Rainbow Dash lives an exciting life and is swiftly becoming the most daring, awesome pegasus in all of Equestria. She would gladly give it all up, though, just to confess her love to Applejack.
"Sugarcube, you sure have been goin' at it for quite some time," Applejack said, leaning forward in the rider's seat. "How 'bout stoppin' so I can bear the load for a while?"
"It's almost nighttime, AJ," Rainbow Dash's voice cracked as she drew the wagon down a gradual incline. Trees with dark green canopies stretched on either side of the road. Somewhere in the distance, a grassy pasture loomed, but there was no chance of reaching it before the sun fell completely. "If you want, you can pull it in the morning, ya dig? You'll have rested a whole night and eaten breakfast n'stuff."
"She's got a point, AJ!" Stu Leaves smiled aside. "You do your best work in the morning."
"Stu, just 'cuz I live on a farm doesn't mean I'm married to the dawn."
"You'd make a prettier bride then I would. Heheheh..."
Rainbow rolled her eyes so hard they almost fell out of her skull.
Applejack sighed through a dull smile. "Stu, has anypony ever told you that you've got a sense of humor befittin' a cactus pretendin' to be a Hearth's Warming tree?"
"Ahhhh..." He winked. "So that's why it got so quiet you could hear a pin drop." He chuckled at himself. "Get it? Like cactus needles?"
Applejack groaned.
Rainbow Dash blinked into the darkening woods surrounding them. "I wonder if there are timberwolves who could eat us overnight..."
"What was that, Rainbow Dash?"
"Erm..." The mare's ears twitched as she continued pulling the wagon downhill. "H-How do we plan about camping overnight?"
"Shucks, that's right! I guess we've never camped together before, have we?"
"Why?" Stu Leaves blinked. "Should you have?"
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow bowed her blushing face. "What he said."
"Well, reckon it's really simple. We need to grab some dry sticks for the fireplace, then set the sleeping bags evenly apart, preferrably with the wagon between us and the road, so that anypony pullin' a carriage down the path overnight has less of a chance of runnin' over us by accident."
"How many long-distance trips do you do, Applejack?" Stu asked.
"Heh... why, shoot, I'm always deliverin' apples and apple pies left and right. These days, Big Mac usually makes the really long trips, seein' as he's good at haulin' the goods with them muscles of his n'all."
"When was the last time you made a trip like this?"
"Well, can't rightly remember. This meetin' with Shindig down in Orlandoats is mighty special." Applejack tapped her chin. "Come to think of it, I ain't even sure I've been on a trip this long! Reckon it's somethin' of a record!"
"Heh... fancy that!" Stu smiled. "Well, I'm honored to be sharing the trip with a mare such as yourself."
"Eh... stop makin' such a big fuss."
"No fuss! Just saying."
"Saying what, exactly?"
"AHEM." Rainbow Dash glanced back. "Shouldn't we—like—make a stop soon?"
"What? Are yer legs finally gettin' tired?" Applejack smirked wryly. "Darlin', I done told you—"
"No no no... I mean..." Rainbow glanced ahead, fidgeting slightly in mid-trot. "It's gonna get super dark soon, right? So... maybe we should stop so I can get an early start on grabbing fire wood while there's still light out. It'd be really sucky to run around, scrambling for dry sticks when it's already nighttime."
"She's got a point there, Applejack," Stu said. "It'd be a real shame to freeze to death on the first night of travel." He chuckled.
"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she muttered to herself. "A real shame..."
"Pffft. Y'all are dramatizin'." Applejack nevertheless smirked. "Whatever. I know when I'm bein' outvoted. Rainbow? How about rollin' us onto the grass the first moment you see a clearing."
"Yeah, I can do that," Rainbow said. "Then I'll find some firewood lightning quick! Don't you worry!"
"Heh... who's worryin', sugarcube? We'll be fine." Applejack winked. "I know you can hold yer own."
Rainbow glanced back, eyes glistening. "Really?"
She hit a gopher hole in the road, jostling the whole wagon.
"Gaah!" Stu Leaves gripped his seat, wincing. "Watch it!"
"Sorry!" Rainbow looked ahead, steadying her descent down the hill. "Sorrysorrysorry!"
"It's alright, darlin'! It was just a bump!" Applejack waved a hoof. "Calm down! Land's sakes! Yer more nervous than a mouse at a cat convention!"
"I just..." Rainbow gulped. "I-I just don't want to screw things up. That's all."
"Since when?"
"Erm... uhhhhh..." Rainbow started to sweat.
"Uhm... maybe this is the worst time to ask this, but..." Stu gulped. "How exactly will we go about starting a fire."
"Land's sakes..." Applejack rolled her eyes. "You really were born on a cloud, weren't you?" She winced briefly and smiled at Rainbow. "Erm... no offense, sugarcube."
"Heh..." Rainbow smirked, breathing a bit easier. "None taken."
"I-I'm not entirely clueless!" Stu stammered. "I've read up on it since showing up in Ponyville! You grab some dry grass and moss, plant it in the center of the wood pile, and then you rub a stick against it really fast until you produce sparks—"
"Or..." Applejack smirked, reclining lazily in her seat. "You use a lighter." She pointed at the wagon. "Like one of the three I brought with us."
Stu blinked... then blinked again. "Oh."
"Heheheheh..." Applejack chuckled. "You silly pegasi believe that earth ponies are the last to think of everything."
"There you go again! Applejack, do you ever see me pointing hooves at somepony's race?"
"Nope. Maybe it should. It'd give yer personality a pinch more flavor, ya silly varmint."
Stu glanced down at his squirming hooves, pouting. "I'm flavorable..."
"Hmmm. No doubt." Applejack pointed. "Would ya be useful and grab one of them lighters while it's light out?"
"Sure thing, Applejack!" Stu flapped his wings and hopped into the back. "Which bag?"
"Small one. Red canvas."
"Be more specific. I'm color blind to red."
Applejack's jaw dropped as she looked back. "Are ya serious?"
"Snkkkt—No! I'm only pulling your leg! Hahahah!"
Applejack took her hat off and gave his flank a swat. "Ya goof!" Suddenly, her expression blanched, and she quick-as-lightning slapped the hat back on. Composing herself, she exhaled through a frustrated smirk. "I was gonna say! What didja think you were buckin' off the orchards all this time?! Pomegranates?!"
"Well, they were too light to be bowling balls!"
"Heheheh... I swear, Stu, I dun get you sometimes."
Rainbow sighed to herself. "You ain't alone, sister." Rainbow Dash craned her neck. "Hey AJ! I think I see a clearing up ahead!"
"Well, what are you waitin' for?"
"Erm... I was just..."
"I ain't no Equestrian Princess! If you think it's a good place for a campsite, then I trust yer judgment!"
"Right... sure thing..." Rainbow Dash turned the wagon off the dirt path.
"Whoah! Hold on just a sec—" Stu flailed as one jerk after another knocked him onto his side. "Ooof!" He rolled against the tarp-covered cider jars in the back.
Rainbow smirked to herself. "... ... ...mind the bumps."
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Raintroll Dash.
Meep.
There's that hat thing again... curioser still.
AJ... if you're doing... what I think you're doing... right now... in front of Rainbow...
... don't.
EDIT: Oh, and Rainbow? You have my permission to behave like an insufferable jackass to Stu. Go for it. I'll look the other way.
5311803 "Again"? What was the other time? Brain's fuzzy right now...
[curiousity intensifies]
5311873
I think it's happened a couple times now, though most were a couple hundred chapters ago, give or take.
Basically just every time Applejack's hat is out of her possession for more than a moment, or whenever it's mistreated at all, she acts like she's seen a ghost.
Not that hat significance is any new thing when it comes to Applejack in fanfic, but still. Knowing the author, it'll lead to something horrible. :P
5311899
[Agreement intensifies]
What's in the hat? A picture? A feather?
Rainbow's feather?
I'm curious!!!
The hat belonged to her mum or dad so it's got a lot of sentimental value to applejack
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Heh. Owned.
The hat again. I try not to get too curious, because it'll probably be 700 more chapters before we learn what's in it. But hope springs eternal, amirite? Personally, I like the "blue feather" theory.
meiji.com.sg/pictures/Image/PlainCracker930gLowres.jpg
It's OK to wish a character to die for our ship if the story is all about that ship and that character is an OC.
5314716 So, by that logic, he was born to die for our amusement?
...I can accept this.
5311823
Hey, maybe there's something under the hat, like an adorable undersized unicorn horn that also is being hid by a long blonde mane?
Might have nothing to do with that particular hat. :p
Could you please fall over and die, Stu?
Or a Rainbow Dash at a brony convention.