Rainbow tossed a ball into the air, gazing up at the clouds. “Bear-wrestling.”
“Nope, did that,” Applejack said, stroking Winona’s back. Winona’s head bobbed up and down, following the ball intensely. Applejack thought herself to be a simple pony, but only Winona could block out the whole world save for that little blue ball.
The ball landed on Rainbow’s cheek and rolled away onto the grass. Winona immediately leaped after it, catching it before it could even hit the base of a nearby apple tree.
Rainbow huffed. “Ball-throwing?”
“Did that,” Applejack said, accepting the ball from Winona and teasing a throw, as well as flaunting a trophy. “With this ball, if you remember, and I won.”
Rainbow grimaced. “Chess?”
Applejack grimaced too. “Ugh. Don’t even.” She threw the ball again, over the fence nearby. Winona wriggled her way under the fence and bounded after the ball.
“Pancake eating contest?” Rainbow said.
“Did that.”
“Apple pie eating contest?”
“Yup.”
“Apple tarts?”
“I think we can rule out just about any food eating contest,” Applejack said, taking the ball out of Winona’s mouth and tossing it high in the air. Winona craned her head upward and tried to catch it as best she could, but it bounced off her nose and she scrambled to retrieve it. “Besides,” Applejack said, “we might cause a food shortage if we keep doing ‘em.”
“…But have we done apple tarts yet?”
“Dash, please. ‘Course we have.”
Rainbow tapped her chin with her hoof, frowning as she watched Tank start to turn around again as Winona returned the ball to Applejack. “How about…” Rainbow shrugged. “…dating?”
Applejack paused mid-toss. “How about dating?”
Rainbow shrugged again. “I mean, look at us. We’ve competed at every sport, every thing imaginable. But we haven’t dated yet. And, you know…” Rainbow leaned towards Applejack and grinned. “I bet I can date better than you.”
Applejack laughed. “Oh, you think so? How do you even judge something like that, anyways?”
“Easy. Each of us sets up a date. You get to pick where we date and what we do.” Rainbow sat up, poking her hoof in the grass like she was writing the idea down in her head. “You get points for being creative, and points for making it fun.”
Applejack frowned, petting Winona as she bounded back with the ball. She was starting to get the idea that maybe Rainbow Dash didn’t really understand what dating was. On the one hoof, society as a whole agreed that dating was about exploring a relationship and less like a sport. On the other hoof, society also agreed that at parties, polite ponies use tongs, and don’t dive into a plate of cookies, slobbering-face-first. “Rainbow, I don’t think dating works like that.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Why couldn’t it?”
“I understand doing points and stuff for a game of horseshoes, or an apple eating contest, or any other kinda sport. But dating isn’t a sport. Like, are we talking about the same kind of dating? Like, the romance kinda dating, right?”
“Yeah, the romance kinda dating.” Rainbow stood up. “But you’ve been on dates before, right? And you can have good dates and bad dates?”
Applejack shrugged. “I mean, only dated two ponies, but sure, I’ve had good dates and bad.”
Rainbow’s shoulders squared and the sag in her back vanished. “So all I’m saying is, if dates can be good or bad, then you can give it a score if you wanted, right? Like points. And you get points if it’s fun. Or creative. Or mushy. Mushy can be like a subcategory of fun.”
Applejack opened her mouth to protest once more, but stopped. Rainbow seemed to be getting the wrong idea about dating, but the prospect floated into her head that maybe this was Rainbow’s way of asking her out without really asking her out.
Applejack grinned. It was a ploy. A scheme. Rainbow asks her out pretending it’s some sort of competition, as a way of skipping the stammering, mushy stuff and straight-up asking. Then, once they’re on the date, Rainbow pretends to score it but really just uses the time to get to know Applejack a little better—the actual, romancey date stuff.
Applejack rubbed her nose to hide her grin. Rainbow was clever from time to time.
Well, why not. It was worth a shot. It’d already been in the back of Applejack’s mind anyway, a little “what if” fantasy she’d think about now and then. Rainbow was brave and tended to wear her heart on her sleeve. A bad liar too, just like her. And of course, the body of a nationally renowned athlete sure wasn’t an eyesore.
“Sure,” Applejack said. “Let’s date.”
“Yeah, cool!” Rainbow cantered in place. “Let’s do it this way. I set up a date for tomorrow, then you set up a date the day after. Whoever’s date is the best, wins. Sound good?”
“Sure,” Applejack said, putting her hooves behind her head and smiling. “Sounds like a plan.”
Rainbow zipped away, leaving Applejack to bask in the tingling air of the idea. Dating Rainbow. It could be fun.
~ ~ ~
Rainbow felt the giddiness bubble up in her chest. Her hooves shook as she led the blindfolded Applejack down the road. Boy, was she in for a surprise.
Applejack lifted a hoof to her face. “Uh, Rainbow—”
“Hey, no peeking!” Rainbow slapped Applejack’s hoof away from her blindfold. She steered them both off the road and onto the grass. “You can trust me. Pranking somepony by making them run into a wall or whatever is literally the worst thing. I’d never do that.”
“I know, and I do trust you,” Applejack said, biting her lip. “It’s just that, well, when you say you have a surprise for me…” She chuckled. “I know this way by heart is all I’ll say, I guess. Which, you know, that’s a surprise.”
“We’re almost there,” Rainbow said, giggling with anticipation. Soon, Applejack would see her genius. Her title of Best Dater, or at least Better Dater Than Applejack, was within reach.
Rainbow stopped, holding Applejack back with a hoof. “All right, AJ. You ready? Take a look!”
Applejack lifted her blindfold.
They stood on a small hill with a lone tree at the top. Below this hill and all around them was a forest of trees, but not just any trees—apple trees, sprawled out in every direction. A calm afternoon breeze brushed past Rainbow Dash and Applejack as they looked around. Applejack squinted. Far off in the distance sat a small red farmhouse.
Applejack raised her eyebrows. “It’s Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Yeah, well I couldn’t just take you to any old restaurant or park. Too easy.” Rainbow puffed up her chest. “Had to surprise you.”
Applejack pulled down her hat to hide a grin. “Rainbow, it’s… it’s Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Hey, we’re not just at Sweet Apple Acres.” Rainbow pointed up to the lower branches. “We’re at my favourite napping spot.”
Applejack snickered. “Ohhh, I get it now. Are you saying a date with me would put you to sleep?”
Rainbow snickered, too, and jabbed Applejack in the shoulder. “Hey, now. This place is special to me, believe it or not. I figured we could just hang out here, lie down underneath the tree, and talk. How’s that for originality?”
“Sure, you get some points for that,” Applejack said, sitting down under the tree. She removed her hat, looking up at the apple tree. “Do we have to go up there, or can we stay down here?”
“Hah. Down here.” Rainbow stretched out on the grass, putting her forelegs behind her head. “Ahhh. Just like this. Come on, lie down and just relax.”
“All righty, then.” Applejack laid down next to Rainbow beneath the apple tree. Mirroring Rainbow, she reached up and tucked her forelegs behind her head. She took a slow breath in. “Well, shucks. I gotta hand it to you Rainbow, this is mighty relaxing right here.”
“Awesome. I get points for making it fun.” Rainbow whipped out her clipboard. “It is fun, right? Relaxing is a subcategory of fun?”
Applejack blinked. “Um, yeah, sure it is, I s’pose.”
“Great!” Rainbow took out a pencil. She paused, tapping the pencil on the clipboard. “Hmm. Now I’m not sure. Is ‘relaxing’ worth one or two points? I mean, I relax all the time, but maybe since you don’t relax all that often, it’s worth two. Yeah, two.”
Applejack rolled over onto her stomach. “Y’know, Rainbow, I thought we were just playing around with the points thing, but you do realize it’s making your own date worse, right?”
Rainbow bit the eraser of her pencil, avoiding Applejack’s gaze. “You think so?”
Applejack nodded, shifting on the grass. “Dates aren’t s’posed to be about points, Dash. They’re supposed to be about being genuine with each other. Talking about feelings and all that. You tallying points right dab in the middle of a meaningful date is souring your own date.”
Oh, great, feelings. She was hoping she and Applejack could talk about cool stuff, like her Wonderbolt training and buckball and how Applejack’s hay-chucking practice was going. Feelings, though, that’d be harder. Rainbow couldn’t pull her eyes away from the clipboard. “Yeah, I dunno, I guess so. But, uh, how are we going to be able to track whose date is better?”
“Do it after, then, if you gotta do it. Tally all your points when it’s over.” Applejack sat up. “And you know what, how about this: Let’s have a score based on how genuine it feels so you aim to score points in it, even though that sounds ridiculous.” Applejack tapped the clipboard. “Put a column in there for ‘authenticity’. How’s that sound?”
Authenticity. Rainbow frowned, but slowly nodded as she added in that column. Authenticity. Feelings. The word made Rainbow’s teeth jitter. She just felt things when she felt them, but she never had to talk about them. And it’s not like she didn’t feel a crush on Applejack, but she didn’t know how to tell her, much less what to say afterwards.
Rainbow set the pencil down, staring at the clipboard. “Okay, sure.” She set the clipboard down next to her.
“Okay, good,” Applejack said.
Rainbow stared at the tree branches above. I have a crush on you. I like you. And then what? Snuggles? Kissing and marriage? What happens in between? Rainbow gritted her teeth. I like you because… because I like you. …Great. So insightful, Rainbow.
“Aren’t we gonna talk about something?” Applejack asked.
“Um, uh, yeah, sure,” Rainbow said. She put her arms behind her head again. “I mean, you know, I thought we were napping, but I guess if you want to talk about something, go for it, like I don’t mind.”
Applejack rolled over onto her back and smirked. “It’s your date. I think it’s fair if you talk about something first.”
Shoot. Rainbow glanced around. “Okay. Um. Nice weather, huh?”
Applejack snickered. “Really? That’s not even low hanging fruit for a date. That’s low hanging fruit for a complete stranger stopping by in town.”
Rainbow grimaced. “Hey, you’re the one who put me on the spot. You said I talk about something first, and so that’s what I chose. The weather. It’s my date, like you said.”
“Then I s’pose you lose some points on originality for that one.”
Rainbow huffed. She leaned over and picked up the clipboard, writing down a ‘-2’, then scribbled out the ‘2’ and replaced it with a ‘1’. She tapped her pencil on the clipboard. Something original to talk about. Something creative.
Applejack’s hoof entered her field of vision, pulling the clipboard out of Rainbow’s hooves. “Remember, we agreed: points after. Plus, I don’t think you’ll find something to talk about on your clipboard there,” Applejack said as she set it down on the grass between them. “How about we start with something you like about me? You must’ve brought up dating with me for a reason, right?”
“Okay, um, sure. I like…” Think think think. Rainbow Dash glanced at Applejack, then up at the sky. I like how… awesome you are. No, shoot, that’s me. Applejack’s not awesome. Well, okay, that sounds bad. She’s awesome, just in her own way. She’s confident. She’s so sure of herself. Which, yeah, that’s definitely awesome in her own way. Rainbow glanced at Applejack again, scanning her face. Oh, right, um, uh…
“I like your freckles,” Rainbow said.
Applejack raised her eyebrows. “Oh, my freckles, huh? Whatcha like about them?”
“They look…” Cute? No. Different! Um, maybe not. They look… “…nice on you.”
Rainbow bit her lip. Nice wasn’t the best choice. It wasn’t creative or terribly descriptive, but it was something, at least. She turned her head to watch Applejack, hoping Applejack didn’t press for more reasons for liking her freckles.
“Well thanks, Rainbow,” Applejack said, smiling wide at Rainbow. “I’m glad you like ‘em. Not that I put ‘em there of course, but hey, I won’t turn away a compliment.”
Rainbow’s eyes hung on Applejack’s smile. It was the kind that crinkled up the corners of her eyes—Applejack’s most genuine smile. It brought up a warm, soft feeling in Rainbow’s stomach. Rainbow brought her arms around her stomach, keeping that warm feeling inside. She couldn’t help but smile, herself.
“All right, my turn. Something I like about you.” Applejack rolled over onto her side, rubbing her chin as she examined Rainbow with a smirk. “Oh, I know something. I notice it every time you’ve been over to our house for dinner. You wipe your hooves a lot, especially before eating.”
“What?” Rainbow folded her forelegs, glancing at Applejack. “Psh. I mean, yeah, I wipe my hooves to be polite, but who doesn’t?”
“You try to hide it, is the thing. And you do it several times, too. It’s like this little need to be clean.” Applejack rolled over onto her back, replacing her hat over her eyes. “Not that there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just something that’s kinda… cute about you, is all.”
Rainbow huffed. Cute. She tightened her forelegs across her stomach. It was true, though. She did tend to wipe her hooves before, during, after eating. Not because she was trying to be prissy or proper, though. It was more of a habit than anything.
But it was still true, and not something she felt comfortable with Applejack realizing. It felt like giving a secret away—except it wasn’t a secret, and anypony who paid attention could’ve noticed—but still, it felt like Applejack was trying to dig her out like a tree, and she didn’t like the feeling of her roots exposed to the open air.
Rainbow sighed, rubbing her body. She felt colder. She sat up from the grass, glancing down at Applejack, then down at the farm. “It’s a bit chillier now, huh? Should’ve brought a jacket, I guess.”
Applejack chuckled. “You’re telling me a weather pegasus can’t handle a little wind chill?”
“Oh yeah, totally, but not right now.” Rainbow stood up, gripping the clipboard in her forelegs. “It’s weird, you know, I can handle cold usually, but maybe I didn’t eat enough for lunch or something.”
Applejack sat up, taking off her hat. “Is something wrong, Rainbow?”
Rainbow spread her wings and took to the air, drifting away from the hill. “No, I swear, I’m just cold right now. I need to go home and warm up, is all. I gotta do drills anyway. That’s how I’ll warm up.”
“Are you still gonna come tomorrow?” Applejack said, concern curling her eyebrows.
Right, Applejack’s choice of a date. Rainbow paused and hovered. It’d be rude not to. It was rude enough of her to rush off like this anyway. Plus, Applejack was nice. She really did seem to care about Rainbow. Maybe it’d be worth another try. “Yeah, sure. Same time?”
“Same time,” Applejack called out, “and you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. We can still be friends and all that.”
“No, I’ll come!” Rainbow flew east back towards town. “Can’t let you win by default!”
Applejack didn’t respond.
Rainbow pulled out her clipboard, jotted down a few hasty scores, then tucked it back under her forelegs. Tomorrow’s date would be fine. She could push for more focus on the competition. Otherwise, it was just kind of uncomfortable. That chill she felt wasn’t the wind.
~ ~ ~
Applejack wasn’t guiding Rainbow down the hall as much as she was trying to keep her from flying away from excitement. She stifled a snicker. Rainbow was worse than Apple Bloom on the morning of Hearth’s Warming. “Settle down, there, Rainbow,” Applejack said, yanking her date down to the crystal floor.
“Oooooh, I have a feeling I know where we are. Hard floor, really echo-y walls. There’s only one place in Ponyville this empty.” Rainbow furrowed her brow underneath the blindfold. “You know, we should visit Twilight more often.”
Applejack nodded. “Yeah, come to think of it, it’s downright depressing in here.”
“Aha! So it is Twilight’s castle!” Rainbow wiggled her head. “I get bonus points for guessing before we even got there.”
Applejack did her best to keep up the playfulness in her voice. “I did the same thing yesterday, so I better get points for that, too.”
“Hey, you never actually guessed it. You just said you had a feeling you knew what it was.”
“Yeah. Because it was supposed to be a surprise. I was lettin’ you surprise me.” Applejack sighed. There went Rainbow again. The points thing was supposed to be silly, but sometimes it just outright ruined the dating mood.
Once they entered the dining room, Applejack placed her hoof on Rainbow’s blindfold. “You ready? Well, I s’pose it’s silly to ask that. Y’all already know where we are.” She untied it.
“You bet.” Rainbow took one of the two place sets at the dining table. She pulled out the clipboard from under her wing. “Can already taste the victory.”
“Bet you weren’t expecting it, though.” Applejack took a seat across from Rainbow, taking off her hat and setting it down on the seat next to her.
“Pff, please. It’s still someone’s house. Castle. Living space. Whatever.” Rainbow took a few notes. “I’m taking some points off for originality.”
Before her pencil could make any more marks, Applejack leaned across the table and yanked it out of Rainbow’s mouth.
“Hey!” Rainbow pouted.
Applejack laid it on the table, then took Rainbow’s clipboard too. “Authenticity,” she said, folding her hooves. “Like we talked about yesterday, points after. All right?”
Rainbow pressed her lips together and frowned, looking down at her plate. Her shoulders sagged, but she nodded. “All right.”
Applejack felt her shoulders sag, too. More and more, it seemed like Rainbow didn’t even want to date her in the first place. But she did express interest yesterday, so hopefully some real date talk would get her in a better mood. That, and maybe some treats. “Hey, Spike!” Applejack called to the open hall door. “We’re ready!”
“Coming!” came a voice echoing from far, far down the hall. The hasty pitter-patter of baby dragon feet followed, and Spike came bursting through the doors, gasping for air, with a cart full of desserts. “Hot… and ready… just… like… you asked. Sorry… kitchen… far.”
“Much appreciated, Spike,” Applejack said, taking over for the wheezing dragon and rolling in the cart. “Take a breather. You earned it. And here, lemme fetch you some water.”
“Thanks… Applejack,” Spike said, collapsed on the floor, his belly pumping air back in.
As Spike recovered on the floor, Applejack trotted back over to the table and presented the food cart to Rainbow. “Well, here’s the other big surprise. We got the whole lot from Spike here—double chocolate chip cookies, lemon poppy seed muffins, and some apple tarts here, of course. Feel free to dig in. And help yourself, Spike,” Applejack called out, “once you’re done recovering.”
Spike lifted his claw in a weak thumbs-up.
Rainbow took a long and deep whiff of the desserts. “Mmm, carbs.”
Applejack smirked. “Like I said, dig in.”
Rainbow took a sample of each—using tongs, thankfully. Applejack did the same, taking note of Rainbow’s hooves before she ate. Of course, involuntarily, she wiped her hooves.
Applejack smirked and eyed Rainbow’s hooves as they stealthily slid across the napkin. Being right was satisfying, sometimes, especially about somepony as dodgy about her little mannerisms as Rainbow.
She caught herself, though. This was sensitive, and not something for her to poke fun at Rainbow. It was like sharing a secret. When Rainbow’s eyes met hers, she’d hoped to see that glint in her eye, that they both knew, and more importantly, that they could trust each other with it.
Rainbow shrank back, however, pushing her napkin away.
Applejack’s smirk faltered. Maybe Rainbow was just shy about it. After all, Rainbow did say it was her first date.
Rainbow had stopped shoveling cookies onto her plate, and was now picking them gingerly with tongs one at a time. “So,” she said, her eyes following her cookies, “it’s your date. Whatcha want to talk about?”
Applejack shrugged. “I guess with any date, you talk about whatever, right? Get to know a pony. So.” She leaned forward. “What’s on your mind?”
Rainbow shrugged. “Hoofball?”
Applejack shook her head. She took a cookie out of the biggest pile of cookies on Rainbow’s plate—obviously one of her favourites. “Nah, we talked all Saturday about hoofball.”
“Yeah, but there were some new developments since Saturday. Fillydelphia is signing on Chip Stonewall and nopony knows whether he’ll be a good fit for the team.”
Applejack perked an eyebrow, then nodded to Rainbow’s clipboard. “That’s one point off for ‘fun’. That ain’t date talk.”
Rainbow slouched, dragging her hoof over to the clipboard. “Mmm, fine…”
Applejack slapped it away. “I’m kidding, sugarcube.” She sighed. Rainbow was being dodgy again. “I mean, to be frank, Rainbow, it’s not really a great way to get to know a pony. I mean, it’s not you and me out on the front porch, shooting the breeze.”
“Yeah, it’s you and me at a table shooting the breeze.”
“Having a date,” Applejack said, then softened her tone. “Look, Dash, all I’m saying is, we should just try to get to know each other a little more, all right?”
Rainbow shrugged again. “I mean, we already know each other, don’t we?”
“Sure, but maybe we can learn a little more. Y’know, dig a little deeper.”
Rainbow shifted at that, but nodded. She let her head slide down her hoof. “Yeah, sure, okay, whatever.”
Applejack leaned back to give Rainbow a bit more breathing room. She stared down at her plate of desserts, mostly untouched. “Look, I’m sorry that I’m… I dunno, making this uncomfortable, but how about this.” She met Rainbow’s eyes and smiled. “Remember yesterday, when we each took turns saying something we liked about each other? That was good, right? That’s what ponies on dates do.”
“Is it?” Rainbow muttered. “How do you know all this stuff about dates?”
Applejack huffed. “Well, I don’t know much. All I know is that with the two ponies I’ve been on dates with, it seemed all we could talk about after an hour was hoofball.” She steadily softened her voice. “The only thing I learned about them was that they liked my smile or my freckles. So I guess what I’m saying is, forgive me for being picky. Is that okay?”
The frown on Rainbow’s face disappeared, and she stared down blankly at her cookies, not moving. “Okay,” she said, nodding to her cookies.
Applejack bit her lip. The tone of the date had just about been ruined now. Salvaging it would be tough.
Rainbow piped up, her voice a bit dry. “So I share what I like about you, and you share what you like about me?”
Applejack’s shoulders relaxed. Rainbow was at least willing to try. “Yeah, sure. You want to start, or do you want me to?”
“And you want authenticity, right?”
Applejack nodded, rubbing her face. “Sure, yeah.”
Rainbow quietly muttered, “I liked you better when we could talk about hoofball.”
Applejack stared at the wall. She shouldn’t have been mad. But she was mad. She stood up, trotting out of the room, her head hot. Rainbow wasn’t at fault, she had only herself to blame, but for now, she needed some time alone.
Applejack left the castle and took many deep breaths.
~ ~ ~
Rainbow didn’t want to do anything but stare at the window.
Not out the window. There was only a bit of sky there anyway. No, it was more the shape of the window. The way the frame was smooth and grainy, how obvious it was that it wasn’t cut but grown into place. The green tint to it, too. If it was green, and all the windows were this green, why wasn’t the room inside a gross shade of green like one of Chrysalis’s cocoons?
Rainbow stuffed another cookie in her mouth and swallowed. The fullness of her mouth was good, and satisfying. She stared some more at the window and thought of Chrysalis’s cocoons.
And then, the clatter on the floor from thirty seconds ago repeated back in her head and finally clicked.
She looked down from the windowsill. Down on the floor was her clipboard. She considered jumping down to get it, but her body felt like lead pressing down on the windowsill.
She was stupid. Stupid for bringing that clipboard. Stupid for clinging to it, looking to that for guidance. Stupid for being rude to Applejack. All Applejack wanted was a date. A real date, not some dumb competition.
Rainbow rolled her heavy body over, letting her hoof dangle over the edge of the sill. Then she flopped all the way, spreading her wings to glide down to the ground. She had to go home eventually.
She picked up the clipboard and grimaced at it. She’d taken it so seriously, or at least let it distract her intensely enough. Two rows, her and AJ, filled with ‘+2’s and ‘-1’s and notes about this and that. ‘Freckles? Needs work’ ‘Need conversation topics’ ‘Guessed surprise! +1’
And yet, the authenticity column was blank. She’d been avoiding that column, leaving it for later when she had some time to think about it and re-evaluate. Well, now was later.
She took the pencil in her mouth and drew a big, round ‘0’ in her row. The opposite of that belonged in Applejack’s row, which she put as ‘+50’ – more than enough for a landslide victory. She deserved it.
Bah, there she went again, thinking in victories and competitions. She unclipped the sheet of paper and crumpled it up, tossing it away. Then she walked over and picked it up. It would’ve been rude to leave it for Spike to clean up.
Authenticity was about being real. That was what the word meant, for pony’s sake. Rainbow had been real. She was honest with Applejack. She talked about things that she liked about Applejack, and things she was interested in—or, at least tried to. But that wasn’t enough for Applejack. She kept digging. She kept trying to push past that and snoop around.
Which, what was wrong with that? Wasn’t sharing secrets something that friends do? AJ did say she was only trying to get to know her better. So why did that make Rainbow’s skin tingle? Why was she so scared that Applejack would pick her apart, piece by piece? What was there to hide?
Nothing. Nothing awful was underneath her cool self. But it wasn’t her cool self. It was her sensitive self. The self that gets frustrated when other ponies don’t try their best or care about what they’re doing. The kind of self that gets lonely when she’s traveling with the Wonderbolts. The part of herself that gets angry when she doesn’t fly as fast as she did yesterday. The self that sometimes, late at night, just wants a hug.
That kind of self, the one she doesn’t want other ponies to see. AJ wanted to see it. That was scary.
But it was authentic, and that’s what Applejack wanted. She did get a little peek of Rainbow’s sensitive self when she pointed out the napkin thing. And she smiled—the real smile, the kind that crinkled her eyes—and she called it ‘cute’.
Applejack just… cared. A lot.
That was probably love. Real, authentic love. And Rainbow had squandered it by pitting Applejack’s love against the dumb clipboard.
Rainbow crumpled the sheet even harder and stomped on it, then, again, picked it up so Spike wouldn’t have to. She bit the clipboard and flew out of the room. She needed to set up a new date. No surprise this time.
~ ~ ~
“Told you, no surprise this time,” Rainbow said, smiling weakly over a hayburger. “Just a hayburger.”
Applejack perked an eyebrow. “But you asked me out on another date. This is a surprise.”
“Hmm, good point.” Rainbow frowned. “Well, can’t help it this time, I guess.”
Applejack simply waited, not touching her hayburger. She didn’t feel like it. It seemed Rainbow didn’t, either. She was nervous and sulky, twitching and looking down at her hayburger. Good thing, too. She should feel bad.
But she was apologizing. She obviously knew that something went wrong. Applejack huffed. She had to give Rainbow a chance. “Well, go on now,” Applejack said. “Speak your mind.”
Rainbow played with a corner of her hayburger’s brown paper wrapper. She took a deep breath in. “I’m sorry. First of all. I’m really sorry. Dates are a serious thing. You were right. It was really, really, really dumb of me to make it into a competition and put points to it, and even dumber to be hard on you for trying to make it, like, a date. So I’m sorry for that.”
That was a bit of a shocker. So far, Rainbow was hitting the nail on the head. Applejack nodded. “Okay, yeah. I forgive you for all that. That’s fine.”
Rainbow visibly relaxed at that. “Really? Okay, cool.”
The two of them sat staring at each other’s hayburgers. Applejack sighed. That was out of the way, at least. But… “Now what? You reckon we just pack up and go back to being friends now?”
Rainbow shifted, leaning forward. “Well, just one more thing. And we can put aside forever if it doesn’t work. But, yeah, just one more thing.”
Applejack stared at the table and nodded. “All right. One more thing. Go on.”
Rainbow stopped playing with the hayburger wrapper and pushed it aside. She hunched her shoulders together, rubbing the tips of her hooves. “Remember the other day, when you said, ‘Let’s take turns saying something we like about each other?’ And I said I liked your freckles?”
And what? She didn’t like them? Applejack paused. She had to give Rainbow the benefit of the doubt. And heck, she had to let Rainbow finish her sentence, for pony’s sake. “Yeah, what about that?”
“Well, it wasn’t… real.”
Applejack stared.
Rainbow’s eyes widened. “I mean it’s true, it’s true, like it’s totally true, I like your freckles, but it wasn’t as, you know, authentic as your answer, you know? So I wanted to try again.” She inhaled through her nose.
Applejack waited.
Rainbow nodded to herself, glancing between Applejack’s hooves. “I like your smile. Like, it’s cliché or whatever, but I do. Like, every time you smile, I think, ‘What did I do to earn this?’ Sometimes it feels like I don’t deserve your smile, but you smile anyway. And those times, when I don’t deserve it… I’m relieved when you do.” Rainbow’s eyes tugged downward. “And, you know, I don’t deserve it now, not after yesterday, but… that was literally my only goal today. No points, nothing like that. Just your smile.”
Well, cheesy as it may be, that was real. Rainbow was a bad liar, and there wasn’t a hint of lying in that whole spiel. Applejack shook her head and snorted. Finally, Rainbow Dash had buckled down and let out something real. She was still a blockhead, and Applejack shouldn’t have smiled…
But it was really hard to hold back. That was just downright adorable.
“All right, then,” Applejack said, letting her smile loose. “You get a smile. You messed up, but you know that, and you made up for it.”
Rainbow almost collapsed in her seat. “Oh, phew. Thanks, AJ. Again, I’m really sorry, but yeah, I’m just…” Rainbow let out a shaky laugh. “I’m really glad you forgave me.”
“It’s all right. You were real sincere about it.” Applejack tipped her hat. “You like my smile that much, huh?”
Rainbow looked down and nodded. “Yeah, I do.”
Applejack nudged Rainbow in the shoulder. “You want a kiss, too?”
Her cheeks flushed. “I mean, if you’re offering…”
“Well, that you ain’t gonna get.” Applejack smirked. “Not until we’ve had a real date.”
Rainbow’s eyebrows perked up. “Is that something you’d be game for?”
“Sure, sure.” Applejack held up the hayburger. “And it can be whatever. Hayburgers or not, original or not, doesn’t matter. I’m willing to give it another chance.”
Rainbow smiled. She held up her hayburger and offered it like a toast. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” Applejack returned the toast, taking a big bite of the burger. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was.
Rainbow wiped her hooves on the napkin next to her, paused, and looked up.
“Ya huh,” Applejack said, still smiling as she chewed. “I noticed. Still cute.”
Rainbow closed her eyes and grinned. She took a bite of her burger, catching a glance or two at Applejack as she ate.
Applejack noticed that, too. She felt a deep warmth in her stomach, and a flush of hope. Rainbow could turn out to be the one. Though it was too early to admit, she was really looking forward to the next date.