Welcome down to Sweet Apple Acres: where the apples are red and the mares are pretty. Rainbow Dash paused as she reflected on the last part: in her opinion, 'mares' shouldn't have been plural. Still, a nice saying.
Well, technically, Granny Smith was a mare, but she was a little over the age limit to be Rainbow's definition of attractive. Same went for Applebloom, but the other way around, which pretty much left Applejack.
Rainbow Dash landed in the pitch black sea of night. The path ahead, only yards away from where she was standing, was illuminated by the golden light of a lantern. A sharp, acid sound permeated the entire field. Applejack was playing a harmonica: just a few notes at a time, and slowly, only ever stopping to reach down and pick up a glass of whiskey, taking her time as she slowly went through the bottle.
Rainbow Dash began walking, her hooves entering the forbidden light as she became visible. Applejack's eyes flickered upwards. She kept playing.
It couldn't have only been a few metres to the entrance to the house, but it felt like miles.
"Didn't know you played." Rainbow commented. Applejack continued staring Rainbow down as she slowly brought the harmonica away from her lips.
"Since I was a filly." she said, replacing the instrument with the whiskey. "Fancy a drop?" she asked, gesturing towards the bottle, and the spare glass next to it. She knew Rainbow would have arrived sooner or later. She found herself wishing that the moment the axe would drop could be stalled, just a little longer.
"Sure thing." Rainbow replied. She sat down next to Applejack, and poured herself a drink, just enough to get her through the evening, but not enough to get her drunk.
"Sorry I stormed out of there earlier." Applejack said.
"No worries. Complex numbers are stupid anyhow." Rainbow Dash replied.
"I just felt so... stupid, I guess."
"Hey, don't worry about it too much. Back when I was a filly, my parents made me memorize the whole methodology... did more harm than it did good, in fact, 'cause by the end of my education, I hated the sciences so much I ended up joining the weather team. Boy, were they surprised."
Applejack chuckled, and put down her glass.
The harmonica played some more. It took a few seconds for the sound to die out, as if it was echoing through the orchard.
"So, I figured out why you've gone and organized this whole mess." Rainbow said. Applejack raised her eyebrow. It was time to face the music.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." Rainbow replied. She brought the burning liquid to her lips. If Applejack was going to slow the conversation down with that harmonica of hers, then Rainbow would sure as hay do the same with whiskey. "It's cause you love me."
Applejack shuddered slightly, her discomfort reaching new heights, and desperately tried smothering the conversation with her harmonica. Rainbow waited for her to breathe before talking again, not wanting to be interrupted.
"You wanted to get to spend some time with me so you arranged the whole thing, right?" she said. Secretly, she hoped she was right: she'd feel like such an idiot if she was wrong.
"Rainbow, you ain't figured nothin'."
Rainbow's heart sank in her chest whilst Applejack laughed half heartedly to herself. Eventually, she explained.
"I wanted you to stop lying on your fat flank and do somethin' productive." Applejack said. She paused. "It weren't just 'cause I love you."
Rainbow Dash grinned.
"Ha! Knew it."
"Did not."
"Did too! I was just worried I might be making an idiot out of myself. Y'know, in case I didn't know."
"I know."
Rainbow Dash leaned back, the wooden chair creaking as she shifted her weight.
"Well, I'm honoured... quite frankly, I didn't think you could put up with the very idea of being with somepony like me."
Somepony like her, Applejack thought. Determined, ambitious, fun, loyal, smart, not to mention beautiful? Perish the thought.
"Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"I... I don't talk about my feelings a lot," Applejack confessed. "I don't lie, but I don't... talk, neither."
Rainbow Dash found herself unable to reply. Applejack continued, regardless.
"And I do sometimes wonder... y'know, if it'd work out between us, but, well, my heart's set on you."
Rainbow Dash was glad that in the gloom and poor light, Applejack would likely have never noticed that she had began to blush. She tried covering up her awkwardness by drowning it in whiskey, but was painfully aware that even whiskey might not help her by now. Applejack was good at reading her: too good, in fact.
"Y- you should talk about your feelings more. It's not good to b-bottle things up." Rainbow said, attempting to fill the horrible absence of sound that permeated the farm.
It only lasted for a second.
"So... what do you think?" Applejack asked, her voice full of tentative hope.
Rainbow scrutinized Applejacks face: there was a mare who had probably never asked anypony out, and was more than happy to manage a whole hidden operation just to get somepony she cared about to stop wasting her time and enjoy herself, all without any thought of reward or thanks. Rainbow wished she could make Applejack feel less awkward, or find some way to let her forget her own selflessness for a second.
Amidst her confusing turmoil, a thought struck Rainbow. As she figured out just what she needed to do, she grinned, and all of a sudden her nervousness and shyness disappeared. Applejack felt dread rising within her: not the cold despair of being rejected, but instead the sort of foreboding she got whenever Rainbow gave her that maniacal smile of hers.
"Not telling."
Applejack gaped. She hadn't been expecting that.
"Wh- why not?"
"Because, I didn't plan that far ahead, and I want us to play a game." she replied. "A fun one, too... and I bet you'll find the stakes more interesting than a piece of headgear or my property."
Applejack narrowed her eyes: one one hoof, because Rainbow Dash was holding her heart hostage over a game, but also because she had used the magic word: 'stakes'.
Rainbow knew her too well.
"What do ya'll mean?"
Rainbow Dash chuckled. She kicked the harmonica, still lying next to Applejack's chair, and caught it deftly as if flew through the air. She spun it around once or twice before blowing on it. It didn't need to be complicated, it just had to make Applejack wait a little longer.
"Don't you try that on me... That's mah harmonica." Applejack growled.
Rainbow put the harmonica down.
"Well... if you win, I'll tell you whether I like you or not." Rainbow declared. Applejack considered her words carefully. She harrumphed.
"That ain't a promise that you'll say yes."
"Nope."
It wasn't much to go on... Rainbow was playing her. She was stringing her along as if she were a puppet, and all Applejack could do was close her eyes and try to enjoy the ride.
This must have been how Rainbow felt on the hill, as Applejack proposed their first challenge.
"And if Ah lose?"
"I don't have to tell."
The very thought chilled Applejack to the bone, and not even the whiskey could help keep the dread at bay: Rainbow would be able to string her along forever until her intentions began clear, and there was nothing she'd be able to do about it: her secret would give her a power of Applejack no hat could replace. Her mind was set.
"Deal."
Their hooves met with a dull 'clunk' which echoed through the entire orchard. Rainbow Dash grinned.
"Okay... you'll like this bit. I'll explain slowly so you can keep up, slow-poke."
Applejack growled playfully.
"Just spit it out. The evenin' is getting cold."