Applejack heard the knock at the barn door, drawing her attention away from milking the cows.
“Who’s there?” she called, wiping her sweat-stained brow with a worn handkerchief.
“Rainbow Dash,” Dash called, pushing the door open to step inside. “Fluttershy said that you wanted to see me?”
Applejack smirked and ambled over. “Glad she managed to catch you an’ relay my message.”
“Is something the matter?” Rainbow asked, looking around. “I know things have been pretty dry lately and I’m doing my best to get some rain clouds from…”
Applejack shook her head. “Don’t you worry about that, right now. The farm is more than capable of handling a little bit of a drought.” She shook her head slowly. “No, I was actually wondering if I could ask you for a personal favour. One that isn’t weather related.”
She stepped passed Rainbow Dash, out of the darkened barn, and into the warm and sunny summer day. Shame she had to be cooped up in there for so long but the chore board cared little about such mortal ambitions as getting enough sunlight.
“What do you need?” Rainbow asked.
Applejack sighed. “Well, as you may be aware it’s me and Twilight’s third anniversary in a couple o’ weeks.”
“Huh, wasn’t aware.” Rainbow snorted, giving her eyes a pronounced roll. “Not like Rarity and Fluttershy haven’t been going on and on about it for the past week.”
Applejack chuckled. “They really are a pair of verbal social calendars, aren’t they?”
She marched over towards a waterspout, turned the knob, and splashed her face with ice cold water. Then, once the sweat was washed away, she drank greedily from it, replenishing herself for when she had to go back inside.
“No kidding.” Rainbow laughed. “I swear to the gods, I wouldn’t remember anypony’s birthday if it wasn’t for them.”
“Yet, you still end up without a gift half the time,” Applejack teased.
Rainbow fluttered beside her, flashing a cheeky grin. “Just because I get constant reminders doesn’t mean that I’m not a lazy asshole.”
“And we love you nonetheless.” Applejack sighed. “But anyways, about that favour. I was wondering if you’d be willing to…”
Rainbow nodded, her grin growing from ear to ear. “Don’t even worry about it, I’m totally willing to help you out, Applejack. You and Twilight are both…”
Applejack cocked a brow. “You don’t even know what the favour is yet, sugarcube.”
“I mean, I’m pretty good at reading between the lines.” Rainbow said, leaning against the well and grinning. “And well, you and Twilight are both really attractive mares and I’d be one hundred percent in favour of…”
Applejack sighed, her cheeks warming just a hint. “I’m not asking you to partake in a threesome, Rainbow Dash.”
This seemed to knock her friend out of her thoughts, her lips pressed tight together in a fairly steady poker face as she absently nodded to herself.
“In favour of…” Rainbow whispered, her mind truly firing on all cylinders. “In favour of… helping you with whatever you needed!” She chuckled and forced a nervous grin, pointing a wing at Applejack’s Stetson. “Have I complimented you on your hat recently. It’s a really nice hat… like really…”
Applejack shook her head. “You’re unbelievable, Rainbow Dash.” She sighed. “But what I do need your help with is something quite delicate, do you understand? I wouldn’t ask anypony else.”
Rainbow nodded. “I gotcha. So, if you’re not asking me to rock you and Twilight’s world…” She flinched away from Applejack’s suddenly frosty glare, “then, uh… what can I help you with?”
“Well, as you might’ve noticed my marefriend has wings,” Applejack said.
Rainbow snorted. “Yeah? And who do you think taught her how to fly with those bad boys?”
Applejack moved away from the well and headed towards her homestead on the horizon, motioning for Rainbow Dash to follow. Which she did.
“Exactly,” she said. “And I’ve been doing a little bit of research on, uh… the pegasus side of her affliction. And upon reading a few magazine articles, I discovered that a sign of affection between pegasi lovers is to have one of them preen the other.”
This earned a playful little moan from Rainbow. “Oh gods, you have no idea Applejack. Like there is something just so great about having somepony else preening you.” She blinked and glanced at her friend. “So, I’m guessing that you want me to teach you the ropes on that?”
“Exactly,” Applejack said. “I would’ve asked Fluttershy but, well, that certain social chitter-chatter has a way of spreading when it reaches her ears. So… I know that you would be a bit more discrete with these lessons, you get me?”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah totally, and I’m sure I could give you a pretty quick rundown on which parts to preen, which parts to avoid, that kind of stuff.”
As they approached the house, Granny noticed them, waving a hoof in their general direction. The old mare looked tough as steel, even at her age.
“And,” Applejack added, motioning at Rainbow. “I was also wondering if you’d be willing to let me practice on you. You know, preen a couple of your feathers?”
At this, Rainbow stopped dead in her tracks. And as Applejack glanced at her, she saw that her friend was blushing bright red.
“What?” Applejack asked, cocking a brow.
Rainbow cleared her throat. “I don’t know about that, Applejack. Don’t you think you’re being a little bit forward?”
This got an exaggerated eye roll from Applejack. “Oh sure, you can go about assuming I was asking for a threesome and that’s par for the course. But I have the audacity to ask if I can clean up your wings a little bit and suddenly, I’m the forward one?”
“It’s not like that,” Rainbow muttered, avoiding eye contact and looking towards the ground as she kicked at the dusty trail. “It’s just… like… a threesome is just sex. It’s fun and carefree and there’s no strings attached or anything.”
“Well I’m not exactly that kind of pony,” Applejack interjected, “I don’t rightly think I could have string-free sex.”
Rainbow nodded. “Fair but… like… okay, so preening wings is something that you do with somepony you’re really intimate with. This isn’t like a post third date kind of deal…” She rolled her hoof, searching for the right word. “Preening your partner’s wings is like something you do to your soulmate and well…”
She trotted forward and wheeled about, holding out a hoof and pressing it against Applejack’s chest, bringing her to a stop.
“And like you’re a super good friend and I love you like a sister,” Rainbow explained, “and no offense but… we’re not exactly soul mate material over here. We’re more like cousins or something. Like… would you blow your cousin?”
Applejack blushed bright red. “No! Why the hell would you…”
“Well, think of preening somepony’s wings as something like that.” Rainbow motioned with her wing. “It’s something you wouldn’t do with anypony but those you really wanted to do it with.”
“I think you might be overexaggerating a little,” Applejack murmured, brushing Rainbow aside and continuing towards her house. “I don’t see why plucking a few feathers is such a big deal. I pluck chickens all the time and it’s not like I’m fellating them or anything!”
Rainbow snorted. “Okay, well, first off, it’s nothing like plucking a chicken. You got to be gentle and have a certain amount of finesse about it. If you do it wrong, not only could you hurt Twilight, but you could also impair her ability to fly.” She shook her head and allowed herself a coy smile. “Not that I really think it could get too much worse.”
Her smirk turned suddenly sheepish as she was met by a sharp glare from Applejack.
“Well if I can’t practice on you, how exactly am I going to avoid hurting Twilight when I eventually get around to it?” Applejack asked, cocking a brow.
Rainbow shrugged. “Trial and error?”
The farmhouse drew closer and Applejack knew that their chances of getting a little privacy were rapidly coming to an end.
“Look, I’m sure that you and I can come to some sort of agreement here,” Applejack said. “How about a bribe?”
“Better be a pretty good bride,” Rainbow teased, winking at her. “I don’t usually consider this line of work but I could make an exception for a mare like you.”
Applejack ignored that final comment and pursed her lips, thinking about it for a moment. “I may have something in mind.” She sighed, glancing at her friend. “Cider season is coming up pretty soon.”
Rainbow’s gaze narrowed. “That it is…”
“And I know that you’ve been struggling the last couple of years to get yourself a decent supply…”
Rainbow huffed, blowing some bangs out of her face. “You never really make enough of that stuff.”
“Supply and demand, sugarcube.” Applejack chuckled. “Reason we can get away with charging five bits a mug.” She shook her head slowly. “Regardless, what if a small barrel of the good stuff happened to go missing?”
“Missing where?” Rainbow asked.
Applejack shrugged. “If I knew where it was, then it wouldn’t be missing, would it?” She winked at Rainbow. “All I know is that the last place I saw it, three days from now, was resting on the edge of that little pond out in the east field. You know the one I’m talking about?”
Rainbow nodded slowly, her gaze not softening even a little. Though Applejack could pick up on the little twitches, the little signs that she was getting through to her companion. The slight curl in her lip, the furrow of a brow mulling over the finer details of this exchange. There was a reason Applejack was adept at making business agreements, she had a good understanding of ponies, plus an eagle eye for such attention to detail.
“I do,” Rainbow finally said before letting out an exasperated sigh. “Alright, alright, I’ll let you practice on me if you’re going to play dirty like that.” She pouted. “Just promise me that you won’t make it weird or anything.”
“Cross my heart,” Applejack murmured, pausing her stride and holding a hoof to her chest.
“And!” Rainbow added, smirking as she pointed a wing at Applejack. “If you and Twilight ever do want to spice things up in the bedroom, keep me in mind. Alright?”
Applejack rolled her eyes, letting out a bemused note. “You are utterly unbelievable, sugarcube.”
“Yeah I’m pretty great,” Rainbow said.
They finally reached the steps of her farmhouse, their fragile privacy broken as Granny was now within earshot. And even if she were close to being downright ancient, Applejack had no doubt that she possessed the hearing of a mare a quarter her age.
“Oh Applejack!” Granny drawled. “I didn’t know you were bringing a friend over for lunch.”
Applejack nodded. “Just needed to talk a little business with Rainbow.”
“Is this about the fields?” Granny asked, wagging a frail hoof at Rainbow as she furrowed her already creased brow. “We’ve been a mighty short of water, young mare.”
Rainbow chuckled and forced a smile. “And we’ve been doing our best to fix that. But you aren’t the only farm in Ponyville, Granny.”
Granny nodded sagely. “Well how about I help make my point clearer by offering you a nice homemade lunch?”
Now Rainbow’s smile was a bit more genuine.
“I would like that a lot, Granny,” she said.
Granny wheezed a laugh and got up, wobbling towards the door.
“They always do,” she said, opening it and inviting them inside. “I’m just thankful that you take your bribes in baked goods. Let me tell you, youngin’, when I was your age, the weather Captain in these parts was this corrupt ole steely faced son of a bitch and he…”
There was a little lake with a few log cabins surrounding it on the Apple Family’s estate. In the good old days, generations ago, a lot more of the clan lived on the outskirts of Ponyville, creating what was essentially a full-blown Apple village upon this acreage.
As the years went by, however, and the different family branches moved away, spreading their roots across Equestria, the cabins were left in the care of Applejack’s great-grandmother. She kept them repaired, maintained, and clean, something the family continued to do to this day. Sure, no one lived there, but they were useful for family gatherings or the rare seasons where extra help was required and affordable.
They were also private, far away from the farmhouse and the many prying eyes within.
Applejack lost her virginity within one of these cabins and she knew that Big Mac liked to frequent them whenever Sugar Belle was in town. Surely, only for the most upstanding of purposes, of course.
The point was that these cabins were the perfect place for Applejack and Rainbow Dash to take care of a certain business agreement.
“Looks… quaint,” Rainbow commented, stepping inside. “Flown over these for years, you know. I don’t think I’ve ever actually been inside though.”
Applejack nodded. “They have their uses. Me and Twilight come out here sometimes and…”
“Fuck?” Rainbow Dash asked, flashing a knowing smile.
“I believe Rarity would say something along the lines of making love,” Applejack grumbled, shaking her head. “She’s poetic and respectable like that.”
“Yeah, well…” Rainbow Dash grinned. “I’m not Rarity.”
They walked through the small living space and towards a room at the end of a short hall. Inside was a queen bed with a coarse looking red quilt draped over top. It wasn’t fresh, by any means, the red faded and sunbleached and the fabric now dry and scratchy. Still it was functional.
Applejack clambered upon it, patting the spot beside her. “Alright let’s get this over with.”
Rainbow nodded. “And remember, don’t make this weird.”
“I won’t, I won’t, we’re just two mares who happen to be on a bed together and…” Applejack hummed, mulling over what would be the best word choice. “We’re just, uh… taking care of some personal hygiene matters and what not.” She nodded assuredly. “That’s all.”
Rainbow snorted and climbed onto the bed, laying down beside her. Without warning, she extended one of her powerful wings, the appendage springing forth and nearly slapping Applejack right across the face.
“Hey watch where you’re pointing that thing,” Applejack growled. “Nearly took off my head.”
“Sorry, sorry, just not used to doing this with other ponies around,” Rainbow Dash murmured, a strange heat creeping into her complexion.
She drew in a breath, calming her nerves as she allowed her wingtips to flutter.
“Alright,” she started, pointing a hoof right at the joint that connected her powerful wing to her body. “We’re going to go over a quick biology lesson, alright?”
Applejack chuckled. “Since when did you care about biology?”
“Since it became relevant to my continued career as a flyer.” Rainbow smirked. “If there’s one thing I don’t fuck around with, it’s my wings. Anyways…” She nodded over her shoulder. “Put your hoof where mine is.”
She drew her hoof away, giving Applejack a chance to place hers on the joint.
“Do you feel that big fat bone?” Rainbow asked.
Applejack nodded. “Kind of feels like a femur but smaller.”
“It’s called humerus…” Rainbow explained, snorting. “Though it's different from a funny bone, apparently. Anyways, if you’d move your hoof along the bone.”
Applejack did so, feeling the fat bone give way to a new bone which felt kind of like two separate bones diverging with a fleshy gap between them. It reminded her vaguely of a chicken, though on a much larger scale, the little details coming through much easier. She restrained herself from squeezing, judging that it wouldn’t feel very good if Rainbow’s creased brow and nervous demeanour were any indication.
“That’s called the ulna, which leads…” Rainbow paused and Applejack got the memo, moving her hoof further across. “Which leads to the radius, then to the, uh… the fancy bone.”
“The fancy bone?” Applejack asked, cocking a brow.
Rainbow shrugged. “It’s got some long-ass name that doctors love to rattle off really fast when going over your medical reports. Carpo… Carpo-something.”
Applejack nodded, feeling each in turn.
“And lastly you have the digit,” Rainbow said, giving the very tip of her bone structure a little wiggle, booping the boning tip of her wing into the bottom of Applejack’s frog. “Anyways the first lesson of preening is that you should try to avoid, uh… breaking these bones at all cost. Hurts like fuck and takes months to heal.” She shook her head slowly. “It’s a real pain in the ass, trust me.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Got it, don’t break my marefriend’s wing.” She looked over at Rainbow. “This is the expert opinion I come to you for, Dash.”
“Hey, hey, hey.” Rainbow held up a hoof. “That’s not the only thing I’ll say about bones. The ones in our wings are extremely fragile and you need to be super gentle with them. They’re like eggshells, Applejack, don’t want to crack them or you’ll have a big mess. You get me?”
“Sounds like you need to drink more milk,” Applejack teased.
Rainbow shook her head and ruffled her wings a little, showing off the many rows of feathers. All of them were such a lovely shade of blue.
“Now unfortunately,” she said, “I’m pretty well groomed but when preening you want to aim for feathers that look off…”
“They all look the same to me,” Applejack murmured.
Rainbow pursed her lips and taped a hoof to her chin as if trying to figure out what an ‘off’ feather even looked like.
“It’s hard to explain,” she stated, humming to herself as she probably realized how unhelpful that explanation really was. “Okay so like you see how all my feathers are really vibrant and kind of dry looking?”
Applejack nodded. “You got some mighty fine-looking wings, Dash.”
Rainbow deadpanned.
“Was that weird?” Applejack asked, offering a sheepish grin.
“A little…” Rainbow sighed, shaking her head. “Anyways the feathers you want to preen are usually a little duller, not quite grey but you can tell that they will be in a few weeks time. They’re also a little greasy and matted. They almost look…” she rolled her hoof, venturing for the right world, “sickly? Yeah, sickly! And because of that, they don’t work as good. So, it’s super important to pull them out. Though!”
“Though?” Applejack asked, tilting her head to the side.
“Not all feathers are born equal,” Rainbow said. “Some of them are more important than others. For example, the feathers nearest to my bones are less important for aerodynamics. Those you can afford to be a little reckless with. However,” she fluttered her wing away, ruffling her feathers so that they were more pronounced. “Those farthest from the bones, nearest to my butt, are called primaries and secondaries. While these do need to get preened, if I lose too many, too fast, it can ground me. With these, you need to have some pretty good judgement and only preen the bare minimum, even if that means leaving a few off feathers behind for a little while longer. You get me?”
Applejack nodded slowly, then more assuredly as the lesson really sunk in. “I think so? Preen the ugly feathers, unless they risk grounding you, right?”
Rainbow smirked. “Sounds easy enough but when I was a kid, I was always in such a hurry to get out flying that I’d fuck it up all the time.” She snorted. “But when you’re sloppy, you get grounded for a week. And let me tell you, waiting for half your secondaries to grow back smartens you up pretty quickly.”
She tapped a hoof against the bed, glancing over at Applejack. “You got any questions?”
“Does it hurt?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow shook her head. “Not if you’re pulling out the right feathers. I don’t know the exact process behind it but old feathers are looser than younger ones. They kind of just slide out with a gentle tug.”
“And you said that all the feathers you have, have already been preened?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow beamed. “Oh yeah, did it this morning!”
Applejack cocked a brow.
“What?” Rainbow asked.
“If you’ve plucked them all, then what the hay am I supposed to practice on?”
Rainbow frowned and then nodded to herself slowly. “Shit… I uh… may have forgotten about the hoofs on portion of this tutorial.” She fluttered her wings and looked at one. “Well I guess you could try plucking a few of my coverts. They’re the feathers just above my primaries and secondaries. They aren’t as vital and honestly who doesn’t like a little bit of pain in the bedroom?”
She ended this statement by throwing Applejack a dangerous case of bedroom eyes.
Applejack took off her hat and steeled her gaze, saying nothing more. When Rainbow’s bashful expression faltered, she lashed out, bonking her sharply on the snout with the brim of her hat.
“I swear to the gods, sugarcube, I am going to bap the horniness out of you some day,” Applejack murmured.
Rainbow grinned. “Greater mares have tried.”
“Greater, sure. But more stubborn? I don’t think so.”
Rainbow’s wing twitched and she tilted the tip of her snout towards the heavy downing of feathers.
“Ready when you are,” she said.
Applejack nodded and leaned forwards, getting up nice and close to Rainbow Dash’s wing. Now that she was in position, she could see why her friend was a little hesitant about this idea. She wouldn’t lie but this felt downright intimate in a way.
She breathed out slowly and Rainbow tensed a little more, biting her lip.
“Did that feel weird to you?” Applejack asked. “Because that…”
Rainbow grunted. “Just… just preen me already.”
“Alright, alright, hold your horses.” Applejack brushed her lip against one of the many feathers, her snout crinkling as the tip of another tickled her nose. “Is this one of the feathers you’re talking about?”
Rainbow made an affirmative noise and Applejack gently bit down upon it, forcing herself to look away from Rainbow’s face as she saw a bright red colour creep into her cheeks. Then, once she felt the feather secured between her teeth, she drew back sharply, yanking it out.
A strange noise jerked forth from Rainbow’s tightly-pressed lips. It was one part pained yelp and another instinctive nicker of unabated pleasure.
Instantly, the two of them burned a dark shade of embarrassed red.
“Was that, uh…” Applejack began.
Rainbow attempted to furl her wing back against her side, but they refused to obey, the primaries fanning out in a fashion that Applejack had only seen when Twilight was overly excited about something.
“This is…” Applejack attempted again.
Rainbow nodded. “This is...” She cleared her throat, shaking her head. “Is this going to be enough practice or…”
Applejack barked laughter. “Yep, yep, totally going to be enough practice. I, uh… thank you so much for your time, sugar,cube, and thank you very much for, uh… making Twilight a very happy mare.”
She got up and stepped off of the bed, heading out of the little bedroom. As she glanced over her shoulder, she noticed that Rainbow Dash was still lying down, wearing one hell of a poker face. Her wings were still spread nice and wide, the tips ruffling.
“Well, aren’t you coming?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow pursed her lips tightly. “I, uh… I need a couple of minutes for these babies to, uh… return to normal.” She sighed and motioned with her snout towards her stiffened wings and then to the room’s exit. “Your hallway is a little narrow and well…”
It took Applejack a moment to realize what she meant. But once she did, she joined Rainbow in this match of poker, pressing her lips tightly together and nodding along absently.
“I see…”
Twilight giggled, taking a generous sip of wine from the glass Applejack had poured.
“I had a lot of fun tonight,” she murmured, the little flitter of intoxication colouring her voice. “So…”
“So,” Applejack whispered, playfully kissing her on the cheek.
“What’s the surprise you wanted to show me?” Twilight asked.
Applejack smirked and shuffled away, making a little bit of room between them. Twilight seemed confused by this, for a moment, but she was a dear and didn’t question it.
“Can I see one of your wings?” Applejack asked.
Twilight nodded and spread the one closest to Applejack. Much to her glee, her marefriend wasn’t nearly as well-groomed as Rainbow Dash with a few greyish feathers stuck in her otherwise vibrant plumage.
“Oh shoot,” Twilight muttered, seeming to notice this. “I didn’t get a chance to preen this morning.”
Applejack chuckled. “Well, I wouldn’t worry about…”
Twilight’s horn sparked, and soon, her potent aura washed over her wings, burning away all the greyish and oily feathers in the blink of an eye and effectively preening her in the span of a heartbeat.
…
Applejack probably should’ve realized that she would have a spell for that.
“There we go,” she beamed, blinking as she looked at Applejack. “So, uh… what did you want to show me?”
Author's Note
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