Left Behind

By Gold

A gift from Derpii Hooves

Prologue - The Problem

Edited by Clavier

Special.

It was a word that never bothered Applejack before today, but for some reason she could not get it out of her mind.  She sat upon one of the many apple orchard hills, watching the sunset, looking out over the bare trees and the baskets of apples she picked.  She had worked herself to the bone, trying to get every apple she could buck down from those trees.  For the first time, this work, which usually brought her immense satisfaction and pride, felt worthless and unimportant.

A thought had drifted into her mind, and now she couldn't get it to drift away.  She couldn't shake the feeling that she was the least special of her friends.

There was Twilight.  Anypony could see why she was special.  In the last few years, her studies had made her easily one of the most powerful magicians in Equestria.  There were very few spells she had not mastered, and her wisdom and magic were often sought by other ponies.  Rarity's fashion boutique– no, corrected Applejack, fashion boutiques– were doing very well.  Anypony who cared for fashion was falling over themselves just to get at one of her dresses.  Pinkie Pie was throwing parties for all sorts of famous ponies, and couldn't be happier.  Her schedule was booked for months, trying to keep up with all the ponies who demanded her extraordinary party planning talents.  Fluttershy kept accidentally falling into successes.  From becoming a model, to that book she wrote on animal care.  Sure, it took her friends some convincing before she would actually allow it to get published, but once it was, it couldn't be more of a hit.  

Rainbow Dash?  She had gone from being the fastest young flyer to being the fastest flyer, period.  She was in the Wonderbolts, and it was rumored that in a few years she would be captain.  Not to mention, in Pegasus culture, the better you were at flying, the more attractive you were.  Stallions and mares alike were lining up to ask for dates, or... more intimate things.

Applejack hated to admit it, but that was part of the problem.  Ponies marveled at Twilight's intelligence, Rarity's beauty, Pinkie Pie's sense of fun, Fluttershy’s kindness, and Dash's speed and agility.  How special her friends were had earned them success, and their success had earned them many admirers.

But what did Applejack have?  If she worked herself to the bone, every day, doing what she loved, what would she manage to achieve?  At best, keeping the farm afloat.  Maybe even having a little success with it.  But she would never obtain fame and fortune like the others could.  And when was the last time anyone had asked her out?  When was her last kiss?

A while back.

She hated herself for even having this train of thought.  She had never considered herself to be an envious pony.  At least, not until these thoughts started flowing in.  She was happy for all of them, truly happy.  But for the first time... for the first time, she felt left behind.

She didn't feel special.

"Ah guess," Applejack said  to no one, "Ah guess that's just the way it is."

"What's the way it is?" asked a loud voice.

Applejack, surprised by the voice above, yelped.  She tripped over her own hooves trying to get up and found herself on her back, looking up at the sky.

Lying in a branch above her was none other than Rainbow Dash, who was making no attempt to contain her laughter.  Applejack felt heat rush to her cheeks as she got back up.

"Oh my gosh!  You have no idea how long it took to sneak up on you, but it was totally worth it to see that!"   Rainbow Dash could hardly speak, she was laughing so hard.  "And to see you trip over yourself?  Oh man, that was awesome."

Applejack was not amused.  "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."

Rainbow Dash tried to calm herself down.  "Aw, come on, AJ, it was just a little prank."  Unable to help herself, she began laughing even louder than before.

"Don't you think yer getting a little old for pranks?" asked Applejack, with more malice than she had intended.  She grabbed her hat off the ground, and looked up at Rainbow Dash, whose laughter had stopped abruptly.

Seeing Rainbow Dash's hurt face, Applejack sighed, realizing she had gone too far.  She flipped her hat onto her head and spoke with a warm tone.  "Aw, ah'm sorry Rainbow.  Ah guess ah had an off day.  Ah didn't mean that at'all."

In a blur, Rainbow Dash was standing in front of Applejack, showing off her speed and grace.  "Why?  What's wrong?  Did something happen?"

Applejack almost chuckled.  Rainbow Dash sure was the embodiment of loyalty.  As soon as she sensed something was wrong with one of her friends, she always became very serious, ready to help.  Applejack couldn't help taking a second to admire her.  She stood so proud, so ready for action, her strong wings flared as if she was ready to go fly off and beat up whatever was bothering Applejack.  Her friend's fierce loyalty warmed Applejack's heart.  Unfortunately, her worries were not so simple.

"T'aint nothin but a few bad thoughts, sugarcube.  But thanks for askin."  She turned to start walking towards her house, but found herself face to face with Rainbow Dash again.

"Bad thoughts?" asked Rainbow Dash.  

Applejack would never lie to her friends, but this wasn't the kind of thought she wanted to share.  "Ah'm not sure ah want to talk about it."

"Come on, you can talk to me, AJ.  You usually do,” said Rainbow Dash.  “Unless... unless your thoughts are about me?"  The concerned look she wore turned into a sly smile.  "Say, what kind of 'bad' thoughts are we talking about here?"

Applejack snorted as her reply, and moved around Rainbow Dash to hide her blush.  She started walking towards her house again .  "Ah guess having all those admirers has inflated your ego even more, huh."

"Well, I couldn't blame you for checking me out every now and then," said Rainbow Dash with her usual confidence, trotting at her side.  "I am pretty sexy."

Applejack grinned at how forward she was.  "No, it'aint those kind of thoughts, Dash.”

Rainbow Dash paused, seeming like she was waiting for more.  "You didn't answer my question," she said, in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

"Which one was that?" asked Applejack, afraid of the answer.

"Were you thinking about me?"

Applejack couldn’t possibly tell her that she had been.  What would Rainbow Dash think?  Maybe one little white lie wouldn't hurt.  "No."

Rainbow Dash suddenly stopped in her tracks, laughing.

"What?" asked Applejack, stopping to look at her.

"AJ, you are the worst... liar... ever!" she laughed out.  Applejack blushed and started a quick pace back towards the house.  Rainbow Dash's laughter stopped again. "Hey, alright, I'm sorry!  ...again!"  Applejack kept walking towards the house, not bothering to look back at Dash.

"Hey, hold on a minute.”  She was suddenly back at Applejack's side.  “Applejack!"

"Yeah?" she asked, with just the amount of malice she had intended.

"Just stop for a second, will ya?"  Applejack sighed and stopped to look at her.  "Look, I'm sorry I laughed.  Something is clearly bothering you, and I want to help.  Talk to me!"

Applejack looked into those concerned eyes, and for one second thought about telling her how she felt.  But, she thought, what would Rainbow think of her?  Being jealous of everypony else's success?  "Ah told you, ah don't want to talk about it, Dash."

"Is it something I did?"

Sort of, thought Applejack.  "You did nothing wrong, Dash."

"But it’s something about me?"

Applejack almost cursed.  How in Equestria did the cyan pony read her so well?  Rainbow Dash seemed to know exactly what she was thinking at all times.  Was there even a point in trying to hide things from her?  "Yes, you.  You and the other girls."

Rainbow floated over to Applejack, landing softly in front of her.  "So what is it?  I promise I won't say anything."  Applejack looked at her, still unsure.  "Come on, it'll feel good to get it off your chest!" she said, poking Applejack affectionately with her hoof.

"Alright, ah'll tell.  But promise you won't think no worse of me?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, as if to say such a thing was impossible.

"Rainbow Dash, do you promise?"

"Of course I won't think any worse of you!" wailed Rainbow, throwing her hooves up as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Applejack sighed.  She'd been doing a lot of that.  She looked back out to the setting sun and took a deep breath.  "Look, ah don't reckon I know how to put this, but... I'll try.  You and the other girls... well, we've all been working real hard these past few years to achieve our dreams.  And all y'all are having a lot of success with it.  Now don't get me wrong, cuz ah'm mighty proud of each one of you.  But sometimes ah feel a little... left behind."

"Left behind?" asked Rainbow softly, having never considered that before.

"Yeah.  Ah mean shoot, all of you are famous!  And me?  Ah'm just a farmer, Rainbow.  I feel like I've been working hard all these years..."

"Nopony works as hard as you!" said Rainbow Dash softly.

"... but all ah've managed to do is keep the farm afloat.  Barely.  And now all y'all are getting all these admirers, ya know?  Everypony sees how wonderful you guys are.  And you each deserve it, ah would never say otherwise, but... you know, who notices the farmer next to the Wonderbolt, or magician, or author?  Nopony, that's who."  Applejack pushed some dirt around with her hoof.  She still had not looked at Rainbow for her reaction.  

She suddenly got furious at herself for having these thoughts.  "Ah know, it's horrible of me to be thinkin this!  Ah've never been jealous of y'all before.  Never.  But I just can't get the thought out of my head, that all of my friends are special... but me.  Ah'm just not.  Just your average, run of the mill farmer."

She finally looked at Rainbow Dash, who was staring at her in shock.  "So..." started AJ awkwardly, crossing her front legs.  "So, that's what's on my mind.  Is all."

There was an awkward pause while Rainbow Dash took in this new information.  "AJ, I had no idea you felt this way."

"Ah didn't!” she replied automatically.  “Well, not until today."

"Well, AJ, I don't know what to tell you, because you are totally, one hundred percent wrong," said Rainbow simply.

Applejack huffed in disbelief.  

"You're wrong!" said Rainbow Dash, finally raising her voice to its usual level.  "You don't think you're special?  You've got to be crazy!  You, the element of honesty?  You, the hardest working pony in Equestria?  You, the...”  Rainbow Dash trailed off, seeing that she wasn’t getting through to Applejack.  “Alright, do you think that any other pony in the world could run Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Yes.  Ah do.”

Rainbow Dash gasped at her reply.

“Look, Rainbow, ah didn’t tell you all that to fish for compliments.  Ah just told you to get it off my chest.  That’s just how it is, alright?”

“But it’s not!”

“Shush, Rainbow Dash!  Now, if you don’t mind, ah gotta start getting dinner ready.”  Applejack marched towards her house, and this time, Rainbow Dash did not follow.

‘Alright,’ thought Rainbow Dash.  ‘If you don’t believe me when I tell you, I’ll just have to show you.’

The usually spontaneous and lazy Rainbow Dash had a plan.

***

First chapter, here it is!  Please review if you have any thoughts.  -Gold