The sun shone warmly upon Sweet Apple Acres as a cool breeze whispered through the grove of trees. Autumn was fast approaching and the time would soon be upon the Apple family to harvest that oh-so-delicious fruit of their namesake. They would seal a good quantity away to last the winter; the remainder would be squeezed into sweet cider, chopped and baked into mouth-watering pies, or simply sold whole and untouched. There was also the hard cider, but few outside the family were fortunate enough to have tasted of it, and only enough for special occasions was ever made.
Applejack wandered amongst the trees, admiring each in turn and inspecting them for fitness to harvest. Autumn was her favorite time of year, in no small part because all of her hard work would finally pay off, but also because the trees blazed with color as leaves changed from green to brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. The blonde-maned, orange-coated earth pony paused in her step to gaze upwards into the sky.
Nearly blending into the sky flew a light blue pegasus pony, dipping and diving in wild stunts. Her rainbow-colored mane and tail appeared to cast off a similarly-hued trail for a number of meters behind as she moved through the air at speeds the best fliers in Equestria could only hope to match. Applejack liked watching Rainbow Dash while the pegasus performed her aerial acrobatics. A smile spread across her face as she returned to her walk.
High in the sky, Rainbow Dash spiraled into another manuever, the name of which she had yet to decide on. While doing so, she caught a glimpse of the orange pony below staring up in her direction. Rainbow smirked; she often noticed Applejack watching whenever she was practicing in the air over the apple orchard. The price of being so awesome, she thought to herself. When the pony below averted her gaze and began to move, Rainbow angled herself toward the ground and entered a dive.
"You better watch out!"
The warning -- nopony seems to ever react appropriately -- caused Applejack to stop and face the direction it had arrived from. No sooner had she turned around than a blue-and-rainbow blur rushed past, nearly knocking the farmer to the ground. Applejack muttered under her breath as her mane whipped momentarily in the sudden gust of wind, she reflexively reaching to steady her hat which had, as she took a second to register, disappeared.
She turned around to shout and nearly bumped muzzles with her assailant. Applejack's heart skipped a beat as she recoiled, taking the sight in after a moment. Rainbow Dash hovered before her with a devilish grin plastered all over her face. Perched atop the pegasus's head, comically lopsided, was a brown Stetson. Applejack felt a sudden loss of words, so she reached to reclaim her hat and place it back on her own head while she sorted her thoughts.
Clearing her throat, Applejack spoke. "While it's mighty nice of ya ta drop in, Rainbow, could ya stop stealin' mah hat?" Rainbow Dash's visits in the open fields often began with this ritual-of-sorts. While she thought it was kind of cute the first few times, Applejack had slowly grown weary of the same antics from her pegasus friend. Actually, it seemed as if Rainbow had picked up on the growing irritation and continued to abscond with her Stetson to spite her.
Rainbow laughed and stuck her tongue out playfully. "But it's so funny to see you get worked up over it!" Yep, just to spite her. But in spite of herself, Applejack found she couldn't get too annoyed whenever it happened. "Anyway, thought I'd take a break from all my hard work to see what's up."
Applejack started around the pegasus and silently beckoned she follow with a toss of her head. Rainbow flapped her wings just enough to keep pace with the farmpony. As they began to move, Applejack said, "S'almost time fer the harvest, you know. We was hopin' ya'd be able to help out again this year." She stopped to sweep a hoof before her, indicating the trees, before continuing forward. "Our yield's been gettin' higher 'n higher every year, and now we're definitely gonna need a few extra hooves to buck all these apples."
"Are you kidding?" Rainbow exclaimed. "Heck yeah, I'll be there! I haven't forgotten what happened the other year." Rainbow spoke, of course, of the year that Applejack's older brother, Big Macintosh, injured himself and was unable to assist with the harvest. Applejack had spent days on end stubbornly attempting to buck the fields herself, barely getting any sleep and working herself to the point of total exhaustion. It wasn't until she physically, and nearly mentally, collapsed from the strain that she accepted the assistance of her friends.
Applejack smiled, for she truly had the best friends a pony could ask for. The two walked, and hovered, in silence for a while, one inspecting the trees with a keen eye and the other simply looking at them. Once or twice, Applejack caught herself staring idly at her companion. She shook her head and returned to examining the trees. There was just... something about Rainbow that she couldn't put her hoof on. As she tried to push the thought out of her head, Rainbow Dash flew ahead of her.
"Well, not that I don't find wandering aimlessly around a bunch of trees thrilling," she said, sarcasm dripping off the end of her words, "I'm gonna get back to work." She turned and gave a mock salute before dashing upwards into the sky. Applejack watched until the pegasus was out of view, then sighed.
She couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on just before Rainbow left. For some reason, she just wanted to see the pegasus, to know she was there. Applejack was mighty glad that she'd gotten her friend to help with the harvest. Her other four pals had already agreed to lend a hoof, as always. Even Rarity, which still surprised Applejack every time, even though she ought to have known better by now. Old habits die hard, she supposed.
But Rainbow... for some reason, that pegasus... No, Applejack shook her head. It's anything but that. She simply envied her friend's ability to soar. If she had wings of her own, she could experience the rush of air, the speed, zipping alongside--
Applejack buried her face in a hoof. The only thing thinking was doing right now was scrambling her thoughts further. She needed to set them aside and get back to work. Perhaps after returning home, she could give these... disturbing thoughts some attention and sort them out. With an exasperated sigh, the earth pony marched onward through the fields on the seemingly never-ending quality inspection.