They continued on for an hour or two more, until the sun had set and the multiple hues of orange and purple were replaced by the moon's illuminating white light. With all of their walking, they must've been getting closer to Canterlot, as more houses and small stores started popping up on the sides of the road. Applejack stopped walking outside of a little shop, grinning and glancing back at Rainbow. "Hey, Dash, come lookit this."
The blue pegasus hovered over, looking through the front display window. "A costume shop? So what?"
"Yeah, a costume shop. We can get some new clothes, clothes that don't smell! Plus, I'm sure there's somethin' in there that'll make you look...what d'you always used to say, 22% cooler or somethin' like that?" Rainbow chuckled at the other mare messing up her catch phrase, but let it go.
"Sure, okay, you got me. Let's get in there." The mare hovered her way over to the front door, tugging back on it. The door didn't budge. "Well, it looks to be a bit locked. Any ideas on how to get in?"
Applejack looked around, scanning the buildings until her gaze moved up. "Window on the second floor is opened." She pointed a gloved hand up to it. Sure enough, the glass was shattered, giving access to the inside of the house. "D'you wanna go in and unlock it, or should I?" She was met with a look from Rainbow. "What?"
"AJ, we can both get up there. I have wings, remember?" She flared them out as she spoke, her face displaying a playful little grin. "How could you forget, when you were all over 'em a few hours ago?"
Applejack felt heat rush to her cheeks, and she stammered. "I-I was not all over 'em! They're jus'...interestin' to me, is all."
"You think they're hot, don't you?" Rainbow's smirk only fueled the intensity of her blush, and she glared at the blue mare.
"Jus' get us up to that there window."
"On it!" Rainbow flapped over to Applejack, her arms moving to wrap under the orange mare's as she lifted up. Applejack wasn't picked up by the pegasus much in the past, and the sudden upwards movement and weightlessness flipped her stomach. Luckily, it was short lived, and she was set down on the window sill, climbing into the room before her. Rainbow joined her a second or two later. The room was filled to the brim with clothing racks, nearly every one sporting rows of costumes, ranging from "simplistic" to "extremely overdoing it."
"Heh, Rarity would've been all about this place." Rainbow moved next to one of the racks, casually looking through the options.
"Yep, I reckon she would've been." Applejack moved to a different one, noticing the costumes on the rack she picked to browse through were all Wild West themed. She stopped over a gunslinger outfit, looking it over. It had a few pieces suitable for her liking, mainly a new button-down shirt she could use, so she unhooked it from the hanger it was on.
"Wow, a Wonderbolts uniform! This is so cool!" Rainbow's sudden excited exclamation almost made Applejack jump out of her skin, and she looked up at the blue pegasus who was across the room, holding up the blue and yellow costume. Her eyes seemed to shine as she gazed upon it. "I bet it looks good on me."
"Why don't ya try it on?" The apple farmer grinned over at her, the grin quickly turning into a playful smirk. "I bet you look mighty attractive in uniform, Dash."
Rainbow looked over at her, her cheeks tinted red. "Heh, yeah, I bet I do too." After stashing it into her backpack, the pegasus flapped her way over to Applejack, looking through the racks of outfits with her. She paused on one in particular, grinning. "Oh, you should definitely try this costume on later."
Applejack looked down at it, and her own face flushed at what she saw. "Rainbow, I ain't dressing myself up like some 20 dollar whore, no matter how much you'd like it." That wasn't exactly true, so she quickly added. "I got too much self respect for that." That wasn't exactly true, either, but Rainbow didn't seem to notice it.
"Oh, come on, it's not that bad! And it would only be, y'know, sometimes..." The blue mare looked over at the other, giving her best puppy-dog eyes. They worked like a charm, causing the farm mare to huff.
"Oh, consarnit, Rainbow, jus' give me the damn thing." She snatched it from Rainbow's hands and unslung her backpack from her shoulder, stuffing it in and forcing a laugh from the pegasus. Applejack didn't even look up. "If'n you think it's so funny, I can put it back."
The laughter immediately ceased, and Applejack turned to face the only door in the room. "We should check the rest of this place out, make sure there ain't anything hidin' around in here with us." She reached down to her hip, slipping her revolver from her holster. She flicked the cylinder out. "Hope I don't have ta use this thing, I'm startin' to run out of ammo here..."
"Then let me go first. My weapon doesn't need ammo." Rainbow brandished her bat as if to prove her point. "I'll whack our way through anything in our path!"
Applejack smirked. "Yeah, like ya did back at the cabin to whatever that thing was?"
"Hey, that one took me by surprise! If I see anything like that again, they won't be so lucky." If she had any doubt behind the cocky grin she threw up on her face, it didn't show. The orange mare rolled her eyes, but still let a smile show.
"Alright, then, Rainbow, I'll jus' make sure to stay behind ya when you're doing all yer whackin'."
"Oh, AJ, you can stand in front of me whenever whacking's involved-" This earned her a playful shove from Applejack, and they both laughed before facing the door again. "Alright, let's go."
They both walked out into the hallway, which was barely lit up from the moon shining brightly outside and through the few windows from the other rooms. Rainbow hesitated until her sight adjusted a bit more to the darkness before she reached back behind her, digging through one of the side pockets on her backpack. Finding what she needed, she turned it on, the small flashlight casting illuminating light down the hall, revealing stairs twisting down. She handed the flashlight to Applejack. "I need both hands for the bat."
"I gotcha." Applejack moved alongside her, pointing the light in front of them as they got to the top of the stairs. She nodded to Rainbow, who then started down first, moving a few steps ahead before the orange mare followed her. They crept down the stairs, inching their way down before the pegasus in front finally touched the landing. She froze, causing Applejack to bump into her.
"Dash, what in tarnation-" She glanced up, the flashlight revealing why Rainbow Dash froze.
It was a rather sizable group of those things, like the one from the cabin.
And they all turned around to face them.