It’s winter, and Rainbow Dash is officially dating Applejack.

Holy fucking shit.

How did they even get here? Rainbow is trying to mentally retrace her footsteps, count the stepping stones that led her here. She gets to apple smoothie, and then it’s a blank. If she had to put it into an equation it would be apple smoothie + ????? = girlfriend. And Rainbow isn’t particularly good at math.

Like yeah, sure, there had been Gilda before, but that had felt way different. That had been more like, following in Gilda’s shadow, helping her hold her stuff, being forced to hang out with all her shitty friends, then maybe a kiss or shoulder-wrap if she was in a good mood.

This? This is something else. This is—

—her hand wrapped in another’s, warm and heavy. On the outside, it’s honey-coloured, brushed with freckles. Underneath, the skin is rough and calloused fingertips, caressing the back of Rainbow’s hand as it moves. And Rainbow’s heart feels like it’s about to explode everywhere like a rogue blender.

Rainbow tells Applejack this, and Applejack gives her a very unamused look in return.

Well. We can’t all be perfect. But Rainbow’s in love with imperfect, anyway.

“Everyone,” she tells her friends when they arrive, scarcely believing it herself, “this is my girlfriend, Applejack.”

“I’m Applejack,” Applejack says.

“Trust me, we all know,” Rarity says, eyebrows flat.

Rainbow’s jaw hangs open. “What? Since when?”

“Since like… November?”

“Huh? But we only started dating last week?”

Rarity frowns. “You’re kidding, right? Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“She’s not,” Applejack says with grace, and because Applejack is not a chronic joker like Rainbow is, that’s how everyone knows that it’s the truth—and it is the truth—and then a palpable wave of horrified realisation washes over the girls, minus Pinkie Pie, who chews nonchalantly on her lunch, a chocolate doughnut.

Rainbow claps a hand over her forehead. “Why does everyone look so surprised?”

“I genuinely thought you were dating already,” Twilight says.

“How.”

“It’s blindingly obvious,” she says, and then the gal—get this—takes out her phone and brings up a whole Google Document. On it, multiple neatly-organised tables, diagrams, and images. Images of the two of them, studiously labelled with circles and arrows and zoom-ins of their smiles. There are various text explanations, with footnotes, and the footnotes have footnotes, all leading to one conclusion at the end, bold red text: they’re in love.

Rainbow howls in outrage: “So you had the time to do all this, but not when I asked you to plot out Applejack’s shift times so I could avoid her??? What about your assignments, huh?”

Pushing up her glasses, Twilight smiles mystically. “It wasn’t ever about the assignments. Obviously, I wasn't going to help you two to not meet.”

Wtf. Twilight Sparkle had been shipping them like they were one of her OTPs.

“Um, I thought so too,” Fluttershy added meekly. “That you were dating. Then broke up. And got back together.”

Rainbow claps her hand over her forehead and sighs. “Now I feel like literally everyone knew about this except me.”

“If it helps, I didn’t know this,” Applejack says.

Rainbow clasps their hands together. “And this is exactly why we’re meant for each other.” Applejack doesn’t say anything back, but when Rainbow leans in and bumps their foreheads together playfully, her whole face flushes this vibrant, apple-red. It’s so cute Rainbow wants to scream.

Pinkie interrupts the moment with a long, loud burp. “Okaaaaay!” she says as she smacks her lips free of chocolate sprinkles. “We’ve all gathered here today for something other than watching Applejack and Rainbow Dash make out for two hours.” She steadfastly ignores Twilight’s downward glance of disappointment. “Who’s ready for some fun?”

~~~

It’s a bright and sunny day at Equestria Land, the newly-opened amusement park in Canterlot.

At first, Rainbow’s kind of worried for Applejack, who’s always been kind of awkward with people she doesn’t know well. But Applejack warms up to the rest of Rainbow’s friends quicker than she would have thought. Somewhere between the spinning teacup rides and kiddy trains and overpriced finger food only justified after splitting six-ways, she slides right in, laughing and smiling and bantering like she’s always belonged there.

By the end of it, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity are just as much Applejack’s friends as they are Rainbow’s, in the same way that Fluttershy had brought them to Rainbow. It’s funny how the torch passes on, like that.

At the end, the others tell them that they should have some time for themselves. And so they do. The park’s closing soon, so they have time for one last activity.

“Maybe the Ferris wheel?” Applejack suggests.

Rainbow squints at her. “You seriously want the Ferris wheel?”

Applejack shrugs. “Ain’t that what a… romantic couple’s supposed to do?”

Rainbow’s gotten pretty good at reading Applejack’s minute facial expressions. She sees the furrow between her brows. “Dude. Fuck what romantic couples are supposed to do. What do you want?”

Applejack sees that she’s been caught. Sighing, her green gaze drifts off… and lands on a rollercoaster. It’s a hulking steel monstrosity of a construction, with tracks that loop and twist and swerve around each other in ways that don’t appear to follow the laws of physics.

“Hoboy,” Rainbow murmurs.

~~~

“You okay? You look kind of blue.”

“Maybe I’ve always been blue,” Rainbow shoots back as they’re pressing the safety bars from over their heads into their laps. Jolly music plays from hidden speakers behind painted cutouts of smiling clouds, oblivious and uncaring of Rainbow’s imminent death. Several cars are lined up in front of them on the coaster tracks, packed with people, friends and families with their kids. There’s some boy half her height that’s already got his hands in the air and screaming, and it’s frankly insulting because how is this kid not scared of his inevitable doom??!?

“Hey. If you don’t wanna ride this rollercoaster, we can still get off now,” Applejack says, moving to raise her hand.

“No!” Rainbow grabs her hand and drags it down. She gulps in a lungful of air, grabbing the safety bar. Her fingernails find little purchase in the smooth surface of the bar. Who made this bar so round and fat that you can’t even grip it properly?? “I can do this. I need to do this.”

“Are ya scared of rollercoasters?”

“Pfffft—hahahahhaha! Who the hell is scared of rollercoasters?” Rainbow wheezes. Then, sensing Applejack’s concerned eyes on her, she sobers. “Uhh… maybe a little. See, I’m okay when it climbs uphill. I love it when it does all those crazy turns and spirals. But the drops…” she shivers, curling her toes in her shoes. “The feeling of falling. That makes me afraid.”

She sucks in a deep breath before continuing, “But I want to face my fears. So I want to stay. I’m sure of it.”

“Okay. If you’re sure,” Applejack nods. On the safety bar, their hands overlap. Her thumb rubs comforting circles on the back of Rainbow’s wrist. Then the rollercoaster jerks, and they’re off.

The rollercoaster starts, as all do, with the massive ascent. It rattles as it climbs up the tracks, and Rainbow braces herself against the back of the seat. She tries focus up on the bright blue, cloud-streaked sky above them, and not on the ground that shrinks away below them, the array of carnival rides and the tops of tents and milling people. The ground that will be rushing up to meet them anytime soon…

Rainbow breathes in and breathes out. Breathes in and breathes out. She tightens her grip on Applejack’s hand as the coaster reaches the crest of the tracks, the wheels below them grinding to a momentary halt.

“Hey. Rainbow,” Applejack’s voice says, warm, “look at me.”

“H-huh?” Rainbow’s voice is several octaves higher as she tears her gaze from the clouds and settles upon Applejack.

Her blonde hair’s tousled in the wind, her green eyes sparkling like emeralds under the sunlight. And she’s smiling, so bright and beautiful that Rainbow honest-to-goddess forgets where they are. Only thinks about how fast her heart’s beating, how her breath swoops in her chest, how safe she feels with her hand under Applejack’s. Rainbow’s always had cold hands, but Applejack’s are ridiculously warm, even in winter.

It’s like she’s the sun. Her sun. Rainbow can’t even imagine where she would be if she hadn’t met her, really.

It’s then, at the top of the rollercoaster, that Applejack leans over and presses her lips to hers.

The drop comes. Rainbow’s stomach plummets twenty stories, as does the rest of her, and Applejack too. Screams are drowned out by the torrent of rushing wind.

Their foreheads are still smashed together, Rainbow staring down at Applejack’s freckled nosebridge, and she grins mischievously against her lips. Her hair’s flying loose everywhere and Rainbow thinks she has some strands of it stuck in her teeth. It’s awful. It’s amazing. They’re still falling, but they’re falling together. Then they hit rock-bottom, before they’re rising again.

“Oh my fucking god,” she gasps when she has breath in her lungs again. “You—”

“Shhh,” Applejack smiles, looking unfairly satisfied with herself. “Enjoy the ride.”

Now, no way Rainbow Dash is admitting defeat like this. So the next time they crest a wave, she takes her hands off the handlebars and kisses her girlfriend. And instead of screaming, they laugh all the way down.

~~~

Applejack stumbles as they’re getting off the rollercoaster. Rainbow catches her. Groaning, Applejack slings her arm around her shoulder and leans on her.

“Yo, you good?” Shit, I didn’t kiss her too hard, did I?

Applejack lets out another lengthy groan. “I forgot to mention this, but I get motion sickness.”

“You have motion sickness and you still got on a rollercoaster??!?”

“Look, I really wanted to go on the rollercoaster,” Applejack says defensively. She hiccups, bringing a hand over her mouth as she collapses onto a bench. “It’s afterwards that I… uh… don’t feel so good. But I just need a drink and I’ll be fine.”

“Kay, I’ll go get you one,” Rainbow says. Then she pauses. Before she can think about it, she slips her jacket off her shoulders and drapes it over Applejack.

Applejack gives her a wide-eyed stare, sitting there on the bench, engulfed in her blue jacket. Rainbow can see her fingers curling underneath the cotton, subconsciously tugging it closer around herself.

“Um, you, you can hug it or whatever. I-I’ll be back!” Rainbow’s voice actually cracks when she says that. She turns around and takes off running towards the nearest drink stall. Romance is turning her into the world’s biggest, most cliché sap and it’s embarrassing, okay, Rainbow’s cool aloof image is going up in flames. It’s not her fault that Applejack keeps… being… Applejack!

She reaches the drink stand. They’re selling different types of drinks, but of course Rainbow’s eyes zoom straight to the fruit shake menu. When it’s her turn, she points and says to the staff, “One apple shake please!”

“Sure thing,” the staff says, and before long she has a fresh cup of apple shake in her hands. She jogs back to where Applejack sits, still with her jacket folded over herself.

“Your order, siree!” Rainbow crows.

“Thanks, sugarcube,” Applejack says, taking it into her hand. Rainbow squeezes into the bench next to her, watching her as she sips on the drink. Gradually, colour returns to her cheeks, her breathing becoming easier.

“How is it?”

“Of course you got an apple shake,” Applejack remarks.

“Yeah, no shit I did. How are you feeling?”

“Peachy,” Applejack laughs. Then, after a moment, she asks, “What’s your favourite drink?”

“Your apple smoothie,” Rainbow waggles her eyebrows.

“Alright, but other than that. No more fruit shakes or fruit stuff. Surely you like other drinks too.”

“Well…” Rainbow thinks about it. “Peppermint coffee.”

“...What in the high hell is that.”

“Hey, don’t knock it till you try it!” Rainbow says earnestly, knowing she had very well knocked it until she tried it. Now she has a full-blown addiction to it. “That stuff wakes you up like nobody’s business. The more shots of peppermint the better. Really fires up your whole system.”

“If you put it like that, I may just have to try it,” Applejack chuckles. She looks up to the sky. After a long pause, she adds, “I… want to get to know you more. Sometimes I wish I met you earlier, so we could have maybe… I dunno… grown up together. I wish I knew you, past and present.”

“......” Rainbow cocks her head. “...Yeah, I get what you mean. Feels like we should’ve met earlier. But hey, we got each other now. That’s what matters.”

Applejack shifts against her shoulder. When Rainbow looks at her, she’s spreading out the jacket bundled on her lap to drape across both of them.

“Eh?”

“You were shivering,” she smiles.

“A-ah,” Rainbow makes another frankly embarrassing noise. But Applejack seems to find it adorable, chuckling and leaning over to boop her nose. Rainbow whines. Applejack chuckles some more.

“I’m really glad I met you,” she says.

“Glad I broke into your kitchen?” Rainbow can’t help but tease.

“Mmm,” Applejack hums, steady and sure. “But I liked you before that.”

Rainbow’s brain freezes. “Wait. Before that? Wait,” she can hear the comical record scratch of her mind as it rewinds to the start. “That’s why you kept staring at me? And taking forever making my smoothie? Because—”

“—I had a crush on ya,” Applejack affirms, cheeks reddening.

“And you decided to address that. By staring at me. And hoping I’d get the hint.”

“Eyup.”

Rainbow facepalms. “All that time, I thought you hated me! Or were a creep! Couldn’t you have just asked me? Written your number on my cup? What—instead you jumped at the excuse to sentence me to a million years of part-time fruit-shaking?”

Applejack shrugs. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Yeah. Fuck. It did,” Rainbow says, leaning back on the bench. “I shook them fruits. I shook them good.”

Applejack’s laugh is a stirring thing. It’s like sunlight and fresh fruit, glaring in its brightness, acidic in its sweetness. And Rainbow Dash realises that it wasn’t the smoothie that had made her keep coming back to Sweet Apple Shakes all that time ago. It was this girl; this girl that she had always wanted to know. And who she would get to know, starting from now.

Rainbow smiles. And she says,

“I’m glad I met you too.”

Author's Note

There were like a whole bunch more ideas that didn't make it into this fic. Some of these include
1. sus hand holding when AJ was teaching RD to cut apples. I KNOW ITS THE MOST OBVIOUS THING, but I forgot to write it DARN.
2. if this was a longer thing, let's say if this was an MLPEG movie, Rainbow would have let the fame of being a TikTok sensation go to her head and started taking credit for the shake store and stuff like that, but that would have been too long a story and frankly the self-indulgent me didn't want to write so much nonromance angst. But it really makes for a good movie with the whole moral aesop thing. Hasbro... looking at u...
3. I know this is a college au but I didn't end up talking about college very much at all LOL. One reason was because I could not for the love of Celestia decide on what Rainbow majors in, but I was kind of thinking pre-med, because the sheer juxtaposition of Rainbow Dash studying to be a doctor is amusing to me and because I think she could pull it off. Let me know what you guys think. I still think she goes to flight school, but otherwise, what would she major in?
4. Rainbow's fruity-ass hair incidentally makes her a very good mascot for a Fruit Shake store. Also, she helps Applejack dye her hair later on for fun at least once.
5. I liked imagining them shopping for Christmas decorations. Or any other holiday. The dynamic is that they basically become the twin bosses of Sweet Apple Shakes bahaha.
6. TikTok absolutely blows up once they find out Applejack and Rainbow are dating. I keep thinking about Rainbow 'ordering' a smoothie from Applejack behind the counter and Applejack keeps getting her order wrong and they keep flirting aggressively until Applejack pulls her up over the counter and kisses her. Something like that.
7. Can you tell how self-indulgent this was i was CRANKING the shipping

Thanks for being so patient and supportive with me I fr did not think this silly fic was going to be this long or at all serious. But goddess finally im DONE. Idk if I will be back because if you follow me on twt you probably know I've been working on a massive original novel thing which is consuming most of my braincells & creative energy BUT! If demand and inspiration calls, I may reawaken from my slumber. Until then, beloveds.