"Tie!" Applejack declared a few minutes later, skidding to a stop at the entrance to the cafeteria, only slightly out-of-breath.
Rainbow frowned at her, her magenta eyes narrowing. "No way. I totally kicked your butt."
"No, we tied! Ah was watchin'."
"Yeah, so was I. And I won."
Applejack grunted with exasperation and threw her hands up in the air. "Alraght, how 'bout we jus' have a rematch later then?"
Dash mulled it over and then nodded slowly. "Sweet! I like it. So, truce?" She stuck out her hand, looking down at Applejack with her trademark cocky smirk.
"Fer now," Applejack agreed, shaking the proffered hand with a tiny smile of her own and simultaneously tucking her curling blond bangs behind her ear. "But yore goin' down, darlin'."
Rainbow laughed out loud as she turned around, heading over to the serving counter to pick up a tray. "You wish, AJ."
The farmgirl stared after Dash as she strode easily away, her calves rippling with smooth muscles - the muscles of a runner. Applejack's piercing green eyes took in the swish of her jagged polychromatic hair across her back, the gracefulness of her tall, lithe figure...
Applejack sighed unhappily and rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe the image of Rainbow's sarcastic self-centered smirky overconfident proud gorgeous face out of her mind. It didn't work. Rainbow Dash always lingered behind her eyes whenever she closed them. She was always there in the depths of Applejack's mind. Once you let Rainbow into your head, she never left...
She suddenly felt a tug on her messy ponytail and jumped, startled. A pair of hands slid over her eyes. "Guess who? Guess who guess who guess who?!"
Despite her inner turmoil, Applejack found a grin tugging at her lips. "Howdy, Pinkie."
"Awwwwwww..." Pinkie Pie removed her hands and slumped, seeming defeated. "How did you know it was me?"
"Jus' a hunch." Applejack gave Pinkie a friendly nudge with her elbow. "Can Ah help ya?"
"No, I just came to tell you where we're sitting! We're over there!" She zoomed away without a backwards glance or even a helpful point of her finger to clarify what 'over there' meant.
Applejack snorted to herself. "Gal's crazier 'n a cuckoo clock."
Fortunately, she had sharp eyes, and was able to spot her group of friends within a few seconds. Carefully clutching the brown paper lunch bag that she'd grabbed from her locker, she began to slip through the throngs of lunchgoers, her boots clicking authoritatively on the floor as she maneuvered around groups of chattering students.
"Hey there, y'all," she greeted her friends, plopping her lunch bag down on the table. She grabbed a chair with her left hand and spun it around so it faced away from the table. Then, in a practiced motion, she slid onto it, rested her elbows on its back, and swung her legs around to either side, in her trademark sitting position.
Suddenly she felt a flick to the rear brim of her hat, which promptly fell over her eyes. "Hey, cowgirl," a familiar scratchy voice teased.
Frowning, Applejack straightened her hat and glared up at the culprit. "Rainbow!"
Smirking, Dash slid into a chair across from Applejack, smoothly setting her lunch tray on the table. "What did you guys think of the lunch today?"
Applejack bit her lip, feeling a flash of wistfulness; if only Dash had sat next to her instead...
Rarity, sitting next to Applejack, disdainfully poked her pile of mashed potatoes with her fork. "Well, perhaps the food could have been a little more gourmet..."
"And healthy," Twilight, who was sitting opposite Rarity and next to Pinkie Pie, added darkly. "Did you know that people who consume a lot of baked or mashed potatoes can become an extra 1.3 pounds heavier every four years?"
Looking appalled, Rarity slid her mashed potatoes as far away from her as possible while Fluttershy, sitting on her left, patted her shoulder soothingly.
Applejack chuckled and opened her lunch bag, extracting a cucumber sandwich and a sugar cookie. But just as she was about to bite into her sandwich, Rainbow gasped dramatically, reached across the table, and batted it right out of her hands.
Applejack blinked in surprise as her lunch fell onto the table. "Dash - what -?"
"It doesn't have apples in it," she hissed, adopting a mock horrified expression.
She sighed and rolled her eyes as Rarity tittered and Pinkie Pie burst into raucous laughter. Not this again. Every time she ate something that didn't contain apples, Rainbow acted like it was the end of the world. Applejack narrowed her eyes at her and picked up her sandwich again, shielding it from Rainbow's advances. "Alright, first of all, we eat more'n jus' apples, ya know. We ain't made o' apples or anythin'. An' second, we grow more'n jus' apples too. An' Ah know ya know that, 'cause you've been showin' up at th' farm ev'ry weekend fer a good ten years now."
"I know, I know. I was just kidding around," Rainbow said, a devilish twinkle in her eye. Applejack felt her heart flutter as Dash's lips curled in a grin, and hastily looked away and bit into her sandwich, almost choking on it in her haste.
"Um, Pinkie Pie, where's your lunch?" Fluttershy asked softly.
Pinkie beamed and produced a lunchbox out of thin air. "Oh, I brought my lunch from home today! See?" She flipped it open and shook its contents out onto the table. "Two cupcakes, five chocolate candies, a sugar cookie, and a doughnut! Yummy!"
Rarity emitted a rather unladylike retching sound and buried her head in Fluttershy's shoulder. "Fluttershy, darling, if I faint now I entrust you with taking care of me." Fluttershy stroked her comfortingly but looked more than a little nervous. Rarity's fainting fits were quite terrifying.
Applejack was torn between laughing uproariously and giving Pinkie a good scolding. She finally opted for the latter, feeling that it was her duty to prevent all of her friends from experiencing death by baked goods. "Sugarcube, what were ya thinkin'? Ya can't eat all that. It ain't healthy." She fished another cucumber sandwich out of her bag and tossed it to Pinkie. "Here. Ah got an extra."
"Yeah, because you eat enough for a horse," Rainbow snorted, her magenta eyes gleaming wickedly.
Applejack crinkled her freckled nose and stamped on Rainbow's foot, intentionally using the hard heel of her boot. "Ah do not! Ah jus' need t' eat a bit more'n usual 'cause Ah do so much work on th' farm. Ah gotta git energy from somewhere, don' Ah?"
"It's true," Twilight affirmed. "Food provides -"
"Yeah, okay, don't need to know," Rainbow said, tossing her hair idly as Twilight frowned, affronted. "Save it for science class."
Applejack bit her lip to hold back a laugh. Normally she would have told Rainbow to back off, but today, today... she just looked so ridiculously gorgeous, her polychromatic hair outlined in soft sunlight, that Applejack didn't even trust herself to speak without gasping. If only she could share her feelings with someone... but Applejack had never been one to share details of her personal life to the whole world. Her usual go-to for sharing this kind of information was Rainbow Dash, who was her best friend and was remarkably (and surprisingly) good at giving helpful advice.
But, of course, the problem with being in love with your best friend is that you can't tell your best friend about it...
"Hey, Applejack. Are you alright?" Twilight peered at her concernedly from behind her thick glasses.
Applejack blinked and shook her head, tugging uncomfortably at her plaid collar. "What? Oh, uh, yeah. Ah'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Rainbow drawled around a mouthful of potatoes, her chin propped up on her arm. "Because you were staring at me for, like, thirty seconds."
Applejack flushed and pulled her hat down lower over her eyes as she always did when she was trying to deny doing something that she knew she'd been doing. "No Ah wasn't! Ah was just thinkin', that's all."
Was that a flash of disappointment in Dash's eyes? Surely not... that was just wishful thinking. And yet something like sadness was written all over her face as she replied teasingly, "Dangerous pastime, AJ."
Applejack forced a smile and looked down at her lunch, foregoing any kind of sarcastic response, which was fairly unusual for her. Nobody seemed to notice, however; the others continued to chatter on about happier things such as Pinkie's latest baking experiments and Fluttershy's fundraisers for the animal shelter.
Not that Applejack minded. She didn't need anyone to share her problems with. She could deal with this on her own.
Absent-mindedly fingering a strand of her long blonde hair, she continued to eat her sandwich, savoring the crispness of the fresh cucumbers and feeling a touch of pride despite herself. There wasn't anything more delicious than good old Sweet Apple Acres produce.
Applejack's thoughts turned to her family, and she felt an uncomfortable lump rising in her throat. How would they feel about her liking another girl? In every family reunion photo album, at every Apple family gathering, the couples were the same: one man, and one woman. Always. It was basically a fact of nature.
That meant that Applejack would be the first. The first one to defy tradition. And probably the first one to be kicked out of the family, too. For surely no one would approve of her, not once they knew her secret. 'Apple family' and 'traditional' were near-synonymous terms. And traditional meant loving who you were supposed to: a big, strong, hardy man who could help you raise children and support your farm.
Applejack felt her heart sink. There was no way that Rainbow would like her, anyway. In all their years of friendship, Dash had never given any indication that she was anything but straight. And even if she did like her, Applejack would be forced to choose between her family and her best friend - an impossible decision for someone who loved both her family and her friends with all her heart. Either way, she lost.
Dash, ya dadburned, beautiful idiot. Yore ruinin' my life. But... Ah love ya.
"So will you help me?"
The words jolted Applejack out of her reverie, and she realized that Rainbow Dash was staring at her expectantly. "Uh, what?" She cursed her own inattentiveness. This kind of behavior was just the kind of thing that got her into trouble with Granny Smith and Big Mac - she'd learned that the hard way as a child, and had been remarkably good at paying attention ever since. So why was she so vacant today?
Dash rolled her eyes impatiently. "I said, I have do this this dumb sewing project for Home Ec, can you help me?" She reached over, plucked the sugar cookie off Applejack's napkin, and took a large bite of it. "Mmmm. Good stuff."
Applejack glowered her. "Not if ya keep eatin' mah dessert, Ah won't. Sides, why don'tcha ask Rarity? She knows more about all that sewin' stuff than Ah do."
"Because I only need to know how to sew a handkerchief, not, like, an entire dress."
"I can sew handkerchiefs," Rarity protested. "Dashie, it would be an absolute dream to teach you to sew. Please let me? Please?" She fluttered her eyelashes charmingly.
Applejack didn't get to hear Rainbow's response, as she suddenly felt a tap on her elbow. "Hey, sis, can Ah ask ya somethin'?"
The farmgirl glanced over her shoulder and grinned at her little sister, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "Sure, Applebloom! What can Ah do ya for?" Her little sister never failed to cheer her up with her unflagging enthusiasm.
"Can Ah sleepover at Sweetie Belle's tonight? She asked me."
Rarity looked horrified. "She did?"
Applebloom didn't pick up on her distress. "Yeah! So please please please, can we?"
Applejack beamed at her. "'Course ya can. Jus' make shore ya get all yore homework done."
"I don't suppose I get a say in any of this," Rarity complained loudly.
"Ah don' think so. Sounds t' me like Sweetie's got this all planned out," Applejack chuckled. "Best jus' let 'em do their thing."
"Thanks!" Applebloom gave her older sister a crushing hug and then took a huge bite of her sugar cookie. "Bye!" She dashed off, whooping with excitement.
AJ smiled fondly at her sister's receding figure as Dash groaned and threw her arms in the air. "Oh, sure. Your little sister can get away with stealing your dessert, but I can't?"
"Ah hold ya t' higher standards, Dash," she said patiently. She picked up her half-eaten cookie and glanced at it wistfully before shrugging resignedly and popping the rest of it in her mouth.
"Everyone, we only have five minutes left until science class. Why don't we wrap up?" Twilight finished her lunch and neatly organized all of her trash on her plate in what Applejack thought was probably some sort of fancy mathematical pattern.
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie answered cheerfully, her lunchbox suddenly vanishing as inexplicably as it had arrived. "Done!"
"Yeah... some of us have to do it the normal way." Rainbow swung herself gracefully out of her chair and got to her feet, stretching like a cat. "Coming, Shorty?" she said to Applejack, wearing a crooked grin.
AJ knew she was short, and didn't really mind, but for some reason that comment stung more coming from Dash then it would have from anyone else. She wished that, just once, Rainbow would compliment her. Applejack knew she didn't need to be pretty, but still, it was nice to have someone tell you that you were sometimes, wasn't it?
Then she felt ashamed of herself. Granny Smith hadn't raised her to wish - or fish - for compliments. Ah ain't a baby. Ah don' need people always sayin' nice things t' me. "Yeah, Ah'm comin'," she replied, resolving to stop feeling sorry for herself and just enjoy her time with her friends.
They walked to the trash can together and got rid of their trash, chatting amiably the whole way. Applejack felt a surge of happiness. Maybe Rainbow didn't like her back, but she was still her best friend. And in these moments, when they were together, Applejack felt truly happy... When you have a friend like Rainbow Dash, it's hard not to.
Pinkie Pie stared after the pair of them with narrowed eyes as they strode away. Her Pinkie Sense was activating. Something big was going on here. Something secret. By which she meant that the two of them were keeping a secret from each other.
How did she know that?
Her ears were twitching. When one of them twitched, it meant that someone was keeping a secret from her. When both of them twitched, it meant that two people were keeping secrets from each other (or a giant banana was about to fall on someone's head, but this time Pinkie was pretty sure it was the former).
She whipped out her trusty camera, snapped a candid shot of Rainbow and Applejack's receding backs, and chuckled to herself. Now she had evidence.
Or was it a clue? Hmm. Well, whichever came first.
Pinkie trailed behind her friends as they walked to science class, adopting an unusually thoughtful expression. She was going to get to the bottom of this.
***
About an hour later, the six friends left the science classroom, heading down the hallway to their lockers and discussing their physics lesson animatedly (well, Twilight was. The rest had understood so little of the lesson that they felt unqualified to talk about it).
"Wasn't that bit about Kirchhoff's law just fascinating?" Twilight gushed, clasping her hands and staring dreamily in front of her. "Of course, I studied that years ago, but it was great to have a review!"
Applejack scratched her head. "Ah dunno. Seemed pretty weird t' me."
Rainbow Dash casually mussed her hair. "Yeah. Today's lesson was 100 percent uncool."
Twilight frowned and pursed her lips. "Rainbow Dash, how can you say that? Electricity is extremely fascinating."
"Of course it is," Fluttershy hastened to reassure her. "I think what Dashie is trying to say is that it was a little bit difficult to understand."
"Huh, you can say that again," Applejack snorted. "An' jus' think of all that homework... say, do y'all want t' come t' th' farm after school? We could do our homework t'gether. An' there's cider," she added with a broad grin.
"Sweet!" Rainbow's voice cracked in her excitement. "I'm so in!"
The others gave their consent, and Applejack pulled out her phone to send a quick text to Big Mac. We're all coming over after school. AB's staying at Sweetie's.
He responded with a simple 'Yup', and Applejack laughed and slipped her phone back into her skirt pocket. "Alraght. RD, Ah reckon it's time we headed outside."
After school, the two of them headed out to the school grounds to practice. Rainbow was the captain of the school soccer team, and played on the track team. Applejack's main sport was archery, but she often participated in some of the rougher sports such as football, and occasionally practiced discus and javelin. Every so often she even let Rainbow convince her to do track for an afternoon. They were two of the best athletes in the school, and enjoyed ending their school day with a bit of friendly competition (although, to her annoyance, Applejack almost never got to compete against Rainbow).
Sometimes their friends would stay and watch them play from the bleachers. They didn't have to participate in any of the sports themselves, as Canterlot High didn't really have any P. E. requirements - they just had interschool sports competitions at the end of every year, and students only had to participate if they wanted to. Which was strange, but hey, no one was complaining, particularly not Rarity.
Rainbow nodded sharply. "Yeah. You're right." She glanced at the rest of her friends. "You guys staying to watch?"
They looked at each other and seemed to come to an unspoken agreement. "Sure, why not?" Twilight answered.
"Cool!" Rainbow flipped her bangs over her forehead and raised her eyebrow at Applejack. "Bet I can beat you outside!"
"No chance," Applejack replied firmly. "Ah don't have t' change into a soccer uniform - Ah'm just headin' straight out."
"How much do you wanna bet?"
She mulled it over. "Ten bucks. An' whoever loses has t' wear a dress fer a day."
"Done." Rainbow's eyes gleamed at the prospect of a competition. Obviously, she was confident she could win, or she never would have agreed to that bet. "On your marks, get set, GO!" She streaked down the hallway like a bullet, without giving Applejack any warning that the race was starting.
Applejack made a grab for her but missed. "RAINBOW DASH!" she shouted furiously, her boots slamming onto the floor as she gave chase, one of her hands pressed firmly over her hat to make sure that it stayed on her head.
How did Ah fall in love with such a rascal?