Rainbow Dash flew close to the ground, blitzing through Ponyville at incredible speeds. Below her was a fresh blanket of fluffy snow which had fallen the night before. At her current pace she kicked it up, forming a pair of flurried contrails.
Did she really need to be going this quick? No, but Rainbow Dash had never really needed an excuse to go fast before.
Her destination this afternoon was Sweet Apple Acres. The farm held two of Rainbow’s most favourite things in the world. Number one, it had apple cider. Like, really good apple cider. Probably some of the best in the world. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, it was also the home of Rainbow Dash’s long time marefriend, Applejack. Also, probably the best Applejack in the world. Though she was a bit biased on the subject.
As Rainbow neared the farm she flared her wings, bleeding off excess speed and bringing herself down to land. As her hooves touched the snow they instantly sank in and she was knee deep within a fraction of a second.
Oh, oh.
Before she could even react, all of her forward momentum turned downwards as she cratered herself into the soft snow.
Rainbow groaned before looking towards her saddlebag. Thankfully, her Hearths Warming gift looked like it had survived the less than graceful landing undamaged. This was good, it’d be incredibly uncool to show up today without a gift.
A pair of muffled hoofsteps approached.
“Rainbow Dash!” hollered Applejack.
Rainbow waved one of her forelegs.
“I’m over here,” she said.
The hoofsteps drew nearer.
“I know ya are! You left a gosh dang crater in my yard.”
When Rainbow looked up, she noticed Applejack staring down. She did not look pleased.
Rainbow grinned sheepishly. “Hey babe, I uh…I was in a rush to see you?”
Applejack huffed. “You’re mighty lucky that you didn’t break your neck. Are you alright?”
Rainbow slowly got to her hooves.
They were still on her body.
She flared her wings.
Neither one of them fell off.
“Yeah, I’m alright.”
She climbed out of the crater.
Applejack sighed in relief and embraced Rainbow. Rainbow eagerly squeezed her back.
“That’s good to hear,” Applejack said. “Now, what did I tell you about dive bombing my farm?”
“That it scares the chickens?”
“Andddd?”
“That if I’m not careful I’m going to hit something at the speed of sound?”
Applejack nodded before pecking Rainbow on the lips.
This was very confusing to Rainbow. Was she getting scolded or smooched?
Applejack pointed to the side.
Not too far away was a giant metal pole sticking out of the ground with a birdhouse attached to the top. It was painted a very unhelpful white and blended right into the snowy landscape.
“Why the heck is that even there?” Rainbow asked.
“Granny enjoys watching birds.”
“Huh?”
Applejack gestured towards her homestead. “Come on let’s get you inside. I’ve got some good ole fashion apple cider being warmed up on the stove.”
She began to walk towards the front door, with Rainbow following right behind.
“So, is it just the two of us this year?” Rainbow asked.
“Just you, me, and Winona. Granny took the other two up to Appleloosa and they needed somepony to make sure the farm doesn’t blow away while they’re gone.”
To punctuate the point a gale of wind whipped across the orchard, throwing up a screen of snow. Rainbow Dash shivered and both her and Applejack quickened their pace to a canter.
They raced inside and into the warmth of Applejack’s humble abode. Between the stove and fireplace, it was incredibly toasty. The space smelled inviting, having the distinctive scent of fresh pine and bubbling apple cider.
Applejack made her way towards the kitchen and Rainbow moseyed on over to the Hearths Warming tree. Underneath it was a single large present.
Rainbow shrugged off her pack and reached inside, producing her own, much smaller, gift. It joined its companion under the tree. She had put so much work into it this year, there was no way Applejack wasn’t going to love it.
Applejack returned, grasping a tray with her teeth. Upon it were two large steaming mugs of applely goodness.
Heh, Appley Goodness would be a good pet name for Applejack.
Rainbow grinned. “Hey Appley Goodness.”
Applejack put down the tray. “What did ya just call me?”
Rainbow blushed. “N-nothing. I mean Applejack!””
Applejack chuckled and walked over, kissing Rainbow on the cheek before nuzzling her neck.
“Ya know,” Applejack said. “I think Twilight’s starting to rub off on you. Because you’re being way more of a dork than usual, sugar cube.”
Rainbow’s cheeks reddened even further. “Oh yeah well…um…shut up.”
Applejack smiled and gently headbutted her.
“Make me,” she said
Rainbow grumbled to herself before grabbing a mug of cider and taking a generous sip.
If she had to describe the cider in two words, she’d probably use ‘scalding’ and ‘hot’.
She swallowed hard and made a panicked noise, covering her mouth with a hoof.
Applejack looked amused. “It might be a little hot.”
She blew upon her own mug before taking a sip.
Rainbow glared at her. “Thanks.”
She replicated Applejack, blowing upon her cider before taking another sip. This time she was far more successfully in actually tasting it. It was absolutely perfect. Nice texture, mouth feel, just the right ratio of sweet and tart apples. If there was a better cider in the world, she hadn’t found it yet.
“So, what did you get me?” Rainbow asked.
“Why don’t you open it and find out.”
Rainbow looked to the box. “You don’t want to wait till later?”
“Normally I’d wait until tonight, but I’m mighty impressed with what I got ya. Plus, I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you open it.”
“Yeah well, I’m more impressed with what I got you!”
Applejack chuckled. “It ain’t a contest, hun.”
Rainbow looked to the side. “I know that.”
She walked towards the tree, picking up her present. Even though it was fairly large it was still pretty light.
“Is it breakable?” Rainbow asked.
Applejack cocked an eyebrow. “How long have we known each other?”
“Like forever?”
“Do you honestly think I’d get you something breakable?”
Rainbow proceeded to shake the hell out of her present. “Good point.”
It sounded...soft?
Maybe…
Alright enough foreplay, she was just going to open it.
She tore through the wrapping paper and underneath was a navy-blue clothing box?
“Clothes?” Rainbow asked.
“Now, now, open the box before ya judge me.”
Rainbow did just that. Inside was some tissue paper which she cast aside and…
“A Wonderbolts Jersey…” Rainbow said. “Thank you?”
Applejack smirked. “What? Ya, don’t like it?”
“No, no, I’m just kinda confused is all. I can get these for free at work, you know.”
“Welllll Miss Wonderbolt. Remember when we went to the Wonderbolts’ store in Manehatten?”
“Yeah?”
“And remember how they had all of your teammate’s jerseys for sale?”
“Yeah, I remember.” Rainbow’s ears drooped. “Well, all of them except for mine.”
Applejack grinned. “Well, a certain pony talked to Rarity and it just so happens that Rarity knows a pony or two in the industry. Now that pony was able to fix this oversight and deliver the prototype jersey to yours truly.”
Rainbow’s ears instantly perked up as she flipped over the jersey. On the reverse side was the text ‘RAINBOW DASH’ in bold yellow letters, and below that was her number, ‘9’.
“Oh my gosh!”
Rainbow dropped the jersey and lunged forward, pulling Applejack into an incredibly awesome hug.
“This is the best gift ever!” Rainbow beamed.
Applejack smiled and patted her on the back. “I try my best.”
Rainbow broke away from her marefriend and picked the jersey back up. She then clumsily forced her way into it. Due to her naturally compact size the thing hung off of her like a dress.
It was absolutely perfect.
“Now open mine!” Rainbow said.
Applejack reached over and picked up her gift. She then carefully pealed back the paper. This was a harder job then it should have been due to the sheer volume of tape that Rainbow used to hold the patchwork wrapping job together.
However, eventually Applejack was able to liberate her gift, revealing a framed photo. It was of her mother and father in what appeared to be in a high school club together. They looked completely engrossed in one another and were intimately close.
Applejack swallowed hard as tears stung her eyes. “Is this…?”
Rainbow smiled softly. “It is. I was talking with Twilight about how you don’t really have too many pictures of your folks. So, she brought up the idea of looking through some of the old yearbooks from Ponyville High for some. I scanned a few of them from twenty years back and found this picture. Me and Twi then went to the high school and sifted through their records until we found the original. Really it’s kind of a shared gift but Twi is letting me take all the credit on this one.”
Applejack threw her hooves around Dash, nearly tackling her to the ground.
“Thank you so much, sugar cube. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
Rainbow kissed Applejack on the cheek. “It’s the least I could do, hun. You…you mean the world to me.”
Applejack pulled back and the two of them stared into each others eyes. Even though Applejack was crying, her smile was totally worth the hours spent sifting through dusty boxes in the high school’s archives.
Rainbow leaned in and briefly kissed Applejack.
Outside the wind howled and a dog scratched frantically at the door.
Applejack pulled back and chuckled nervously.
“I…I oughta let her in.”
Rainbow nodded and reluctantly let go.
It would only be a temporary separation. After all they had the entire evening with only each other as company.