Of Apples and Awkwardness
A rooster crowed as the sun broke the horizon, its rays casting over Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack woke to the sound of the rooster, and was promptly blinded by the sun, the vicious ball taking advantage of her open curtains. “Consarnit!” She gave a whimper as she massaged her eyes, reaching over to pull the curtains shut. “Today’s gonna be a bad day, Ah just know it.”
After her retinas had recovered from the shock, she got out of bed and walked towards the bathroom, passing Applebloom on the way. “Hey, sis, today’s apple buckin’ day, isn’ it?”
“Yep. We gotta get movin’ if we want to get all them apples, an’ with the new acre of trees we’re gonna have to move even faster than last year. That’s why Ah asked Rainbow Dash if she would come down to help out. Ah just hope she can get her head outta the clouds while it’s still mornin’.” She put a hoof on the bathroom door.
“Wait, sis, Rainbow Dash-“ But her warning came too late, as Applejack opened the door to find a cyan pegasus already occupying the bathroom. She had just stepped out of the shower and was reaching for a towel when Applejack had intruded on her.
“APPLEJACK!? What the hay!?! A little privacy here!!” Rainbow Dash moved at the speed of light to cover herself with the towel as Applejack covered her eyes just as fast.
“Ah’m sorry! Ah’m sorry! Ah didn’t know anypony else were in here!” She fumbled to get out of the bathroom, not uncovering her eyes until she had a hold on the door knob and slammed the door. Her cheeks had turned the same shade of red as the apples on her flank. “Applebloom, why didn’ ya tell me Rainbow was already here!?”
“Ah did try! You were the one who charged in anyways!”
“Fine, ya got me there,” Applejack admitted, a smug look coming over Applebloom’s face, “But why is Rainbow Dash already here? I didn’ think she was comin’ until around noon!”
“She said she wanted to prove to you that she could handle anythin’ you threw at her. I guess she’s eager ‘cause she got her about ten minutes ago.”
“Oh ho, did she now? Well, I think we’ll just have to put that to the test. Come on, let’s go grab some breakfast an’ leave Miss Forgets-To-Lock-The-Door to herself.” The two walked down the stairs to the kitchen, getting a whiff of Granny Smith’s cooking that caused them to hurry their pace.
Laid out on the table was a cornucopia of apple confections, ranging from apple pie and apple dumplings to apple strudels and apple tarts. A jug of the Apple’s famous cider sat in the middle of the table. The frail form of Granny Smith was busy scrutinizing each plate, looking for any sign that the food wasn’t up to scratch. Applejack and Applebloom took a seat facing each other, and while Applebloom hungrily eyed the feast Applejack questioned her grandmare. “This is a mighty fine looking breakfast, Granny Smith. Is it because today’s apple buckin’ day?”
The old mare answered quickly, annoyed that her work had been interrupted. “Of course not! This here’s for that nice pegasus filly, what’s her name, Drainbow Rash? Wait, no, it was Raincloud Sash. Or was it Bowtie Mash? It don’t matter, this is to show her how much we care about her. Y’all better eat up, you’re gonna be bucking them trees all day long.”
“Rainbow Dash, Granny. An’ thanks for going to the trouble of feedin’ us like this.”
“Don’t mention it, Sugarpie. Hey, you little whippersnapper!” Applebloom had gone for the nearest plate, but Granny Smith caught her by the tail before she could reach it. “Hold yer horses, ya little filly! You’ll get to eat once everypony’s here, and not a moment sooner.” Applebloom sulked back to her chair, lowering herself until all that could be seen was her pink bowtie, Applejack snickering at the display.
They waited about five minutes until Big Macintosh came lumbering downstairs, his huge frame filling the doorway. “Heya.” He took a seat in-between Applebloom and Granny Smith, greedily looking at the food.
“Now you just wait until that rainbow pegasus gets down here before filling your face!” Granny Smith smacked Big Mac’s outstretched hoof with a wooden spoon, causing Big Mac to yank it back and give her a look of innocence. “Don’t look at me like that, young man! You know darned well we don’t eat until everypony’s at the table!”
Big Mac looked sheepishly to the floor. “Sorry, Granny,” he mumbled. There came the sound of hooves on the hard wood, and the Apples looked to the stairs to see Rainbow Dash making her way towards the table. She gave Applejack a nasty look as she took her spot between Applejack and Granny Smith. Applejack gave her a nudge and a devilish little grin.
“So Dashie, why exactly were you taking a shower, huh? Them clouds you live on evaporate ‘fore you could get one in?”
Rainbow Dash wasn’t amused. “As if! The only reason I was using yours was because I didn’t have time for one at my cloud. I wasn’t even planning on taking one, but somepony who has issues with personal space wasn’t awake when I got here, so I figured I’d have time for a quick one. Guess I was wrong.” With that, she reached for an apple strudel and started mowing down on it. The others followed suit, devouring everything in sight.
In-between bites, Applejack continued talking with Rainbow Dash. “I don’t get why you were so embarrassed when Ah walked in on you. I mean, it’s not like you wear clothes anyways. Ah only panicked ‘cause you did.”
Rainbow was in the middle of chewing, but that didn’t stop her from answering as she sprayed crumbs everywhere. “That doesn’t matter! What does matter is that you walked in on me when you shouldn’t have!” She had turned her full attention to Applejack, eyes burning into her.
Applejack returned the glare, the two coming face to face. “Well that ain’t mah fault! If you had just locked the door, we wouldn’ have gotten into that mess in the first place!”
They were shooting knives at each other, neither looking away until Applebloom spoke up. “Maybe she left the door open cause she wanted you to look at her in the shower.” Big Mac choked on the cider he had been drinking as Rainbow and Applejack looked at Applebloom with gaping mouths and pupils no bigger than a pebble, their cheeks on fire. Big Mac had gotten over his choking fit and was now loudly guffawing while pounding the table with his hoof, the plates and pastries clattering as he did. Even Granny Smith was chuckling, while Applebloom was dumbfounded by the looks she was getting from Applejack and Rainbow. “What?”
Big Mac wrapped his leg around Applebloom’s shoulders, wiping a tear from his eye. “Y’all understand when you’re older, little sis.” He gave a few more chuckles and went back to eating. Applejack and Rainbow had gotten over their initial shock and were avoiding each other’s gaze while Rainbow silently asked Applejack whether or not she had a plan for Applebloom’s downfall.
“So do we kill her now or later?”
“Later. Don’t wanna leave witnesses.”
“Sounds good.” Applebloom had gone back to her food, though she stayed silent for the rest of the meal. The five ponies finished up their breakfast and four of them got up to go outside, Granny Smith staying behind to tidy up.
The morning sun greeted the four with its cheeriness, though its effect was lost on Rainbow Dash and Applejack as they were too embarrassed from Applebloom’s comment to focus on anything else. Big Mac gazed out over the fields of apple trees and started trudging towards the barn, the others following. “Time to get goin’ sis.” He opened the barn door and let the others go in before walking in himself. Inside was a variety of farming tools, and near the door sat four saddles with bags attached, an image of an apple adorning each bag. Three of them were of the same make, differing in sizes, while the fourth had two round holes in them and was about the size of the middle one without the holes. Rainbow Dash watched as the Apples got to business, obviously having done this before. Big Mac helped to hitch the average sized saddle to Applejack while she hitched the smaller one to Applebloom. The two sisters then took the larger one and tossed it up on Big Mac’s back, tightening the saddle as he conversed with Applejack. “Why don’t y’all get Rainbow suited up with them special saddlebags while Applebloom an’ I get started?”
“Sounds good. Y’all can start in the northen fields while Rainbow an’ Ah work the southern ones.” He gave a nod then motioned for Applebloom to follow him. Applejack trotted over to the special saddlebag and picked it up, walking back towards Rainbow Dash. “Now hold still, Ah gotta get this thing on you just right or it won’t be set with your wings.” She hauled the saddle up on Rainbow, but something didn’t feel quite right. Her wings weren’t through the holes.
“Uh, Applejack? Little help here.” She felt some tugging, but still her wings were being squashed by the leather. “Come on, what are you doing back there? How hard is it to get a saddle-“ but she couldn’t finish her thought, as she felt two hooves on her posterior and another tugging sensation. Her eyes went wide and, try as she might, she couldn’t stop her wings from shooting out, reaching their full span. Luckily, they had shot through the saddle and hadn’t been trapped underneath it. As quickly as she could, she tucked her wings back into her body and turned to look at Applejack, but she found that the barn was empty. “Applejack? Where’d you go!?” There came a rustling from a nearby pile of hay and Applejack’s naked head popped up, straw sticking out of her mane.
“What in tarnation was that!?” She worked her way out of the hay, pulling her hat out of it and plucking the straw out of her hair. She put her hat back on its rightful place and gave Rainbow as curious stare. “Mind explainin’ why your wings decided to go plum crazy?”
Rainbow’s cheeks had burst into fire once again as Applejack waited for an answer. “Uh… well, it… it happens to a lot of pegasi, alright!? I couldn’t control it!” Her face was scorching by this point. “Let’s just get over to those fields already!”
Applejack wasn’t convinced by Rainbow’s quick deflection. “What do you mean it happens to a lot o’ pegasi? I ain’t never seen you do that before!”
“Just drop it!” Rainbow hurried out of the barn, but curiosity got the best of Applejack. She caught up with her and, as quietly as she could, snuck up and lightly touched her flank. Rainbow’s wings whipped out again as she let out a high pitched squeal. “Applejack!!”
Applejack was just as surprised as Rainbow was as she wasn’t expecting that to actually work. “So your wings only do that when someone touches you on… your…” Realization finally dawned on Applejack, and her face colored the same red as Rainbow’s. “Uh.. how ‘bout we never speak o’ this again?” Rainbow gave a quick nod then hid her embarrassed and distressed face from her poke happy friend.
The trek to the south fields passed in an awkward silence, both of them doing their best to ignore the existence of the other one. Applejack led them to a field full of trees, though Rainbow wondered how Applejack knew that this was the south field. All these fields looked the same to her.
“Have you ever bucked apples before Dashie?” Rainbow shook her head while Applejack had positioned herself next to a tree. “It’s easier than it looks. All ya gotta do is limber up,” she did a quick little dance, “get ready,” she reared up on her front legs, “and buck!” She kicked the tree with her hind legs, causing apples to drop from the branches. Applejack expertly caught them in her saddlebags, not a single apple landing on the ground. “So do ya think you have what it takes?”
“Please, I’ll have this done in ten seconds flat!” She walked up to another tree and started to repeat what Applejack had done. She did a little jig, rose up on her legs, and bucked the tree for all she was worth. The tree shuddered, giving up one apple that clobbered her on the head. She rubbed the spot where it had hit her and looked up at the tree in disbelief. “But I kicked that thing with everything I had! I don’t get it!”
Applejack was quietly chuckling to herself and put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, causing her to flinch, but her wings stayed in place. Applejack quickly took her hoof off. “Sorry. Ah didn’t think you’d be able to do it. Nope, the only ones who can buck the trees are Earth ponies. It looks like you’re gonna have to fly around an’ collect them one by one.”
Rainbow sighed, took to the air and began picking at the apples in the tree. Applejack had gone to work on another tree, leaving Rainbow Dash alone with her thoughts. Only Earth ponies can buck… yeah right! She’s probably afraid that I’ll just show her up. That tree was probably just some super resilient tree or something. She had finished picking the apples and flew over to begin work on another one when she saw Applejack’s progress and her mouth fell open. She had already cleared three trees in the time it took Rainbow to clear one. The shock of seeing Applejack’s performance wore off quickly as Rainbow saw a challenge in the making. “Hey, Applejack!” Applejack looked up from the tree she was bucking. “Bet ya you can’t get more apples bucking than I can flying!”
Applejack gave her a grin and yelled back. “So you think you’re hot stuff, huh? All right! We’ll dump our apples in piles right here! The pony with the most apples at lunchtime wins!”
“It’s on!” And with that, the competition began. Rainbow Dash was flying at a breakneck speed around the trees, the sheer force of it pulling the apples from the trees as she caught them in her bags. Applejack had kicked on the afterburners, running from tree to tree, bucking them with so much force that she left hoof prints on some of them. Each took the apples they had collected and put them in their respective piles, the piles increasing as time went on. It was nearly time for lunch, and the two ponies were clearly exhausted but refused to give in to the other. A bell sounded in the distance as they both added a final batch of apples to their piles and collapsed to the ground. Rainbow was still on the ground when she heard Applejack cry out. “Ah don’t believe it! They’re exactly the same size!” Rainbow raised herself up and looked at the piles. Sure enough, the piles were mirror images of each other. Rainbow groaned and saw Applejack walking back towards the house, and she hurried to catch up.
“I guess that means it’s a draw, huh?”
“Yep. Good try, though. Get a couple more seasons under your belt an’ you might just be able to beat me.”
Rainbow gave her a playful nudge. “I don’t know, I might just beat you today.” They laughed and met each other’s eyes, causing them to blush and look away. “So, uh… what do you think’s for lunch?”
Applejack adjusted her hat. “Ah have no idea, but Ah’m willin’ to bet Granny Smith cooked up somethin’ delicious.”
“Sounds good.” The rest of the walk back was in silence, both of them avoiding looking at each other. They reached the barn and unloaded their saddles next to the other two that were already there. “Guess they must’ve beaten us here.”
“Uh huh. Hope they at least left us somethin’ to eat.” They made their way towards the house, catching sight of a napping Granny Smith in her rocking chair on the porch. “Heh heh, poor Granny must’ve tuckered herself out cooking up our lunch.” She gave her grandmare a kiss on the head and held the door open for her friend, following her inside. The large table had been refilled with delicacies, and Big Mac and Applebloom had already started digging in. Applebloom gave them a wave and went back to her plate while Big Mac, having enjoyed Applebloom’s earlier comment about the two so much, decided to remind them of it.
“Hope ya two didn’t get too distracted out there by your lonesome, I can’t buck all them trees myself while you’re foolin’ ‘round out there.” Unfortunately for him, his laughing fit distracted him from the two apple pies that were flung at his face, Rainbow and Applejack’s aim true. Splotches of baked apple and crust clung to his coat as they all burst into laughter as Big Mac tried to wipe the mess off of himself. “Heh heh, all right, Ah deserved that.” Applejack and Rainbow Dash took their seats and started into their food. They had a relatively normal lunch, at least, it was normal compared to the how their day had gone so far. Big Mac had gone upstairs to quickly shower and Applebloom went outside to play, leaving Rainbow and Applejack alone with each other.
Rainbow yawned loudly, catching Applejack’s attention. “Tired, Dashie? Ah understand. Mah first apple bucking day, Ah couldn’ even reach lunch ‘fore Ah went back up to bed.”
Rainbow was vexed by A.J.’s comment and deflected her concern. “Tired? I’m not tired! How could I be tired when I’m having so much fun collecting more apples than you?”
“Hey now, we tied. Don’t get your head in the clouds.”
“I’m just saying, we tied even though this is the first time I’ve done this. Just kinda makes you think I might be better than you.” Rainbow’s face was now decorated with a smug smile while Applejack’s eyes became slits.
“Ah reckon that there’s still enough daylight left for me to teach you a thing or two about apple buckin’! Or apple pickin’, in your case.”
“Then let’s get at it!” Rainbow suddenly jumped up from the table and flew out the door, Applejack frantically following her. They got their saddles hitched up once more and headed back out to where their piles of apples were still waiting for them.
“Alright, we still got about half of this field left to go ‘fore we can move on to another one.” The words had barely left Applejack’s mouth when Rainbow took off for the nearest tree with apples. Sighing, Applejack quickly made her way over to another tree, giving it a good buck and collecting the apples as they fell.
The sun beat down on them as they toiled, but this only caused them to work harder as they tried to outrace each other. It was the middle of the afternoon when they were finally done. Once again, they had collapsed near their piles, but this time it was Rainbow who noticed that they were the same size. “You gotta be kidding!! How the heck could this have even happened!?”
Applejack raised herself up on her tired hooves and shook her head at the apples. “Maybe we each got half of the trees? Maybe it’s just a big ol’ coincidence. However it happened, we’re done with this field. Follow me an’ we’ll go start on the next one.” Applejack set out as Rainbow hovered behind her.
They had walked past the edge of the southern fields, travelling into a clearing filled with white flowers when Rainbow started complaining. “Hey, A.J., why don’t we take a break? My wings are killing me.”
“Ah was just about to say the same thing.” She loosened the straps of her empty saddle, letting it slide off her as Rainbow did the same. They left their saddles behind as they sat down, looking out over the hundreds of apple trees that still needed to be harvested. Applejack turned to Rainbow, a sheepish look on her face. “Hey, Dashie? Ah’m sorry about… well, about what happened this mornin’. I didn’ mean to barge in on ya like that.”
Rainbow began blushing, but didn’t let it distract her from answering. “You don’t have to be sorry, it was my fault in the first place. I should’ve just taken a shower in my cloud, but I guess I was too eager to get started. I just wanted to show you I could keep up with you.”
“No need to beat yourself up, Dashie. I guess we both made mistakes.” Applejack yawned, suddenly aware of how tired she was. Rainbow responded with a yawn of her own, and lied down on her side on the ground. Applejack did the same, becoming a mirror image of Rainbow, though with less rainbow mane and more hat. Their manes and hooves were lightly touching, but they were too tired to care. “Ya know… considerin’ this is your first apple bucking, you didn’ do so bad…’ Her eyelids drooped, and Rainbow copied her.
“I did learn form the best…’ And with that, both of the mares fell asleep. They moved closer and closer to each other, completely unaware that they were inching closer as they were unconscious.
The sky was showing streaks of crimson when Applejack awoke, and she immediately felt something wrong. She kept her eyes shut as she tried to figure out what the strange feeling was. Her muzzle was pressing against something warm and soft. She risked a quick look and yelled out in surprise, waking up Rainbow in the process. They had been kissing! Somehow, someway, they had moved close enough to each other so that their mouths were touching! Applejack blushed furiously and scrambled away from Rainbow, but Rainbow didn’t seem to have noticed what had happened.
“Applejack, what’s wrong? Did you see a hornet or something?” Applejack could only stutter as her brain tried reaching for a response, but came up empty. She could only raise a hoof to her mouth and then point to Rainbow’s mouth. It took her a few seconds, but when she got it, the color of her face rivaled the streaks in the sky. “Buh… uh… um, yeah… I guess… that happened…” The tension in the air could have been cut with a knife. The two awkwardly shuffled around for a few seconds before deciding wordlessly to return to the house. The times they had walked together before had been bad enough, but this was going to a whole new level. Rainbow couldn’t take the silence, and spoke up. “Sooo… it’s been an… interesting day… how about those apples, huh? Two same size stacks, can you believe it?” She gave a forced laugh, but Applejack wasn’t amused. Rainbow furrowed her brow slightly, becoming serious. “Look, what happened happened. We can’t change that. But it’s not really that big of a deal. We wouldn’t be best friends if we let some petty stuff like this affect our friendship, would we?”
“Ah guess you’re right… still feels weird, though. Dangit, Ah knew when Ah woke up today was gonna be a bad day.”
“Bad day? Who said today was a bad day?”
Applejack stopped walking and looked at Rainbow. “Were you not paying attention for the entire day!? Don’t ya remember all the stuff that happened?”
“Yeah, I do remember. I remember the fun we had when we were racing each other. I remember that we had some awesome food. And yeah, I remember all the embarrassing stuff that happened. But that’s what made today special. That’s what made this day worth remembering, especially since it all happened with my best friend.” She landed and wrapped her leg around Applejack’s shoulders. She also took Applejack’s hat and put it on her head. Applejack gave a small laugh.
“You look ridiculous!”
“Any more ridiculous than the stuff that happened today?”
“Good point. An’ now that Ah think of it, that competition made me try mah hardest, an’ Ah can’t remember the last time Ah had so much fun buckin’ apples. Heck, maybe later we can look back on today an’ laugh.”
“Who says we have to wait? Do you remember the look on your face when you walked in on me this morning? It was hilarious!”
“An’ I guess it was pretty funny how your wings suddenly popped out in the barn.” Rainbow didn’t exactly find it as funny as Applejack, but she joined her in laughing anyways. The house was now in sight. “Ya know, we still got a lot of apples to buck, an’ then we gotta get them ready to sell. Ah could sure use some more of your help, Dashie.”
Rainbow thought it over for a moment, then gave her a nod. “Of course I’ll help! I couldn’t just leave you with all this work left to do. Besides, we still need to settle who the best apple bucking pony is!”
“Yep. Though Ah don’t think you’re ready to beat me just yet.”
The two mares trotted towards the house in the distance as the sun slowly set behind them.
Of Apples and Awkwardness
Written by ObeySaturnGod
