"So... uh..." Rainbow Dash managed between munching bites. "You've been here a long time or...?"
"All my life," Applejack drawled with more than a modicum of pride. She reclined lazily on her front stoop with her legs kicked up. Tilting her brow up, she smirked Rainbow's way and said, "Been born to apple buck, live to applebuck, and I'm pretty sure I'll die apple buckin'." She winked. "Figured that was more than obvious by now."
"Well, I guessed that earth ponies were all about farmwork and all, but I didn't wanna... y'know... stereotype." Rainbow Dash glanced at the half-eaten fruit in her hoof. "But at least that explains how these apples are so Celestia dang good."
"Heh heh heh..." Applejack nodded. "I was about to say! Usually it leaves ponies speechless!"
"Oh, don't get me wrong." Rainbow smirked. "They're the best apples I've ever tasted! Just... I... uh..." She shrugged. "I'm kind of used to the taste of apples."
"They ship a bunch of them to Cloudsdale?"
"Oh, I guess I meant... erm... in bottle form."
"Well, fancy that." Applejack tilted her head aside. "Cuz we here at Sweet Apple Acres brew some of the finest apple cider in these parts."
"You..." Rainbow glanced the farm mare's way, eyelids fluttering. "...you brew cider from these?"
"You betcha."
"That... that seems criminal."
"Heh... well, we put lurve and care into each drop we make. That's how we make enough business to float year after year. That and the zapapples—"
"Wait..." Rainbow squinted. "You guys make zapapple jam?!"
"Once a year! Only place in Ponyville that's got 'em!"
"But... but I thought Barnyard Bargains—"
"—gets them from us! Nowhere else!" Applejack chuckled. "Whew-wee... boy, if Filthy Rich ever looked elsewhere, I dun rightly know what we'd do."
"That's crazy." Rainbow's voice cracked, "I thought this was a nowhere town?"
"Yeah, well, we dun aim to brag... too much." Applejack slowly stood with a confident sigh. "We just look after the farm and we look after each other. The rest—like Harmony—just sorta fills in the grooves, ya reckon?"
"Yeah, well, I didn't come here for Harmony." Rainbow nevertheless smiled. "But if produces apples like these..." She took a scrumptious bite. "Mrmmmfff... I ain't complainin'... mmmfff..."
"Heheheh... well, can't say all of them are for free, but I'm sure we can make an arrangement." Applejack winked. "If ya think you can find it in yer heart to spare us some extra rain clouds for the plantin' season, then I'll see about setting a bushel or two to the side for you and you alone."
"Wow... you'd really do that?"
"Dun see why not, partner. We're all in this Ponyville groove together, ain't we?"
"Sweet!" Rainbow grinned. "This place ain't half bad!"
"If ya dun mind me sayin' so..." Applejack tilted her hat forward with a knowing grin. "Sounds like you didn't set the bar too dang high."
"Well... I mean... earth pony farming town..."
"Yuh huh." Applejack droned. "What was all that earlier 'bout stereotypin'?"
"Look, let's not pretend," Rainbow said in a grumbling tone. "This isn't exactly Speedy Pegasus Central. I mean, sure, I followed my friend Fluttershy here... but she doesn't count. Heck, you'd have a greater chance of flying the southern birds home than she would."
"Then just why didja come here?" Applejack blinked. "You needed the weather flyin' job that badly?"
"Ehhhh..." Rainbow waved a hoof. "That's just a stepping stone."
"To what?"
"Pffft! To honing my skills so I can get noticed by the Wonderbolts, of course!"
"Beg yer pardon?"
Rainbow dropped the apple... along with her jaw. "You... you don't know who the Wonderbolts are?"
"Is that a crime?"
"You seriously never heard of them?!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Ever?!?"
"I dun suppose they grow corn or potatoes, now do they...?"
"The Wonderbolts are the fastest expert stunt fliers in all of Equestria! They're... like... the friggin' most awesome pegasi who ever awesome'd!" Rainbow exclaimed, waving her forelimbs dramatically. "Well... almost. They haven't inducted me yet." She slicked her mane back. "But... ho ho hoooo... will that be the day!"
"Heh..." Applejack grinned. "Fancy yerself a showstopper, eh?"
"Hahaha!" Rainbow twirled twice in the air, summoning a brief gale that slid Applejack a few feet back on her hooves. "You can say that again! I was foaled for one purpose!" She winked. "And that's to steal the spotlight and make history! Cuz... somepony's gotta do it, right?"
"Heh... well, I wouldn't know anythang about that spotlight biz..." Applejack adjusted her hat with a sly smirk. "Unless yer countin' blue ribbons from the Equestrian Rodeo Games."
"Whozzawhat?" Rainbow blinked. "Blue ribbons? Rodeos?"
"Eeyup."
"I... I don't know much..." Rainbow gulped. "Only I hear that entering those things are super hard..." Her ruby eyes sparkled. "And dangerous. Like... lots of ponies die n'stuff. It's cool."
"Whelp..." Applejack leaned casually on crossed hooves. "Yer lookin' at the pony who's won the Best Rodeo Mare Champion Ribbon three years in a row!"
"No friggin' way..."
"Dun believe me?"
"How do you find the time? I mean... I thought all you did was buck apples!"
"Right. And gets me nice and prepared!" Applejack flexed a muscular forelimb. "Y'all see that?"
Rainbow saw that. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
"That's from years and years of hard work, every day, doin' chores and the usual grind. And the apple buckin'? Whew! I'd show you my hind legs too but..." She rolled her eyes. "I dun want ya to lose a head, sugarcube."
"Pffft." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "As if."
"Point is, this here town ain't nothin' to spit on," Applejack said. "There be loads'a'ponies fixin' to show off their stuff. So if you want competition in yer life to make ya stronger, you've come to the right place!"
"Heh... killer..." Rainbow grinned. "And by the time I've smoked everyone here in the dust, they'll have their work cut out for them!"
"Whew! That's some tough talk for a little pony!"
"Heeheehee! Yeah! I—wait." Rainbow squinted. "'Little?'"
"Well, I didn't wanna use the word 'petite,'" Applejack said. "Sounds awful condescendin'-like. Besides, them's one of Rarity's words."
"Rarity?"
"Oh boy, best I let you discover on yer own." Applejack chortled. "Y'all want a pony you can smoke in the dust, she's yer first candidate."
"Well, I'm not about to shoot fish in a barrel! So you're a rodeo champion, huh?" Rainbow Dash dragged her hoof along the ground. "Let's test your mettle."
"Er... in what way?"
"A race, that's the way!" Rainbow motioned with her head. "To the entrance of Sweaty Oven Acres and back!"
"Sweet Apple Acres," Applejack said, stifling a laugh. "And, sorry, sugarcube, but no can do."
"Hah!" Rainbow smirked. "I knew you were all talk! Or, in your case, drawl."
"Huh?" Applejack blinked.
"Pffft! Some rodeo champion!" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "If you back out from a little race—"
"Oh, if you wanna race, we'll race," Applejack said with a grin. "Just, not today."
"Why the heck not?"
"Well, if you must know, my lil sister shows up from school in the next few minutes. And that's when I gotta start preparin' dinner for her and my brother and Granny Smith. Wouldn't wanna do any of that while sweaty or short on breath. That's why I wasn't doin' no chores when you slam dunked yer skull into my grounds 'bout ten minutes ago."
"Huh..." Rainbow Dash blinked. "Well... uhm..."
"But in the mornin'? Especially the wee hours? Woo!" Applejack grinned, teeth glinting. "You bet yer bottom bit I'll race y'all into the ground!"
"Well, how about tomorrow morning, then?"
"Yer on!"
"Shake on it?"
Applejack spat on her hoof and held it forward.
Rainbow mimicked the gesture, and the two clopped their fetlocks together. "Heh..." Rainbow grinned. "I like your style, Applejack. Too bad you got family chores to weigh you down, or else you'd be a regular iron pony for sure!"
"Heh... ya say that as if havin' family is a burden."
"Uhhh..."
"'Cuz y'know what I just said about the daily grind?" She flexed a forelimb again. "Doin' my chores and gettin' stronger day by day? Well, havin' my family is more than half of that," the mare said. "And if it weren't for them, I wouldn't even have a single blue ribbon."
"Yeah... but..." Rainbow's brow furrowed. "Don't you ever wanna be your own mare? Go out there and... own some chumps n'stuff?"
Applejack shrugged. "I dun rightly see what I got to prove. So long as I stick by the ponies I lurve and care about, then all's right with the world. Heck... I dun even need the ribbons in the end. They're just a darn good bonus. Heh..." She smiled. "Dun tell me pegasi in Cloudsdale have no need for family or close relations."
Rainbow Dash was already battling a lump in her throat. She glanced to the side while a tingling sensation lingered in her forelimbs. "Uhhh... sure. I mean totally. Who... knows where I'd be without... without my—"
"Well, the way I see it..." Applejack's hoof rested on Rainbow's shoulder. Despite the bruises there, the strong limb's contact was anything but painful. In fact, there was a motherly gentleness in the way she gently kneaded the mare's coat, almost as if she was stroking the ache away. "...I made a new friend today, and friends are as good as family, especially in this town." A green-eyed wink, warm and wholesome. "So dun yer worry none. If y'all wanted a place to become calmer... even awesome, then ya came to the right place."
Rainbow Dash looked up at her, muzzle agape. She had to clear the scratchiness from her voice before she could breathily utter: "Eheh... cool."