Silly Little Things
The world of Equestria is full of silly little things. These are things that ponies see every day; be it a flash of pink leaping off of a rooftop, a mailmare that can’t fly straight, Equestria’s fastest flier consistently crashing into wagons, and an earth pony preening said pegasus. Yes, Equestria is full of little things that either offer no explanation or simply needed none. So it was that when Apple Bloom claimed to see her sister preening Rainbow Dash, very few eyebrows were raised at all.
It was a wonderful day in Equestria, as it was prone to being. The sun was at its peak, there was nary a cloud to be seen, and the trees seemed to welcome their bucking, offering no resistance whatsoever to Applejack’s hooves. It was a day full of chores and of work, but if Applejack was going to be honest with herself, she had to admit that it was a pretty good day to be a farm pony. She’d take a hot day of work over a cold day of rest every time, there was no point in letting a good day of sun and breeze go to waste. Of course, good days such as those were often interrupted by her marefriend, whether it be by dangerous stunts through her orchard or simply finding a place to nap in one of the trees she decided to buck.
She would really have to watch out for any signs of rainbow colored tails hanging off of the higher branches, she didn’t want a repeat of that time she wound up bucking Rainbow straight to the hospital. Though, a smarter pony would have taken that as a sign to stop sleeping in her trees.
Wiping a line of sweat from her brow, Applejack turned towards the tree she had just bucked and picked up the baskets full of apples on the ground next to it. Slinging them over her back, the mare turned and began trotting towards the barn, eager to dump the load and finish the row before lunch. If she stuck with her pace, she’d be done the day’s work early enough that she’d be able to enjoy dinner with Rainbow Dash, which was a thought that Applejack sorely enjoyed.
As she got closer to the farm proper, her ears twitched upon the sound of familiar voices. Mistaking that scratchy voice would have been difficult for even Granny Smith.
“Stupid wind, making me- Oww! Watch it, kid!” came the irritated voice of Rainbow Dash.
“Sorry, Rainbow. But ya did kinda crash into our wagon,” replied Apple Bloom, apologetic and seemingly on the verge of laughter.
“Yeah, yeah. Just be gentle with my wings, they’re all locked up.”
Applejack came into the clearing in front of the barn only to see Rainbow climbing to her hooves after apparently having been trapped under the Cutie Mark Crusader’s newly built wagon. Since the wagon was filly sized, she wasn’t entirely sure how her marefriend had managed to get trapped under it in the first place, but she had seen Rainbow get herself into far more impressive and impossible situations than that. Still, the farm mare couldn’t help but scoff and shake her head as she made her way to the stiff-winged pegasus.
“What’d ya do this time, Rainbow?” Applejack asked as she crossed the distance between them, stopping a few paces in front of her with a small grin on her muzzle.
Rainbow Dash took notice of her marefriend and turned, giving a sheepish grin as she rubbed one of her forehooves with the other, “Uhhh, hey AJ. Nothing important! I might have, sort have, kind of… Gotten distracted? And then crashed?” she spoke, quite unconvincingly, but bless her heart for trying.
Scootaloo, now hooking her scooter up to the front of the wagon, chose that moment to pipe up, “It was awesome! Rainbow was doing this cool trick above the barn, but then she got distracted and wound up crashing into our wagon. Nothing’s broken, though!” the filly exclaimed, beaming as though the crash was still the coolest thing she had seen all day.
Applejack chuckled and closed the distance between herself and Rainbow, giving her lover a kiss on the cheek before putting on a stern face, “If ya keep this up, I’m gonna have’ta keep ya grounded until ya learn to fly straight,” the farm pony threatened, barely containing the grin that threatened to break out onto her muzzle.
The blush on Rainbow’s cheek was entirely worth it, however. The pegasus stammered for a few moments before she managed to pull together a coherent string of words, “Uhhh… Don’t worry! Hehe...heh. I’ll be more careful!” she exclaimed, at least trying to be convincing as she willed the blush to leave her cheeks.
Shaking her head, Applejack finally broke out into the grin that had threatened her lips earlier. Turning to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders climbing into their wagon, she gestured with a hoof, “If y’all are headin’ out, don’t go too fast. Ya don’t wanna wind up with a flipped wagon in the middle of town.”
“Don’t worry, Applejack. We’ll be careful!” peeped Sweetie Bell from the back of the wagon, settling in for the ride.
“Pfft! Careful isn’t a word in my dictionary. I’ll get us all back in one piece, though,” Scootaloo replied over her shoulder at the other fillies, the same daring grin on her muzzle that Rainbow Dash so often wore. Those two were so similar, it really was hard to tell that they weren’t related.
Pulling out in her scooter with the wagon in tow, the Cutie Mark Crusaders blazed down the farm path towards Ponyville, and likely towards their next disaster. Celestia help whatever pony tried to handle them for the next few hours.
Turning her attention back to Rainbow Dash, Applejack eyed her wings with scrutiny, unimpressed with the state of them. The feathers were all jutting out in the wrong angles, bits of feather were broken or matted, there were even a few splinters stuck between the feathers. But luckily, nothing seemed to be terribly damaged or irreparable. Of course, if left to her own devices, Rainbow’s wings would always look like that. She treated her wings about the same way that she treated her room; which is to say that she barely ever put any care into keeping them tidy.
Shaking her head with a dramatic sigh, Applejack gestured towards the barn with a hoof, “Come on, I’ll drop off this load and then I’ll get yer wings fixed up,” she said as she began to make her way to the barn.
Rainbow Dash followed after her, quite used to this routine. She’d often crash somewhere on the farm, or just show up after a day of flying, and then Applejack would take her to her room or to the barn and then preen her wings for her. It saved Rainbow from having to do something that she despised so much, and it also felt amazing when it came from the pony that she loved so much. The thought put an extra bounce in her step as she followed the farm pony.
Once inside the barn, Applejack set down the baskets of apples with a pile of other baskets and then turned to face Rainbow with a small smile. They never had very much time together, Rainbow was always off practicing or doing weather work, and she was always off managing the farm. They spent the nights together on the farm, but spending time together during the day always felt more special for some reason.
Nodding at Rainbow to sit down, Applejack trotted over and sat down behind her marefriend, examining her locked wings. She wasn’t a pegasus, she never knew how to preen before she started dating Rainbow Dash. She wouldn’t claim that she was the best at it, or really even understood how it felt good, but she knew that her marefriend enjoyed it, and that was enough reason for her to try her hardest.
Leaning in slowly, Applejack began at the base of Rainbow’s wings, planting gentle kisses on the joints of her back. Her soft kisses elected a drawn out breath of contentment from Rainbow, the touch of her marefriend’s lips on the firm muscles was enough to make her relax. She felt safe with Applejack, she trusted her with her wings when she barely trusted herself with them. She usually worried about her flight capabilities getting messed up if she made a mistake while preening, but with Applejack doing it, she just felt completely at ease and relaxed.
Moving along the ridged muscles towards the wingtips, Applejack trailed light kisses up and down both wings, coaxing the tensed muscles to relax at the touch of her lips. Every pass of kisses brought another drawn out sigh from Rainbow, her back slumping a tiny bit more every time Applejack passed a particularly sore spot. While slow, the ministrations were doing wonders for Rainbow’s tensed wings, and they were gradually being brought to restfulness.
Though they were no longer locked, there was still plenty of work to do. With a final kiss to the base of the wings, Applejack began with the feathers, slowly moving over them with the thoroughness of a seasoned apple inspector. Every feather that was out of place was taken between her lips and gently pulled back into place, each one electing a small moan from Rainbow Dash as the nerves were teased by the movement of the feathers. After every gentle pull, Applejack followed up with a small kiss on the same feather before moving on to the next, a content hum pulled from her muzzle as she heard the gratifying sounds her marefriend was making.
Applejack made a few passes on each wing, moving painfully slowly so as not to miss a single feather or splinter. Each pass brought more moans of encouragement from the mare in front of her, and each pass made the mare’s wings stiffen slightly more, though from a reason entirely separate from pain that time.
On the sixth pass, Rainbow’s wings were essentially sticking straight up into the air, making it difficult for Applejack to pull at the last few feathers on the right wing. Leaning up to reach the ones on the tip, she managed to pull the stubborn feathers into their correct positions before she leaned back, satisfied with her work.
All of her marefriend’s feathers were back in conformity with the others, and while they might not have been as clean as if she had taken a shower, she was quite proud of how clean she had managed to make them.
Climbing to her feet and quickly circling to Rainbow’s front, she was met with an eager and energetic kiss. Rainbow was always like that after a preening, she was almost never that lustful. The only times that Rainbow was actually more needy was whenever Applejack tied her up, but that wasn’t the case at the moment.
Meeting each other’s lips enthusiastically, Rainbow’s tongue brushed against Applejack’s lips, practically begging for entrance. Applejack was more than willing to oblige, parting her lips ever so slightly to allow Rainbow’s tongue to enter her mouth, only to be met by her own tongue in a dance of lust and love.
Their tongues battled wetly for dominance as the two mares pushed up against one another, wrapping each other up in a lustful embrace of hooves and wings. Applejack bit down on Rainbow’s tongue after her own had decidedly lost the battle, gently nipping on her tongue before sucking on it and teasing the tip with her own tongue. The tactic seemed to work as Dash let out a low moan, pushing up against Applejack eagerly as she let the farm pony take control of her tongue.
Letting go of the wet captive after a few moments of sensual sucking, the two mares pulled their muzzles back, panting heavily against each other as their eyes opened and met, lust falling upon lust and love falling upon love. Their parting only lasted for a moment before their lips met again heatedly, their tongues readily jumping back into their quarrel for dominance and their hooves eagerly searching the body of the other. They were hardly two ponies any more, at that moment all that mattered was the infinite combat of their tongues, the heavy breathing and the gentle prodding of their hooves.
Pressing her hoof firmly against Rainbow’s chest, Applejack pushed her marefriend onto her back and straddled her eagerly, stubbornly refusing to break the kiss as they moved into a more comfortable position on the barn floor. Biting Rainbow’s lip gently and sucking on it, Applejack’s hooves found their way to the floor on either side of Rainbow’s head, effectively pinning her as they kissed.
Breaking the kiss after a few more moments, Applejack spoke softly, “Ya know, I’m gonna have’ta preen ya all over again after this. Ya got hay all over yer wings now,” she spoke, a teasing grin finding its way to her lips.
Rainbow chuckled, “Well, I don’t think that’d be too terrible,” she replied huskily, leaning in eagerly for another passionate kiss, which Applejack was more than happy to return.
“Mmm, I didn’t think it would be. Though with all of yer squirmin’, I might have’ta get some rope,” Applejack drawled around Rainbow’s lips, drawing a light shudder from the mare beneath her.
Words weren’t necessary as the two mares unleashed their passion, taking each other in embraces of love and lust. They were inseparable and they were happy to let themselves go around one another. They were two halves of one whole, and they knew each other’s bodies inside and out. It might not have been the passion of rose petals and wine, but it was their kind of passion; hot, heavy and unbridled. They wouldn’t have it any other way.
While there were many ponies who would claim to be in love, ponies who were dedicated and happy, these two felt something special. Their relationship was something honest, something loyal, and they trusted one another with absolutely everything. When anypony asked Applejack what she thought, she replied that she had simply found her soulmate. Rainbow just thought that she found somepony as awesome as herself. While they may never have gotten Rainbow’s wings completely clean that afternoon, they certainly had fun.
Yes, Equestria is full of silly little things. There is the stallion who’s obsessed with a doll, filly daredevils trying to get their cutie marks, a zebra who speaks in rhyme, and an earth pony and pegasus that are in love. Everypony knows their fair share of silly things, but they all know that it’s okay to have silly things in their life. After all, it’s the little things that can make a pony the happiest, and every pony deserves to have something silly that brightens their day.
Author's Note
Written for the "First Group Contest" in the Preening Group.
Time taken: 1 hour and 28 minutes
This is the first thing I've written in three years, feels good to be back on the figurative horse.
