"Whew-wee!"
"Hah hah... haah haah... phweeeeeeeee..."
"You... huff... reckon that... h-huff... we got all the leaves?"
"I... uhhhhh..." Sweating, Rainbow Dash perched herself atop a rock on the crest of a hill overlooking Whitetail Woods. "I dunno..." The autumn air was crisp and a cold wind blew over the landscape. Rainbow Dash was shivering... only slightly. "I mean, just the two of us...?"
"Well..." Also sweating, Applejack leaned casually against the very same rock and swiped her brow. "...the two of us certainly know how to stomp up a storm!"
"Yeah. But—in the leaves or in each other?"
"Heheh... what I'm sayin' is that we're like forty mares rolled up into one!"
"Oh. Right. Hah."
Applejack squinted in the amber afternoon light of the dying day. "From the looks of it... we've done cleared a mighty thick swath of trees for Her Royal Highness."
"Yeah. I'm sure that Princess Celestia will dig it."
"Point is... we actually did what we was supposed to." Applejack took her hat off and used it to brush her lower legs clear of dirt. "That's somethin' to be proud of, ya think?"
"Yeah..." Rainbow nodded, still panting. "I think."
"But... reckon we missed a few trees?"
"Oh yeah." Rainbow tried pointing, but her fetlock couldn't stay upright. So—she hid the trembling thing away and pointed with the other limb. It rocked visibly, but she managed to hide it with a confident tone in her voice: "Down by the river stream. There's—like—a whole line of trees with leaves still on them. See?"
"Uhm..." Applejack narrowed her emerald eyes. She used a hoof to shade her vision. "Havin' some trouble here, sugarcube..."
"Look for a rust brown color."
"Ohhhhhh! Yeah, I see 'em! Well..." Applejack plopped her hat back on and scuffed the earth beneath her hooves. "Up and at 'em, sugarcube! Let's get these leaves to fall in time for supper—!"
Rainbow's voice squeaked: "No!"
Applejack did a double-take. "No?"
"I mean... uhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash sat on her forelimbs, trembling. "Wh-what's the hurry? There's still sunlight out!"
Applejack blinked, peering. "Hrmmm... can't admit it, huh?"
"Uhhhhhhhhhh..." Rainbow's ears flattened as beads of sweat formed on her forehead. "Admit what?"
"That yer pooped."
A blink. "Oh! Yeah! Heh... heh heh..." Rainbow Dash fanned herself as she allowed a deep breath or two to funnel out her muzzle. "Pooped! That's for sure! Just call me... uh... Rainbow Corn Kernel Dash!"
"Say what?"
"Er... never mind."
"Hmmmmm..." Applejack bore a freckled smiled. "Well, how 'bout a breather, then?"
"I was about to say that. Er... I mean..." Clearing her throat, Rainbow Dash sat up straight on the rock and struck a cool pose. "...only if you need a breather too."
"Mmmm..." Applejack turned around three times then squatted down on all fours. "Reckon it wouldn't hurt."
"Yeah..." Breathing with relief, Rainbow Dash slumped back down and rested on her hooves again. She swallowed a lump down her throat and remained transfixed on the sparsely leaf'd landscape below.
Silence.
"... ... ...I owe you a big apology, sugarcube."
Rainbow Dash snapped out of a thick gap in comprehension. She blinked down at Applejack. "You do?" Her brow furrowed. "For what?"
"Well, I made a dag-blame'd fool out of myself earlier today, didn't I?"
"You did?" Rainbow Dash's ears perked up. "Oh! Boy! You totally did! Hah hah!"
"... ... ..."
"Erm... ahem... but, like, that's okay and all..."
"No it ain't."
"AJ—"
"How I acted today ain't how Ma and Pa taught me to be. It was downright foalish... not to mention mean and unsportponylike."
"Yeah, well, only because I egged you on."
"Well, I know how important competition is to you, Rainbow."
"Yeah, but friendship is more important... and stuff."
"You really think so?"
"Sure. Why not."
Applejack guffawed, kissing the air with countrified chortles.
Rainbow Dash fidgeted awkwardly.
"I'm sorry, Rainbow... just..." Applejack wiped her eye dry. "You have a very peculiar type of honesty."
"Uhhhhhh... really?"
Applejack winked. "The delivery is so lazy it can't be faked."
"Well... uh... thanks. I guess..."
"See what I mean?"
"Heh..." Rainbow Dash smirked. Flexing her forelimbs, she winced and looked off at Whitetail Woods beneath them. "I'm pretty see-through, aren't I?"
"Shucks, I wouldn't know."
"Oh. Heh. Good."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Errr..." Rainbow's cheeks turned purpler than a few milliseconds before.
"Land's sakes!" Applejack remarked. "You really wore yerself out on that last run! If I'd known you were so tuckered—"
"I'm good."
"Ponyfeathers! How 'bout you rest yer lil' self up here and I'll gallop the last row of trees myself—"
"No!" Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "I'm... I-I'm fine, AJ." She gulped. "For realsies."
"Well, if y'all say so."
"And I do."
"Well, alright."
"Cool."
Silence.
Another cool breeze.
"If it helps... uh..." Rainbow Dash brushed at her bangs with a shaky hoof. "I forgive you... n'stuff."
"It's all good, Rainbow. I forgive you too."
"Let's be honest with ourselves," Rainbow spoke with a crooked smirk. "I was the only jerk here today. You were just having to juggle my lameness."
"Heheheh... well, it was good exercise, I reckon."
"I don't think you crossed any lines, Applejack," Rainbow said. "Nothing to be ashamed of." She grinned. "When you get home, you can tell your folks that you were nothing but a good athlete today."
"Heh... if only that were true," Applejack said, rolling her eyes. "Anyhow, if they were still alive, I know they wouldn't fall for such a fib."
The double-take Rainbow's head produced was almost strong enough to throw her spine out of shape. "AJ...!"
"Hmmm?"
"You... your mom and dad... ... ...?" Her blue lip trembled.
Applejack raised an eyebrow. She blinked. "I... I never told you?" Another blink. "Fluttershy never told you?"
"I... I never bothered to ask." Rainbow gulped. "I-I-I just thought they were always away doing chores or... or carrying apples to other towns or—"
"Take it easy, sugarcube," Applejack said, waving a gentle hoof. "Best that bridge be crossed sooner than later." She bore a placid smile. "My folks have been buried in the fertile earth of Sweet Apple Acres for nearly a decade now."
"Ah jeez, Applejack..." Rainbow's muzzle grimaced visibly. "That... that sucks."
"Heheh... well that's one way of putting it."
"I honestly had no friggin' idea—"
"I put a lot of the sadness behind me, Rainbow," Applejack. "I had to. There's a farm to keep afloat. And—besides..." A warm breath. Applejack stared calmly out onto the woods below. "...it's only the good thangs I remember about them that help me carry on these days."
"Just... you and your grandmother and brother and little sister..." Rainbow Dash gulped. "Alone on that big friggin' farm."
"Heh! But we sure as heck make do! Proud of it too! Boy howdy...!"
"... ... ...huh..." Rainbow slicked her bangs back, blinking into the sunset. "That is pretty cool..."
"While we're at it, how about you, Rainbow?"
"Hmm?"
Applejack shrugged. "I've always wondered, but I never found a polite way to ask. How's yer family?"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. Her ears folded back.
"... ... ..." Applejack blinked. "Oh shucks, you too, huh?"
"My Mom..." Rainbow pivoted her fetlock from side to side and tongued the inside of her muzzle. "Eeeeuuuuh..." Another breath. "My Dad took care of me most of my life." Her wingtips fluttered slightly, and there was the hint of a curve to her muzzle. "Heh... he was the coolest dad ever."
Applejack gulped. "What... what took 'em?"
"He..." Rainbow bit her lip. She flexed her forelimbs, winced, and rubbed them together. "He died... a few years ago... mmmm... in Cloudsdale." A shudder. "Right around the time I ditched high school." Her brow furrowed. "I think."
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "You think?"
"Yeah..."
"Well... was it before or was it after—?"
"Can we talk about something else, please?" Rainbow blurted.
Applejack leaned back. Catching her breath, she chose to stare at the lengths of Whitetail Woods below. "Alrighty, then..."