Rainbow was on cloud nine. Not litterally, of course. Cloud category nine’s were usually pretty hard and uncomfortable, only meant for building city streets. Cloud tens were just literal concrete. Cloud fours, though? Those were the best for napping, even if she hadn’t felt the need to nap in the past month.
No- she was flying through the air without a care in the world. She dived, pulled up, and spun around, a big broad smile on her face as the wind blew by her, Twilight still fresh on her mind. Below her, Ponyville’s windy streets were clear of ponies. In a manner of moments, Rainbow Dash saw the vivid cobblestone of Ponyville’s Market street come into her vision. Around this time of day, the market tended to be less crowded, letting Rainbow have a friendly banter with Applejack, who was typically mareing the Apple stall.
She gave her wings extra flaps at the end of her dive so she slowed down easier, letting her hooves lightly make contact with the cobble path in a move that would make even Fluttershy jelous of her carefulness. She had learned to control her landings, especially after Twilight had begun fretting over her every time she gained another injury. Applejack had seen her coming, leaning forwards in her stand and raising an eyebrow as Rainbow approached.
“Yeah, yeah. I get it. I landed easy-”
“Ah’m just surprised ya’ll didn’t slam on the ground a’gain.” Applejack smirked, leaning back in her stall, the chair squeaking loudly. “Matter o’ fact, ya’ll haven’t been crashin’ nearly as much, recently, now that ah’ think about it…” Applejack itched her chin, further into her chair in thought, looking up and to the left.
“Oh, really? Huh.” Rainbow quickly dismissed her, trotting to the front of her stand. Applejack gave her a friendly side-eye, but said nothing more about the subject. “Yeah, I’ll take an apple, if that’s alright with you.”
“Alright with me?” Applejack laughed. “Soundin’ like Flutters, there. Alright, alright.” She leaned down, plucking a cool apple from a nearby pile of her supply, still being unloaded by Macintosh, who was getting ready for the next big flurry of market activity. “Here.” Applejack paused putting the apple onto the counter, simply just staring at it in her hoof for a moment. “Hay, ain’t you usually order three?”
“Oh, yeah.” Rainbow blinked. “Nah, just give me the one, Jack.” She waved her hoof. “How much?” She reached under her wing, pulling out her small bit pouch.
“Really?” Applejack asked, furrowing her brows. “Already had lunch?”
“No. No, I haven’t.” She pulled open the string to the bit pouch with her teeth. “One bit for an apple, right?”
“Well… we usually sell them by three for an’ bit, but if you’re so insistent-” She waved her own hoof. “On the house. Or- the dang stall, for all ah’ care.”
“Eh…” Rainbow held the bag of bits, bouncing it up and down in her hooves for a moment, staring blankly at the apple. “Actually, give me two. One for me, and one for…” She creased her lip. “Yeah. I’ll take two.” She zipped the line to the bit pouch and stuffed it back under her wing.
“Still on the house, I suppose.” Applejack reached down, plucking another apple from her supply.
“Sweet, thanks.” Rainbow went to go scoop up the apples and turn around, but suddenly found her hoof being grabbed by another. Her arm was tugged, and she turned back around to meet Applejack’s gaze. “Uh- mind letting me go, Jackie?”
“Are you okay, Dash?” Applejack asked quietly, lowering her voice and looking around. Rainbow took a few steps towards the stall, her ears perking up in attention and curiosity. Macintosh stopped unloading the cart, his ears also pointedly at attention.
“Uhm, yeah. I’m good.” She nodded. “Just got done with-” She gave her hoof one big tug, freeing both her and the apples. “-weather duty for the day. Was gonna head on over to the Golden Oaks.” She cocked her head to the side. “Why do you ask?”
“Cause-” Applejack lowered her voice even lower, still leaning forwards. She looked left and right, looking for anypony other than Macintosh eavesdropping. “You’ve been actin’ strange recently. Takin’ your time with thangs, goin’ slower than usual- hay, you’ve not challenged me to no hoof-wrasslin’ match in the past few months.” She lowered her head down, so Rainbow could only just barely see her eyes under the stetson. “Jus’ wantin’ to know if my Dash is still in there somewhere, okay?” Rainbow shook her head, taking a step back. “I know it ain’t like you to talk about feelin’s or whatnot, but if ya’ll feelin’ down, just let me know, ‘kay?”
“Feeling down?” Rainbow scoffed, suddenly feeling herself itching towards her argumentative self. She took a deep breath, once more wondering how Twilight would react if she’d known they’d gotten into an argument. “Maybe I’m just a lot happier than I’ve been in a long, long time, Jackie. Ever thought about that?”
Applejack didn’t say anything, instead opting to give her another, this time less friendly side-eye and one that was more judgmental. Rainbow offered a pained smile, before quickly trotting away. That was… strange, to be sure, but nothing that wouldn’t be forgotten by the next time she saw her. With a bite of her apple, and a flap of her wings, she took to the skies, heading straight for the large tree towards the west side of Ponyville.
“AB!” The door to the old farm house swung open with plenty of groaning and creaking complaints. Applejack stuck her head in, looking around for the yellow filly. “Me’n Mac’re back from the stall! We’ll be out in the barn-”
“She ain’t here, filly!” An old voice yelled back from the living room. “Applebloom went out to practice buckin’ near an hour ago.”
“Ah, alright.” Applejack fully entered the house, peering her head around the wall dividing the living room and the kitchen. “Any reason why?”
“She said she jus’ felt like it.” Granny Smith was idly flipping through one of the many family albums that she owned. Every single one was yellow and faded, the paper crinkling as she took a few moments to lean closer in to read the faces of the ponies present in any photo. “Kid’s strong for an Earth-pony, but not an Apple. Ah’m a mite scared that she ain’t bucked any apples off trees yet.”
“Well…” Applejack rolled her shoulders. “Her Cutiemark might jus’ not be for apples.” Applejack nodded up and down in confirmation, taking in a big lung full of air. “Yup. She’s might’y good at potion-brewin’, the like.” Applejack sniffed, rubbing her nose. “Say, ya’ll know where she practices apple buckin’?”
“The very north-east part of the orchid.” Granny Smith said, not even taking her eyes off of the book. “Right by where the fences meet, in that corner. Them trees’re too big to be harvestable, so they can take quite a beatin’ by AB.”
“Got it.” Applejack ducked out. “Thanks, Granny!” She added as she left the house, letting the door slam shut.
The walk to the corner of the orchid was surprisingly long. Applejack had rarely ever gone to this section of the orchid, perhaps once or twice in the past decade. The last time she was down there was when she was helping Macintosh replace the old, wire fence with a nice painted white wooden fence. And indeed, Granny Smith was right. This part of the orchid was theorized to be the oldest, as the trees here were of a different breed, and therefore much taller and sturdier than a normal apple tree should be, at least for bucking purposes. Applejack could barely imagine her parents, as foals, being the ones to plant these exact same trees.
The ground was littered with a few apples, and the trunks of the trees had been bruised and abused by Applebloom. Most of the trees had it’s bark ripped off around the bottom, when she had attempted to use a little too much force into shaking the apples down. The grass this far out was also very soft, from being uncut for so long. Applejack would’ve been tempted to lay down and take a nap here, if not for the fact that grass this tall was almost certainly littered with bugs and other creepy-crawlers.
“AB?” Applejack asked, upon finding the corner of the fences. “Where ya’ll at?” She asked, tilting her stetson further onto her head and looking around.
“Sh!”
“Whah?” Applejack blinked. For a moment, she wasn’t sure if she had heard something, or if she had finally begun to hallucinate just like old Grandpa Smith. She picked her ears, looking around. “Hullo?!”
“AJ, up here!”
“What…” Applejack looked up. “...the hay?” There, with her hooves wrapped around a branch, quite similar to how Rainbow Dash would sleep, was Applebloom. In her left hoof she held a bulky camera, pointing it down and at the base of another tree. “AB, get down from there! Ya’ll gonna hurt yerself!”
“AJ, shush!” Applebloom readjusted the camera, trying to balance it on the branch in a certain way so it was facing the base of the tree next to her. “Ah’m tryin’ ta catch them!”
“Catch who?” Applejack looked around wildly. “Somepony here?”
“Was.” Applebloom peered through the viewfinder. “Ah caught them sneakin’ around back here.” She begun adjusting the focus with her other hoof, trying desperately not to let the camera fall.
“Who?” Applejack asked again. “And ya’ll gotta get down from there, you’re going to hurt yerself!” At this Applebloom huffed, looking down through a few branches and at Applejack. She frowned, her brows furrowing as she debated something internally.
“AJ, can ah’ ask you a question?” Applejack cocked her head to the side, preferring her to get down before asking her a question, but simply gave a nod of affirmation anyways. “AJ, is it okay if two mares kiss?”
If Applejack was drinking water, it would’ve been spit across two acres by now. She gave out a sound that Rarity would easily describe as ‘un-ladylike,’as she begun aggressively clearing her throat. She sat down onto the ground, taking off her stetson, and waving it in front of her face as a fan.
“Err- N-Now, why ya’ll goin’ askin’ a question like that?” Applejack asked, painfully apparent that her sudden smile was forced.
“Is it, AJ?” Applebloom asked again, dangling one of her legs off of the branch as she tried to read Applejack’s face.
“W-Well… Ah’ mean, depends o-on the type o’ pony you- you’d, uh… you’d ask.” She nodded. “Yup. Y’know, ah’m not the most suited pony to answer that question, but, uh- Ponyville’s real inclusive, like that, and-”
“Answer the question.” Applebloom dead-panned, her brows dropping into an expression that told an entire story. Applejack chewed the inside of her cheek, looking everywhere else but Applebloom’s eyes.
“Err…” She gulped. “Well… Ah’ don’t… like it… but if ah’ seen two mares doin’ it, ah’ wouldn’t bat an eye.” She fiddled with the hat in between her hooves. “So- uh, ah’ mean, I’d prefer it if they didn’t, ya’ know, of course. Laws o’ nature, all that…”
“Oh.” Applebloom looked confused, frowning deeply. “So you’re not okay with it?”
“Ah mean…” She blew air out between her lips. “N-Not… necessarily?”
“Oh.” Applebloom was still frowning, but nodded none the less. “Okay.” She tapped her camera. “And what if ah’ told you two of your best friends were kissin’?”
Once more, Applejack let out another un-ladylike snort as she guffawed, her mouth opening and closing like she was a fish out of water. She violently shook her head, plopping her stetson back onto her noggin, and looking back up at Applebloom.
“My friends?” Applejack asked. “As in, Twi, Fluttershy, RD, Pinkie, and Rarity? As in, those friends?” Applebloom gave a smug nod. “A-And yer’ sayin’ you caught two of them… kissin’?” Once more, Applebloom nodded, a grin on her muzzle. “O-Okay… Err- which, um, two, then?”
“Not telling.” She stated simply. Applejack flexed her jaw, her eyes still wide with surprise as she slowly felt her heart rate start to rise as she realized exactly what kind of impression she had just left on Applebloom. “Besides, ah’ don’t know if ah’ wanna tell ya’ll anymore. Laws o’ nature, and all that…”
“I didn’t mean-” Applejack bit her cheek. “Well- ah’ mean, ah’ didn’t know-” She switched biting her cheek to the other one, looking down in embarrassment. “Ah- well-”
“Ah’ was gonna capture them on photo to show you, but…” Applebloom looked at the camera in her hooves, turning it around and seeing her own reflection in the big and shiny lenses. “Ah’ don’t know if ah’ want to no more…”
“Ah’m sorry, AB, ah-” Applejack paused. “Ah’m…” Then, she furrowed her brow. “Actually- No. It’s mah’ dang opinion. Ah’ think it’s weird two mares get ta’ hook up. It jus’ ain’t natural, ya’ hear?”
“Ah’ hear ya…” Applebloom readjusted on her tree branch, her smug grin turning into a small frown. “So, ya’ll hate Lyra and Bon-bon, then?”
“What? Ah’ didn’t say that!” Applejack huffed. “Ah jus’ meant- No, don’t take mah’ words out of context! Ah jus’ dislike the way two mares can-” She let out a snort. “Can ya’ jus’ please tell me who they are? Ah’ promise, ah’ won’t get mad at them, none.” Her lip twitched. “Jus’… wanna understand their side of the story.”
“Hm.” Applebloom thought deeply for a grand total of a quarter second. “Nope. Tough luck, Applejack.”
“Aw, come on!” Applejack let out a whinny of frustration. “Fine, then! Ah’ll just have’ta go talk to Rari…” Then, it occurred to her. She didn’t know which one of her friends were romantically involved with one another. That meant she really couldn’t trust Rarity, the pony who had the most romantic experience out of any of her friends.
But… why would she be not be willing to trust Rarity? Just because she was… gay? Was that the right word? Homosexual? Just because she was homosexual didn’t mean she didn’t deserve Applejack’s trust anymore, right?
“Rarity. Ah’ll just go ta’ Rarity.” Applejack nodded. “Yeah. Ah’ll just go ta’ Rarity.” She looked up at Applebloom, who was closely observing her. “Ah’ll figure out who it is before you can say ‘Subdermatoglyphic!’” Applejack turned away from the tree, and began trotting back towards the house.
“What?” Applebloom asked. “Subduh-” Then, she paused. “Subduhma- Sub- Ah, that’s no fair!” She pouted in her tree branch. “Ah’ have a speech impediment, and you know it… Subduhrious- Matorolo-”
Then, the tree branch snapped.
“Gah!”
Crunch.
“Aw, man!” Applebloom lifted her head up from the ground, holding up the remains of a shattered camera, a perfectly good roll of film whiting out as it was suddenly exposed to the sun. “That cost ten bits! Ugh!”
Applejack just smugly smiled as she kept on trotting.