Ships and Snowball Fights
*piff*
“Dangit, Rainbow! That ain’t fair!” Applejack wiped the thick snow off the back of her neck and readjusted her hat. “I said no flyin’!”
Rainbow Dash laughed as she zipped back to Pinkie and her snow fort, hovering in midair behind a hoof-made cloud. “All’s fair in ships and snowball fights, AJ!”
Applejack cocked a brow as she turned back around to face her opponents. “‘Ships’?”
Her train of thought derailed when she got hit again, this time in the face. “Yeah! Can’t turn your back, Jack!” Pinkie cried.
“Consarnit, you two’re gonna get it but good!” She bucked the tree beside her, causing all the snow to fall off and reinforce her own snow pile, ignoring the approaching sound of crunching snow behind her as she began creating more snowballs of her own.
“They couldn’t have waited until after all of the students left for break before starting these shenanigans?” Rarity asked Fluttershy with a sigh, shaking her head.
“Well, it’s our break, too,” Fluttershy responded. ”Don’t we have a right to have fun?”
Rolling her eyes, Rarity replied, “Perhaps, but I would think it would be wise to act professionally while our students are still on campus. We’re supposed to be setting an example, not encouraging them to behave like ruffians.”
“Oh, lighten up,” she heard a voice say as it zipped by, her mane going along with it and freezing in midair like an icicle.
Rarity scowled as she turned toward the rainbow blur and shook a hoof. “Rainbow Dash! Would you please watch where you’re—”
“Woah! Heads up!”
Rarity’s head whipped in the direction of the voice, and her eyes widened before her face was struck by a snowball. A moment later, Fluttershy stepped back as she growled, wiping the snow off and brushing her mane back down into its usual curls.
“Sorry ‘bout that, sugarcube.” Applejack walked up to her and brushed some excess snow off her shoulder, then glared in indignation at Rainbow Dash, who sat on a cloud above them, laughing. “Just tryin’a give that filly what for, that no-good cheatin’ wise-a—”
“Applejack, please, language,” Rarity interrupted her, shaking her head. “Our students haven’t left yet.”
The farmpony looked around and cocked a brow. “But none’a them are—nevermind. You’re right.”
Rarity nodded in approval. “Thank you.”
Chuckling as she looked between her two friends, Applejack asked, “Y’all wanna join us? Just me against botha those tricksters ain’t exactly fair.”
Rubbing a foreleg, Fluttershy answered, “Umm… not really. I need to go feed Angel; he gets angry when he doesn’t get his afternoon snack on time.”
“Don’tcha worry none, sugarcube, I ain’t gonna press ya. F’ya gotta go, ya gotta go. Just stay warm, ya hear?”
Tossing one end of the teal scarf she was wearing back around her neck, Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, I will, thank you. You too. And you too, Rarity.” With that, she turned to head back to her cottage.
“You as well, darling.” When Fluttershy was out of earshot, Rarity rolled her eyes. “I swear, that little deviant has her wrapped around his paw.”
With a shrug, Applejack responded, “Well, nothin’ we can do about that.” She stared up at the cloud where Rainbow Dash had landed, but found it had disappeared. Looking back across the schoolyard, she found her target and her cohort giggling behind their own cover. Turning back to Rarity, she asked, “How ‘bout you? Wanna gimme a hoof?”
Rarity deadpanned at her. “Please, darling, a Lady never instigates a battle. Besides, I do have work to do. I have an order to finish for your friend, Coloratura. It’s a lovely design, too.” Her eyes suddenly widened and she put a hoof to her muzzle.
“Rara asked for a dress? Huh. Guess she has another performance comin’ up.” Then Applejack’s expression fell. “And she didn’t invite us? That’s a—”
“Actually, darling—” Rarity interrupted her with a grimace. “She intends to come and pick the dress up herself; she wanted to come surprise everypony and give us all personal invitations as a Hearth’s Warming gift. I was supposed to keep all of this a secret, but it appears the cat is out of the bag.”
The smile jumped right back onto Applejack’s muzzle. “Now that’s more like it!” She chuckled, then gently clapped a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “I’ll be sure to act surprised when she gets here. And I won’t tell none’a the others, neither.”
“Thank you, Applejack,” Rarity sighed. “I’m just glad I didn’t Pinkie Promise,” she added with a whisper.
*piff*
“WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT A PINKIE PROMISE?”
Rarity shook her head as she wiped the snow from her face again. She found Pinkie standing beside Rainbow Dash, staring at her from over the top of their snow fort.
Pinkie’s usually intimidating stare did nothing compared to the shade of deep red that rapidly moved up Rarity’s face before steam came out of her ears.
“HOW DARE YOU!”
Jumping behind Applejack’s cover, Rarity lit her horn and picked up a massive mound of snow, systematically breaking it into chunks as she created perfectly spherical, tightly packed balls, then stacking them into a pyramid. Applejack laughed as she hopped behind the wall beside her.
“I thought ‘a Lady didn’t instigate a battle.’”
Rarity turned and looked at her, her eyebrows furrowed so low they were touching. “Oh no, a Lady does not instigate a battle. But she most certainly will not hesitate to finish one!” With that, she picked up four snowballs in her aura and hurled them across the schoolyard at her newly deemed opponents. “PREPARE TO MEET YOUR MAKERS!”
“Haha alright, now it’s a fair fight.” Applejack grabbed a snowball from the stack and threw it over her wall, sneaking a peek to see if her aim was true. A moment later, she saw snowballs attack Rainbow and Pinkie from behind them. Their faces flew into the wall of their fort from the impact.
Rainbow Dash glanced behind her and found nothing, but easily figured out what had happened. “Hey! No magic from behind! That’s not fair!”
With a manic grin, Rarity called back, “ALL’S FAIR IN SHIPS AND SNOWBALL FIGHTS, RAINBOW DASH!” She ducked back down, then gathered more snow and created more ammunition to add to the stack.
Cocking a brow, Applejack turned to Rarity and asked, “Wait, what does that mean?”
Rarity sighed, then looked at Applejack with an utterly neutral expression. “Love and war, darling. Love and war.” She then poked her head back up over the wall and threw another five snowballs. “YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE MY WRATH!”
Applejack chuckled as she shook her head. “Yeah, guess I’d call ‘er a fair lady.”
Author's Note
As mentioned in the story description, this was written for Shortmane for Jinglemas 2019; Applejack and Rarity were the character prompts. It was meant to just be short and cute— I'm not really that great with Rarijack. 
