now that sounds like Rainbow.” AJ thought

“Well for now Ah’m gonna need you to organize the barn. These bales of hay gotta be moved from the back to the front then around back we got more that needs to come inside. After that y’all need to rearrange and place the work tools on this peg board.”

“That’s all? I got this, no problem.”

“After y’all get done come see me out in the orchard field. Big Mac and Ah are buckin today while Applebloom is helpin Granny inside the house.”

“Don’t get to comfy out there; this will be done in no time.”

Applejack turned and started to walk out but noticed Rainbow’s bag on the ground. She picked it up and sat it on the table next to the door. When she did a small amount of pollen puffed out and AJ sneezed. Rainbow turned around to see what was wrong and noticed the bloom of the plant sticking out of her bag.

“What the hay is this?” Applejack questioned as she examined the bag.

“OH HORSEAPPLES! That’s Twilight’s plant!” Rainbow yelled as she ran over and grabbed the bag.

“Twilight’s plant? Y’all mean you forgot to give it to her?”

“Well it was a busy day and by the time we got back I forgot it was in my bag. I actually forgot about it completely!”

“How could y’all forget the plant that we went through so much trouble to get?”

“Well my mind was on other things…” Rainbow wanted to explain but how could she.

“Anyway I need to get this to Twilight. I’ll be back in a flash AJ.”

No sooner she said that was she out the door and heading towards Ponyville. In one swift movement she ran pass the table and grabbed her bag and took off like a rocket, not missing a beat. She flew fast to get the plant to Twilight’s home before it could wilt or was it to avoid telling Applejack her little secret.

* * *

Rainbow rushed to Twilight’s house to deliver that annoying plant and have it gone once and for all. She landed on Twilight’s balcony and knocked on her glass door. Twilight opened the door with her magic but was nowhere to be seen.

“Come in!”

Twilight yelled from downstairs and Rainbow walked in. The room looked like a hurricane had hit it or a tornado. Rainbow wandered around trying to find Twilight but wasn’t successful.

“Umm Twilight?! Where are you?” Rainbow called out

“Oh Rainbow Dash, good morning.” Twilight yelled

Twilight came walking up the stairs looking around her home for something.

“Sorry about the mess.”

“It’s okay, no big deal. What are looking for?”

“Well, hehe, this may sound silly but…I MISS PLACED THE PLANT!”

“Uh Twilight” Rainbow tried to say

‘Do you know what this means?! The princess will think I’m not trying hard enough with my studies!”

“Umm Twi”

“If she starts to doubt me then I’ll be forced do another quest to prove myself.”

“Twilight”

“What if she does do that? What if I fail at that quest too?!”

“Twilight”

“Oh this is bad, really bad, REALLY BAD!”

“ahm Twilight”

“If I fail another test she may not want to teach me anymore. I may even get kicked out of my magic training. She may even banish me! The princess can’t have a student that fail as big as I have, it would be an embarrassment to her!”

“TWILIGHT!” Rainbow grabbed and sat her down
“Geez calm down you’re blowing everything out of proportion again. I have the plant right here.”

“Really?!” Twilight stood up and smiled

“Yea here ya go.”

“Oh thank you Rainbow!”

“It’s nothing. Hey where’s Spike at?”

“Well… I kinda had him go to the train station this morning. I think he’s retracing my steps trying to find the plant, hehe.” Twilight giggled trying to not look embarrassed

“Really?” Rainbow replied

“Well I thought I dropped it somewhere. Besides where did you find it?”

“Yea I kinda had it the whole time.” She said as she scratched her head

“You WHAT?!”

“I forgot I had it though.”

“How could you forget?”

Rainbow stopped and thought back to last couple of days and wondered if telling Twilight would do her any good. Twilight was smart on a lot of things and she might be able to give advice on how to deal with these thoughts.

Rainbow wanted to tell somepony and get any kind of help or advice she could find but if she told somepony and it got back to Applejack; she shuddered at the thought of what AJ might think of her. She might stop talking to her or even stop being friends completely.

After a quick deliberation with herself Rainbow decided to keep it top secret. No pony needs to know about this and if she just stops thinking about it maybe it will go away in some time. She came up with a little lie to answer Twilight’s question.
“Well with all that happened…I guess it slipped my mind. You know with the whole getting trapped inside that plateau and almost falling into that pit too.”

“Oh, yeah, that stuff. I can understand.” The purple pony said feeling embarrassed about the pit incident.

“Well I have to get back to the farm. Applejack is probably waiting for me.”

“Oh so you are working on the farm this week.”

“Of course, I never back down from a challenge.”

Then Rainbow was out the door and heading back towards the farm to finally start those chores and prove AJ she isn’t ‘lazy’ she just enjoys life at a slower pace than others do.

* * *

She flew out the door eager to get back to the farm and help her friend. It took only a few minutes and Applejack was waiting next to the barn for Rainbow to return.

“Waiting here, huh? Thought I wouldn’t come back?”

“Ah just wanted to make sure, that’s all. Ah didn’t know if y’all feel asleep or not on the way back.”

“Oh HAHA, that’s just so funny. I told you I can handle this, no problem.”

“Okay then get to it. Ah’ll be in the orchard once y’all get done.”

Applejack turned and walked off into the orchard to help Big Mac with the bucking and to make up for the weekend she wasn’t there. Rainbow strolled into the barn and thought back to what all that needed to be done. She laid her bag back on the table next to the door and began working on moving the bales of hay around the barn.

She flew towards the back part of the barn and put her hoofs against the hay. She started to push making it slide across the ground slowly but surely. After a few minutes she managed to get half of the hay bales to the front before she got winded and had to stop.

“Man, this isn’t as easy as I thought.”

She knew it was going to be hard work but she didn’t expect a bale of hay to be this heavy. She got her second wind and kept on pushing the hay the rest of the way then placed it where AJ said to. She went to the back and repeated the process over and over for about ten times till she was done.

After a quick break she headed around back and started to pull the bales through the back door inside the barn. Applejack walked over to the barn to see how Rainbow’s progress had been coming along. She walked over to one of the open windows and checked in on her. She saw Rainbow Dash working hard to get things done, like she wanted, harder than she would expect the pegasus to be working.

She stood there for a few minutes staring at the blue pegasus admiring her hard work ethic and stick-to-it’ness. Suddenly she heard her name being called from behind her.

“Applejack”

“Huh, what? Ah was doin’ nothin’.”

It was Applebloom looking for her big sis. Rainbow had heard Applebloom’s voice and went to the open window to see what was up.

“What were y’all doin?” Applebloom asked

“Uhh Ah was just checking on Rainbow’s work.”

“Through the window?” Applebloom questioned with a puzzled look

About this time Rainbow was at the window where Applejack and Applebloom were. She stuck her head out the window and saw the two talking.

“Hey what’s up you two?”

“Oh hey Rainbow!” Applebloom smiled and waved

“Why are you guys over here?”

“Well ya see Ah was lookin’ fer Applejack and she was…” Before Applebloom could finish AJ put her hoof over her sister’s mouth.

“Ah was just checkin’ in, that’s all, nothin’ special.”

“Oh well I’ve got the moving done so I’m about to do the other stuff.”

“That’s good just come and see me when y’all are done.” Applejack said as she waved and left with Applebloom while still covering her mouth.

Applejack left the barn and let Rainbow finish her work. When she got far enough away she let Applebloom go and asked her what she needed.

“Hey what’s the big idea?” Applebloom yelled

“What?” Applejack asked back

“Puttin’ yer hoof in my mouth?”

“Oh well umm…Ah was managing Rainbow progress. Secretly ‘cause we…”

Applejack was trying to think of something to tell her little sister but couldn’t think of anything. Then she remembered why Rainbow was there to begin with.

“We have a bet goin’ on, to see if Rainbow can work on the farm or not.”

“Oh well y’all could’ve said so. Anyway Granny Smith needs yer help inside the house.”

“Oh, alright then.” Applejack breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards the house.

* * *

Rainbow went back to her work. She was done with moving the hay around so she went on to the next task which was putting the tools away. Of the two tasks this was by far the easiest to do. It took no time at all to finish and she did she left the barn looking for Applejack.
Applejack was at the house helping Granny Smith with some small things when she heard a knock at the door. Applejack went to the door and opened it.

“Oh there you are. I was looking for you.”

“Hey there Rainbow. Y’all done already?”

“Yea, told you it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”

“Well come on in and take a break for a little bit.”

Rainbow walked in and sat down at the kitchen table. Applejack handed her a glass of apple cider while looking over her friend. She could see how hard Rainbow had been working by the sweat coming off her forehead. She was impressed by how Rainbow stuck to her work and was ready to keep going.

“Hey what are you staring at?” Rainbow asked

“Huh? Oh nothing” Applejack didn’t realize she was steadily staring at Rainbow.

“Ah was just lettin’ my mind wonder that’s all.”

“Wondering about what?”

Applejack didn’t realize what she said at the time till Rainbow repeated it. The cowpony became flustered and didn’t know how to respond to it. Then Granny Smith cut into their conversation asking Applejack if she had went out to the east orchard yet and hosed down the trees.

“Oh yeah Ah was going to do that but Applebloom came and got me. Hey Rainbow Ah’m gonna need help if y’all wouldn’t mind?”

“Sure, what’s the task?”

“Follow me and Ah’ll show ya.”

They started out the front door and headed towards the east orchard. Along the way Applejack explained how apple trees need to be constantly moist so they can produce juicy and full-flavored apples. They get to the field and there is a small wooden shed.

“What’s in there?”

“That’s where we keep the tools we use out here. It has the hose we’re gonna use.”

“Really AJ? I think I can handle this one just fine.”

Rainbow unfolded her wings and took off into the sky. Within a few short moments she came back down above the trees with five or six white clouds. She spun around them in a circle till they gathered and created one large, dark, rain cloud. She gave it one good kick causing it to rain heavily and flew over the orchard drenching the trees.

Applejack stood there watching as her friend do what she does best which is showing off her control of the weather. She thought about how useful somepony like Rainbow could be around here from time to time. A reliable, hard-working, pegasus like her. She realized this time that she was staring at Rainbow again with that admiring look from earlier. She quickly pulled down her hat before Rainbow would notice, again.

After a few minutes Rainbow was done. She whipped the cloud her tail a few good times to make it dissipate back into the sky. She then flew down and landed in front of AJ who was standing there with her hat over her eyes.

“Um AJ are you alright?”

“Huh?” She pulled her hat up and looked at Rainbow in her magenta eyes.

“Oh yea Ah’m good."

"It must have been the sun.” Applejack quickly responded

“The sun?”

“Yea the sun got in my eyes.”

“Oh okay, so what now?”

“Now? Hmm…” She scratched her head

“Well Ah got a few more things around here to do. Just small stuff but y’all can help too.”

The two left the orchard and headed back to the house. The rest of the day Rainbow helped around the house as AJ and Big Mac finished bucking the trees. The rest of the day was kind of slow but still steady with work. After everything was done for the day Applejack invited Rainbow to stay for dinner.

Of course Rainbow accepted, why turn down such great food, so her and the rest of the apple family went into the kitchen started making the food. Table was set and the food was delicious. The home that night was lively with chatter, mostly Granny Smith saying how such good help Rainbow was today which lead into a story about one pegasus she knew as a child that was also helpful but really clumsy, Applejack told how Rainbow made quick work of watering the orchard too.

After all the friendly chatter was done Rainbow left and headed back to her home for the night. All she could think about was her comfy bed and how her body was tired. Applejack cleaned up after putting Applebloom to bed. Normally she would make a mental list of things to do the next day but this night all she could think about was Rainbow. She shook her head vigorously; she meant to say how much help Rainbow was today and how she was impressed.

Rainbow made it home and wasted no time taking a shower and heading to bed. Applejack did the same thing. She placed her hat on the night stand and blew out the candle next to her bed then quickly fell asleep.

The night was quiet as the two friends slept in different homes in different cities but still had dreams of each other.
In Applejack’s dream it was her and Rainbow together working on the farm. The dream was as normal as it could be till it reached the end of the day. In the dream Rainbow had left to go home and Applejack had gone to her bedroom. When she got there the window was open and Rainbow was sitting on the bed. Normally the orange pony would ask why she was there but in the dream Applejack felt comfortable about the situation and walked across the room to her friend and gave her gentle nudge then a soft kiss on the neck.

Rainbow’s night was a little rougher than the night before and her dream not as pleasant. It was her and Applejack together but this dream was different. Instead of them being together it was more like they were separated. Rainbow wasn’t sure why Applejack was not talking to her but she tried desperately to get her to talk. Rainbow confronted AJ about the dreams she was having and her feelings but all Applejack did was walk away. She disappeared and the faint sound of her voice could be heard saying “That’s just not natural”. She could feel the pain of rejection and loneliness as she sat there in the darkness.

Rainbow woke up in a cold sweat. Her heart racing as she tried to figure out this dream too. It was the middle of the night, she never wakes up in the middle of the night, she just laid there staring at the ceiling. She thought on everything that has happened. First there was the sleeping incident and then there was that first dream, which she didn’t mind at all because it was a nice one, but now there is this dream. Not to mention how she feels when she is around AJ. She is confused about everything and maybe she SHOULD talk to somepony.

She thought that maybe it was time to confront Applejack about this. She shook her head and tossed out that idea. If she was to talk to AJ about this then her dream might come true. The last thing she wants is to lose a good friend like her but what can she do? She rolled over and closed her eyes trying to go back to sleep but she just kept reviewing the dream and how she felt being rejected.

“I can’t let AJ know about this, no matter what.”

-End of Chapter 4-

Comments

[TheAzureAzoth]

keep up the great writing, I look forward to the rest of the series

[MysteriousStranger]

Cool chapter! I wonder of somepony will ask for help to one of their friends!

[DJ Dreamtheater]

Dear Readers,

It's DJ here with an update. I am still working on the story "Restless Nights" but the story has gotten better reviews than I was expecting. I have been thinking of a sequel to this story. I already have the plot figured out but not started on the actual writing yet. Tell me would you, the reader, want a sequel to this story or not.
Comment your opinions, like or dislike, I just want feedback from the people out there. Let me know your FEELS on this.

signed, DJ