Orange and Cyan

by PaperBack

Past Crushes, and Loves

Rainbow Dash sighed and leaned back in her chair, “ That was the best french toast I’ve ever had.”

“Yes, darling, it was absolutely devine. I think Fluttershy may have some competition for who has the best waffles.” Rarity chimed in.

“Ah’ll say,” Applejack said taking a sip from the coffee mug she held in her hoof, “ and the coffee is really good too. Ah never thought ta put cinnamon and nutmeg in with the grounds. Ah’ll have ta try that at home sometime.”

“Well thank you, I’m sure Cast Iron thanks you too.” PaperBack said smiling at her guests

“Speaking of,” Twilight said, “ Where is he? I would like to have thanked him for a fantastic dinner last night.” the others nodded, agreeing with what she said

PaperBack looked at the six ponies gathered around her kitchen table, “ Well he opens the PaperBack Bakery everyday, then at noon he goes to the steakhouse for the rest of the day.”

“He’s a hard workin stallion, Ah can respect that.” AJ smiled back at their host

“Thank you Applejack, I’ll be sure to tell him that. Now are you girls ready to get going?

Twilight looked around at her friends who all nodded in unison,” I guess we are, PaperBack.”

“Great, I’ll go and get a map then we can leave.”

Rarity turned to look RD square in the eye, “ So Rainbow Dash,” she said eyeing the pegasus suspiciously, “ Why were you sleeping with Applejack?” those words caught the attention of the four others around the table.

Rainbow Dash stopped mid-bite letting the piece of toast she had in her hoof fall onto the plate below. She looked at the white unicorn, a slight blush rising into her cheeks,” Um…. W-why do you ask, Rarity. We weren’t doing anything weird.” she looked at AJ who nodded in confirmation, ” I… was just… uncomfortable sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, is all.”

“Oh...I thought you said that you were scared of the lightning from the storm last night.” Fluttershy said, “ Isn’t that what you, Applejack and I talked about last night, at least I was scared... that’s why I came to talk to you.”

“Alright I found the map!” PaperBack said walking into the kitchen making everypony almost jump out of their skin, “ Is everypony ready for walking?”

They all laughed and nodded getting up from their chairs and following their host to the front door and down the slightly damp sidewalk to the edge of town.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Okay…” PaperBack said looking down at the map she held in her hoof, “ I think we need to follow Pine Creek...” she looked down at the map again, her brow furrowed, “ Which is… thiiiiiiss oooooonnnee?” she asked out loud looking at the creek that was on the left, “Yes we need to follow the one on the left, Come on y’all.” They all walked up the mountainside in silence, with the exception of the creek they were following babbling along beside them.

After about an hour and a half of walking the group of mares came to where the creek came out of the mountain. They stopped to rest and have a bit of lunch.

As they were laying out a blanket and fishing out the food Cast Iron so kindly prepared for them, Rarity asked, “ PaperBack if you don’t mind my asking how did you and Cast Iron meat? Since you two seem to come from very different places.”

“Rarity!” Twilight yelled at her, “ You just don’t ask somepony that!”

PaperBack looked at the alicorn, “ It’s alright Twilight, Cast Iron and I get asked that quite a bit.” she turned to Rarity, “ Cast and I met at my first ever book release, this was when I still lived in Billings. When I first saw him walk in to the store where I was having the signing he glanced over at the table, like all the other ponies that walked in, just to see what the book was. Then after that first sighting he kept coming back into my line of sight for what seemed like an hour or so, until he finally worked up some sort of courage and walked up to the table with a copy of my book held in the white aura of his magic, but instead of asking me to sign it he set it down in front of me and walked away. I just stared at him as he walked out of the bookstore in confusion. So I turned to the book he had set in front of me and opened up the front cover to read,

‘Would you like to have coffee sometime? If so meet me at Off the Leaf at eleven tomorrow.

“And simply out of curiosity I went to the coffee shop and sure enough he was there, and much more confident than he had been the night before, because he walked right up to me and introduced himself asked if I wanted some coffee and, to make a long story short, we spent the rest of the day sitting and talking, until they had to close the shop. So needless to say we started dating after that and after about a year and a half of dating he finally proposed, not long after we were married we moved to Maresoula where he opened a brewery, where he made the best beer I have ever had to this day.”

Rarity staring at her faintly green with envy, “ I hope my husband and I meet like you and Cast Iron did. That would be just marvelous… Ahhh I can just picture it now.” she said as she started drifting off into the recesses of her fantasies.

After lunch was done and over with the seven mares continued their walk to find this cave that nopony can seem to find.

“... and that’s how Twilight defeated The Ursa Minor!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed

“Wow,” commented PaperBack turning to Twilight, “ You never told me you took on an Ursa Minor when I visited you.”

The alicorn smiled meekly, “ I was going to... eventually”

“HEY! LOOK OVER THERE!” shouted Pinkie Pie, “ Is that the cave Cast Iron was talking about?” she pointed a hoof to a hole in the side of the mountain.

PaperBack looked at the entrance and then to the map, where there was a vague description of what the surroundings of the cave entrance looked like, “ Okay there is the fallen tree with the boulder in the middle of the trunk. I think this is the place.” she said folding the map and putting it into her saddlebags she set on the ground.

“Well why don’t we set up camp and do a little bit of exploring.” Twilight said setting down her own saddlebags.

Applejack and the others nodded in agreement, “ Ah say some of us should take a look in that cave, so we know what we’re up against.”

“Okay,” Twilight agreed, “ Rainbow Dash why don’t you and Applejack go and see if you can find any clues to where the statue is.”

“Okay, come on AJ!” and in the blink of an eye she took off toward the entrance of the cave with Applejack following close behind her.

Landing at the threshold of the cold, dark cave entrance the faint sound of dripping water could be heard. Rainbow turned to see her orange friend arriving at her side.

“Well…. are ya gonna go in er what?” asked the farm pony

The light blue pegasus was taken aback by what her friend had just said, “Pffft, Yeah I’m going in, I just wanted to wait for you.” she lightly punched AJ in the shoulder playfully.

“Alright then,” she said returning the gesture, “ You first.”

“Ohhh No you first” she said nudging AJ forward.

AJ sighed, “Fahne, Ah’ll go first.” and she took her first step into the cave.

“HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS GOING?!” yelled Pinkie, “ CAN I COME!”

She no sooner said that she received an answer, but not from her friends. The sound of shifting, and falling rocks was her answer. AJ and RD looked above them to see small rocks and, sure enough, huge boulders sliding toward, and falling to the ground around and on them.

Shock and horror filled their eyes as Applejack shouted to Rainbow, “ QUICK GET INSIDE!” as the two mares ran for cover the cave provided, The shouts and screams of the others could not be heard over the rocks and other debris crashing to the ground blocking off access to the cave. They all took cover until all that could be heard was the sound of the wind through the swaying tree tops.

Once on their hooves they rushed over to where the cave entrance used to be.

“ARE YOU GUYS OKAY! APPLEJACK, RAINBOW DASH! CAN YOU HEAR ME!” Twilight screamed desperately into the pile of rubble separating her from her friends.

Applejack was lying on her side covering her face with her hooves heard the sound of Twilights voice. Opening her eyes she couldn’t see anything, not even her own hoof in front of her face.

Sitting back of her haunches she shouted back to Twilight, “ YEAH, AH’M FAHNE. THOUGH AH DON’T KNOW ABOUT RAINBOW. AH CAN’T SEE A DERN THING.”

“I’M FINE TOO, TWILIGHT!” she shouted elighting an audible scream from AJ.

The two trapped mares heard Twilight shout back, “ GOOD I’M GLAD YOU TWO ARE OKAY! NOW I’M GOING TO CAST A LIGHT SPELL ON BOTH OF YOU, SO YOU CAN SEE!” before she finished her sentence AJ and RD were enveloped in a faint purple aura and they began to glow with light.

Now they could see the two trapped mares took time to look at their surroundings. It was then that Applejack noticed Rainbow Dashes wing.

“RD, what happened to yer wing!?”

“Huh,” said the pegasus looking at her wing twisted at an odd angle

“ARE YOU GUYS HURT IN ANY WAY?” PaperBack shouted at them, to which Aj answered.

“YEAH, RAINBOW HAS A BROKEN WING, AND AH DON’T SEE ANYTHIN’ AH CAN USE TA PATCH IT UP.”

The sound of rocks shifting and being moved echoed throughout the cave walls as a small beam of daylight punctured the blackness that surrounded them. “Applejack, can you hear me?” asked a disembodied PaperBack.

“Yeah Ah can hear ya,” she replied

“Good, Now I need you to come over here and take this.” she said as Applejack walked over to the small beam of daylight, “ Here is an ACE wrap and some safety pins are tucked inside for Rainbows wing. Now here’s the plan, on the opposite side of the mountain there is another way into this cave, at least according to the park ranger Cast Iron talked to, okay?”

“Why don’t y’all try and dig us out through here?” she asked

“Because every time we move a rock or attempt to move a boulder more of the mountainside comes sliding down, we had a hard enough time making this hole. Now here’s a compass just go west until you find the other entrance. Also if you guys should get there before we do, wait there, because we need to go and get Cast Iron and a few other ponies to find the other side.”

“Alright, but y’all don’t take ferever, ya hear.” Applejack shouted through the small the others made.

“Heard!” was PaperBacks reply.

Apple jack stared at the small hole filled with daylight, then to the compass and the ACE wrap in her hooves, as Rainbow Dash walked up to her, “So….looks like we’re stuck together for a while.”

Applejack turned to look her friend in the face, more importantly her eyes, her big gorgeous ruby-like magenta eyes that, if she wasn’t careful she could get lost in and never return, “ I guess y’all heard that huh,”

“Yeah... I did, but it’s not all bad while you were talking to PaperBack I took a look around the cave and look what I found.” Rainbow held up a pair of tan saddlebags with an orange apple for the buckle that kept the contents from falling out.

Applejack looked at the bags dumbstruck, “ Mah saddlebags!” she exclaimed taking them from the light blue hoof they were held in, she opened them up to look at the contents, “ Well Ah’ve got some good news.” she said turning her head up toward the pegasus, who looked at her curiously.

“What?”

“We don’t have to worry about food anymore.”

A broad smile nearly split her face in two, “ Well that is good news.” she said looking up from the saddlebags to see AJ staring at her, a small blush rising in her cheeks, Rainbow waved a hoof in front of her friends face trying to get her attention.

‘Rainbow looks so cute when she smiles. Ah would do anything ta keep it there.’ AJ thought to herself staring at her pegasus friend, only to have her thoughts interrupted by a blue hoof invading her vision.

“Youhoo AJ, anypony home?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head, “Sorry Ah was somewhere else. Why don’t Ah wrap up yer wing, then we’ll git goin’?” AJ said smiling at her friend.

Rainbow Dash sat down in front of her friend, “ Alright, AJ I should ask have you ever bandaged a--Ahhh!” Rainbow let out a yell of surprise as he felt her wing slide back into its socket, she collapsed to the floor giving a mixed sigh of pleasure and relief.

“There, “ AJ nodded at her handy work, “ Now this might hurt a little.” she said as she started straightening out Rainbows wing starting close to her body she grabbed the tip of the feathery appendage between her teeth, being careful not to bite down too hard, and pulled slowly. After pulling for only a second Rainbow moved yanking her feathers out of AJ’s mouth, but one stayed behind

“Mmph… Fer Celestia's sake Rainbow Could ya hold still?” AJ she said through the feather still in her mouth.

“...Sorry AJ...it’s just that I’m not use to having ponies touch my wings.” The rainbow maned mare said sheepishly

AJ took the feather out of her mouth at the same time she took off her stetson, she put the long light blue feather in a loop in the band that connected the head portion of the hat to the brim, “ Well to answer yer question, yes Ah have taken care of wings before, but Ah’ll tell ya about that later. Now hold still.” she said as she gently gripped the feathers in her teeth again,

Rainbow Dash winced, not daring to move a single muscle as she lay on the cold, hard stone floor of the cave, expecting pain from some other dimension to rip its way through her wing… but nothing happened. The only sensation was relief mixed with pleasure as she felt a satisfying *CRACK* as her wing was now straight again.

Applejack heard two sounds, the first being the crack of the joints being relieved of their stress, and the second was a small moan, and shudder from the pegasus she was tending to. She then moved to sit beside Rainbows face as she placed her hooves at the base of the feathered limb on either side and slowly moved them back and forth messaging the residual stiffness in the muscle elighting more small moans from the cyan mare.

She now moved onto the feathers themselves fanning them all out, which was easier now that both of her wings were sticking straight up in the air. Gingerly gripping each feather, she moved it until it was in line with the one next to it, and they all were facing the same direction, with the exception of a hole one feather was missing, on the outside of the wing.

When Applejack had finished preening her friends wing, she walked around and sat in front of her as she slowly stood, her rainbow mane covering her eyes. “ Mmph,” was all AJ heard before she was pushed onto her back with RD standing on her chest, their faces just centimeters apart.

AJ could feel the breath from her friend, hot against the cold of the cave, a heavy blush rising up into her face, unsure at what the brash pegasus would do, she was at her mercy.

“...Uh...RD…” she said looking Rainbow in the eye

Rainbow blinked, returning to reality, realising where she was, “...Uh…” she said getting off AJ’s chest and sitting down on the ground in front of her trying to hide her own blush that was turning her light blue fur red, “...Sorry AJ… I don’t know what came over me.”

The farm mare got to her hooves, walked over and put a hoof on her friend's shoulder, “S’ fahne, sugarcube. I know how y’all felt when Ah was doin’ what Ah was doin’.”

Rainbow looked at her friend inquisitively, “Wait what?,”

AJ nodded, “Eeyup. Ah’ve never told anypony this, ‘cept mah family, but Ah dated a pegasus once.”

A look of shock spread itself across Dashes face, “You dated a pegasus! What was his name? Please oh please oh please tell me!”

AJ sighed, smiled and shook her head, “ Alright fahne, Ah’ll tell ya, on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You can’t go ‘round blabin’ it ta everypony...okay?”

“Okay, I won’t tell a single soul.”

“Pinkie Promise?”

“Pinkie Promise.” said the pegasus, going through the motions the promise entailed

“ Stormbreaker” she said shyly, preparing her self for the inevitable laughter from Rainbow Dash… which never came.

Rainbow just cocked her head to the side and asked, “ How did you get him, and more importantly why?”

“How ‘bout we start walking and Ah’ll tell ya the story of how we met.”

They started walking when Rainbow said, “ Okay so tell me how did you get that featherbrain, Stormbreaker?”

“Well it was about four and a half years ago now, after Ah had met y’all and before we started hangin’ out more, and Ah’ll also say you aren’t the first pegasus ta crash into one o’ mah apple trees. Ah remember it like it was yesterday…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Applejack was finishing up the row of trees she was pruning when she heard a loud thunk and a male voice say “AOW!”

Coiling up her lasso she went to see who had crashed into one of her beloved apple trees. Trotting over to where the voice emanated from, she came upon a light lilac stallion with a wheat colored mane and tail, dangling from a branch by both of his wings.

“Well howdy stranger.” she said

“Huh...what...who said that?” he said looking around frantically for the voice. He tilted his head back looking at an orange earth mare with golden blond hair, a stetson on her head and a coiled rope around her neck. He felt the heat rising in his face the longer he stared at her.

“Mah names Applejack.” she said kindly

“Uhhh…. Mine’s Stormbreaker.” he said

Applejack then uncoiled her lasso and tossed the loop around one of his legs, “Are ya able ta fold yer wings?” she asked the dangling stallion

“I-I don’t know I’ll try.” he said straining to fold his feathered appendages, “I don’t think I can .” he said sounding defeated.

Applejack chuckled and gave the rope a good hardy yank, springing the pegasus from his temporary prison. He landed hard on his hooves then collapsed to the ground, somewhat unable to move.

“Ugh.. Thanks,” he said getting to his hooves, “ Say you seem pretty handy with that rope, would ya mind giving me a hoof with my wings?” he asked

The farmer mare just stared at the pegasus flabbergasted that he asked her to help with his wings, “Sure,” was all she could say

“Okay first off have you ever touched a wing before?” Stormbreaker asked lying down on the ground beneath the tree he crashed into.

“No, not since Ah was a little filly horsein’ ‘round with one o’ mah cousins.” she said

“Oh...well have you given anypony a message?” was his next question

“Yeah plenty o’ times.” she answered

“Okay good. Now what I’m going to have you do is give both of my wings a message, then pull them out so the leading edge is at a ninety degree angle to my body, okay?”

she gave a quick nod and gripped the frist wing in her teeth.

“OUCH! Don’t bite down so hard.”

“Sorry.” she said trying again to straighten out the cramped wing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“...And after Ah preened his wings he said that Ah was the only pony ta preen his wings the way Ah did, then he asked me out. To which Ah said yes. We dated fer ‘bout four months after that. Ah ended it before the Running of the Leaves, because later Ah found out he was only after one thing, an’ it certainly wasn’t mah heart.” she huffed out furrowing her brow at the last few words of her story.

“What a horses ass,” Rainbow said, “ I would never just want one thing from anypony, no matter how good it felt, and it felt amazing by the way.”

AJ blushed and turned away so that Rainbow could see her face, “ Aww, thanks sugarcube. Glad ta see that mah time with him wasn’t all fer nothin’.”

“You’re welcome.” she said with nod

The orange mare turned to her friend, “ So… have you ever dated anypony?” she no sooner finished the question Rainbow’s face lit up as red as the apples on AJ’s flank. She saw this gave a small chuckle and said, “ Oops, sorry Ah asked.”

Dash shook her head, still blushing she said, “ No, I’ve never dated anypony… but I have had my fair share of crushes.” she finished sheepishly

AJ stifled a giggle and responded, “ Really who have ya had a crush on?”

The rainbow maned mare blushed even more furiously as she lowered her head, “Promise you won’t laugh at me?”

Looking her friend in the in the face she said with a straight one, “ Ah Pinkie Promise.” as the motions and phrase were said.

Dash sighed and braced herself for laughter, despite the promise, “...Cloud Kicker…” she said softly.

Blinking in surprise at the name she had heard, “...Uh...Wow RD Ah never pegged you fer swingin’ that way.”

Dash too blinked in surprise opening and closing her mouth, wanting to say something, but no sound came out. She just stared at her orange friend.

Applejack finally taking notice turned to the pegasus, “ What?” she said giving Rainbow a confused look

“Nothing.” she finally managed to say, “ I just expected you to laugh, or make fun of me for liking … but I like colts too!” she added quickly

“ Well, Ah am a little shocked, you likin’ mares and all, but Ah should be one ta talk. Ah know Ah’ve caught mahself starin’ at a mare or two. Just thinking if it would workout... Don’t you be gettin' any ideas, Rainbow Dash!” she quickly added noticing the small smirk on her face. “It’s not that Ah haven’t thought about fancyin' a mare, it’s just that we aren’t in the best of places ta be askin’ each other out an’ all.”

With that said they walked on in silence for a while, taking fleeting glances at each other, hoping the other would not notice, but when they did so happen to look at each other they both quickly looked away, their cheeks a light pink color.