Epilogue

Rainbow Dash sighed happily as she touched down in front of her home at Sweet Apple Acres. The sun was shining on the land, drying out the moisture caused by the torrential downpour from the previous day. Rainbow's joints ached and her back burned from the strenuous activity she had been engaged in for the past four hours. The clouds that she and her weather patrol had destroyed had been tough. Some of the toughest the seasoned Weather Patrol captain had ever experienced, even. But now that she was home, ready to relax and most likely get a mid-afternoon nap, she could already feel the stress ebbing away. She opened the front door and stepped in.

"I'm home!" Rainbow called happily. She liked the way that sounded coming from her mouth. It had a nice ring to it. Applejack came ambling out of the hallway to greet her.

"Hey, darlin'." Applejack said happily before giving Rainbow a small kiss on the lips. "You look awful."

"Now that's what I needed to hear, alright." Rainbow said before stretching her wings.

"Ah'm just foolin'." Applejack said with a giggle. "So how was it?"

"Tough is an understatement, let's just say that." Rainbow said with a small scoff. "I'm just happy to be off."

"Ah am too, darlin'." Applejack said. "Ready for that massage?"

"Oh, yes." Rainbow said. "You have no idea."

Rainbow and Applejack moved into the bedroom where Rainbow jumped onto the bed and sighed happily as she felt herself unwind immediately. Applejack sat on the bed and began to rub Rainbow's back slowly, in all the places where her muscles were knotted up. Rainbow sighed happily and snuggled into the pillow she layed on. Slowly, she felt all of her cares ebb away into nothingness. Rainbow felt Applejack lean down toward the back of her head.

"If Ah wasn't absolutely sure that Applebloom is awake in the other room, Ah'd pull the covers over both of us right now and..." Applejack smiled and kissed Rainbow's head. "Do all kinds of things to ya."

"Care to describe?" Rainbow said with a small smile.

"Well, Ah'd-"

"Hey, y'all." Applebloom said from the doorway.

"make ya a daffodil sandwich and give ya some Apple Cider." Applejack said. "Oh hey, Applebloom." Applejack said with a smile.

"What're y'all doin'?" Applebloom asked.

"Oh, Rainbow had a pretty tough day at work, so Ah'm givin' her a massage." Applejack said. "Helpin' her relax, ya know?" Applebloom nodded.

"Yeah." The filly said before scuffing her hoof on the floor. "So...what's for dinner?"

"Ah'll make ya somethin' later, okay?" Applejack said. The filly nodded and left. Rainbow let out a small chuckle and closed her eyes.

"Nice save." Rainbow said. Applejak chuckled and continued her massage. Time passed by and Applejack continued to massage Rainbow's back slowly, working out all of the tense knots in her back.

"Hey...Dash..." Applejack said quietly.

"Hmm?" Rainbow responded.

"Would you want to go to the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy later on today?" Applejack asked. Rainbow's eyes shot open before she sat up quickly.

"Say what now?" Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow. Applejack laughed.

"Just kiddin', crazy." Applejack said. "Lay back down." Rainbow sighed and laid down again, letting Applejack resume her work.

"Seriously, though." Applejack said. "They're goin' tomorrow and Rarity invited us, and we're goin'."

"You said you were kidding!" Rainbow said.

"Yeah, Ah was." Applejack said. "About it bein' today."

"But whyyy?" Rainbow whined.

"Because she invited us." Applejack asked. "You're comin'. It's the least we can do in return for what they did for us."

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow asked.

"Yeah."

"Well what if I say no?"

"Ah'll just do this." Applejack took her hooves from Rainbow's back and crossed her forelegs.

"Hey!" Rainbow said. "I was enjoying that!"

"Ah'll continue if ya promise me you'll go tomorrow." Applejack said. Rainbow considered her options for a moment. Her massage was not yet complete, and a lot of the muscles in Rainbow's back only briefly felt the wonderful pressure of Applejack's hooves. And going to the Spa wasn't that bad if neither of the Spa Ponies touched her hooves. Reluctantly, Rainbow sighed and nodded slowly.

"Fine." Rainbow said.

"You'll go?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow said. "Now if you please..." Applejack nodded and continued to massage Rainbow's back. Applejack leaned down to Rainbow's ear.

"Ya know...Ah think this marriage..." Applejack said. "Is gonna be fun." Applejack then gave Rainbow a quick kiss on the cheek before moving back up.

Rainbow could not help but agree.

Afterword

Well, my friends, it has been a journey, hasn't it? When I first began work on this story, I had only anticipated it to be around eighty thousand words. Now, the fact that I'm finishing this up with over two hundred thousand amazes me. I just figured that I'd give you guys a small run-down of how this story came to be.

It all started with Cupcakes.

No, not the delicious treat. The awful, horrible, gruesome tale written by Sergeant Sprinkles. If you don't know what it is, look it up....on second thought...don't. For the love of God, don't.

Cupcakes is actually what caused me to be a brony, believe it or not. I truly got into the fanbase after I read the tale. That being said, the story scarred me because Rainbow Dash is, of course, my favorite pony. For the longest time, I couldn't get the awful thing out of my head. I'd actually read PinkieDash fiction (which is still one of my favorite ships) to help aid the awful feeling I'd get. But then, in my quest to overcome Cupcakes for good, I came across an amazing story.

The Cupcake Chronicles

It is a story where Rainbow Dash survives the events of Cupcakes because she is saved by Applejack. Sadly, she loses her wings. What follows is a fantastic tale of overcoming tragedy and healing scars with love. What love, you ask?

A love that's labeled as AppleDash.

I had finally found it. The answer to the sick feeling Cupcakes gave me. I finished the Cupcake Chronicles and the feeling, that awful feeling, was gone forever. Cupcakes now doesn't bother me at all. (Even though I'd still prefer to never read it again.) The way Applejack comes through for Rainbow Dash as a friend (and eventually a lover) just takes all the bad things Cupcakes gave us and turns it into something beautiful.

That is what started my love of Appledash. Whenever I'd see the show, I'd always look to see Rainbow and Applejack standing together, I'd listen to their dialogue with one another and smile whenever I'd catch some sort of shipping material for them. (Because, let's face it, there's a lot of shipping material between Dash and AJ in the show)

I decided that I was going to write an Appledash story. So I started laying the groundwork down and eventually came up with a layout of the story. But there was one thing missing. There was no conflict at all. It was just "Dash and AJ get together and live out the rest of their lives with one another." at that point. So I decided this story needed some conflict.

And then I heard this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSquiIVLhrQ

The tone of the song and the sound of it, as well as the actual meaning of it truly spoke to me in terms of what one of the main events of this story should entail. The song is based on a Persian folk tale where the protagonist wants to be with a girl named Layla, but some circumstances are keeping them apart. (I forget what they are.) The song is him pleading to her to come and be with him.

The beginning of the song is very edgy and certainly sounds like a pleading, like it's hopeless and that they'll never be together. That's where I got the idea that the conflict should be that at first, Applejack should love Rainbow just as much as Rainbow loves her, but she should be afraid to show it, and dump her because of it. Rainbow would then attempt to get Applejack back and fail over and over again, before finally giving up. It gets really intense toward the end of this part of the song with a slide guitar solo (a masterful one, I might add.). This is where I envisioned Applejack realizing her mistake and crawling back to Rainbow, and apologizing over and over again in sorrow, realizing what a fantastic love she had probably lost with Rainbow.

Then, after this edgy part of the song comes a happy, free flowing series of tunes that sound satisfied and happy. From this, I got that Rainbow forgives Applejack and they get back together again, with Applejack unashamed of her and Rainbow's love. There would be obstacles for them, absolutely, but they would overcome them together.

From there, the story just kind of evolved on it's own. I'm so happy that I got the opportunity to write it, and I had a complete and utter blast with it. I'd appreciate it if you guys could leave me some kind of final review or something.

And as for you people that want a sequel...I have only one answer for you.

Maybe.

Cheers, everyone!