The Mischievous Ways of Life

Applejack had gathered the garments routine before stepping into the shower; the duo of red hair ties for both her mane and tail and her signature hat, the stetson and ponytails both placed on the sink before the mare gently shut the door, securing it closed. Afterward, she would turn and cast herself a look in the mirror. It said within itself exactly what she was thinking. 'How could you have been so stupid?'

Admittedly, after the blur of the moment had died down, she found how ridiculous what she did was. She couldn't just do that when Dash could have been back at any second -- that was a private thing. Not something you did just because you were in the mood. If she'd had some more sense, she could have avoided the embarrassment and inevitable talk that would follow. But instead, she'd.. Ugh, it was ridiculous. And of course, the truth always came out in the end, and then what would her crush think of her? Applejack was no perverted pony. She was also not a liar. Both were true, so why had she been having such dreams about her best friend, and why did she lie several times to avoid admitting it?

It was so.. Frustrating. What would happen if Dash found out just why she did what she did? No doubt their friendship would never stay the same. That seriously hurt, because AJ knew it was a matter of time before the pegasus discovered what she'd been up to this morning. To prevent being assaulted by a headache, she released a soft sigh, and dropped the topic best she could, easing into the shower and sliding the curtain shut.

Easily said, Applejack's shower was simple enough. It had plenty of space to move around. Maybe it would fit three ponies comfortably spaced, with the soaps, shampoos, and conditioners nearly lining the racks along the walls. There were two of each, the pairs twinning, all more or less relating to a light scent of apples which was really not much of a surprise. Besides; it'd gotten her some compliments before, so who was she to switch up scents all of a sudden? It never mattered much to her. It wasn't like ponies would be going around sniffing her coat and mane anyway. As for the walls and floor, also nothing too special. While the walls were a plain white that blinded her during her morning showers, the floors were checkered rather light blue and equally mute orange tiles.

Giving a nearly silent scoff at the idea of someone sniffing her and trying to ignore the coincidental coloring of the ground, she pressed a hoof down onto the shower pedal, pushing it down slightly more until the water was balancing between warm and hot. It was always just enough to help her relax, and she silently hoped Granny Smith or Big Mac wouldn't be planning on showering that morning, because AJ definitely planned to take her time to relax. Who knew what would happen when she sat down at that table, facing Rainbow Dash?

Feeling the water soak her straw-blonde mane with ease, she tilted her head gently back so that it streamed down her face and dampened it freely, flowing down to dribble off her chest. Looking downward, she shifted a little, letting the thin layer of water at her hooves ripple slightly with her motions before she fetched a bottle of the sweet-fragranced soap. Discharging the substance into her hoof, she returned it to it's spot, before inhaling a deep breath and releasing it with the scent of apples perfuming the air.

Doing what she could to relax, Applejack scrubbed the cold soap into the watered fur on her stomach, making rough circles to assure it got easy access to plenty of the coat there, beginning to morph the shape into ovals so that she washed her chest and stomach consecutively. She began drawing soothing smaller ovals inside of the original across her body until it became a spiral. After a few minutes of this, she moved her hooves up to scrub around her neck and shoulders, lifting her chin up and craning her neck only a tad for easier access on her upper body. The soap was a fantastic smooth along her body, but when she proceeded to the shampoo and conditioning of her blonde hair, it was as if running her hooves through silk.

Her technique was working, for the most part. She was feeling quite relaxed by the moment, the everlasting kisses of water droplets salting the shower floor drowning out any other sound, despite that she could have sworn she heard the click of a door out of somewhere. Presuming this her stirring imagination, she neglected her thoughts once more, merely focusing on the sound of hot water falling around her and peppering against her body, proceeding with her wash until every inch of her body was cleansed. By the time she'd gotten out, she hardly remembered why she was so nervous upon getting in, but when she stepped back into reality it all came back to her in excruciating remembrance.

Either way, she subconsciously paid little to no attention as she brushed out her mane and tail, slipping their ponytails in their respective places once she finished and exiting the bathroom.

The moment she had stepped out of the room, she felt absolutely refreshed. It was fantastic. But on the inside? Her gut was twisting, throat was tighter than ever before, heart was suddenly so fragile, and she felt like something was missing both physically and inwardly. She had checked herself drowsily over and she seemed all set physically, but the way her heart cried out in pain when she thought about losing Dash as a friend was something nobody should have to feel. It was a wrenching kind of hurt, chipping apart the sides of a hole so nothing could ever fit there the right way again. Sighing, AJ finished her task of putting the sheets and blanket in the washer, deciding to throw the pillows in, before letting the machine begin to wash them as she headed downstairs.

Tail flicking nervously, she stopped midway down the stairs, craning her neck and peeking aside to see if Rainbow Dash was anywhere in view. To her dismay, she couldn't quite see much, but she glimpsed the tip of a rainbow tail in the room of the kitchen, and could make out Applebloom's voice coming from the same room, with a sudden chuckle from Dash that she couldn't tell the emotion of. Giving a curious hum, Applejack quickly ventured down the rest of the way and was in the kitchen in a matter of gliding steps, stopping in abrupt puzzlement at what she saw.

That's what's missin'! Was her initial thought.

On one side of the table, a familiar rainbow mare had ridded of her bedhead and straightened the fur in need, hair capped with a familiar stetson that the farmer wondered how she'd gotten. AJ definitely remembered taking it into the bathroom with her.. And the pony was wearing an unmistakable blush. Her hat looked good on Dash, and that blush was absolutely adorable. Feeling herself warm at the sight, she blinked across the table to find Applebloom, who had --

"'Bloom! Gimme that right this second!" AJ cried out her command, hurrying over and snagging her diary from the hooves of the filly, who jumped in surprise. "What have ah I told you 'bout that?" This was the second time she was caught taking her diary to read to Rainbow, and AJ had learned she always read everything starting from the beginning. No skipping; she seemed to have tried to get every detail she could about anything since her Cutie Mark Crusading. That's why the farmer was in horror to see she was on page four. Luckily, the filly wasn't the fastest reader, and only things Dash knew was in the first three. But they looked around halfway down the fourth page, which started her feelings about the mare in the very room with them!

Passing the crusader a scolding look, she turned to the pegasus, who's blush was very present but accompanied by a smug smirk. "So, who's this 'mare of your dreams', AJ?" She asked, a brow raising, to which AJ glanced down nervously. At page five she had told who she was referring to was. But throughout four? Just details about why she loved them so much. Why she loved her so, so much.

Giving a sigh and refusing to answer, Applejack tried to ease out of her tense state, which was easily showing on her face. Trotting over to her friend, she gently leaned up and nipped the hat off her head, flipping it so that it pancaked neatly onto her own. She unmistakably felt Rainbow's muzzle knowingly brush against her chin as she'd taken the cap, a sort of nimble nuzzle that caused AJ's heart to flutter. Why was she such a.. Such a tease? Applejack loved it. Applejack loved her. Not that she knew. That was a secret well kept, and she'd have to find another place for her diary.

"Ah'm sorry! But she came down here talkin' about how Hearts and Hooves Day is comin' up and I 'membered all that mushy stuff you write down in yer book there," The filly explained, features apologetic as she watched Applejack start toward the refrigerator, giving a sigh. "Hon, you know you ain't supposed to be stickin' your nose where it just don't belong. Listen here," She glanced sternly back to her sister. "Don't you be touchin' that journal no more, hear me?" The filly replied with a groan, which drew into, "Fiiinnneee."

AJ opened the fridge, feeling the cold air broadcast out from it, radiating onto her face. She was trying to keep quiet, but it was difficult, because she felt a little guilty in scolding Applebloom in front of Rainbow. She knew better, though! Placing her diary on the nearby counter, she glanced across the various choices they'd had to offer. "Anythin' in particular you two want?" She asked over her shoulder, to which Applebloom requested pancakes for herself, shortly after to the agreement of Rainbow. "Pancakes it is."

Throughout much of the time they'd been eating, Rainbow Dash seemed to be lost in thought. It was continuous, with only short pauses, but she felt otherwise trapped in a gigantic building with no doors or windows or openings at all, wandering around in her own mind and rummaging sometimes for a topic. She needed to talk to Applejack, this was something AJ knew; she could just tell there was something on the pegasus's mind. What, though, she wasn't sure specifically. Either way, it made her nervous. Too fast for the farmer's liking had Applebloom devoured her food, and while jobs had a day off, she scampered away to school. Deciding not to sit in silence, Applejack spoke up, quietly but audibly with obviously forced words. "Somethin' on your mind?"

Rainbow Dash's magenta eyes fluttered in surprise, fixing on Applejack before a slow smile spread her cyan muzzle. AJ didn't know what she was thinking, and it was driving her crazy, watching as the rainbow Pegasus sat up a little straighter. "Applejack, can you show me how to buck trees? Like, your technique?"

This wasn't really a question she would choke on her food over, but it did catch her off guard for it's lack of source, and in the minute she began to think. There was really no sensible reason as to why not. It wasn't as if she hadn't shown her before; she was teachable, just impatient. Besides, anything to take her mind off of.. Yeah. "Sure thing, suga—? Hey!" The last word rose a fine note as her head was robbed of her hat and Rainbow plunked it on her own. She innocently smiled, wide, genuine, and AJ resisted the urge to smile back. "Cool! Thanks!" She chirruped happily, seeming to fall back into thought as she leaned back in her chair, hooves resting on the rim of the Stetson so she could twirl it around on her head.

From that point on, they lacked much conversation. There wasn't anything they could naturally talk about, and at one point Dash asked about Big Mac, who was off in Appleoosa for a break. Granny Smith was still fast asleep, but she'd taken the guest bedroom for the night after insisting the wood of her rocking chair was actually paper in disguise. She really knew how to make a pony worry in terms of her sanity. But for now, Dash and her were alone downstairs.

"Applejack, do you like me?" Was suddenly asked, and, being in her right mind, AJ initially processed it as friend-wise. "'Course ah do, sugarcube. Someone tell ya ah don't?" Looking over at her friend, Rainbow Dash wiggled her brows in return for AJ's gaze, and let silence reign and the blush on her face tell that's not at all what she was referring to. "Oh! Ooh, you mean.. Oh," Why would she ask that?.. Well, it was sorta a natural question, but still. "Oh, sheesh. What are you implyin'?" She joked, offering her friend a smile, but the other's smirk never faded. If anything, it widened, and the blush was a little deeper.

"C'mon, AJ, I really wanna know. Tell me," She sat up and fixed her expectant gaze on the farmer, who was beginning to feel like a deer in the headlights. She couldn't lie out of that one, she'd obviously be caught, so she shifted uncomfortably in her seat and forced her eyes to meet the friction of Dash's.

"W-well.. Who said that?"

The cyan mare seemed to think for a moment. "Well, the way you clopped to me was a biigg hint." AJ gulped, eyes going wide, red spilling over her face. "What makes ya think I.. Clopped to you..? Who said that?" Dash chuckled. "Don't get mad at me or anything, but I sorta heard the whole thing. I think it was the whole thing, anyway," The farmer shifted. "Why didn't ah hear ya comin' up the stairs!" "'Cause I had to fly. Hard to walk on three hooves, and I didn't want the water to spill or something, so I landed right outside your door. All of a sudden here comes this, 'Mmhm, Dashie,'" The imitation was embarrassingly similar, and it was quite erotic, to which Applejack would've hid her face with her hat. But seeing as her crush was equipped with it at the moment, she merely had to keep listening. "And that was another giant hint. I decided not to interrupt your nasty dirty fun times until you were done."

Applejack was slumped in her seat, nearly beneath the table, shame evident on her face and a sudden realization hitting her. "But.. Why did ya'll sniff my hoof!" Dash chuckled once more. "Because! The look on your face was perfect. Now answer my question. I'm not mad or anything, I just wanna know," She prompted. Applejack cast a sideways gaze at the floor, seeming to take great interest in the wooden boarding all of a sudden.

"... Ah don't have time for dating," Dash's demeanor never changed. "It just ain't my thing.. 'Sides. Since when are you into mares?" She quickly took the hat back and placed it in it's rightful spot. Rainbow retorted, "This isn't about me! Since when are you into me?" She playfully poked the farm pony in the side. "Just kidding. I'm totally hot, I know." Reaching across the table once more, the Pegasus nabbed Applejack's last pancake before standing, stretching her wings in a flex and munching up the food.

Tossing over Dash's words in her head, Applejack quietly stood, before motioning for the Pegasus to follow as she started out the back door and into the farm. Rainbow Dash quickly trotted up next to her friend, intentionally pressing against her a little, Applejack nearly stumbling aside a couple times as they walked.