//------------------------------// // Where the Rainbow Begins // Story: Appledashery Vol. Two // by Just Essay //------------------------------// "Hah!" Applejack chose to grin at that statement. "Ya don't say?" She glanced at the mare's wings, and then back at the mare. "Chose an awfully peculiar day to do crazy loopty-loops in the sky, huh?" The petite pegasus shrugged—wincing at the otherwise casual gesture. She was avoiding Applejack's gaze at that particular moment. "What can I say? I like to celebrate things with a bang." "Well, you almost banged yerself to pieces. Ya sure nothing's broken inside that lil' body of yers?" "I'm pretty sure. And... uh..." She cleared her throat, but her voice nevertheless cracked. "I'm not 'little.'" Applejack ignored her. She was already gazing towards the farm house. "Reckon it's mighty swealterin' out here. Why don't you go rest yer bones in the shade?" She pointed. "See the porch over yonder?" "Ah jeez—no. That's okay. It's no biggie—" "Honest, darlin'. I insist." "I'm just..." The mare fidgeted, wincing some more. Her ears flicked. "... ... ...alright." "Over here..." Applejack motioned, trotting towards the house. "It'll be a heapin' bit more comfortable. I promise." "Yeah. Okay. Kewl." "Good thang you didn't bite it when you hit the earth. Heh..." Applejack tilted her hat in mid trot, smirking to herself. "Y'know... when I was a little filly... I used to think that everypony died on their birthday. Literally! I mean... how else could you say that someone was exactly 'seventy years old' or 'eighty-five years' when they died?" "Yeesh..." Rainbow Dash's limbs fumbled a bit as climbed the front steps. She winced. "You were kind of a silly foal." "Heh... darn tootin'." Applejack gave her some space. "Just have yerself a lil squat, sugarcube. "Rest up. You'll be good in no time." "I'm fine," Rainbow said, finding a place to rest. "Thanks, and all, but I'm okay. Really." "Y'all sure about that?" Applejack squinted her way. "That was quite the tumble you took." "Eh..." Rainbow Dash brushed off the dirt and mud still clinging to her front hooves. "I didn't feel it. Believe me. Besides, I've had worse." "Heh, no kiddin'. You look the athletic type." Applejack adjusted her hat. "Reckon yer used to bumpin' and fallin' and gettin' back up." "Hey!" The pegasus frowned. "I'm not that clumsy! Just had a stroke of bad luck in this town." "Well, shoot, you'd be the first, then!" Applejack chuckled. "I've been told that Ponyville's about the easiest, laziest place in all of Equestria. Erm... n-not that I'd know, of course. Eheheh..." "Yeah. Sure." Rainbow Dash exhaled, coiling her wings at her side. "Still... uh... s-sorry about your soil and all, Miss..." "Applejack." The mare in question smiled proudly. "And dun lose yer colors over it, Missy. Ain't nothin' that a good rakin' or plowin' won't fix." Rainbow Dash squinted over. "You run this dirt farm all on your own?" "Uhm... it's an apple farm," Applejack said, glaring. Of all the things the stranger had said in her abrasive tone, that was the first thing to strike her as borderline offensive. And yet—something about the foalish squeak in the mare's tone made it a great deal less caustic than it could have been... although it was probably meant to be less so. It allowed Applejack to relax her breaths, even halfway through her thoughtful response. "Sweet Apple Acres, to be exact. Everypony who knows anythang about Ponyville has heard of us and our produce." "Well—pffft—buck me." Rainbow Dash rolled her ruby eyes. "I've only been here for a day." She gave her tail a slight flick... like a runaway prism reflection. "Eheh..." Applejack was standing in the shade, althought she didn't feel it. "Do pardon me." She was compelled to take her hat off. She proceeded to fan herself in a casual gesture. Applejack gazed past Rainbow Dash, her green eyes wandering to the tall hill on the southwest side of the farmstead. "Reckon I get mighty feisty when the pride of the Acres is on the line. I shoulda figured you haven't been here long." Silence. Applejack asked: "Just why did ya leave a happenin' sky town like Cloudsdale anyways?" More silence. "Erm..." Applejack plopped her hat back on and looked back at Rainbow Dash. "Did I lose y'all or somethin'—" "Oh!" Rainbow Dash jolted in place, her eyes swimming away from Applejack. She fidgeted and squirmed for some reason. "Uhm... pffft... the ponies there were holding me back." "Holding you back?!" Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Pegasi?" "Mmmm... yeah." Rainbow sat down on the porched and gazed up at the sky. "I don't get why there's gotta be so many stiff rules and regulations with flying. Having wings is all about freedom, y'know? Why not show off if you've got the skills to spin circles around pillars of cloudstone?!" Applejack shrugged. "Dun think I can relate, but I feel ya, sugarcube." "So then I heard about a climate exchange program and how Cloudsdale is working with outlying townships in order to improve Equestrian weather flying abroad. And... boom... I ended up landing here." Applejack smirked. "Heh... landin' and a half!" Rainbow droned. "Hey, watch it." "Just joshin' ya, darlin'." Applejack chuckled, happy to return a twinge of feistiness. "Well, you picked the best town in all of Equestria to get settled, wings or no wings!" "Meh." Rainbow Dash stifled a yawn. "Ponyville wasn't exactly my first choice." Applejack cocked her head aside. "Oh?" "It was... just convenient," Rainbow said with a shrug. "After all, my friend Fluttershy lives here and—" "Ya mean to say that yer friends with Fluttershy?!" Applejack gasped, her mind's eye flickering back to the hoedown at the Harvest family's barn. "Well, why didn't ya say so?!" Rainbow Dash recoiled slightly. "Errr..." "She's the best dang animal-whisperer I ever did know!" Applejack said. "Why, she single-hoofedly cured our precious little Winona when the poor pup was on death's doorstep!" It occurred to Applejack in mid-sentence that she very well might have been exagerrating, but something about the coincidence of the moment was... energizing her. Remembering her felicitous conversation with the delightful pegasus along the fringes of the hoedown had made that very moment a hundred times more magical. She cleared her voice and calmed her next slew of words slightly. "I'd say that Ponyville's been in a good place ever since she moved into that cottage along the edge of the Everfree Forest." "Heh... yeah, she'll..." Rainbow sighed. "She'll have that effect on ponies." She gulped. "Brighten up your day and everything." The casual energy in Rainbow's answer calmed Applejack slightly, so she maintained her own enthusiasm. "Well, shucks, that's just fantastic!" The farm mare grinned. "If both you and her are gal pals, then I'd say yer already a fine feathered friend of mine!" Then, for extra measure, she lightly slapped the mare's shoulder. "Gah!" Rainbow winced heavily, immediately clutching her shoulder. "Oh!" Applejack's ears folded beneath her hat. "Oh shoot. I'm so terribly sorry." Her heart sank into a cold abyss. Everything about this mare had signaled to her that she was a tough tomcolt, and in an attempt to relate Applejack may have inadvertently injured her. "I... I didn't realize you were sensitive there." "Eheh... it's fine." Rainbow cleared her throat, rubbing her coat. "Usually I'm not." "Land's sakes!" Applejack leaned in, glancing at one of two hoof-sized welts. "Yer bruised somethin' awful..." Her eyes narrowed, studying the locations of the injuries. "Funny. I coulda sworn ya crash-landed on yer belly just a moment ago, not yer shoulder—" "Uhhhhhhhhh..." Rainbow flapped her wings hard, taking off with a burst of wind. "I... uhh... I-I gotta go." "Huh?" Applejack blinked. The whole situation was running out of her grasp. She felt confused, foolish, and more than a little bit guilty. "But... what for? We was just startin' to hit it off." The empty black windows of her house loomed in her peripheral vision. "N-no reason to make like the breeze!" Rainbow lingered in midair. "Yeah, well... uhm... I've got clouds to kick. Y'know. Weather flying stuff. Very 'pegasus.' Very 'complicated.'" "Riiiight..." Applejack smirked, not fooled by the pegasus' thick attempts to put on airs. "Y'all seem the speedy type. I bet you could make it anywhere in a jiffy." "Which is why I gotta jet now, okay? It's been awesome, but I gotta go." "Hogwash!" Applejack stomped her hoof. "It was my farm that done slammed into ya, wasn't it?! I'd be remiss if I didn't show you the full comforts of Apple Family hospitality!" She trotted briskly into the house. "Y'all wait right here now!" "Ughhhh..." Rainbow could be heard from directly outside. "Really. I gotta go! What's this about anyways, so we can get it over with?" "Nothin', sugarcube!" Applejack called back out. Her hooves scampered across the floorboard as she made a beeline for the kitchen and a basket of fresh fruit lying on the edge of the dinner table. "At least... not if yer stomach's hankerin' for nothin'!" "Uhhh..." Rainbow's voice cracked with noticeable interest. "St-Stomach?" Applejack chuckled. More and more this pony was resembling a stallion than a mare. It amused her deeply for some reason. "That's the ticket, huh? Reckon it's true what they say about a pegasus and her metabolism." "Mmmmm..." The sound of flapping wings stopped. Applejack heard four petite hooves landing once again on the porch. "Fiiiine." Rainbow's voice took on the raspy tone of a sarcastic teenager. It was... strangely adorable. "I... like... appreciate it n'stuff. So long as it's nothing dense." "Heh! Depends on yer definition of 'dense.'" Applejack came out, balancing the basket full of glistening red fruit. "Me, on the other hoof—I fancy usin' the word 'hearty.'" "Jeee..." Rainbow Dash smirked. "Apples. Who'd a thunk it." "Buck up and eat up, sugarcube." Applejack winked and shoved the basket her way. "It's on the house." She chortled. "Literally!"