Epilogue - The Problem Revisited

Edited by Clavier

Rainbow Dash sat on one of the many hills which overlooked Ponyville.  The town had transformed for Applejack's celebration, ribbons and banners hung everywhere.  The square was packed with ponies, all drinking and celebrating noisily.

It had been two weeks since that day.  When Twilight had teleported them back, there was great confusion from the evacuated people, wondering why the dragon attack had not come.  Word spread quickly, though: Applejack had faced and bested the black dragon alone, saving them from his terrible reign.

The four of them each had their own recovery to deal with.  Twilight and Rainbow Dash recovered fairly quickly once they got away from the dragon's domain.  They both had gotten a few cuts and bruises, but these healed quickly.  Spitfire had broken her wings in the fight, and would be grounded for a few months.  

Applejack had been exhausted from her ordeal, both physically and emotionally.  She spent a week in the hospital before the doctors released her.  Although Rainbow Dash had visited her often, Applejack was either half asleep or surrounded by ponies, making any meaningful discussion impossible.

When it was clear that the four of them would be okay, the mayor announced that there would be a celebration in honor of Applejack, the hero of Ponyville.  Everypony had cheered at this news.

Rainbow Dash had gone back to the cave once since her rescue.  She spent a long time looking at the black dragon's enormous head, which jutted out of the mountain.  His dark laughter still echoed in her mind.

Working diligently, she dug out the rocks from the collapsed mouth of the cave.  It was hard work, but eventually, she made it through to the cave behind the rubble.  

She had fumbled around in the dark for longer than she cared to admit before she found it.  She would have missed it if it wasn't for that familiar smell.  

Applejack's hat.

The celebration, thrown by Pinkie Pie, of course, had attracted ponies from all over Equestria.  The tale had spread like wildfire.  The story of the apple farmer who became a hero.

Since so many different versions of the story had been created as it was spread, the celebration began with Twilight telling the true tale of Applejack's triumph.  Twilight had filled the night air with enormous illusions, using cartoonish images of ponies and dragons to tell her tale.  Foals and adults alike enjoyed the show.  She had started with Rainbow Dash flying to the mountains, running into the dragon.  Spitfire had chuckled nervously when it was revealed how quickly she was dispatched, but the crowd laughed warmly and cheered for her.  Applejack had blushed as they gasped at her challenges, wailed at her choices, and cheered at her triumphs.

As the illusion had displayed her collapsing the cave on the dragon's body, the crowd stomped in enthusiastic applause.

Spitfire had also made an announcement.  Since she would be grounded for a while, she needed somepony to take over as team captain for the Wonderbolts.  She happily announced that this would be Ponyville’s very own Rainbow Dash.  Rainbow Dash had of course been ecstatic, even though the position would be temporary.  

However, as she sat on this hill, overlooking the party, Applejack's hat sitting on her head, she was not thinking of the Wonderbolts, or the dragon, or the party.  

She was only thinking of Applejack.

Rainbow Dash still did not know Applejack’s feelings towards her, and this was filling her with dread.  Sure, Applejack had kissed her, but that was an extreme situation.  She did not know if Applejack was simply giving a dying pony her wish, or if Applejack had discovered feelings of her own.  Between that kiss and the horrible one in the barn, Rainbow Dash could make no assumptions on Applejack’s feelings at all.

“I guess,” she said to no one, “I guess I’ll just have to talk to her.”

“Talk to who?” asked a loud voice.

Rainbow Dash, surprised by the voice behind her, yelped.  She tripped over her own hooves trying to get up and found herself on her side, the hat falling beside her.

She blushed for too many reasons to count as she spotted Applejack, in a beautiful dress which Rarity had made for the event, snickering at her.

Rainbow Dash blew her mane out of her eyes.  “Oh, very funny.”

Applejack smiled as she sat next to Rainbow Dash.  “An eye for an eye, after all.”

“Enjoying your party?” asked Rainbow Dash casually, sitting up, still feeling the heat in her cheeks.

“It was very nice of the town to do this for me,” she replied, looking out over Ponyville.  

Rainbow Dash chuckled.  “You did save the whole town.”  She looked at Applejack seriously.  “You did save me.  Applejack... I don’t know how I’ll ever–”

Applejack’s huff interrupted her.  “It wasn’t anything, Rainbow.  You would have done the same for me.”  

Rainbow smiled.  “I might have tried, but I don’t know if I could have done that.  You defeated a black dragon!  You kicked a whole mountain down!”

“Just the mouth of the cave,” Applejack mumbled with a smile.  She looked down, suddenly ashamed.  “Rainbow Dash... when I made that choice... when I chose to go back to town, instead of saving you... I don’t know if I can ever forgive myself for that.  I...”

Rainbow Dash shook her head and spoke seriously.  “Applejack, you can’t think like that.  You did what you knew was right.  And you managed to save me in the end, too.”

Applejack demeanor turned right around.  “Yeah, I did, didn’t I?”

Rainbow Dash smiled slyly at her friend.  “So, do you still feel like you’re just an average, run of the mill farmer?”

Applejack chuckled, looking down at the enormous party thrown in her honor.  “No... no, ah guess not.”  Her worry that she was the least special of her friends had evaporated these last two weeks.  She had defeated a creature that very few ponies in Equestria would dare face.  She had saved her friends, the town, maybe even Equestria itself.  If any other ponies had been in her place, they might not have come out alive.  But she came out victorious.

Her eyes, moving back towards Rainbow Dash, suddenly snapped to the hat on the ground.  “Hey, that’s my hat!”

Rainbow Dash laughed.  “Yes, it is.”

“How did you get it back?”

“I dug it up,” she said simply, with a smile.

There was a pause as Applejack took in the implications.  “You dug it up?”

“Yep.”

“You didn’t have to do that, Rainbow... it’s just a hat!”

“No, it’s not,” she said seriously, “It’s your hat.”  She chuckled sweetly, biting the rim of the hat and placing it gently on Applejack’s head.  “Besides, isn’t this the hat that nopony in Equestria looks as good in as you do?” she asked, adjusting it carefully with a hoof.

They both froze as the line brought them back to the embarrassing kiss in the barn.  They blushed and looked away from each other as Rainbow Dash awkwardly pulled her hoof off of Applejack’s head.

This was it, thought Rainbow Dash.  They had to talk about it now or never.  She opened her mouth to talk, but to her surprise, Applejack spoke first.

“Rainbow?  I gotta ask you a question, and then... I gotta a few things to get off my chest.”

Rainbow Dash just nodded, her heart pounding, looking at Applejack, who gazed out over the town.  Would this be good news?  Or heartbreak?

“Rainbow... in the barn... why did you kiss me?”  Applejack’s head turned after she asked the question, and her green eyes pierced into Rainbow Dash’s.

Rainbow Dash paused thoughtfully, not knowing what the right thing to say was.  “Applejack... I kissed you because...”  The words ‘I love you’ felt like they were on the tip of her tongue.  She feared that saying them would scare Applejack off and put an irremovable wedge in their friendship.  She decided against saying it.  “Well, look... I don’t want you to get the idea I just kissed you because I think you’re hot.  I mean, I think you’re very hot, don’t get me wrong!”  Rainbow Dash laughed nervously.  “Wow, okay, I mean... I didn’t kiss you only because I’ve got the hots for you.  I kissed you because I realised that day that I... that you mean so much to me, and...”

Rainbow Dash looked once more into Applejack’s curious eyes, and suddenly had a revelation.  This was Applejack... she deserved to know the whole truth.  Rainbow Dash’s cheeks were more red than they had ever been in her life as she made her admission.

“Aw, shoot, AJ... I kissed you because I’m in love with you.”

There was a long pause as Applejack collected her thoughts.  Rainbow Dash felt like her heart would explode, it was pounding so hard.  

‘Please don’t run,’ thought Rainbow Dash.  ‘Please.’

“That day,” said Applejack carefully, looking over the town.  “On the mountain.  When I thought you were dead, ah... ah didn’t know what I would do without you.  Ah was so heartbroken that you were gone, ah felt so sad, so broken...  Granny Smith sometimes says, ‘You don’t know how special something truly is until it’s gone.’  And for those few moments, you were gone, Rainbow Dash.  Gone.

“But because you were gone I finally realized how much you mean to me... how much you’re a part of my life, of who I am... how ah wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I ever lost you.”

Rainbow Dash stared at Applejack hopefully.

“For a while after the kiss, ah was trying to figure out if I was attracted to mares.  And ah guess I still don’t really know the answer.”  Rainbow Dash’s heart dropped.  “But then ah asked myself:  Am I attracted to you?”  

Applejack’s blush told all.

Rainbow Dash could not help herself, and the words flew out of her mouth.  “You are attracted to me!”

Rainbow Dash’s sudden response caught Applejack off guard.  “Well, ah, uh–”

Rainbow Dash’s huge grin was half joyous, half wicked.  “You’re attracted to me!  You think I’m sexy!”

“Uhm–”

“You do, don’t you?!”

Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash and shyly nodded with a sly smile.

“YES!” yelled Rainbow Dash to the night sky.  Applejack could not help but laugh at her unbridled joy.  “Did you like the kisses?”

“Rainbow, wha–”

“The kisses, when we kissed, did you like those?!”

Applejack chuckled.  “Well the first one ah wasn’t ready for.  And the next one was pretty sad, but... yes.  Yes, I liked kissin you.”  Her blush deepened.  “Kissin you’s like... kissin electricity.”

Rainbow Dash’s wicked grin returned.  “You taste like apples.”

“No surprise there.”

They both looked at each other before laughing.

“So,” said Rainbow Dash, confidence in her sultry voice, “we’re two ponies who are very special to one another.”  She stood up and walked closer to Applejack.  “I seem to have fallen in love with you, and you seem to be awful fond of me.  And of kissing me.”  She was only inches away from Applejack now.  “What should we do about it?”

Rainbow Dash’s seductive tone had its desired effect.  “Ah think ah have an idea,” said Applejack.  She leaned in and kissed Rainbow Dash.

This kiss was completely different than the other two, and was more enjoyable for both of them.  Gone was the one-sidedness of the first kiss, and the tragedy of the second.  This was a kiss of wholehearted passion.  They both enjoyed every second of it.

The kiss broke, and they looked deeply into each other’s eyes.  

“If we start dating, there’s one condition,” said Rainbow Dash, with humor in her voice.

“What’s that?” asked Applejack.

“You gotta wear your hair down more often.”

Applejack laughed, and kissed Rainbow Dash again, enjoying the kiss she had no idea she had wanted for so long.

And as she kissed Rainbow Dash, the word that had been stuck in her mind on the hill in the orchard floated in again.  But it floated in for an entirely different reason.  It floated in because she had finally shown herself the truth.  The insecure fears which developed on the hill in the apple orchard that night were gone.  As she kissed Rainbow Dash, the mare she cared for so much, the one she saved from near death, she knew she hadn’t been left behind.  She finally saw what she was.

Special.

***

Well, ladies and gentlemen, after three weeks of consistent writing, Left Behind is finally done.  If you enjoyed it, please “watch” me, as I have many more stories planned.  If you liked Left Behind, you’ll probably like them too!  

If you have any thoughts about this epilogue, or the whole story, please comment below!

***

Special Thanks:

To Clavier, who spent countless hours going over every inch of this story with me.  Clavier, I am tempted to make the joke that you made the story “20% better”, but the truth is, that would be a gross underestimation.  You went so above and beyond what you had to do.  From simple grammatical edits to ideas for major plot points, Left Behind would not have been the same without you.  It would have been a lot worse.  You are a gifted editor and I was very lucky you read my story when you did.

To Bookplayer, who created a cover image when I only had a prologue out.  It means a lot that you would take the time to put something together for me when I had so little of the story created.  And, of course, thank you for being the first person to watch me.  That means a lot too.

Here, for any interested, is the original cover art:

To Jackie, who made a completely amazing cover image.  It is the one being used now!  Check out her other work on her da: here!

Finally, all those people who commented on the story, thank you.  Your kind words meant so much to me, and kept pushing me to keep my update schedule.  

***

Are you a visual artist?  Did Left Behind inspire you to create something?  My biggest wish is for an artist to be inspired by my words.  If anyone makes anything based off Left Behind, please let me know!  I cannot tell you how happy it would make me (plus, I could add it into one of the chapters!).

I’ll see you in the next story!

-Gold