The town square was full of ponies and market stalls. Salesponies were presenting their products to the passing of ponies and there were couple of musicians playing different kind of instruments. AJ and Rainbow walked towards the first set of stalls. They were full of different kind of jewelry. Rainbow wasn't interested, but Applejack couldn't get her eyes of them.
"For a farm pony, she surely likes all those shiny things."
Even though Rainbow didn't care about pretty gems and stuff, but she didn't want to make AJ upset. AJ kept saying how 'purdy' something was, and Rainbow kept nodding. After a while she said: "I didn't know you liked all these shiny jewels. Aren't they a bit too much 'ladylike' for a farm pony like you?" Rainbow said smirking. Applejack looked at her annoyed.
"Ah can look at them, even Ah am from a farm," Applejack said and turned around to have a look at some earrings "I didn't mean to make you mad," Rainbow said.
"Ah know ya didn't mean it sugarcube"
"Sucargube... It sounds so good when she says that..."
AJ turned around to face Rainbow Dash. "Ya ready to move on?" she asked. Rainbow sure was. "Yeah, there's some cool wonderbolt merchandise over there," she said and started to trot towards another stall. Applejack was besides her. "So how is it going with them wonderbolts?" AJ asked.
"It's going pretty well I guess. I mean Spitfire and Soarin gave me a green light but Fleetfoot is not..." Rainbow stopped talking when she realized that AJ was nowhere to be seen. She spun around, trying to locate Applejack. She saw her staring at something on the table of one of the stalls.
Rainbow trotted next to her and saw what Applejack was looking at. It was a apple shaped pin, made out of red ruby and leaves were made out of tiny green sapphires. Even Rainbow thought it was beautiful. "That's really cool," she said.
"It sure is," AJ replied. Rainbow looked at AJ. She tought for a moment and said: "That would look really good on your hat."
Applejack turned to face Rainbow Dash. She looked at her for a moment and asked: "Ya really think so?"
"Yeah, you really should take it."
"Oh, Ah don't have any money with me," AJ said and looked a bit sad.
Rainbow looked at the sad earth pony in front of her, then the shining pin on the table.
"This could be what I've been waiting for."
"Hey, come here," Rainbow waved at the clerk, who walked to see what Rainbow wanted.
"What can I do for you?" He asked. Rainbow pointed at the pin and asked: "How much for that one?"
"Twelve bits, it's fair price for a piece like that," clerk said and leaned against the table.
Rainbow frowned. Twelve bits was pretty much in her opinion. She looked at AJ, who was still looking at the beautiful pin.
Rainbow opened a small bag that hung on his neck and gave the bits to the vendor, who gave pin to rainbow. "Here you go, do you need a bag with that?" He asked. "No, thank you," Rainbow said. She took the pin her mouth and turned around to see Applejack. She was looking shocked.
"Ya really bought that for me?" she asked
"Yeafp, leth mhe phut it onh you," Rainbow muttered with the pin still in her mouth. She walked over AJ and placed the pin on her hat.
"How does it look?" AJ asked. Rainbow thought that it looked really good. It matched with AJ's red hair thingy.
"It looks great! There's a mirror over there, go have a look," Rainbow said, pointing towards the mirror next to AJ. They walked to the mirror. AJ looked at her reflection. She didn't say a word. Rainbow watched as Applejack just stared at the mirror. After a while Rainbow asked: "AJ, are you ok?"
AJ suddenly turned around and hugged Rainbow. She was surprised, she didn't expect that to happen. Rainbow blushed hard and returned the hug. "Thank ya Rainbow Dash, no pony has ever done anything like this for me. Ever," Applejack said and hugged Rainbow even tighter. "It's nothing, really," Rainbow said. She could smell apples from her mane, just like in the dream she had had earlier.
"This means lot to me, thank you Rainbow Dash," AJ said and broke the hug. Rainbow had a goofy smile on her face.
"I think it worked. Yes!"
Rainbow snapped away from her thoughts. She looked at the orange earth pony in front of her. AJ was looking at her.
"Uhm... What would you like to do now?" she asked.
"Do ya have anything in yar mind?"
Actually Rainbow had nothing in her mind, except one particular earth pony. She looked around and saw something that could work. "We could go to Rarity now. We could walk trough the park. What do you say?"
"That sounds nice, Let's go sucargube," AJ answered. Rainbow was sure that AJ said 'sucargube' a bit more suggestively this time. It made her nervous. "Yeah, sure. Lets go then," She said.
They started walking towards the park. They passed lots of flower beds, with different kind of flowers in them. They were walking on a small path towards the Carousel Boutique chatting about weather and such. When they crossed a small river, Rainbow noticed something.
Applejack was walking closer to her than usual. It made her smile. AJ probably noticed that, because she soon said: "What are ya smiling at?"
Rainbow hadn't noticed that she had been staring at AJ the whole time. She didn't know what to say, but soon got what she thought was a good idea. She was not sure if it would work, but she was gonna try.
"Nothing, just thinking how... beautiful you are," she said and tensed up as she waited for response.
Rainbow saw that Applejack first didn't realize what Rainbow said, but when she did, her eyes widened and a slight blush appeared on her face.
AJ turned to see Rainbow and asked: "Are ya just saying that to make me happy, or do ya really mean what ya say?"
Rainbow stared at AJ and she was really nervous.
"What if she will freak out? Argh, I can't back out now."
Rainbow quickly made sure that there were no other ponies too near the and turned back to look straight into AJ's eyes.
"I really mean that," she said. They both looked at each other in silence. Rainbow could feel the heat on her cheeks, AJ was blushing too. AJ coughed to clear her voice and said: "Well ya're quite pretty looking pony ya're self. Ah mean for a mare... heh."
Rainbow wasn't sure what Applejack meant with that.
"You need to tell her now!"
Rainbow looked around to find a suitable place. She saw a free bench under nearby tree.
"Would you like to sit down for a minute?" she asked.
AJ looked a bit confused. Rainbow gave her a pleading smile. AJ looked at her and said: "Well, maybe Ah could do with a little sit down." Rainbow nodded and they started to walk towards the bench.