Nervous excitement. Perhaps that is the best term for it. The feeling that comes when you've done something nice for another pony, and you're just waiting for them to notice. Applejack felt that as she bucked yet another tree. She had left another letter this morning, hoof delivered, in her mailbox.
Well, more accurately, she'd paid off the mailpony with a few apples to break the mail code and deliver it by hoof without a stamp or return address; but really, who was paying attention to that?
She couldn't suppress a giggle. She'd really gone all out in this letter. She'd even rubbed it in her mane to give it her scent. She'd then had a minor panic attack wondering if she'd gone too far, but then decided to send it anyway. After all, she’d already dropped numerous hints about her identity in the letters she'd previously sent, and she didn’t think Rainbow Dash was going to pick up on something as small as her scent. Then again, she'd been sending these letters for months; Rainbow should have figured it out by now. All Applejack had to do was wait for her to arrive.
She could see it now. Rainbow would show up, blushing as she shyly admitted she returned Applejack's feelings. Then she would be confused, awkward, unsure where to go from there. Then Applejack would take charge, and invite her over for dinner that night. It would be just the two of them that night. She'd make something delicious for dinner, pull out some of the cider they had stored, and then they'd go to the pond way to the south of their property, where they'd play games on the sandy beach together until falling asleep in each other's embrace, the closeness of their bodies keeping them both warm through the night.
Then it happened. Rainbow arrived at the farm, with a letter in her hoof and a beautiful rainbow contrail behind her. Applejack licked her lips as Rainbow landed with all the natural grace of a pegasus. This was it.
“Applejack!” she called in greeting.
“H- Hey, Rainbow,” Applejack said, internally cringing at the hitch in her voice. “What brings you out here?”
“I got another one,” Rainbow answered.
“Another one? Another what?” Applejack asked, trying to keep a tremor out of her voice. Here it was! The moment of truth!
“Another stupid love letter thing. It stopped for a bit but then it started up again. Just when I thought I was done with this, I get this in the mail.”
Applejack winced. She had intentionally stopped sending letters for a brief time, in an attempt to be mysterious. Apparently, it hadn't worked.
Rainbow didn’t notice Applejack’s reaction and continued, “And this one is the sappiest one I’ve gotten yet. Just listen to this.” She cleared her throat and began to read. “'Your colors brighten up my day, and make my heart beat faster every time you come by'.”
Applejack could only listen in horror as Rainbow Dash slowly ripped to shreds her carefully chosen words.
“‘I can’t describe how happy it makes me just to see you flying. I feel I could watch you forever’.”
Applejack had heard the term ‘heartbreak’ before, but never had she ever experienced anything like it. It was unexpectedly painful; truly and literally painful.
Obliviously, Rainbow continued, “‘And if I could just sleep next to you, I would be happy for the rest of my life’.” Rainbow burst out laughing again. “I gotta say, I’ve had a ton of these, but this one’s the best.”
“Y- yeah,” Applejack whispered, feeling the beginning of hot tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
“I thought this was a prank at first, but then they kept coming. But it’s not like it matters. I mean, can you imagine? Somepony being so desperate that they’d send all these letters like this?”
“I- I thought it’d be nice,” Applejack whimpered. Her mental images of Rainbow across the dinner table and laying next to her on the beach dissolved into Rainbow pointing and laughing a loud, mocking laugh. She looked at the ground and bit her lower lip. Why?
“Yeah, but seriously? I mean, if this mare doesn’t even have the stones to say this to my face, then it’s not even worth checking her out, am I right?”
“I- I guess… but…”
“Seriously, though. I’d never date such a pansy. But hey, this bit about my cutie mark is absolutely priceless. Let me read it to you.”
Applejack bit her lower lip harder. Not that part. Anything but that part. “Rainbow, don’t…”
But Rainbow didn’t hear, or didn’t care. “‘I could stare at it all day. The colors, the shape, it's perfect and perfectly you. Even the thought of caressing it sends shivers up my spine, and I could rest my head on it and sleep happy’.” Rainbow laughed as she tore up the letter. “It’s just ridiculous! I mean-”
But Rainbow was suddenly interrupted by an apple, striking her hard right between her eyes. She looked back at Applejack and opened her mouth to angrily protest, but Applejack’s expression made her stop short. It all clicked in an instant. “Y- you? It was you? The whole time, it was you?”
Applejack couldn’t even say anything. It was all she could do to hold the tears in long enough to spin around and run. Blinded by her hot tears, she ran headlong through the orchard; leaving behind a completely dumbfounded Rainbow Dash.
* * *
Rainbow Dash sat on a cloud and stared at nothing in particular. The pain from being hit with an apple had faded, but it had quickly been replaced with something else.
Guilt.
Apparently, she'd really hurt Applejack. Like, really hurt. Applejack was the nicest, getting-along-est pony ever. And Rainbow had made her mad enough to throw an apple. That hadn't been her intent. Really. She hadn’t known the letters had been from her. It just hadn’t seemed like an Applejack-y thing to do.
Of course, hurting friends wasn’t a Rainbow-y thing to do, either, and she’d just done that.
She groaned and buried her face in her cloud. She really felt guilty. Had she ruined their friendship? She had, hadn’t she?
Rainbow sat up. But what if she hadn’t? What if this were something they could both laugh at? Applejack was tough. She probably had already bounced back and was back to work.
Rainbow got up and spread her wings. Only one way to find out.
* * *
Rainbow landed on the front porch of the farmhouse of Sweet Apple Acres and hesitated before knocking. The need for reassurance that she hadn’t irreparably ruined their friendship won over her fear, so she screwed up her courage and knocked.
To her surprise, the door opened to reveal not Applejack, not Apple Bloom, or even Granny Smith. Any of them would have been preferable. Instead, the door opened to reveal Big Macintosh.
Now, Rainbow Dash had spent a lot of time on Sweet Apple Acres, and she knew a lot about the family dynamics. You didn’t bother Applejack when her tail was swishing erratically, you left Apple Bloom a wide berth when she was pouting, you ducked for cover when Granny Smith was wearing a frying pan, and when Macintosh’s expression turned stony--exactly like it was now--you left him alone.
But Rainbow didn’t come all this way just to turn back now, so against her better judgement she started the conversation. “Hey, Mac.”
Mac just looked at her.
“I came by to see Applejack.”
Mac just looked at her.
“You know, just to kindof clear the air.”
Mac didn’t even blink.
“It’s… you know…”
Mac just looked at her.
“It’s not like… but…”
Mac just looked at her.
“You know what? Good talk. Good talk. I’ll just… be going now.” And she turned and flew away.
When she was out of sight, she landed on the ground and buried her face in her hooves. Yeah. She’d messed up big time.