Streamers of every color Rainbow Dash had ever seen dangled from the ceiling, criss-crossing over and under each other in twisted, tangled knots. It reminded her a bit of herself, except in giant floating colorful spaghetti monster form. The balloons that had drifted up and gotten stuck in the mess even looked like they could be meatballs. She wondered if Pinkie Pie had decorated Sugarcube Corner like that on purpose. It seemed like the sort of thing she would do.

She took another drink of punch, swishing it from one side of her mouth to the other in a lame attempt to entertain herself, only half-listening to whatever Rarity was blabbering about. Usually, she looked forward to the times when all of her friends could get together like this, but Hearts and Hooves Day was only a couple weeks away, and that meant two things. The first was that the only thing Rarity would ever talk about for the next two weeks was who had asked out who, and who had seen so-and-so talking to whoever, and what some stupid pony had said to some other stupid pony. What was worse was that she always sucked all her other friends into talking about it too, all this boring gossip Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have cared about even if it showed up on her doorstep wearing stockings and holding a rose clenched between its teeth, threw her on the bed, and ravished her long into the night.

Her face flushed. Where the hay had that analogy come from? She took it as proof that she had been listening to Rarity talk for far too long.

She glanced up around at the others, all sitting in a circle around the table, to make sure they hadn’t seen her blush. Every other table at Sugarcube Corner was empty. The Cakes had closed up early just for them. She noticed that everyone was looking at Fluttershy. She perked her ears up.

“Oh come now, Fluttershy, you simply have to tell us something about him,” Rarity said to the other pegasus. “Please?”

Fluttershy looked down and blushed, smiling ever so gently. “Oh, um, well... they’re... nice.”

“Nice?” Twilight repeated.

Fluttershy nodded. “Nice.”

“But what is his name?” Rarity asked.

Fluttershy looked away again. “Oh. Well, we, um, wanted to keep it a secret, for now.”

“Why?” Applejack asked.

Rarity huffed. “Can’t you tell us anything at all about him?”

Rainbow Dash groaned. Unfortunately, no one noticed. She took another drink of her punch. There were cooler things to talk about than marefriends and coltfriends. Like how great her last practice had gone. Why weren’t they talking about that?

“Oh, well...” Fluttershy’s blush deepened. “It’s not a him.”

“I knew it!” Pinkie Pie shouted, standing up and slamming her hoof on the table.

Twilight frowned at her. “You did? How?”

Pinkie Pie blinked, and then sat back down with a chuckle and a wave of her hoof. “Oh wait, no I didn’t.”

Rarity cleared her throat, looking pointedly at Applejack and then glancing sidelong at Rainbow Dash. “Well, it seems that even Fluttershy will have a date come this Hearts and Hooves Day.”

And that was the second thing that Hearts and Hooves Day meant. Rainbow Dash dropped her head on the table. It wasn’t that she didn’t have a date—she didn’t care about that—it was who her friends wanted her to date that was the problem.

“Are you implyin’ something?” Applejack asked.

Rarity only winked.

“Both of you don’t have dates?” Pinkie said, passing a shamelessly obvious look between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “That’s bananas! Who’da thunk it? ”

Twilight cleared her throat and smiled. “Well, considering the statistics....”

Applejack looked between them. “And just what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know what it means,” Rarity said with a chuckle.

“I’m sure I don’t,” Applejack replied flatly.

Pinkie hopped up on her chair. “You and Rainbow Dash should totally be each other’s dates for Hearts and Hooves Day!”

Rainbow Dash sunk lower in her seat. She couldn’t remember exactly when it had started anymore, but it was definitely some time after the whole Running of the Leaves debacle. Rainbow didn’t know if it was because she and Applejack were both athletes, or if it was because ponies thought they were both tomcolts, or what, but somehow all of their friends had decided that she and Applejack were a perfect match for each other. It usually wasn’t a big deal, more of a running joke than anything else, but when Hearts and Hooves Day came around, they stopped bothering to even try to be subtle about it.

Applejack sighed. “This again?”

“Dear, please,” Rarity began, twirling her mane with a hoof. “We’re only trying to help. It would be a tragedy for a mare as beautiful as yourself to be alone on Hearts and Hooves Day. If not Rainbow Dash, then surely you must find some stallion to escort you. Even Fluttershy has.”

“Um, my marefriend’s not a stallion,” Fluttershy quietly interposed.

“Well, maybe I don’t want a stallion,” Applejack said, crossing her legs over her chest. “Ever think of that?”

Rarity laughed. “That is no excuse! I’m certain there are more mares here in Ponyville than stallions.”

“She’s right,” Twilight added. “According to the last census, earth pony mares outnumber earth pony stallions in Ponyville three to one. Celestia let me accumulate all the data from the census surveys myself.”

“Maybe I don’t want an earth pony either,” Applejack replied.

Rarity sighed as she would while dealing with an overly picky customer at the Boutique. “Then what do you want, dear?”

“Well, since you asked, I’m partial to pegasi.”

Rainbow Dash looked up at that, and then quickly looked back down at her cup.

“Oh.” Rarity smirked. “Like the feeling of soft downy feathers caressing your flank, do you?”

Applejack merely rolled her eyes.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” Pinkie Pie cried, hopping up and down. “Rainbow Dash is a pegasus,” she said, patting Dash on the back of the head.

Rainbow Dash glared at her, and she simply grinned back.

Rarity smiled. “Indeed, she is.” She turned to Applejack. “You two really would make the most darling couple. Can’t you go together just this once? What harm could it do?”

Rainbow Dash thought it could do a whole heaping lot of harm, but she kept her mouth shut, and thankfully so did Applejack.

“There are plenty of other pegasus mares living in Ponyville too,” Twilight said after a time, then quietly mumbled something about there also being one right there sitting at the table with them.

“Indeed.” Rarity winked at Applejack. “Somepony as charming as yourself would have the pick of the litter, if you don’t mind the expression.”

Applejack groaned. “I don’t, but I don’t see anypony hangin’ over your withers, either.”

“I’ll have you know that I have no fewer than three suitors vying for the pleasure of escorting me on Hearts and Hooves Day,” Rarity replied, sticking her nose into the air. “Now go on.”

Applejack raised one brow. “Go on where?”

“What kind of pegasus? Some beautiful maiden to sweep you off your hooves and whisk you far away from the humdrum routine of farm work, perhaps? Or”—Rarity grinned a very unladylike grin—“are you looking for some brash, outspoken, rough and tumble mare to, ahem, enliven your evenings?”

Rainbow Dash slumped so far down into her chair she might as well have been under the table.

“Well...” Applejack rubbed her chin. “She’d have to be somepony who ain’t afraid to get her hooves dirty and get work done when it needs doin’. No offense.”

Rarity laughed good-humoredly. “None taken. What else?”

“I guess she’d have to be somepony who I can just sit back and have a good time with at the end of the day too. Somepony strong, who can hold her own in bed.”

“Applejack!” Rarity admonished, even as she laughed. Everyone’s eyes widened, and Rainbow Dash blushed.

Applejack shrugged. “I don’t want somepony who’s too soft. I’m not gonna apologize for it. And she wouldn’t need me takin’ care of her all the time, either. I’ve got enough work on my plate as it is. She’d have to be somepony who’ll stick by me no matter what, and won’t run off at the first sign of trouble. She’d have to be somepony I can raise a family with.”

“It sounds like you’ve thought about this before,” Twilight said.

Applejack blushed ever so slightly. “Maybe...”

“Oh, wow! That all sounds just like Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie Pie said.

Rainbow Dash choked on her punch. “What?”

“Hmmm...” Twilight appraised Rainbow Dash the same way she would a variable in a math problem. “You’re right. That does sound a lot like Rainbow.”

“It does not,” Dash protested, doing all she could to avoid looking in Applejack’s direction.

“Oh?” Rarity smiled. “You’re too afraid to get your hooves dirty, are you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So you have a poor sense of humor, and are overly clingy and needy?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “You guys aren’t as funny as you think you are.”

“You couldn’t hold your own in bed?” Pinkie Pie waggled her eyebrows. “I can totally help with that.”

“No thanks.”

“I think you two would be cute together,” Fluttershy added with a small smile.

“Fluttershy...” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “You’re not helping.”

Rarity cleared her throat loudly. “So, Applejack. What do you think? Do you see a dashing pegasus in your future?”

Rainbow Dash shot her a look. “That was terrible.”

“I don’t think it matters one way or the other,” Applejack replied with a frown, and Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief. “Some of us don’t have the time to play around with the colts all day.” She smirked in Rarity’s direction, a smirk the unicorn promptly ignored, before continuing, “I’ve got a farm that needs runnin’, and chores that need doin’. I don’t have time for a marefriend.”

Rarity dismissed that with a wave of her hoof. “Oh, that is—”

“Oh my gosh!” Pinkie Pie cried for the third time that night. “I totally forgot.” She hopped off her chair and out the door.

“Last I checked,” Applejack said, as if nothing had happened, “Rainbow Dash isn’t datin’ anypony either. Why don’t y’all bug her about it?”

“Hey, stop dragging me into this!”

Rarity turned to her. “Hmm, that’s right. I can’t remember the last time either of you had a marefriend.”

“Neither of them have since I’ve lived in Ponyville,” Twilight agreed.

Rainbow Dash looked down into her cup. “I don’t date.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked.

“Because... I don’t,” she said lamely, not looking up.

Twilight looked like she was about to ask another question when Fluttershy cleared her throat loudly. “Um, Angel was feeling sick yesterday,” she said in a too-loud voice in Twilight’s direction.

Twilight turned to her. “Oh?”

Rainbow Dash gave Fluttershy a grateful nod that no one else noticed.

Unfortunately, Rarity couldn’t be dissuaded from the conversation. “Really, though, this settles it. You and Rainbow Dash simply must get together this Hearts and Hooves Day. She’s everything you said you wanted.”

Applejack opened her mouth, then closed it again, looking puzzled. “How do you mean?”

“A pegasus mare?” Twilight echoed. “Isnt afraid to get her hooves dirty? Strong? Will stand by you no matter what? Applejack, you have to admit Rainbow Dash fits nearly all of your criteria.”

Applejack looked straight at Rainbow Dash, chewing the inside of her cheek. Rainbow Dash prayed she wasn’t thinking about what Dash thought she was thinking about.

Rarity passed her a coy smile. “You know, you might not have a choice. Come Hearts and Hooves Day, you two will be the only single mares left in Ponyville.”

Just as Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to object, Applejack spoke. “Fine,” she declared, turning to Rainbow. “You wanna go out sometime?”

For a single moment, everyone around the table froze. And then they all erupted into roaring laughter, Dash even heard Pinkie laugh from the other room over. Well, almost all of them, Rainbow Dash noted as she chuckled half-heartedly along with them. Applejack simply frowned at her over the table. Dash coughed and looked away.

Abruptly, a board game fell onto the table between them, along with a bouncing pink pony. “Who wants to play Monopoly?”

“Me,” Rainbow Dash answered quickly, grateful for any distraction. “Finally, something actually fun to do.”

[size=0]s
Applejack frowned as everyone else smiled and gathered their playing pieces. They had laughed at her. Her frown deepened. Her friends had harped on the idea for so long that it had become nothing but a joke for them. Well, it wasn’t a joke for her. It was anything but.

She had never said what she wanted in a marefriend out loud before. She had never said what she wanted in a marefriend out loud while looking at Rainbow Dash before. She had never said what she wanted in a marefriend while looking at Rainbow Dash, and then had her friends point out how similar the two were before.

No. She shook her head. This was ridiculous. She had just heard them talk about how great she and Rainbow Dash would be together so often, that some of it must have leaked into her own head.

She thought about everything she had said she wanted in a marefriend, and then she looked at Rainbow Dash, comparing the two side-by-side, weighing them against each other. She had never seriously thought about Rainbow Dash before. She had told herself so long ago that she and Rainbow would never go out together that it had been as ingrained in her head as how to buck a tree. It was a silly idea, something to laugh about with her friends occasionally, and nothing more. But now that she really thought about it—actually, really thought about it—she couldn’t help but...

It bugged her sometimes—the way her friends talked about her and Rainbow Dash. She knew they were only teasing, but it bugged her all the same. She wanted somepony to be with, just the same as everyone else, but she still had work to do. That wasn’t an excuse; that was a fact. Working the farm took up nearly all her time. She couldn’t simply drop everything to go searching for her soul mate. She still thought about it occasionally though, usually when she was out in the orchards, alone with the apple trees and her thoughts. She thought about who she would want to come home to.

You have to admit Rainbow Dash fits nearly all of your criteria.

She looked up at Rainbow Dash. Could she be...?

Rainbow Dash smiled back at her, briefly, beautifully, before going about setting up the board game.

It was her, Applejack realized. She felt a tickling warmth in her chest. Rainbow Dash, smiling, her unkempt mane falling into her bright, magenta eyes, and her strong wings flared out behind her, framing her face over a backdrop of rippling feathers, strong, brave, laughing, loyal, maybe a little rough around the edges, but more caring than she let on, Rainbow Dash.

Applejack's smile fell as another thought crept into her head.

She wasn't in love with Rainbow Dash.

She loved her, sure, just the same as she loved all her friends. But she wasn't in love with her, and she was certain Rainbow Dash wasn't in love with her either. Was it possible, though? Could she fall in love with Rainbow Dash, someday? She couldn't find an answer to that question.

Ponies didn't have to be in love to go on a date though, did they? Worst case scenario, they would both realize they weren't right for each other and then they would have something to laugh and be embarrassed about together later. Besides, at least their friends would finally stop bugging them about it. Best case scenario...

Applejack saw herself waking up, rolling over in bed and seeing that smile as Rainbow Dash cuddled closer to her. She tried to shake the image away, but once it had come, it simply wouldn’t go. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. She saw Rainbow Dash and herself galloping through the blossoming apple orchards together. Rainbow Dash and herself sitting and talking together in the shade of a tree on a hot summer afternoon. Rainbow Dash and herself lying close together by a fire on Hearth’s Warming Eve a long, long time from now, both of them older, wearier, but still together.

Rainbow Dash and herself.

All that time in her orchards she had spent thinking she was alone, and Rainbow Dash really nearby all the time, napping on a tree branch.

“Applejack, are you going to play?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

Applejack smiled and nodded.

She decided it was more than worth a try, even if they only went on a handful of dates together before calling it off. She couldn’t say anything yet, but as soon as she and Rainbow Dash were alone together, she would tell her. Her heart raced.

“See ya later, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash called, stepping out the door along with the rest of her friends, each saying goodnight as they walked from Sugarcube Corner and towards their separate homes. Dash stopped, letting them go ahead of her. She stretched and took a deep breath of cool, night air. Besides them, everyone in Ponyville had gone indoors for the night, and there was something exciting about the idea of being out when no one else was, like she was getting to see something no one else did.

A hoof touched her shoulder.

“Aaggh!” Dash yelped, jumping in the air and spinning around. She saw Applejack standing behind her. “Jeez, AJ, don’t do that,” she said, lowering herself back to the ground.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize you were so antsy.” Applejack chuckled.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Did you want something?”

“Uh, yeah.” Applejack smiled. It was too wide for a normal smile, spread too thin. “About what I asked you earlier... you never answered me.”

“Answered what?”

“Well...” Applejack bit her lip. “If you wanted to go out sometime.”

Rainbow Dash paused for a moment, confused, and then let out a weak laugh. “Oh, right. That’s not really as funny the second time though.”

Applejack’s too-wide smile fell. “I’m not jokin’. I’m askin’ you out.”

Rainbow Dash looked back to her other friends. They had already walked far down the road, out of earshot. “Okay... it’s just kind of weird the third time.”

Applejack stared at her.

Rainbow Dash stared back for a few moments. “You’re not joking, are you?”

“That’s what I just said, isn’t it?” Applejack smiled again. “So, what do you say?”

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash groaned. “You too now?”

“Look, I know they’ve been buggin’ us about this a long time, but I thought about it and, well, they’re right.” Applejack smiled. “I think you and me could be really good together.”

Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side, feeling embarrassed for Applejack. Of all ponies, Applejack was the last she would have expected to buy into all that mushy nonsense. “Um, no thanks.”

Applejack blinked at her, looking like Rainbow Dash had just declared that apples were vegetables. “What do you mean ‘no thanks’?”

“Um.” Rainbow Dash frowned. “It can only really mean one thing, right?”

“Huh?”

Rainbow Dash furled and unfurled her wings. “It means no, I don’t wanna go on a date with you, but thanks for the offer.”

“I—but—you and me—” Applejack shook her head. “This don’t make any sense...”

“Since when do you care what Rarity says about you?”

“This isn’t about Rarity!” Applejack cried, her voice rising.

Dash backed up a little. “What’s it about then? Hearts and Hooves Day?”

“It’s about you and me,” Applejack said, pointing at her. “Sugarcube... I really think this is right. I really think I could make you happy. I really think we could be happy.”

For the briefest of moments, Rainbow Dash considered saying yes, and imagined what being with Applejack would be like. But then memories she didn’t want to remember flooded her mind. She looked away. “No thanks,” she said again, pushing them out of her head. “I don’t date anymore.”

Applejack stayed quiet for a second, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Just one date. Just give me one chance to show you what we could be. If it don't work out, then fine. We never have to go on another.”

“No,” Dash said, looking up at her. “No. We’re never going to be anything because I don’t want to be anything with you.”

Applejack simply stared back, her mouth hanging open slightly, looking... hurt?

Rainbow Dash cringed. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean that.”

Applejack nodded numbly.

They fell into silence for a time, Applejack quietly staring down at the ground, and Rainbow Dash nervously running her hoof through her mane.

“Sugarcube, can’t you see it?” Applejack finally asked, looking up.

“See what?”

“Us. You and me, sittin’ together, close. You’ve gotta be able to see it too. I know we could be happy.”

“How could you know that?”

Applejack smiled teasingly and stepped towards her. “Because I know you, and I know what you want. You want somepony who can keep up with you, and you can hardly even keep up with me. Because you never settle for anything but the best, and I’m the strongest, fastest, toughest pony in all of Ponyville.” She moved closer, so their noses nearly touched. Rainbow Dash felt her face and ears go warm, but she was rooted to the spot, unable to back up.

“Because you think I’m hot, and I know it,” Applejack said. Her warm breath brushed Dash’s lips. She leaned in close, grazing Dash’s neck with her muzzle, and whispered sweetly into her ear, “Because I know what you want, and you want me.”

Rainbow Dash gulped.

“Just think about it,” Applejack said. She leaned back, tipped her hat, and turned around. “Sweet dreams, sugarcube.”

“Uh, y-you too.” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help staring at Applejack’s rump as she walked away. Applejack glanced back, and Dash quickly tore her gaze away and pretended to have been looking anyplace else. When the farm pony was finally out of sight, Dash jumped up into the air and flew home, her face still tinged an embarrassing shade of red.

Applejack waited until Rainbow Dash had flown away before stopping. She let out a shaky breath. Where the hay had that come from? She remembered the way she had whispered in Rainbow Dash’s ear and blushed. She hadn’t meant to come on so... strong. She didn’t even know she had that in her.

She smiled. She kind of liked it. And, judging by the way Rainbow Dash had blushed, she had liked it too.

And then she remembered, Rainbow Dash had still said no, and her smile fell. Applejack had forgotten what it felt like to be rejected. It felt even worse than when her friends had simply laughed her off. It was like, instead of their usual evening stew, Granny Smith had boiled shame, and embarrassment, and humiliation, and disappointment all together in a frothing, steaming soup and Applejack had eagerly gulped it down, searing her throat, and then thrown it back up.

It didn’t make sense. It just didn’t make sense. She shook her head. She didn’t want to believe it. For a short time, everything had been clear. Rainbow Dash and herself, they were just... right for each other. It made so much sense to her now that she couldn’t understand how she hadn’t seen it before. But Rainbow Dash didn’t see it, and everything had gone murky again.

She began walking home. Her legs felt heavy, like she was treading through deep water. Her chest ached, a deep, numbing ache.

What now?

For a single moment, she had been certain Rainbow Dash was going to say yes, but then it was as if something behind Rainbow’s eyes had darkened, and she had said no instead.

I don’t date anymore.

That had to be it. Something must have happened to her. But what? If Applejack only knew, she could help her friend. Unfortunately, Applejack knew the odds of Rainbow Dash actually telling her were about as good as the odds that Granny Smith would spring out of bed tomorrow morning dancing the hoochie coochie.

Applejack looked up and saw that she was passing by the path that led to Fluttershy’s cottage. She smiled, remembering the nod that had passed between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash when the subject had come up at Sugarcube Corner. She could think of one pony who would know what to do about Rainbow Dash. She trotted up the path and knocked on the cottage door.

“Oh, hello, Applejack,” Fluttershy said, oddly chipper considering the hour.

“Hey, Fluttershy. Can I come in?”

“Of course,” Fluttershy replied quickly, moving out of the way. “I was just feeding the mice and owls.”

Applejack decided not to mention that owls ate mice. Or maybe that was why their feeding times coincided?

“Is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked. “It’s awfully late. Not that I don’t mind you visiting late! It’s just, this is a lot later than you usually come over.”

“I took everypony’s advice and asked Rainbow Dash out tonight,” Applejack explained, straight to the point, walking inside and sitting down.

Fluttershy gasped, beating her wings excitedly and hovering in the air, smiling brightly. “Oh, that’s so wonderful! What did she say?”

“She said no.”

Fluttershy drooped back down to the ground, her smile gone. “Oh, that’s not very wonderful at all.”

“You’re right about that,” Applejack said glumly.

“But why?”

“I was hopin’ you’d be able to tell me. She keeps tellin’ everypony that she doesn’t date anymore, but I’ve never heard her say why.” Applejack looked to Fluttershy.

In turn, Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “Oh, um, well...”

“You’ve known her longer than I have. Do you know what’s eatin’ at her?”

“Um.” Fluttershy resettled her wings on her back. “Maybe if you asked her again very nicely, she’ll say yes. Did you ask her very nicely?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “I asked her plenty nice, but it doesn’t matter how nice I ask, she won’t say yes. There’s somethin’ botherin’ her, but I don’t know what.”

“Oh... that’s, um, too bad,” Fluttershy murmured.

“It’s a whole heck of a lot more than just too bad.” Applejack scowled. “Do you know what’s buggin’ her? Did somethin’ happen to her?”

Fluttershy frowned. “I really shouldn’t say.”

Applejack groaned. She had never known Fluttershy to ever be anything other than helpful. “Sugarcube, you know I don’t mean to go stickin’ my muzzle places it don’t belong, but there’s somethin’ wrong with Rainbow Dash, and I want to help her. I want to be with her. But I can’t do that if I don’t have any idea what the problem is. If you know anything, please tell me. Why doesn’t Rainbow Dash date anymore?”

“Oh, well...” Fluttershy’s face twitched, her wings fluttered, and her legs fidgeted. It almost looked like her body was at war with itself. She opened her mouth as if to explain, and then closed it again abruptly. She bit her lip. “She just...”

“Fluttershy, please.”

“Rainbow Dash had some very, very bad marefriends,” she said quickly. “So she just, um, stopped.”

“Bad how? What did they do to her?” Applejack asked, feeling her muscles go tense.

Fluttershy’s face went red and she stamped her hoof on the floor. “They were... they were jerks! Oh, I’m sorry. I know it’s not right to call ponies names. But they were... rude, and selfish, and mean, and—and—jerks!” She covered her mouth with a hoof. “Oh, I’m sorry, Applejack. I shouldn’t talk like that.”

“What did they do?” Applejack asked again. Her blood boiled at the mere thought that someone might have mistreated Rainbow Dash.

“I’m sorry. Rainbow Dash made me promise not to talk about it to anypony.”

“Fluttershy,” Applejack said sternly, standing up. “Did they hurt her? You tell me right now if somepony hurt her.”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide. “No, no. Nothing like that. They were mean, but they weren’t mean like that.”

Applejack took a deep breath to calm herself. “Okay, so what did they do then?”

“I’m sorry, I really wasn’t supposed to say anything about it at all.”

“Fluttershy, this is—” Applejack stopped herself. “Right, you made a promise and you gotta keep it. Ain’t nothing we can do about that. So what can we do to help her then? She can’t go her whole life never havin’ another marefriend.”

Fluttershy hesitated. “Um, you do want to be with her, right? Really want to be with her? It’s okay if you don’t, but—”

“I swear on my word that I do,” Applejack interrupted.

Fluttershy bit her lip. “Well, her other marefriends were, really, really nasty, so, um, maybe if you were really, really, um...”

“Nice?” Applejack suggested.

Fluttershy smiled. “Yes! Nice. If you were really, really nice to her, she would probably say yes.”

“Uh, okay.” Applejack lifted her hat and scratched her forehead. “I’m fairly sure I’m already pretty nice to her though. We are friends afterall.”

“Oh, of course you are,” Fluttershy said quickly. “It’s just that—well... Rainbow Dash had some really awful marefriends, so she doesn’t really know what a real marefriend is like. So you should be extra nice to her show her. You need to, um, woo her.”

“Woo her? Rainbow Dash doesn’t seem like the kind of pony who cares about that sort of stuff.”

Fluttershy blushed. “Well, she does, even if she doesn’t act like it. You need to do nice things for her, and say nice things to her to show her how much you like her. And then you can show her how much better you are than her other marefriends were.”

“Okay.” Applejack chuckled. It wasn’t the most elaborate plan she had ever heard, but it would do. “So, what? You want me to bring her flowers and breakfast in bed then?”

Fluttershy grinned. “That would be perfect!”

“Uh, I was jokin’.”

“Well, you should still do it. I know I would love it if somepony gave me flowers.”

Applejack squinted at her. “You and Rainbow Dash ain’t exactly the same pony.”

“Everypony likes getting flowers,” Fluttershy insisted with a huff. “None of her other marefriends ever brought her flowers.”

“Well, flowers it is then, I guess.”

Fluttershy smiled, and then covered her mouth to hide a yawn.

“Am I keepin’ you up?”

“Oh, no. I can stay up as long as you want to talk.”

“No, I can’t keep you any longer.” Applejack stood up and yawned too. “I should really get some shut-eye anyway. I gotta be up bright and early tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy replied, moving to the door. “Goodnight then.”

Applejack stopped in the doorway. “Thank you, Fluttershy.”

‘Oh, it’s really no problem.” Fluttershy giggled nervously. “Good luck.”