.out.of.character.

to visit her best friend Applejack on the farm.

"H-huh?!" Rainbow Dash's eyes flew wide open. Whud! She slammed muzzle-first into a rainsoaked wagon. "Augh!"

"Sugarcube!" Applejack's voice drawled. "Well wallop mah hindquarters!" She finished heaving a basket into the back of the wagon with her strong, well-toned muscles and turned to steady the floundering pegasus. "Whoah, there! Be careful there, darlin'!" She winked. "Ain't no sense in bangin' yerself up anymore than you've already done with yer wild flyin'!"

"I... I was just..." Rainbow Dash spun around, glancing every which way. She saw orchards and orchards and more orchards. "...h-how?!"

"Whew, Ah'm mighty thankful that you've come down here to help meh with mah apple buckin'!" Applejack kicked a loose basket over to the base of a tree and tossed her wet blond mane. "Seein' as yer grounded on 'count of yer wing'n'all, Ah'd say it's the most loyal thang you could be doin' right about now!"

"I... I promised..."

Rainbow Dash remembered promising to help her best friend with apple bucking on the farm.

"Guh..." Rainbow winced, shaking her head as the ringing intensified. "Something's... something's not..."

Applejack is Rainbow Dash's best friend. Perhaps something more.

"Running... the rain..." Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. She looked up with a snapping expression. "It's raining, AJ! Couldn't we do this another time?"

Applejack spun, staring dead-straight at Rainbow Dash. "Why, whatever do ya mean, darlin'?" Her smile faded.

Rainbow heard thunderous hooves splashing to a stop in the mud. She looked over.

Big Macintosh stood before a plow twenty meters away, staring straight at Rainbow Dash with a blank expression. Past him, on the top of a hill, the Apple Family house loomed. In two separate windows, a green face and a yellow face pressed up to the glass, staring straight at the pegasus from afar.

"It's a beautiful day, sugarcube," Applejack said, unblinking, unmoving. "Ah'd even say it's the perfect day to buck apples with mah best marefriend."

In the distance, thunder rolled... hungrily. Like a dog's stomach growling beyond the gray clouds overhead

Rainbow Dash really, really wanted to help her friend Applejack on the farm..

Rainbow gulped. She smiled back. "Y-you're the green hoof around these parts, Applejack! Wh-who am I to argue with you about the weather?!"

One blink later. Two. Big Macintosh looked ahead and resumed plowing his field, whistling pleasantly to himself. Up on the hill, the faces vanished from the farm house windows.

"Ah'll get the big tree, Rainbow," Applejack said, trotting up to the trunk in question. "How 'bout you start on the little'n?"

"Uh... sure... s-sure thing..." Rainbow Dash limped over to where a basket lay beneath a narrower apple tree. She glanced up at the rain-slick bark, then glanced over her shoulder.

The front entrance to Sweet Apple Acres loomed not too far away. Rainbow felt her muscles twitching.

Rainbow Dash didn't want to let Applejack down.

Facing forward, Rainbow Dash felt a cold sweat overcome her body. She spun until her haunches faced the tree and she kicked hard. "Mnnnfnngh!"

The impact of the bucking instantly throttled through her body, culminating in her left wing.

"Aaaugh!" Rainbow Dash yelped and fell chest-first to the mud. "Ooomf!"

"Sugarcube!" Applejack gasped, galloping over to Rainbow's side. She scooped the trembling pegasus up in her strong, motherly forelimbs. "Rainbow, darlin', speak to meh! Are y'all alright?!"

"The pain..." Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth before clutching her head. "The ringing! So... s-so strong." She gulped. "Stronger th-than before..."

"Awwwwwwww..." Applejack frowned. "Shoot." Applejack leaned in, nuzzling the mare cheek to cheek. "Ah shoulda thought twice 'bout this! This sure was pretty darn selfish of meh! What, with makin' you do so much work with yer body all busted up..."

"I... I-I'm fine, AJ..." Rainbow Dash stammered, eyes darting towards her marefriend awkwardly. "It'll rub off. The pain, I mean. You don't have to be so... er... sisterly."

"But Ah just can't help it, darlin'." Applejack nuzzled her closer and closer. Rainbow Dash could feel the warmth of Applejack's heartbeat, the smell of the water she bathed in the previous evening, the sweat that ran down her thighs as she tossed and turned restlessly overnight, thinking about her beloved equine.

"Uh... A-Applejack...?"

"Yer such a petite lil' thang," Applejack cooed, her breath growing as hot and close as her body, holding Rainbow Dash tight and tighter. "And so loyal... so brave. Ah just know it hides how tender and lovin' y'all are on the inside..."

"Applejack, this..." Rainbow Dash pushed and shoved against her. "This is not cool. Cut it out, okay?"

"Mmmmmm..." Applejack's lips traced up and down the edges of Rainbow's ear. "Cut what out, sugarcube?"

"I mean it!" Rainbow winced, feeling the muscles in her left side start to tear as her wingfeathers stuck straight out, one by one. "Gunnngh... mrfffngh.... Stop... t-touching me!"

"Sugarcube..." Applejack's breath curled Rainbow's neck hairs. A tongue slipped through once or twice. "Sugarcube."

"Knock it..." Rainbow Dash shoved. "...off!" She popped free from Applejack's grasp, but instantly regretted it. Her left wing stretched skyward like broken bones, stabbing her with hellish pain. "Aaaugh!" She collapsed again, crawling agonizingly through the mud. "Mmmmffnngh... Celestiaaa..."

"Awwwwww... hee hee hee..." Applejack smiled approvingly, fanning her freckled face as her lustful eyes clung to Rainbow Dash's twitching wings. "Just look at you, darlin'! Can't hold back yer playful pegasus feelin's, now can you, hmm?"

Rainbow Dash's heart throbbed with every word her secret crush said.

"Mmmf—what?!" Rainbow Dash looked up, panting in the cold, freezing drizzle. "No... n-no freakin' way..."

"So tender and moist... rollin' out of them clouds every mornin'..."

Rainbow Dash wanted nothing more than to crawl back and curl up in Applejack's arms.

"No... no..." Rainbow Dash seethed, clenching her eyes shut. "That is not cool. She's my friend. Of all the stupid things you could have done, you chose this?"

"What was that, sugarcube?" Applejack's voice was masked by a rumble of thunder.

"I said..." Rainbow Dash spun around, propping herself up on quivering leg joints. "You're my friend, AJ!" She panted and panted, eyes twitching towards the supple curves in Applejack's thighs, the sweat mixing with rainwater to dribble off her freckles and pursed lips. "You're... I mean we..."

"You look exhausted, darlin'..." Applejack trotted closer and closer, the brim of her hat shading all her face but her grinning white teeth. "How 'bout you come inside and rest for a spell? Ah'll pour a hot bath for you." She waggled her eyebrows. "Hope y'all dun mind if we share. Ah'm used to eatin' apples. Ah can be mighty soft on yer peels..."

Rainbow Dash cooed, her eyelids fluttering shut as she acquiesced to Applejack's request.

"Gnngh..." Rainbow clenched her eyes shut, biting her lip until it bled. "Be yourself. Be yourself. Be..."

Rainbow Dash acquiesced to Applejack's flirtations.

She panted... she shook.

Rainbow Dash acquiesced.

Both eyes flew open. "Yes! Applejack! You... you do that!" She grinned wide. "You start that bath!"

Applejack beamed, face aflush with delight and desire. "Oh, darlin', this will be a night that you'll never forget!" She reached down with a strong hoof.

"Wait!" Rainbow held a forelimb up. "I'll... uh... I'll join you shortly! I just... j-just gotta get some exercise, y'know?" She squinted with bedroom eyes. "Prepare for a long night of the most awesome love-making that's ever rocked your bathtub... or y-your bed."

Applejack squee'd inwardly. She galloped off, chirping Big Macintosh's way. "You and the rest of the family will be sleepin' in the barn tonight, y'hear?"

"Eeeeyup." And Big Macintosh continued dragging his plow.

Rainbow Dash panted... panted... and breathed easily. At last, her wings loosened, coiling gently at her sides. Getting up on wobbly legs, she stood tall and calmed her nerves. After a few seconds, she took a forlorn glance at the farm house.

An orange shape stood dead-still on the patio, staring at her from a distance.

"...!" Rainbow spun around and galloped straight for the front entrance of Sweet Apple Acres. She ran through the gate, around the bend, and straight down the forested path that led towards Ponyville. The ringing in her ear increased at random intervals, like metallic growls over the horizon, and each galloping stride sent waves of pain through her wing. She ignored it to the best of her ability, bolting for the heart of town. "Gotta find other ponies who aren't affected. I can't do this alone. I-I can't! After all, once I make it out, I-I gotta come back with somepony... somepony who'll vouch for all of this nonsense..."

Within minutes, she arrived