//------------------------------//
// H*A*S*H 
// Story: Appledashery 
// by Just Essay 
//------------------------------//

	"For crying out loud, Trixie!"  Twilight pointed over her plate.  "Eat already!"

"Mmmmm..."  The other unicorn wriggled her muzzle anxiously above the steaming platter.  "Trixie is... uncertain of this 'hash of browns.'"

"It's tasty.  I promise you!"  Twilight rolled her eyes.  "I've never had anything from Applejack's cooking that tastes anything but scrumptious!"

"Awwwww shucks, Twilight..."  Applejack tilted the edge of her hat forward from where she sat.  "I expected to get red from this here trip, but only 'cuz of the sun."

"Twilight is quite right, Miss Lulamoon," Rarity said, delicately stabbing at the skillet-prepared hashbrowns with a levitating fork.  "While it may be a tad bit unrefined, I assure you that these 'down-home country fixings' shan't do a thing to muddle your intestines."

"Uhhhhh... thanks, Rarity."  Applejack smirked crookedly.  "Nice to know I'm still receivin' compliments in stereo."

"Mmmmm-mmmmm!"  Pinkie Pie finished her third plate, licking the crumbs off her muzzle.  "Hey diddle diddle, thanks for the vittles!"  She giggle-snorted.  "You need to teach me how to make this stuff sometime, AJ!"

"Heh, sure thang, Pinkie!  It's a family recipe."

"Well, too bad I'm not family, or else I'd have this ingrained in my fluffy head already!"  She looked aside.  "You digging the grub, Fluttershy?"

"Erm.  Yes."  Clearing her throat, Fluttershy looked up at the crowd.  "Say... I was wondering..."

"Mmmmm?"  Twilight took a sip of apple juice and glanced back at the pegasus.  "What's on your mind, Fluttershy?"

"I hear there's a path that branches off on the way to Winsome Falls," Fluttershy said.  "And it runs right by Fawn's Thicket."

"Heh..."  Applejack smirked.  "Fixin' to make a detour, Fluttershy?"

"Erm..."  Fluttershy hid slightly behind a lock of mane hair.  "Not if... if it makes us all late to our destination.  I could just... fly here another time on my own, I suppose."

"Trixie believes that we have started early enough to make such a detour!"  The mare in question tilted her chin up.  "...assuming it will make Fluttershy happy."

"I dun have no problem with it."  Applejack shrugged, then looked aside.  "Twi?"

"Sounds fine to me!  Rainbow?"

"Mmrmmfmfmfffuchuu?"

"Perfect!"  Twilight Sparkle smiled across the campfire.  "A stroll by Fawn's Thicket it is!"

"Oh!  Oh wonderful!"  Fluttershy's wingtips twirled in the air.  "This is already such a wonderful day!  Thank you, girls!  Thank you so much."

"Think nothing of it, darling."  Rarity winked.  "I wouldn't mind seeing the sights myself."

Rainbow finished swallowing a bite of hash browns.  "I don't get it.  Why'd Twilight ask me after Applejack had asked her?"

"Isn't it obvious, Rainbow?" Rarity stifled a yawn.  "You're an alpha mare."

"I... am...?"

"Well..."  Rarity leaned back, blinking into open space.  "In truth, that was just a gut response.  But now that I put more thought into it..."

"What...?"

"Well, you haven't exactly been the same brash, brutish, in-your-face daredevil like you once were.  Which, if you ask me, is an improvement."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, Rainbow.  Applejack asked Twilight for her opinion on taking a detour, and then Twilight asked yours.  So I guess that makes you..."  She squinted, then smiled.  "A gamma mare."

"Gamma mare?!"

"Mmmhmmm!"  Rarity resumed forking through her food.

"But... but that sounds totally lame!"

"If you insist."  Rarity giggled breathily.  "Oh squeaky and petite one."

"What... you... that..."  Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth.  "Rrrrrgh!  I am not a gamma mare!"

"Horses for courses, darling."

"Rrrrgh!  I swear!  I'm so angry, I could... I could..."  Rainbow Dash frowned, forking entire heaps of hash browns into her muzzle.  "Scrawwlflfkffkffffggugrarrggkkkt!"