"So..." Applejack said.
"So..." Rainbow Dash mirrored.
The two mares stared into each others' eyes, faces determined, yet also looking somewhat smug and smirky today.
"Yer gonna have ta do it sooner or later, Sugarcube."
Rainbow chuckled.
"Not likely, AJ. You're the one who's going first!"
"Them's big words, Rainbow. But ah reckon ya can't back em up!"
Rainbow's eyes narrowed further.
"There's no escaping it, Apples. You wanna kiss me!"
"Eyup. An' y'all wanna kiss me!"
"Yep," Rainbow agreed.
"Yer the one who's gonna move first!"
"What, and give you the satisfaction of having me come to you? No way, farm-girl!"
"Well...ah ain't movin'!" Applejack declared.
"Me neither!" Rainbow added.
So, the two just continued staring at each other, never even blinking because of how focused they were on their opposite number. Then, into this fray walked Spike. Why he was here or what he was doing, nobody could say, but now he found himself standing to the aside and just watching the two mares. He looked to Applejack, then to Rainbow, then finally just asked the obvious question.
"So...what's up?"
"Rainbow an' me wanna kiss each other."
"Uh-huh," Spike answered.
"Yeah! But I'm waiting for AJ to make the first move!" Rainbow continued.
"An' ah'm waitin' fer Rainbow ta make the first move!"
Spike blinked, then scratched his head.
"...Why? Does it really matter who does what first?"
"YES!!!" both mares declared simultaneously.
Spike took a step back.
"Alright! Alright! Sheesh!"
Placing his claws on his hips, the young dragon looked around, then saw a discarded deck-chair to the side. After going off to retrieve it, he returned, unfolding it and taking a seat.
"So...how long have you two just been doing this?"
"Er...about an hour, maybe?" Rainbow admitted.
Spike nodded.
"Uh-huh..."
Then, out of nowhere, Pinkie popped her head over the back of the deck-chair, much to Spike's shock.
"Gah! What the...?!"
"Hiya, Spikey! What's all this about?"
Spike, having recovered from her sudden burst onto the scene, cleared his throat, then pointed over to the two mares.
"Rainbow and Applejack want to kiss each other, but they're waiting for the other to make the first move."
Pinkie looked down to him.
"Why?"
Spike shrugged his shoulders again.
"Dunno. Probably some kind of power-politics thing I'll never really understand. Honestly, I just stopped trying to understand all the weird stuff that happens around here."
Pinkie giggled, then walked around and sat down on the ground next to him. She looked to both mares, then smiled over to Spike.
"You know, I just thought they were having some kind of reeeeeeeeeeeally intense staring contest."
The two laughed, much to Rainbow and Applejack's irritation, but they weren't annoyed enough to stop what they were doing, and shortly afterwards Rainbow broke the silence between them with a snort.
"Hehe, we both know I've got the biggest willpower here, Applejack. You'll break sooner than I will."
Applejack, who could never turn down a challenge of that nature, merely matched her friend, smirk-for-smirk.
"Never gonna happen."
Spike, looking over to Pinkie, suddenly found that the latter had inexplicably pulled out a bag of popcorn from her mane, and had begun to unceremoniously munch down on it. After a few moments, the pink mare realised she was being watched, and so offered a hoof-full of the corn to her companion.
"Want some?"
Spike, who was well aware of the fact that the offered food had come from inside her mane, politely moved the hoof away from himself.
"Er...no, thank you."
Pinkie, unbothered by this as always, shrugged, then munched down yet again. And as she did this, Rarity and Fluttershy arrived.
"Um...what are those two doing?" Fluttershy asked.
Spike turned to try and answer, only to be beaten to the punch by Rarity who, with her far greater knowledge of the ways of romance, began to explain.
"Why, it's simply a matter of subtle relationship positions. The one who moves first and makes the first kiss may be thought of as the dominant, but in reality it's the other way around. You see, if the other party allows the kiss to happen, then they are the ones who really have the power in the relationship."
They all looked to her, save for Rainbow and Applejack of course, and Spike soon scratched his head in confusion.
"Er...is that how that works? That doesn't sound right."
Rarity, gaining a small blush, cleared her throat in a somewhat nervous manner.
"Well...I may have read about it in a magazine a week or two ago."
She then went on the defensive.
"Which is absolutely a legitimate way of learning more about these things!"
The others, knowing how she could be in moments like this, were not willing to challenge her, and instead just got back to watching the other two. They had no idea how long they'd just stand there like that, but what they did know was that the pair was as stubborn as they came, and so it was unlikely that they'd budge anytime soon. Yet the two in question almost seemed to revel in this.
"You know, it's kinda awesome. No other pony is gonna hold out this long. Just us."
Applejack chortled.
"Eyup. An' people actually wonder why we like each other!"
They shared a laugh, but the moment was short-lived, for just then, Twilight suddenly appeared out of nowhere through one of her famous teleportation spells. Unfortunately, this spell just so happened to take place right behind Applejack, and as their alicorn friend materialised in that way, she bellowed loudly.
"EUREKA!!!"
This sudden appearance caused Applejack to, with great shock, jolt forward. Now, any of the others who were watching this knew, in their hearts, what was going to happen next, yet seeing it was no less of a spectacle. Applejack, in doing what she'd done, moved forward just enough so that her lips were now inadvertently pressing against Rainbow's. The kiss had happened. Then, just as quickly, it ended with Applejack immediately pulling back from her feathered friend. She spun around, glaring angrily at Twilight.
"TWILIGHT!!!"
Twilight, taken aback by her earth pony friend, nervously smiled and held up a parchment she'd been carrying.
"I...er...finished the new curriculum for the next school year?"
Applejack slapped her own forehead, then looked back to Rainbow who, as anyone who knew her could have predicted, was looking very smug about this.
"You...kissed me," she declared.
Applejack frowned and pointed to her.
"That didn't count!"
But it was too late, as Rainbow was already in her "victory mood" which she expectedly gloated about.
"Haha! Rainbow Dash is the winner! Guess I'm just that irresistible!"
Applejack groaned.
"Ah'm gonna be hearin' this fer days, aren't I?"
Twilight, who looked from Applejack to her collection of rather amused-looking other friends, soon blinked a couple of times before finally just coming out and declaring her position in all of this.
"Okay...what am I missing here?"
