Applejack stepped out of her room, pulling at the shoulder of her shrunken bright orange shirt and overalls. She shimmied uncomfortably in the tight clothes, close to if not a size too small for now.
Rainbow appreciated the way the tight denim showed off her curves around her hips, the way the shirt hugged so tightly to her chest that it left so little to the imagination. She’d even had to leave the top button undone just to be able to squeeze into it.
“Looks good,” she said, smirking. She did her level best to keep her laughter contained, and was only just successful. “You… may have gained some weight, though.”
Applejack scowled gravely.
“You make one more crack about mah weight and Ah’m gonna put ya through the wood chipper back home…”
At last she could hold it no more, and Rainbow bent over her stomach and cackled uncontrollably. Applejack blushed but smirked herself, if nothing else chuckling at how silly she looked.
“You seriously look pretty good in that,” Rainbow complimented, wiping a tear out of her eye. “Really shows off your assets… emphasis on the ‘ass’.”
“Shuddup. Ah swear before this day’s over Ah’m gonna get you back fer this,” she grumbled, stuffing her hands into her pockets grumpily.
“Promises, promises,” she said. She pulled on her windbreaker, grabbed her keys off the counter and spun them around her index finger. “Ready to go?”
“After Ah find a pair of shoes.”
“Just grab one of my old pairs out of my closet.”
Applejack turned back towards her room, and said without looking back, “Is it too late fer me to ask about life insurance…?”
Rainbow laughed and grabbed the farmgirl by the wrist the moment she returned. “Come on, let’s boogie.”
“You didn’t answer mah question!”
The pair hopped in the car and Applejack peered around the interior.
“You ain’t got a blanket or somethin’ in here, do ya?” she asked, rubbing her bare arms with her hands. “It’s a mite chilly out here this mornin’.” She wiggled her butt against the vinyl. “And the wet seats ain’t exactly helpin’ none.”
The showers that swept through the area the night before had left the ground damp and the air crisp and cool. It was gonna get muggy and hot later, though. But Rainbow planned for the worst – most of the time, anyway – regardless of any outward appearance to recklessness.
Smirking, she reached under her seat, and pulled out a familiar denim jacket, shaking a few stray remaining pieces of hair and candy from the article outside the car. “All dry, too.”
Applejack scowled.
“You did that just to piss me off, didn’t ya?”
Rainbow raised her pinkie to her lip and grinned. “Mehbeh.”
Rolling her green eyes, her friend snatched the jacket, shook it off more vigorously over the door, and threw it on.
“Just drive,” she grumped, in spite of the faint-but-noticeable smile on her lips.
The pair sped out of the parking lot and onto the deserted main street. Most people were in church or still asleep. The cars that were on the highway were few in number, though the volume increased as they approached the outskirts of the city.
A twenty minute drive for most people of sane-mindedness would take twenty minutes to get to the city if they made all the lights.
Rainbow Dash made the trip in ten, and swore to herself that if the roads were ever clear, she could make it in less.
“This sure don’t look like no grocery store Ah ever saw,” Applejack said, scratching at her wet drawers. “Ah ain’t even sure they sell groceries in a mall, last time Ah was in one. ‘Course that was forever ago.”
Rainbow managed to tear her star-struck gaze from her friend’s well-defined rear end and finally let herself catch up.
“Mm? Sorry, you say somethin’?”
The farmgirl rolled her eyes.
“Ya got the attention span of a gnat, sugar.”
“Sorry, I was lookin’ at the uh… thing,” Rainbow said, darting her eyes around the mall to find something she might have been interested in. “The tennis shoes,” she quickly said as they passed by a shoe store.
“Right…” her friend sighed.
“So, what do you wanna look at first?” she asked. “We got all day and stuff. Wanna go get some breakfast?”
Applejack’s growly stomach was legendary, and could be heard by several passing people. She blushed and swept her blonde hair back behind her ear. “Uhh… actually, breakfast sounds good.”
Grinning in delight, Rainbow seized her hand without thinking. They blurred past a series of jewelry and cell phone stores, and the pair mounted an escalator to the second floor. Music stores and game shops were further down, while off to their right the food court rose into view like the sun dawning miraculously on a new day.
Applejack stared, a hungry gleam to her eyes as her gaze flitted from one service counter to the next.
“My treat,” Rainbow said, kneeing the blonde in her moist backside.
Her friend smiled and darted towards one of the fast food joints standing at the end of the counter.
The pair chose a table towards the center of the court and sat on opposite sides to each other.
“Hey, AJ?”
“Yeah?”
“Weren’t you the one calling hash browns an abominable invention of Mankind? And did you or did you not say that you would never eat one, even if it was the only food source available to y-”
“Wou vippit,” Applejack growled behind the hash brown between her teeth and scowled, making a zipping motion with her fingers. She swallowed her first bite and sipped her Diet Coke. “Ah’m hungry…” she snorted.
Rainbow leaned back in her chair and grinned across at her friend as she unwrapped the breakfast burrito she’d bought.
“I forgot how grumpy you get when you’re hungry,” Rainbow said, resting her elbows on the table. “You must need to… snkt!… eat more.”
Her grin was of purest evil, and she’d probably do a bit more time in hell for that jab, but it was too easy and too good to pass up. Applejack’s eyes reflected the coldest indifference to the remark.
“Least Ah got some meat on mah bones,” she huffed.
You sure do, AJ. You sure as hell do… she thought wickedly, eyes drifting a bit south.
“Ah mean, lookit you. All twigs. There ain’t an ounce of fat below yer neck,” she said, pointing with the bitten end of her burrito towards her chest. “What do you usually eat, anymore? Lettuce?”
Rainbow’s eyes shifted conspiratorially. “And apples.”
“You look like Ah could lift ya with just one arm.”
“The better to run from you, my dear!”
“Ah mean seriously,” Applejack said, gulping back another mouthful of sausage, cheese and egg burrito. “When’s the last time you had a decent home-cooked meal? Heck, the last time Ah clearly remember you eatin’ anything at all worth a lick was that Thanksgivin’ a few years back.”
Rainbow blinked. “You’ll have to refresh my memory, AJ. I’ve had a lot of Thanksgivings at your place.”
Her friend frowned and diverted her eyes, lowering the burrito to its packaging and leaning heavily on her elbows as she stared at the floor.
“It was the one right before yer family died in that car crash…” she said softly.
The entire atmosphere took a sudden nosedive into somber territory, and what had started off as an awesomely terrifiperfect morning quickly became a moment of reflection that she’d never asked for. The whole thought of revisiting the memories of her folks and her little sister Scootaloo twisted in her gut like a knife.
Mom had always been good at prepping Thanksgiving dinner, and dad had always been more than willing to help. She and Scoots had a history of playing video games together or kicking around a soccer ball in the backyard while they waited. The turkey and fixings were always on the table around lunch. And while the rest of the family watched football, she always had time left to jump on her dirt bike and ride over to Applejack’s place for dinnertime.
She never told her folks where she went on her bike rides.
“What can I say?” Rainbow shrugged nonchalantly, her smile vanishing, “Granny Smith cooks a damn good bird.”
“Ya only visited fer nibbles after that, though,” Applejack frowned, chin sinking to her collarbone.
“That’s not true!” she protested. “I came over to see you too…”
“It’s just… with yer apartment and everything bein’ a wreck… ya hardly ever eat anymore…” She paused, her green eyes filled with emotion. “Ah worry about you.”
Rainbow squirmed uncomfortably. She would manipulate and even cheat a bit to get what she wanted a lot of the time. Pity, though, was unholy ground, as far as she was concerned. Pity meant someone viewed you as weak or needed taken care of like a child. And Rainbow Juniper Dash, the all-star athlete of the entire student body, was anything but weak.
She felt a familiar heat bubbling up in her chest, and her ears started to burn as anger raced like molten metal through her bloodstream.
“I don’t need you looking over my shoulder, AJ,” Rainbow frowned, taking a greedy bite out of the hash brown to do something with her mouth other than talk.
Applejack immediately realized her error and raised her hands defensively. “N-no, sugar, Ah didn’t mean it like that. But… but Ah…”
Her friend’s voice wavered, and she brushed a hand past her eye.
“Ah just meant… Ah care about you, sugar. Ah mean, we all do. But…” Applejack paused to swallow. “And Ah don’t want you hurtin’ yerself. Ah want ya to be healthy and happy and…” she trailed off.
A pause.
Rainbow sighed and lowered her face into her hand, unwrapping one of her burritos. Of course she meant it that way. Why would she ever expect pity from Applejack in the first place.
“Ah just want you to take care of yourself, sugar. That’s all Ah meant…”
Reaching out softly with her leg, she gently tapped her foot against the farmgirl’s and smiled. “Yeah… I know what you meant.”
The pair settled into silence as Rainbow reached into the wrapper. She really wasn’t all that hungry, but to appease the Apple goddess of Jack, she decided it best to put something down. The food tasted fine – when it came to taste, she didn’t really eat much of anything besides the occasional cupcake or slice of birthday cake from Pinkie Pie. She preferred mineral water and the occasional slice of bacon to just about anything.
This wasn’t bad though. At least the company was nice. She opened her eyes and saw Applejack’s green eyes glittering as she smiled at her.
Rainbow smirked. “Fee anyfing you wike?” she asked, gulping the bite without finishing chewing.
The farmgirl chuckled. “Ah could probably pick a thing or two.”
“Yeah, right,” she responded, rolling her magenta eyes. She dramatically flicked her head and let flash her mane of rainbow colors. “You know I’m gorgeous. You’re just jealous.”
“Yeah, no, that ain’t it,” Applejack replied with a chuckle.
“Deny it all you want, AJ, you know I look good,” she said, testing the waters.
“Ah don’t recall that ever bein’ up fer debate.”
“Oh, then you admit it!”
“Admit what?”
Rainbow took a drink of her Coke and dropped it on the table, making some noise to add to the dramatic effect.
“That you have the hots for me.”
Applejack nearly spat out the sip she was taking, and her face could have made a cherry jealous. She spluttered helplessly, and bent over to cough up the soda she had nearly breathed, slapping her knee desperately.
Rainbow couldn’t help but chuckle. “You okay?”
After nearly losing a lung, Applejack wiped her eyes and took another drink to try and calm the burning in her chest. “Ah’m absolutely fine, thanks,” she chuckled, coughing yet again.
She sat back and crossed her legs, smiling smugly across the table as she took another bite of her hash brown.
“You promised ya wouldn’t bring that up in public…”
“Sorry. Sometimes I forget,” she said with a smile, tapping her foot against the farmgirl’s again.
Sighing, Applejack consumed the last of her meal quickly, took a long drink of her soda, and popped it all into the trash bins next to them.
“You ready?” she muttered, the blush just beginning to fade from her freckled cheeks.
Rainbow stood and rapidly consumed the burrito left to her before pitching what was left in the garbage.
“Where we goin’? Clothes shopping?”
Applejack blinked and smiled.
“Well… actually, if ya wouldn’t mind…”