It was late evening when Rainbow Dash finally collapsed into the spare bed that she'd dragged into Applejack's room. She let out a drained sigh as the aching weight of a million and one chores melted from her legs.
“What's the matter, RD? You tired or somethin'?”
She lazily rolled her head and flung a look towards the farmpony, who had just hopped up onto the other bed, across the room. “We're done, right?” groaned Rainbow. “Moved junk, cleaned barn, baled hay... we can take the rest of the week off, right?”
Applejack gave a bark of laughter and laid down on her back atop the mattress. “Sorry, sugarcube, but we ain't even touched that list of chores I mentioned. If you want a break, you'd better work harder tomorrow!”
Rainbow groaned again. “Harder? You're not a farmpony, you're a slave driver! Remind me why I agreed to this.”
“'Cause you're sweet on me,” Applejack chirped.
As hard as she tried, Rainbow couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face, though she did her best to hide it by burying her head in the pillow. “...Shut up,” she grumbled, drawing another chuckle from Applejack.
If she was honest, it really hadn't been so bad. Well, the chores had been pretty bad... not so much a healthy workout as backbreaking, hard labour. But hanging out with Applejack had been as much fun as she'd hoped, even with all the jeers and taunts Rainbow got for being built for speed rather than endurance. She'd managed to get in a few playful stabs of her own though.
As the silence dragged on and Rainbow's fatigue began to fade away, she dragged her head out of the pillow and rolled over to face Applejack. The farmpony was still staring up at the roof with an unusually girlish smile on her lips... probably thinking about the kiss. Rainbow knew she was, because she, herself, had done the exact same thing the night before.
She let Applejack daydream for another minute or so before speaking up. “So, AJ, I hear you've got a new farmhoof working around here,” she said casually.
A smirk spread across Applejack's face, and she brought a hoof up to her nose as if to hide it. “That I do,” she said. “Gotta admit, I'm surprised she made it through today. Pegasus like that is liable to just fly off with that much work thrown at her.”
Rainbow found her own smirk. “But she didn't, right?”
“Nope,” said Applejack, shaking her head. “She didn't. And considerin' how much she hates farm work, I'm starting to think there might be somethin' else going on.”
“Hmm,” Rainbow grunted in mock thought. She rolled over to lay on her back, mimicking Applejack. “I guess I can relate to that—farm work is a pain in the flank. There's gotta be something pretty special on this farm if she'd take on a whole week of chores for it. Any idea what that could be?”
A glance towards the other bed told that Applejack was no longer trying to hide her smirk. “Might be that I do,” she said. “See, I ain't normally one to listen to hearsay, but there's a rumour going around that the pegasus might be a little sweet on the farmpony that works here.”
“No kidding?” said Rainbow, raising her eyebrows.
“And that ain't all,” Applejack continued. “I heard another rumour the other day, 'cept that one says it's the farmpony who's got a crush on the pegasus.”
Rainbow let her head roll to the side and faced Applejack properly. “You think there could be anything to those rumours?” she asked, smiling expectantly.
The orange mare gave a cursory grunt and met Rainbow's eyes with a more lop-sided smile. “Nah, can't be. Wouldn't work, y'know?”
Rainbow's smile wavered. She wasn't sure whether Applejack had meant that as more playful banter, but even if it was, it was treading an uncomfortable line. “H-how come?” she managed, not wanting to steer the conversation away in case Applejack actually wanted to talk about it.
The stare with which Applejack fixed her lasted a long moment before she finally broke the silence. “The pegasus says their lives are too different,” Applejack explained. “Says there ain't no way a pegasus like her could be with the farmpony, on account of her wanting to fly off and join some big-shot group up in Cloudsdale some day. And even if the farmpony wanted to come with her, she couldn't, on account of having her whole life down here on the farm...”
Rainbow choked. That answered the question, at least.
It was her own argument, turned back upon her in Applejack's accented voice. 'It wouldn't work' she'd said. She'd always assumed that it applied to both the short term and the long term—that worrying about what would happen eventually would make it impossible for them to have any kind of relationship. But that hadn't been the case yesterday. Or today, in fact. The thought had hardly even crossed her mind.
So she'd been wrong about that, but it didn't change the long term problem...
“What does the farmpony think?” Rainbow found herself asking. If anything, that was a good place to start.
Applejack turned her eyes to the ceiling again, before closing them and breathing a quiet huff. “Don't matter. It don't change the fact that the pegasus is right—”
“It matters to me,” said Rainbow, cutting her off firmly.
The pair of emerald eyes snapped open, but they didn't turn to Rainbow right away. When they did, it was with an honest stare that only Applejack could pull off. “I think none of that mattered yesterday, when we kissed on that hilltop,” she said quietly. “Besides that, I don't know.”
Rainbow grunted and adopted a thoughtful frown as she held Applejack's stare. That made two of them that hadn't been thinking about it... It raised the question as to why Rainbow had come up with the argument in the first place. Maybe it was an excuse—just something that seemed convenient at the time.
“Maybe it doesn't matter,” Rainbow mused aloud. “Maybe I just said it because I was looking for a reason for it not to work.”
Applejack curled her lip. “...'Cause you didn't want it to work?” she guessed.
Rainbow hesitated. Thinking back, she'd never actively wanted things to go badly between them. Part of her had wanted their trial run to be a flunk—in order to prove Rarity wrong—but when that happened on their second date, she felt terrible.
With a bushed huff, the pegasus slid herself to the edge of the mattress and climbed down. She trotted over to Applejack's bed, upon which the farmpony stirred and rose to sit upright. Rainbow didn't wait for permission before hopping up onto the bed and sitting beside her, eyes held low.
“Honestly, AJ, I don't even know,” Rainbow confessed heavily. “All I know is that I was determined to make it work yesterday, and I was happy when it did. But that doesn't mean I was wrong about there being problems—” She shook her head with a huff. “—I don't even know.”
“...Let's forget it, then,” said Applejack.
A twinge of panic forced Rainbow to look at Applejack, wide-eyed, as her mind started racing again. 'Forget it? Just give up? Is she serious?'
“The future, I mean,” Applejack clarified.
Relief washed over Rainbow, but it only lasted a moment. “Forget the future?” she repeated sceptically. “What's that supposed to mean?”
Applejack reached across with a fetlock and laid her hoof on Rainbow's leg. The farmpony's gaze turned to the middle of the floor, in thought or nervousness, as she spoke. “I know you're gonna go off and join your Wonderbolts someday, RD. And I know you're gonna be real busy... probably too busy for a Ponyville farm girl like me—”
Rainbow opened her mouth to argue, but was silenced by a look from those emerald eyes.
“—But I don't care,” Applejack continued. “As long as we're together now, why does it matter what might happen tomorrow?” She leant forwards and laid a soft kiss on Rainbow's lips, before pulling back with a tiny, expectant smile.
It took a long moment for Rainbow to get over the pleasant shock of the kiss and words both. On defensive impulse, her mind latched on to the strangeness of the sentiment. Once she'd found her voice, she had to point it out...
“Isn't that a little reckless, for you?” she teased, scolding herself for it immediately after.
Applejack just shook her head and smiled wider. “Not even a little bit,” she said confidently. “Ya see, I'm countin' on a certain pegasus' determination to make it work.”
Rainbow blinked. “Huh?”
“I'm talking to the pegasus who pulled off the 'impossible' Sonic Rainboom, aren't I?” said Applejack, with an unnerving coolness in her voice. “If this is really what you want, then there ain't a doubt in my mind that you'll try to make it work. Am I right?”
“Well, yeah,” Rainbow granted, flushing a little from what she was pretty sure was a compliment. “I mean, of course I'll try, but—”
Applejack shut her up by pressing more firmly on her leg. “I've got a feeling that's all it'll take.”
Rainbow opened and closed her mouth a few times, not quite sure what to say to that. “G-geez,” she managed eventually. “Talk about pressure...”
“Didn't mean I expect you to do it alone,” said Applejack, smiling even more warmly. “I'll be trying too, you can count on that.”
“But what if—” This time, Rainbow cut herself off. She'd been about to ask 'What if we don't figure something out?' But she already knew the answer. If they didn't figure something out, then it wouldn't work between them. The thought brought a dark shadow across Rainbow's face.
Applejack obviously noticed, because her constant smile began to falter as the silence dragged on. She let out a sigh and her eyes fell to Rainbow's chest. “Look, sugarcube, I ain't trying to make ya do somethin' ya don't want to,” she said heavily. “I had fun these past few days, and if you want to leave it there... well, I can't say I'm happy 'bout it, but I can understand. 'sides, if ya really think it won't work, then there ain't nothin' I can say that'll make a difference anyway. If it's ever gonna work, we have to both want it.”
“B-but I do want it!” Rainbow threw back. She put her muzzle under Applejack's chin and aggressively lifted it up, before pulling back to meet her eyes determinedly. And then, as she stared into the depths of those startled, emerald pools, it hit her like a sack full of apples to the gut...
'I do want it to work.'
She pursed her lips to stop them from trembling in excitement or anxiety or something else completely. After a long moment of staring, she bit the bullet and did what did best—lived in the moment.
Rainbow Dash leant forwards and captured Applejack in another long, passionate kiss, doing her best to recreate the feeling from the hilltop. Clearly caught off guard, Applejack took a second to adjust before returning the gesture. She put so much weight on Rainbow's leg that it was almost painful, but that was the last thing that the brazen pegasus cared about right then. All she cared about was enjoying the kiss for as long as possible, and showing Applejack that they really did both want the same thing.
When, after what felt like minutes, they finally pulled apart, Rainbow saw that Applejack had found her smile again. The more than content pegasus returned it. Anything more than that seemed... pointless.
Rainbow Dash knew what she wanted. She wanted this to work. And when Rainbow Dash wanted something to work, it worked. Sometimes it might take a while, others it might take no time at all. Whatever the case, there was no doubt in her mind right then.
'I'm gonna make this work,' she promised.