"Remind me again why we're out here, AJ?" Rainbow Dash groaned, flicking a twig that had become caught in her mane away from her eyes. "This stupid bush is messing up all my feathers."

The two mares sat huddled together in a large mound of vegetation right across the yard from the barn of Sweet Apple Acres. It was dark, long past dusk, but in the clear night, the whole place was bathed in a blue sheet of sparkling luna light. The farm was quiet except for the hooting of an owl and the odd buzzing of some nocturnal insects. Or at least it would have been quiet if not for the rustling and grunting as Rainbow squirmed, snapping twigs and flapping her wings. Her struggle casing their limbs and flanks to bump more than once.

"Will ya' just be quiet, Rainbow. We ain't goin' to get nowhere if ya' keep bein' so loud," Applejack snapped, her voice low.

"Are you serious, AJ? I'm a pegasus, I'm not supposed to be all crammed up hiding in a bush like this. What in Equestria do you think we're even going to see?" Rainbow retorted, her rear hitting the floor as she kicked at the thicket trying to wrap itself around her forehooves.

Applejack tensed at the contact of Rainbow's hooves against her side and butt, then rolled her eyes as she sighed. "Ah told ya', some no good critter stole some apples from the barn the other night and we're gonna find out what it is," she explained again.

"Yeah, I remember that part, but why do I have to be here? This sucks," Rainbow grumbled, ruffling her mane.

Applejack reached out to stop the pegasus's motions before she could alert the whole farm, instantly making the cyan mare blush. "'Cause Big Mac worked himself ta' exhaustion harvestin' them apples this year even with mah help. He's sick with heatstroke again an' how many of the other gal's ya' really think I could ask ta wait out here all night with meh?"

"Okay, okay, I see your point. Still, if it were up to me I'd just lay some traps down and go home," Rainbow suggested, flicking away Applejack's hoof as she tried to cover her reddened face.

The farm pony bristled. "Ah already tried that, didn't catch nothin'. Whatever's gettin' in there is either avoidin' em, or too big." Rainbow went from embarrassment to skepticism, and Applejack smirked. "Of course, if ya'll are scared ya' can leave at any time."

"Ha, who say's I'm scared? I've been out here in your orchard at night plenty of times, no way I'd be scared," Rainbow boasted, puffing up, only for more bush to tangle in her coat and mane. "I'm just board out of my mind and getting fed up with these stupid twigs in my face!"

That last batch of branches scratching at her head had been the last straw, and with a heavy sweep of her hooves, Rainbow tore the vegetation away and stood up, head emerging from the tattered bush.

"Rainbow, will ya' get back down here, every critter on the farm is gonna know we're in here at this rate!" Applejack exclaimed as she shot up after Rainbow, leaves, and mosses caught in her mane and hat as she emerged beside the prismatic pegasus.

"No, I'm not sitting cooped up in there anymore. If we're going to do this then we do it my way," Rainbow declared, fighting to kick her way out of the bush.

"No, ya' just wait there a minute, Rainbow!" Applejack called after her, before wrapping her forehooves around Rainbows neck and holding her back.

The winged mare went stiff for a second, looking back at her friend ins surprise. "Let go, AJ. I'll just fly in there and swoop up whatever it is eating your apples, it's not hard," she retorted, but Applejack didn't relent.

"That's not how ya' catch critters, Rainbow, we need ta be... Whow!" Before Applejack could finish the tangling of hooves, twigs, and roots under them went taught, snagging their limbs.

There was a rustle, a yelp and finally a grunt as the pair fell forward into the yard, scattering dust as they landed muzzle to muzzle with one another. The two looked into each other's eyes for a split second, blushed, and then went to looking at anything else.

"By Celestia, I should be at home," Rainbow Dash groaned as she pressed a hoof to her face as she pushed Applejack off and rolled onto her back, wings, and hooves outstretched.

"Happy now? Like ah said, feel free ta leave at any time," Applejack retorted, staggering to her hooves and shaking herself off.

Rainbow Dash rolled over again, lifting a hoof to the orange mare and opened her mouth to protest. Yet before she could a loud clatter sounded from behind the barn doors just ahead of them. The pair looked at the red building, ears perked. Then they glanced at each other before Rainbow finally stood up and shook herself off.

"See, I bet whatever we're looking for is in there right now, and you wouldn't have even known if we stayed in that stupid bush?" Rainbow stated before she began trotting towards the barn.

"Ah'd have known full well what it was if ya' just stuck ta mah plan. Now, wait here ya' have no idea what's in there," Applejack protested, marching after her.

"Yeah, but let's be honest, AJ. You wouldn't have asked me out here if you didn't want at least a little of my input, right?" Rainbow said, grinning back at the orange mare as she leaned against the barn door, swinging it slightly.

Applejack recoiled, flustered. "Ah've been perfectly honest thank ya' very much. But fine, we'll do it ya' way and ya'll can see how much ya' are wrong 'bout doin' this kinda' thing," she declared, shoving Rainbow aside and forcing one of the doors open.

The moment the gloom within was revealed she leaped forward. Rainbow darted to her side in a flash, a fierce look on her face as she scraped a hoof on the dusty ground.

"Alright you apple thief, now we got..." Rainbow began, only to stop as all the pair saw before them was an empty barn, flooded by the moonlight that pooled in from the open door. "... Got... You."

"So what were ya' sayin' about chargin' on in here, pony gal'?" Applejack mused, looking back at Rainbow and flicking the tip of her muzzle with her tail.

"Stop that!" Rainbow's stammering was cut off as she batted Applejack's tail away and darted into the middle of the barn, then to the large pile of open apple crates on the far right side. "There has to be something in here, we both heard it."

"Yeah, and then ya'll an' ya' shoutin' scared it away, told ya' this was no way to go 'bout catchin' critters," Applejack told her, trotting over and leaning against the apple crate, taking one of the red fruit and biting into it with a grin.

"Don't give me that look, AJ. If we'd have done things your way then they'd have just eaten them all and then snuck away without us even seeing anything," Rainbow pouted, then pressed her back to the crate and slid down to her haunches.

"Nope, we'd have had a far better chance seeing um' creep away if we were still outside where they couldn't see," Applejack added, munching on her apple.

Rainbow's hooves all drooped as the pegasus's frown deepened, a low, frustrated growl escaping from deep in her throat. Then she shifted one of her hooves aside and it brushed against something soggy. The mare recoiled, then looked down to see a shriveled apple in the moonlight, then another, and another, a whole host of them all around the open crates.

"Erm, AJ. You noticed all of these too, right?" she asked, glancing up at the farm pony.

"All of what, Rainbow?" she responded, looking down at the pegasus as she showed her one of the shriveled apples. At the sighed the farmer's eyes went wide. "Wait a minute, that can't... That looks like..."

Before she could finish there was another loud clatter in the shadows on the far side of the barn, then a dark shape exploded out from the gloom and dashed up to the open hatch above the door. It cast a long shadow down over the barn as it rested in the pale blue glow, and both mares shot to their hooves.

"What in Equestria is that?" Rainbow exclaimed as two leathery wings fanned out either side of the shadow. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is?"

"Ah ain't saying what ya'll are thinkin' ‘bout, but ya' may be right," Applejack added.

The winged equine shape in the moonlight took off, vanishing back beyond the barn and disappearing into the shadows of the night. It dropped a trail of squashed apple cores in its wake as the two mares galloped to the doors and looked out into the night.

"Horseapples, it's gone. How in Equestria is this happening again?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, as Applejack looked down and picked up one of the apples.

"Ah have no idea, but ah think ah know where we're gonna have ta go ta find out," the orange mare observed as she rolled the apple in her hooves.

The pair looked at one another, before uttering in union. "Fluttershy's."

********

"You know, Flutterbat or not, when I got out of that last bush I didn't expect you to be dragging me into another one so soon," Rainbow groaned as the pair of them sat flank to flank in the foliage just outside of their friend's cottage. "And you're taking up all the room in here too!"

"Ya' really still gonna complain about that?" Applejack, trying not to think too much about Rainbow Dash rubbing up against her as she fidgeted.

"What? It's annoying, I hate sneaking around and this stuff is so uncomfortable," Rainbow spat, literally spitting out leaves with her words.

"By Celestia, ya' statin' ta sound like Rarity, now come on the kitchen window is open an' the lights are out, she must have gone inside," Applejack responded, drawing a glare from Rainbow.

"Oh, so now you're using my tactic of going straight in, hur? I'd have thought hanging posters up or something would be more your style," Rainbow made hanging motions with her hooves as she whispered. "Have you seen this mare, Flutterbat, caught red-hoofed."

"Will ya' just be quiet for a darn second," Applejack snapped, placing a hoof over Rainbow's mouth as the pair of them pressed up under the window.

Rainbow looked down at the hoof in surprise, then spat it out with a snort. "What is it now, you not just going in there?"

There was the sound of movement from inside, the slight flutter of leathery wings and the clopping of hooves on wood. Then the creek of a door as Applejack slowly looked up over the window ledge and into the kitchen.

"Ah think she's gone upstairs, now we go in," the farm pony stated as Rainbow squeezed her way in to look too.

"By Celestia, AJ this isn't some kind of secret mission or something. It's just Fluttershy, batty or not I can totally take her on," Rainbow boasted as Applejack heaved herself up onto the window ledge, almost slipping back down on the pegasus.

Rainbow recoiled as Applejack's plot nearly collided with her face, before pushing the mare up with her forehooves. The farm pony on the other hoof winced at the contact of Rainbow's hooves against her rear. Then after an awkward second, she glanced back down at the pegasus.

"Oh yeah, and then what? Ya' just gonna sit on her, ya' ego sure is heavy enough," the orange mare shot with a chuckle.

"What! No, I'd take her to Twilight and get it fixed like last time. What were you going to do, just use the weight of your fat plot?" Rainbow snapped back, flying into the kitchen as Applejack sighed.

"Strong words coming from somepony who looks at it all the time," Applejack teased as she fell down and booted Rainbow aside with her rump.

The pegasus blushed, wings fidgeting. "I do not look at your butt all the time... It's just hard not to see... You know... Big and all..."

"Ya' keep tellin’ yourself that, Sugarcube. Ya' just had your hooves all over it, ya'll come out to somepony someday," Applejack snickered and Rainbow frowned.

"If this is some kind of payback for me apparently messing all your stupid plans up, then it's really not the time... Besides, you're not the only mare I can look at..." Rainbow spat out her tongue.

Then there was a clattering of hoof steps above and Rainbow stopped before both mares glanced up. "She's definitely up there," Applejack observed, creeping out into the main room of the cottage.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Rainbow asked, before moving to bolt up the stairs, only for Applejack to grab her tail and yank her back. "What is it now?" she whined.

"We go bargin' on in there an' she'll just take off through another window like nopony's business. We have ta get the drop on her then ya' can do ya' thang," Applejack explained.

"Hardly, even if she gets out of a window I can just fly after her. I'm way faster than Fluttershy," Rainbow admitted, pressing a hoof to her chest and flexing her wings.

Applejack watched the strong limbs rise and fall, then shook her head. "Yeah, an' then we get right back ta the question of what ya'll are going to do with her?" she went on as she trotted towards the stars and began to creep upwards.

"Oh, I see how it is. Admit it, AJ, you don't want me to go, you want me to stay right here with you," Rainbow cooed and Applejack grunted.

"Ah never said nothin' like that. Not that ah'm sayin' ah don't like ya' around or nothin' but... Rainbow, just focus on what we're doing here," Applejack chastised as Rainbow snickered behind her.

"Not until you admit that you don't want me to go, I'm just too awesome to lose," Rainbow pressed as the pair reached the top of the stairs and clustered outside of Fluttershy's bedroom door.

"What, like ya' just admitted that whole thang about eyin' mah behind? Not a chance, Rainbow." The pegasus's feathers puffed as she bristled.

"What? That's not even remotely the same kind of thing...." Rainbow began, frowning as she instinctively glanced down at Applejack's rear. "Oh, I see, you think you're all better than me? Well, I can do exactly the same things you can do, AJ."

The mare marched right up to the door and despite Applejack's protest, spun around, reared up and bucked the door wide open. The door swung inward with a whoosh, rattling the whole house as curtains danced and sleeping birds flew from their nests in panic. Across from them, moonlight streamed in through the window beside Fluttershy's bed silhouetting the batty-equine figure as they clung to the rafters by their tail.

"Alright, Fluttershy, we're taking you to Twilight and going to find out what in Equestria is going on!" Rainbow declared as she charged in, Applejack leaping through the door to back her up.

Flutterbat darted away from the light and into the shadows just as there was a loud yelp from the bed. The covers were thrown up as hooves waved in the air and wings flapped. The startled face of Fluttershy met Rainbow's glare and the timid pegasus let out a small "eep". Then she flushed, covering herself.

"Fluttershy!" Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash exclaimed in union before the former began to stammer.

"But, you... You were a bat, we saw... If you're here then who's been eating all the apples!" Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash turned to the shadows to see the shape of the batpony sitting in the gloom. "What in Equestria is going on?"

"Rainbow, Applejack, what... What are you two doing here... In the middle of the night?" Fluttershy asked, shivering a little as she wrapped her sheets around her.

"We were lookin' for Ya', thought ya' were at the farm takin' apples. Ya' were a batpony again," Applejack muttered, trying to put all the pieces together.

"What? That's nonsense, I've been right here asleep and... Oh no," Fluttershy began, before trailing off.

"Hey, does anypony else wanna help me with the crazy batpony over in the corner please?" Rainbow called back.

"Why, ah' thought ya' said ya' could handle anythin', Rainbow," Applejack replied and Rainbow growled.

"Now's not the time for wit, AJ!" she called.

"Wait, everypony just calm down!" Fluttershy finally broke the tension as she called out, then shrank back before adding softly. "Please."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at her as she reached out to her bedside table and lit a candle. The light flickered over the room until it eventually revealed the source of the night's issues sitting curled up in the corner with several apples.

"Who in Equestria is he?" Both Applejack and Rainbow called out together as they laid eyes upon the dusky purple batpony.

The dark stallion opened one, sharp green eye, slitted irises shivering as they lifted from behind his deep, purple wing. He looked at the two new mares closely, as if waiting for the perfect opportunity to leap away. Behind them, Fluttershy sighed, finally getting out of and flying calmly over to the stallion.

"I guess there go the first impressions," she said as she wrapped a wing around the stallion and patted his dark blue mane.

"Fluttershy, oh thank Luna, I think I was dreaming again... There were apples, so many apples," the stallion stammered as Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanged glances.

"I know, I know, don't worry you're back here now," Fluttershy assured him, then looked at her other two friends. "Erm, I don't really know how to say this... But, girls, this is Night Bolt, he's my new coltfriend."

"He's you're what!" Rainbow Dash shouted as Applejack's bottom jaw dropped. "Fluttershy, you... You have a cold friend, and... He–he's a bat pony, but I thought you were terrified of them!"

"Now, now, Rainbow, I admit I was once a little afraid of them, yes. But I have learned that they are no different than any other pony, there's nothing to be scared of. Isn't that right, Bolty," Fluttershy stated, smiling at her coltfriend.

"Oh, of course, I couldn't hurt a fly... I... Well, I actually have a lot of problems when it comes to talking to ponies," Night Bolt added, shrinking into Fluttershy's mane and behind her wings.

"Wait just a gosh darn minute. Fluttershy, ya' have a coltfriend an' none of us knew? How'd ya' even meet him?" Applejack chimed in, as Rainbow was still caught trying to wrap her head around things.

"Well, we've only been together for just over a week. But I was going to tell you, girls. It's just, Bolty had a super hard time with ponies as a colt and he's super shy around them," Fluttershy elaborated, hugging the bat pony tightly.

"Bolty?" Rainbow asked, a crooked look dawning on her face.

Fluttershy giggled. "Hehe, yeah. He's the sweetest, most handsome pony I know. We met at one of those confidence-boosting sessions Rarity suggested to me. This one time I could only make the night session and well... He was there waiting."

"Okay, okay, I get it, you met because you're both shy... Well, I guess congratulations," Rainbow improvised, shrugging as Fluttershy beamed.

"Oh, thank you, you have no idea how much that means coming from you, Rainbow." The cyan pegasus rolled her eyes, even as she smiled.

"Don't mention it, Fluttershy," she said with a wave of her hoof.

"Yeah, congratulations an all that, ah'm happy for ya'. But that still don't change the fact that he was out there stealin' mah apples," Applejack added, pointing a hoof at Night Bolt.

The stallion sank a little further into Fluttershy as the gentle mare shushed him, then she looked at Applejack apologetically.

"That may be my fault Applejack, sorry. Bolty has been spending all of his days awake with me, so he's been having some issues with sleep flying. I really shouldn't have told him how good your apples were," Fluttershy admitted and the stallion nodded weakly.

"You were not wrong though, they tasted so good even when I was sleeping," Night Bolt added and Applejack sighed, relaxing.

"Well, when ya' put it that way ah suppose there ain't no real harm done. Just please let meh know next time, Fluttershy," Applejack relented.

"Of course, Applejack, I'm sorry things had to be this way," Fluttershy responded, then nudged her coltfriend. "You got anything to add, Bolty?"

The stallion perked up, his eyes trembling as he fought to keep them fixed on Applejack's for just a second. "Sorry, miss farm pony. I didn't mean any harm."

"Ain't no need to apologize, Sugarcube. Just had meh worried that's all," Applejack assured them as the couple looked at one another.

"Awww, he's so handsome and polite, isn't he? He just makes me feel so good about things," Fluttershy cooed, brushing a hoof under his chin.

"Not as good as you make me feel about myself, my Fluttershy," the stallion said back, seeming to melt in her embrace, before kissing her lightly.

"Awww, so sweet. Hehe, you really are so cute," Fluttershy blushed, before kissing him back. Then the two went from dreamily staring at each other to full blown making out.

"Whow, that's not something I thought I'd ever see, " Rainbow Dash confessed as she recoiled, blushing hard.

"Hey, respect ya' friend, Rainbow. Ya' should be happy for her," Applejack scolded, even as she too grew redder. "Still, ah think we're done here for tonight, we'll just leave ya'll... Alone, together."

With that, she backed up right to the door, and as the sound of kissing grew Rainbow was swift to follow. "Hey, don't you even think about leaving me here, AJ!"

*******

As the moon slowly sailed its way across the starry ocean above the two mares sat on the bank of the river across from Fluttershy's garden. Neither said a word to one another for several minutes before Rainbow finally broke the silence with a cough.

"So, nice night, hur?" she asked, kicking her rear hooves back and forth.

"An eventful night more like, ah didn't expect to be dragged all the way out here or for... Well, Fluttershy to have a coltfriend," Applejack responded.

"I know right? I was expecting us to parge in there to find her with a hoof-full of apples! The last thing I was expecting was well... That!" Rainbow exclaimed, waving a hoof in the air. "Fluttershy is in a relationship, and before any of us! By Celestia, I had all my bits on Rarity," Rainbow laughed, prompting a chuckle from Applejack.

"Haha, ya'll and me both, pony gal'," the farm pony responded, kicking a pebble into the river.

"Can't believe we thought she was a bat again, I mean how crazy would that have been? Flutterbat? More like this whole night just driving us Flutterbatty." Rainbow pressed her forehooves to her head. "Still, was pretty heated in there, kinda... You know, hot watching them make out and all that. She must really have stiff wings for that guy," Rainbow added and Applejack shot her a look.

"Ya' being serious? That's Fluttershy's privacy ya'll are talkin' 'bout there," she stated, but one look at Rainbow Dash's casual expression and she sighed. "Yeah alright, it was pretty hot, but that ain't nothin' to go thinkin' 'bout."

"Yeah, I guess. Kinda makes me want somepony to do the same with me though." Rainbow looked up at the night as she sat there. "Hey, AJ? You know those things, you said about my ego, you didn't really mean them, right?"

"Ah meant every word of it, an' that stuff 'bout mah butt too. Not that ah can say ah mind too much," Applejack responded, and Rainbow blushed, her wings twitching. "Why? What about ya' flyin' off on me? I know you'd do that."

"Yeah, I totally would, but I'd always come back," Rainbow responded with a shrug, then scratched behind her left ear as Applejack's eyes sank under the brim of her hat.

"Say, AJ... This is gonna sound really weird, but after tonight..." Rainbow began, now rubbing the back of her neck and mane.

"Yeah, Rainbow?" Applejack leaned towards the pegasus.

"Well... Do you just wanna make out, like right now?" she blurted, inching forwards as Applejack responded.

"Oh, pony gal', ah thought ya'd never ask."

Author's Note

Just a little story I put together because I've not released one in a while. This started off as an idea then turned into something else as you can probably see. In the end, it's just a little fun really.

Regardless, thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed the story!