"Come 'n' get it!" Applejack called, flipping the last of the flapjacks from the griddle all the way across the room to the stack on the kitchen table.
"Aw, yeah!" With a rustle and a whoosh, Dash flashed through the doorway, her eyes and grin wide. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"
Applejack couldn't help grinning back. Hanging her apron on its peg, she wondered why she'd ever been worried about the homestead getting too quiet. The way Dash kept hanging around, there wasn't much chance of—
A question hit Applejack, and she turned back to watch Dash shoveling flapjacks, her cheeks bulging and powdered sugar sprinkling her lips.
When exactly had Dash moved into the house?
Or had she moved in? Even with her posters and goggles and flight suits scattered over tables and counters and stuffed into closets, that gaudy ol' cloud mansion of hers was still floating around the outskirts of Ponyville; Applejack couldn't imagine a place like that'd hold together all too well without a pegasus keeping it in check. And with Dash always out doing some Wonderbolt thing or other and with her weather work, it wasn't like she slept here every night.
Did she?
And the question that hit Applejack then smacked her so hard, it set the breath to hitching sideways in her chest.
When exactly had Dash moved into her bed?
Yes, Applejack remembered every step along the way: grinning and elbowing each other out in the woods or kicking around Ponyville, compadres from Dash's first week stationed here; standing with shoulders pressed together in pride when Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle moved into the apartment above their cutie mark assistance clinic downtown; nuzzling more'n a little drunkenly at Mac and Cheerilee's engagement party; Dash staying over the whole week after Mac had loaded his things up and carted 'em to Cheerilee's place; the two of them clinging together those long, dark hours after Granny Smith's funeral.
And it wasn't that Applejack was complaining. She found she liked having somepony to hold in the night, a neck to press her face into and a mane to stroke, and those times she wanted something a little randier—or those times Dash tickled or teased her into wanting it—Dash always proved ready, willing, and more than able. She missed her, sure, whenever Dash wasn't here, but mostly it meant that she got all the sleep she needed and all her work done, something she had to admit didn't always happen when Dash was around.
Of course, there was plenty of work to do even with Mac and Apple Bloom still coming out to the Acres nearly every day to help. Which didn't leave a lotta time to get moody about anything, and that was just the way Applejack liked it.
Just the way she liked it. Watching Dash swig down her mug of cocoa, Applejack rolled those words around in her head. Whatever it was between her and Dash had grown and blossomed just the way she liked it, too, as slow and gentle as an apple tree but as strong and steady as every solstice following every equinox. No down-on-one-knee-with-a-hoof-holding-out-a-ring kinda moment like Rarity went on and on about; no fervent declarations under the moonlight like Twilight said she was looking forward to; no proposals written in clouds like Pinkie swore she was gonna do when she met her special somepony; no wavery eyes with rose petals blowing in the background like Fluttershy sometimes whispered and blushed about.
Nope, her and Dash were the same as they'd always been, laughing and fighting and helping each other. But looking across the kitchen, Applejack suddenly and for maybe the first time actually saw her marefriend—or her husband or her wife or whatever other word might be out there somewhere: the one pony in the whole wide, wide world of Equestria, at any rate, that she simply couldn't imagine living without.
Dash froze in mid-chew, her eyes snapping up from her plate and her gaze crashing into Applejack's. "What?" she asked, her voice thick with half-eaten pancakes.
Applejack shook her head and moved to her own place at the table. "Nothing. And pass the syrup. If'n there's any left, I mean..."
Swallowing her mouthful, Dash started to put on her best shocked expression, ready to deny that she would ever take all the syrup while trying frantically to remember if she'd left any in the jar.
But the look on Applejack's face stopped her, a tenderness Dash didn't see all that often in those half-closed eyes and in that half-stretched smile. Half a dozen questions flashed through her mind like heat lightning, but she shoved them all away and went with: "AJ? You OK?"
"I reckon." Applejack started leaning toward her, and Dash licked her lips, ready as always for some morning smooches. But—
"Long as I get me some syrup," Applejack said, her hooves moving to grab the jar instead. Sitting back and flipping open the lid, she drizzled a narrow stream of the stuff over the top of her pancake stack. "How 'bout you? What's your schedule look like the resta the day?"
Dash gave her maybe a quarter of a glare, ruffled her feathers, and sat back as well. "Final rehearsal's this afternoon, then tonight?" And knowing it was stupid, that it never worked and just made her sound needy and clinging and the very opposite of cool, Dash went on anyway: "You really oughtta come, AJ. Cloudsdale's not that far away right now, Twilight's got that spell so you can walk around up there, and the show's gonna be pretty darn spectacular." She unveiled her most rakish grin and polished a hoof tip against her chest. "If I do say so myself."
Even sucking down a pancake, Applejack still managed to give that low chuckle of hers, Dash's insides fluttering the way they always did at the sound. But then—
Then Applejack didn't give her usual frown and shake of her head. "Y'know? Reckon I will." Applejack tapped a hoof against the table, and Dash couldn't stop her eyes from widening. "I'll have the chores done afore sundown, and Twi's always bragging 'bout how good she's gotten with her long-range transport magic. She can do up my hooves, pop me straight over to the arena, and there I'll be in plenty of time to see what all the fuss is about." She nodded and smiled. "Whaddaya say?"
As much as she tried to keep them contained, Dash's wings flared on their own and sprang her into a hover. "I'd say it's your lucky day," she managed to get out without squealing. "'Cause I think I've got an extra ticket or two stuffed in my saddlebag somewhere. Lemme go check."
She darted into the hallway before the joy could show on her face, and she couldn't keep from doing a couple barrel rolls as she shot up the stairwell and into her and Applejack's room. Ever since she'd joined the Bolts' main roster, she'd always grabbed a VIP ticket for each show just in case, and the thought that Applejack would actually be watching tonight sent a tingle through Dash like the last instants before cracking off a Sonic Rain—
A question hit her, though, digging through her bags, and Dash stopped.
When exactly had it become so important that Applejack see her fly?
Not that it had ever been unimportant. Applejack had been just about her best friend ever since she'd first been assigned to the Ponyville weather team, but Dash had learned early on that she wasn't the easiest pony to impress. Which made the times Dash had impressed her shine like stars in Dash's memory.
But, well, Rarity was pretty hard to impress, too. So why hadn't Dash ever considered giving her a ticket? Was there something about Applejack that—?
And the question that hit her then nearly threw her like a sudden downdraft, snapped her head up, and sent her staring around the room like she'd never seen it before and had no idea where that fine blue down clinging to the sheets and blankets of Applejack's bed had come from.
When exactly had Applejack become her marefriend?
Because she was her marefriend, no doubt about it: Dash'd pop any pony in the jaw who tried to say otherwise. Of course, she'd probably pop any pony in the jaw who called her and Applejack a couple, too, now that she thought about it, but that was beside the point. What the two of them had was bigger than any stupid words.
That got her grinning, and dumping everything out of her saddlebags, she nosed through the pile, plucked the ticket with her teeth, and zoomed back downstairs. "Here you go," she said, giving a puff that wafted the ticket across the table to settle beside Applejack's plate. "Best seat in the house. You just wait there afterwards, and I'll come get you."
Applejack took off her hat. "Thank ya kindly." She tucked the ticket up into the crown of it, flipped it back into place, and gave another of those half-lidded looks. "But won't you be busy partying with your fans and all?"
"Ha!" Dash pushed another pile of pancakes onto her plate. "You and me are gonna show Cloudsdale how a party is done." She glanced over at the syrup jar. "I, uhh, don't suppose there's any..."
With a smirk, Applejack flipped the lid open to reveal a full container of sweet brown liquid. "Got another batch outta the icebox while you was upstairs."
"Yes!" Leaping up, Dash grabbed the syrup and fixed her gaze on Applejack's. "Y'know what? This has already been the best day ever."
"Yeah." Applejack's smile dazzled her. "Reckon it has."
Somewhere behind Applejack, Dash asked, "Tonight, then?" for what must've been the seventh time in the last ten minutes.
Rolling her eyes, Applejack rinsed the soap off the flapjack platter and set it in the drying rack. "Don't you got places to be?"
"You bet I do," she heard Dash mutter, and a warm breeze brushed across her back; with a smile, Applejack leaned to the left till her shoulder bumped against Dash hovering in her usual spot beside her. "But," Dash was going on, "this is gonna be totally epic, so you better show up."
Applejack grinned, leaned herself a mite farther, and pushed just hard enough to set Dash drifting toward the door. "I said I would, so I will." She turned back to the dishes. "'Less'n some pony keeps me from getting my work done."
"I'm going; I'm going." A colder puff tousled Applejack's mane, and she looked over in time to see Dash streak out the door, her rainbow trail slamming it shut behind her.
Warmth still filled Applejack, though, and while most of her wanted to think it was gas left over from eating too many flapjacks, a whisper in the back of her thoughts quietly disagreed. Dash, that whisper was saying, and marefriend and love of your life.
It was enough to make Applejack stomp a hoof. And yeah, sure, maybe it was true, but that didn't mean there was any call to get mushy about it. Her and Dash had been together since Mac and Cheerilee's wedding, after all, and that had been—
She stopped and ran the figures through her head one more time, sure she must've made a mistake. But no: that was long enough ago, it was better measured in years instead of months. So how the hay had it taken her till today to realize—?
She stopped again, and this time she took a couple deep breaths for good measure. The point, after all, was that her and Dash hadn't needed to be all fawning and starry-eyed at each other that whole time, and they sure as shooting didn't need it now.
And she didn't need to be standing here wool-gathering about it, either. Mac and Apple Bloom'd be coming up the road from town by now, and that meant time to get to work.
Just like every other day, this one flew, Applejack's heart pounding away strong and contented to be out on the land doing her job. Slopping the hogs, patching the hay loft roof, collecting the spat-out seeds from the fruit bat sanctuary, the right sort of ache in her back and the perfect amount of dust in her coat: she was the luckiest pony in Equestria.
At lunch, though, between bites of her sandwich, Apple Bloom asked if anything was wrong. "You in some kinda hurry, Sis? That's the fastest I've seen you walk the boundaries since, well, since ever."
Setting her glass of milk down on the kitchen table, Applejack shrugged. "Got some plans for tonight."
Both Mac and Apple Bloom stopped chewing, their eyes going wide, but Apple Bloom swallowed quickest. "You...you're going out?"
Applejack blinked at her. "And what's that s'pposed to mean?"
"Nothing, Sis, nothing." Apple Bloom still wore that big red bow in her mane even though she was maybe getting too old for it, and its points were perked and quivering like a second pair of ears. "It's just you don't hardly set hoof off the property anymore these days."
That got Applejack's jaw to dropping. "Ain't I down in Ponyville nearly every day? Didn't me and Rarity and Fluttershy get called all the way to Appleoosa two weeks ago last Thursday by Twilight's dang map?"
Apple Bloom puffed a breath through her lips and waved a hoof. "Ponyville's no different from the back forty. You wouldn't be pushing through your chores if'n you was just going there. And you don't get no warning when you're on a mission: everypony knows that."
Mac cleared his throat. "'Don't get any warning,' I reckon you mean, Bloom."
The scowl Apple Bloom turned on him would've daunted anypony but kin, Applejack was sure, but Mac just met her glare with his usual calm demeanor. "Cheerilee's a bad influence on you, you know that?" Apple Bloom asked after a moment.
"Eeyup," Mac said with a grin, and Applejack thought she was in the clear. But then he turned that grin toward her. "Still, AJ, you having plans for tonight?" He shook his head. "Don't sound natural."
Applejack couldn't keep her ears from folding. "'Doesn't sound natural,' I reckon you mean."
He nodded. "Glad you agree. So spill."
The cinnamon and spice scent of their eagerness nearly made Applejack sneeze. Feeling cornered, she considered making a break for the door, but she caught herself. Why was she getting bent outta shape about this? "If'n you must know," she started, but she had to push the next words out past the sudden tightness in her throat, "Dash and the Bolts're doing a big show in Cloudsdale, and she gave me a ticket."
The silence in the kitchen then was louder than any Applejack had ever heard. "You," Apple Bloom said after a long moment. "Going to Cloudsdale. With Rainbow Dash."
"Not with." Applejack took off her hat, pulled the ticket from inside, and held it up. "She's already there, y'see, and I'm gonna—"
But Apple Bloom was sucking down the rest of her lunch, leaping to her hooves, and practically galloping for the door. "Oh! Hey! I just remembered! Me and the girls're meeting a new client this afternoon!" The grin she aimed at Mac from the doorway looked as manic as one of Pinkie's. "You'll make sure everything gets finished, right, Mac? So AJ won't be late or anything?"
"Eeyup."
"Great!" She charged out into the midday sunlight. "See y'all later!"
Applejack stared at the empty space where her sister had just been standing, the ticket flopping across the frog of her hoof like so much overcooked asparagus. "She's gonna stir up the whole town, ain't she?"
"Now, AJ." Mac's voice settled gently over Applejack's ears and soothed the little jags of panic starting to poke at her middle. "You know that everypony in this town is friends with you and Dash, so you can't blame 'em if they get a mite excited about this finally happening."
The little jags burst into proper daggers and knives. "About what finally happening?"
Mac gave one of his big, slow blinks. "Why, you and Dash's first date, of course."
"No!" Rapidfire shouted just the way Dash had known he was going to; she folded her wings to flip backwards out of formation before the idiot could spin and knock her sideways with his flailing wings and hooves. "You must've seen it that time, Captain! Dash is coming out of the loop much too close to me!"
Dash tried to suck in a calming breath, but she knew that every time they did this routine, she came out of the loop in exactly the same place: Spitfire and Fleetfoot to her left and right, Soarin' above her, and Rapidfire underneath. Not that that stopped Rapidfire from making a different complaint about Dash's positioning every time they practiced it. Every time!
Spitfire gave the trilling whistle for 'break formation,' and the others pulled up to hover over the center of Cloudsdale Stadium, the tiers of fluffy seats empty for a few more hours. "Listen, Riff," Spitfire began.
But the big stallion cut her off: "After all, my fellow Commodores are expecting to see me when they come to one of our shows here, and we certainly wouldn't want anything obstructing their view!"
He always managed to brag about his family, too, the way they were all involved with the Commodores, the ponies who steered Cloudsdale from one destination to the next through the skies of Equestria. And if he kept to his regular pattern, his next comment would be—
"Yes, I know I'm the veteran and she's the hot new thing, but that doesn't mean we should abandon the grand traditions the Wonderbolts were founded on."
Dash gritted her teeth. Because he was about to—
She felt the air shudder, and Rapidfire slid into the space beside her, his smile as greasy as a cheap Hayburger. "You know that I'd be happy to give you some personalized training, Dash, take you to dinner at my family's estate, show you the true wonder of being a Wonderbolt." He took her hoof in his. "If you'd have me."
And while she usually just slipped away from him with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head when he did this, looking at him here and now made her stomach turn as it never had before; she wrenched her hoof from his sweaty pastern and glared straight at him. "In the first place, Riff, you're barely even two years older'n me, and you've only been a Bolt eight months longer!"
"Dash?" Spitfire said the word tight and grumbling.
"And in the second place, right off the top of my head, I can think of ten things that aren't even ponies that I'd rather date than you!"
"All right, now," Spitfire started.
But Rapidfire was bursting into full bluster, Dash sure she could see his flight goggles steaming up. "Oh, really! And that's your excuse for being such a sloppy flyer? Your unnatural desires?"
"Riff—"
"Sloppy flyer?" Dash cocked a front leg to take a swing at him. "Why, you loud-mouthed, lard-bellied—!"
"Enough!" The air seemed to shatter with Spitfire's screech. "Riff! Into the locker room and cool off! Soarin', Fleetfoot, you're making warm-up circles around the stadium! Dash, you're here with me!" And she shot the 'dismissed' whistle at them so hard, Dash could've sworn she felt it swish past her.
The others whisked away like smoke, and Dash got as far as "But—!" before Spitfire was jabbing a hoof into her chest.
"Not a word, Dash," she squeezed out between clenched teeth.
Dash considered not saying it for half a heartbeat, but she couldn't stop herself. "He's just such a jerk!"
"And you're not." Spitfire jabbed Dash again, her voice quiet now but just as sharp. "Riff, we put up with because he's a Commodore and a pretty good stunt flyer. But you're the real deal, so we expect more from you." She folded her front legs across her chest. "I've seen you get nerves before a show, Dash, but never so bad that you rose to Riff's bait. What's up?"
Her throat suddenly dry, Dash again thought about not saying anything—trying to lie to Spitfire, she'd discovered early on, didn't work at all. And while she would've smacked anyone who called her 'flighty,' the jittering in her middle was so intense, she had to let some of it out. "Sorry, Cap. It's just...a friend of mine's coming to see the show tonight."
"A friend?" Spitfire's ears perked. "I didn't see the royal box set up, but I know Twilight's not big on that sort of—"
"Not Twilight." But the thought made Dash want to kick herself: if she'd invited Twilight to come along, this all would've been so much easier—getting Applejack here, getting her in, getting her a seat, everything! Of course, ditching Twilight after the show so she and Applejack could be alone wouldn't've been all that polite, now that she thought about it, but—
"Fluttershy, then?" Spitfire was nodding and grinning. "She been practicing her cheering?"
"What? No, not Fluttershy." Dash shook her head to clear it. There wasn't any use in worrying, after all. Applejack was really good at arranging things, so she wouldn't have any trouble—
"Well, then, who?" Spitfire's grin had faded, her forehead wrinkling. "Those're the only friends of yours who could get around in Cloudsdale, aren't they?" Her grin came back. "Or maybe you've got a new friend? A real close friend? A friend so close that you'd get you all shouty at Riff's usual bone-headed attempts to romance you?"
Dash's face went hot, and Spitfire nodded. "Mare or stallion? I got twenty bits riding on it."
"Applejack," Dash muttered, unable to look away from the stadium grounds below; somehow, saying the name made her feel calmer and more nervous at the same time. "I dunno if you ever met her."
"The farmer?" Disbelief filled Spitfire's voice and jerked Dash's head up, the captain's eyes wide behind her googles. "But...but she's—"
"She's what?" Dash growled, the hair prickling along the base of her mane.
Spitfire's wings missed about half a beat, but she got her rhythm back quickly enough. "She's pretty much the luckiest pony in Equestria," she said then.
That got Dash's face heating up again, but before she could say thanks or say that it was her who was the lucky one, Spitfire was firing the 'back to base' whistle across the stadium toward Soarin' and Fleetfoot. Dash heard Soarin' give the 'acknowledged' whistle, then they were all dropping toward the hole in the clouds that led to the locker room.
Still not sure if she was feeling better or just as jumpy as before, Dash followed, landing and falling in behind the others as they padded over the slightly-squishy surface and into the tunnel. "Oh, and Soarin'?" Spitfire said ahead of her.
"Yeah, Cap?" He slowed to let her catch up.
She poked him in the chest. "I owe you twenty bits."
Soarin' blinked, then snapped around to give Dash a big, toothy grin. "A marefriend? 'Bout time, Dash! Way to go!"
Absolutely sure that her blushes had turned her a darker purple even than Twilight, Dash opened her mouth to tell Soarin' just how far into the nearest toilet she was going to shove him—
But her voice died in her throat when she saw Rapidfire standing in the locker room doorway, his mouth a tight black line across the red hide of his face. "Excuse me," he more rumbled than said, and pushing through the four of them, he cantered toward the exit.
"Riff?" Spitfire called. "Show's in three hours."
"Is it, Captain?" His voice echoed strangely along the passageway, his wings spreading and carrying him aloft. And then he was gone.
"Please!" Rarity leaped up, then fell to her knees on the carpet of Twilight's study, a brush floating in the glow of her horn. "At least let me dust your hat!"
It took a fair amount of effort for Applejack not to slam her head face-first into the table they were all sitting around. "Once again," she said instead, "this ain't a date. I'm just going to see Dash's show, so I don't need my teeth spackled or my hooves sanded or my legs all tangled up in any sorta dress. I just need—"
"A party?" Pinkie whispered, her eyes as big and wavering as a couple fishbowls. She held her front hooves up, the tiniest bit of space between them. "Just a little one?"
And if not diving into the table had been hard, staying strong while looking at that face was even harder. "It ain't exactly a party situation, Pinkie."
"What?" All Pinkie's wavering vanished, her shout so loud, Applejack swore she heard the windows rattle. "When two of my very bestest friends started getting both smoochie and woochie together, I wanted to throw a party that would've stretched from Canterlot to the Crystal Empire! But some ponies said no!" She aimed one bulging eye at Twilight, sitting to Applejack's left. "Some ponies said we hadta wait, didn't wanna make 'em all self-conscious and maybe drive 'em apart just as they were coming together!" Pinkie blinked, her anger gone as quickly as it had come. "Which turned out to be pretty good advice, I guess, huh?"
Not really wanting to glare at Twilight, Applejack still couldn't help turning and narrowing her eyes slightly. "Sounds like y'all did a lotta talking 'bout me and Dash."
Twilight's grin looked phony enough to be pasted on. "Oh, you know us, Applejack! We're always talking about something!"
A tug at Applejack's fetlock made her look down, and she saw Rarity's brush combing it. "Dag nab it!" She jerked her leg away. "How many times do I got tell you this ain't a big deal?"
"Umm, actually?" Fluttershy raised a hoof. "It really kind of is. For some of us, I mean." She flinched at the attention everypony was directing at her, but to Applejack's surprise, she went on talking. "After Apple Bloom and Big McIntosh moved out and Granny Smith passed on, you only seemed really happy when you were with Rainbow Dash. And while we were all very concerned about you and wanted to help in any way we could, I've never seen Rainbow so worried. She used to stop by and talk for hours about how she wished she could do more for you." Her blush turned Fluttershy's cheeks nearly the same color as her mane. "She was in love with you even then—she didn't know it, but I could tell—and I suggested the best thing she could do would be to spend more time with you." A wisp of a smile drifted across her snout. "I guess that turned out to be pretty good advice, too."
Applejack could only stare, the others nodding around the table. "The poor dear," Rarity said. "She was absolutely pining." She sighed, the brush drifting down to settle in front of her. "Of course, you were just as smitten with her—not that you had any idea, either. But it was your shared, oh, let's call it 'guilelessness' in matters of the heart that made the two of you so perfect for each other."
The others nodded at that, too, and Applejack started feeling sweat gather under her hatband. "Now just hold on a minute. Are you saying the four of you planned out the way me and Dash got together?"
Twilight made a popping noise with her lips. "Hardly. I mean, I only drew up four charts and maybe half a dozen graphs. That's not what I'd call planning."
Rarity cleared her throat. "In point of fact, we only nudged the process along."
"Exactly." Fluttershy's smile this time seemed to fill the room. "We had to do something, after all, since neither of you was going to do anything on you own."
"I'll say!" Pinkie shook her head, her mane swirling around like a blackberry bramble in a windstorm. "If we'd left it up to you, we'd never even have the possibility of a party!" Her expression went all wavery again. "And there is a possibility, right? Not right now, maybe, but some day? For a big 'Happy Flapjacks' party?"
"Flapjacks?" Applejack said the same time the others did.
Pinkie rolled her eyes. "'Cause Rainbow Dash is a pegasus." She tucked her front hoofs into her armpits and flapped her elbows up and down. "And Applejack adds the 'jack' part."
For an instant, Applejack was back in this morning's kitchen at the moment when she first saw what Rainbow Dash had become to her, and she couldn't stop a shiver. "I promise, Pinkie," she said, her friends and Twilight's study around her once again. "I'll stick as many cupcakes in my eye as you like, but we will definitely have us a 'Happy Flapjacks' party sometime real soon."
Fluttershy gave a quiet little cheer while Rarity clapped her hoofs together and Pinkie began hopping in place, but Applejack turned her attention to Twilight. "Right now, though, I reckon I got me a show to catch."
"Right." Twilight's horn lit up. "Oh, and I had a great idea about a way to improve the cloud walking spell!"
"You what now?" Applejack asked, but by then a purple glow was gathering around all four of her hooves, a tingling coming over them like she'd slept on them wrong. The glow and the tingle spread quickly up her legs; she sucked in a breath, and the sensation washed completely over her, her ears popping and her hat wobbling as the magic swept out the tips of her ears.
"There!" Twilight said with a sharp little nod. "Now you'll be covered in case you need to do more than just stand on a cloud: like, oh, I don't know, lie down or something."
Applejack blinked at the blush creeping across Twilight's face, and the gasps and giggles from the others made her give a hoot of laughter. "Well, now! If'n that ain't right neighborly of you, Twilight!" She looked once more around the table and had to swallow a few times before she could get out, "You gals're the best friends a pony's ever had." She wiped her nose and jumped to her hooves. "Now how 'bout you get me outta here afore I bust out bawling, huh?"
The glow of Twilight's horn ratcheted up more than a few notches. "I've calculated this transfer out to ten significant digits," she said. "So I'm pretty sure you'll end up right outside Cloudsdale Stadium."
"Pretty sure?" Applejack started to ask, but the purple cloud that suddenly surrounded her seemed so thick, she wasn't quite sure where her tongue was anymore. Wind rushed past her, too, but she could've sworn it was rushing through her at the same time. Enough of her stomach had stayed connected to twist like it would in the rush from the top of a roller coaster, but since she couldn't find her lungs, she couldn't take a deep, steadying breath. All in all, she decided, it weren't a feeling she much cared for...
No sooner had that thought crossed the parts of her mind that she could track down, though, than the fog whisked away, and her hooves settled into something that smooshed around her fetlocks like peat moss. A blink, and she caught her breath, the whole wide vista of Cloudsdale in the evening twilight spreading down what she wanted with all her heart to think of as a snow-covered hillside.
Of course, the way some of the buildings sorta dangled along the sides of the fluffy white outcroppings let her know for certain they were nothing but clouds, and her swallow this time was so hard, it seemed to rattle all the way down to the pit of her stomach. She fought for a breath and wondered if the air really was thinner or if the crystal blue of the evening sky just reminded her of the couple mountaintops she'd had occasion to climb over the years.
"Whoa," a voice muttered behind her, and she turned to see the pillared walls of Cloudsdale Stadium rising up a few paces away, a pimply-faced stallion staring at her from beside a gate that said 'VIP Entrance' above it. "Gonna guess you're in the right place, ma'am."
Vowing to reward Twilight with one of her special pies for this, Applejack dug her ticket from her hat and followed the youngster through the gate, the stands spreading out in a huge circle to the sides and ahead of her. A rumble made the air quiver, and she saw that the place was pretty near full, more pegasi in one spot than she'd seen since the last time they'd all come here to see Dash perform.
The VIP section looked to be set off from the rest of the stands by a little ridge of a cloud wall, and ponies were hanging over that ridge about halfway down the slope on Applejack's left with autograph books in their hooves, a big stallion in a blue Wonderbolts' flight suits talking with 'em around the pen he was using to sign his name. Applejack's middle tightened a little: she should probably know the feller's name, the way Dash was always talking about the ponies she flew with. But truth to tell, she usually only listened with half an ear when Dash started in either praising—or more often complaining about—her teammates. She'd picked up that there was one stallion Dash didn't like at all, though, a pompous blowhard name of—
"Rapidfire!" one of the fans shouted, waving a camera.
Applejack made sure her scowl didn't reach her face. Yep, that was the name, all right.
Rapidfire had turned, aiming a toothy, sideways grin at the fan with the camera, and of course his gaze met hers just as she was glancing away from him. A sort of tightness flashed across his eyes, Applejack thought, but then he was all smiles again, was giving the pen and the autograph book he'd just sighed to the starry-eyed filly leaning over the wall. "Sorry, folks," he said. "Duty calls. But hang onto those books: they'll be worth real money after tonight." He pushed away from the fans, a few of them calling out thanks and wishing him good luck with the show, and began to swagger through the seats.
Heading right for her, Applejack couldn't help but notice.
Still, Applejack had learned over the years that just 'cause Dash didn't like a pony didn't mean that pony was necessarily a bad guy. So unless this Rapidfire started right in bad-mouthing her, Applejack figured she'd be just as cordial as—
"Well, now!" Rapidfire's voice boomed like a salespony trying to sell something he knew was a fake. "You must be Applejack!" He ruffled his wings, feathers not quite as dark a red as Big Mac's hide. "I must say, you do rather stand out in the crowd we usually get around here!" He grinned and laughed, neither one seeming quite right.
But it wasn't more than a wobbly feeling, so she nodded and smiled and said, "A pleasure to meet you, sir." Not that he'd introduced himself or held out a hoof to shake or anything...
"I'm sure it is." He came strutting up, and Applejack reckoned he was big for a pegasus: not anywhere near Mac's size, though, and not much taller than her. "I have to say, I was honestly surprised when Dash said you were coming to the show." He lowered his head, stared at her hooves with a couple sniffs, then straightened up, that phony grin back. "Not afraid of heights, I suppose?"
She shrugged. "I can take 'em or leave 'em." Giving a few sniffs of her own, Applejack had to wonder what was going on. Everything about this guy seemed wound tighter'n mistletoe rooted to an oak tree, and friendly just plain wasn't the word she woulda used to describe his scent.
"Good, good." He tapped the cloud surface between them. "That must be some powerful magic you're using to walk around up here." He shook his head. "I've never trusted magic. It always seems to backfire in some way or another."
Maybe it was as simple as that? Applejack gave him her most reassuring smile. "Can't say I haven't had a doubt or two myself over the years when it comes to magic, sir. But this spell was cast by Princess Twilight Sparkle herself, and if'n there's anything about magic she don't know, well, I can't imagine what it'd be."
His eyes narrowed just a mite, but then he was back to acting all hearty and well-met. "Yes, well, I'm sure." His wings flared, and he rose into the air, the backdraft flooding cold and hard over her. But Applejack had been dealing with Dash for too long to fall for that; she slid a hoof over the crown of her hat before it could even start rising from her head. "Enjoy the show!" he called back, then flew out into the bowl of the stadium, cheers rising up from the audience all around.
"Whoa," the usher said from a few steps further down the rows of seats. "I've never seen Rapidfire out working the crowd like this before. Not unless, y'know, he's gotten paid extra..."
"Huh." Applejack watched him circle down to a doorway on the opposite side of the field and wondered what in the hay that had all been about.
In the buzz after a good show—and that had been an incredible show—Dash always found herself literally floating on air. It was like her wings didn't want to stop even after the workout they'd just been through, and she'd find herself drifting along as aimlessly as a balloon for hours afterwards.
Not tonight, though. Every glimpse she'd caught of Applejack in the stands during the show had shot adreneline through her in ways she'd never felt before, and she couldn't help buzzing around the locker room like a mosquito, getting her flight suit squared away and herself cleaned up so the best night of her life could go on getting better. And besides, the general atmosphere right then wasn't the sort she would've wanted to do much aimless drifting in...
"Completely unprofessional!" Spitfire was almost literally acting out her name, Dash pretty sure she could see smoke rising from Rapidfire's already red hide. "I came that close to canceling the show when you didn't show up for the half-hour check-in! We're the Wonderbolts, Riff! We don't cancel shows unless it's a national emergency! You understand that?"
For his part, Riff was trying really hard to pretend the dressing-down didn't bother him, but Dash had been on the receiving end of too many of Spitfire's little chats to be fooled. He stood there and took it, his ears up and his mouth tight, but the anger Dash smelled in the thick and heavy air wasn't all from Spitfire. He kept darting glances over at her, too, and the heat from those made the hair prickle at the base of Dash's mane. "Oh, I understand, Captain!" he said then, the first words he'd come out with since Spitfire had started her tirade. "I understand that I'm being blamed for a disaster that she's bringing down on us!" And he leveled a hoof straight at Dash.
The rest of the squadron stopped their own post-show routines to stare, and even Spitfire seemed taken aback. Just for an instant, though. "Dash was here on time!" she shouted. "And she put on the show of her life tonight!" Spitfire turned a ferocious grin toward her. "We've gotta see about getting that marefriend of yours to stop by more often."
"But that's just it!" Rapidfire's hoof was shaking now. "That earth pony sitting out there wrapped in Celestia knows what sort of magic! I'm a Commodore! I know how delicately balanced this city is! You mark my words, Captain: there's going to be trouble if we allow—!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dash whooshed over and planted her hoofs on the cloud floor for the first time in hours just so she could give a stomp. "What are you even talking about? That's the same ol' regular cloud walking spell we've always used!"
"Regular?" The look he gave her was probably supposed to be shocked, but all Dash saw was the anger underneath. "There's nothing regular about any of this, and I plan on taking my complaints to the highest possible authority!"
"Fine." Spitfire's jaw clenched. "And while you're doing that, you can complain about the six weeks' grounding you've just earned."
"What?"
Spitfire sprang into a hover and shoved her snout into his. "One more word, Riff, and it'll be six months."
His left eyelid twitched, and when he sucked in a breath, Dash expected him to start shouting anyway. But he spun instead, splayed his wings, and took off through the locker room doorway.
"Wow." Soarin' stepped up, a towel around his neck and his mane dripping. "Can't say he hasn't had that coming, though."
"Yeah." Spitfire rubbed her forehead. "He's been pushing the edge of the storm front for a while. But missing check-in? That's more than just being a jerk." She blew out a breath and turned a tired smile on Dash. "Afterparty's at the Pinion. You and Applejack gonna be there?"
It took Dash some effort not to leap over and hug her commanding officer, but she managed to keep her cool. "We might stop by," she said, brushing the tip of a hoof against her chest. "If we have time."
That got a couple laughs, and Dash gave a ragged salute before unfurling her own wings. Stroking the air, she did a little drifting down the hallway outside, then gave just enough of a flap to carry her soaring into the nearly-empty stadium, the stars glinting like shattered ice in the night sky overhead.
A few whistles from some fans still in the coliseum followed her as she climbed, but she didn't do more than give 'em a wave. She only had eyes for the VIP section and the most important pony she knew, the orange of her hide seeming darker and more burnished now that the stadium lights were half turned off.
Dash swallowed. She wasn't even sure what 'burnished' meant, but she thought it was the sort of word she'd heard Twilight use to describe something really, really nice. And while she tried to remind herself that this was just Applejack sitting in the tier of seats and looking up at her, the way her heart was jiggling around inside her put the lie to that thought. She forced down a quick flash of panic, came in for a perfect four-point landing, gave Applejack a nod, and said, "'Sup?"
The little smile on Applejack's face made Dash's throat go even drier: amused, sure, but proud, too, Dash thought, and that just made her want to jump up and bust out a whole 'nother show.
"Well, now," Applejack said, pushing her hat back further on her head. "Reckon I finally see what all the fuss is about."
"Oh?" Fake nonchalance was something Dash knew she was pretty good at. "Guess you liked it, then?"
"I sure did like parts of it." Eyes half closed, Applejack more slunk than stepped closer to Dash, and the kiss she gave her then smacked Dash harder than any sound barrier ever could.
'Cause this was AJ! Kissing her! Not just in public but up in the stands at Cloudsdale Stadium! Losing herself in the flooding warmth of it, Dash's last coherent thought was to agree with Spitfire: Applejack had to stop by their shows more often...
Minutes—or hours or seconds—later, she felt cool air against her chest again and blinked to see Applejack looking back at her, her smile almost smug. "Need to catch your breath, sugar cube?" she asked. "Or we got a schedule to keep?"
All Dash wanted to do was leap up, swoop down on her like a vampire fruit bat on an apple, and—
But no. Later, maybe. When AJ wasn't expecting it...
So instead, she cleared her throat, smoothed her feathers, and said, "I was thinking we might do a little supper, then a lot of partying. How's that sound?"
Applejack nodded, but her mouth went sideways, too. "Long as that Rapidfire fella ain't gonna be there. Twice now he gave me the stank eye. He got a problem with earth ponies?"
"He's got way more problems than that." Dash felt sorry now that she hadn't taken a poke at him. "He stop by here just now?"
"Flew by's more like it, and the look he gave me!" Applejack waved to the side of the VIP area. "First thing I got here, though, he was over yonder signing autographs afore he felt obliged to be all weird at me, wondering about Twilight's spell and whether I was afraida heights and such."
"Huh." Blowing out a breath, Dash shook her head. "I really doubt he'll be anywhere we're going. He usually hangs out with the Commodores and the other big shots in his family whenever we have a show in Cloudsdale." And that, Dash decided, was all the time she was willing to spend talking about that big jerk. "But us, we've got a date with a couple bowls of cloud chowder!" She gestured toward the stadium exit.
"Heh." Applejack started up the steps. "A date. That's what all the gals were saying—Big Mac, too, now as I think on it. That this here was our first date."
Dash was glad she'd landed. Because if she'd been airborne, she was pretty sure the thought would've frozen her wings behind her. "It is, isn't it? I mean, just like a minute ago was the first time we've ever kissed outside the house." Shaking her head, Dash began following Applejack up the stairs—
And ran snout first into her, Applejack standing there solid as a rock. "Land sakes," she more whispered than said. "I...I was so het up from watching you fly, I didn't even think about that being our first..." She turned back, her usually sweet scent a little sour with fear. "We really on a date?"
Inside Dash's head, she heard the klaxon that went off during Wonderbolt battle drills; she jumped forward, draped a front leg around Applejack's neck, and gave her a sideways hug. "Whatever we're doing, AJ, it's always just us doing it, right? Doesn't matter what other ponies wanna call it: with us, it's always you and me and nothing else."
Applejack blinked at her. A smile started curling her snout then, and she threw her own leg around Dash's neck. "Then I say this is us having a date." She gave a nod. "Now what's this you were saying 'bout cloud chowder?"
"Just you wait." She pointed to the VIP gate again, and they made their way up and through it, all of Cloudsdale laid out in glowing perfection before them under the night sky. Dash stopped Applejack there, though, not just to take in the view but also to map out in her head the route they'd have to take. After all, flying anywhere in this city was one thing, but walking there? That took some figuring.
After a couple minutes, she thought she had it, and they set out. Clambering along passageways Dash had only ever seen from above and skirting around the bases of several cloud plateaus, they finally arrived at Aurelio's, aromas of garlic and cheese wafting out as Dash held the door open for Applejack and announced, "The best restaurant in Equestria!"
And it was, too, not just because of the cloud chowder but also because Aurelio always refused to take Dash's money. "Dashie!" the big old stallion shouted, flapping over with a gap-toothed grin. "Where you been so long, huh? And how come you so thin?"
He put a hoof to his chest when she introduced Applejack and said, "You don't gotta tell me who she is! You think I don't know the heroes who saved Equestria six, seven times already?" He set them up at a table on the eastern balcony with a completely different but equally incredible view of downtown, told them anything they wanted was on the house, and just basically fussed over them in exactly the way Dash had been hoping he would. The chowder was amazing, of course, and Applejack got into quite the discussion with Aurelio about how to make it. Dash didn't understand a word of it, sure, but she would never get tired of watching Applejack talk about the things that interested her.
The custard for dessert practically floated out of its cups, and Dash sucked down three of them while Applejack and Aurelio talked about the best way to beat eggs or something like that. And when they left, both of them thanking Aurelio and him telling them they'd better stop by next time they were in town, Dash couldn't stop grinning. "Best restaurant ever?"
Applejack blew out a whistle. "Land sakes! I don't see how you pegasi manage to fly if'n you're eating like that all the time!"
Dash waved a hoof. "It's the metabolism, see? You've gotta keep your carbs up, or you're likely to—"
She stopped, motion ahead and above making her blink and stare: a cloud drifting across the face of the moon, shining down over the gray and white city.
Except it wasn't a cloud. Dash could see columns all over it in the silvery light almost like—
Like it was part of Cloudsdale Stadium floating away into the night.
"Dash?" Applejack was asking. "You okay?"
"No." More clouds were drifting into view now, all of them with roofs and balconies. "Hang on!" Not letting herself think, Dash leaped up, swooped over to Applejack, grabbed her under her front legs, and hoisted her into the air.
Fortunately, downtown was below them: there was no way Dash could've flown upward with Applejack in her arms. As it was, she just managed to steer them around towers and between buildings, Applejack giving off a single gasp right at the top of their ride then hanging just as still as Dash could've wanted the rest of the way.
They whooshed out over Cloudsdale Plaza pretty quickly, more pieces of the city detaching and floating off with each passing second. "What the hey?" Applejack was craning her head around. "Dash, what's going on?"
"Nothing good," Dash muttered through gritted teeth. Everywhere, she could see now, pegasi were circling the loose parts of their homes and apartments, flying at them, and puffing through, the clouds suddenly too thin to grab hold of. And that meant she had to get Applejack to ground level quicker than quick.
But her grip was already loosening, her muscles suddenly reminding her that she'd flown a whole show scarcely an hour ago. Straining, she felt her hind hooves hit the Plaza's surface, and the cloud puffed around her, offered nothing solid enough for her to land on. Which meant—
"We're gonna go through!" She had to force the words out. "I'll get you down where it's safe, then I've gotta come back up here and see what I can do to help!"
Sunk halfway into the cold less-than-mist that was supposed to be the center point of the steadiest cloud structure known to pegasi, Dash suddenly jerked to a stop, Applejack's hooves hitting the surface and staying there like they were supposed to. "Maybe you oughtta hang on!" Applejack called, and the next thing Dash knew, strong forelegs were wrapping around her and hauling her up back up out of the clouds. "What in Tarnation's going on here? Why's the city falling apart?"
"Ha!" somepony shouted, and Rapidfire dropped into a hover just above them. "You should know, the two of you, since you're the ones doing it!"
"What?" Dash yelled at pretty much the same time as Applejack.
Aiming a hoof at Applejack, Rapidfire got even louder. "You with your strange foreign magic! You're obviously stealing the cloud walking ability from us honest pegasi and wrapping yourself in it for your own nefarious purposes!"
"That's crazy!" Dash glared at him but couldn't keep her ears from folding at the sound of wings flapping closer on all sides, a crowd starting to form. "The spell doesn't work that way!"
"Then how do you explain this?" Rapidfire somehow raised his voice again. "An earth pony stands in the center of Cloudsdale Plaza while none of us can so much as touch a cloud anymore!" He dropped further, wheeled around, and swiped a front hoof at the floor of the Plaza, his leg going right through without even stirring the stuff.
Dash tried to think, but the crowd shifting drew her attention to her left, Spitfire, Soarin' and Fleetfoot flapping out.
As usual, Spitfire didn't look happy. "How 'bout it, Dash?"
"Captain?" Dash stared at her. "You...you can't honestly believe—?"
"I know what I'm seeing." She jerked her head up, more chunks of cloud architecture filling the sky. "So tell me why he's wrong."
Again, Dash tried to think, but all she could come up with was an immediate, "Because he's a jerk!"
Rapidfire huffed a breath and folded his forelegs across his chest, but another voice, a voice that made Dash's heart leap in her chest, spoke up, Applejack saying, "I'll tell you, Cap'n. Or even better, I'll show you."
Spinning, Dash stared at Applejack, but Applejack was looking past her, focusing on Spitfire, Dash realized. "Now, I don't know much about magic," AJ went on, "but one thing us earth ponies can do is stand fast. And since Twilight Sparkle told me she cast this spell all over me 'steada just on my hooves, might be I can use it to"—she clenched her eyes and teeth, and Dash felt the air crackle around her like water vapor condensing into ice—"firm the landscape...up a mite...."
"Stop her!" Rapidfire screamed. "She'll kill us all!"
"Belay that!" Spitfire spat the words. "I think it's working!"
The clouds around Applejack were settling down, something solid spreading out from her hooves in all directions. Muttering spread through the crowd, too, and Dash didn't even have to think about what to do next: she swooped over and landed beside her marefriend. "There we go!" She stomped the surface, every bit as hard as it oughtta be. "So if our spell's the thing that's making the clouds go all soupy, how come it's also the thing making 'em work right again?"
"It's a trick!" Rapidfire's teeth glinted in the moonlight. "Arrest those ponies, Captain, or I'll do it myself under my authority as a Commodore of Cloudsdale!"
"Hey!" Something tickled the back of Dash's brain, something she'd learned while studying the history of the Wonderbolts or something Twilight had said once or maybe it was something she'd read it in a Daring Do book. "Don't the Commodores of Cloudsdale have some, like, doomsday thing they can do to disperse the city in case of attack? Something that goes way back to the old Pegasopolis days?"
Rapidfire's red face went pale. "You...you don't know what you're talking about!"
"Yeah?" Spitfire's eyes narrowed. "Well, I do. The Hurricane Protocol: it's never been activated, but it's supposed to do exactly this to keep the city out of enemy hooves." She waved at the billowing bits of Cloudsdale floating off into the night. "Care to comment on that, Riff?"
Taking a breath, Rapidfire whirled and shot off into the darkness.
"After him!" Spitfire shouted.
"No time!" Dash leaped up and grabbed Spitfire. "Right now, you've gotta go wherever you need to go to shut down this Hurricane thing before we lose the resta the city!" Dropping back to the solid area around Applejack, she touched her shoulder, the muscles bunched under her hide. "You doing okay?"
With a chuckle, Applejack opened her eyes and shrugged. "I'm just standing here, sugar cube."
Dash couldn't keep from chuckling, too. "Well, keep it up."
"Can do." Applejack's eyes pulled closed again. "It's like planting a seed: a little nudge, and the roots branch out pretty much on their own."
"Good." Dash looked up at all the pegasi crowding around. "'Cause we're gonna need to gather up all the stuff that's come loose and push it back into place!"
"How?" Fleetfoot asked, and Dash noticed that Spitfire and Soarin' weren't hovering beside her anymore. "Until Cap undoes whatever Riff did, we won't be able to touch those clouds!"
"Easy!" Jumping into the air above Applejack, Dash spread her hooves. "Basic Everfree cloud-handling technique! You don't wanna touch 'em when they come outta the forest, see, 'cause you never know what they're gonna have inside 'em! But you swirl the air in front of 'em like this!" She did a couple quick loops in place. "That changes the pressure differential, and they slide right down the gradient in whatever direction you need 'em to go!"
Eyes were going wide in the crowd, smiles appearing for the first time. Dash clapped her front hooves together. "So let's do this!" And she shot into the sky, ponies whooping and following along after her.
It took a few tries for some of them to get the hang of it, but Dash flew from place to place over the next hour or so giving out tips and demonstrating the right way to swirl. And no matter what part of town she was in, helping some family draw back a part of their house or passing by a bunch of other pegasi settling the roof into place on top of the Natural History Museum, she swore that she could smell Applejack, that perfect, sweet, earthy aroma that calmed her to sleep just about every night and woke her refreshed just about every morning. And all the pieces, when they drifted into the spots where they were supposed to go, it was like the city had turned to glue, grabbing and holding on till the skyline everywhere was looking the way it should in the moonlight.
Cheers started then, rising up from every corner of town, and Dash, checking things out from a vantage point high above the rebuilt stadium, did a quick loop-de-loop, then dove for the tiny spot of orange still standing in the middle of Cloudsdale Plaza. "AJ!" she shouted and bowled right into her, the two of them tumbling over and over across the firm but fluffy surface till they came to rest—with Dash on top, of course—against the side of the Pansy Memorial Fine Art Pavilion. "We did it! I mean, you did it! I mean, we all did it! I mean—!"
Applejack wrapping her hooves around the back of Dash's head and pulling her down into the longest, deepest kiss of her life pretty well cut off anything else Dash might've wanted to say, but she had to admit that she didn't mind it one little bit. Everything everywhere smelled of Applejack, and Dash didn't care if she never smelled another thing as long as she lived.
After another hour—or a minute or however long it was—Applejack pulled away, and before Dash could stretch her neck to make contact with those luscious lips again, Applejack murmured, "Marry me."
That made Dash stop and blink. "What, here? Now?"
Applejack nodded. "When we get back to Ponyville, Pinkie can put together whatever sorta wedding she wants, Rarity can gussy us up to her heart's content, Fluttershy and Big Mac can warble out a duet or two, Spike and the Crusaders can set off fireworks, and Twilight can organize a ceremony with her all done up in her full princess rig. But I don't want one more instant to tick by without you and me being one hundred percent officially hitched to each other. If'n that's okay with you, I mean..."
"Oh. Okay. Yeah." And with the hoots and the hoorays filling the city around her, Dash lay across Applejack's chest and couldn't stop smiling. "I mean, yes! Sure! This'll be perfect! 'Cause every year, they'll celebrate the night we saved Cloudsdale, see? And if it's our wedding anniversary, too, they'll, like, hafta give us a free hotel room or something!"
"Uh-huh." Applejack rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's exactly it."
"And even better?" Dash leaned forward, slid her hoofs into the rich cornsilk of Applejack's mane, and poured every ounce of herself into the kiss she gave her. Pulling back, she smiled at the blushing shock on Applejack's face, then touched another kiss to the tip of her nose. "Turns out I love you, y'know?"
"Well, now." Applejack's hooves began doing wonderful things along the back of Dash's neck. "Ain't that a co-inky-dink. 'Cause I reckon I love you, too."
Everything inside Dash felt as melty as butter on a pancake, and she met Applejack's lips coming up to find hers, met them and held them and pretty much decided to never let them go.
