One sunny day morning, Applejack did her farm work as usual. She was bucking the apple trees in the Sweet Apple Acres.
She set her hooves on an apple tree, and found something besides apples falling from above.
It’s a small piece of paper. She picked it up, and found that it’s a ticket for Wonderbolts performance.
And she noticed a letter attached on it.
Dear AJ,
See you this afternoon at the stadium, I have a special flying performance to show you.
Love you,
Yours sincerely,
RD
The ink wasn’t dry yet, and the hoofwriting was writing in hurry.
Applejack looked around, but she didn’t see Rainbow Dash anywhere. In recent days, she always happened to meet Rainbow Dash falling from the tree with apples when she was harvesting. But when Applejack was about to ask why, every time, the blue pegasus just smiled awkwardly and flew away without saying a word, which confused the farm girl all the time.
Why Rainbow Dash didn’t bring the ticket in person? That's not her way of doing things.
To figure what’s matter with her friend, Applejack decided to attend.
It’s late afternoon now, Applejack arrived at the stadium, but it’s empty outside. If Wonderbolts was going to give a performance here, it must be packed with ponies.
Applejack found she was the only pony here, neither her other friends, nor the staff or security, and no Wonderbolts poster either.
Sometimes, Rainbow Dash would invite her friends to watch her new routines or rehearsals before her formal performance.
But after Applejack entering the stadium, she found that it’s still empty inside, Twilight and her other friends were not here.
What’s going on?
Just when she suspected she had come to a wrong place, a familiar voice came from the sky above.
“Glad to see you come.” Rainbow Dash was standing at the edge of cloud.
“Where are they?” asked Applejack, looking around.
“You are the only one invited.” Rainbow Dash landed in front of her earth pony friend. “Take a seat, this show is only for you.”
Only for me?
Applejack didn’t ask any more. She set her hind hooves and raised her head as the blue pegasus flew back to the sky again.
Rainbow Dash began her show. Her flight left a long trail of rainbow, drawing a picture on the orange sky.
First, she drew a rainbow thunder.
Second, she drew a rainbow apple surrounding the former, which surprised Applejack, but she knew zap apple didn’t go like this.
Third, she drew a big heart circling apple in the center.
Last, she flew straightly across the heart just like an arrow.
Rainbow Dash went down and landed in front of Applejack, panting but smiling. “Do you like it?”
“Awesome, sugarcube!” commented Applejack as clapping her hooves. “I’m sure you will win the applause of the audience when you give the formal performance.”
“Sorry, this show is only for you, Applejack.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her hooves, smiling shyly.
Applejack could tell the blue pegasus was blushing, just like a sunset on her cheek, she had never seen Rainbow Dash look like that.
“Why only for me? What good performance, you should show it to everypony.”
“Because I want to ask…” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to calm down her nervous feeling.
“Will you…” she hesitated for a moment, “…marry me, Applejack?”
“Excuse me?” Applejack was sure what she had heard, but she was hard to believe.
Rainbow Dash, the bravest mare among her friends, but when it came to romance, she was even timider than Fluttershy. Now, she just opened and closed her mouth several times, no word came out.
They just faced to faced and didn’t say anything.
After waiting for a full minute, Applejack broke the silence.
“If you are jokin’, I will say yes.” Applejack giggled. Part of her hoped that Rainbow Dash was joking, but another part of her felt that her friend was serious about it because of her expression and the show she gave.
“So…,” Rainbow Dash looked down in disappointment, “…you are going to refuse me, right?”
“Did your brain was bucked by somepony, sugarcube? We haven't even dated yet, let alone gettin’ married.” Applejack was still hard to believe what Rainbow Dash said.
“We are dating now, aren’t we?” Rainbow Dash tried to explain. “You see, I gave you a ticket and a letter to invite you, and now you’re here”
So the ticket is for dating?
“And you watch my performance, which I showed my love to you.” Rainbow Dash kept going. “The thunder, the apple, and a heart with an arrow, can you get it? After that, I can ask you to marry me, right?”
This’s the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.
Applejack couldn’t help bursting into laughing.
“Romance doesn’t work like this, feather brain.” It took her a moment to calm down the laugh. “Poor athlete, you have strong limbs but a simple mind. Love is not a runnin’ race, you can’t just set off from starting point and rush to the destination as fast as you can. What you have to do is to win her heart.”
“Was my show too awful?” asked Rainbow Dash in despair. It seemed she was going to cry.
“No, no, no, sugarcube, the show is awesome.” Applejack tried to comfort her. “But if you want to get me, you have to do somethin’ else.”
“How?”
“A competition. If you win, I will be your girlfriend.”
Applejack decided to give her a chance. After being friends together so long, they found they had a lot in common. So, being her girlfriend wasn’t a bad idea. As for marriage, saved it for the future.
Rainbow Dash cheered up immediately as heard the competition. “What kind of competition? Iron Pony competition? Running of the Leaves? I do like chasing girls, just try me!”
“But you always cheat with your wings.” Applejack raised her eyebrows. “So, let’s play a game which is fairy to everypony, it called Rock-Paper-Scissors.”
“Rock-Paper-Scissors? I've never heard of this sport before.” Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head
“It’s a funny game, the rules are very simply,” Applejack explained, “scissors beat paper, paper beats rock, if we both make the same thin’, it is a draw. So, get it?”
Rainbow Dash nodded and flew away immediately before Applejack wanted to say something. Seconds later, she’s back, with something in her hooves.
“Here,” she put all the things on the ground, “I got a diamond, the hardest stone in Equestria. A fabulous cloth and a sharp scissors from Rarity. So, let’s begin!”
Applejack buried her face in her hooves, she was upset about her friend’s comprehension.
“We don’t need the real thin’, sugarcube, we play this game just by our hooves.”
“All right,” Rainbow Dash put everything aside, “let’s duel!”
They stood facing each other and put one of their hooves behind the back, then said together.
“Three…two…one!”
They held out their hooves at the same time.
Rainbow Dash’s heart skipped a beat as she saw Applejack hoof rock, because she wanted to make scissors. When she found she was hoofing a rock actually, she sighed with relief.
But how to form scissors with a hoof?
“Draw,” said Applejack, “another round.”
“Three… two… one!”
They both hoofed rocks again.
For Applejack, she didn’t care about win or lose. But for Rainbow Dash, she had to win this game. She knew Applejack could only hoof rock. So, if she could form a paper, she would win this game and got her girlfriend. But the question was how to form a paper with hoof.
Two hooves! That it’s!
The third round.
“Three…two…one!”
Applejack still hoofed the rock.
This time, Rainbow Dash didn’t hold out a hoof. Instead, she just stood there with her forehooves spreading.
“Do you want to quit the game, Rainbow?” asked Applejack, “You didn't do anythin’.”
“No! This is paper!” Rainbow Dash protested, “I win!”
“Nope.” Applejack shook her head, “It doesn’t count.”
Rainbow Dash was going to lose patience, but she didn’t want to be angry in front of her future girlfriend.
How to form the paper? Hooves didn’t work, what about…?
The fourth round.
“Three…two…one!”
Applejack did the same thing.
Rainbow Dash decided don’t use her hooves any more, but her wings instead. She held out her wing against Applejack’s hoof.
“It looks like a scissors to me, sugarcube.” Applejack pointed to her forked feather. “You lose.”
“So, you won’t be my girlfriend, right?” Rainbow Dash looked hopeless.
“Nope. I never said that you won’t get anything if you lose the game. You still have chance, unless you want to give up.”
Rainbow Dash would not give up, of course. But how to win this game?
Applejack would keep hoofing rock, all she had to form paper.
Paper beats rock, because paper covers rock.
And why Applejack wants me to play this game with her?
Rainbow Dash finally figured out, she had one hundred and twenty percent chance of winning this game.
The fifth round.
“Three…two…one!”
Immediately, Rainbow Dash reared up on her hind hooves and threw herself on her friend:
She was giving her a big hug.
“I win! I win!” said Rainbow Dash excitedly. “Please be my girlfriend! Please, please, please!”
“Yep, you win, sugarcube.” Applejack was burying in her friend’s furry chest. “And I've been waiting for you to do this.”
“Why don’t you just ask me?” Rainbow Dash let go of her embrace.
“This is the romance, honey. It’s complex to tell.”
She called me honey!
“So, Applejack, since you’re my girlfriend now, will you marry me?” Rainbow Dash picked up the diamond that she brought few minutes ago. “I even bring the diamond…ring here!”
“I just be your girlfriend seconds before. If you want me to be your wife, you are goin’ to have lots of things to do.”
“How about dinner tonight?” Rainbow Dash blushed again, because this was her first to date with her girlfriend.
Applejack nodded. “But before we go, how about playing another round?”
Rainbow Dash got her girlfriend’s idea.
“Three… two…one!”
They hugged together.
——The End