Chapter 1
THUNK.
Applejack smiled as she felt her rear hooves collide with the tree. She felt the tree gave a mighty shake before unleashing a rain of apples, filling her bucket. She then grabbed the handle in mouth and carried the bucket over to the wagon, placing it down beside the others. Applejack then took her stetson off to wipe the sweat off her brow.
Applejack hesitated for a moment. She took a moment to take in the scene around her, the warmth of Celestia's hanging proudly in the morning sky, the sound of the birds singing and the wind rustling through the trees, the sweet smell of apples. Applejack sighed. It really was a beautiful day today.
As much as she wanted to linger on the thought, the farm pony knew she had work to do. She grabbed an empty bucket form the wagon and gently set it down beside a tree. She then turned around, making sure to line herself up carefully. She then took a deep breath, preparing to rise her hind-legs and -
"Applejack?"
Applejack swung to early, startled by hearing her name. The motion threw her off balance, and she landed chin-first onto the earth. "Corn's darn it!" She quickly sprang back onto her hooves, spotting the pegasus as she landed beside her. "Dang it Rainbow!" Applejack spat, dusting herself off. "What did Ah say 'bout sneaking up on me like that!?"
"Oh. S-sorry," Rainbow said, her ears flat against her head. Applejack frowned. Normally she would expect something snarky from her friend. "Rainbow?" Applejack took a cautious step closer. Rainbow slowly lifted her head to meet her gaze. Applejack gasped. Rainbow's eyes were red and puffy, her muzzle held in a grimace.
"Sugar Cube? A-are ya alright?"
Rainbow gave a long, drawn out sigh. "No," she said at last, looking down at the ground. "I'm not alright." Rainbow than slowly sat on her haunches. "Twilight and I, we... we got into a fight last night."
"Oh," Applejack said. She then placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Hey, why don't we head inside to talk? Maybe over a glass of cider?"
Rainbow slowly lifted her a head. "C-cider?" she said, her voice carrying a twinge of excitement despite. Applejack nodded. The two then walked back to the house in silence. Rainbow watched eagerly as Applejack went into the kitchen, fetched a mug, and set it down on the table.
"Alrighty," Applejack said while carrying a jug of cider. Rainbow's eyes widened as she poured it into the mug. "Drinks up."
Rainbow quickly snatched the mug. "Thanks," she said quickly before downing a large portion of her drink in one gulp. She then set it down on the table with a stratified sigh. It took her a moment a to realize that Applejack was staring at her with an expectant look. "Oh, right," Rainbow said with a sheepish chuckle before dawning a more serious look.
"You see, last night..."
"Oh my gosh, Dashie!" Pinkie said. "That was amazing!" Rainbow was flying a few feet off the ground as Pinkie bounced after her.
"She was all like, 'Hey, get outta my grill!' And you were like, 'Uh, no.' And she was like, 'Whatever, I bet I could out-fly you!' And you were like, 'Na-ah!' And she was like, 'Uh, huh!' And then..."
Rainbow Dash couldn't help the cocky grin on her muzzle as she listened to Pinkie. Listening to her recap the evening was making Rainbow feel a little boastful. Well, more so than usual.
"... and then she was all like, 'We'll meet again, Rainbow Dash!''
"Pfft! Whatever. Like I'm supposed to be scared of a rematch," Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. "Who the heck does she think she is? Coming into my town, thinking that she could beat me in a race!?"
Rainbow then flew around Pinkie in a quick spiral before landing in front of her. "I mean, I don't wanna brag..." Rainbow said, closing her eyes and puffing her chest. "... but I am kinda the Rainbow Dash, you know? Fastest flyer, hero of Equestia, future Wonder Bolt. And she was what, exactly?"
"Beige?" Pinkie suggested.
"Huh? I mean, yeah! Beige! That's not even a real color!"
"Yeah!" Pinkie cheered, before frowning in confusion. "Wait, it's not?"
"Nope! I... I think," Rainbow said, trying to remember. "Actually, maybe that was pink."
Pinkie Pie froze mid-bounce. "P-pink?" she said, her eyes widening.
"Yeah, I remember now," Rainbow thought out loud. "It was pink."
Pinkie held a trembling hoof in front of her face. "But... but I'm pink."
"Twilight explained it to me once, when I asked why don't I have any pink in my mane." Rainbow continued. "She said that all of the colors we see are just different wavelengths of light on the electro-magneto septum."
"Am... am I not even real? No, no I have to be. I have sisters, and a marefriend! Unless..."
"But sometimes things send off two different wavelengths at once. Then our brains just get lazy or something and say it's a new color instead of two different colors at once." Rainbow smiled. "You know, it's funny. Before I started dating Twilight, you wouldn't of caught me dead looking at any of that egghead stuff."
"Oh no," Pinkie said. "How do I know any of them exist for sure!? What if I didn't exist until a few days ago, and everything else was created to look older!?"
"But it's actually kinda cool how much Twi knows about stuff. I mean, I know I'm not the smartest mare out there, but sometimes when Twi starts talking I really have no idea what she is saying. In a good way, though. Back when I was in flight school, I never really liked learning, because I would always get stuck and end up feeling stupid. But that's the thing about Twilight. Even when I'm lost I never fell stupid with her around."
It was then Rainbow realized that Pinkie was no longer beside her. She turned around to find Pinkie some distance behind her with a worried look on her face. "Uh, Pinkie?"
"Is anything real? Is this reality? Does reality as we know it actually exist?"
"Are you okay?" Rainbow asked as she approached her.
"Maybe it's true that every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance."
"What in the name of Celestia are you talking about?"
"Huh?" Pinkie said, giving Rainbow a confused look. "Oh look, we're back at Twilight's!" Pinkie said, her voice regaining its usual chipperness. Pinkie then bounced over to the Golden Oaks Library while humming a tune to herself. Rainbow shrugged and followed her.
Rainbow raised her hoof and knocked on the door. To her surprise, the door swung open immediately. She leaned inside.
"I'm back!" she called. Nopony answered. "Twi? Spike?"
Concerned, Rainbow stepped inside. Twilight was sitting on her haunches in her usual reading spot, a book levitating in front of her face. "Oh, you're back," Twilight said, barely taking her eyes off the page.
"Twilight!" Rainbow sang. She ran over to greet her but stopped once she noticed the unicorn's lack of response. "Uh, Twi?" Rainbow said. "Are you okay?"
The book suddenly snapped shut, making Rainbow wince. Twilight set the book down and stood to face the pegasus.
"Rainbow," Twilight said sternly, "do you know what time it is?"
"What are you..." Rainbow said, the words petering out as a realization hit her. "Oh," she said, wilting under Twilight's glare.
"Twilight!" Pinkie cried as she bounced into the room. "The awesomest thing happened today! You shoulda seen it!" Twilight raised an eyebrow. Pinkie apparently took that as a sign she should continue. "This mare shows up out of nowhere and says she could beat Dashie in a race. Can you believe that? I mean, she was beige for crying out loud. Beige! What a color! Well, Dashie said that you said that there are no real colors, and maybe the material world is an illusion created by-"
"So, let me guess," Twilight interrupted. "Rainbow said that they should have a race to prove who is that fastest."
"Yeah! And Rainbow totally won!"
Evidently, Twilight did not share Pinkie's enthusiasm. She simply stood up and walked past the confused party pony, making her way towards the stairs.
"Twilight, wait! I-"
"We'd been planning this for week," Twilight said, cutting Rainbow off.
"Twi..."
"It'd be a nice little romantic weekend for the to of us. Hey, maybe I'd even finally let Spike spend the weekend at Rarity's so we could have the library to ourselves for once."
"I..."
"But no. No, my marefriend has to show up late because she was having a stupid race with somepony she'd just met."
"She didn't mean to," Pinkie interjected. "She just forgot."
"Oh! Alright then," Twilight said, gesticulating wildly with a hoof, "I guess that makes everything okay then!"
"Psst, Dashie," Pinkie said, whispering loudly in Rainbow's ear. "I think she's being sarcastic."
"Wow, thanks Pinks. I never woulda been able to tell."
"Your welcome!" Pinkie beamed. Rainbow facehoofed.
"Look, Twi I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to forget, honest!"
"I think spending time with your marefriend isn't something ponies usually forget about."
"Okay, okay," Pinkie said, suddenly appearing between Twilight and Rainbow with a nervous smile. "Let's just try to calm down..."
"Or maybe you could just shut up for once in your life and stay out of this!" Twilight snapped.
"Hey!" Rainbow shouted. "Don't yell at her!"
"Well, you get the idea," Rainbow said. She then grabbed the mug off the kitchen table, swinging it around as she continued:
"Twilight then said she didn't want to see me right now, I said 'fine' and left with Pinkie. I ended up spending the night at her place." Rainbow then tilted her head back and swallowed the remaining cider in one gulp before setting the mug back down. "I really messed up," she said with a sad sigh.
"Yeah, ya kinda did."
Rainbow glared at Applejack. "Remind me why I wanted to talk to the honest one, again?"
"'Cause Ah'm the honest one," Applejack said matter-of-factly. Rainbow grunted in annoyance.
"Listen," Applejack said, "Ah know Ah said Ah'm not into romance or what-have-ya, but that doesn't mean Ah don't know a couple things 'bout it."
"Heh?" Rainbow said, unsure where the farm pony was going.
"What Ah'm saying is that every couple gets into little spats sometimes. And ya know what? That's okay, 'cause what do they do?"
"AJ..."
"They talk things out." Applejack then placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "Look, when ya told me 'bout ya feelings for me, did it end up breaking our friendship apart?"
"No, but..."
"Exactly!" Applejack said, playing tapping Rainbow's shoulder. "You're more stubborn than Ah am when it comes to you're friends. You'd go to the ends of Equestria for 'em. And last time I checked, Twilight isn't the kinda of mare to hold a grudge now, is she?"
"No..."
"So there ya go! Ya got nothing to worry 'bout, cause you're gonna find Twilight, say you're sorry, and she'll forgive ya. No sense fretting 'bout it."
"Yeah..." Rainbow said. Suddenly she felt a rush of determination. "I mean, yeah! You're right!" Rainbow then grabbed her mug and finished her cider with a loud gulp. "Thanks for the talk AJ," Rainbow said as she slammed the mug onto the table. She took a second to wipe her mouth before adding: "I'm gonna go find Twilight."
"Rainbow, ya know you're always welcome t-"
There was a bright flash of multi-colored light as Rainbow flew out the door. Instinctively Applejack dove beneath the table. She waiting for everything to stop shaking before cautiously poking her head out. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be damaged. Applejack let out a sigh of relief.
"Ah swear, that mare's more dramatic than Rarity sometimes."