Twenty minutes later, the two exited the bar—patio and all. The sunlight overhead was growing rosier, painting the sky with pastel hues that contrasted playfully with the bright blue rooftops of Canterlot's Upper Diamond District.
Rainbow Dash was hugging herself and giggling, gliding along in the air just below street lamp level. "I can't believe it!" As the last few words of the conversation rang through her fuzzy head, she turned to smile at the earth pony trotting along beneat her. "And yet Filthy Rich still did business with you guys after that?”
“Oh please, Rainbow.” Applejack chuckled. Try as she might to sound jovial about it, her stomach was doing twists deep in her gut—and it wasn't because of the cider. "I was just a lil’ filly then! And Mr. Rich is certainly a forgivin’ stallion! It’s not like he was gonna take a little ol’ thang like that personally!”
Rainbow struggled to contain her laughter. “But you looked up at him with your little tiny filly freckles and said ‘Wow, your mane looks like a throw rug!’ Hooooocrap! Ah ha ha ha!”
Ponies were starting to glare at the two. Applejack sighed, tilting the brim of her hat down somewhat. “For real, sugarcube, yer makin’ a scene. Lightin’ up on the yucks, won’tcha?”
“Wow, AJ. I knew you were honest! I had no idea you were friggin’ brutal!” Rainbow flew a little lower so that they were both within murmuring range. “Whewwwww. You didn’t hold back bucks in that day and age, did you?”
Applejack managed a slight smile. “Fraid not. Granny had to teach me some pretty smart lessons after my folks passed away so that I could learn to speak proper with ponyfolk.”
“Smart lessons, huh? Like, she homeschooled you?”
By now, Applejack was grinning. Memories that used to sting were now tickling her from theinside out. "No. Meanin’ she tanned my backside until I learned to trot right!”
“Ha!" Rainbow Dash laughed, then said something else.
Applejack couldn't hear beyond her own chuckling. “What was that?”
For some reason, Rainbow chose to cough and clear her throat. “Nothing! But still…” She threw a devilish smirk over her shoulder. “I would have liked to know that AJ.”
Applejack's heart beat curiously. “Really, now…?”
“Yeah. The AJ who was too driven to spare any hurt feelings.”
The farm mare's brow furrowed. “What do you mean by that?”
“Well, it’s not like you tell the truth all the time.”
Orange hooves nearly tripped over the cobblestone. Curiosity bubbled into a brief froth of anger. "You sassin’ my good name, Rainbow?” Applejack glared in her direction. “If I wanted some of that, I would have hung out with the other girls!”
“I’m just saying…”
Applejacke remembered who she was talking to. Sighing, she waved a hoof and chose to egg the pegasus on. "Fine. Gimme one single instance where I said somethin’ to make my muzzle grow long!”
“Uhhhh…” Rainbow Dash fidgeted in midair. “How about that one time you told Rarity that her mane was gorgeous—like—right after the Great and Powerful Trixie zapped it and made it all green and yucky?”
Applejack's mind flickered like lightning. What was once a vague memory became vibrantly clear: Rarity with a ragged, vomit-colored mane. The unicorn looked so distressed... so close to tears that Applejack lied to her. What's more, she did so with such swiftness that her mind had almost written the entire debacle completely out of existence.
"Oh..." Applejack exhaled. She instantly felt a red hot warmth spreading across her fuzzy features. "Uhm..."
To her dismay, Rainbow Dash wasn't finished. “Or how about that one time you made Apple Bloom and her friends think that their talent act was actually pretty snazzy and not a total meltdown?!”
Applejack winced even more. She remembered feeling very bad about that the week after it happened. Still, how did Rainbow Dash know...? “Erm…”
“Oh!" Rainbow jolted in midair, gesturing. "And just two weeks ago! On Pinkie Pie’s birthday! You lied about the whole lot of us hiding out in your barn—”
“Hey!" This time Applejack swiveled to face the mare, frowning. "T’ain’t fair! That was to help put together a surprise party for our friend!”
“Still!” Rainbow’s voice cracked as she chuckled some more. “It’s not exactly what I would call a perrrrrrrrrfect recorrrrrrrrd.”
Instantly—for some reason—all of Applejack's anger, guilt, and worry faded. She was reminded that she was talking to a mere scamp with wings. Perhaps it was the devil-may-care smirk that Rainbow always sported, or the adorable, near-foalish way her voice squeaked between every other syllable.
Rainbow Dash wasn't a pony to be feared, after all. And yet—for whatever reason, when the conversation went deeply enough—Applejack felt like she was gliding down a roller coaster in her presence. Thankfully, there were moments just like this when she came to the surface for air... and knew just how to dismiss the pegasus. If not for Rainbow's sake, then most definitely for her own.
"Now..." Applejack tilted her chin up like a certain fashionista and trotted confidently along. "...yer just stretchin’ the issue."
“It’s okay, Applejack!” Rainbow Dash's voice warmly warbled from behind. "I still love ya—uhhh-uhhhh…”
Rainbow Dash suddenly sounded like she was choking on something.
Applejack stopped in mid trot. Worried, she turned and looked back...