"Y'know, Applejack, you could probably fill those baskets maybe..." she put a hoof to her chin. "Twenty percent faster."
Applejack rolled her eyes, bucking the tree that Rainbow was sitting on. "Well, if a certain somepony helped out a bit, then maybe Ah'd fill 'em thirty percent faster!"
"Wha-hey!" Rainbow fell to the ground with a heavy thud. "What was that for?"
"Prove it."
"Wha--"
"Ah said, prove to me that you can do it 20% faster--" Applejack kicked an empty basket at the pegasus. "I'll bet a fritter on you winnin'."
"Deal."
Applejack ground her hoof into the soft dirt. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. The baskets in front of them lay empty, ready to be filled with apples. Granny Smith stepped out in front of them, squinting in the midday sun as she held up a flare gun. Somehow.
"Y'all ready?"
"Eyup."
"Well, duh! Of course I am!"
The two darted the moment the flare gun fired. Applejack sprinted towards the closest tree, immediately winding up for a hefty kick. Rainbow soared overhead, nose-diving into the branches of another tree.
Three apples fell into Rainbow's basket.
"You ready to bake me some fritters, AJ?"
Four into Applejack's.
"Ha! You wish!"
Another two apples. "No, you!"
Granny Smith watched in amusement as the two mares rampaged through the orchard. At least harvest was going to be quick this year.
Thunk.
"Ha! I filled three more baskets than you!"
"Only 'cuz you used a rainboom to knock all the apples down! All ya did was scoop 'em up off the ground!"
Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue.
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Well anyway, I don't think an extra three baskets makes for a full twenty percent. Ah suppose if you want them fritters, you'd best help out in the kitchen."
"Wh-really? C'mon, you saw how many apples I picked up there!"
"And that just caught ya up to me," Applejack deadpanned. "But anyhow, you won, so it's time to make some fritters."
"Will there be cider?"
"No."
"Sooooo... are you gonna make 'em, or--"
"Eyup," Applejack trot past her friend. "You just wait your rainbow tail there. Ah've already got some ready to fry up."
"Wait wait wait--" Rainbow Dash spun around. "You're saying you already made some anyway?"
"Eyup."
"B-but-- what was the point of doing all that harvesting, then?"
Applejack ignored the question, quietly humming to herself as she heated up the oil.
"Hey, are you listening?"
"Nah," Applejack continued humming. She pulled out the unfried apple fritters, dumping them into the hot oil. Immediately, the air burst with the sounds of bubbling from the kitchen. An all-too-familiar smell of cooking apples drifted through the kitchen.
"C'moooon!" Rainbow Dash groaned, draping herself over the back of the couch. "Does that mean I could've kept on napping, then?"
"Nope."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, lifting off from the couch and hovering close behind her friend.
"Careful now, Dash--" Applejack kept her eyes on the bubbling fritters. "--Don't wanna get either of us splashed now by this stuff."
Rainbow chuckled. "And what if I do want to get splashed?"
"Seriously, Rainbow-- this ain't the sorta stuff you'd wanna be splashed with. Hot oil's no laughin' matter."
"Fine then."
Who knew that Rainbow Dash would treat eating apple fritters as a competition as well?
Granny Smith? No, she wasn't paying attention. Apple Bloom? Nope. That filly was causing world-ending event #6810 over in Sugarcube Corner with Sweetie and Scoots. We don't speak of the unspeakable eldritch horrors hobby Big Mac was currently partaking in with his own friends. Ogres & Oubliettes can be that way sometimes.
Logically, this leaves Applejack.
"Rainbow! How many gosh-darn fritters are ya gonna wolf down?! Leave some for the rest of us!"
Rainbow Dash responded only with a thinly-veiled burp, grinning back at her friend.
Another eye-roll. The author believes he may have forgotten how to write appul pone.
"Well, Ah suppose that should be enough fritters for now," her eyes shifted to Rainbow. "You're gonna have to work if you want more."
Now then. Because this scene is absolutely awkward as heck and physically painful to read, let's pretend none of that actually happened, alrighty?
Alrighty. 'Cause we're about to take this baby down a whole different path.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Applejack tensed as the noise grew closer, grinding her teeth against the lasso she held in her mouth. Rainbow Dash hovered low overhead, keeping mind to stay out of sight.
"I still can't figure out what that thing is!" Rainbow whispered, landing softly beside her friend. "But whatever it is, it's huge."
Thump.
The ground began to tremble now, and the air buzzed with a low growl.
"Steady now, Dash," Applejack murmured, crouching low. Rainbow Dash copied her actions. "Don't do anything brash, y'hear?"
"Yeah."
Thump.
"Now."
The crackle of snapping tree branches pierced the air as a head emerged from the edge of the Everfree Forest. This... beast wasn't like anything Ponyville had seen before-- and that was saying a lot, given what they had seen already.
At the sight of the beast, Rainbow Dash shot into the sky, gaining altitude by the second. At the peak of her ascent, glanced back, giving a single nod to Applejack. Moments later, she shot downward again, hurtling downward at sonic speeds. Somewhere deep down, in the back of her mind, she hoped that this rainboom would distract whatever this thing was long enough for Applejack-- and if they could get here in time, the rest of her friends-- to take it down. If not... well, now would be a great time to find out just how fast she can fly. Or how high. Or really even just testing out... she shook her head. Forget about what to do if things went wrong. That only matters as a question of if, not when.
Hopefully.
Just like the many other rainbooms she'd performed in her life, Rainbow abruptly changed course in her descent, swinging upward again fast enough to create a shockwave from the change in direction alone. A burst of color accompanied the shockwave, just as it had every other time. The heavy footsteps seemed to pause at the ruckus.
"Ah got its legs!" Applejack yelled from beneath the forest's canopy, though her voice was almost inaudible through the thick greenery. "Now lead it deeper into the forest! Let's see if this thing can trip!"
"On it!"
Rainbow Dash slowed her flight, hovering just out of reach of the monster.
A slow, ancient-looking claw rose from the trees, reaching for the mare. With a surprised yelp, Rainbow Dash flew higher, letting the claw swing harmlessly beneath her, crashing back down into the canopy. "What was that?!"
"An arm, Dash, it was tryin' to swat you outta the air."
The monster roared at the conversation.
"Okay, okay, geez--" Rainbow dodged another swipe. "--don't need to be so harsh about it, y'know."
"Ah ain't tryin' to be harsh! Ah just don't wanna see you get hurt by this thing!"
Fair enough. Not like anypony else wanted to learn what it'd feel like to have a monster smack 'em, anyway.
"To the left!" Applejack's voice shouted again amidst the chaos, "There's an opening!"
Rainbow Dash veered to the left, catching a quick glimpse of another arm reaching for her closing in from behind. And then another arm. And another, and another and another and-- ooooh Celestia...
"It's gaining on you!"
Rainbow beat her wings harder. "Not if I can do anything about it!"
At some point, she'd finally flown far enough that the monster had to once again walk, rather than simply reaching with its flurry of limbs. And of course, walking meant taking a step, and taking a step meant--
With a ferocious roar, the monster began to fall, its hind legs barely bound by Applejack's rope. A heavy crunch rose from the forest as it fell face-first into the clearing of the forest.
"Yeah!" Rainbow cheered, circling back around to join Applejack. The monster groaned in response as the familiar sounds of hoofsteps drew near.
"Sorry we're late!" Twilight panted, nearly out of breath. "I... we--"
"Hey, chillax, Twi," Rainbow landed beside the mare. "We already got this thing in the bag!"
Twilight only raised a brow in response. Rainbow chuckled, pointing a hoof in the direction of the monster. "I mean, we did just knock that thing over, right AJ?" she turned to Applejack and her deadpan glare.
"...Right?"
"Well," Applejack step in. "Ah say that we should lead this creature deeper into the Everfree. Keep it from becomin' a problem again anytime soon."
She glanced at Rainbow.
"Really? I have to be the bait again?"
"Eyup. You're the fastest one out of us--" Applejack shrugged. "--There ain't even a chance for the rest of us to outrun or outfly that thing."
A sigh. Rainbow nodded, taking to the sky.
"Um... Rainbow?"
"Yeah?"
"Where'd ya get that fritter?"
"Hey--" Rainbow Dash swooped down to Applejack. "You said that I was the distraction, so I'd might as well use something to lure it!"
"Fair enough."
Thunk.
The apple fritter didn't so much as even stick to the monster as it did bounce. Applejack stood by the thing's legs, ready to pull the ropes free at any moment while the rest of the girls watched on. Why were they only watching, you ask? 'Cause this is supposed to be a RainbowJack story thing, dangit.
"Ready when you are!" Rainbow's distant voice echoed in the clearing. Applejack released the rope, freeing the monster.
A low, guttural groan escaped from somewhere inside the creature as it rose, clearly more annoyed than it'd been before. Its tangle of arms had long-since retracted into its back, leaving only its vaguely-quadruped form to stand again on its hind legs, swiping at Rainbow Dash.
As for the pegasus herself, well, now it was just a matter of keeping its attention on her. And flying. Flying was definitely important when you're high up in the air and being chased by a monster the size of a large building.
Rainbow stopped at a safe distance from the monster, hovering just too high for it to reach without its weird back-arm things, but still close enough to fool it into following instead of doing... well, whatever the buck it was that it did earlier with said arms.
Step by slow, lumbering step, the monster followed Rainbow Dash, wandering deeper and deeper into the forest until only its misshapen head could be seen anymore, and eventually, nothing. It was hardly even half a minute before Rainbow returned to her friends.
"Hey," she dropped down beside Applejack. "You owe me an apple fritter for that. The one you had on the window sill was bouncy."
"What."
And then the author proceeded to faceplant on his keyboard.