One Week Later

Applejack wiped a tear from her eye as she ambled through Ponyville, the dark clouds blocking out the sun and seemingly any good emotions the farm mare could have. She kept a vigil eye on the sky, looking for any kind of sign of Rainbow Dash. Since the awful incident that had taken place a week previously, Applejack had been trying to find Rainbow Dash and make amends...to right the wrong she had done, so to speak. But Applejack rarely saw Rainbow Dash anywhere, and when she did, Rainbow usually noticed and sped away, keeping to her word to stay out of Applejack's life.
Obviously, Applejack hadn't meant a word of what she had said that night. Applejack was incredibly stressed, and to be completely truthful, frightened. She was backed into a corner and spouted out the first thing that came to her mind in pure defense. Everything Rainbow Dash was saying to her had at least some semblance of truth, and it got to her that night. She did lie and she did play with Rainbow's heart. (Although not intentionally.) Every day that had passed since then without seeing Rainbow Dash was another proverbial thorn in Applejack's side.
Golden Oaks Library was in viewing distance to the farm mare, and with her objective in mind, she quickened her pace toward the tree building. She saw Spike in the upper window, apparently organizing things for Twilight. Upon reaching the door, Applejack delivered three polite, curt knocks to the wood and waited patiently.
"Spike! Get that, please!" Applejack barely registered Twilight Sparkle say from the upper floor. Applejack blew some of her golden mane out of her eye and put on a pleasant smile to greet Spike when he answered. Surely enough, after nearly half a minute, the door opened and Spike smiled up at Applejack.
"Hey, Applejack! Come on in!" He spouted. "You wanna see Twilight?"
"If it ain't too much trouble for her, sugarcube. She sounds mighty busy." Applejack responded, following the baby dragon inside.
"Oh, she's just organizing some of her personal books. I'm sure she'd love to see you." Spike responded. Applejack nodded and followed Spike up the staircase. Entering the room, she looked upon Twilight, doing exactly what Spike said she was doing.
"Twilight, Applejack's here." Spike said. "I can finish that up for you if you wanna talk to her."
"No need, Spike. I'm already almost done." Twilight said to him. "Hey, Applejack! Let's go into the parlor so we can chat." Applejack nodded.
"Sounds good, Twi." Applejack said with a small nod, following Twilight out of the bedroom and down the staircase again. They reached the parlor and Twilight motioned toward a seat for Applejack to sit in. Applejack nodded with a smile and sat at the small table.
"Tea?" Twilight asked her friend, pouring a cup using her magic. Applejack shook her head.
"None for me, thanks." She said. Twilight nodded and sat down across from Applejack, taking a small sip. She closed her eyes, smiling to herself with a small sigh. She looked across the table at Applejack.
"So, how are you, Applejack?" She asked, smiling at her friend.
"Oh, Ah've been fine. Just...y'know...workin' on the farm. All that stuff..." Applejack said, rubbing the back of her head. She looked around. "Looks like you've been keepin' this place pretty clean."
"Yep." Twilight said before taking another sip of her tea. "All the perks of magic." Applejack smiled and cleared her throat, adjusting her stetson slightly.
"Yeah, so listen. There was somethin' Ah came here to talk to ya about, actually." Applejack said.
"Oh?" Twilight mused, curious about what Applejack needed to speak to her about.
"Have you uh...seen...Rainbow Dash, lately?" Applejack asked, a small blush appearing on her face. Twilight didn't look suprised in the slightest.
"Oh. I should have known that this was what it was going to be about." Twilight said.
"Wha-?" Applejack replied, confused.
"Well, I understand that you two have been fighting as of late." Twilight said.
"It ain't like that. Ah..." Applejack said, looking down toward the ground. "Ah hurt her feelings really bad, and Ah'm trying to find her so Ah can apoligize." Twilight nodded.
"What did you say to her?" Twilight asked.
"That ain't important. But what is important, is that Ah can't get that darn pegasus to stay still long enough for me to apoligize to her!" Applejack said, frustration evident in her voice.
"Is it really that bad?" Twilight said, raising her eyebrows in concern.
"It's worse..." Applejack said, dropping her face into her hooves. "Ah wanna apoligize so bad..."
"Well, I can get her together with the girls and invite you too." Twilight offered with a small smile. "We're all the elements of harmony, after all..."
"Thanks for offerin' Twi..." Applejack said, looking at her. "But Ah'm not feelin' too right about my element...y'know...honesty and such."
"What do you mean?" Twilight inquired.
"Well...it's...it's complicated." Applejack said. "Ah mean really complicated."
"Alright. I'm not going to pry." Twilight said. "If you must know, I saw Rainbow Dash two days ago. She seemed really out of sorts, so when I asked her what was wrong, she told me that the two of you 'Were done.' and that was it. I just assumed she was angry about some little spat the two of you had and that it would be okay."
"Well, it ain't." Applejack stated, her brow furrowing. "Do ya have any earthly idea where she could be?"
"I'm sorry, Applejack." Twilight said. "I haven't seen her since then." Applejack sighed and nodded before standing up.
"Thanks for your help, Twilight. Ah'll see ya later." Applejack said. She turned and headed for the exit of the library.
"If I see her, I'll tell her you're looking for her." Twilight said.
"Don't bother. Ah'm sure she already knows." Applejack said, tipping her stetson to the purple unicorn before leaving, shutting the door behind her. She walked through the streets of Ponyville once more, but in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, giving up on her search for her cyan friend for the day. Her mind reverberated with something over and over again that filled her with dread, that made her want to lay in bed and pretend she was sick.
She had a date that night,
**************
Applejack knocked on the door to Caramel's house her customary three times and waited on the stallion's front porch for him. She looked to the side to see Rarity smiling exorbitantly at her.
"You look beautiful!" She squealed before quickly retreating into her home, just in time for Caramel to open the door. Applejack offered up a tired smile.
"Hey, Applejack!" Caramel said happily. "Come on in! I've got a nice fire going."
"Sounds great, Caramel." Applejack said, ambling inside the house behind Caramel. He looked over his shoulder
"I'm really glad you could come tonight." Caramel said happily, stoking the flame that was raging in his fireplace.
"Well, Ah'm glad to be here." Applejack said with a small sigh.
"You can take your scarf and hat off, if you want." He said, gesturing to the small coat rack in front of his door. Applejack nodded and removed her scarf and her stetson, placing them upon the rack and turning to face Caramel. He sat upon the couch in the living area, in front of the fire, patting the spot next to him. Applejack smiled at Caramel, walked to the couch and sat next to him.
"Ah'm havin' a little bit of an easier time believin' that story of yours, now. This place is huge!" Applejack said. "Really fancy, too."
"What, this old place?" Caramel said to her. "You should have seen my place back in Las Pegasus. Dirty carpet, roaches in the walls and light brown water from the faucets. It was a regular paradise. Much better than this shack." Applejack giggled slightly and smiled at him.
"So, how are things goin' at the carrot farm?" Applejack asked him. "Carrot top treatin' ya alright?"
"Oh, yeah. She's really nice and understanding." He said. "Sometimes I'll forget things, y'know, because that's me, and she'll just...well...She'd just tell me not to do it again, or something. She's really cool."
"Well, that's nice." Applejack said. "Ah wonder what it's like havin' a boss..."
"What do you mean?" Caramel responded, leaning a little bit closer to Applejack.
"Well, Ah've been workin' at Sweet Apple Acres for a long, long time, and it's my home pretty much. Ah'm my own boss and everything." Applejack said. "Ah'm just wonderin' what it would be like to have someone to tell ya what to do."
"You have your Granny." Caramel said. "She's kinda like your boss."
"She's more of an advisor." Applejack said, flipping her golden mane to the side, not meaning to draw Caramel's eye any more than she already had. "Ah'm a free spirit. Ain't nothin' gonna tie me down."
"Is that a fact?" Caramel asked her. Applejack nodded. "Well, I guess I'm doomed then, because I'd really like to have you all to myself." Applejack raised an eyebrow at him.
"Is that a fact?" Applejack asked him, smiling. He shrugged as he leaned closer to her.
"Depends on what you make of it." He responded before placing a small kiss on her lips. Applejack waited for a moment before she began to kiss him back. Their lips moved against each other's as they moved closer to one another.
'He really is a good kisser...' Applejack thought.
'Just kiss me.' Rainbow Dash's voice echoed in Applejack's mind. She disconnected from the kiss for a moment. Caramel opened his eyes and looked into Applejack's
"Everything okay?" He asked her. Applejack nodded.
"Yeah...Ah'm fine..." Applejack said with a small smile. "Just rememberin' what a good kisser you are." Caramel blushed heavily and laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
"Thanks." He said. "Speaking of kissing, this is escalating kind of quickly. We have all night. I made us dinner." He stood up and walked into the kitchen. He returned seconds later with an amazingly delicious-looking platter of small sandwiches and grapes clutched between his teeth. He placed it down on the table.
"Two seconds..." He said, racing back to the kitchen. He quickly returned with a bottle of wine. Applejack raised her eyebrows, impressed that Caramel was going this far on their fourth date. She smiled at the platter before her. "You like what you see?" He asked her.
"Yeah, Ah really do." Applejack said to him. "Caramel, you shouldn't have." Caramel chuckled as he placed two wine glasses down on the table.
"Well...y'know...you're worth it." He said to her.
"You're sweet." Applejack said with a smile.
"Guilty as charged." He responded before pouring wine into the two glasses. After taking a seat next to Applejack, he grabbed his glass of wine and held it toward Applejack. She smiled back at him and grabbed her glass.
"To good health," Caramel said, assuming a facetious stately look. "and good fortune." Applejack touched his glass with hers, producing a pleasing noise that soothed Applejack and helped calm her frayed nerves. Both taking sips, Caramel smiled as he put the glass down and removed a sandwich from the platter. He took a small bite and marveled at the taste.
"How is it?" Applejack asked, half chuckling.
"Well, I hate to boast, but..." He held the small sandwich up and sang a small angelic tune. Applejack laughed before taking a bite. The pleasant-sounding little melody was not for nothing. The sandwich was quite delicious, a grilled combination of mozzarella cheese and what tasted like peppers and tomatoes with olive oil sprinkled on the top.
"Oh, wow. This..." Applejack took another bite, savoring the flavor. "Mmmmm....This is amazin'!"
"I know, right?" Caramel responded. Applejack supressed a small scoff.
"Well, how did ya make it?" She asked him. He cleared his throat and seemed to scour his mind for possible responses.
"Oh, I uh..." He put on a show of bravado momentarily, only for it to falter. "I...got it from...Cafe Du Mane...Truth is, I'm a pretty awful cook." He looked down to the side, sporting a small blush to show for his embarrasment.
"Aw, don't worry about it, Caramel. It's the thought that counts..." Applejack mentally kicked herself for not being able to come up with anything better than the grossly overused cliche. Caramel smiled at her before reclaiming his sandwich. The two of them ate in relative silence. Caramel, in his romantic stupor, keep tossing looks Applejack's way, expecting to get a look back from the farm mare at some point.
Applejack, however, was currently in the realm of her mind and absentmindedly eating on this date with Caramel. The mere mention of Cafe Du Mane brought back unwanted thoughts of Rainbow Dash, shooting through her mind like comets, filling her with dread and remorse that she had not yet apoligized for her spur-of-the-moment stupidity outside Cafe Du Mane that night. The mental image of Rainbow Dash, broken in the wake of her outburst nearly brought tears to her eyes as she imagined what Rainbow Dash could possibly be doing at that moment. Perhaps she was at her home, laying in her bed alone and unwanted, longing for somepony to lay in her bed with. Maybe she had moved on and was simply not talking to Applejack on general principle.
Applejack remembered what it was like to actually be with Rainbow Dash. She remembered what it felt like to hold her and stroke her soft mane in the fields outside Ponyville. She remembered the exhilaration of racing with Rainbow Dash, the wind in her face and the mare she loved beside her. She remembered what her lips felt like as they lightly touched her own in a gentle kiss.
"Applejack?" She barely heard Caramel say. Shaken from her deep thought, Applejack looked toward him slowly.
"Yes, Rai-Caramel?" Applejack responded, quickly catching herself as her mind struggled to adapt from thinking of the past to functioning in the present.
"Are you alright?" He asked her, a small look of concern on his face.
"Yeah, sugarcube. Ah'm fine. Don't you worry none. Ah'm just thinkin' about how good this food is." Applejack said, holding up her sandwich.
"Oh. Well, Cafe Du Mane is the best eatery in Ponyville..." He said to her. "The only eatery in Ponyville."
"There's Sugarcube Corner." Applejack offered before taking another bite of her sandwich.
"Well, I wouldn't really consider that place an actual 'restaurant'." He countered, raising an eyebrow. "Sure, they'll make you a sandwich or something, but the place is made to satisfy a pony's sweet tooth." Applejack nodded.
"Ya got a point there. They're food ain't really all that good anyway." Applejack said.
"I know!" Caramel said. "I mean, I realize that the cakes' purpose in life is to bake and all, and I'm not saying that they're food is bad...but I've tasted better."
"They're kinda rude, too, once ya get to know 'em." Applejack stated.
"Really? They've always seemed to be pretty nice to me." Caramel said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah, because you don't really hang around with 'em that much. Ah'm good friends with Pinkie Pie, so Ah've been around the cakes for a good while. Sure, they're nice until ya disagree with 'em. Then they get all ornery and...well...disagreeable." Applejack explained.
"I never would have known that." Caramel said.
"Why don't we just stop talkin' about 'em? It's kinda stressin' me out." Applejack spouted quickly.
"Fine with me." Caramel responded. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Ah dunno...stuff..." Applejack said, shrugging. Caramel raised an eyebrow.
"Care to be a little more specific?" He asked her. She sighed and looked to the side.
"Ah dunno...we can uh..." Applejack said, scooting closer to Caramel. "Not talk." Caramel scooted closer to her, further closing the distance between the two of them.
"Oh?" He said. "And what would you do, rather than talk?" Applejack smiled at him.
"Let me give ya one guess..." Applejack said, beginning to inch her face closer to Caramel's. Caramel smiled and closed the distance, meeting Applejack's lips with his in a kiss. The kiss felt slightly...off to Applejack, but his lips were warm and inviting so Applejack decided to lean into him, pushing him back on the couch. This, coupled with the warmth from the fireplace really helped Applejack enter into a calm state of mind. Caramel certainly wasn't the best kisser, but he had heart, and Applejack admired that abouth him.
She felt Caramel's tongue graze her bottom lip, essentially asking for entry.
'Eager, aren't we?' Applejack thought as she opened her mouth, allowing Caramel entance. He slid his tongue inside and proceeded to swirl it around. The gesture was noticeable for sure, but there was no style...no technique. Applejack moved her tongue against his sensually, trying to show him the ropes. She wasn't used to this because she was so used to Rainbow Dash taking the lead whenever they kissed.
'He's definitely not as good as Dash.' She thought to herself. The thought of Rainbow Dash sent feelings of despair shooting through her body. Her mind was wracked with questions about what she was doing and why she was doing it. The voice in the back of her head that had been so small and insignificant previously seemed to grow in volume and power at this moment.

GAWD THAT WAS TERRIBLE TO WRITE so much pain...