Applejack was having her average day. Smashing the sides of apple trees with her two back legs in aggressive force to cause the green and red fruit to fall to the ground. She was usually alone, nopony ever around to help, or willing to help. Big Mac would occasionally come by and give her a hand, but he had his own jobs to do. Applebloom never found the family business particularly interesting, so she would always be found doing her own small things. The orange pony sometimes wished she had another pony around, who would stay by at least every now and then, just for a while to make everything a little... Less lonely... The countryside was good for Applejack and all, but constant work out in the boiling sun had its limits.
Today felt the same as usual. Hit tree, apples fall, collect apples, repeat. Nothing different, or so she thought as she selected her next tree to buck. As she took her position to kick the crash of a certain pegasus landed above her, causing a few apples to fall on the ground. Applejack looked up to meet her blue friend Rainbow Dash.
“Hey Applejack!” She shouted, hanging from a branch upside down.
“Err, hey Rainbow Dash, what are you doing ‘round here?” Applejack replied, adopting her family accent.
“Oh I just thought I'd... Come visit...” She brushed a few leaves out of her rainbow mane and carefully released herself from the branch to land next to Applejack.
“Well that's, nice of you.” Applejack smiled, she always appreciated a friend coming by to visit.
“Yeah. I was just wondering...” Rainbow Dash paused for a second, hiding a little blush as Applejack smiled at her sweetly. “Err, would you like a little race? Just me versus you?”
“I don't know, Dash, I kinda got a lot of work to do out here, been a lot of storms around recently and I've missed a lot of time.” She said rather unsure. She wanted some sort of interaction with her friends, she missed them often. But the apple buckin' season was important.
“Aww, please? Just for a while? Then I can help with your apple bucking after.” She offered, hoping to get herself a race against her greatest rival.
Applejack looked around, realising how far behind she was on her work. But a little race wouldn't hurt, would it? “Okay, Dash, I accept your challenge.”
“Alright!” Rainbow Dash cheered. They spent a few minutes deciding the root of their little competitive race, once all was planned they accepted the terms of a three lap race around part of Sweet Apple Acres.
“Ready.” Rainbow Dash began.
“Set.” Applejack followed.
“Go-” They were interrupted, a shattering crackle roared from high in the sky and lightning flashed down. Rain immediately began pouring and the pair found themselves out in a lightning storm.
“Hurry, follow me!” Applejack shouted, leading Rainbow Dash at a quick pace to her family home. Nopony else was there at the moment. Apple Bloom was with her friends at Rarity's, Granny Smith down in the town hall with the latest council meeting involving the current storm situation and Big Mac was up at the barn, tidying up.
They entered the house, only a little wet as they were able to run so fast.
“You can sit in the living room just there, I need to close the windows.” Applejack pointed to the room on the right of the hallway, Dash following the directions. She sat herself on a nice comfy sofa in front of a TV as her friend walked around the house closing some old creaky windows.
A minute or two later Applejack returned, hat hung up on a stand in the hallway. She sat next to Rainbow Dash, who was dazzled at her appearance.
“Maybe there's some news on.” She picked up the remote in her right hoof, pointed it at the TV and pressed the on button. No signal. “The storm is too thick I guess.” She gave the button another tap, switching the TV off.
Rainbow Dash was gazing at her friend, with her hat off she looked so different. The blonde mane was shining in the dull storm. Her eyes gleamed a beautiful green... Then Rainbow Dash knew how she was feeling...
“Well, we know how long those storms last week were. Hours.” She explained, turning to her friend who was quietly enjoying the presence of the orange pony. “I guess you might be staying the night, Dash.”
Rainbow Dash dipped out of her imagination, back into reality and quickly came to terms with what Applejack was saying. “Oh, yeah, that's fine with me!” She said, seeming rather enthusiastic. She looked out the window behind the TV, watching as the drops shrouded the vision and the Apple household smell crept up her nose. It was pleasant, reminded her of Applejack's sweet fragrance.
“You seem quiet Dash, you never seem to stare of into space.” Applejack woke her up again. Why did she keep doing this? For some reason she was drowsing off into her own magical world with the only other pony there being Applejack.
“Oh, sorry, just thinking...” She acted vague, trying not to reveal what she was thinking of...
“Okay, I see.” She allowed Rainbow Dash her own thoughts, with no knowledge of what they could be. “Since you're stuck here for a while, would you like a DVD on perhaps?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah, that would be nice thanks.” Dash thanked, trying to keep a conversation alive to avoid her going off into space again.
“Okay.” Applejack jumped to her feet and walked to a shelf containing all the DVD's of the Apple family. “Sorry, most of what we have is Applebloom's choice.” She looked through them, hoping to find something mildly interesting.
“I don't mind, I'm happy with anything.” She replied, not giving huge care into the film choice, but instead keeping her eyes on Applejack. If only she could possibly... Expose her feelings, what would Applejack think? Would it be okay?
Applejack walked to the TV, below it was a DVD player where she inserted the disc. She stepped back to the sofa, sitting down beside Dash once again and picking up a second remote control to activate the DVD player. In a few moments the TV was on and the title screen of a familiar film was glowing.
“Fear Shiner's Journey?!” Rainbow Dash squeaked at the sight. “The one with the Wonderbolts?!” She jumped up, cheering at the awesome choice of movie.
“Yeah, I thought you might like this.” Applejack smiled, pressing the play button. They both began to watch, enjoying the opening titles, followed by a general introduction to the story. Rainbow Dash watched with excitement, she loved Fear Shiner's adventures, and this was by far the best. She didn't own it herself, only saw it once at Fluttershy's cottage one weekend. It had been a while, and she was in awe at the incredible feats performed, especially by her idols.
An hour passed, though excited Rainbow Dash still kept quiet and paid perfect attention to the film. In a short time she noticed the orange pony next to her right was sleeping with her head on the arm of the sofa. Dash picked up the remote and turned the sound of the TV down, not wanting to wake Applejack. She took a long look at her friend, admiring the quiet pony... Why was she thinking this? She couldn't stop herself, as if her mind demanded something.
After a few minutes of thought, sitting in the brightness of her friend's blonde mane, she managed to turn her head back to the film, and continue watching until it was over. She turned the TV off, with a glare out the window. Still raining, flooding probably. So it was going to be a whole night. Applejack slept quietly, only some slight sounds of breathing. She was exhausted, it was natural after smashing so many trees all day long. Rainbow Dash felt tired too, she laid herself down in a comfortable position. Her eyes closed and soon she felt herself fading out into a quiet slumber.
Applejack woke up with a small shout. “Ah!” She jumped up, straight off the sofa. Rainbow Dash came to a slow awakening, having little clue about what just happened...
“Sorry!” She apologised.
“Erm? It's okay?” Rainbow Dash replied, rubbing her head and wondering what just happened.
“You don't know what that was?”
“No?”
“Phew...” Applejack was relieved, for some reason... But Dash could see something there, a small glow of red from Applejack's cheeks? Maybe her feelings weren't alone...
“It's fine... I think.” Dash replied, looking at Applejacks embarrassed smile. She glanced at the clock, quarter to six... Seems they had only been asleep for an hour or so and it was still quite bright outside, despite the storm.
“Maybe we should have something to eat.” Applejack suggested, stepping around to head to the kitchen.
They joined in the kitchen, Applejack gathered two microwave pizzas and some chips. They didn't say anything as Applejack prepared the chips and Rainbow had the simple job of sticking some pizzas in a microwave, (probably best considering Dashie's 'talent' in cooking). When all was prepared the food was dished equally onto two plates.
The living room was their next place to go. They trotted inside and sat themselves back on the sofa, which was in a mess after their sleep.
“The rain's cleared up.” Applejack pointed out, gazing through the window.
“Just about.” Dash replied, grabbing the pizza and taking a large bite out in one go. They both continued eating quietly, neither wanting to say anything in fear of making the conversation awkward.
It was silent... Not a word spoken... Even when they'd finished eating...
Rainbow Dash didn't want to bear the silence anymore, if anything she wanted to take her chance and just admit what she felt. She turned to Applejack, and the stare was returned. They both smiled as Rainbow Dash couldn't help but begin to spill out her feelings of passion towards Applejack.
“Applejack. I'm going to be honest with you here.” She moved up towards Applejack, taking a deep breath as she tried to think of what to say. Her eye lids lowered down a little as she stared at Applejack. Neither moved backwards as the blue pegasus advanced, they gazed at each other and felt the beautiful heat radiating from each other. Lips were only inches apart, they both thought it was weird, but not wrong.
“Applejack... I don't know how to say this but-”
Her lips were stopped by Applejack's gentle hoof raising to them.
“Dashie. I love you.”
