During a seemingly beautiful autumn day, Applejack and Rainbow Dash goes for a picknick. Bad idea.
A beautiful autumn day. Rainbow Dash and Applejack decides to have a picnic on their own in Whitetail Wood, since the rest of the Mane 6 are occupied elsewhere. Perhaps this is the perfect chance for both of them to reveal their feelings for the other? However, things takes a drastic turn of events as a raging thunder storm unpredictably breaks loose.
The ponies of Ponyville were enjoying a beautiful autumn day. It was warm, and just a few clouds were on the sky. Almost everypony was out relaxing in the sunshine. It wasn't even midday yet. Applejack was out in the sunshine too, but she wasn't relaxing. She was applebucking. "Everyday should be like this", she thought to herself as she used both her hind legs to kick a tree, smiling with satisfaction as the apples fell down into the cart placed below. She noted that the cart, which was a quite large cart mostly used by Big Mac, was starting to get full. She looked around and saw that there were only a few trees left for today, so she decided to get the last of the apples before making her way back to the barn. As she started to pull the cart towards the next tree, she noted that is was quite heavy. This made her wonder if she would even be able to move the cart when she was done. When the last tree had been bucked she realized that her concerns were true, she couldn't move the cart at all. Swearing loudly she tried even harder but the cart wouldn't , she heard someone laughing above her. Looking up, she saw Rainbow Dash looking down at her from a small cloud. Apparently, the blue pegasus was having a fun time at Applejack not being able to pull the cart any further. "Oh, Applejack" she giggled. "You ever heard the saying 'Don't bite off more apples than you can chew'?" "Well", Applejack snorted. "Instead of ya layin up there doin no good, how bout ya come down here and help." "I guess I could" Rainbow said casually while turning on her back."But on the other hand, it's quite nice up here." "Jeeze" Applejack sighed, rolling her eyes. "Besides, I didn't hear the magic word." "Fine." Applejack sighed again."Rainbow Dash, will you please help me get these apples to the barn?" "Okay" she said, smiling as she flew down to the ground. Rainbow Dash put both her forelegs on the back of the cart, while flapping her wings as hard as she could. Together, they managed to get the cart back to the barn. "Phew." Applejack lay down on the ground, a straw in her mouth. She was exhausted, and telling from the look of Rainbow Dash, she was as well. A few seconds later, Dash sat down next to her, leaning back in the shadow of a large apple tree. They lay like that, just watching the clouds for a minute or two, until Applejack broke the silence. "Real nice weather we got today." "Yeah. Shame it won't last long though." "It won't?" Applejack sat up, surprised. "Nope. Big storm coming tomorrow afternoon. Will be raining for rest of the week." Rainbow Dash sounded disappointed."And of course, it will be windy as well, probably alot, soo I won't be able to fly at all." "Well, that's too bad." Applejack lay back down on the ground. She was really enjoying the sunshine."Least I'm done applebucking for this season." "Yeah" said Rainbow Dash thoughtfully."You know, we should go out and do something today, since it's the last beautiful day for at least a week." "Well that's an excellent idea!" Applejack said, excited."We should ask the others as well!" "Actually," Rainbow Dash said."I think they're all busy." "Aw, Really?" "Yeah, Twilight said something about a huge report to the princess while i visited her earlier today. Fluttershy has gone to Cloudsdale to visit her parents and Rarity is in the middle of a very important project she has to finish before tomorrow. Dunno about Pinkie Pie though." "Pinkie Pie's gone to Canterlot to stock up on some party supplies" Applejack said."She told me bout it yesterday." "Oh, okay. Well, I guess just the two of us could go" Rainbow Dash suggested. "That'be nice" Applejack smiled."I could bring some food for us." "Awesome! We could go to Whitetail Wood. It's really beautiful this time of year, before all the leaves falls down." "Sounds good to me. I'll go get some stuff packed." Applejack smiled again."You stay here." "Okie dokie!" Rainbow Dash answered, as Applejack walked off to get the supplies. Rainbow Dash really enjoyed the company of Applejack. She is always honest and reliable, and she's always nice to everypony. Of all her friends, Applejack is the one that's easiest to hang with. Even though it happened sometimes that they argued and fought, Applejack was usually the first to apologize for her behavior. Afterwards, Rainbow Dash always felt ashamed that she hadn't realized how stupid she was. Applejack interrupted her thoughts by calling. "Hey Dashie, what ya prefer to eat? Is apple pie alright?" "Alright? That would be awesome! Your famliy makes the best apple pies in all of Equestria!" Applejack smiled as she went back to packing. She really liked spending time with Rainbow Dash, it was something about her that made Applejack feel very calm and secure. On the other hand, sometimes she found herself looking at Dash in a way that wasn't really normal for mares being just friends, and getting butterflies in her stomach by just thinking about her. She hadn't told anypony, not even Rainbow Dash, about those feelings. She valued her friendship to high to risk loosing it that way. She shook off those thoughts as she finished packing their bags. Walking out of the door, she looked up at the sky. The sun hadn't even reached the middle of the sky yet. It was gonna be a good day, she could just feel it.
Thanks for reading! Original Story posted here, by me. ~ Rainbow Breeze
Chapter 2 As Applejack and Rainbow Dash left the farm, carrying a bag each with apple pies and apple cider, they passed Apple Bloom. "Hey there! Where y'all goin with those bags?" "Me and Dash here are headin to Whitetail Wood for a picnic" answered Applejack. "Oh! Can I come?" Apple Bloom looked excited. "No can't do, sugarcube. Why don't you go hang out with Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo instead?" "Actually", she said, "I was just on my way to them now." And with that Apple Bloom walked past them towards Ponyville, the opposite direction they were going. "See y'all later!" she said as she were walking by. Rainbow Dash looked confused. Applejack smiled at her and said: "She probably didn't even think she'd be allowed to come in the first place." Applejack's facial expression suddenly changed, now looking a bit excited. "Hey", she said, "Dare race me?" "You bet" was the reply as Rainbow Dash started flapping her wings and rose a half a meter in the air, but came to an abrupt stop as Applejack bit her tail to hold her down. "Don't you dare use them wings of yours, that's cheatin" said Applejack between her teeth. "Fine" Rainbow Dash said reluctantly. As she landed on the ground and Applejack let go of her, she immediately ran off, while laughing. "Catch me if you can!" Applejack smiled as she started running as well, feeling alive as her powerful legs brought her forward and as she started catching up with Rainbow Dash. It took them about 20 minutes to get to Whitetail Wood, but they didn't stop there. Running next to each other they kept on running through the forest a good hour or so, and eventually came to a field, next to a steep, but not very high mountain cliff. In front of the cliff was a small stone plateau, raising a meter or so above the field. On both sides of the field, the forest came reached all the way to the cliff, and even a bit up on the plateau. Near the forest, the plateau was grassy, but further out it was just smooth stone. A small river was running down the cliff side, onto the plateau and then into the forest. The field was quite small, about 10 meters across and 30 meters wide. When they came to the field, both ponies stopped exhausted, falling to the ground while breathing heavily. "Draw?" asked Applejack while trying to catch her breath. "Draw" answered Rainbow Dash. She was too tired too care, and though winning was usually very important to her, right now it didn't seem like a big deal. The running had been really hard, both of them sweating in the sunshine, seeing as they both carried fully packed bags. After a minute or so, Rainbow Dash took a look around. "Hey!", she said."This is the perfect place for the picnic!" Applejack couldn't do anything but to agree; The place was beautiful. They walked up to the plateau, and upon seeing the small river they decided to take a bath. They put their bags next to the river and jumped in. The water wasn't even a meter deep, but it was cool and refreshing. The played in the water for about half an hour, before Applejack got cold and went up to the rocky part of the plateau to dry in the sun. As Rainbow Dash watched the dark yellow pony lie down, eyes closed since she was facing the sun and the light yellow hair moving slowly with the wind, she felt a sting in the heart. She had always had special feelings about Applejack, but she had never told anypony. Neither was she planning to, of fear of what might happen. Instead, she got out of the water, shook most of it off, and started picking out stuff from the bags for the picnic, since she was really hungry. Applejack opened a green eye and looked at her, before giving her a brief smile and turning back to the sun. This made Rainbow Dash feel warm inside and she smiled while she put out the blanket on the ground and the food on it. Before she was finished, Applejack came and helped her with the last things. Together, they ate a meal consisting of apple pie and apple cider. Rainbow Dash loved it, but to Applejack, it wasn't really anything special. She ate that kind of food all the time, even though she had to admit she liked it. After putting the plates and blanket away they went into the forest to look around a bit and play. It was when Rainbow Dash playfully flew up into the air above the trees to do a loop, that she noted the wind. It wasn't that strong yet, but it caught her with surprise and she spun around a few times in the air. Looking in the direction of Ponyville, she became terrified when she saw that big storm clouds had entered the area between them and the village.
Thanks for reading! Originally posted here ~ Rainbow Breeze
Chapter 3 Rain was coming from the large, dark clouds, and Rainbow Dash became even more worried as she saw occasional bolts of lightning as well. Immediately she flew down to Applejack. When Applejack saw the look on her face, she realized that it must be something serious. "What's wrong?" she asked, slightly worried. "Storm clouds" said Rainbow Dash, still a bit shaken."But I don't understand! The storm wasn't supposed to come until the Wednesday the 24th!" "The 24th? But that's a Tuesday! That's today!" Now Applejack was worried for real. A lightning storm wasn't to play with, and now she could hear the thunder in the distance. "Oh" said Rainbow Dash as she realized her mistake."I think I managed to get the date wrong", she said, a bit embarrassed. "You did what!" "I'm sorry! But I can't undo it! We gotta find shelter, now!" They were both screaming now, because of the wind that had gotten so strong, that it was threatening to drown their voices. The wind had gotten to full strength worryingly fast, the trees doing nothing to stop it as they were too much spread out, and the clouds were approaching faster than anypony could run. Walking close to each other, they slowly started making their way back towards the plateau where they left their things. The trees were creaking alarmingly, and it didn't take long time until the rain started as well. Applejack called out in surprise when her hat blew off, but her voice didn't reach far in the storm. Soon branches started falling from the trees, sometimes very close to them, and Rainbow Dash almost got blown away like a leaf when the wind got a hold under her right wing. It was only Applejack's quick reaction that saved her. Applejack had thrown herself on the wing that was completely out of control and wrestled it back against her body. And as if things weren't bad enough lightning started striking constantly around them, hitting trees that were sometimes only ten meters away. After walking for what felt like forever, they could finally see the plateau and it looked like they would make it. Then, out of nowhere, a branch fell from a tree just above them, gaining speed with the wind before hitting Applejack's right flank. Applejack gave up a short scream and fell to the ground, unconscious from the pain, bleeding from her right flank and leg. "Applejack!" Rainbow Dash was horrified and didn't know what to do. She poked Applejack's side with her hooves, hoping to wake her up. When it didn't work, she understood she had to carry Applejack to safety. Rainbow Dash managed to get up Applejack on her back, Applejack moaning quietly. Rainbow Dash then continued towards the plateau, Applejack drifting in and out of unconsciousness. She didn't knew why they had to go back there, but somehow it just felt right. When she reached the place were they had placed their bags she couldn't find them anywhere, realizing that they had probably blown away. Not sure where to go next, Rainbow Dash stood there for a few seconds, the rain pouring down on her and Applejack while flashes of lightning constantly lit up the place. Then suddenly Applejack regained consciousness, looked around in confusion before pointing towards something in the cliff side. Rainbow Dash made her way over there, and upon getting closer she saw that it was a small cave entrance. She entered the cave and put Applejack down on the floor in the middle of it, before looking around. The cave was bigger than it first had seemed like from the outside, about ten meters deep and five meters wide at the widest point, where they were standing. Rainbow Dash suddenly realized how exhausted she was after carrying Applejack a long way through the storm. She lied down next to her. The wind was howling outside and the sound of thunder along with flashes of lightning entered the cave every few seconds. They were both wet and shaking because of the cold as Rainbow Dash looked at now fully conscious Applejack in the darkness and asked her: "Are you alright?" "No" she answered, her voice full of pain."I think my right hind leg is broken." She moaned in pain as she tried to change the position of the leg. Looking Rainbow Dash in the eyes, she asked: "What are we gonna do?" Rainbow Dash looked back at her, a look of guilt and sorrow in her face, and answered slowly: "I don't know Applejack. I just don't know. I'm so sorry I got you into this." A tear fell down her cheek. "Don't be. It's alright." Applejack reached out her hoof towards Rainbow Dash's and they sat like that for a while, Rainbow Dash sobbing silently and Applejack holding her hoof, and eventually, Rainbow Dash stopped. "I'm sorry" she said again."I didn't want this to happen." "Course you didn't sugarcube" said Applejack softly, ignoring her pain."There's nothing we can do about it anyway. Let's try and make up a fire, okay? I think I see some old sticks lying around in here." Rainbow Dash nodded before letting go of Applejack, walking in the direction Applejack pointed her. A lightning flash followed by deafening thunder revealed that there were quite many sticks lying around in the cave. As Rainbow Dash started collecting sticks and bringing them to her, Applejack started to form a small campfire. Pain was pulsing from her damaged leg, and she bit her teeth together to not scream. The outside light was fading quickly, so Rainbow Dash had to trust the occasional lightning strikes to provide her with light, making this process take a more time than necessary. When they had enough sticks and logs, Applejack started with the task of lighting the fire while Rainbow Dash sat down next to her. She grabbed a stick with her front legs and placed another larger piece of wood on the ground in front of her. She started using her hooves to spin the stick spin back and forth. She knew that if she could spin the stick fast enough against that other piece of wood, a fire would eventually spring from it. She had done this before several times before, but not being able to see and the pain that came every time she moved too fast made it a bit harder. After several failed attempts, and a whole lot of swearing, a spark appeared. She continued working with the stick and soon the piece of wood was on fire. She placed it in the fireplace under all the other sticks and felt satisfactory as the fire grew bigger and stronger. During the whole process, which took probably well over thirty minutes, Rainbow Dash just sat next to her, leaned against the stone wall and watching silently. As the fire came to life and Applejack could finally relax, she leaned on Rainbow Dash's shoulder. As they sat there with nothing but a a small fire and each other to keep themselves warm with a ferocious lightning storm raging outside, no more words were needed. Exhaustion finally claimed it's price as they both fell into a light and uneasy sleep, not waking up until the next morning.
Thank y'all for reading Originally posted here ~ Rainbow Breeze
Rainbow Dash was running through the Everfree Forest. She didn't knew why she was, or how she had gotten there, but she knew that if she didn't reach her in time, Applejack would not make it. Because of the strong wind she could feel pulling her mane and tail, she could not fly, or even unfold her wings from her body out of fear from getting blown away. She heard a roar, followed by a scream, and she recognized Applejack's voice immediately. Doubling her effort, she ran even faster than before, faster than she had ever ran towards the scream. As she rounded a corner, she saw Applejack lying at the feet of an enormous cave bear, shaking of fear and unable to run away because of her broken leg. "Rainbow Dash!" she cried out. "I'm coming", Rainbow Dash thought to herself. As she quickly ran towards the bear, hoping to take it by surprise, she saw it raising a gigantic paw too finish of Applejack. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened with fear, and Applejack just froze, as if she could avoid being seen by the monster in front of her. For Rainbow Dash, time seemed to move extremely slowly, and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't gain more speed. The bear roared one more time, and struck against Applejack with such power, that he would have easily broke a tree in half. "NOO!" Rainbow Dash leapt into the air, using her wings to try to get more speed. Too late, she realized her mistake as the wind sudden got a hold of her, quickly pulling her into the sky and away from Applejack. Below her, she saw the bear's paw hit Applejack, throwing her against the wall, bleeding heavily from her head. Rainbow Dash tried to scream, but she couldn't, and the wind just brought her higher and higher into the sky, the light fading away until she was completely alone in the darkness.
Rainbow Dash woke up with a start, her heart pounding rapidly as she looked around. The cave was now much brighter than yesterday, but it was still raining and windy outside, and she could see occasional lightning strikes, almost tearing the sky apart. Applejack still slept against her shoulder. The memories of the horrible dream already fading, Rainbow Dash leaned back against the wall again, thinking about what had happened the day before. Guilt and shame hit her as she saw that Applejack's broken leg and flank now had gotten several large bruises, the largest one being the size of two hooves placed next to each other, and the leg sticking out in a strange angle. Dash slowly got to her hooves, careful not to let Applejack fall to the ground. She started walking around the cave, stretching her aching body. She noted that the fire had burned out, so they would have to find more wood. That wasn't an urgent matter though, because of the sun shining through the clouds. What was important now was to find food. Rainbow Dash was starving, and she knew that Applejack was as well. She would probably have to splint Applejack's broken leg, but she had no idea how to. Looking at the yellow earth pony, Rainbow Dash saw that she was now awake and lied there watching her stretching. "Slept well?" Applejack asked her. "Yeah." Rainbow Dash lied, choosing not to tell her about the dream. She was glad she was not the element of honesty."What about you?" "When I finally managed to fall asleep, I did. The pain kept me awake for a while." She grimaced as she looked at her leg, seeing the bruises."Guess I hurt myself pretty bad, huh?" She forced a smile. "Yeah" Dash answered and gave her a brief smile back."About that, should we splint the leg or something? I've got no idea how to do it." "If ya bring me the things, I can tell ya how to." "Sure" Rainbow Dash said, happy to finally be able to do something to help ease Applejack's pain."I guess I better get going, while the sun is up." "Yeah. Well I'll stay here. Not that I could walk away or anything." She rolled her eyes to emphasize the statement."See y'all later!" "Bye!" Rainbow Dash walked out into the storm, careful to not let the wind get a hold of her wings. That part from the dream hadn't yet faded from her memory. The rain was pouring down, making her soaking wet within just a few seconds, and lightning lit the sky every few seconds. Determined not to fail her, Rainbow Dash started to make her way through the storm towards the forest. She was hoping to find some branches and sticks to splint Applejack's leg, as well as to making another fire. She also had to keep an eye out for food. Finding sticks or branches lying around proved to be easy. The storm had blown off a huge amount of these and Rainbow Dash could see several trees that didn't have any branches left. As she bent down to pick up a medium sized branch on the ground, she realized: "How am I going to carry these things? I can only pick up one at a time with my mouth." She paused, thinking about it a second or two. She swore out loud."I don't have time for this. The sun is going to set before I've got enough things!" As she kept walking through the forest, desperate to think of something, an oddly moving branch caught her eye. Upon walking closer to investigate, she saw that it was one of the brown leather bags they had brought for the picnic. It had flied into a small tree, flapping in the wind. Rainbow Dash almost couldn't believe it. This would speed up the process of gathering sticks and food by a lot. She reached out and grabbed the bag with her mouth, throwing it onto her back while holding it down with her wings. Starting to make her way back to the cave they used as shelter, she picked up sticks and logs of various sizes and putting them in the saddlebag, filling it up quickly. As Dash approached the cave the bag had gotten quite heavy, she was exhausted from the effort needed to carry it. Entering the cave, she saw Applejack still lying in the very same spot and the very same position as when she left her. "Hi there", Applejack said faintly, forcing another beautiful smile as she saw the recovered saddlebag. Rainbow Dash smiled back while emptying the content on the floor in front of her. "I could try and splint your leg now" she said."If you tell me how to do it." Applejack thought for a moment. "Take the lids from the bag and tear them into stripes, half a hoof wide" she said. Rainbow Dash did so, though the tough leather didn't give in easily, and ended up with four individual stripes, half a hoof wide and almost four hooves long. She put them in front of Applejack. "Good." From the look on her face, Rainbow Dash could tell she was in pain. "Now" she took a short pause to inhale."Get two sticks bout the length of ma hind leg." Rainbow Dash took two sticks like that from the pile of branches she had collected. Following Applejack's instructions, Rainbow Dash placed one of the sticks on each side of the broken leg, before tying the leather stripes around the leg and securing the sticks into place. "How do you feel?" she asked a bit nervously, afraid she somehow might had done it wrong. "Better" Applejack answered. She tested moving the leg around a bit, and while it still hurt, it wasn't that bad anymore and she could almost completely ignore it now. Applejack looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes and smiled at her. "Thanks." You could hear the sincerity in her voice. "It's the least I could do" Rainbow Dash blushed slightly. Without the pain constantly pulsing from the leg, Applejack noted she was starving. As if she could read her thoughts, or perhaps was just really hungry herself, Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves. "I'm gonna go and see if I can find some food" she said. She picked up the saddlebag that was now lacking a lid along with any other excessive features, put it on and walked out of the cave. "See you soon!" And with that she was gone. Lying still and waiting quickly became boring for Applejack, especially now that the pain wasn't that bad anymore. Her leg felt more numb now, but still hurt if she touched it. Eventually, she tried to stand up. She was shaking of the effort needed and hated herself for being so weak, but eventually managed to get on her hooves. If she didn't put her weight on the hurt leg, she even managed to walk around a bit before exhaustion overtook her and she sank back down on the floor. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was out in the storm, defying the weather in order to find some food before night fell. She wasn't really sure exactly what she was looking for, as long as it was edible. Dash had almost started losing hope as the lightness slowly faded away, when she saw a tree that somehow looked familiar. When she saw the a red fruit hanging from one the branches that had not yet been blown off, she realized it was an apple tree. But that single, red apple, hanging just out of her reach, was the only fruit left on the whole tree. She knew she should have turned back by now, but she just couldn't return to Applejack empty-hooved. She was the element of loyalty after all. Not being able to fly up to the apple because of the wind, Rainbow Dash decided to try and applebuck the tree like Applejack would have done. Positioning herself in front of the tree while facing away, she raised both her hind legs and kicked. The tree shook a little bit but nothing fell down. A bit angry, and desperate, she kicked again, now even harder. This time, she could hear the tree creaking, but still nothing fell down. Once again, she kicked the tree with all her might, and this time a branch fell down, landing a few meters away from her. This gave her an idea. She grabbed the branch with her mouth and poked the apple with it. After a few pokes, the apple fell towards the ground, Rainbow Dash throwing the branch away to catch it. She put it in her bag and started making her way back. After what felt like forever, she got back to the cave. While standing just outside the entrance, she realized she only had one apple. Her stomach was hurting of the hunger, but she knew that Applejack needed it better. Walking into the cave, she found Applejack lying next to another campfire she had created using the rest of the branches and sticks. "Welcome back" she said."I was just startin to wonder." Rainbow Dash gave her a smile. "I got an apple here." Rainbow Dash reached down in the saddlebag and picked up the apple. "You take it" she said, while putting it down next to Applejack. "Thanks" she said happily, and was just about to bite it when she stopped herself."What bout you?" she asked, a bit troubled. "It's cool. I don't need anything" Rainbow Dash lied."You eat it." "You sure bout that?" Applejack didn't look convinced. "Listen AJ, you need it more than I do. Just go ahead and eat it." "Okay" she said, and took a big bite of the apple. While she ate, Rainbow Dash sat down next to her, watching her silently. She kind of regretted giving up the apple, but what she said was true; Applejack needed that apple more than she did, having hurt herself like that. Dash knew she could last without food a little while longer. At least she hoped so. Having finished the apple, Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash. "Thanks" she smiled, and before Rainbow Dash could do anything, she leaned forward and kissed her. Rainbow Dash, completely taken by surprise, just sat there and did nothing. She couldn't believe it. Applejack stopped after a few seconds, a bit worried about Dash's reaction. "Y'all ok..." Before she could finish the sentence, Rainbow Dash cut her off by kissing her. She had wanted this moment to come for such a long time, fantasized about it, but she never had the guts to tell Applejack about her feelings. They fell asleep lying in each other hooves, both of them with a smile on their faces. Outside, the storm slowly started dying and fading away.
Thanks for reading, original story here (These author notes are getting repetitive, aren't they?) ~ Rainbow Breeze
Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash finally enjoyed a night of deep and dreamless sleep, being able to relax in each others hooves. Rainbow Dash awoke first, well rested but her stomach aching from hunger. She lied there, looking at the yellow cowpony sleeping next to her, a peaceful look in Applejack's beautiful face. Applejack had been her best friend for a long time, and perhaps they could be more than that now? Just thinking about what happened the evening before made her blush, even though it had been nothing more than kisses. Rainbow Dash sat up, looking around in the cave where they had spent the last few days. "How long has it been? Two days? It feels like so much longer" she thought to herself as she got on her hooves. The cave was brighter now, light pouring in from the entrance. Outside she could see that the storm had abated significantly, the sun shining, the the wind having subsided as well. She could perhaps even fly now. But out of experience, she knew that wasn't a good idea. This weather wouldn't last long, and it could go back to how it was before in an instant. The storm wasn't supposed to die away entirely until the end of the week,so this was just a minor pause from it. Rainbow Dash carefully nudged Applejack's side, waking her up. "Wha?" she said sleepily. Noting Rainbow Dash standing beside her she smiled. "Mornin' Dashie." Rainbow Dash loved it when she called her that. "Good morning" she smiled back. Dash made a gesture towards the cave opening."The weather is much better now, so we should probably try and get back to Ponyville" She paused for a second, a serious look on her face."We may not get another chance like this." "We better get goin' then" Applejack said while standing up, suddenly fully awake. She had almost forgotten the broken leg, and swore loud as she accidentally put weight on it. She bit her jaws together, determined not to show any weakness. "You okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, a bit worried."Can you walk?" "Yeah" was the response. Applejack took a few limping steps towards the exit."Let's go" she said, determined not to let pain get the better of her. Rainbow Dash saw through her brave facade immediately, but she just shook her head silently, following her friend out into the rain that was still falling lightly. The sun shined through a hole in the clouds creating a beautiful rainbow up in the distance. Large storm clouds were still in the sky around them, occasionally lit up by a lightning bolt. The wind was very unpredictable, changing direction and strength all the time. On the whole, there was something strangely beautiful about the storm. As the first drops of rain hit her, and she could feel the wind trying to constantly tackle her to the ground, Rainbow Dash gave up all hope of being able to fly. The two mares started making their way through the storm, walking close to each other to help against the wind. Even though it wasn't raining that much, they both became soaking wet and cold after only a few minutes. Yet none of them spoke a word, and they continued in the direction they knew Ponyville were.
They walked for what felt like forever before Applejack called out in pain and collapsed under a large tree. “AJ!” Rainbow Dash rushed to her side. “Ah'm fine...” she said, fighting to keep the tears away.”It hurts, Dash. It hurts so much.” She paused for a few seconds, breathing heavily.”I think” she said, looking down and sobbing quietly. “Ya'll have to go on without me. Leave me here.” “Applejack.” Rainbow Dash walked up to her, putting a hoof under her chin and forcing Applejack to look her in the eyes.”I'm loyalty. I don't abandon anypony. Ever. You know that.” Applejack gave her a brief smile through the tears. “Ah know ya don't” she said.”Ah'll just have to... rest here for a while.” With that, AJ moved towards the trunk of the tree and leaned against it. Rainbow Dash cursed for herself, knowing that in her own weakened condition she wouldn't be able to carry Applejack. A quick look towards the sky showed her that the skies were getting darker with more and more clouds. The wind was also intensifying again, as was the rain. If the storm got back to full power, they wouldn't be able to get home. Frustrated that she could do nothing about the situation, Rainbow Dash decided to just take a walk. “I'ma scout ahead a bit. I'll be back.” she said, leaving Applejack alone by the tree.
Applejack watched as Rainbow Dash disappeared between the trees. The pain was almost unbearable, pulsing through her entire body, and when she moved, it felt like her leg was pierced with a thousand needles. Despite all of this she didn't scream, she didn't moan, she just sat there, teeth bit together waiting for the pain to slowly die away. Which it eventually did. When Applejack felt that she could move without too much pain, she took a closer look at her broken hind leg. The bruises were even worse than before, having turned purplish now, and the leg had swollen up where the actual fracture was. “Well Ah won't be using this leg fer at least some weeks” she thought to herself, jerking slightly as she touched the leg. Rainbow Dash hadn't even been away 5 minutes, yet Applejack felt eager to keep moving. While a part of her really enjoyed being alone with Rainbow Dash, especially now that she had they both seemed to have feelings for each others, out in a thunderstorm with no food or shelter wasn't really optimal. She just wanted to get home as quickly as possible. A bit bored, she tried standing up. Pain immediately shot out from the leg, almost paralyzing her, but she forced herself to remain standing and after a while, the pain subdued, becoming nothing but a distraction. After taking a few steps around just to see if she could, she went back to the tree and sat down. The sound of a snapping stick from her right surprised Applejack, and she quickly turned to see what caused it. She peered through the rain; there was nothing there. But as she got to her feet she saw, between the trees, the shade of something big quickly moving through the bushes and out of sight behind a tree. “Dash?” she asked, a bit nervous. “Stop foalin' around an' get over here.” The thing quickly moved to behind another tree. The light had started to fade away, but a lightning bolt showed Applejack the contour of it. It was huge, bigger than anypony could possibly be, and moved with ease through the thick vegetation. “Dashie?” she asked silently.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was walking through the rain, trying to find the way to the main road running through Whitetail Wood. If she did, finding their way back to Ponyville would be a straw of hay. Rainbow Dash had been walking for a while, but she made sure to always keep an eye on her surroundings so she could find her way back to Applejack. “Applejack” Rainbow Dash tried to clear her mind and focus at the task at hoof, but somehow, her thoughts kept trailing back to the yellow cowpony. Her yellow mane, her green eyes, her stetson hat, her country accent. She was perfect in every sense. Still deep in her thoughts, Rainbow Dash almost crossed the very road she was looking for without realizing. “Sweet” she thought after letting out a small chuckle at her own obliviousness, allowing herself to smile.
A sudden roar followed by a scream snapped Rainbow Dash out of her thoughts. “AJ” She immediately turned and started running back as fast as she could, exceeding her own physical limits as she darted through the forest. Another roar, another scream. This time, Applejack screamed out Rainbow Dash's name. The Pegasus forced herself to run even faster, frustrated beyond description that she could not use her wings. “Just a little bit more...”
Applejack was staring at the beast that had emerged from the shadows. It was a bear, and a really big one too. However, it was thin, as if it hadn't eaten in days. The bear eyed her with curiosity, like it was considering whether Applejack was edible or not. After a few seconds it stood up on its hind legs, raising high up into the air, before it unleashed a mighty roar and slammed its paws into the ground with tremendous power. Applejack had let out a scream of fear. The bear now moved towards her, growling and with bare teeth. Applejack slowly backed of, trying to keep the distance to the bear. The bear gave up another roar while closing in the distance. Applejack couldn't outrun the bear. She couldn't fight it. At least not alone... “RAINBOW DASH!” she cried out, sending a prayer to Celestia that the Pegasus wasn't far away. The bear drew closer and struck against Applejack, hitting her left front leg. Applejack jumped backwards and tried to scream, but no words would escape her throat. Applejack backed into the trunk of a tree, and simply froze there, out of fear. When the bear was barely a meter away, it raised a paw with the intention of striking her down. However, before it had the chance to, a streak of rainbow and cyan shot out of between the trees and pummeled into the bear's side. The bear stumbled a few steps sideways, before roaring and turning to deal with the new threat. “You okay AJ?” Rainbow Dash asked, positioning herself between the bear and the earth pony. “Yeah” Applejack answered faintly, examining her front leg. Pain was shooting out from it, as if it was broken or dislodged, and the bear had scratched up a large wound which she was bleeding from.”Or not really...” Applejack slid down as the pain got overwhelming, lying leaned against the tree but staying conscious. The bear glared at them, before roaring again and charging Rainbow Dash. The cyan pony skillfully dodged sideways before landing a kick on the bears head. She wasn't a black belt in karate for nothing. The bear growled in pain before sweeping with his paw against Rainbow Dash. Again, she dodged sideways and again, she kicked the bear on the side of it's head. It roared out if pain, but this time, the bear stopped and just stared at her, wanting her to the first move. Rainbow Dash decided to walk around the bear, trying to force it's attention off Applejack. As the bear turned to face her, she jumped forwards again, throwing another kick. This time, however, the bear was ready. As Rainbow Dash charged towards it, it quickly swooped down with it's paw, hitting Rainbow Dash just above her wing and knocking her down on the ground. Taking the opportunity, it then struck her again, sending the Pegasus flying through the air and into the trunk of a large tree. Seeing Rainbow Dash being struck down, Applejack immediately shot to her feet. She bit together and ignored the pain that was pulsing through her entire body. She limped towards the bear as quickly as she possibly could with her two damaged legs, determined to not let it harm the cyan pony anymore. For said pony, the pain was almost unbearable. Rainbow Dash saw everything through a haze, having hit her head when she collided with the tree. When she got hit the first time, she had felt a snapping sensation in her right wing, and she spent a brief moment wondering if it was broken. The second hit had struck her right side and ripped open a wound, her blood slowly pouring down her side from it. As she fought to remain conscious, she could see the beast slowly approaching to finish her. “No...” she moaned, raising a hoof in front of her, as if could shield her from the bear. As the bear got closer, Rainbow Dash could barely make out something yellow approaching it from behind with her blurred vision. “Applejack...?” Applejack ran up to next to the bear's face and turned so that she faced away from it. The bear looked in her direction, seemingly surprised. The farmer pony stood on her front hooves like she would buck a tree, and kicked at the bear with all her might using both her hind legs. She knew, out of experience, that a few kicks with that power was enough to actually break an apple tree in half. The kick connected to the bear's face with a hear-able *crunch*. It staggered backwards, blood flowing freely from it's nose. The bear whimpered, before turning and running off into the forest. Immediately after landing the kick, Applejack fell to the ground. She hadn't really thought about the enormous pressure she would put on both her wounded legs, and now they burned like fire. Gasping, she turned to Rainbow Dash. It wasn't a pretty sight. One of her front legs were in an awkward angle. Her right wing was completely broken, drenched by blood and rain, and she was bleeding from her head and heavily from her side. Applejack crawled towards her. “Dash” she panted, while moving closer and reaching out for her hoof. As Rainbow Dash heard her name, she looked Applejack in the eyes and took her hoof. “Heya” she said weakly, and gave her the tiniest of smiles. “The pain, it's...” She paused, breathing in quickly.”I don't know if... if I'll make it.” Applejack was crying now, tears streaming down her face. She had no words. She just lied there, next to the wounded Pegasus that she loved. “Applejack” Rainbow Dash spoke silently now, every word being harder to speak than the last one. ”I want ya to know...” Another pause. Rainbow Dash locked eyes with Applejack, rose staring into green. “I love you” she said. She then went completely silent, slowly closing her eyes and lowering her head to the ground. “No... NO!” Applejack broke down in tears. Why was the world so cruel? She lied there, alone in the rain that was now pouring down before exhaustion, pain and blood loss finally claimed their prize and the Applejack's world faded into darkness, while she was still sobbing quietly.
ATTENTION Here's the deal: I'm going to rewrite this story. The reason is that I wasn't really satisfied with it, especially the beginning. Anyhow, the rewritten thing will be posted as a new story, with a different name. You will be able to find it on my profile page. The story will follow the same basic line of events, but I want to focus more on interaction and relations between the characters.
I will leave this original story up, but there will be no further updates on it UNTIL I've gotten this far in the rewritten version. Which may take a while. So anyhow, didn't really feel good leaving you guys with a cliffhanger, so here's the beginning of the next chapter.
~ Rainbow Breeze
Chapter 6
It took a while before Applejack even realized that she was conscious. The first thing she noticed was the brightness. Strong light shined upon her, piercing through her closed eyelids. Instinctively, she tried to lift a hoof to block the light out. Nothing. She couldn't move at all, nor could she feel her body. "Strange." She spent a moment pondering what this could mean, however thinking seemed to be much harder and slower than usual. She felt all fuzzy and could barely concentrate at all, so she just decided to let it go. Normally, not being able to move would have upset her, but she felt cozy right now, and it didn't really seem to matter. If only the light would diminish.
After a while, Applejack started hearing things. Quick hoofsteps, ponies chatting silently, somepony crying. Again, she spent a while thinking about where she could be but the only conclusion she could come to, was that she wasn't dead, which was a relief.
The background noises grew progressively stronger, until she was hearing everything at a normal volume. She also started feeling her own body again and being able to move, though nothing more than a small twitch at a time. While this was happening, she also grew aware of a throbbing pain from her left front leg, as well as her right hind leg. She also felt itchy all over the body, as if she had been coated in itching powder. The whole experience was starting to get uncomfortable, and Applejack felt the urge to just do something. Before she could think of anything, she heard some familiar voices coming into hearing distance.
"How is she?" Applejack had to think for a while before realizing that this was Twilight Sparkle's voice. She sounded worried. Judging from the hoofsteps, the group stopped just a few meters away.
"She has a broken hind leg and a front leg with several fractures, but otherwise she's fine." This was a stallion's voice, calm and comforting, but Applejack couldn't recognize it at all.
"T-then... W-why isn't she awake?" Applejack recognized Fluttershy's stuttering voice that she would get whenever talking to strangers.
"We had to do some surgery for the front leg, and we gave her narcotics. She should wake up soon." This was the unknown stallion again.
"You all seem to have done a marvelous job."
"Thank you, miss Rarity. Though it will be weeks before her legs are completely healed, and she can walk again" the stallion continued. Applejack heard a gasp before another pony spoke up with a really enthusiastic and fast-talking voice.
"That means we can throw a Get-better-party! Ooo! Or we could wait until she's fine again and throw an even bigger Congratulations-for-getting-better-party! Or we could do BOTH!" Pinkie Pie gasped for air, and Applejack smiled on the inside at her friend's antics.
"Well, thank you very much for patching her up, Doctor" said Twilight. Doctor. Applejack suddenly realized what was going on. She was in an hospital. And, judging from what the doctor had said, she had two broken legs.
"That explains the pain... And the fuzziness" she thought to herself. However, she had a nagging feeling that there was something else, something she had forgotten.
"It's what we're here for" the Doctor replied. "Remember, when she wakes up, she ought to be a bit light-headed, so take it easy with her. She may suffer a temporary amnesia. That's all" he continued, and Applejack could hear his hoofsteps fade away as he left them.
Applejack's own memory was failing her, and she was really wanted to ask the others what had happened with her. She began fighting the drowsiness, desperately trying to move, hoping to wake up her sleeping body. And with a huge effort, she managed to open her eyes. Applejack gasped for air and her whole body jerked as it awoke from the paralysis-like sleep it had been in.
Applejack was in a standard hospital bed with white sheets. The bed had been adjusted to mimic a pillow, so Applejack half sat, half lied down. Her broken front leg was plastered from the hoof up to shoulder, and it was suspended in the air in front of her. Her hind leg was plastered as well, but it just lied atop the sheets. Above her in the ceiling hung the brightly shining lamp that had been annoying her.
At the right side of her bed she saw Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie all standing and looking at her. Pinkie was the first to speak.
"You're awake! she said happily as she jumped forwards and gave her a big hug.
"Barely." Applejack hugged her back, still feeling dizzy, just like the doctor said she would. "Ouch. That hurts, Pinkie." Pinkie Pie immediately let go of her and jumped backwards a few feet, standing next to the others again.
"Well, as you can see you've got two broken legs" explained Twilight, giving her a smile. "It will be a while before you can walk again."
"Ah heard the doc say that" Applejack paused, trying to organize her thoughts. "What happened to me anyways?" she asked. As she looked at her friends, she realized somepony was missing. "An' where's Rainbow?"
"You don't remember?" Rarity asked while she traded uncertain glances with the others.
"We don't really know..." Fluttershy said silently, hiding behind her mane. Applejack was a bit worried now.
"Tell me what y'all know. Ah can't remember a thing..."
"Well" Twilight said while taking a step forward. "There's been a horrible storm for the last couple of days. You and Rainbow Dash had, according to Apple Bloom, went out for a picnic in Whitetail Wood just before the storm arrived. When you didn't come back, we were all of course very worried. So the four of us plus Big Macintosh organized a search party. We found you on the third day. That was yesterday." Applejack just stared up into the white ceiling while her memories slowly came back to her. She remembered the thunderstorm. The rain pouring down, lightning bolts shooting from the sky, rolling thunder. She could recall a cave, where they had their picnic? No, they had been looking for shelter... They couldn't go back, because... She had been wounded. She had broke her leg somehow, and Rainbow Dash had splinted it.
"Tell me more" she said slowly, with a trembling voice.
"There isn't much more. When we found you, both you and Rainbow Dash were severely wounded, and there was footprints all over the place from something. Something large." Applejack gasped as the rest of the memories rushed back into her mind. The walk, the bear, the fight. Rainbow Dash bleeding to death... I love you. Her final words echoed through Applejack's mind. Applejack started crying uncontrollably.
Her friends just stood and stared at her for a second, not expecting that kind of response, before they all rushed forwards and hugged her.
"It's alright..."
"Nopony's going to hurt you..."
"We're here..."
But they didn't understand. They couldn't understand. Applejack loved Rainbow Dash, and now she was gone. She wanted to explain to them how she felt, try to make them see. But all the words she would manage to utter between her sobs were:
"R-rainb-bow D-dash..."
"Rainbow Dash just came out of surgery, Applejack. The doctors says she's stable now." Twilight Sparkle looked Applejack in the eyes. "She will be fine."
The world froze as Applejack tried to comprehend what she had just heard. Desperate thoughts were racing around inside her head, trying to explain how or even if it was possible. Some of the thoughts even suggested Twilight was lying, or that this was all her imagination. Applejack considered those, before she shook them off. Though she was bad at telling when somepony was lying, Twilight certainly wasn't one to even try and lie about things like this. And dreams can be a lot of things, but never physically painful. And the pain in the earth pony's body told her that this was all as real as can be. Though she still didn't understand.
“H-how?” She wasn't sobbing anymore, but tears were still streaming down her face. She looked at the others, as if trying to see an answer among them. “Ah was certain...” She gulped before continuing “That she di-” Applejack didn't finish the word. Just thinking about it was hurting on the inside.
To everypony's surprise, including her own, Fluttershy spoke up.
“S-she lost a lot of blood, and had many broken bones.” Fluttershy paused for a second and inhaled deeply before continuing. “But Rainbow Dash is strong, stronger than...”
“They say that she'll probably stay asleep for a long while though, because of all the sleepy-pills they gave her” Pinkie Pie interjected, almost looking like she found that funny.
“They didn't give her pills, Pinkie” Twilight remarked, a bit annoyed at her antics, before turning to Applejack again. “They're still giving Rainbow Dash narcotics, because being awake would hurt to much for her. She's probably gonna stay out for at least another three days.”
Applejack knew that they were speaking the truth; Rainbow Dash was alive. She wiped the tears of her face with her not-bandaged hoof.
“Can Ah see her?” she asked weakly. Though she had no doubt in her friends anymore, she still wanted to see it with her own eyes. Because when she closed them, she still saw the cyan Pegasus lying wounded on the ground, life slowly fading away from her.
“Applejack, just look at yourself” Rarity sighed. “You're barely awake, and you certainly won't be leaving that bed for a while. No, you'll have to wait. Besides, the doctor's won't allow any visitors yet.”
Applejack opened her mouth to protest, but it turned into a yawn. She realized that she actually was was kind of tired. Almost to tired to stay awake. And, as if sent by Celestia herself, a nurse approached them, announcing the end of the visiting time.
“Time's up” she said. Her voice was resolute, leaving nothing to doubt, but still loving and caring. “Applejack needs her rest. Feel free to come back tomorrow.”
As the others left the room one after one, promising to visit her again as soon as possible, Applejack tried to collect her thoughts. They were still swirling around in her head like dust in the wind, and though she was still worried about Rainbow Dash, Applejack felt hopeful now.
“She'll be fine.”
A single tear trailed down the cowpony's cheek, and she fell asleep again with a smile on her lips.