//------------------------------// // Midnight Blue // Story: Hey, It's Me // by TwilightUCrazy //------------------------------// Rainbow sighed exhaustedly as she fell into bed around midnight. She ran her fingers through her hair and yawned, stretching out before opening her magenta eyes to the cowgirl smirking at her in her doorway. She smirked back. “See something you like, gorgeous?” she commented with a wink. Applejack chuckled. “Yer full of it,” she said with a smile, walking over and dropping onto the edge of the bed. “I can’t believe everybody else…” She yawned. “…everybody else pooped out so early.” “Well, don’t look now, but yer eyes’re lookin’ a bit heavy to me too.” “Are not. I’m just… resting them.” Rainbow’s attempts to look adorable were rewarded as she peered through a thin slit of her eyelids. Her friend smiled down at her, leaning back against her arms and shaking her head. Her green eyes never stopped staring at her though “Yer hopeless, y’know.” She faked her sleepy moan. “Mmmnot…” That great, smile-inducing chuckle tickled Rainbow’s belly somehow, and keeping up her tired charade was only achievable by rolling over onto her stomach and resting her head in the cradle of her arm. In truth she didn’t feel all that tired. If Applejack was up, she could stay vertical as well. It was a matter of pride for her. “Hey,” the blonde said, shaking her by the shoulder. Her eyes drifted open and she blinked “tiredly” up to her. “Ain’t ‘cha gonna gimme somethin’ to wear fer tonight?” Oh shit. Rainbow nearly lost her head in that moment. She faked a yawn to mask her panic and drug herself slowly up into a sitting position to give herself time to think. She knew at the top of her closet lay Applejack’s clothes from the last time she had come for a sleepover. They were wrinkled and a mess in a number of ways, and she hadn’t washed them yet. They’d just sat there for months on end. Worst of all, they were in her room in her closet. One could probably infer something from that, no matter how wrong said inference was. C’mon, think, stupid. The floor creaked in that one spot, disrupting her conversation further as she stepped up to the shut closet doors. The two door halves were like shutters to her soul, poised to damn her. Which side had she put ‘em on?! Reaching for the right handle, Rainbow slowly pulled on the door. Through the space into the shadows, she could spot Applejack’s clothes sitting on the top shelf. It was too late to abort, however. She could see her friend out of the corner of her eye, standing next to her, watching, ready to find her guilty without trial. Crud! Reaching in through the slim opening, she yanked a t-shirt off its hanger without bothering to look at it. She pulled the orange shirt out of her closet and swiftly shut it again, tossing it across the girl’s face. “Mmph!” she muffled, yanking the article off her face and giving her a hard stare. Okay, so it hadn’t gone perfect but at least she had kept her head together. Applejack looked down at the shirt, holding it out in front of her, and her expression soured further. She looked over the collar at her and slowly rotated it. “This supposed to be funny?” she asked. The orange shirt was mostly- plain and plenty big enough for her to serve as a nightgown. Rainbow’s height advantage worked to both their advantages in several areas. What she hadn’t thought about, however, was the decal on the front. Emblazoned in big, thick, black letters was the word, “HARLOT.” Rainbow bit her lower lip nearly to the bleeding point trying to suppress her laugh. “You ain’t as funny as you think you are, sugar,” she huffed. Much as she tried to hide it, Applejack had a poor poker face. She was too honest and too unpracticed at trying to suppress her amusement to manage hiding it. Rainbow grinned and played it off as if it had been intentional. Yeah. That worked… even if Applejack was certainly no harlot. “Oh, I think I am, ‘harlot’!” she smirked, advancing a step on the cowgirl. “Rainbow…” she warned, taking a couple steps back and clutching the shirt to her defensively. Rainbow pounced, tackling her shrieking guest into her little bed. The two’s landing caused the undersized twin to creak and groan under their combined weight. Or maybe it was the floor beneath them. They wrestled each other back and forth, fighting to keep the top position. Applejack firmly pressed Rainbow against the wall lining the far side of the bed, trying to scoot out from underneath her attacker. She let out a frustrated, quiet growl in spite of her large smile, and clutched at her wrists to try and pin her in the corner. For her smaller size, the farmgirl was amazingly strong, something Rainbow had always admired about her. She didn’t subscribe to the common stereotype of small girls being weak and helpless. She was a country gal. Rainbow Dash chuckled, though, and gradually began to press back and away from the wall. Tried her diminutive opponent did, but size, speed and lesser flexibility gave her the undeniable disadvantage. Furthermore, Rainbow was a regular weight-lifter, whereas Applejack’s strength came naturally from her tasks on the farm. She grunted and struggled, trying to roll and throw her off using the force of her whole body. In reply, Rainbow straddled her stomach and sat firmly down on top of her, trapping her against the mattress. She quickly yanked back on her wrists and pressed Applejack’s own up above her head. She loosed a cocky smile as her friend continued to grunt and struggle against her foe. A moment passed, and the two began to relax. Applejack growled in frustration through her labored breathing and pouted up to her. “You didn't used to be this strong...” she muttered. Rainbow chortled and loosed her friend's wrists before wrapping her arms around her shoulders in a bear hug. “You didn't used to be so puny either.” She winked. “Kinda funny the way I got big and you stayed the same size, huh?” Applejack blushed and turned her head away. She could see the embarrassment written all over her speckled cheeks. “Heeheehee...” Rainbow chuckled and affectionately nuzzled her blonde hair. “Call it a draw?” “Ah call it 'git offa me so Ah can go change.’” She obliged, and rolled off the farmgirl, lying back against the wall. Applejack pulled herself up from the bed, and Rainbow's eyes followed her, though admittedly she gawked at some of her more flattering features. She was gone for about thirty seconds before she walked back in, barely lit by the moon filtering in through the half-closed window blinds. She appeared spectral running her hand through her loose platinum hair. Her bare legs glistened in the silver light as she looked around. Her emerald eyes, normally so bright and vivid, reflected only darkness, seeming to swallow the full moon's glow in the void of their mystery. She scratched her stomach and cleared her throat, and Rainbow blushed when she realized she'd been staring. “Somethin' the matter?” She forced a chuckle. “'Harlot,'” she thought quickly. “Ugh...” The other girl tossed her hair back behind her head and walked over to her nightstand. She sat on the bedside and picked up her clock, rolling the alarm timer to six in the morning. “Hey!” she protested, reaching for the device. Applejack held it out of her reach. “Uh-uh. You gotta be up early in the mornin' and so do Ah. You got detention, remember?” Rainbow snorted and flopped back on her pillow, resting her hands behind her head. “Don't wanna...” she mumbled. “C'mon, it can't be that bad; at least yer gettin' Ms. Tia, right?” “A prison with a hot-looking guard is still a prison.” “It's yer own dang fault fer being late fer class so much.” She snorted in defeat and crossed her arms and legs childishly, staring up to the ceiling with as cute a pout as she could manage to produce. “There, all set.” Rainbow watched her rise. “Now, if'n ya'd kindly tell me where ya keep all yer spare blankets and pillows, Ah could go get some shut-eye.” A twinge of mischief tickled at the spot near the base of her neck, sending delighted chills through her body. She flexed her toes a few times to try and look disinterested, before looking up to Applejack with a shrug. “Sorry, AJ. They're all in the wash.” The farmgirl frowned and crossed her own legs and arms. “Well, ain't that a daisy?” she huffed. “So what'm Ah supposed to do for sleep?” “Maybe Pinkie's got something you could improvise with?” she suggested. “Though, maybe that's not a good idea... she does keep Gummy with her an awful lot.” Sighing, Applejack stood and started towards the door. “OR!” she interrupted just as she was about to cross the threshold. The blonde looked back at her with a quirked eyebrow, and Rainbow responded by uncrossing one arm, raising it high into the air, and letting it collapse to the mattress with a soft “whump” and a kick of dust from the window sill. “Sleep with you?” the other girl deadpanned. “On that tiny little thing?” “Beats the wooden floorboards, doesn't it?” She paused. “Also, redundant statement is redundant.” “Ah dunno... Ah reckon with how much you snore, Ah could stand to take mah chances with the cold hard floor and just risk the backache fer the weekend.” “Hey!” Rainbow said, bolting upright, “I don't snore anymore! I stopped that when I was twelve!” “You and me must think of snorin' real different-like, sugar.” Rainbow Dash stared at Applejack. Applejack stared at Rainbow Dash. The farmgirl was the first to move. She shook her head and sat back down on the edge of the bed, scooting herself up onto the little twin. Her bedmate made room. “Alright... sure hope ya know what yer gettin' into. Rarity and me tried this once, and she kicked me outta bed when Ah kept stealin' all the blanket.” With a shrug, Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Rarity doesn't exactly live on planet Earth. Besides, it's not like I need a blanket tonight, y'know?” She smiled. “Worse comes to worse, I can always grab your jacket...” “And wake up with it covered in peppermints and gumdrops again?” the farmgirl asked, lying on her side. “No way.” Both girls yawned nearly simultaneously. Something caused Applejack to shiver – likely Rainbow’s wayward foot brushing past the cowgirl's. She bit her lip in consideration, and an evil thought crossed her mind. “What? You cold?” she asked. “No.” “You sure?” She scooted closer, pressing herself flush with her back. Her left hand brushed up along the length of her arm and laced with her fingers. “We could spoon if ya wanted too.” “Shut up and get your hand offa mah thigh.” Rainbow smirked. Her right hand snaked up beneath her right arm, up between her breasts, and gripped her left shoulder. “That’s not my hand…” she whispered playfully. “Oh, git!” she snapped, reaching down and smacking her on her adventurous leg. “Heeheeheehee!” Judging by the corner of Applejack’s cheek, she could make a wide and amused smile. She rested her head against Rainbow’s bicep and bit her lower lip. “Swear ya still got the same mind of a five year-old.” There was a pause, and only her smirk remained, though that too gradually faded. Something itched at her, and it wouldn't let her sleep until she settled it. Nuzzling down into the recess between Applejack's neck and shoulder incited a ticklish shudder. She nuzzled gently against the farmgirl's face, feeling the kiss of warmth of her amazingly-delicate skin against her own. How it still maintained such tenderness even after years of toiling in the apple fields escaped her, but she figured she was probably blessed by the apple gods or something in that vein. “Thanks,” she found herself saying. “F-for what?” Applejack answered her, the tinge of confusion in her voice. “For... y'know... caring enough to come over here and help me clean up this place.” She sighed, torn between her gratitude and annoyance. “Everybody else probably wouldn't have let it go all night.” “Oh, that's just rot thought, sugar,” she said, turning her freckled cheeks up to smile at her. “Ah just got here a little earlier than anybody else. Ah'm sure everybody woulda pitched in.” “Still... thanks... y'know, for being the one who did.” “Y-... yer welcome, darlin'. Ah’m always happy to see ya.” Time held its breath for a moment, and Rainbow's heart skipped a beat as she wrapped her arms more tightly around the smaller blonde, pulling her closer and resting her head atop hers. “Cozy?” she asked softly, stroking her thumb along her collarbone. “A... Ah reckon so,” she admitted meekly. Even in the dark, she could make out her friend’s thick and prominent blush. Still, it wasn't like she had pulled away… No. You're getting too into it, she said to herself, reining in her affections once again. It's not right yet. She felt Applejack trembling, her legs curling up towards her chest, as if in protection of herself. She was nervous. She could make out her shuddering breath as she held her, gently caressing the back of her hand, stroking her shoulder... She didn't want it to end. She was driven half-crazy by the fact that she simply lay there next to her and let her hold her so close... so familiarly... so intimately. In that moment, Applejack was hers. She belonged to her. Nothing could ever remove her from that comfortable grasp she had around her. She... possessed her. And she liked it. But she knew it had to end. There was no choice. With a self-contained sigh, she reached down and grabbed the sheet, pulling it up along both of them, and wrapping it around them both. Her body wanted something else, but Rainbow had never made it as far as she had by listening to her impulses… all the time anyway. As she wrapped her arm around the girl again, she gave her a soft squeeze. “G’night, Applejack.” She could feel the faint impression of her friend’s rapid heartbeat against her chest and her nervous breathing. She didn’t know what to make of it. “G-g’night…” she murmured. Suppressing her disappointment, Rainbow scooted away a bit, rolled onto her back, and commenced her sheep-counting for that evening.