//------------------------------// // Applebucking // Story: Honesty and Loyalty // by theirishbrony //------------------------------// It was a glorious day in Ponyville, the smell of autumn indicated the changing of seasons as summer came to a close. On a lonely high cloud in the sky over Equestria, a cyan-coated pegasus who had an distinctive rainbow mane was sleeping peacefully. Her name was Rainbow Dash and she was in the middle of her daily afternoon nap after a day previously of napping and practicing her tricks for the Wonderbolts. It was Sunday and Dash's day off, but she still had work to do for somepony else. "Apple bucking with Applejack!" Rainbow Dash screamed as the thought came to her head, waking her up. "Oh no, oh no I'm late!" Rainbow panicked as she scrambled to get up off her cloud. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late" she told herself as she flew off towards Sweet Apple Acres. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Meanwhile at Sweet Apple Acres, inside its barn the orange coated earth pony with a bundled up golden mane and tail waited impatiently for her friend to arrive. She needed help harvesting apples before winter hit and ruined them. "Grrr horseapples" Applejack said to herself. "If there's one thing that consarned pony does best, it's sleep" The farm mare started tapping her hoof impatiently on the floor of the barn. "I'm here! I'm here!" Applejack heard as she saw a rainbow-colored bolt speeding toward her, but before she could get out of the way, the inevitable happened and the pegasus crashed, leaving both mares on the floor. "Oops, sorry AJ" said Rainbow as she found herself standing over her friend. "Not a problem Sugarcube. Now won't y'all tell me why are y'all late? Napping again?" Asked Applejack with smirk. "No, no, no of course not" the Pegasus said with a fake smile and eyes darting back and forth. "Y'all are a terrible liar y'all know?" With that comment both ponies broke into laughter that seemed to consume the whole orchard. They rolled on the floor of the barn, wrestled, laughed, and played. After some time the laughter finally died off. The two mares stared at each other for what seemed like forever. Rainbow had never noticed how beautiful Applejack was, or the sweet scent of fresh apples she had. She never stopped to think how beautiful her golden mane looked when it flowed with the afternoon breeze, or how perfectly her orange coat complimented with her emerald green eyes. "Wow, she has pretty eyes and that mane… and- wait, why am I thinking this? She's a mare for Celestia's sake!" Rainbow thought. "She and I could never be together, that's… that's unthinkable. Besides I don't even know if I like mares that way, or if she does it, for that matter. I wonder what she's thinking about right now" thought Rainbow as she stared into her eyes. "She's quite a prize. We are the best of friends and have a lot in common, hard working and competitive." Applejack thought as she stared into Rainbow Dash's violet eyes. "She is also beautiful. Ah wonder why hasn't anypony else asked her out. If nopony ask her, maybe Ah should… Wait, did Ah just called Rainbow beautiful? Do Ah… Ah may have a small crush on'er, but me and Rainbow?" Applejack asked herself. "Ah don't know if mah barn door swings that way, neither if Rainbow likes ponies of the same gender. Ah wish Ah could know what she is thinkin'." The two mares continued to stare into each other's eyes, slowly moving closer to each other unaware of their actions. Both pony's eyes started closing. "Hey! Those apples ain't gonna buck 'emselves." It was Big Mac who broke the silence as he walked into the barn. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, whose lips were mere inches from touching, got up off the barn floor blushing furiously. "A-Ah'm s-sorry brother we were jes talkin' " stuttered Applejack. "C'mon Rainbow, we got apples to buck." "Uh… what? Oh yeah, applebucking" the pegasus said snapping back to reality. The two walked out the barn, the warm light of Celestia's sun and crisp smells of fall filled the noses of the two mares as they walked through the trees of Sweet Apple Acres. Big Macintosh watched them as they disappeared behind the treeline. "Those two are up to sumthin'." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ten minutes had passed since they left the barn; the sun was creeping across the sky, indicating that the day was ending soon. "So uh… how much do we need to harvest today AJ?" Asked Rainbow, trying to forget about what happened in the barn. "We gotta buck all the trees in the southern section before the sunlight dies out." "Hey, maybe if we get it done fast we could go for a round of horseshoes, I have improved my skills by 20%." "He-he, we'll see Dash. Now that was enough talk, we got trees to buck!" With that said, she dashed to the nearest apple tree landing one swift kick with her hind hooves to it, the apples fell in response. Rainbow Dash flew in a zigzag line though the tree leaves causing the apples to fall. The two ponies worked for what seemed hours, but were only thirty minutes. "Well, Ah'm mighty glad y'all could help me today Rainbow, Ah couldn't have done it without y'all." "Anytime AJ, always happy to help my best friend." "Well Ah'm exhausted, how about we head back up to the house and get some cider?" "Ooo I love your apple cider!" Rainbow Dash said, bouncing up and down somehow resembling to Pinkie Pie. "Ah know y'all do Sugarcube, could y'all grab that last apple bucket over there?" Said gesturing with her hoof to a lone apple bucket, that was under a Granny Smith apple tree. "Sure thing AJ." Rainbow rushed over and put the bucket on her back, she was running back over when she tumbled over a barely noticeable root that was sticking out of the ground. "Whoa! AJ! AHHH!" She screamed as she tripped over it and fell onto Applejack. "Whoa, where did that root came out from? Hey… what? I'm tasting something… is it… an apple? This must be the best apple ever. It's a good thing Applejack was there to catch... me. Oh-no." "Wha… What happened? N' what's this flavor? It's like… Ah don't even know what is it, but Ah like it. Last thing I remember was Rainbow tripping over some root and landing over... me. Aw horseapples don't tell me tha-" It seemed like a thousand years before both mares opened their eyes, but when they did, they found themselves doing something that will change their entire lives. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were kissing.