It was early evening when the couple arrived at Rainbow’s small cloud house back in Ponyville. They were planning to spend almost three months there.

“Your place is smaller than I expected, but I like it. Seems cozy.” Spitfire said with honesty.

“A bedroom, a guestroom, two bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. It does its job just fine when you’re a single weather mare living in a small town.” Rainbow replied, a little offended.

“That’s not what I meant, honey. Being a daughter of a Wonderbolt, I’ve never really had a chance to experience the simple lifestyle. I went to private schools, had wealthy friends and met many famous ponies throughout the years. I’ve spent my youth obsessing about joining the team. Meeting my dad’s high expectations wasn’t easy to achieve. It already feels great to run away from all this.” She explained herself and Rainbow giggled in response.

“We may come from different backgrounds, but fixating about joining the Wonderbolts is certainly a thing we have in common. Let me show you the bedroom.” Rainbow was careful not to give the wrong idea to Spitfire, she had something different planned for the evening.

The mares took their luggage upstairs and entered the room.

“Wow.” Spitfire wasn’t too surprised when she saw ‘THE WALL’.

“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash replied, slightly embarrassed.

“We should start unpacking.”

“We can do this later. Let’s go to the Sugarcude Corner. I’m sure my friends are already waiting there.”

“You’ve told them that we were coming today?”

“I didn’t have to. I’ve told you about the special pink device that detects those things.”

“Pinkie Pie, right? Your friends seem like an interesting bunch of ponies.”

***

They had to sign a couple of autographs on their way to the bakery but they didn’t mind. When they arrived at their destination, Spitfire looked through the window. The lights were off any nopony seemed to be inside.

“I think it’s closed.” Spitfire said and was ready to go back.

“Watch and learn.” Rainbow said with a cheeky smile.

The doors were unlocked and Spitfire followed Rainbow Dash inside.

“Hi girls, I want to introduce somepony to you.” Rainbow casually said.

A shot from the party cannon instantly decorated the Sugarcube Corner’s party room and made Spitfire jump back in terror. The lights came on an four mares came out of hiding. Fluttershy wasn’t among them.

“Aww.” Three of  them groaned, disappointed that Rainbow didn’t even pretend to be surprised, and then looked inquiringly at the yellow mare she brought with her.

“Girls, meet my marefriend, Spitfire.”

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Pinkie Pie ran over to Rainbow Dash and soon all of them squealed like fillies who just got their cutie marks. Applejack didn’t join them and only squinted her eyes in response to the revelation. The excited mares decided to introduce themselves to Spitfire, starting with the chatterbox Pinkie Pie was.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie. I work here. I made cupcakes. Do you want a cupcake? Of course you want a cupcake. Everypony likes cupcakes.” Pinkie cheerfully said and then shoved a cupcake into her newest friend’s face.

Spitfire only smiled and started chewing the sweet pastry. The pink earth pony was exactly like Rainbow Dash described her. Twilight Sparkle came over to her next.

“Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m the local librarian. It’s nice to meet you, Spitfire.” Twilight introduced herself in a much calmer way and shook Spitfire’s hoof.

It was Rarity’s turn now.

“Good evening, my name is Rarity. I’m a fashion designer and run the Carousel Boutique. I’ve designed Rainbow’s Gala dress for her. It’s a pleasure to properly meet you, Spitfire.” Rarity tried her best to leave a good impression, still remembering the incident from the competition.

In the meantime, Rainbow Dash approached Applejack.

“Hi, Applejack. Long time no see.” She tried to start a conversation.

“Ah’ve tried to get over it, but Ah can’t.” The orange mare looked her in the eyes as she spoke with a tone of voice that was the scary kind of calm.

“Do we have a problem?” Rainbow Dash asked, not giving in to the intimidating stare.

Instead of replying, Applejack began slowly walking towards the cyan pegasus. Rainbow Dash found herself backing away and stopped when her flank touched the wall. The other mares were done with the introductions and now watched the situation unfold. They didn’t know about Applejack’s reasons but were ready to jump in to separate them.

“Applejack…” Rainbow was expecting the worst from her.

“It’s your fault. Have you seen that thing? It was completely destroyed. Rainbow Dash, you owe me an apple tree. A big, healthy apple tree.” She was deadly serious.

“An apple tree? I’ll get you one, I’ll even get you an orchard worth of trees! But what about Big Macintosh?” Rainbow Dash didn’t know if she felt relived or even more anxious at this point.

“And that’s also your fault. He’s dating Fluttershy now.” With the issue out of the way, she gave Rainbow a hug. “Ah still don’t understand his involvement, but Ah’m happy that you found out who you are and Ah accept it.”

She trotted over to Spitfire.

“My name is Applejack. Nice to meet you.” She said, smiling.

“Is that why Fluttershy’s not here?” Rainbow asked with enthusiasm.

“They’ll drop by soon.” Applejack replied.

***

The mares were busy with socializing when the door opened and Fluttershy, followed by Big Macintosh, came inside. Rainbow Dash immediately flew over to them.

“Hey, Flutters. Hey, Big Mac. I’ve heard that you’re dating now. I so happy for you.” She greeted them with eagerness.

Fluttershy fought hard to keep the smile on her face, but Rainbow’s words were the straw that broke the camel’s back for her. She leaped at the cyan mare and started flailing her hooves after they both fell to the ground. Rainbow didn’t  fight back, she only covered her face, waiting for somepony to intervene.

“I’ve trusted you! How could you do this to me?! I hate you, you dirty fillyfooler!” Fluttershy screamed.

“’Shy, timid and sensitive?’” Spitfire thought as Big Macintosh pulled the lightweight pegasus off of Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy broke away from Big Macintosh’s embrace and ran out of the building. The other ponies were dumbfounded by the situation.

“You’ve told her?” Rainbow cried out. “Why?!”

“Ah don’t know, Ah just did. She told me she was okay about it. Ah didn’t expect it to turn out this way.” Big Macintosh explained an rushed after his marefriend.

Rainbow Dash didn’t get up. She was crying her eyes out on the floor as Spitfire tried to calm her down.

„Rainbow Dash, tell me what really happened that day or Ah’m goin’ to lose my mind.” Applejack was terrified by Fluttershy’s reaction.

“She was confused, she had sex with him. It’s partially my fault, I’m sorry.” Spitfire replied for the lamenting mare.

“Say what now?” Applejack was getting angrier with every second that passed, her synapses were making new connections as she filled out the blanks.

“I raped him, all right? That’s how I made sure that I’m a fillyfooler.” Rainbow Dash started crying even harder.

“Calm down, Rainbow Dash! You? Raped Macintosh? Big. Macintosh? Argh! Ah feel so stupid right now! It’s all my fault you think this way, isn’t it? What you two did wasn’t smart, but it also wasn’t wrong. What was that moron expectin’ to happen? Rainbow Dash, Ah’m sorry! Excuse me girls, Ah need to have a little chat with them.” She finished venting.

Applejack darted off. Rainbow’s friends calmed the mare down after Spitfire couldn’t. Pinkie Pie went to make a hot cup of cocoa and Rarity wiped the tears from Rainbow’s face as Twilight Sparkle gave Rainbow a heartfelt hug. It all helped, but Applejack’s honest words had the most influence. Spitfire was amazed by how much they cared about her marefriend, she hasn’t experienced a friendship this strong in her life. The connection she shared with most of the ponies she knew wasn’t even close to this.

“I’ve known her since I was a filly. I don’t want it to end like this.” Rainbow was devastated.

“Everything is going to be all right, darling.” Rarity assured her.

“Applejack will sort things out.” Twilight reassured her.

***

Applejack ran straight to the cottage. When she got there, she was invited inside by Big Macintosh. She gave him an angry look and went straight to Fluttershy, who was sitting in the living room.

“Fluttershy, you weren’t even dating him when that happened. You wouldn’t be dating him if that didn’t happen. Neither of you would’ve made the first move if she didn’t push him. Are you seriously ready to end an almost lifelong friendship over this?” Applejack calmly explained.

“You’re… right…” Fluttershy admitted after a while, she was back to her old self again.

“And you! You’ve told her but didn’t tell me? It’s all so clear to me now. ’She had a relationship problem?’ ‘Ah helped to fix it?’ What the buck, Big Macintosh… You didn’t have the guts to tell her how you felt about her, but the moment she waved her flank at you, you bucked her? You didn’t question her motives at all? Ah thought it was all her fault, but you brought this on yourself. She’s still hasn’t gotten over it. All of this because Ah care about you…” Applejack didn’t hide her disappointment.

“Ah couldn’t force myself to tell you…” Big Macintosh answered.

“Because deep inside, you knew how Ah would react.” She told him.

He hung his head low and Fluttershy came over to hug him.

“Ah’m happy that you’re happy together but it’s not okay to leave this situation as it is right now. It’s your choice to go back to the Sugarcube Corner with me.” Applejack said to both of them.

***

Rainbow Dash was almost done sipping the, now lukewarm, cocoa from a cup Pinkie gave her. She was about ready to ask Spitfire to take her back home when two mares and a stallion came through the door. She looked at her ex-friend with eyes that showed regret and got an apologetic look in response. Fluttershy slowly walked over and put her hooves around Rainbow. Without saying a single word, they both started weeping.