Chapter 21

A snowflake fell on Rainbow Dash's nose, making the pegasus sneeze lightly before brushing her face. Applejack looked at her confused.

"Are you okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked. "You catchin' cold?" Rainbow giggled and shook her head.

"Oh, no. A snowflake just fell on my nose." Rainbow said.

Autumn had passed by fairly quickly and winter had descended on Ponyville, bringing in an unusual amount of snow. The weather patrol had been frantic in their duties of maintaining it to where it wouldn't become downright destructive to the denizens of the small, sweet town. This was Rainbow's first day off in weeks, so to say that she was exhausted would be an understatement. Still, she accompanied Applejack to Ponyville to set the plans for their wedding in the spring. Rainbow yawned, stretching her mouth wide and feeling the insides of her mouth become frigid.

"Ya know, ya coulda just stayed home in bed and let me do all this." Applejack said to Rainbow as she pulled her scarf tighter on her neck.

"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked her fiancee.

"Oh please, Dash." Applejack said as she rolled her eyes. "A deaf, blind pony could see that your completely outta steam. And Ah don't blame ya. Weather patrol has been hectic, Ah'm sure."

"It has, but that doesn't mean I'm suddenly an invalid." Rainbow said with a smirk. "I'm actually feeling pretty lively. Besides, I'm not going to let you make our wedding plans alone." Applejack smiled at her.

"Ah understand." Applejack said. "Golly, it is a might chilly out here." Rainbow nodded before cringing subtly.

"My neck is killing me." Rainbow said with a sigh.

"We're almost to Sugercube Corner, hun. You can take a load off there." Applejack said.

Rainbow looked down at her hooves as they crunched in the snow with each step she took. The cold was uncomfortable, sure, but far from miserable. Rainbow liked Winter, though not as much as she liked Autumn. The idea of laying next to Applejack in front of a warm fire with a cup of cider made her long for the comfort of their home. But she knew that this was to take precedence.

The couple arrived at Sugarcube Corner and entered the eatery. Mrs. Cup Cake looked at them and smiled.

"Rainbow Dash, Applejack! Come on in. What do you-"

"Rainbow Dash?! Applejack?!" They all heard an excited voice yell from the kitchen. Seconds later, Pinkie Pie came bounding out of the room to behold her two betrothed friends. "Hi guys!" She beamed a nearly perfect smile.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie." Rainbow said before sitting down in a chair, adjusting her scarf.

"Pinkie. We're here to place an order for a wedding cake." Applejack said with a smile. "Figured you'd be the only pony we'd want to make it." Pinkie Pie jumped up and down happily.

"Okay!" Pinkie Pie said with a smile before taking a small booklet out from underneath the counter and placing it before the farm mare. "Just take a look through this little bookie and take your pick!"

Applejack nodded before beginning to flip through the pages slowly, appraising each cake design. Some were extremely large and extravagant, others were nice and humble. None of them seemed to do the trick until Applejack came upon a three tiered cake that seemed to be well garnished and just extravagant enough to not be over the top.

"Rainbow, come look at this one." Applejack said as she turned to the resting pegasus. Rainbow stood and walked to the counter. She looked at the cake in the small book, smiled and nodded.

"AJ, if that's the one you want, I say get it." Rainbow said. "It looks awesome." Applejack smiled and turned to Pinkie Pie.

"Alright, Pinkie." Applejack said. "We'll take this one." Pinkie Pie, after looking at the picture and seeing which cake it was, nodded happily. She began hitting buttons on the cash register as she spoke.

"Okay, Applejack." Pinkie Pie said. "That cake is a total of one hundred and fifty-one bits." Applejack gulped at this statement and nodded. "Buuut... With your seventy-five percent discount, that brings you to a total of thirty-eight gold bits. You can pay anytime before the wedding." Pinkie Pie winked at Applejack. Surprised, Applejack nodded happily and smiled widely.

Mrs. Cake was surprised at Pinkie Pie's massive discount, but did not speak out against it.

"Oh, wow!" Rainbow Dash said. "Thanks, Pinkie Pie!"

"I'm going to make sure that this is the most amazing perfectacular wedding cake you've ever had!" Pinkie Pie said with a massive smile. A dinging noise reverberated throughout the eatery and Pinkie Pie jumped where she stood. "Oh! Those are the brownies! See you guys later!" Pinkie Pie ran into the kitchen to retrieve her sweet creation.

"Ah can see she loves her job." Applejack said to Mrs. Cake.

"Oh, very much so. Since she's become co-owner with Carrot and I, we've been getting more business that we've ever had." Mrs. Cake said with a smile. "And we have you to thank for that, Rainbow Dash." The pegasus nodded at her.

"No problem, Mrs. Cake." Rainbow said.

"If you'll be excusin' us, Mrs. Cake, Rainbow and Ah got more stuff to do." Applejack said. Mrs. Cake nodded.

"Always a pleasure, you two!" She said, waving at them as they left. They returned the wave as they exited the eatery and turned toward Golden Oaks Library.

"Ah can't believe that Pinkie Pie did that for us." Applejack said. "She's such a great friend." Rainbow Dash nodded and smiled.

"She really is." Rainbow said. "She's co-owner now, so she has a lot more say in what goes on around there now."

They walked onto Twilight's front doorstep, which was luckily free of snow, and knocked on the door. After waiting several moments, the door was answered by Spike, who smiled widely at them.

"Hey, guys! Come on in, you must be freezing!" He said.

"Oh, you have no idea, sugarcube." Applejack said with a small smile as she removed her scarf.

"Is Twilight free to talk for a while?" Rainbow asked the small dragon, who nodded.

"Yeah, she is." Spike said. "Hold on a sec, I'll go get her." The baby dragon ran quickly up the steps to Twilight's room. Seconds later, Twilight Sparkle came down the staircase and smiled at them.

"Hi, guys!" She said before giving the two of them a hug. "I assume you two are here to discuss the musical arrangements for the wedding?"

"Yeah." Rainbow replied. "But could we also sit for a bit? I'm kinda tired." Twilight nodded enthusiastically and smiled widely.

"Spike!" Twilight called to her assistant. The baby dragon came running out of the bedroom.

"Yes, Twilight?" Spike answered, looking down at her from the staircase.

"Could you please make us some tea?" Twilight asked with a smile. "I have a good sized ruby that is just going to collecting dust for you if you do." The dragon nodded happily and ran down the stairs.

"Tea coming right up!" He said with a large smile. Twilight sat in the parlor before Rainbow and Applejack, who followed suit in the small chairs behind them.

"Okay, so about the musical arrangement." Twilight said. "I have some news that just might make your day." Applejack nodded at her and smiled.

"Yeah? What is it?" Applejack asked.

"If you're interested, I have been able to arrange for Octavia Melody and her quartet to play for the ceremony!" Twilight said in excitement.

"Twilight, that's incredible!" Applejack said with a large smile. "Of course we're interested, aren't we, Dash?" Rainbow Dash nodded happily.

"Yeah, I remember when she played at the Grand Galloping Gala!" Rainbow said. "It's gonna be awesome."

"And there's something else!" Twilight said. "Thanks to the assistance of Princess Celestia, I've also been able to get them for half price. Only seven-hundred and fourteen bits." At that moment, Spike brought out their tea for them, setting the tray on the table between their chairs. After taking their tea, they continued their conversation.

"Seven-hundred fourteen? That's less than the best quartet in Ponyville!" Rainbow exclaimed happily. "Applejack, we might just be able to have some money left over besides." The farm mare nodded happily.

"You can pay any time before the wedding, of course." Twilight said with a smile. "I just wish that I would have been able to get them cheaper. That's still a good amount of money."

"Don't worry about it, Twilight." Applejack said. "We can handle it."

"So you're both still set on the fields outside Ponyville?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash nodded.

"Honestly, we can't think of any place better to have it." Rainbow said. "It holds so many memories for me and AJ. We want to make the best one of our lives there, too." The pegasus took a swallow of her tea.

"Well, I can't say that I blame you two at all." Twilight said with a smile. "It's so beautiful out there. Especially in the Spring. I assume you're getting the cake from Sugarcube Corner as well?" Twilight daintily took a small sip of her tea.

"Yeah, Pinkie Pie actually gave us a pretty amazing deal on a great cake." Applejack said with a smile. "Seventy-five percent off."

"That's amazing!" Twilight said. "I shouldn't have expected anything less from Pinkie Pie. She's so happy for the two of you, as are the rest of us."

Their conversing continued for a while until they had finished their tea. Applejack stood up and stretched for a moment before looking at Twilight.

"Well, Twilight, thank you very much for the warm tea, but we've gotta get going to handle the rest of this stuff." Applejack said. "It's been a nightmare trying to arrange all this."

"I understand completely Applejack." Twilight said. "Don't stay out there too long."

"Oh, trust me when I say that we're only staying out as long as we need to." Rainbow said with a smile before subtly rolling her eyes. "See you later, Twi!" They turned and began to leave the library.

"Bye!" Twilight called sweetly. "Oh, just one more thing, you guys!"

"Yeah?" Applejack said as she and Rainbow turned around.

"Are you guys writing your vows?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, we are." Rainbow said. "Can't see it any other way. Why?" Twilight giggled quietly to herself and shrugged.

"Oh, just curious." Twilight said with a genuine smile. "I'll see you both later."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash left the library and moved through Ponyville in the direction of Cafe Du Mane.

"Oh, Ah dread hearin' about how much this catering is gonna be." Applejack said with a sigh. "We could easily make the food for this."

"Well, you, me, Big Mac, Granny and Applebloom are already planning this whole thing." Rainbow said. "We shouldn't worry ourselves with making all the food when we've already got so much on our plates. No pun intended." Applejack laughed a little at Rainbow's joke and nodded.

"Yeah, Ah guess Ah understand." Applejack said. "You still got the guest list?" Rainbow nodded and pulled the list out of her saddlebag.

"We've got thirty one guests coming." Rainbow said, surveying the list. "You said you wanted to keep it kinda small, didn't you?" Applejack nodded.

"Yeah." Applejack said. "Read the guest list to me one more time."

"Okay." Rainbow said, bringing the list in front of her. "Granny, Big Mac, Applebloom, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Babs Seed, Princess Celestia, Braeburn, Arbor Chip, Amber Heart, Spitfire, Soarin, Thunderlane, Cloud Kicker, The Cakes, Zecora, Caramel, Roseluck, Lyra, Bon Bon, Nurse Redheart, Cheerilee, Amethyst Star, Derpy and Gilda. Counting us, that's thirty three."

"Oh, geez." Applejack said as they entered Cafe Du Mane, the small bell on the door ringing lightly. This attracted the attention of the hostess at the podium who smiled at them. She was a brown earth pony with a light blonde mane and tail.

"Hello, and welcome to Cafe Du Mane." She said politely. "How many?"

"Actually, we were wondering who whe would speak to about wedding catering." Rainbow said, returning the polite smile.

"Oh, that would be the manager." She said. "Let me go get him." The rather small mare left for a moment and returned with a large black stallion unicorn with a white mane, tail and moustache.

"Hello, there." He said in a strange accent. "I understand you two are looking for catering options for a wedding." They both nodded.

"We sure are." Applejack said with a smile. "What are your offers?"

"We come with a diverse buffet able to serve anywhere from fifty to one hundred ponies for a price of-"

"Actually, sir, we're only going to have around thirty one ponies at our wedding." Rainbow said with a small smile. "So we can go a bit lower than that."

"Oh, you're marrying each other? Congratulations to the two of you, then." He said with a curt smile and a nod. "We can bring you a smaller meal plan of fire roasted and seasoned squash and caramelized onions with spinach and buttered carrots and melted cheese and oregano baguette slices. Tea, lemonade and water come with this as well. This is more accustomed to feed twenty five to forty ponies."

"That sounds perfect!" Rainbow said with a large smile. "How much?"

"Five hundred and seventy one gold bits." He said. Applejack's eyes widened as she raised her eyebrows. Rainbow looked over to her and shrugged.

"It's not like we're gonna find anything cheaper for catering." Rainbow said.

"Ah guess we'll take it." Applejack said, offering a rather reluctant smile.

"Wonderful!" He said, clapping his hooves together before removing a small booklet and a pen with his magic. "Who's name shall I put it under?"

"I guess mine." Rainbow said. "Rainbow Dash." He nodded, scratching down the name.

"When shall we deliver the food?" He asked.

"Oh, not for a while." Rainbow said. "The wedding is in three months. We just wanted to go ahead and reserve an order. We'll give you a reminder closer to the wedding with all the rest of the details."

"Perfect" The manager said happily. "And I assure you, you will not find the class, dedication and quality we supply with our service anywhere else."

"Thanks for the service." Applejack said with a small nod. "We'll be leaving now."

"Good bye, and thank you for your patronage." He said with a small bow and a smile. "We hope to see you dine in soon."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack left the restaurant and walked through Ponyville in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow, happy everything was going according to plan, had a small spring in her step, despite the snow and her aching, tired body. Applejack trodded along, looking down with a frown on her face. Rainbow eventually noticed this and slowed her pace down to accomidate her lover.

"What's wrong?" Rainbow asked. "Everything's going pretty smoothly."

"Ah know, sugar, Ah know." Applejack replied. "Ah just...it's just..."

"Just what?" Rainbow asked, a tinge of worry evident in her voice. Her overactive imagination began to envision all kinds of horrible possibilities. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

"Just...that catering service is a lot of money." Applejack said. "Ah guess Ah'm just complainin' too much. Ah'm sorry to be bringin' ya down."

"Oh, it's no problem, AJ." Rainbow said before kissing Applejack on the cheek. "You know, I would offer to fly us home, but with the snow, it could be a bit painful."

"Get a few snowflakes in your eyes, huh?" Applejack asked with a small snicker.

"Well, that's what my goggles are for...I just left them at home." Rainbow said with a sigh. "Looks like we're in for a bit of a trek through the snow." Rainbow was overexaggerating, of couse. The snow was merely a few inches deep and far from unpleasant. Snow actually made Ponyville a lot more pleasant to look at.

"You know," Rainbow said. "I'm just...so happy things are working out so smoothly like this."

"Well, we're not out of the woods yet." Applejack said with a small sigh. "We still gotta look at our funds and see how deep we're in with all this money."

"Well, Rarity's tailoring my tux and making your dress, right?" Rainbow asked. "We're gonna offer to pay her, but she won't take it, knowing how prideful she is about her work for her friends."

"We're gonna hide it in her house somewhere, hun." Applejack said, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow. "Ah'm gonna pay her somehow, if Ah die tryin'. She's puttin' so much work into this."

"I get that." Rainbow said. "But even that aside, we're getting, like, half off on everything else besides the catering. My leftover money from selling my house should cover a lot of that."

"Yeah, it should." Applejack said. "Ya know, Ah wanna say how proud Ah am of you with how smartly you've been managin' your money. Ah honestly didn't expect it from you."

"Well, I'm full of surprises, babe." Rainbow said, offering a raised eyebrow and a saucy smirk. "Remember back on Nightmare Night? In that hidden part of the haunted house?"

"Oh, goddesses, how could Ah forget?" Applejack said with a small chuckle before giving Rainbow a kiss on the lips.

"Just don't worry yourself too much." Rainbow said with a confident smile. "Everything's gonna work out fine."

"Work out fine my flank." Applejack grumbled as she looked over several bills laying across the desk she sat at. She put her face into her forehooves as she kept being reminded of how much money they were going to be paying back on loans. It turned out that Rainbow had forgotten about buying new supplies for the farm with most of the money she had left, so most of the money they were paying on the bills had to payed using loans from the bank. Applejack groaned loudly and stood up, rubbing her aching head with one of her forhooves.

Applejack wished that Rainbow could be there with her so that she could show her how much they were going to be paying, but she was busy with weather patrol. The agitated farm mare walked out into the living area and plopped down on the couch next to Applebloom, who was busy drawing. The shifting in the cusions from Applejack's landing caused Applebloom to mess up her drawing.

"Hey!" She said, throwing an aggravated look at Applejack. "Ya messed up my drawin'!"

"Whatever." Applejack said dismissively, throwing a hoof up in an apathetic gesture.

"Maybe you should say that you're sorry." Applebloom said raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe you should just shut up! You don't know what Ah'm goin' through right now, okay?" Applejack said loudly, but not quite yelling. Applebloom's eyes narrowed in fury.

"Why're you bein' so awful?!" Applebloom said angrily. Applejack scoffed and said nothing as she looked away from Applebloom. The filly scowled at Applejack and stood up.

"Nothin' helps a bad mood like spreadin' it around, huh?" She said before walking to her room and slamming the door behind her. Applejack gave off a long, drawn out sigh and slowly looked over at Applebloom's drawing. It was a rather impressive rendition of their family group, including Rainbow Dash. Guilty, Applejack turned to the drawing and looked down at it.

"Doesn't take much to see that somethin's wrong, dear." Granny Smith said from across the room, startling Applejack and making her jump.

"Granny!" Applejack said. "Ah didn't see ya there."

"Well, Ah'm glad ya didn't." She said before taking on a disappointed look. "Ah was none too impressed with the way ya handled that situation with your sister. You're more mature than that!" Applejack sighed and nodded.

"Ah know." Applejack said, frowning. "Ah'll go apologize."

"Before ya do, why don't ya tell me what's wrong with ya." Granny Smith said. "Ah don't usually see ya actin' this way."

"Ah know, Ah know. It's just..." Applejack said before scoffing to herself. "Rainbow Dash went and organized this really expensive catering service for the wedding when we could have easily made the food. Ah've had to take out several loans just to pay it off. And there's this expensive quartet-"

"Applejack, before ya continue any further, Ah want ya to tell me- Did Rainbow organize all this without talkin' to you about it first?"

"Yeah!" Applejack spouted immediately in her frustration, but after realizing that it was not true, mumbled- "Well, in a way..."

"Ah don't know exactly what's goin' through your head right now, sweetie, and maybe Ah shouldn't." Granny Smith said. "Ah don't wanna meddle too much in the affairs of your weddin'."

"You're the one who asked me what was wrong. Don'tcha-"

"Ah asked what was wrong when Ah didn't know what the problem was. If you've got a qualm with Rainbow Dash, Ah recommend that you talk to her yourself instead of gettin' everything from me. You're a grown mare now, so you should be solvin' this problem yourself." Granny Smith said as she returned to her knitting. "Ya best go apoligize to your sister now." Applejack sighed and nodded slowly before taking the drawing and getting up to talk to Applebloom.

Applejack entered her sister's room and was completely surprised to find her crying. She wasn't sobbing or bawling into her pillow, just silently crying as she layed on her bed. Upon seeing Applejack, Applebloom immediately wiped her tears and turned away from her sister.

"What're you doin' here?" Applebloom said. Applejack's heart melted as she slowly walked to her sister's bedside and sat upon the mattress.

"Applebloom, what's wrong?" Applejack asked, already knowing the answer.

"You!" The filly said angrily, sitting up to face her sister. "'You're what's wrong! You've been so angry and irritable lately, and Ah just don't see why you'd be so mean."

"Applebloom, Ah'm sorry." Applejack said. "Ah didn't mean to hurt your feelings the way Ah did. It was extremely insensitive and...Ah really am sorry."

"Why, though?" Applebloom asked. "What's makin' ya so hostile?"

"It's really a financial thing. Ya know how we're barely gettin' by right now? Well, we're gonna have to be makin' payments on loans for a lot of the stuff we're gonna have at the wedding for a while. So things are still gonna be pretty tight even after the wedding...but still, that doesn't excuse the way Ah acted toward you. Ah'm sorry. Can we be friends again?" Applejack offered a hopeful smile, to which Applebloom nodded.

"Of course we can." Applebloom said before wrapping her sister in a tight hug. "Ah love ya, sis."

"Ah love you too, Applebloom." Applejack responded. "Hey, how about this-" Applebloom looked at her sister as she removed some crayons and paper from Applebloom's nightstand. "How about we draw something together?" Applebloom nodded happily and smiled.

"Sure!" She said happily. "Ah'll draw a dragon, and you draw a knight fightin' it!"

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Applejack said with a smile before putting the crayons and paper on the floor. "Let's do it."

They began work on their drawing, Applebloom immediately setting the framework of the body and wings of the dragon she was about to draw. By the time her sister had layed down the groundwork for her art, Applejack had barely gotten the drawing of the helmet on the paper. The mare marveled at her little sister's work.

"Wow, Applebloom." Applejack said. "You've gotten really good at this!"

"That's what we learned during art time at school." Applebloom said with a smile. "You didn't learn this in school?"

"Ah may have." Applejack said. "But my little 'ol noggin here isn't really the best at retainin' that sort of knowledge. Ah'm more of an analytical thinker." Applebloom giggled.

"What's that mean?" She asked.

"Well, it means that Ah tend to look at things closer than they generally should be looked at. Ah try to see the logic in everything." Applejack said. "And Ah'm thinkin' that you're an artistic thinker."

"Ah can guess what that means." Applebloom said. They continued to work on their drawing, the groundwork giving way to the overall drawing and details. The longer they drew, the more Applebloom's dragon blew Applejack's knight out of the water in terms of sheer looks. By the time they were finished, the drawing was of an incredibly comedic scene of a rather impressive looking dragon doing battle with a poorly detailed and proportioned night. The two sisters took one look at the drawing and burst into laughter. In the midst of their laughter, Applejack put a foreleg around Applebloom, and Granny Smith, as she silently watched them through the cracked door, smiled widely with pride.

Rainbow Dash sighed heavily with contentment as she opened the front door to the farmhouse, letting in a brief draft of freezing air before closing it behind her. Weather patrol had run late that day, so she had gotten back at around eight thirty instead of five. Rolling Storm had given her the option to either leave at five, or to stay longer and get off three hours earlier the next day. Since the pegasus had been feeling rather energetic at the time, she decided to tough it out and stay. She was regretting that decision now. The last three hours of her workday felt like nine, and she was completely and totally spent.

"Why're you late, sweetie?" Granny Smith asked the pegasus.

"Sorry, Granny." Rainbow said. "There was a huge surprise storm cloud today. They needed my help to take it out."

"Well, looks like you had a fun day today." Granny Smith said with a smile. Rainbow Dash jovially scoffed and hung her scarf beside the door on one of the hooks.

"You wouldn't say that if you saw that cloud that was going to cause four more inches of snow." Rainbow said before offering a whistle. "That was probably one of the heaviest days in weather patrol, ever."

"Well, there's some leftover sandwich fixin's and some apple pie in the kitchen for ya." Granny Smith said. "Made sure to save you extra daffodils." Rainbow nodded appreciatively.

"Thanks, Granny. I'm starving." Rainbow said with a smile as she walked into the kitchen and began work on her sandwich. Selecting white bread for the buns, she then placed down several daffodils before sprinkling a few shakes of garlic salt on them. Rainbow then placed two sliced tomatoes and some lettuce on the sandwich. To finish it off, she placed a slice of provalone cheese on top of the daffodils, lettuce and tomatoes and smeared a bit of mayonnaise on the top bun. Satisfied with her creation, Rainbow Dash took her plate to the table before returning briefly to the kitchen to grab her slice of apple pie. Rainbow sat down at the dining room table and began eating her sandwich. It was alright, definitely not the worst sandwich she'd ever had, but she figured that she could have done better.

Still, she continued to take bites of her moderately tasty sandwich until she finished it off with a last bite that didn't have much other than crust. Rainbow made it a practice to not scarf food down when she was in the company of others, but when she was eating alone, she had a tendency to inhale any type of food products. She then moved on to the slice of apple pie, which she had been looking forward to since she had found out there was some waiting for her. She cut off a piece with her fork and prepared to take a bite.

"Hey, Dash." Applejack said as she sat down, startling Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, hey, AJ." Rainbow said. The pegasus then noticed how tired and worn out Applejack looked. "You okay?"

"Yeah, Ah'm alright." Applejack said with a sigh. "Ah guess Ah've just been a little stressed, is all." Rainbow finished chewing her rather large bite of apple pie before swallowing it.

"Why?" Rainbow asked her before taking another bite.

"As it turns out, we've got a heck of a lot of loan payments to make." Applejack said. "About twice as many as we originally thought." Rainbow cringed.

"That's not good." Rainbow said. "Well, we've got the income from the stand at the market and my income from weather patrol. We should have it payed off soon."

"You don't get it, Dash." Applejack said. "It's a lot of money. After this wedding, we're gonna be livin' off drywall." Applejack, of course, was heavily exaggerating, but the statement worried Rainbow Dash nonetheless.

"Well, my Hearth's Warming Eve bonus should help a good bit when I get it." Rainbow offered hopefully before taking her now cleared dishes to the kitchen. As she rinsed them off, Applejack sighed and shook her head. After Rainbow had finished rinsing the dishes, she turned and noticed the drawing Applejack and Applebloom had completed earlier on the refrigerator. She giggled at the sight of it.

"Who drew this?" Rainbow asked with a smile.

"Oh, me and Applebloom." Applejack said with a tired smile.

"Which one did you draw?" Rainbow inquired.

"Ah drew the knight." Applejack said with a hint of embarrassment, a slight blush gracing her face. Rainbow burst in to laughter.

"You drew that?" Rainbow asked, nearly falling over. "Wow, Applejack! Your little sister's better at drawing than you." Rainbow continued to laugh at Applejack, who laughed along with the pegasus at first, but stopped promptly. Slowly, embarrassment turned to anger as the farm mare stood up.

"You think you could do any better?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow. Rainbow scoffed as she looked at the picture again.

"Yeah, I'd like to think so." Rainbow said with another small giggle. Applejack nodded subtly and smiled fakely, which registered with Rainbow Dash. The pegasus, immediately realizing that she had angered Applejack, raised her eyebrows. "AJ, come on, I was-"

"You'd like to think so, would ya?" Applejack asked again before walking to the washroom past Rainbow Dash. "Come on. We need to make the bed." Rainbow, surprised by Applejack's seemingly spontaneous anger, followed the farm mare after she went outside and removed the bedsheets from the clothesline. After they entered the bedroom and began making the bed, Rainbow continued to notice subtle signs of Applejack's anger and frustration. She'd flip a pillow too hard or she'd pull the sheet away from Rainbow.

"Hey, Applejack, come on, what's wrong?" Rainbow said.

"Nothin'." Applejack replied simply, continuing to make the bed.

"Seriously, Applejack, I'm not stupid. I know your peeved about something." Rainbow said. "Tell me."

"Nothin's wrong." Applejack said again. "Get that fitted sheet on the corner better, will ya?" Rainbow pulled the fitted sheet down to where it fit well and Applejack tossed the normal sheet over the bed.

"AJ, please tell me so I can help you." Rainbow said. "I don't like seeing you like this." Applejack sighed and dropped the sheet on the bed and looked up at Rainbow Dash.

"Alright, Rainbow. Ah'll tell ya." Applejack said. "We should cancel the catering order for the wedding." Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"Cancel it?" Rainbow asked. "Why?"

"Ah told ya in the dining room." Applejack said. "We're gonna be makin' loan payments with half our grocery money every month."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?" Rainbow said.

"No Ah don't." Applejack said. "That catering is way too overpriced."

"You didn't have a problem with agreeing to get it." Rainbow said, a frown forming on her face.

"That's because Ah thought you knew that you had the money to pay for it left over." Applejack said.

"Well, excuse me for buying new supplies for your harvest." Rainbow said.

"Ah ain't sayin' Ah don't appreciate what ya did, Dash." Applejack said. "It was very sweet, generous and thoughtful. But Ah'm just sayin' that it was irresponsible to forget."

"Well, what do you suggest we do, Applejack?" Rainbow asked.

"We'll make the food, Rainbow." Applejack said. "We've always been good at makin' food fast."

"But I have weather patrol, you and Big Mac take turns every day running the stand at the market and Applebloom goes back to school in four days." Rainbow said. "You're gonna expect Granny Smith to pick up all that slack?" Applejack sighed and looked down for a moment before looking up, a determined look on her face.

"Rainbow, Cafe Du Mane is too expensive." Applejack said. Rainbow, equally steadfast, held her ground.

"We're all already burdened enough." Rainbow said.

"Ah'm gonna have to insist on this, Dash." Applejack said, as she furrowed her brows, a frown taking form on her lips.

"Who made you the boss of this? It's my wedding too." Rainbow said. "So we're getting the catering service."

"No we ain't." Applejack said.

"Yes we are." Rainbow said.

"Ah can't believe that you're just gonna sit there and ignore the fact that we're gonna be making loan payments until a few months after the wedding!" Applejack said, her temper and tone of voice rising.

"And what, you're just gonna run a sweatshop on all of us, making food when we're already going though our daily lives and planning the wedding?!" Rainbow said, her anger evident as well.

"This is always what it comes down to!" Applejack said, pointing a hoof at Rainbow's face. "Your laziness!"

"Get your hoof out of my face!" Rainbow said, slapping the farm mare's hoof away. "Laziness, huh? That's a laugh! Yeah, I'm lazy. That's why I juggle Weather Patrol, The Wonderbolts Academy and helping you out with your work half of the time!"

"Well do you not like our food?" Applejack asked, raising her eyebrows. Rainbow narrowed her eyes.

"What?" She said.

"Well there must be somethin' wrong with our cookin' for you to not want it at the wedding so much!" Applejack said.

"Are you bucking kidding?!" Rainbow yelled, suddenly bursting into a rage. "That is the stupidest question I have ever heard! I love the food you guys make! A lot of the time, I eat more of it than you do! We're all already working so hard, we'd all be asleep during the wedding if we worked any harder! You're just too stubborn to realize it!" Rainbow recovered from her small rant and regained her composure. "Look, why don't we just-"

"Ah'm sleepin' in the living room." Applejack said, leaving the room.

"Fine!" Rainbow said. "It's more spacious anyway!" Rainbow breathed deeply as she started to make the bed again.

Applejack walked into the living room flustered, huffing deeply to suppress her anger. She moved to the hall closet and grabbed a blanket before plopping down on the couch and covering up. Already, she felt colder without Rainbow Dash.

"This just ain't a good day for you, is it?" Granny Smith asked from her rocking chair.

"What gave it away?" Applejack asked.

"Heard pretty much everything." Granny Smith said. "Married couples fight. Oftentimes they fight even before they get married. Believe me, Ah know." Applejack sat up and looked at Granny Smith.

"Can you see where Ah'm comin' from?" Applejack asked her grandmother.

"Yes Ah can." Granny smith said with a small nod.

"Thank you!" Applejack exclaimed as she plopped her head back down on the couch cushion.

"However," Granny Smith continued. "Ah can also see where Rainbow's comin' from." Applejack sighed.

"We're gonna be in the hole!" Applejack said.

"We've been in the hole before." Granny Smith said. "We've always managed to crawl right back out, too. It's not so bad."

"But-" Applejack began.

"Look, baby." Granny Smith said. "You love Rainbow Dash right?" Applejack sighed and nodded.

"Yes, ma'am." Applejack said. "Very much."

"And ya know that she loves you, right?" Granny Smith asked. Applejack nodded again. "Well, then, Ah think you two should try a little harder to get along. You're marryin' her in a few months for Celestia's sake." Applejack, after about half a minute of consideration finally nodded.

"Ah suppose you're right, Granny. But what should Ah do?" Applejack asked. "Ah can't just waltz in there and say 'Hey, you and me are gonna be nice to each other now.' Ah doubt she's feelin' very friendly toward me at the moment."

"Just do what you think is right, sweetie." Granny Smith said. "That's all Ah can really say. You know more about how Rainbow Dash works than Ah do." Applejack nodded and sighed once more before standing up and moving to the bedroom. She opened the door and walked in to find Rainbow laying alone, facing away from the door.

"Rainbow..." Applejack said. "Darlin', Ah'm sorry." Applejack said. The pegasus immediately turned around and looked at her, feeling guilty as well.

"I'm sorry too, AJ." Rainbow said as she began to rub the back of her head. "It...wasn't very fair of me to not consider how much we'll be spending on this."

"Ah shouldn't be so stingy." Applejack said. "We can get the catering. It's fine, and looking at it in hindsight, it's probably the better idea." Rainbow smiled and nodded.

"Okay." Rainbow replied before opening her forelegs. "Wanna join me?"

"Ah'd love to." Applejack replied as she climbed into the freshly made bed and layed her head upon Rainbow Dash's chest. Rainbow squeezed Applejack lightly in affection.

"What a stupid thing to argue about..." Applejack said with a sigh. "What we're gonna eat..." Rainbow Dash giggled lightly and nuzzled into Applejack.

"Let's just chalk it up to our stupidest fight ever." Rainbow said.

"Fine by me." Applejack said. "Oh Ah forgot to tell ya somthin'."

"What's that?" Rainbow replied.

"Ah got Pinkie Pie to help me plan the reception." Applejack said.

"Oh, if Pinkie's involved, it's gonna be crazy awesome." Rainbow said with a small giggle.

"Let's just say that you're gonna love it." Applejack said. "A lot."

"Sounds great." Rainbow said. They both closed their eyes and prepared to drift off to sleep before Applejack piped up once more.

"Oh, Rainbow, just one more thing." Applejack said, moving her face to where it was in front of Rainbows.

"Hmm?" The pegasus replied before being lightly and playfully slapped across the face. "What the hay was that for?" Rainbow asked with a small laugh.

"Ya didn't tell me that ya love me today." Applejack said. Rainbow smiled and kissed Applejack deeply on the lips before holding her closer than before.

"Applejack, I love you very, very much." Rainbow said with a smile as she closed her eyes. "Better?"

"Absolutely." Applejack replied also closing her eyes.

The two betrothed mares held each other tightly as they both slowly drifted off into sweet, restful slumber.

Obligatory End-Of-Chapter Author's Note: Alrighty, there's that chapter. I'm not gonna lie, I've got the willies. The next chapter is the big wedding! I'm excited for it to be sure. This chapter was pretty big for me, research wise. I've had to scour the internet to find the worth of a bit in dollars. I've seen that an apple pie is two bits, but it's also been brought to my attention that a single cherry is a bit. Ugh, it's so confusing. Anyways, I'm just gonna chalk it up to a bit being worth three to five dollars and call it a day. I swear, my lack of sleep is going to get to me one day. My body's like "Hey dumbass! Get some sleep!" And I'm all like- "No! I'm gonna write about ponies! :3"
Cheers!