Meet Applejack!
A cockerel cawed as Celestia rose the sun into the sky, signalling the dawn of a new day. The orange glazed sky spreading it's reach over the horizon, staining the clouds a breathtakingly dark shade of the same colour.
...Rainbow, however, ignored these factors and rolled over, trying to get the sun out of her eyes, accidently taking the sheets away from Fluttershy, who was rolled over onto the floor. “Oof!”
The cyan mare woke up and looked over the side, as the yellow filly looked up grinning sheepishly. “Um...Sorry...”
Rainbow grunted and stretched. “Ah no biggie! I like to take a fly during the mornings anyway!” She answered, about to spread her wings...
However her left wing was stuck securely to her side. In confusion, she glanced at it and saw that it was securely wrapped in bandages. That's when the events of last night caught up to her.
A knock sounded at the door before Lil' Macintosh walked in, a lazy smile on his face as he greeted his new friends. “Mornin' girls...” Fluttershy 'eeped' and hid behind her mane, managing to utter out a response.
“Morning Lil' Mac.” Rainbow grinned, nudging Fluttershy in the side to speak up a bit.
“Oh...uh...Morning...” Lil' Mac motioned his head across the hall.
“There's a bathroom just across tha hall in case ya wanna freshen up. Ah already set out a couple of toothbrushes new from tha packet out on tha sink. When ya done, Granny's makin' breakfast.” He explained, leaving them to get ready.
“They have spare toothbrushes?” Rainbow asked, confused. “How often do ponies come stay here?” Fluttershy shrugged, before catching a look at herself in the mirror.
She gasped, horrified at the state her mane was in, stray hairs shot out, part of it looked like she (or Rainbow) had drooled on it and it was frizzy. “Oh no! I can't believe he saw me like this!” She exclaimed, albeit still quietly, and rushed to grab the mane brush.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, glancing at the mirror herself. Her usually windswept look stared back and she grinned. Looking good, Rainbow! “Calm down, Flutters, you just woke up. I'm sure he isn't going to judge you for it.” She mentioned, before leaving. “Now if you'll excuse me, I need to use the little filly's room.”
Big Mac was about to head out towards the barn with the two Pegasi in tow before a green hoof stopped him.
“Hold on sonny, Ah got a quick job fer ya...” Granny Smith said, passing him a letter. “Ah need ya ta take this ta the Belle's over by Town Hall, alright?”
Big Mac nodded, smiling. “Okay Granny!” Granny smiled back and headed back inside.
“Well girls, looks like we'll be headin' down ta...t-ta...” The two shared a confused look at Mac's sudden loss of words, before he turned and rushed to get Granny Smith, pushing her out the door.
“Granny! AJ's back!” He exclaimed, excitedly, as he ran towards an orange speck with a stetson on it's head.
Rainbow suddenly remembered what she and Mac had been talking about the night before and grinned. Told ya so, Big Guy.
Fluttershy, however, wasn't there for that conversation. So when she saw the pony she had a crush on tackle another filly to the ground in a tight hug, she felt a pang of jealousy. Who's she and why's she moving in on my guy?!
She narrowed her eyes at the female in barely suppressed rage that is not usually affiliated with her. If she tries anything funny, she'll be laughing on the other side of her face.
Rainbow rose an eyebrow at her friend but opted to say nothing. Maybe it was just her friend's time of the month. That's what her dad says when her mom looked angry for no real reason.
The little orange filly with the blonde mane and the shared green eyes of her brother nuzzled said brother back, feeling a tear escape her eye. “Aww, Ah missed ya too, ya big lug!” She said, getting back to her hooves to nuzzle her grandmother as well. “Sorry Ah left, Granny, but Ah really wanna stay here...Ah wanna work here, it's what Ah was meant ta do...”
Just as she said this, a bright flash shone through the area and, once it cleared, her once blank flank now adorned three red apples in a triangle formation. She blinked, before glancing back and grinned cheek to cheek. “Mah Cutie Mark!!”
Granny Smith hugged her granddaughter, smiling widely. “Congradulations Applejack, an' welcome back. So how was it at tha oranges?”
Applejack made a face and waved a hoof. “Well it was borin' mostly, it was all these classy parties an' stuff, an' Ah just felt really uncomfortable...Though Ah did make a new friend!”
“Who?” Mac asked.
“His name was Soarin. He was this Pegasus colt from Cloudsdale, but he came down ta Manehatten with his parents fer some sorta Wonderbolt thing...”
“Wonderbolt thing?!” Rainbow exclaimed, making her and Fluttershy's presence known to the orange Earth Pony, who suddenly had a cyan face in her's. “You got to go to the Manehatten, Wonderbolt Rally?! That's so awesome! Who was there?!”
Applejack took a step back, overwhelmed by this new pony suddenly being in her face. “Um...Who are you two?” Mac laughed a bit, moving to stand by the Pegasi.
“Well Ah made a couple o' friends too. This is Rainbow Dash...” The Cyan Pegasus smiled, seeming ready to burst into questioning her about the Wonderbolt show again.
“...and this here is Fluttershy.” Fluttershy shook her jealous thoughts from her head to give the filly a pleasant smile. Whether or not this filly was after her Macintosh, she'll still show her the kindness she deserved...for now.
“Well howdy! Ah'm Applejack!” Mac suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be delivering something and decided he should do just that.
“Ah hate ta go, but Ah gotta deliver a letter ta tha Belle's lil' sis, Ah'll be back in a bit.”
Fluttershy heard that and suddenly felt kind of stupid and a little angry at all the bad thoughts she was having of the new pony. Even if she wasn't his sister, jumping to conclusions and plotting against her wouldn't have been nice at all! What would mom say to that?!
Applejack hopped up besides her brother. “Ah'll come with ya then. Besides, Ah wanna see if'n Rarity would like ta talk fer a bit.” She then motioned her head to beckon the two Pegasi over. “An' while we're at it we can give you two a tour o' Ponyville!”
“Sounds awesome!” Rainbow agreed, nudging Fluttershy a bit. “Right Flutters?”
“Oh...um...yes...that sounds wonderful...” She answered, quietly.
“Well you youngin's have fun, Ah'll git back inside ta check on Applebloom...” Granny responded, before pausing and reaching for her saddlebags and giving Mac a few bits. “Here's some money, Mackie, git you, yer sister an' yer friends somethin' nice.”
The red colt nodded. “Eeyup!”
“Why'd ya say that?” Applejack asked, confused. Mac glanced at her, then at Rainbow nervously, before turning away to hide his blushing cheeks.
I said it cause tha pretty filly seemed ta think it was cool... “Um...No reason...” Rainbow rose an eyebrow.
Huh? So it wasn't a catchphrase...Ah whatever, it's still cool and...well the way he said it was just so h-No! Bad Rainbow! You know Fluttershy has a crush on him, you can't go and steal her colt! She sighed and put on her most convincing smile as the group made off towards town.
Usually, she wouldn't have given much thought to other ponies who were after what she wanted. After all, a lot of ponies wanted to get a place on the Wonderbolts and she won't feel bad if she got a place when someone else didn't...
...but Fluttershy has a hard enough time with ponies in general, never mind with colts she likes. She doesn't need more competition.
Besides, I'm Rainbow Dash! A coltfriend would just get in my way! She thought to herself, glancing towards the colt in question. No matter how cool and good looking he is...Or how selfless and heroic he is...Or...Ah who am I kidding! I'm so totally crushing on him too...
Applejack had glanced back at Rainbow Dash, who was still staring at her brother, and smirked almost evilly. Well, well, well looks like Rainbow Flash has a crush on mah bro... She thought to herself before she took on a confused expression. Wait...It WAS Rainbow Flash, right? Or was it Rainbow Slash? Ash? Thrash?
Cash? Stache? Brash? Mash? She continued to think to herself, not noticing the subject of her thoughts approach her from the side until she made her presence known.
“So who was there? Hurricane?! Storm Chaser?! Thunderclap?!” Rainbow asked, excitedly, bouncing alongside the orange filly who had jumped, startled by the other filly's sudden appearance.
“Huh? Oh...well Ah weren't really payin' much mind ta their names, mainly ta their flyin'. It was pretty fancy...” Applejack replied, having been impressed with the flight team...though she had spent most of the night talking and playing with Soarin.
Rainbow seemed to deflate a little at that, but still smiled. “Well...What performance did they use? Freestyle? Parade standard? Cyclone Centre Four?” Applejack shrugged, a clueless expression on her face.
“Ah'm real sorry, but Ah couldn't tell ya. Ah think me an' Soarin were playin' tic-tac-toe at that point.” She responded, gesturing apologetically to the Pegasus. Rainbow sighed and nodded.
“Ah okay...Guess I'll just have to read about it in the paper or something.” She shook the thought away and just walked next to the filly, deciding to try and make friends. “So, you're Applejack huh? Mac's told me about you.”
"Oh really..." Applejack narrowed her eyes slightly, giving a suspicious look to her brother who was making polite, but very awkward, conversation with Fluttershy. “What kind o' things did he tell ya?”
Rainbow shook her head, and nudged the farm filly in the shoulder. “It was nothing bad! He was just telling me that he missed ya and that you went to live in Manehatten with your Aunt and Uncle.” She gave the filly a grin. “No embarrassing stories yet.”
“Good, Ah don't have ta tickle 'im ta death...” Applejack muttered, managing to sound both threatening and kind of adorable too. “So how did ya meet 'im?”
“Believe it or not, he saved our lives from a timberwolf!” Rainbow replied, noticing Applejack's surprised look. “Yeah, he just kicked the giant thing off me like a pile of twigs then lassoed it's legs together! It was so awesome!...Well except for the part were my wing dislocated and I passed out, but it was still the coolest thing I've ever seen!”
Applejack smiled a bit, proud of her brother for his achievement, ready to tell all the other school kids about this when the summer ends.
She also noticed Rainbow's cheeks became slightly more red as she began trailing off. “He just came outta nowhere...like a handsome red knight in shining armour, ready to defend me from anything...”
Applejack smirked at the cyan coated filly's dreamy smile that was beginning to spread across her face as she looked towards said 'knight in shining armour', unaware that the orange filly was still listening. “Settle down there, Lovergirl...” She whispered, nudging the rainbow maned Pegasus on the side. “C'mon Rainbow Sash, if ya don't stop it, he'll turn around an' think ya crazy!”
Rainbow had managed to snap out of it, but mainly because Applejack had gotten her name wrong. “Hey! My name's Rainbow Dash not sash!” Applejack grinned, sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.
“Sorry 'bout that. Ah'm not so good with names...”
“Well...I guess I can let ya off since we've only just met.” Rainbow said, grinning. “Sooo...Was he cute?”
“Who?” Applejack asked, confused.
“Soarin, did he sweep you off your hooves?” The filly asked, making a mocking swooning voice, trying to get back at the orange farmer by embarrassing her about a potential crush, even though she was literally taking a guess on whether or not the filly had taken an interest in this guy or not.
She seemed to succeed since she saw a red tint to her new friend's cheeks. “Um...No...Ah mean, no he didn't sweep me offa mah hooves...But he is...kinda cute...” Rainbow started to laugh a bit while Applejack blush. “Shut up!”
“Ah I'm just teasing ya.” Rainbow replied, smiling. “I like you, you're a lot of fun to talk to!” Applejack smiled back, punching Rainbow in the shoulder.
“You too, Rainbow...” She glance forward and grinned, competitively. “Bet ya Ah can beat ya ta that buildin' over yonder!” Rainbow's eyes burned back, crouching in anticipation.
“On three!”
“Got it!” Applejack replied, crouching next to the Pegasus.
“One...Two...Three!” The two declared, taking off down the road passed Mac and Fluttershy, the later jumping and hiding behind Mac protectively.
Mac just shook his head and smiled. Jeez, Rainbow and AJ hit it off really well if they're already playing a game...
“Um...M-maybe we should try and s-stop them? T-they could g-get hurt...” Fluttershy said, quietly, to which Mac shook his head.
“Ah'm sure they'll be fine, not many ponies on tha move this early in tha mornin'...Plus Ponyville is quite small an' AJ knows her way around, so Ah'm sure they'll be okay on their own fer a bit...” He paused for a bit before smiling. “So you were tellin' me about tha Weather Factory?”
“Oh yes...Well all the clouds are made there, but you shouldn't eat the rainbow...I made that mistake once...” Mac nodded along and listened to Fluttershy politely, but he was slightly worried about his sister and the cyan filly now that Fluttershy put the idea in his head.
Quit bein' a worry-wart! They'll be fine! He told himself, glancing forward to see that the two had stopped, arguing which one of them reached the end first. See! Stop bein' paranoid an' deliver tha dang letter!
And so the four continued on towards the Belle's residence.