Blue Acres

Rainbow Dash lay upon a cloud, stomach down, her wings were stretched out to soak up as much of the sun’s warmth as possible. The nice thing about days like these, where there wasn’t much work, is that you could send your crew to do it while you get a well deserved nap. It was good to be the captain.

“Captain Dash, ma’am?”

Can’t a mare take a nap in peace?

Dash opened her eyes to get a look the one interrupting her sleep. The pegasus had a dark blue coat as well as a dark purple and black mane that as held out of her face by a plastic headband..

Great, the new filly.

She was a fresh recruit, but she did live up to her name and weather based cutie mark. It was nice having someone around that didn't need a lot of supervision but she also had the habit of getting a bit over excited. Dash could still remember the squee of joy she gave over Dash's sonic rainboom, among other things.

“Storm Chaser, what is it?”

“I just wanted to report that we finished the morning rain session and cleared the sky. Is there anything else you want us to do today or is that it?”

Dash yawned and sat up. “Why? You in a rush or something?”

“Yep,” replied Storm Chaser with a cheerful tone. “Miss Rarity has been really busy the last couple weeks, but today she’s finally open for new custumers again. I need a new cloak and I want to get to her quickly before she gets swarmed with new work. I’m just really excited because everything she makes is so beautiful.”

Rainbow shuddered as she remembered that Celestia awful thing Rarity tried to make her wear before the parasprites attacked the town. Not everything. She dismissively waved of her hoof, shooing the pegasus away. “Fine. Go on and get your new cloak thing.”

Storm Chaser, completely oblivious to Rainbow’s lack of interest, swooped in and hugged Dash. “You are the coolest boss ever.”

Rainbow just grinned. Of course I’m the coolest boss. Who else could be as cool as me? Well, ok, maybe Spitfire, but besides her it’s no contest. Storm finally let go of her. “Yes, I know I am. Now go before she starts going insane again from all the work.” Storm saluted her and took off.

Now, where was I? She lay back down and closed her eyes, just in time to hear a rickety old cart passing below her. “Horseapples,” she mumbled. She punched a hole through the cloud looked around for a bit.

The one main drawback when it came to sleeping on a cloud was that it moved. She had originally put it over an empty field, where she could get some peace and quiet, but the breeze had other ideas. Now the cloud hovered over the long dirt path between Sweet Apple Acres and the town. Ponies have often asked Dash why she slept in trees instead of always on a cloud; well, this is why.

The cart was being pulled by one stallion, while another walked along side it. The first one to catch Rainbow’s attention was the large red one, Big Macintosh. He was always pretty nice to her. One time while she was trying to perfect her Buccaneer Blaze move, she crashed on the edge of the farm and sprained one of her ankles as well as her left wing. He must have heard the crash, since he was on the scene pretty quickly. Big Mac gently loaded her onto his back and carried her all the way to Nurse Redheart, making sure to go slow and avoid any bumps along the way.

The other one was smaller and slightly effeminate looking. It was Caramel, a tan coated stallion with a brown tail. Rainbow knew that he occasionally worked for Apple family farm, usually with minor jobs that AJ and Big Mac were too busy to do. A memory from her trip to Apploosa popped up in her mind. There was a mare there that looked eerily similar to Caramel, including having the same cutie mark. Must have a sister or something.

Just as they passed directly below her, the left wheel hit a rock, cracked, and then fell off. She saw Big Mac just sit down and stare at Caramel. “Well, I did only say that it would probably make it through the delivery and back.” Caramel nervously rubbed his front hooves together. “I was almost right.”

Big Mac just sighed and undid his harness. “Ah don’t blame you. This cart has been needing a new axle and wheels for a while now.” He grabbed the wheel and tossed it on the back of the cart. “Ah have an idea. Caramel, strap yourself into the harness.”

As Caramel bent down to pick up the harness, Big Mac began to focus onto the brown colt's flank. His eyes lingered there for a few moments before he finally turned away.

Wait, what? Rainbow Dash shot back up to a sitting position. Did he just do what I think he did? Nah. AJ would have told me if Big Mac was a coltcuddler. We've known each other for years, there's no way she could have hid it from me for that long.

After looking back down, she saw Big Mac holding up the back corner of the cart while Caramel pulled it. She shrugged her shoulders and lay back down, which was followed by a lot of tossing and turning. “Screw it.”

Deciding that since she had nothing better to do, she bucked the cloud and took off towards the town.

****

The midday market was alive with activity. Nearly the whole town was there busying themselves with errands and shopping. Storm was leaving Rarity’s boutique, with a big smiled across her face. Rose had her flower stand set up around the middle. On the other side of the market, Dash spotted AJ at her stall. She gracefully floated down to the apple stand.

The country mare tipped her hat at Rainbow. “Howdy Rainbow, what can Ah do for ya?”

“I’ll just take an apple. One of the granny smith ones.” She placed a couple bits on the cart and AJ put the fruit in front of her. “Hey Applejack, I got a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Has Big Mac ever had a fillyfriend?”

Applejack placed her hoof to her chin and thought about for a moment. “You know, now that Ah think about it, no he hasn’t. Why do ya ask? Wait no, I get it.” She chuckled.

Rainbow cocked her head to the side. “Get what?”

“Now Rainbow, you don’t have to lie to me. I know how he helped ya the other week, so Ah can’t say this surprises me. You got a thing for him. I think ya’ll make for a fine couple and I’d be happy to have you in the Apple Clan. It'll be nice to have a mare that actually has the guts to ask him out, rather than trying to get me to set them up.”

“What?” Rainbow was frozen in place. She couldn't believe that Applejack would really think that. “Trust me Applejack, I don’t have a thing for your brother.”

“If you say so.”

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Nope.”

"Whatever." Dash grunted, grabbed her apple and took off for home.

****

Dash had just finished her apple and sat down on her couch. She admitted to herself that if she were to ever try dating a colt again, it would probably be Big Mac. However, for the most part, her interest lay with mares.

She continued to think over what she saw earlier in the day. Is Big Macintosh a coltcuddler? It would explain why he's never dated anyone. Either way, it seemed obvious that AJ didn’t know and if AJ didn’t know, then he hadn’t told anyone yet.

Dash knew from firsthoof experience that being in the closet sucked. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted one of her comics. On the cover were two stallions staring at one another. The one on the right was mostly obscured by a large black cape and a mask with pointy ears covered his head. On the left was a pure white stallion with a green mane, a face covered with clown makeup and a blue flower with a knife coming out of it for a cutie mark.

What would Batcolt do to figure this out?