Applejack sighed as she hunched over the desk in A.J’s bedroom. She had been staring at the blank piece of paper for what felt like hours now. She rubbed her eyes in frustration, begging the words to come to her mind.
Suddenly the bedroom door opened, and her double walked in.
“Um...hey Sugarcube.” A.J held her hat in her hands. She appeared nervous. “You mind if I say somethin’?”
“Well sure.” Applejack dropped the pen, almost grateful for the chance to take a break. “What’s up?”
A.J continued wringing her hat. “I really hate to do this. I feel just awful. But I’m gonna have to leave town for a couple o’ days.”
Applejack had not expected this. “Is somethin’ wrong?”
“Not really. They just need me over at the farm. Usually Mac, Applebloom and me don’t head up there until a week or so into summer vacation, but there’s been a bad crop, and well, they need every hand they can get. I’m sorry, I feel just terrible about leavin’ you in the lurch like this.”
Applejack nodded understandingly. “You ain’t got nothin’ to apologise for. I get it. Farm always comes first, right?”
A.J grinned despite herself. “Guess you know what it’s like. It’s too bad. I’d love nothin’ more than to invite you to come up there with us, but I guess you’re gonna be busy here with your own mission, right?”
Applejack’s face fell at this. She hadn’t thought about visiting the farm at all until this point. The idea of getting to see her parents again...
Well perhaps it was for the best. A.J was right. There was a job to be done and right now, seeing them would just be a distraction. Still, her heart ached a little that evening as she watched the Apple siblings pile into A.J’s truck and depart. At least Granny Smith, confused as she was by Applejack’s presence, was staying behind, and doing everything she could to make her guest feel more comfortable.
Applejack was feeling extremely uncomfortable right now. Standing in her double’s garden in the middle of the night, dressed only in flimsy pyjamas (Applejack was beginning to understand why humans wore them) and finding the lips of one Rainbow Dash pressed against her own, she was beginning to wish she had taken A.J up on her offer to see the farm after all.
Although...
As Dash’s tongue pushed its way into her mouth and brushed up against her own tongue...it wasn’t...bad. She knew in a moment she would have to break away and confront the issue. She knew it would be horribly awkward and she knew she would likely never be able to look at Rainbow the same way. But for one moment...just one moment...
A soft moan broke the silence of the night. Applejack jumped as she realised the moan had come from her own mouth. The shock cut through her and the moment was gone. She pulled back and looked her attacker right in the face.
“What...” she panted for breath, “what the heck are you doin’ Dash?”
Dash was panting as well. “I told you.” A predatory smirk played on her lips. Her voice was husky. “I missed this. Don’t you?”
Applejack’s mind raced a mile a minute. After all the friendship problems the Map had told her to solve, she had never had an occasion where the problem solved itself! It didn’t seem right that after coming all this way here, after working so hard, everything seemed to have just worked itself out.
But...maybe that’s why she was here now. Perhaps the Map knew A.J was going to be out of town for a few days? If Applejack hadn’t been here, maybe Dash would have lost her nerve and the two would never have got back together. Even if she told Dash now that she had the wrong Applejack, she might get so embarrassed that she may never dare approach A.J about it ever again. So maybe the Map needed her to...
“Oh horseapples!”
It seemed so cruel. If Dash was so likely to give up, there was only one way to solve this problem. And it meant Applejack was going to have to lie.
“I really hate that map...”
Biting down hard on her tongue, Applejack took a hand and, trying not to think too hard about what she was doing, raised it up and cupped Dash’s cheek. She looked at the blue girl, wearing what she hoped was a romantic look on her face. Dash seemed to tense at her touch. She seemed to look surprised, as if she wasn’t quite ready for her affection to be returned.
“Welp, here goes nothin’.”
With only thing left to do to seal the deal, Applejack leaned forwards. Their lips met again, only now Applejack was the aggressor.
“Oh my...”
The second kiss was even better than the first. Both girls embraced each other again, more confidently this time. Orange hands caressed blue cheeks. Blue hands slipped through blonde hair. Moaning filled the air again, this time from them both.
Once again, they parted.
“You uh...” Applejack took a steadying breath, “you wanna come upstairs for a spell?”
Dash raised an eyebrow. Applejack spluttered as she realised how that may have sounded.
“To hang out!” She clarified, a little too loudly.
“That...that sounds great.” Dash stifled a giggle. “Lead the way.”
Still not entirely sure what she had got herself into, Applejack took the other girl’s hand and led her into the Apple family home’s warm embrace.
Not entirely sure what she had got herself into, Rainbow followed A.J up the stairs. She didn’t take in her surroundings. She was barely even aware of them. Her body numbly followed after the other girl, while her mind raced through everything that just happened.
On the plus side, the plan was a complete success. Of course it was! It was Rainbow’s idea, there was no way it could have failed. Hah! Applejack was going to be so jealous when she found out Rainbow had solved everything. With the plan Applejack had shot down no less!
Applejack...
As the two girls entered A.J’s bedroom, it occurred to Rainbow that Applejack must be somewhere in the house, right? She was probably in a guest room, fast asleep. It was strange to think she was so nearby, when Rainbow had done, and was about to do, certain...things to her identical clone...
And that thought of course, made her think more about those things. First of all, who would have thought A.J was such an amazing kisser? Okay technically Rainbow had never kissed anypony before, so it wasn’t like she had the experience to tell a good kisser from a bad one. But Rainbow had definitely enjoyed their moment outside, so A.J certainly wasn’t bad.
Her heart began to beat faster as a realisation hit her. She had kissed her best friend!
Sort of...
Okay, maybe not her actual best friend, but someone who looked and sounded a lot like her! Half of her couldn’t wait to tease Applejack over that cute little moan her human self had made. But the other half was wondering how she would ever be able to look Applejack in the eye again.
She was beginning to think that maybe...just maybe...this hadn’t been such a great idea after all. What was she supposed to do next? A.J would probably be expecting Rainbow to start kissing her again, right? Rainbow wasn’t so sure she could summon up the nerve this time. How would A.J react to that? Would she feel rejected? Would things fall apart? Had Rainbow just doomed the entire mission?
What even happened if a Map mission was failed anyway?
As A.J turned on a lamp, illuminating the small room in a soft glow, Rainbow took the chance to look her in the eyes. She had a shy smile on her face and she wrung her hands together nervously. Gulping nervously, she could almost have passed for Fluttershy.
A.J sat down on the bed and motioned to Rainbow to join her. Rainbow complied, but found herself wanting nothing more than to sit as far away from her as the bed would allow.
“So...” A.J began.
“So...” Rainbow swallowed. The moment between them down in the garden seemed to be well and truly lost. Rainbow winced. Her heart was beating so hard it almost hurt. She felt trapped. If she were still in her Pegasus body, she would have been half tempted to jump out the window and fly away.
Looking down at her knees, she could feel A.J staring at her. Taking a breath, she forced herself to look up at the other girl.
Heh. Hehe.
A.J’s expression was more nervous than ever. Rainbow realised she must have exact look on her own face.
And that’s when both girls burst into laughter.
Rainbow fell back and sprawled out over the bed, clutching her stomach as she giggled. A.J was still sitting up, but from her position, Rainbow could still see her shoulders, shaking uncontrollably with mirth. A.J was trying to keep her laughter in, but that somehow made the whole thing seem even funnier. Rainbow gave in and let out a massive belly laugh.
“Shh!” A.J moved to the door and closed it, holding a hand to her mouth in a vain attempt to keep the laughter in. “W-we’re –g-go-gonna wake up G-Granny!”
She returned to the bed and the two fought hard to keep their giggling as quiet as possible. A few minutes passed until finally, eyes streaming with tears of laughter, the two finally managed to get themselves under control.
Rainbow lay and sighed happily, still letting out the odd chuckle here and there. After that impromptu attack of the giggles, the tension had been broken and they were able to relax again. A thought popped into her head. And with her relaxed mood it was surprising how quickly the words came to her mouth.
“So uh...you wanna go out some time?” Huh. That was easy.
A.J looked a little taken aback by the request. But then she gave a small grin and shyly nodded her head. In that moment, Rainbow was overcome. A.J just looked so cute, so adorable, so...irresistible. She pulled herself up and pounced.
The two fell back against the bed, lips connected once again. Immediately, all the passion and ferocity they felt in the garden, was back, stronger than ever. Rainbow ran her hands all over the girl, her tongue explored every inch of her mouth. She couldn’t help herself!
Mind you, it was all for the sake of the mission, of course! Yes sir, if she was going to make A.J fall back in love with Dash, it was necessary for Rainbow to show her a good time. Yep. Strictly business. That’s all there was to it.
Nothing else.
At all.
The heat she was feeling was...totally because of something else.
When Rainbow arrived back at Dash’s house in the small hours of the morning, her cheeks were hurting from the uncontrollable smile still etched on her face.
What? She was just happy about the mission being a success.
She shimmied up the tree in the backyard and carefully edged along its outstretched branch. From there, it was simple enough to jump the small gap to the open bedroom window. Clambering inside, she fumbled for the light switch. She knew Dash would be grouchy at being woken up at this hour, but she had to hear the good news. Hah! At this rate, Rainbow could be home tomorrow morning!
Click
Once the light was on however, it only took a moment for Rainbow to scan the room and realised something was missing. Namely, the other Rainbow Dash. There was a note lying on the pillow, where Dash’s head ought to have been. Rainbow snatched it up and started reading.
hey dude!
Rainbow assumed it was addressed to her.
sorry to cut and run like this, but dad came in while i was sleeping and woke me up with a surprise. he’s got tickets for the final game of the season and THE WONDERBOLTS are playing!! i know right??
anyway, the games out of town, so we had to leave early if were gonna get there in time. sorry we cant bring you along, but dad only got three tickets. besides youre probably too busy with that thing you got to do, right?
but on the bright side since mom and dad are with me that means you have the house to yourself for a while! theres a spare key under the mat you can borrow to get in and out. see you in a few days!
THE DASHSTER
As Rainbow read the note, a few thoughts crossed her mind.
Thought number one: She had the house to herself! No more sneaking around! Unlimited time with the Daring Do video game! Cool!
Thought number two: Hehe...”number two”...
Thought number three: She was missing out on the Wonderbolts. Not cool.
Thought number four: The next step in Rainbow’s plan was to tell Dash about the date she had set up with A.J. Now Dash was going to miss it. Also not cool.
Thought number five: How would she explain to A.J that the date was off? A.J might not take that well. In fact, she might get mad. So mad, she might not even want to date Dash once she got back to town! Very not cool.
Thought number six: That meant the best way to make sure everything turned out okay...would be for Rainbow to go on the date with A.J herself...
Really.
Not.
Cool.
TO BE CONTINUED...