“Well, it's more vibrant than maroon, which is kind of brownish,” Rainbow countered. Applejack tapped her chin thoughtfully.
“Well, what about crimson?”
“Too, um, purple, I guess.”
Applejack leaned in towards Rainbow's mane, squinting furiously, as if the power of her tensed eyelids might reveal the answer.
“It's still mighty pretty, whatever it is,” she declared admiringly. “I wish I had such a nice mane, t'be honest.” Rainbow was quick to agree,.
“Yeah, right, it's just... well... it's always 'rainbow mane'. Nopony ever tries to figure out what the different colours are, you know?”
Applejack nodded. “I get that. Most ponies just call me 'orange'.”
“Brown,” Rainbow corrected. Applejack huffed. Apparently brown was not a colour Applejack approved of.
“I'm way more interestin' than brown!”
Rainbow Dash back-pedalled as Applejack glared at her. She felt a rant coming, and Rainbow wasn't keen to receive one.
“A very nice shade of brown! A very cute shade of brown...”
“Well, what shade is it, specifically?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow hesitated, thinking furiously.
“Mahogany?”
“This ain't no mahogany! It's tangerine orange.”
Their discussion was interrupted by Rarity, who poked her head over the screen, hissing angrily.
“Girls! When I let you wait in my boutique while I dealt with a very important clients coiffure, I had assumed you'd keep quiet!” she snapped. After a brief moment, she added: “And it's red. Rainbow's first mane colour is red: it's not cinnamon, magenta, strawberry or crimson. It is actually red, and will always be red, the primary, inimitable red that comes from breaking the light spectrum! Into red!”
Both Applejack and Rainbow went quiet. Rarity slowly lowered her head behind the screen again and continued working on her customer, who had been scared into silence by Rarity's outburst. Rainbow turned back to Applejack.
“Okay, so that's red figured out. That leaves five more colours to go,” Rainbow said. Applejack grumbled, annoyed.
“Well, it ain't tangerine.”