Applejack looked down at her watch for what seemed like the thousandth time. Rainbow Dash was late. Again. Her one-pony war against being on time was once again getting in the way of their date.
Sighing softly, the orange earth pony took a moment to gaze at the scene before her. The sun was just approaching the horizon line, casting the sky above and the earth below in ever deepening shades of red and orange. Trees and buildings, intercepting the sun’s warming rays, cast long skeletal shadows along the grass. Dash may not have had a very good time, but she certainly had an eye for beauty.
A small speck growing in the corner of Applejack’s eye caught her attention, and she turned to see a cyan dot approaching from the distance. She smiled as she leaned over and reached into the picnic basket next to her. From its confines, she pulled out an empty pie tin, and set it carefully next to her before reaching back into the basket. Hooves finding what they were looking for, she gently broke off a piece of pie crust from the still warm apple pie inside. Crushing the piece between her hooves, she sprinkled the empty pie tin with crumbs. Leaning back, she attempted to mask her smile to avoid giving any clues that she might be pranking Dash. Not that such a thing was difficult. That filly always thought with her stomach first.
A few moments later, a small gust of wind announced the presence of another pony at the picnic.
“Sorry I’m late AJ!” The cyan pegasus apologized. Applejack merely pulled her stetson down over her eyes, and smiled a bit wider. It wouldn’t be long now.
“Weather stuff. Real busy. Now anyways, you said there would be pie?”
Dash’s eyes darted quickly around the blanket until they fell on the empty tin. Applejack could practically hear her jaw drop, and risked peeking out from under her stetson to see her marefriends eyes widened in horror. She almost swore she could see tears forming.
“YOU ATE ALL THE PIE?!” Rainbow shouted, devastated. She was too distracted to understand why Applejack had all of a sudden burst out laughing. Unable to process what to do next, Dash simply sat there stupefied for nearly a minute before her friend had calmed down enough to start talking again.
“Now don’t you fret, sugarcube.” Applejack said, wiping the tears from her eyes. She pulled the real pie from the picnic basket. Rainbow’s face lit up as she saw the pie, but transformed into a pout as soon as she realized she had been pranked. AJ knew she would get over it though. She always did.
“Darn it AJ!”
“Shut up and eat, sugarcube.”