Rainbow breathed heavily in a panic like her skin was on fire as she paced through the snow outside of the Applepie Smithery early in the afternoon, being sure to avoid pacing in front of the windows or anyplace where Applejack could see her.
Honestly, why was this so HARD?!
It should’ve been totally simple! Just go up to her and say ‘hey, you wanna come to the library? There’s a cool unicorn who lives there and she’s super smart and knows a lot about books’. Or something like that anyway.
Instead, Rainbow had been pacing back and forth for what felt like days, and to top it all off she was barely able to fall asleep last night because her mind was too busy racing thinking about what to say to Applejack!
UGH.
Rainbow rested her forehead against the stone wall of the smithery and it crossed her mind to just bang her head into it until her skull cracked, but she knew that wasn’t a great impulse to follow.
Eventually Rainbow would have to either confront her fear of being rejected by Applejack or spend an eternity drowning in all the ‘what ifs’ that she could think of, and she wasn’t sure which one was scarier.
She took a deep breath and puffed up her cheeks, kicking the door of the smithery only to find her hoof in terrible pain as she realized the door didn’t open inside the shop. She gasped and nearly jumped out of her skin as the door swung open, filled with a mixture of relief and pure blood-chilling horror as she saw Applejack step outside the smithery.
“Rainbow Dash?” she asked curiously. “Did you just—” Applejack looked around for a sec, then back at the door, before looking at Rainbow again. “Did you bang on the door just now?”
“Uh, yeah, that was me,” Rainbow drew herself up and tried to look as confident as possible, but she could feel her cheeks burning hotter than Applejack’s forge. “Sorry, I accidentally… kicked it.”
Great excuse, Rainbow, Rainbow thought and fought back the urge to roll her eyes. Sure hope she doesn’t ask why you ‘accidentally kicked’ the door.
“How’d you accidentally kick the door?” Applejack asked.
“Uh, I flew into it,” Rainbow blurted out immediately. She cleared her throat and let her shoulders relax a bit, feeling confident in her lie. “I was trying out some new aerial maneuvers, kinda botched one, landed into your door.”
“That’s funny,” Applejack stroked her chin and Rainbow gulped audibly, trying to ignore how hot the earth pony was, especially when she was confident, “it sure didn’t look like you were doin’ ‘aerial maneuvers’ while you were pacin’ outside my shop the last two hours.”
“WHAT?!” Rainbow shrieked. She coughed nervously as not only Applejack looked at her in shock, but several passerby ponies as well. “H-how did you—I was so sure I wasn’t walking in front of the windows!”
“Uh, that’s a weird thing to say,” Applejack tilted her head and crossed her arms. “What were you skulkin’ out here for, anyway?”
Great. This was great, it was perfect even. Now, not only did Applejack know Rainbow’d been out here pacing in front of the shop, but she looked like some kinda creepy stalker weirdo, or at least a burglar or something.
Rainbow groaned in frustration and slapped her hands against her face, slowly dragging them down and letting them fall to her sides. There was nothing to do now that could fix this, so she might as well be honest.
“I wanted to invite you to the library with me,” Rainbow muttered, looking at anything but Applejack, “but I didn’t know how to ask, so I was trying to come up with something, and just… never did.”
“And the door kicking?”
“I was trying to make a dramatic entrance,” Rainbow swore she was gonna get heat stroke if her face didn’t cool down, “and didn’t realize the door opened out.”
Applejack stood in stoic silence, the only indication that she even heard Rainbow at all being a couple of blinks.
And then she burst into laughter.
Rainbow shrunk into herself, putting her hands in her pockets and fidgeting her wings anxiously. If a meteor could’ve just struck her down where she stood, she would’ve been totally cool with that.
“I’m sorry, sugarcube,” Applejack said, tapping on Rainbow’s arm, “I don’t mean to laugh at’cha. But ya gotta admit, that’s pretty funny.”
Rainbow bit down a smile and shrugged huffily. And then Applejack pulled her in close and gave her a hug, and if Rainbow felt like her cheeks were hot before, that was an icy blizzard compared to the inferno that blazed in her as her face pressed against Applejack’s chest.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass ya,” Applejack said softly, tussling Rainbow’s hair. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s totally okay,” Rainbow said. She didn’t move a muscle, afraid that any movement would either tip Applejack off that she was into her, or worse, made Applejack let her go. “Thanks.”
“Now then,” Applejack took a step back from Rainbow and placed her hands on the pegasus’ shoulders. If she had any idea that Rainbow was so flustered, she wasn’t showing it. “Let’s talk about that library, huh?”
“D-do you wanna go with me?” Rainbow said hopefully, rubbing the back of her neck.
“I wish I could,” Applejack sighed, “but I gotta run the shop. Pinkie’s gonna be gone a couple days, I think. Don’t know exactly when she’s comin’ back.”
“Oh, right,” Rainbow cursed herself for totally forgetting that Pinkie wasn’t here, so of course Applejack couldn’t leave the shop. “Well, don’t worry about it. It’s just a dumb ol’ library, no big deal.”
Rainbow backed away and her eyes darted toward the direction of the library. “I’d better get going though. Promised someone else I’d meet ‘em today, and I’m already running kinda late,” it was just past one o’clock last Rainbow checked, and she didn’t want to miss her three o’clock deadline she’d promised Twilight.
More than that though, she just wanted to be anywhere but the Applepie Smithery, standing like a complete idiot in front of its super-hot blacksmith.
“So, I’ll see ya later I guess,” Rainbow said, her wings unfurling as she prepared to head into the sky.
“W-wait, hold on a sec,” Applejack called out, and while Rainbow was just about to take off, she paused and looked Applejack’s direction. “Just cuz I can’t go to the library with ya, doesn’t mean you can’t spend a little time in my shop, does it? It gets kinda lonely without Pinkie around,” Applejack coughed, and Rainbow could swear she heard her say under her breath, “or without any customers for that matter.”
Rainbow’s wings flattened against her back instantly as she stared wide-eyed at the blacksmith, who seemed to be avoiding Rainbow’s gaze for some reason. Rainbow wondered if she could really take Applejack up on that offer; if she could really stand to spend two hours in the smithery with her without embarrassing herself.
On the other hand, would she even be able to tear herself away from Applejack if it went well? Or would she lose track of time and totally bail on her promise to Twilight Sparkle?
She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t risk it; the embarrassment or breaking her promise.
“S-sorry, I can’t,” every word out of Rainbow’s mouth felt like a hot coal forcing itself through her throat, “I promised I’d meet a friend at the library, and I’d feel just awful if I broke it.”
“O-oh, yeah. Yeah, of course, of course,” Applejack nodded with a smile, arms crossed over her chest. “Wouldn’t want you to break a promise, that’d be just awful. Sorry.”
“No, you shouldn’t be sorry!” Rainbow said, ears flicking up and holding her hand out. “I really appreciate the offer, I just can’t today.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Applejack shrugged, same passive smile still on her face. Her ears perked up ever so slightly and she glanced toward Rainbow. “Maybe you could come by later tonight? I’m closin’ up the shop early tonight, on account of Pinkie not bein’ here. Eight o’clock sound good?”
“I, I guess I could do that,” Rainbow nodded eagerly, but stopped herself and bit down on her lip so she didn’t look too eager.
“Great!” Applejack beamed, holding out her hand. “See you then, Rainbow Dash!”
“Yeah,” Rainbow hesitantly shook Applejack’s hand and was thankful that Applejack’s gloves made her unable to feel the sweat on Rainbow’s palm, “see you then. Definitely.”
Applejack walked back into the shop, turning back to Rainbow and giving her a wink as she shut the door and left her alone outside.
Rainbow fell on her rump right where she stood, curling into a ball and holding her legs close to her as the magnitude of what she just promised to do hit her.
Come by after Applejack closes up the shop? When she’s all alone and totally undistracted, so her and Rainbow would have nothing to occupy their attention except each other? It was the perfect opportunity!
…for her to screw everything up!