The way you can wrap up something with your best friends is amazing. The power of friendship is amazing. You can leave legends just by the way you work hard, and AppleJack shore has done that.
It has been a couple hours since the winter wrap up. AppleJack has successfully wrapped up winter with her 5 best friends, and is very happy about the results. Though, it hasn't taken to long before she realizes it's time for some shuteye. Maybe she would get some beauty sleep, something a hard-working mare needed and deserved. AppleJack took a slow walk towards Sweet Apple Acres. As she saw her barn house, she entered threw the back, taking some shortcuts to get there faster.
"Ahh, finally some good ol' shuteye," AJ said, walking into her room. Her body was beat from working so hard and the way she had her eyes closed showed it. AppleBloom caught what she said while sitting downstairs in the kitchen, eating some apples. Although crunching on apples was loud, it was just quiet enough for AppleBloom to notice something. Now noticing that AJ sneaked threw the back, she started running into her room, hyper than Pinkie Pie at a party. AppleBloom jumped onto the bed with full might.
"Hey AppleJack! How ya been! Its been a long day hasn't it?!," she shouted, not knowing how tired AJ was.
"Ahh, it has been a long day Apple Bloom, your big sister needs some sle-," dosing off, the orange mare couldn't even dare to pull the covers over her. Apple Bloom jumping up and down in excitement. She had one of those "night rushes" of adrenaline. It became clear AJ was in no mood to be talking, let alone opening her eyes, to be conscious.
Apple Bloom, being the young and happy filly she is, she respectfully gave her sister the space she deserved at the moment. She pulled the covers over her sister's body, and walked outside the door, closing it quietly to let the noticeably worn out mare sleep. With nothing else to do, she hopped in her own bed, ready for a new tomorrow. Oh how she couldn't wait till tomorrow.
Wait a second, it isn't time to sleep yet, it's only 6:00 P.M! How can she possibly slip the time? It's beyond early and the next day was going to be a beautiful spring weekend. For her it called for a big sleepover at the Cutie Mark Crusader's Tree House!
Well that shore escalated quickly... She's already on her way to the CMC Head Quarters and boy oh boy is she ready for the night! Of course they were going to do their original thing, doing things that involve jobs at night. Apple Bloom thought for a second that watching the moon rise gave them a watcher's cutie mark. Silly Accusations. Packing her things faster than you can say Sweet Apple Acres, she's already ready to sprint to the tree house.
Well while it has been a couple hours into the night, Apple Jack found her self waking up. It wasn't a rude awakening to say the least, but something had bothered her about the day of work she had just been in. Something feeling a little odd. Something oddly enough, that had to have woken her up and make her take an evening walk. She can inhale the outside air as she looks threw the window that night, Luna was shore doing her thing, the moon couldn't have been any brighter. AppleJack let out a little sigh as she couldn't naturally close her eyes to sleep. Looking at the time she felt wide awake in the case. The breeze rolling threw the window and the fact that she can't sleep was all the right reasons to take a nice stroll outside. Nopony knows, but she does this every time she has something on her mind.
Apple Jack didn't grab her hat as she didn't really need to. At that, she didn't tie her hair at all, causing her to feel less mannered. AppleJack took a stretch. She thought it was nice to take a walk outside, in a random direction, so she slipped out the back door. The feeling of a warm breeze shook her a bit, taking her away from the comfort, but wasn't enough to stop her from her stroll. After taking a few steps outside, she had to re-adjust her eyes to get the night vision that would soon help her see what's going on for better accuracy of where she can head. It wasn't long until she found herself thinking about her friends while she walked up a not-so-steep hill. Every step caused her brain to stimulate another thought. She can make out times she had with her friends in a split second. Times when she and Rainbow Dash had argued, and laughed. Times where she and Rarity had argued and laughed. She couldn't help but but think good thoughts as she had turned around and saw how far the barn house was.
She didn't want to turn back and start walking to her house, she didn't feel like it was worth it at all. What was worth doing, however, was to keep stimulating her curious brain as to what at all she can remember back in the day. It was a nice experiment to test how much she means to her friends, and how much she truly enjoys her life. She even chuckled once or twice at the thought. Knowing herself, it felt like another night. She can practically recall every encounter she had in her entire life, but there's nothing bad about keeping the connection strong.
There's two sides of her waking up, and this brought out the sad in her. Of course the bad thoughts started rolling in, and this started to make the lonely orange mare scarred of the possibilities, well at least the bad ones. In that sense, she sat on the clean cut grass that seem to be comfortable enough to eventually lay on. She threw a toothpick into her mouth to keep her even more busy. Anything to keep her brain pumping. She loves these kind of nights, they usually always happen after the hardest day of work. It also was a good thing that she knew her environment, she had slept on the hill many times before.
I'm sure everypony has their bad thoughts now a days, it's nothing. AJ thought, trying to make sense of tonight's meaning. It wasn't enough to make her happy as she started to think about very meaningful things. Couple thoughts about life, and other important things that effect her future.
One of these things being, romance. Romance is something this one grown pony has never experienced. Her brain was on the level of going to the absolute extreme thinking about romance out of the blue like that. She definitely never had thought it about it before, but why? Why would she get caught up in these things? She's shore there's way more to life than romance. Apples need to be picked, life needs to be lived, and all she can do is to start thinking about relationships and how she can live life with another pony. She can picture in the night sky the dates she would go on, the happiness she can endure, and even imagine little foals running around. This made the young pony smile, even though she knew it was a bad idea to think ahead even little too far. It's funny how her thoughts can go from remembering what happened the day before to all of the sudden seeing foals running around. She can't escape the thoughts as they run quickly to her spaced out mind. She couldn't control where her brain was going with these new found thoughts as it all happened to quick.
This is all happening to quick... I shouldn't be thinking about this at such a young age...
Once again,the night to her started to feel meaningful, as she was all by herself. To have that extra time to collect her thoughts, to make plans, all this was just the right idea since she couldn't sleep. She made use of experiences in life and making connections to her memories stronger.
The stars were brighter than normal, the moon was at just the right angle and this alone gave AppleJack all the right reasons to sleep on the hill for the rest of the night. She was tired and bored, or so she thought.
Off in the distance, was a lonely cloud that kinda came into AppleJack's view. It wasn't a big cloud, but to have a clear night sky and one lonely cloud in the distance, meant that her good old friend, the lovely neighborhood Rainbow Dash was taking a stroll into the night. This gave AJ tons of ideas since she couldn't sleep. Because of what she was doing, she thought it would be nice to talk to that one friend that understands her the most. Hopefully this would be a fun night. She needed that friend who would keep her secrets, and since Pinkie Pie was sleeping, Rainbow Dash was the next big thing.
"Rainbow Dash! Down here! Hello!?" Shouted AppleJack, not sure enough if Rainbow Dash was even aware her cloud drifted off out of Ponyville.
Surprisingly enough, Dash jumped like something just poked her in the back. The voice was loud enough to wake the flying pony, and make her jump with a force just enough to break the cloud into thin air. Dash started to fall fast, almost fully awake all of the sudden. The piercing sound of that southern accent sent mental shivers down her spine. This wasn't expected, but luckily enough, Dash had enough air to catch herself from falling and land safely enough near the hill. She was one of the quickest flyers in Ponyville in after all.
That was close, phew. The now sweating mare thought, whipping the beads of sweat that started to form. It wasn't a terrifying experience for Dash, but it left AJ stunned, shocked, excited and happy at the same time. Paranoid enough, AJ started to gallop towards Dash, not sure what had happened. Thoughts were roaming threw her head, and if it wasn't dramatic enough, Dash didn't show any signs of alertness.
There was AppleJack. What seemed to be a grin on her face, was now a very overly dramatic look that took all of the sudden events in a matter of seconds. She couldn't even think straight. She really have thought she cause her friend to take a devastating fall. It was all too soon, as she already had a couple tears shed.
There is Rainbow Dash, one of the fastest flyers in Equestria, laying there, breathing heavily. The falling part wasn't the tiring part of the situation that took place. Apparently, Dash had crashed into the cloud as a last minute resort of something happening a little earlier.
"Oh my Apple Cider, are you ok?! Rainbow!" Screaming at the top of her lungs, AppleJack didn't care if Princess Celestia herself heard her. She also knew it was a bad idea to scream into her friend's ear. AJ tried everything, from putting her hoof on Dash's neck, to trying to hear her heartbeat on her chest. It only took an ear twitch from her friend to give the sign that she is ok. Man oh man was she scarred out of her mind.
"Sweet Celestia! You're Alive!" AppleJack said softly, more relieved than a pony at the spa. She even dug her muzzle into Dash's chest giving the tired mare comfort. This brought a soft moan from the mare. The moan enough gave AppleJack the sign that Rainbow Dash needed the comfort, as she needed to know she wasn't be kidnapped or anything.
It wasn't a soft moan though. It was one of those moans you let out when you're stretching leading you to be in an extremely comfortable manner. This fooled AppleJack though. Her thoughts got the best of her. What she heard was very different than what Rainbow Dash sounded like. If it wasn't startling enough, Dash couldn't help but laugh. She finally caught her breath after a good minute of rest on the very soft hill. Although AJ was practically snuggling with her, Dash laughed at the thought of where this might be heading. She couldn't possible let this go on any further or something like that, she couldn't dare to do so. She couldn't dare to lead her friend on as she started to feel almost bad for laughing.
"Please AJ, I'm fine." Rainbow Dash finally whispered as she rubbed her eyes with her sweaty hooves.
"I'm good now, please, you are hugging me to death. Ahh!"
Apple Jack realizes how many thoughts ran threw her head when the turn of events took place. It's not like out of the blue she was in love with the blue mare next to her, no she would never. She couldn't even process how it would work out.
"I'm sorry Dash, I'd do anything to make sure my friends are ok! If you wasn't breathing, I don't know what I would do, I'd probably do CPR on ya!" AppleJack said, trying to maintain a playful chuckle. Any thought of something bad happening to Rainbow Dash was all gone now. It sure was funny to the two mares of how the situation turned out. You got one mare thinking the other one is in love or something, and the other mare thinking she is just helping out a good friend of hers.
Short after the long lasting moment of laughter the night purred it self into pure quietness. Nopony would dare to break the beautiful silence or even distract the very soft and soundly crickets outside. It was that perfect weather and the night was beyond smooth and delight. Not a single thing could go wrong. It wasn't awkward silence, but both the mares took a deep breath to inhale that really good air. It was perfect timing to listen to their thoughts and process questioning and just think of what could be next for the wonderful evening.
Was it serious enough? I should just do it... AJ thought, knowing that this night could have been the night to try something utterly and entirely new. She didn't develop feelings for her best friend, but she also couldn't conjuncture up all the reason not to ask her out. It was really a bad idea, to have an almost dangerous event take place just a couple minutes ago, laughing it up like it's nothing. It all feels way to sudden. It was perfect timing though, but she certainly could not figure out how life with Rainbow Dash romantically would be. More thinking as AppleJack takes these into hoof and and tries to make a list in her head of all the pros and cons. It would seem weird not to abruptly ask Rainbow Dash out on a date. Reason being she never experienced it before.
Rainbow Dash was only half right with her assumption of the little situation that have taken place just 10 minutes ago. She could have died. She could have ended up in the hospital, and all she can do is think about how she is right. It made her feel giddy and bad that she didn't take the event seriously. She kept knocking out the thought of one of the most reliable mares in Equestria would make more of the moment. Dash will in no shape or form do anything more than be friends with AJ. Her reliable friend, one of the only mares in Ponyville that would give her up most honest opinion on anything. One out of the mane 6 that knew her best, and would always protect her from any danger. That's all AJ was doing, was protecting her she kept thinking, but she couldn't help but think other wise. More thoughts of relationships kept slipping out of her mind when she was laying on her back. Those thoughts were completely abolished when she thought she could loose a friend if she declined her love, and certainly doesn't want to sit on lies upon lies if she did accepted it. She would be loyal, but not in a world of lies. It didn't help that she was not interested or find mares attractive at all. this was all going threw her mind at once making the night very stimulating and interesting. All these battles of thoughts going threw her head of what's right or wrong, and all she could do is prolong the inevitable question. She is 100% connected to the fact that no would be the answer, no matter how much hurt it would bring to the mare. She can't just lie to the Element of Honesty.
It will never happen. She thought. Giving a physical sign of boredom to her friend, AppleJack.
AppleJack took this as Rainbow Dash is almost up and ready to leave due to boredom. Shore it was a nice night, but Rainbow Dash doesn't work on the farm to notice how relaxing watching the sun set could be. She'd rather be up right snoring right now. This put pressure on AppleJack.
This is most definitely the craziest night of my life! AppleJack brought to attention. It could be said, that even though this night is quiet and forgiving, it was the most heart wrenching moment for AJ since the first moment she peeped eyes on Apple Bloom.
This could be a life changer! AJ thought, given the possibility of either very good things or very bad things. She was seconds away from thinking out loud, making sure Rainbow Dash could hear, hoping this night meant what it felt like when AJ was alone. There just wasn't any better timing for this. Nopony was there to witness possibly the most wonderful night of anyponys' lives. She wasn't going to ask Dash to marry her or anything, but ask her out. For the experience, not like she was serious or anything. AppleJack thought of it as a question you would slide threw a conversation, to see if she can at least play it off as a joke in case all else fails.
There is just no perfect timing, I have to do this...
Princess Celestia was preparing to set the sun for her sister Luna to take over the night. Celestia promised Equestria a beautiful Day and Night as a result for fixing up Winter on schedule. That she would work extra hard. Ofcourse for Rainbow Dash, she could care less. She was happy for something else entirely. She couldn't be any happier. She could scream "Oh my Gosh" for hours on end. Thanks for a lovely Stallion to make her day.
There is Rainbow Dash, nervous, scarred, excited, stunned, and even more nervous. The one and only Big Mac n Tosh was asked out on a date and generously had said Eeyup. This had put the most mental pressure ever on Dash, since she was scarred of the conversations ending up in constant yeses and nos. She new she had stories to tell for days, but she just hoped Big Mac would open up tonight, hopefully to have a conversation going. She couldn't coop with the fact that she could be talking all night and building up no type of connection, ending in a false night. She was too happy for that, as Rainbow Dash learned to have confidence no matter what. It was part of her ego however.
Moments after Apple Bloom left the barn house, she noticed how dark it was going to be. She also noticed how beautiful it could turn out to be. She was so giddy to have a fun night, to embrace anything that could come her way. She can run a marathon with how happy and hyper she is. She can outrun her older sister in a race if she had the chance. It wasn't a surprise that she's at full gallop in 10 seconds flat, and she's not even at top speed. Something caught her eye though, before she started to beam threw the grass like a jet. She seen a flying blue Pegasus with a radical rainbow mane flying at half speed, which was pretty fast still. The only reason why she had seen Rainbow Dash was because she was heading the same direction as Apple Bloom was. Of course, like the young curious filly she is, she called out Dash, with the loudest scream ever. Before she thought of saying hi though, Rainbow Dash was already pursuing a conversation at that first moment.
"Hey Apple Bloom, what's up?" Rainbow Dash shouted, as she started to lower her height from how far up in the sky she was. She started to see that Apple Bloom was heading in the same direction as her. That alone made her curious enough to get the rush look on.
"Hey Rainbow Dash! Nothing much!" Apple Bloom shouted, trying her best to return Dash's shout, no where near loud enough, but just barely. As if Rainbow Dash wasn't curious enough, she thought this as an opening for a questionnaire. She didn't look happy though. More surprised if anything. She was already 4 feet above ground, slowing down so the 2 mares can still talk and be fast enough to get to the CMC tree house before sun set.
"Well, I'm doing awesome, in case you forgot to ask." Dash huffed selfishly, trying to sound as cliche as possible. Apple Bloom has been in the family of honesty long enough to know there is much more to a comment sounding like that. She knew where this conversation was heading the instant Rainbow Dash join in the mini adventure to the head quarters. She didn't take long to give the face of normality, replying with a question that broke threw Dash's concentration.
"Ok Dash, cut it out. What do you want?" Apple Bloom returned in a questionable manner. She was still almost at full gallop so she knew she would have to slow down to get to the bottom of this, which is exactly what Rainbow Dash wanted. She wasn't sure if she had enough time to do what she had planned, so she tried to slow the young filly down with an even more cliche answer.
"Nothing really, I just wanted to see what you were up to at this time of night." Rainbow Dash said swimmingly, trying to poke at Apple Bloom's tough spot, knowing she can't fool no filly. Still, this was just enough to buy a lot more time.
"Spit it out Dash..." Bloom now calmly said, now with full breath as she finally started to slow down. She wasn't far from the tree house, and she made it a mission to make it there as soon as possible. She knew what Rainbow Dash was getting at, but she thought it was for the best to not leave her friend hanging like that. Sort of speak. Apple Bloom had her own reasons to slow down, mainly because the face on Scootaloo's face if she saw Rainbow Dash was a horrible sight.
"What are you talking about?" Dash said in an almost regretful tone. She almost feels like she's caught and she should just give up, but for the sake of secrets, she needed the young filly to know. For that same reason, the harm it could cause her best friend for what ever reasons Rainbow Dash can think of. She thought maybe Apple Jack wouldn't approve of her older brother being with one of her best friends.
"Aren't you suppose to be at home or something?" She added.
"Dash, you're wasting my time, and it's only 6:30! Now tell me what you need!" Apple Bloom grunted, now almost at a complete stop as they noticed they were right in front of the house they had not been planning at being at the time. Apple Bloom and Rainbow Dash are almost caught in the thoughts that await them.
Dash gave up. She realizes keeping secrets is not the right way to go. Especially when dating one of the most honest ponies in Equestria. It would be let out someday, and Rainbow Dash wished it could wait until after the date with Big Mac. She was in shock of how here friends would react to such change in the her life. So was Apple Bloom, as she simply wanted to have a fun night. Seeing this in her eyes, Dash gave in.
"Just never mind... I'm sorry Apple Bloom, I didn't mean to waste your time. I just wanted to know-" Rainbow Dash tried saying as she was cut off at the laughing coming inside from the tree house. Now that the door is opening, both the young filly and young mare both starred in awww, surprised and confused at the gigantic stallion that started to laugh his way out.
Big Mac n Tosh, pretty big strong Stallion was making his way out the front door in a slow manner, telling the 2 young fillies goodnight. At first he went there to get the scoop on Rainbow Dash, but was also trying to see how he can make this as secret as possible. So what better planning than to do it with the CMC? It was a great idea, till he missed his scheduled time to leave and was too late for the inevitable. There were five confused faces on that scene. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were beside Big Mac, while Apple Bloom was inches away from Rainbow Dash no more than a couple feet away from the ramp that leads to a door to the tree house. To set the scene right, the only innocent pony here was Apple Bloom.
The shock and aw for a duration of just 30 quick seconds was enough to make Rainbow Dash pop a question to break the awkward and regretful moment. She had all the answers and all the pieces to the puzzle to make up the assumption that now is better than never. Still, she had to ask that question.
Ohhhh boy... She thought for the moment, just wondering how she is going to explain this to Apple Bloom.
"This wasn't what I planned..." She said thoughtfully.
As for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, there isn't much to say except they were only trying to help out a friend in their defense. They knew it was a bad way to go about it, but they really wanted this relationship to work.
"What's going on? I want answers! Nopony move!" Broke the silence by the young yellow filly. The ideas she had in her head were far different than what she expected.
The gesture on her lightened up and deemed and took hostage of the inbound time she asked the question. It was shocking of how she was betrayed by her own friends, thinking they were gossiping or something. The look on her eyes were not to bare for Big Mac, as he looked in a different direction and closed his eyes in acceptance of the situation.
"Ok guys, everybody round up in the tree house, I got an announcement to make."
All the ponies that witnessed this situation was ordered to go inside for a little explaining to do. All Rainbow Dash could really think is how she can ruin this relationship by not letting Apple Jack know. She kinda felt like it wasn't that serious until she and Big Mac take it to some kind of level.
"Apple Bloom, there is something we ne-"
"Mac! It's none of her business!" Dash interrupted.
"It doesn't involve her, and this shouldn't be happening." She finished.
Was it that serious? What's really going on? Apple Bloom thought, or what she thought she thought.
Apple Bloom was in her own little world of confusion as she thought to herself. Questioning her way out of the obvious. The fact that Rainbow Dash was there did the exact opposite of sum up the situation. The heart ache on Rainbow Dash wasn't as aching as the one on her big friend. Bloom can only think about why her friends betrayed her, or maybe even why Big Mac was there possibly gossiping about her or even Rainbow Dash. It was innocent thoughts, but she had enough experience with solving mysteries that she hoped to find out this very instant.
One of the small fillies mared up to the rising action of the night and said something to the unbearable moment.
"Apple Bloom, we have something to tell you." Sweetie Belle spoke up firmly.
"Big Mac n Tosh and Rainbow Dash are dating tonight!" Helped Scootaloo.
This moment of surprise was the moment Rainbow Dash and the others were waiting for.
The room seemed dimmed again. The sun was all but minutes away from being set. Although it was a bit windy outside, it was nothing to complain about as you can see ponies running in the playful night. A bunch of stores were closing, but a lot of restaurants were opening, trying to reel in every customer they can for the night. This night felt different for some, as they thought of this night to be the night for a date. Tonight, when Blue and Red are suppose to meet. Nothing can stop this planned date, it was going to happen sooner or later.
Rainbow Dash wasn't pleasantly shocked. She knew this was coming, ever since she seen Big Mac make his way out of the small door of the CMC tree house. She could only hope Apple Jack was asleep so they would be no more interruptions.
The face that appeared on Apple Bloom's face was shear confusion. Being an inexperienced filly she is, her reaction was a little late, making this situation just that more dramatic. She didn't leave nopony hanging however, especially her 2 other friends.
"Are you serious?" Apple Bloom started. Her face of expression brightened the room a tad bit.
"This is sweet! How come you didn't tell me this earlier!?" Awakening the room with delight and relief, Bloom surprised everypony a bit to the point where this was mainly a good thing. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were in deep shock though, as they weren't told the full truth from Big Mac himself.
It were not to ruin the moment though, Apple Bloom was more excited than ever. The rambling she could go on to her sister could last decades if she would see Apple Jack. She can again think of the pieces of this shady puzzle and put it all together to make her face seem more genuine. She was happy with the results.
"Apple Bloom wait!" Screamed Rainbow Dash, trying to stop Apple Bloom and take her away from her state of mind.
"Before you go, I want to say something. I'm sorry it was my fault this was happening. I should have told you sooner." Toppled off by Big Mac, just trying to get some closure of what the yellow filly will do next.
The night settled in as the noticeably hyped up mare once again zooms her way back out to sweet apple acres.
Author's Note
This feels nondescript, but I've done the best I can for a first time writing any type of story.
