The Season's Upon Us

by flutterdash1

Preparations

The Season’s Upon Us
~*~*~

Winter was Rainbow Dash's favorite season of the year. The weather was more predictable, she rarely had to spend a day clearing clouds since they were more or less necessary to keep the weather cool, the air was always crisp and refreshing and, more recently, she could spend all the time in the world with her marefriend, Applejack. The farm required much less work over winter between harvests so the farmer had much more time to spend together.

Today she was planning to take Applejack ice skating down by Clover Pond and she was prepared to help with any household chores the blonde mare needed to take care of beforehand. The sooner they were out of the house the better, in Rainbow Dash's opinion. The Cutie Mark Crusaders took advantage of their winter break and badgered her whenever they saw her to help them on their mission. Today she'd given them the slip by sending them off to try making igloos then dashing into the cloud layer over Ponyville.

Once at the farmhouse, Rainbow Dash knocked on the brown wood door once and was instantly greeted by a rather miffed large red stallion. He wasn't looking at Rainbow Dash though, he was looking over his shoulder and huffing.

"Ah said I'll get it!" he shouted, turning and almost colliding into Rainbow Dash. "Oh, sorry there Rainbow Dash," he said to the startled pegasus.

"Heh, no problem Mac," Rainbow Dash said, nearly ready to jump to the side had he not seen her.

"Hey ahm glad yer here," Big Mac said as he walked by her, "Git in there and calm AJ down a bit, will ya?"

"Uh, sure," Rainbow Dash said with a level of confusion, "Calm her down from what, exactly?"

"She's planin' the family Hearth's Warming Day party," Big Mac said, "And she's gettin on mah nerves with it."

"Ah, gotcha," Rainbow Dash said with a wink. She knew Applejack could get quite hectic when it came to planning a big event. The day to day operations of the farm she could handle with no issue whatsoever, but when she's trying to plan something big she ended up displaying her control issues. The fiasco at her last family reunion was evidence enough of that, as well as Applejack's attempt to throw a surprise party for Dash without resorting to asking Pinkie Pie for some pointers.

Rainbow Dash walked into the Apple Family house and looked around. Hearth's Warming decorations were strewn about in random, haphazard piles and Granny Smith was in her rocking chair with a pair of knitting needles looking like she was trying to knit a massive stocking made of stringed lights.

"Hey Granny Smith," Rainbow Dash said, "Whatcha up to?"

"Ahm tryin’ ter untangle these fangled lights," she said while sticking her tongue out through her wrinkled lips in concentration, "Applejack's in the dinnin' room makin' all the plans. And if ya see Applebloom tell 'er ah need 'er to help clean out the chimney for Santa Hooves." She chuckled a little.

Rainbow Dash chuckled also while nodding. "Alright, no problem," she said, walking around through the living room then into the adjoining dining room where Applejack was staring down at a list on the table, her hat placed to one side.

Rainbow Dash walked up behind her and took her hat from the table, putting it on her own head and tossing her foreleg around Applejack's shoulders.

"Whatcha dooooooin?" She asked in a playful tone.

"Ahm workin," Applejack answered shortly, a bit terse, and elbowed Rainbow Dash aside, "And ah don't need you interruptin' me."

"Jeez, relax AJ," Rainbow Dash said while rubbing her side. "I think you need to let someone else take care of this and rel-"

"Granny's too old and Mac's too lazy," Applejack argued without looking away from the long checklist she had on the table, occasionally writing some note in a margin, "And Applebloom's too young."

"Hey, you told me about your family reunion," Rainbow Dash said, "You told me yourself that you were out of control."

"Ah know," Applejack said, "That's why ahm keepin' track of everythin' and runnin' it by Granny and Mac first. Actually, could you take a look-"

"Nope," Rainbow Dash said, taking the hat off and putting it back on Applejack's head, "You and I are going ice skating."

"Ah can't Dashie," Applejack said with an annoyed sigh, "Ah need-"

"To chillax," Rainbow interrupted, lowering her head and pressing it against Applejack's shoulder, pushing her away from the table, "You and I are going out right now, and stop fighting."

"Dash, really, this ain't funny."

"I'm not laughing," Rainbow Dash said, but she was grinning ear to ear at how much Applejack was resisting her.

"Granny!" Applejack called when Rainbow Dash shoved her out into the living room where the old green mare was still fiddling with the lights, "Tell Dash here that ahm far too busy plannin' this shindig to go ice skatin'."

"Ice skating sounds like a lovely idear," Granny Smith said in an absent minded way while working a long line of lights loose from the massive conglomeration in the middle, "Have fun you two!"

"Haha!" Rainbow Dash laughed triumphantly while still pushing Applejack towards the door. By the time they were outside Applejack had started moving of her own accord so Rainbow Dash could walk next to her rather than shove her. The couple headed across the thin layer of snow on the ground to the barn where their ice skates were. Retrieving them, they carried their skates by tying the laces together and hanging them around their necks as they walked out to the pond.

“Sorry ah was bein’ so rude,” Applejack said as they walked under one of the barren apple trees, “Ahm just-” she was cut off as a clump of snow fell off of a branch and landed on her hat. “What the hay?” Rainbow Dash had jumped up and shook the branch to cause the snow to fall and now laughed beside her.

“Told ya you needed to cool down.” she said.

“Heheheh,” Applejack laughed, taking off her hat and shaking the snow from it, “Ah guess ah deserved that, but that’s you’re freebie for the day. Try that again and ah’ll get ya back.”

“Heheheh” Rainbow Dash giggled in return, “Fine, fine, lets save our energy for the ice.”

“Ah here that,” Applejack said, kissing Rainbow Dash on the cheek as they walked. Rainbow blushed while smiling and extended her wing to rest it across Applejack’s back. Applejack returned the affection by resting her head against Rainbow Dash’s neck. “Ahh, this is perty nice.”

“We’re not even at the pond yet,” Rainbow Dash said with a short laugh. She bit the brim of Applejack’s hat and flipped it up into the air to have it land on her own head, letting Applejack relax against her a little easier while they walked.

“Don’t need to be. Ahm just enjoyin’ you.” Applejack said. Rainbow Dash’s cheeks reddened again. That was one competition she always lost to Applejack; saying sweet things. Somehow the blonde mare always knew how to top anything Rainbow Dash tried to do or say.

At the pond, Applejack and Rainbow Dash helped each other put on their ice skates and then they moved out onto the frozen water. Applejack had more experience with the activity and could skate rather well. Rainbow Dash relied heavily on her wings to help her balance, accelerate, and slow herself down. She also went airborne a few times to prevent herself from falling over her own hooves. Still, it was a learning experience, and Rainbow Dash was fine with learning something new and appearing pretty bad at it so long as the the number of witnesses was Applejack and nopony else.

“So why are you stressing so much over a Hearth’s Warming Day party?” Rainbow Dash asked while using her wings to push herself in a straight line and getting ready to try to do a U-turn. “Didn’t you learn your lesson?”

“Yah just don’t get mah family,” Applejack said as she moved around Rainbow Dash, literally skating circles around her. “Ah may have gone a lil’ overboard at mah family reunion last year, but mah family’s really rowdy. Ah gotta keep everyone entertained ya know. Ain’t nothin’ worse than a bored Apple. They get crayzeh.”

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, just letting her momentum keep her moving forward in a straight line. “If you think your family is crazy, you should come meet mine.”

This comment cause Applejack to freeze up for a moment and blink, a look of bewilderment dawning on her face. “Hey Dash...why ain’t ah ever met your family?” she asked. Now Rainbow Dash seemed to freeze in place, though it was difficult to tell as she had barely moved any muscle from her neck down since setting hoof on the ice.

“Well uh...” Rainbow said, “They’re all up in Vanhoover and-”

“Vanhoover?” Applejack asked, “Yer Caneighdian?” A grin formed on her face and she started to chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Rainbow Dash asked in a defensive manner, squinting slightly at Applejack in an almost confrontational way. The two shared that kind of look on a daily basis though, so while one of their other friends might have started to backpedal and calm Dash down, Applejack felt the urge to poke the hornet’s nest.

“Oh nothin’.” Applejack said. She grinned mischievously and then started to talk in an exaggerated Caneighdian accent, “Why not tell me aboot your family then, eh? I don’t even know your parent’s names or if you have any brothers or sisters. I’m very interested in your life Dashie don’tcha know?”

“Shut the hay up!” Rainbow Dash yelled, jumping at Applejack. The experienced ice skater nimbly slid to one side and the pegasus missed her completely, hitting the ice and sliding the remaining distance across the pond and into a small bank of snow.

Applejack burst out laughing, laying on the ice and clutching her sides. Rainbow Dash pushed herself free of the snow and shook her head to get cold substance out of her mane. She muttered under her breath while rubbing her head, turning around to glare at her laughing marefriend. The frown started to quiver and twist upwards. She began to chuckle, and soon she was sitting in the snow laughing as much as Applejack.

Applejack came off of the frozen water and joined Rainbow Dash, who was standing up and wiping more snow off of her coat. They headed back to the farm part way, but once they came to the main dirt road leading to Sweet Apple Acres they turned the other direction and made their way to Ponyville. As they walked, Dash explained that she was not Caneighdian but that her family had moved from Cloudsdale up to Vanhoover shortly after Dash had graduated the Flight Academy. She had stayed behind to follow her dream to join the Wonderbolts.

“Since you mentioned it,” Rainbow Dash said during the walk, looking down a bit at the ground, “I, uh, well, I was planning to actually go see my family this Hearthswarming Eve. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Mind?” Applejack asked.

“Well I mean,” Dash cut in quickly, “I see your family a lot, a-and don’t get me wrong; I love them. Your family is great. I just don’t get to see mine that much. Once every few years, and this year I told them I would be-”

“Ah don’t mind one bit!” Applejack said happily, “Hay, I’ll come with ya! You can introduce me to yer parents and ah can finally get to meet mah future in-laws.”

“Yeah...wait what?” Rainbow asked.

“Ah wanna go too.” Applejack said.

“But...what about your family?” Rainbow asked, “You’ve spent all this time setting up and-”

“Pff,” Applejack said, waving her hoof, “All the hard stuff is done. Mac ‘n Granny Smith can handle the rest. Besides, ah see most of mah family three or four times a year. Ah live with mah closest family. You ought to have nothin’ keepin’ ya from yers, and ah wanna get to know them ponies who made ya who ya are. Hehehe, must be one awesome family if y’all are the result, oh great and fabulous and awesome Rainbow Dash.”

“Really AJ,” Rainbow said, “I don’t want to make you miss out on-”

“It ain’t nothin’.” Applejack said, “Quit bein’ silly. Ah can’t wait to meet yer family. Ahm sure we’ll all get along like apples and fritters.”

“Uh...heheh..yeah...” Rainbow Dash said nervously, “I’ll...uh... write them and..uh... let them know you’ll be coming too.”

Comments

[Theater Critic]

[Lokimen]

2801834
i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r778/Lokimen/forgetthingsididntevenknow_zpsc070bc43.png

[Salad king]

I shall be keeping an eye on this

[appledashluv]

...5 bucks Rainbow's family's homophobic or something....

Hopefully they're just nuts

[flutterdash1]

2802502
Great, now I gotta rewrite the 3k words I already wrote on that subject or I'll owe you money =(

(totally kidding xD I never rewrite /o/ ))

[appledashluv]

2802588
Hah, I'll take the homophobic parents for 5 bucks please

[flutterdash1]

2802601

[LeopardCay]

Something tells me that her parent's ain't gonna like RD following the rainbow...

[appledash348]

I geuss that rainbows parents aren't going to like her dating a mare:)

[keam]

2868027
I think your dame dright about that! + that it's seems very likely that it is like with Rarity and Pinkie Pie, that her family is the opposit of what she is!

[Magatsu Orpheus]

2802601
But sir, with tax, that's $5.69.

[randome284]

Looking good so far! I wonder why Dash really doesn't want AJ to meet her parents...