It was 10:00 and they were all sitting around. The cake babies already awoken, Fluttershy was rocking one gently in her arms with a smile, while Pinkie held the other, both trying to put them back to sleep. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were eating Pinkie's brew that she made earlier. It tasted so sweet Rainbow almost refused to continue eating, until she noticed how hungry she was.
"There, there..." Fluttershy said, putting the half asleep Pumpkin Cake into the crib. Fluttershy gave the baby a smile. Her wings were gently flapping just to keep her at least 5 inches off the ground. The sight of the little filly lying, soundly and comfortably on its back, made her heart melt. Innocence. A rare sight to see since Scoffix came around.
Rainbow Dash let out a loud groan then quickly flew up into the air and said blatantly, "welp, I'm out!" Rainbow started towards the door. Fluttershy's ears pricked up,
"I- Is it okay if I go too? I don't think Twilight is coming...and its getting late...and I kinda need to tend to my little animal friends..." Fluttershy said timidly.
"Yeah, I don't think Twilight's coming Applejack," Pinkie Pie said once she finally got the tiny squirming baby to fall asleep in her arms.
Applejack didn't answer; she just kept chewing and keeping her hat over her eyes. The three other fillies looked at each other confused.
Pinkie tilted her head, "It IS like, 10:00 at night, maybe we can come back tomorrow " Rainbow Dash sighed, "yeah we've been waiting forever!" Pinkie then turned to Rainbow Dash and said, "No we haven't! We've been waiting for five hours, 2 minutes and 28 seconds! That not—" Applejack started to lift her head, the brim of her had slowly showing her eyes. Her eyes were bloodshot and wet.
Fluttershy clenched her teeth at the rare sight. Her stomach turned a bit, she wanted to leave even more now. She couldn't take these type of moments, especially when they included ponies crying, especially when its one of her friends crying and ESPECIALLY when it's one of her friends that she's never seen cry before doing it.
"Go then." Applejack said in a monotone voice. Her facial expression was almost emotionless, with just the hint of anger. The ghost of a scowled stayed over her lips. Her eyebrows were barely scrunched together but everypony could see that she was upset.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Jeez AJ, don't go crying on us... We'll stay," she sat down "all you had to do was ask." Rainbow said in a snobby tone. Applejack looked over at Rainbow, her expression changed instantly, showing the emotion she was hiding. Pure anger.
She said through her clenched teeth, "Fuck you."
The room fell even more silent. Fluttershy stepped back, she didn't like swear words. Pinkie Pie's big blue eyes darted back and forth from Rainbow Dash to Applejack, holding the now completely asleep Pound Cake closely in her arms. Applejack's eyes focused on Rainbow Dash
Her words repeated, louder, " Fuck You!"
Rainbow Dash glared back, "Well jeez! Fuck you too AJ!" she responded in a mocking tone, "I'm not sure what the big deal is. I'm sure everypony here wants to leave, I'm the only one with the guts to say anythi-"
Applejack cut her off with a high scream, "Don't you care?! Is it possible that for maybe just once in your life you care about someone other than yourself!?"
Rainbow Dash shot back, "Sure I do!"
Applejack snapped, "Name one time! ONE time! That you EVER done anythin' for ANYPONY! You're the element of Loyalty, but what have you done for anypony? All you've been doin' all your life is just flyin' around as fast as you can, not bothering to ever slow down, look at the scenery or even look around to see if anypony needs your help!"
Rainbow tried to speak but Applejack kept ranting, "And now somepony really does! Your friend is dying! She is dying, Rainbow! And what have you done?! What have any of y'all done for her?!"
Rainbow Dash flew up into the air so she was 5 feet off the ground, being able to look down at somepony physically always made her more powerful, she glared down at Applejack. Everypony else stepped back, Fluttershy had tears in her eyes, causing Pinkie Pie to put her arm around her and hold the baby in her other arm.
"You think you're tough shit, Applejack?" Rainbow Dash said, crossing her arms. The remark caused Pinkie to snicker a little. Applejack tilted her head, "Excuse me?"
"You think you're tough shit. Don't you? You think this little outbreak is going to help Twy? You think we all do what we do just cause? No bigger reason? Oh Fluttershy is just shy JUST CAUSE! Pinkie Pie is always giggling and stuff, because why the heck not!" Rainbow started pacing back in forth, flying in the air, "I fly fast because its fun? Sure! Its fun. But that's not the only reason y'know!"
Rainbow Dash finished her rant, spit coming out of her mouth and on AJ's face. Applejack still wasn't satisfied. She opened her mouth to snap back but the door shot open. A panting, sweating white unicorn stood in the doorway trying to catch her breath.
Everypony turned to Rarity and the instantly noticed what was missing, not the eye shadow that had washed away from the sweat and tears, not the mascara or other sorts of makeup she wore. Twilight wasn't with her. Nopony spoke. All that was heard was the panting and heavy breathing from Rarity as she struggled to speak. Then finally her head shot up and she blurted out words that made each of their hearts stop.
"She- She wouldn't wake up! I don't know what in the wide world of equestria- I swear to Celestia I tried waking her up!" Rarity kept spilling out words that sounded like nonsense
Applejack put her hands on Rarity's shoulders and tried to shake her to get the words out. "Rarity! Rarity! Calm down! What's wrong!? Where's Twi-"
"She's dead!" Rarity spat out.
In Pinkies arms, Pound Cake started to cry, the loud noise waking her up. Pinkie wanted to note how silly it was that Pound didn't wake up from the entire ruckus before, but knew this wasn't the time.