The wind blasted into Rainbow's face as she soared through the sky, hooves held out in front on her and wings working tirelessly at her sides. Her final target of the morning was in sight—a fluffy white cumulus bobbing haplessly along over Sugarcube Corner. She narrowed her eyes as the cloud drifted slightly to the left in a vain attempt to escape her. But Rainbow Dash wouldn't be fooled by such a manoeuvre.
She neared the cloud, twisted her body and kicked out her legs with a wordless yell, blasting the poor thing into oblivion. She turned around to make sure that there were no leftover pieces and found, with a smirk, that there weren't.
“Y'know, sometimes I almost feel bad for you guys,” she said to no-one in particular. She paused in thought for a moment, then shook her head. “But not today.”
With that, she flipped over and rocketed off towards the other end of town. Now that her day's work was done, there was nothing left to distract or keep her from the thing that'd had her brimming with excitement all morning...
And that was winning this bet and watching Rarity clean out the pig sty on Sweet Apple Acres. She stifled a giggle at the thought and brought her hooves together, making like an arrow and piercing the air as she shot towards Applejack's farm.
It was seconds or less before she slowed down to hover over the apple orchards, casting her eyes about for the farmpony in question—no doubt she'd be up and kicking trees, as was her wont. But there was no sign of that trademark cowpony hat amidst the trees or the fields, so she headed towards Applejack's next most-likely haunt.
Sure enough, she found the farmpony outside the barn, barking up at her elder brother who balanced dangerously atop the roof. He had his teeth around some kind of weather vane, as if he was trying to align it. Or maybe he was just holding it so that he wouldn't fall off...
Rainbow Dash alighted behind Applejack with a thud, making sure that it was loud enough to draw her attention. When Applejack turned, it was with a questioning look on her face, but that quickly morphed into a smile when she saw who it was.
“Well, I'll be!” she said in surprise. “What in tarnation are you doin' up this early, RD?”
“Had some early morning work to do,” Rainbow lied casually. “And I finished pretty early too, so I figured I'd come see what my best pal AJ was up to.”
Applejack gave a short laugh. “Best pal, huh? And you wouldn't have an ulterior motive or nothin', would ya?”
From atop the barn, Big Macintosh made a funny noise, but Rainbow ignored it. “Well, now that you mention it,” she began with a smirk. “I was kind of wondering if you had any plans for lunch today.”
“Lunch?” Applejack repeated, creasing her brow in thought. “Hmm... nope, reckon I don't. Wh—”
Rainbow gave a triumphant laugh. “Haha! Perfect! Alright, come over here a sec and I'll explain.” She gestured vaguely over her shoulder, away from the barn.
Applejack gave her a long, questioning look, but then she nodded and trotted forwards. Big Macintosh made another funny noise, a little louder this time, as the two of them started trotting away.
“Looking good, Big Macintosh!” Rainbow called back, offering an acknowledging wing wave.
He growled back something that was either “Thank you, Miss Rainbow Dash,” or something else entirely.
“Alright, what's goin' on?” said Applejack tiredly, as if she knew that Rainbow was about to say something she wasn't going to like. Oh, how wrong she was, Rainbow thought with a smirk.
“Okay, so here's the deal—I was walking Rarity home after the party last night, and the two of us got to talking...”
Rainbow recounted the important parts of the conversation she'd had with Rarity the night before. Applejack's face went from doubtful to confused, and finally to disapproving as the excited pegasus finished her recount.
“So y'all just went ahead and made this 'bet' without asking me first?” said Applejack chidingly. “You know this kind of affects me too, right?”
Rainbow waved a hoof idly. “Duh, that's why I'm here,” she explained. “Besides, I knew you'd be down with it. I mean, c'mon—imagine Rarity working on a farm! You're always saying that she needs to loosen up.”
“Ain't saying I don't like the sound of that,” said Applejack with a shake of the head. “Only... when we—” She glanced around to make sure that nopony was looking. “—talked about this—the whole romance thing—ya seemed pretty sure of yourself...”
“I am sure of myself!” said Rainbow proudly. “We'll show Rarity that we're totally not right for each other when it comes to dating, and then I'll win the bet and you'll have a new farmhoof for the week. C'mon, is that a foolproof plan or what?”
Applejack's deadpan look probably could've spoken for her, but she went ahead anyway. “Yup, sure sounds foolproof to me. Absolutely no way that could end in tears for somepony...”
“Exactly!” said Rainbow, with renewed excitement.
Applejack breathed a heavy sigh. “I just ain't sure that it's a good idea,” she threw back, along with a look of concern. “You and I both know why it wouldn't work. Not that I wouldn't like it to, but... you sure we should be messing around like this?”
Rainbow waved a hoof. “Who's messing around? We're just gonna go out, have some totally platonic fun and call it a date. What could go wrong?”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Where shall I start?”
“AJ, c'mon, please?” Rainbow tried, giving a pleading grin. “Otherwise I'll lose the bet and you'll have to put up with me for a week!”
As hard as she obviously tried to hide it, that brought a little smirk to Applejack's face. “You're threatening me now?”
Rainbow unfolded her wings and gave them an idle flap before refolding them with a smile, waiting for an answer. Despite her attempted coolness, Rainbow could feel a warmth creeping into her face as she waited in silence, whilst Applejack's eyes scrutinized her own. The normally brazen pegasus found herself shuffling her hooves a little—the recent movement of her wings was making her practically itch to take to the sky...
At long last, Applejack closed her eyes and huffed. “Why am I agreeing to this?”
Rainbow's face brightened with a grin so wide that it threatened to escape her face. “'Cause you want to see Rarity doing farm work as much as I do,” she explained, making only a little effort to mask the excitement in her voice.
The farmpony grunted and smiled. “Yeah, maybe...” She looked up at Rainbow Dash with a renewed smirk on her face. “Alright, RD, you've got yourself a deal. From here 'til Hearts and Hooves day, you can be my marefriend. I guess it can't hurt too much, so long as I get a farmhoof out of this...”
“Are you kidding?” said Rainbow loudly, wings shooting out to the side as she beamed. “This is gonna be awesome! C'mon, let's go right now!”
“Hold your horses, sugarcube,” Applejack chuckled. “I've got some work to finish, in case ya forgot.”
Rainbow deflated a little. “Oh yeah, right... Well, what about lunch?”
“Like I said, I ain't got no plans,” said Applejack with a smile. “Meet ya in the Square at noon?”
The Square at noon? Sounded just about perfect to Rainbow—plenty of ponies would see them together, which meant plenty of ponies would report it to Rarity, letting her know that Rainbow had kept up her end of the bargain. From there, it was smooth flying and, in three days, the fashionista would be bucking apple trees, watering crops, and otherwise getting covered in ten different kinds of muck.
Rainbow couldn't contain her mirthful cheer as she jumped up and punched the air. “Woohoo! It's a date!” she yelled.
The rest of the morning just couldn't go quickly enough for Rainbow Dash. She tried busying herself with reading, playing with Tank, and eventually practising some aerial tricks, though none of it really held her attention. With the prospect of the date in such a short while, she made sure to keep one eye on the Town Square as often as she could, just in case Applejack was a little early.
By about five minutes past noon, Rainbow was impatiently fiddling with the money pouch hanging from her neck as she perched atop the Town Hall, wondering what was keeping the usually prompt farmpony. She wondered if Applejack had somehow forgotten, but quickly dismissed that as very unlikely. After all, this was way too cool an opportunity for even Applejack to pass up.
A few huffs and sighs later, Rainbow's eyes darted towards the bridge leading into the Square, trotting over which was the mare herself—orange coat and distinctive cowpony hat unmistakable against the background. Rainbow was in the air and darting towards her within the second.
“Hey! Farmpony!” she called down, drawing Applejack's eyes as she touched down beside her. Rainbow threw the unpunctual mare a scolding look, preparing to tell her off for being so late. But, when she saw the smile on Applejack's face, the thought evaporated almost immediately.
“Afternoon, partner,” Applejack bade with a nod. “All set?”
“Sure am,” said Rainbow, giving a short nod as the two of them fell into step. Neither of them really needed to ask where they were going—there was really only one diner in Ponyville where they'd ever had lunch.
A smirk crossed Rainbow's face as she bumped into Applejack playfully. “Hey, you excited about our date?”
Applejack chuckled. “Maybe a little. Don't really see how it counts as a date, though,” she added with a thoughtful frown.
Rainbow shrugged. “So long as we're going out together, we've held up our end of the deal. She didn't say anything about having to go to some fancy restaurant or anything, so...” She idly rolled her neck and trailed off.
Applejack grunted doubtfully and set her eyes front. Not that it really mattered, but Rainbow found herself trying to think of some way to convince her that it counted. She curled her lip in thought, and an idea came to her a moment later.
With a smirk, Rainbow unfurled her wing and draped it over Applejack's back, drawing a wide-eyed look from the startled earth pony.
“There,” said Rainbow proudly. “Now it's a date.”
The way that Applejack was looking at her made Rainbow expect to be thrown off any second. But she still refused to move her wing and kept that determined smirk on her face all the while.
After a long moment, Applejack smiled, a faint chuckle escaped her, and she nodded her approval. Together, they looked ahead and made their way onwards to the diner.
The place was pretty quiet, all things considered—of the six tables dotted around the outside of the diner, only three of them were taken up. Rainbow and Applejack found themselves a table for two away from everypony else and ordered sandwiches from the unicorn waiter that swooped over as soon as they were seated. Sandwiches were totally first date material, after all.
When he'd taken their menus and left to get their food, they looked across the table at each other.
“So,” said Applejack awkwardly. “Here we are...”
“Yup, here we are,” Rainbow acknowledged happily. She didn't know why Applejack looked so uncomfortable, because personally she was brimming with excitement—at both the concept of winning the wager and getting some food in her hungry belly. Deciding to cheer her partner up, she flashed her a smile and nodded. “Hey, I like what you've done with your mane!”
Applejack promptly rolled her eyes. “I ain't done nothing to my mane, this is how I always wear it.”
“Yeah, I know,” said Rainbow coolly.
The farmpony let out a laugh. “Well, thanks, I guess. Random pegasus,” she added in a mumble.
“Hey! Nothing wrong with being random,” Rainbow threw back. “Just look at Pinkie Pie.”
“No!” came a familiar voice from somewhere around the corner. “Don't look at me! I'm covered in cupcake batter! It's horrible!”
Rainbow and Applejack exchanged a glance, then burst out into giggles.
The waiter soon returned with their sandwiches, for which Rainbow was very grateful, having not eaten a bite all day. She dug in almost as soon as the plate touched the table, mumbling a quick “Thanks!” through her mouthful. The waiter gracefully bowed out, leaving Rainbow to gorge herself and Applejack to look on silently.
After about three mouthfuls, when Rainbow finally decided that it might be a good idea to pace herself, she looked up to see that her friend still hadn't even touched her own food. “What's up? Not hungry?” she said, creasing her brow.
Applejack stared for a moment longer, before resting a hoof on the table and curling her lip in thought. “You sure Rarity put you up to this?”
Rainbow blinked in confusion. 'What kind of question is that?'
“Uh, now that you mention it, I'm not sure. It might've been a chipmunk...” she mused jokingly. As Applejack gave her a deadpan look, Rainbow smirked and nodded condescendingly. “Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was a chipmunk.”
“Alright, alright, dumb question,” Applejack granted with a roll of her eyes. “Just doesn't seem like her to agree to farm work. Or to gamble, at that.” She shrugged and turned her eyes to her food, taking a generous bite of one of the daffodil and daisy sandwiches.
“She seemed pretty confident,” said Rainbow thoughtfully as she took another bite of her own. “I guess she really believes it could work... Shows what she knows, right?”
Applejack gave a vague grunt and a nod, though she was obviously putting more thought into it. After almost a minute of silence, Rainbow decided that the farmpony was putting too much thought into it, and decided to steer the 'conversation' in a more interesting direction.
“So c'mon, what're you gonna do with Rarity when we win this bet?” Rainbow asked with an excited smile.
Obviously, something in her tone caught Applejack's attention, because the thoughtful look on the orange mare's face turned to a smirk as she chewed. “Well, I reckon it's about time the old pig sty got a good cleaning...”
With their lunch date fully underway, the two of them talked, laughed and generally enjoyed each others' company for as long as the first and second rounds of sandwiches lasted. It wasn't at all unlike any other time that Rainbow'd had lunch with Applejack. In fact, aside from the exciting prospect of winning the bet with Rarity and watching the fashionista muss herself up, it was 'exactly' like a normal lunch date. The thought of the 'romantic' side of things didn't even occur to Rainbow... until it did, of course. But, even then, it was dismissed almost as soon as it popped into her head.
Having just polished off the final sandwich on her second plate, Rainbow leant back on her stool, closed her eyes and sighed in satisfaction. “One more round?” she suggested to Applejack, who'd just pardoned herself after a belch.
“Mmm, I reckon not, sugarcube,” said the farmpony dreamily. “Any more food and we ain't gonna be moving all afternoon.”
Rainbow grunted. “Doesn't sound like such a bad idea...” She opened her eyes and met Applejack's again, smiling. “But I'm guessing you don't feel like taking a nap?”
“Can't,” said Applejack with a shake of the head. “I've gotta get back to work in half an hour—got lots of chores that still need doing.”
“Oh,” said Rainbow, a frown dancing across her face. She rolled her neck and gave it a moment's thought. “Well, half an hour's still plenty of time to hang out, I guess.”
“Hmm? What's that, now?” Applejack grunted.
“Uh, I mean, there's still some time to hang out, if you want,” said Rainbow hurriedly, trying to sound nonchalant. She'd instinctively assumed that they'd be hanging out for a little longer, though she probably shouldn't have. Applejack had only agreed to lunch, after all...
The farmpony glanced up at the sky for a moment, then gave Rainbow a lop-sided smile. “Well, I guess we could do something to burn off some of this food,” she mused aloud.
Rainbow cocked her head. “Hmm? What, like, a run?” Usually, running wasn't very high on her list of things to do right after eating, but if Applejack was going...
“A run sounds good, don't it?” Applejack said, getting to her hooves and stretching. “'Course, if you'd rather have your nap and call it a day—”
“No, no, I'm game,” said Rainbow hurriedly. She nosed into the money pouch that hung around her neck and tossed several bits onto the table, before rising to her hooves as well. “I'm thinking Sweet Apple Acres via Whitetail Woods—should take about twenty minutes, right?”
Applejack curled her lip as if she was trying to calculate it, then gave a satisfied nod.
Whitetail Woods were pretty awesome at this time of year—with all the plant-life and flowers in full bloom, and the branches of the trees all filled with dark green leaves. The grass underhoof was soft and warm, and Rainbow savoured every step as she galloped along beside Applejack.
The sound of laughter brought her back to her senses. Cocking her head, she turned to give the grinning farmpony a questioning look. “What?”
“Nothing,” said Applejack, keeping her eyes ahead and not slowing down for a second. “Just trying to figure you out, is all.”
Rainbow creased her brow. “Huh? What's there to figure out?”
“Well, you invite me out on this lunch date,” she began matter-of-factly. “...And you're determined not to have fun, so's you can win a bet or some such. And now, here we are, running through Whitetail Woods 'cause you want to spend more time with me—” She gave Rainbow a sidelong smile. “—Kind of backwards, ain't it?”
“Hey, nopony said we can't have fun!” Rainbow threw back. “In fact, I think I remember saying we were gonna have fun. Rarity said I only lose if we have a 'thoroughly delightful and romantic time' —” She stuck out her tongue and closed her eyes in a gag, narrowly dodging a tree when she opened them again. “—And there's nothing romantic about this, right?”
Applejack's smile widened a little. “Nope, nothing at all! Just two totally platonic friends on a casual run through the forest! It's like we ain't even on a date at all!”
Their eyes met for a moment, and Rainbow found herself copying Applejack's smile, as if infected by it. They shared a short laugh before turning back to the winding trail ahead and upping the pace a little.
'This is what I'm talking about,' Rainbow thought to herself. Just like she'd told Rarity, she and Applejack were perfectly awesome just the way they were—as friends. Neither of them needed anything more than that, and there was no sense in making a mess of things by trying to make a romantic relationship work when they both knew that it wouldn't. 'If it ain't broke...'
They cantered on in companionable silence, before long emerging from the treeline and rejoining the trail that lead up towards Sweet Apple Acres. It was strange, but Rainbow could've sworn that she saw Applejack stumble a few times during their run, as if she was tired or unfocussed. Rainbow kept herself from pointing it out though—even if it might've been good ammunition for a tease or a playful stab, she didn't want to ruin the subtle magic of the run.
As the farmhouse drew into sight, far in the distance, the two ponies exchanged looks and smirked in a silent agreement. As always, the last leg of their run would be a sprint. Rainbow didn't need a countdown or any cue other than the shared look—as she sped up, so did Applejack, and the two of them dashed, side by side, towards their goal.
If they hadn't been running for so long already, Rainbow would totally have left Applejack in the dust within seconds. As it was, she started to feel the aching in her legs the moment she sped up, but she managed to keep pace with her partner all the same. Running was a total pain, compared to flying...
The two of them slowed together and eventually came to a stop outside the farmhouse, both panting a little and both offering content smiles as their eyes locked.
“Well, here we are, I guess,” said Rainbow redundantly, when she'd managed to catch her breath. She smirked at Applejack. “Want me to walk you to the door, or have you got it from here?”
Applejack rolled her eyes and bumped playfully into Rainbow's side. “I'll manage. Thanks for the run, sugarcube—it was good to let off some steam.”
“You said it,” Rainbow agreed, idly turning her gaze back towards the trail. A run with Applejack always seemed to have the same effect on her—somehow leaving her both utterly exhausted and completely refreshed at the same time. It was a weird feeling, and one she didn't get nearly as often as she'd like.
“You alright there, sugarcube?” came Applejack's voice.
Turning, Rainbow saw the farmpony regarding her with a concerned frown. Rainbow quickly shook her head. “I'm cool. It's nothing...” Almost as soon as the words had left her mouth, a certain thought wormed its way to the front of her mind. “...Hey, AJ?”
“Yes, partner?” said Applejack.
“I'm just wondering... you said a couple of times that you don't see how this counts as a date,” Rainbow said thoughtfully. “I mean, we obviously have different ideas of what a date is, 'cause it seemed like a date to me, I just... D'you think Rarity'll buy it?”
Applejack blinked at her, clearly not following. After a moment of staring and pursing her lips, Rainbow shook her head and looked away. “Ah, whatever. It's a date as far as I care, so—”
She was interrupted as something soft and warm pressed up against her cheek. Her eyes went wide and her wings shot out instinctively as she realised what Applejack was doing. She was kissing her. Only on the cheek, of course, so it wasn't really that big of a deal, but still...
As Applejack pulled back and their eyes met, the farmpony offered a confident smirk. “There ya go. Now it's a date,” she said coolly.
Rainbow blinked, then broke out a smirk of her own. “Yeah. Pretty sure she won't be able to argue with that one.”
“Glad that's settled then,” Applejack chuckled as she trotted up to her door and laid a hoof on it.
Ears perking, Rainbow hurriedly spoke up. “Uh, so, see you tomorrow?” she said, a little louder than intended.
Applejack paused mid-way through pushing the door open and turned to give her a smile and a nod. “Sure. So long as we can do something other than 'just grab lunch', I mean. Maybe something a little more like that run?”
“Y-you bet!” said Rainbow, nodding emphatically as elation—and a little relief—washed over her. “Uh, cool! Yeah, catch ya later!”
With one last smile, Applejack disappeared inside and closed the door, leaving Rainbow to stare after her for a moment, before finally flapping her wings and taking to the sky.
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel a little like Pinkie Pie as the warm bathwater and bubbles lapped up against her neck that afternoon. The goofy smile she wore as she stared at her toy boat was for a myriad of reasons... She smiled because of the comfortable water in which she was submerged. She smiled because of how much fun she'd had in such a short time with Applejack earlier. She smiled because absolutely nothing romantical had happened on their date, and because she was well on her way to winning the bet with Rarity.
In fact, she couldn't think of any reason not to smile. Even the prospect of having to get up early to clear the sky again, after tonight's planned rainfall, was made brighter by the knowledge that she'd get to go on another date with Applejack when she was finished.
It was a weird thing to look forward to, really. They usually saw each other pretty much every day anyway, and hung out two or three times a week. Even so, she was looking forward to their date much more than she typically looked forward to hanging out with anypony...
Rainbow turned her head towards the sound of movement at her side. Her pet tortoise had just just alighted on the stool beside the bathtub. The blades of Tank's magic-propelled helicopter whirred to a halt as he gave Rainbow a slow, meaningful look.
“That time already?” grunted Rainbow, casting an instinctive glance towards the window. She'd promised that her weekly flying session with Tank would be today, though she'd still had an hour to go when she'd gotten into the bath... “Huh... Okay, I'm coming. Wait for me on the porch. And try not to fall off, this time!” she added hastily as the tortoise took off out of the window.
With a smile and a shake of the head, Rainbow drew herself up out of the bath and grabbed a towel from the nearby rack. As she set about drying her coat and mane, her mind wandered back to Applejack...
Maybe it was the prospect of doing something more exciting than 'just lunch' that had Rainbow so excited about tomorrow. More likely, it was just the chance of winning the bet with Rarity. Or maybe it had something to do with that kiss on the cheek that she'd been given when they parted—
She stopped mid-way through drying her hooves as that thought crossed her mind. For a long moment, she stared straight ahead in silence...
“...Nah,” she said, shaking her head dismissively.