“What’d you just say, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. She squinted and leaned forward, her wide eyes glued on her friend.
“I… I like Twilight…” Fluttershy’s eyes fell upon the ground, hiding her face from view. But even so, the blush on her cheeks was still painfully obvious.
“Well, duh; that’s obvious!” Rainbow Dash snorted. At the sharp sound and the words spoken, Fluttershy glanced up. Her eyes were bright and hopeful.
“R-really?”
“Yeah! We all like Twilight; that’s why we’re her friends!” Rainbow said with a laugh. Fluttershy looked down again, blushing.
“Rainbow Dash, she means she likes her that way.” Rarity prodded the pegasus in the side. Dash recoiled at the touch, but a thoughtful frown was strewn across her muzzle.
“Um… Sorry, you lost me.” Rainbow Dash chuckled, scratching the back of her head. Sweet Apple Acres’ trees spanned out around them, the worn and beaten path just beneath their hooves. Rainbow’s eyes combed over them in her embarrassment.
Rarity face-hooved, but Applejack intervened before the fashionista could make a remark. “She means that she’s in love, Rainbow.”
“L-love? As in… kissing and all that stuff?” Dash turned her questioning gaze on her fellow pegasus, but Fluttershy avoided it. She seemed intent on turning herself into a cherry, both in size and color. Rarity rested a comforting hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder before speaking.
“Yes, Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy likes Twilight romantically, and we thought we should tell the rest of you first. It may calm her if her friends know.”
“Ah think that’s a good idea. We’ll help you any way we can, sugarcube,” the farmer pony said. Cerulean eyes met green ones.
“You mean… You don’t hate me for… for liking Twilight?” Fluttershy’s voice quaked along with her body, and her wings twitched at her sides.
“Why would we? You’re my friend, Fluttershy, no matter what!” Rainbow Dash puffed her chest out proudly. Fluttershy grinned and straightened her back.
“See, darling? I told you they wouldn’t hate you! Now, let’s find Pinkie Pie.” Rarity smiled victoriously before making her way to Sugarcube Corner.
The shy pony nodded, still smiling. “Thank you, girls,” Fluttershy said curtly before trailing after her best friend.
“No need to thank us. Good luck!” Applejack waved at her friends as they disappeared into the distance.
“We’ll see you later!” Rarity said after a while, waving back. Applejack turned toward Rainbow Dash after a few seconds. The pegasus was a few feet above her.
“What do you think about it, Rainbow?” Rainbow landed beside Applejack, her eyebrows meeting.
“What do I think about what?”
“About two mares falling in love.” The farmer pony’s cheeks adopted a red hue not unlike that of her brother’s natural color, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Fluttershy’s.
“Me? I-I don’t care. Anypony can fall in love as long as it’s not with me.” Rainbow Dash looked away, also blushing slightly. She kicked a rock beside her hoof and watched as it bounced forward a few feet.
“What do you mean?” Applejack asked as she watched the pebble jump, too.
“I mean, love isn’t for somepony as awesome as me. I have more important stuff to do than dating.”
Applejack swallowed thickly, but her vision clouded over anyway. It felt like her breathing was labored and every beat of her heart shot glass shards throughout her body. “Do you… Do you really mean that?” Her voice came out hoarse, but she didn’t care about that. All that mattered at that moment was what Rainbow Dash would say.
The pegasus stared at her friend for a long time. Applejack’s posture was just as perfect as always, her build nothing short of athletic. But Rainbow already knew about all that. She secretly had feelings for her blonde friend, and had only recently accepted them. However, she was convinced that Applejack wouldn’t like her back, so she tried to avoid talking about love at all.
Rainbow forced her eyes away from Applejack and back onto the rock she’d kicked. “…Yes, I mean it. It’s stupid! Let’s just drop it; I really don’t want to talk about it.” The pegasus lowered her head. She steeled her nerves and forced her expression back to normal. She looked up again with a bright smile, but her eyes were pained. “I know! Why don’t we race? I promise not to use my wings this time.”
“I-I’m not in the mood for a race… S-see you later, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack made out before trotting away, bursting into tears as soon as she was far enough away.
What’s with that pony? Rainbow Dash thought in confusion, before shaking her head. Applejack will be fine; she’ll probably tell me later. She took to the sky, prepared for another day of cloud busting. Thoughts of Applejack and her strange behavior plagued her the whole time.
Seven days later…
Rainbow Dash found herself resting on a cloud above Ponyville, stretching herself out and relaxing in the afternoon sunlight.
“Finally, some time to rest…” She yawned, her eyes landing on Sweet Apple Acres from across town. “Come to think of it… I haven’t seen Applejack for, like, a week. I don’t think it’s apple-bucking season just yet, either,” the sleepy pegasus said to herself. “Last time I saw her, she was acting weird. I wonder what it was about…” At that moment, Rainbow Dash heard the flap of wings and chattering in the distance. The cyan pegasus turned her head and saw a bunch of birds surrounding a pony at the door of the library. Rarity was watching, and she could also see Fluttershy galloping away.
“What the hay is going on there? Why are those birds attacking Twilight and why is Fluttershy crying?” But just when she was about to fly toward them, someone grabbed her attention.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash!” a familiar voice called. She looked down to find an orange filly gazing up at her with imploring eyes.
“Hey, Scoots!” Rainbow Dash said as she landed in front of her. She wanted to end the conversation as fast as she could, but didn’t want to hurt the filly’s feelings. “What’s up?”
“Well, I was just hanging out with Apple Bloom at her farm. I asked to use her bathroom and I heard something weird coming from Applejack’s room. It sounded like she was crying. I asked Apple Bloom about it and she said she’d been locked up in her room crying for the last few days. Apple Bloom swore she heard your name.”
Rainbow Dash’s ears perked. “What?! M-my name?”
The orange filly nodded. “Yeah, she said something like ‘Why, Rainbow, why did you have to say that?’ according to Apple Bloom. Did you two have a fight or something?”
The cyan pegasus looked puzzled. “Fight? N-no, we didn’t fight. I don’t know what’s wrong… I have to go talk to Applejack, see you later!” She’d taken off before Scootaloo could reply, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake. But before she got very far, she stopped and looked back toward the library. The birds were gone as well as her friends. I hope everything’s okay… I should check on them later. Rainbow Dash thought as she took off again, making it to Sweet Apple Acres in no time. She didn’t bother knocking on the door. Instead, she flew straight to Applejack’s room and hovered just outside of it. The window was conveniently left open, but Rainbow didn’t go inside. Peering in, she found the farmer pony resting on her bed with her face on the pillow, strangely quiet.
“Hey, AJ…” she quietly said. Applejack looked to the window and found Rainbow Dash gazing at her.
“Oh… Hello, Rainbow.” She sniffed. “Wh-what are you doin’ here?”
“Scootaloo and your sister heard you crying, so I came to see what’s wrong.” Rainbow Dash said, still outside.
“It’s nothin’… Really…”
“AJ, you’re a terrible liar. You locked yourself in here for a week? What about food?”
“Ah would get what I could find durin’ the night.”
“Applejack, this isn’t you… Come outside. We’ll talk.”
“Ah don’t want to go outside.”
Rainbow Dash sighed, recognizing Applejack’s stubbornness at once. She entered the bedroom and grabbed Applejack.
“What are you doing, Rainbow Dash?” Applejack said, angry and confused at the same time.
“I’m taking you outside, whether you want to or not!” The cyan pegasus lifted Applejack up and flew out the window before she could object. Soon, Rainbow had landed on the fields behind the farm. The farmer pony didn’t move or even look at Rainbow Dash when she was released, not even upset about having been forced out of her room.
“See? It wasn’t so bad.” Rainbow Dash said, trying to smile. Applejack ignored her, but she was growling. Maybe she actually was a little upset. “AJ?”
“What?” the farmer pony questioned, still not making eye contact with her friend. Applejack was scowling deeply.
“Why were you crying? What did I say to make you cry like that?”
Applejack’s eyes darted up and met Rainbow’s. “How did you…?”
“Apple Bloom heard.”
“Oh…” Applejack was now looking down, her rage completely gone. Sadness replaced it, filling up the emptiness in her heart.
“So… What did I say, Applejack? Please tell me; I really have no idea,” Rainbow asked again, opting not to move from where she was. She figured her friend would want the space.
“Ah… Well, it’s complicated.” Applejack blushed.
“Then make it simple. Come on, AJ, it’s just me. You can tell me anything!” The cyan pegasus approached Applejack, starting to grow impatient with the other pony’s behavior. Applejack sighed and stood up, looking deep into her friend’s eyes.
“Okay… Ah’ll tell you.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “For some time now… Ah… kinda… uh…”
“Applejack?” Rainbow Dash said, worry laced in her tone.
“Ah like you, okay?! I really like you in that way!” Applejack exclaimed, and when she finished, she hid her face beneath her hat. She was blushing madly, glad to have confessed her feelings, but at the same time aware that it didn’t matter. Rainbow Dash didn’t want love in her life. The cyan pegasus remained silent for a few moments, Applejack’s words resounding in her head. She was certain she’d heard wrong.
“Y-you mean… Like Fluttershy’s feelings for Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked in confusion.
The farmer pony slowly nodded, but Rainbow Dash didn’t see, so she added, “Y-yes… But Ah know you don’t want anything to do with it.”
“And that’s why you’ve been crying for the past week?” Applejack moved her hat, making her face visible. She nodded with her eyes closed, but her sadness was still obvious to even a careless observer. The cyan pegasus felt guilty now that she was aware of how much her lie had hurt the pony she had feelings for, especially when it turned out that she liked her too. How could I be so stupid?! Rainbow Dash thought to herself as she mentally kicked herself.
“I’m sorry…” Dash said after several moments of silence. “Sorry for hurting you, Applejack… I really had no idea. What I said about love… I didn’t mean it.” The farmer pony opened her eyes and looked at her.
“What did you say?”
“I didn’t mean it… I just said it because I thought you would never like me. I panicked and tried to avoid the subject… Sorry…” When Rainbow Dash finished talking, she was blinking back tears. Applejack stood up, putting her Stetson back on her head and turning to the cyan pegasus, but she was still looking down.
“Y-you lied…?” the farmer pony asked. Rainbow Dash nodded, her head lowered as if ready to accept her punishment.
“I didn’t want you to know… I wasn’t ready. But Fluttershy and Rarity started talking about it and when they left, you started talking about it, then you looked at me with that face… I got lost in your green eyes.” Applejack blushed, but Rainbow didn’t notice. “When you look at me… My heart skips a beat. You’re always so beautiful, under the moon’s light or under the sunset… Sometimes, I stare at you from a cloud while you’re apple-bucking, and even when you’re just there it makes me smile.” Rainbow Dash finally met Applejack’s eyes. They were bright, and just below them was a smile Rainbow had never
seen on Applejack’s face before. The pegasus looked away at once, blushing hard at the realization of what she’d just said.
“…Did I really just say all that corny stuff?”
“Oh, Rainbow… Ah didn’t know you were capable of sayin’ such things…” Applejack said as she wiped her tears away. She trotted toward Rainbow Dash.
“W-what’re you doing?” the nervous pegasus asked, blushing even more.
“I’m just going to… Ahhh!” Applejack accidentally tripped on a rock and fell on Rainbow Dash.
“Appleja—mmph!” Rainbow Dash fell backwards, Applejack not far behind. Their lips met the second Rainbow’s back hit the ground. Both mares’ eyes were opened wide in their surprise, until after what seemed like forever Applejack broke the kiss. Her cheeks were red when she spoke.
“Ah-Ah’m sorry, Rainbow Dash,” she nervously said before trying to stand up, but Rainbow Dash didn’t let her. The pegasus smirked as she grabbed hold of the earth pony’s foreleg. She rolled over so she was the one on top.
“I’m not.” The cyan pegasus kissed her again, closing her eyes this time. The farmer pony accepted the kiss but didn’t close her eyes. Rainbow felt like she was on Cloud Nine, amazed that this was actually happening to her. Never had she allowed herself a moment’s fantasy that this could be real, that she could at some point kiss Applejack. But something was wrong… Applejack wasn’t really into it. Rainbow broke the kiss. “Is something wrong ,AJ?” she asked, her eyebrows knitting together. Applejack didn’t do anything for a while, but eventually she removed her hat and set it aside. Then she wrapped her hooves around the pegasus.
“Not at all, Rainbow…” she softly said before passionately kissing the cyan pegasus. Rainbow Dash smiled as she kissed her back. This was even better than earlier. Several moments later they broke the kiss, but they kept staring into each other’s eyes. The cyan pegasus caressed Applejack’s cheek with her hoof.
“So… What do you really think of love, sugarcube?” the farmer pony asked, letting her face rest against Rainbow’s hoof.
“It’s… cool, I guess.” Rainbow Dash softly answered with a smile. “But I need to ask you a favor…”
“What is it, Rainbow?”
“I would appreciate it if… if we keep this as a secret… At least for now. You know, until I’m ready.”
“Are you asking me to… lie?”
“Well… Yeah… AJ, I…”
“Rainbow, you know that Ah can’t lie, Ah’m…”
“You don’t have to lie if anypony asks; just avoid the subject… Please… It won’t be for long, I promise.”
Applejack thought for a few moments before she finally answered.
“Fine… But with one condition.”
“Sure, what do you want?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Be my special somepony,” The farmer pony smiled romantically. The pegasus was confused at first, but eventually she smiled.
“Deal. Applejack… Would you be my special somepony?” Rainbow Dash asked as she let her hoof trace down to Applejack’s chin.
“Ah though you’d never ask…” Both mares giggled before hugging each other tightly. They spent hours there, just embracing each other. But when night finally came, they heard something suspicious in the dark and got to their hooves at once. Moments later, a panting Spike appeared with Angel Bunny at his heels.
“Spike?” Applejack asked, confused.
“We’ve got a problem!” he cried, “Fluttershy’s been ponynapped! Twilight’s already in the Everfree Forest looking for her!” The dragon hopped from foot to foot as he reported the news, his eyes fearful.
“Oh no! AJ, we have to help them!” the cyan pegasus said, her eyes immediately gazing out at the Everfree Forest in search of her friends.
“Ah couldn’t agree more. Let’s look for the others!” Rainbow Dash nodded and they all galloped toward Ponyville to get Rarity and Pinkie Pie. They would need everyone for something this big.
Author's Note
This happens a week before Fluttershy and Twilight start dating in “Magic of Love” and ends right before starting chapter nine of the same. For all who were wondering how did Rainbow Dash and Applejack started dating, I hope you enjoyed it! :D
I want to thank Blue Dragon for editing this story before its release! :)
