The next few days were a blur to Rainbow Dash. The normally unstoppable pony was broken into a disheveled mess, mane on the fritz and wet streaks cascading down her cheeks. She rolled out of her bed at some point well into the afternoon. She wasn’t sure when exactly. Empty cider bottles rolled around her floor as she walked, her alarm clock having been thrown out the window to Tartarus as its shrill cry attempted to wake her up for what would normally be her routine. Her home, long since devoid of any suitable cuisine, resembled a fast food eatery with all the empty Neighponese take-out boxes speckled amongst the empty cider bottles. Rainbow delicately rubbed her face with a forehoof before cracking her refrigerator. Sighing at the emptiness within she grabbed another bottle of hard cider and a leftover container of Neighponese before retreating to what was technically called her “living room.” Though, given her current state, the term only loosely applied at best. Her movements were slow and uncoordinated. The compression bandages wrapped around her torso limited her movement, but also kept her back aligned. Her wings offered her limited mobility—she could hover, glide, and fly slowly—but she chose to avoid it whenever possible. Whereas healthy and prosperous Rainbow Dash would dart from place to place, showing off her speed and glory, injured Rainbow Dash felt out of touch and slow. A shadow of her former self, she chose to stick to her own four hooves as taking to the skies just reminded her of what she was missing.

Living in a cloud home made avoiding the skies very difficult.

At a certain point, the polychromatic mare would have to face facts and venture into the world during the light of day. Not that she’d do so by choice, but her cider reserves were running dangerously low, and the places she could get more were not quite as indiscriminate as the Neighponese takeout restaurants she could order from at night.

As she finished off her first cider of the day and the bottle clattered to the floor, clinking off several of its brothers there from days prior she sighed to herself as her reflection was caught in the glass. “What am I gonna do? I can’t face everyone, I’m a failure…. But I can’t keep sitting here either...” Rainbow let out another exasperated sigh. Eventually she settled on donning a cloak and going into town to stock up on regular food. Maybe some hay fries and a big bundle of daisies… and a few more cases of cider of course. Donning a rather drab, gray cloak that would make Maud Pie proud, she hobbled to her front door and began a slow glide to the ground below, choosing to walk to town and avoid wandering eyes. Only a blue muzzle and four blue hooves stuck out from her cloak, her wings pinned to her sides and her tell-all mane and tail hidden from anyone but their owner.

She should’ve known this plan was doomed from the start.

As she approached Ponyville an eerie silence swept the usually chipper landscape. The birds ceased singing, the woodland critters all stopped what they were doing. Nothing was moving except for the drab draped Pegasus… and a suspicious pink blur flying towards her at light speed.

“HI! Welcome to Ponyville! You must be new here because I know eeeeeeeeeeverypony and I don’t think I know you so welcome to town! OHMYGOSHIHAVETOTHROWYOUAWELCOMETOPONYVILLEPARTY!” Pinkie Pie began raving at the disguised Rainbow Dash before sweeping her into a gigantic hug. Rainbow Dash made a mental note to talk to the party mare about personal boundaries and space in the future. But for the time being only one immediate thought crossed her mind. Pain. So much pain as the hyperactive Pinkie squeezed the life out of her, compressing her back along with the rest of her.

“Aagh! Pinkie, let go! Let go!” Rainbow Dash screamed at the now confused pastel pony. As she reared back the sunlight entered her hood, displaying briefly the many colors of her magnificent mane. Pinkie stopped dead in her tracks and put a hoof to her muzzle before uttering an unusually quiet response for herself, putting even Fluttershy’s discretion to shame.

“Da…Dashie?” A grimaced nod from Rainbow was all she got in return. Pinkie went to jump for another hug before Rainbow’s foreleg shot straight forward and landed on Pinkie’s forehead, holding the mare in place as she tried to keep charging the (now) discovered Pegasus. Suddenly stopping as if getting the hint, a quizzical look crossed Pinkie’s face. “But… if you’re here… then who’s in Cloudsdale?”

“No one, Pinks,” Rainbow Dash tried to speak with a straight face, but she wore a grimace and the moistening corners of her eyes belayed the real truth. “I uh…. I’m out… Like, ‘out out.’ I got hurt and had to leave the academy.”

Pinkie’s cotton candy mane and tail visibly deflated at the news. Almost as quickly as it deflated, it was back to normal as the mare got a look in her eye that said it all. This was Ponyville’s premier party pony after all, and she had one goal in life. To make other ponies smile.

Before she could even open her mouth to suggest one of her crazy party plans, Rainbow Dash cut her off. “Look Pinkie, no one else even knows I’m back yet. No one knows what happened. I just want to keep it that way.”

“Awwwwwww but Dashie! Our friends will want to see you! We need to turn that frown upsmmmhmhmhm!” A cyan hoof found Pinkie’s muzzle yet again.

“Pinkie, listen to me. You need to Pinkie Promise NOT to tell anyone until I say so, ok? I’m not taking my hoof back until you do.” The party pony nodded her head and waved her hooves in an abstract fashion until Rainbow saw a hoof land on her eye. Knowing how sacred the promise was to Pinkie, she removed her hoof. “If you really want to help me out can you just help me get some things? I’m not ready to face everyone yet…” She felt the tears starting to form again. “Just… can you go grab some basic food stuff for me and meet me back here? Hay fries, flowers, all of it? I don’t really have any food left at home…”

Pinkie gave a dejected look before snapping to attention and giving a crazy salute. “Done! You can count on me Rainbow Dash!” She turned to leave but cocked her head back slightly to look at the currently demure Rainbow Dash. “Ya know, Dashie, I know you’re not ready. But whenever you are…. You didn’t do anything wrong. Our friends know that. This isn’t your fault.” Turning back she began bouncing back into town like nothing had happened and she hadn’t just had a surprisingly deep moment, looking into her friend’s very soul at what was eating her.

Rainbow Dash blinked at the pink pony, trying to figure out how she was able to read her so easily. After all, she was Rainbow Dash! She was macho. She was awesome! She… was she really that easy to read in this state? How did she…? I didn’t even tell her… again shrugging it off as Pinkie being Pinkie, Rainbow made a slight change in course to pick up her true love. Cider. Lots and lots of cider. Even if it meant an awkward day at Sweet Apple Acres it would be worth it in the end.

~~~~

As Rainbow Dash walked through the front gates of the farm, the loud thwumps of the field told her that at least some of the family was out harvesting. Maybe I can just catch Granny Smith at the house and get a few cases. I doubt she’d recognize me. Smiling to herself that she may be able to avoid detection after all, her elation was short lived as a straw maned orange pony with a worn Stetson hat walked around the edge of the barn. Locking eyes with the cloaked mare there was something she couldn’t quite put her hoof on, but shrugged thinking it’d come to her in time. In the meantime, she had a potential customer to introduce herself it.

“Welllll howdy, partner! Name’s Applejack! What can Ah get’cha today? We’ve got…” Applejack began her long list of treats produced on the farm, but only one caught Rainbow’s ear. At “…Apple Cider…” her ears twitched up, her stance got a bit straighter, and even her wings fluttered a bit under the cloak. None of which went unnoticed to the famer. “Aha! Ah knew it. Well don’cha worry none sugarcube, we here at Sweet Apple Acres make the best cider in all of Equestria! Usually have a problem keepin’ it in stock it sells so well.” As she spoke the wind picked up lifting the hem of the cloak ever so slightly over the wearer, sunlight yet again betraying the vibrant colors of Rainbow’s mane.

Applejack stuttered for just a moment before getting a gleam in her eye. She leaned towards the unsuspecting pony, who was not yet aware her cover had been blown. “Between you an’ me, sugarcube, I think I can give you a pretty good price actually. Generally there’s this one particular pony that drinks us out of house an’ home with the stuff. But she’s not around right now, so I think you an’ I could work out a deal.”

After all, what good would knowing your best friend is right before you in a disguise be if you didn’t have a little fun at her expense?

“Usually Ah hate tryin’ ta do business with that mare, but in yer case I can make an exception.” She froze, realizing her potential mistake, praying that Rainbow didn’t pick up on it.

“Well uhhh… Applejack was it?” The cyan pegasus’s jaw clenched slightly both to conceal her voice and out of anger towards the farm pony. “I guess we can figure somethi-…” Rainbow Dash stopped as Big Macintosh came into view hauling a cart from the fields. I’m a grown mare, I’ve seen plenty of stallions, why do I always freeze like a school filly at THAT one? She shook her head. Before she could speak, Applejack had caught Rainbow staring, turned, and saw what had captured her eye.

“Ah’d be careful with that sugarcube. Ah hear that somepony named Rainbow Dash has a might big crush on mah brother. Might want ta tread lightly. Ah hear she’s the jealous type, kinda like a young filly with her first crush. Real meanie when it comes to it actually.” Applejack tried to hold back her laughter, hoping this would put Rainbow over the edge. Her hopes were quickly vindicated.

“What!? Jealous? Crush!?” Rainbow tossed back the hood on her cloak. “Young filly?! Applejack!” She went to yell more but saw the orange pony rolling around on the ground in a fit of laughter.

“Ahaha! Oh Rainbow, ya should’ve seen yerself sugarcube. That was priceless!” The farm pony dusted herself off before standing back up. “So how in the hay are ya!? Ah wasn’t expectin’ ta see ya back so soon. Ya do so well at the academy that ya blew their minds and they graduated ya early?” Looking into Rainbow’s face though she could swear she saw the telltale sign of a frown on her maw and water in her eyes. Immediately shaping herself up from jokester to friend, she reached a hoof out to Rainbow, wrapping it around her withers. “Hey sugarcube, what’s wrong? Ya alright?”

This wasn’t just any pony asking about her wellbeing. This wasn’t even just one of her friends. This was Applejack. Her competitor. Her rival. Her first and best friend from Ponyville. Rainbow opened her mouth to speak but the words weren’t there. Instead she collapsed to the ground, startling Applejack, and just kept whispering “I’m sorry” over and over as tears flowed from her face.

Applejack wasn’t sure what to make of it. Whatever happened before didn’t matter. All that mattered to her was that her friend needed her. Now. She sidled up next to Rainbow and lay against her on the ground, whispering to her, “shhhh sugarcube. Everythin’s gonna be ok. Jus’ let it out. It ain’t yer fault.” She stayed pressed up against her best friend until the tears turned to sobs turned to nothing. The two just rested. Eventually Rainbow found the words to explain the story to Applejack. The academy, the toughest two weeks of her life, the injury. The past few days spent in an alcohol induced haze. She told her everything.

Applejack just hugged her friend close before leading her to the house and sitting her down at the kitchen table. She fetched two plates, two fritters, and two cool glasses of water and just let the rainbow maned mare eat. She needed to rest. To recover. She needed her friend more than anything.

Eventually after bellies had been filled and tears had been dried, the two friends began to wander back towards Rainbow's cloud home, each carrying a fresh case of cider on their back. After meeting with Pinkie and retrieving a week's worth of provisions.... and Rainbow stopping several attempts at her enthusiastic hugging, the pegasus and party pony bumped hooves before she returned to town.

"Hey, AJ?" Rainbow turned to her friend as she dropped her case of cider to the ground. "Ummm, I just wanted to say.... thanks. I needed this today." The farmer wiped the sweat from her brow with a foreleg and smiled back at the sheepish pegasus.

"Well tarnations, Rainbow. Ya know as well as Ah do that yer welcome to come by anytime. If ya ever need anythin' don't hesitate ta ask, ya hear?" She stared directly into her friend's magenta eyes, meaning every word of it.

"Th... thanks AJ. But if you tell anyone I'm getting all sappy on you I'll totally deny it." She stuck her tongue out at the farmer in jest, causing a deep chuckle to emanate from the mare.

"Rainbow, Ah don' know what Ah'd do without ya." She leaned in to hug her friend goodbye. The mare wasn't sure why she did what she did next, but with her legs wrapped around Rainbow's withers she gave the cyan mare a warm nuzzle cheek to cheek. Perhaps lingering a bit too long. Nothing a passerby would glance twice at, but something that made the Rainbow mare's eyes go wide.

"Thanks AJ," she said, breaking the hug. "I... uh, I should get back up there now." The pegasus slowly began the process of carrying her supplies back up to her home as the farm pony turned back to Sweet Apple Acres. A look of mixed pleasure and fear covered her face, wondering why she held a bit longer than she should've.

Rainbow continued her flights back and forth, focusing on the task at hand. Or trying. Is it just me or did that last a bit longer than normal... Nah, I must be over thinking that. Landing back on her stoop she immediately popped open a cider and drained it. Cracking a second she slowed down, savoring the flavor. This is gonna be a long night.