Rainbow Dash sat in a tree. Usually, she would be napping in a tree; but this time, she was watching. Last night, she'd realized something in the locker room shower. Who you showed to the world was a little bit different than who you were inside. Maybe when Macintosh was alone, he was someone completely different.
So thus it was that she was… well, some ponies might call it 'spying', but she preferred the term ‘reconnaissance’.
And reconnaissance was much more boring than the word made it sound. Macintosh was quietly working, never stopping. His stamina was pretty admirable.
Unfortunately, his work also formed its own rhythm. The bucks, pauses, and apple drops followed at a steady pace. Pretty soon, Rainbow found her eyelids drooping. The branch was just so comfortable, and it really was a warm day.
The next thing she knew, she looked down and realized that she was looking at an empty orchard. “Horseapples,” she grumbled. She flew up and looked around. He had to be somewhere close, right?
Ish. Close-ish. She wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep.
She flew higher into the sky, her eyes scanning quickly for that flash of red.
There! In the corner. As fast as she could, she flew over and secreted herself in a nearby tree. She poked her head out. Did he see me? she wondered.
She got her answer when the tree branch she was on suddenly moved from underneath her, unceremoniously dumping her off. She could barely flare her wings in time, and she landed rump-first in a basket.
“Morning, Rainbow,” Macintosh said pleasantly, as if he hadn't just bucked her out of a tree (which, of course, he had).
“Hey, Mac,” Rainbow said, nonchalantly sitting up and brushing an apple out of her mane, as if she hadn't just been bucked out of a tree (which, of course, she had). “What's up?”
“Not much. You?”
“Just… watching.” Rainbow grimaced. She really should have thought of a convincing cover story earlier; but then again, she hadn't expected to get caught.
“Watching what?” Macintosh pressed.
Rainbow Dash picked an apple up out of the basket. “Would you believe… apples?” she tried, waving it in a small circle.
Macintosh raised an eyebrow. “Nope.”
“It has to do with apples,” Rainbow said, standing up out of the basket.
Macintosh chewed on his wheat sprig. “There ain’t even gonna be cider until…”
“It was one time!” Rainbow howled, the force of her protest launching her into the air and above Mac's eye level.
Macintosh grinned.
Rainbow sighed and dropped back to the ground. “Ok. I came to watch you,” she confessed.
Macintosh chewed his sprig further. “Usually charge for that,” he said flatly.
Rainbow couldn't help but laugh. “Yeah, that sounded creepy,” she admitted. “I mean… ok. I was trying to see if you were any different in private. You know, stage persona, regular persona, that kind of thing?”
Mac shrugged. “Nope. I’m a simple pony. What you see is what you get.”
“Huh,” Rainbow said slowly.
Mac grinned, a sort of half smile. “Disappointed?”
“Kinda,” Rainbow admitted. “I mean, I was hoping to find out some kind of hidden secret or some secret key or something.”
Macintosh shrugged. “Nope. Gotta do it the old fashioned way.”
Rainbow nodded.
There was a pause.
Rainbow coughed and rubbed at the back of her neck. “So, uh, I'll just… be going, then.”
As she turned to leave, Macintosh spoke. “You know what I like about apple hybrids?” he asked.
Rainbow blinked. “What?”
“You take two different apples and combine them, so you get the good qualities of both, like taste, texture, or color. They compliment each other.”
Rainbow cocked her head. What did that have to do with anyth-? “Ohhh,” she realized. “So you're saying we're like two apples, and when you put us together, we're different; but that's ok, because we each have different strengths?”
“Nope.” Macintosh grinned. “I just like apples.”
Rainbow found herself unable to decide if he were still joking or not. “That's… great.”
Seemingly satisfied at having gotten his point across (if he’d even had one to begin with), Macintosh turned back to his trees and began bucking once more (and this time, only apples fell out).
Rainbow said a brief goodbye and flew off. This would take a little more thought. His little apple analogy had given her an idea. If she could find something that they both liked, especially if it were for different reasons, it would be a great segway into a different date (such as showing up at a Wonderbolts activity).
Now she just needed something they would both like.
* * *
Rainbow Dash poked her head around the tree. There stood Macintosh, organizing his apples. She grinned. It was time. Time for something no Apple could resist.
A contest.
She stepped out in front and held out her hoof. “Hey, Mac! Wanna hoof-wrestle?”
Macintosh looked at Rainbow, down at the proffered hoof, and then back at Rainbow. “Not particularly,” he said as he went back to his apples.
“Oh,” she said slowly. She hadn't expected that. Still with her hoof out, she watched him hitch himself up to the cart and continue his work.
She shook her head and set her hoof down. She had other options. She quickly caught up. “Hey, wanna race? First one to the south barn wins!”
“Ain't in the mood for a race,” Macintosh rumbled, not even deigning to look at her.
Rainbow slowed to a stop. She frowned. But she wasn’t out of ideas yet. She scampered up, catching up again. “Wanna play horseshoes after this?”
“Rainbow, I ain’t my sister.” He smirked as he walked away. “Keep trying, though.”
Rainbow’s offer of a Sugarcube Corner run (her treat, of course) died on her lips. He had a point. She shouldn’t treat him like a male Applejack, even if they did kinda smell the same when they were all sweaty and stuff. Kinda like dirt and apples. Hay, Fluttershy and Zephyr were also brother and sister, and they were way different.
She turned and spread her wings. She’d think of something Mac liked to do.
* * *
There was a knock on the door, and then it was pushed open. “Hey, Rainbow!” Blaze called. “You in here?”
“Yeah, come in.” Rainbow called back from her position upside-down on the couch.
Blaze trotted in and stopped. She tilted her head, but Rainbow Dash was still upside-down. “What are you doing?”
“Thinking.”
Blaze cocked her head further. “While you’re upside down?”
“I figured I needed to send more blood to my head.”
Blaze shook her head. “Yeah. That’ll work great… when you give yourself an aneurysm. So what are you thinking about that’s worth risking your life over?”
“I’m not going to die from being upside down,” Rainbow grumbled.
“If you say so.” Blaze apparently didn’t believe her; she reached out a wing and flipped Rainbow off the couch and onto the ground. “Me and Misty Fly are going to grab a hayburger before tonight's exhibition, you want in?”
“Sure,” Rainbow said. She pushed herself up and stretched, but it was cut short as something occurred to her. “Hey, by the way, I’m also trying to figure out something fun to do with Mac, my, uh, boyfriend. Any ideas?”
Blaze chuckled. “All stallions want just one thing.”
“Apples?” Rainbow guessed.
Blaze barked a laugh. “Sure. Your… ‘apples’.”
Rainbow did not understand. She was fairly certain she was not apples. Ponies weren’t apples. Unless they were Apples.
Thankfully, Blaze continued. “You could give him a private show, dress up in your Wonderbolt uniform and show them off.”
Rainbow blinked. “He’s an earth pony who lives on a farm. What good would that do?”
“Uh… he could then take it off?” Blaze suggested.
“Then what would be the point of me even putting it on in the first place?” Rainbow asked.
There was a pause.
Blaze slowly licked her lips. Apparently, Rainbow hadn’t been playing dumb. “You know, sometimes I don’t know about you, Rainbow.”
“What? What?”
* * *
Rainbow Dash didn't even bother to scan the crowd afterwards. Macintosh wouldn't be there. She hadn’t even invited him, even though this exhibition was basically an open dress rehearsal with cheaper tickets.
This was legitimately starting to bother her. She was an awesome mare; she really was. She just needed to help him see that.
Or maybe he did see that, and he was just teasing her. That was also a possibility. In fact, that was actually pretty likely. Applejack was also one for a little gentle ribbing.
But if he knew she was awesome, and he wanted to date somepony awesome, shouldn’t he have at least tried one of the activities she suggested?
She shook her head. Trying to get a date was hard. As embarrassing as it would be, the idea of just coming clean was sounding better and better.
But she couldn’t worry about that now. There were fans here that had come to see her. And they were here to see an awesome Wonderbolt, not a Mopey McMope-mope-pants.
She paused. Huh. Maybe she’d been spending too much time with Pinkie Pie.
After a long but fulfilling evening of signing autographs and posing for pictures, the event began to wind down. Most ponies had already trickled out of the stadium, a few of the Wonderbolts had returned to the locker room, and the cleaning crews emerged and began to work.
As Rainbow was walking by, she passed an earth pony mare working. She slowed to a stop, then took a couple steps back. “Hey, is that a Fruity Foals Club shirt?”
The mare jumped, surprised at having gotten her attention. “Y- yeah, it is,” she said, surprised. “I’m kinda surprised you recognized it.”
Rainbow shrugged. “I'm not really a fan,” she corrected. She pointed towards Soarin. “He’s the one who knows all about them.”
She glanced over towards Soarin, and Rainbow caught the little spark in her eyes. Rainbow grinned. She was going to push them together. She leaned in and nudged her. “Go talk to him,” she urged.
“No way!” she squeaked.
“Why not?” Rainbow asked.
“You don’t go up to a Wonderbolt and talk about the Fruity Foals Club!” she hissed.
“There are no rules about not talking about your fruit club,” Rainbow said dismissively. “Besides, he’s a hardcore fan. He’ll like it.”
She scowled. Apparently, she decided that Rainbow was just teasing her; she turned and focused on sweeping again.
Rainbow shrugged, and waited. Soarin ended his conversation and began walking across the field to enter the locker room. He nodded to Rainbow as he neared. As he briefly looked back over his shoulder, Rainbow quickly snapped her tail against the cleaning pony’s flank.
There are a few ways to flick one’s tail against another’s flank. Some are more flirty, telling tales of intimate things to come later that night. Some are more playful, such as those delivered after bad puns and bad jokes. And some are closer to the realm of punishing.
Rainbow’s flick was more of the last kind. The loud snap combined with the sharp pain across her cutie mark made her jump and scamper forward… bumping right into Soarin.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she said rapidly. “I didn’t mean-”
Soarin waved her down. “It’s not your fault. I wasn’t watching where I… Hey, Strawberry Filly.”
“Wh-? Oh, uh, yeah.” She glanced down at her shirt, and a little smile crossed her face. “She’s, uh, one of my favorites.”
Soarin grinned. “She's my favorite. First card I got.”
She brightened. “You collected the cards, too?”
Soarin nodded proudly. He brushed imaginary dust off the front of his uniform. “Collect,” he corrected, emphasizing the present tense. He leaned in, as if telling a great secret. “I’ve got a gold foil first edition Strawberry Filly.”
Her eyes widened and she nearly dropped her broom. “They only made three hundred of those!” she breathed.
“I know!” Soarin said excitedly. “I keep it framed.”
“I'd love to see it sometime!”
“I'd love to show you! How about tonight? I'll wait for you to get off work,” Soarin offered.
The mare nodded eagerly, then froze as it suddenly occurred to her that she was accepting an offer to go to a Wonderbolt’s house. Over a foals’ club!
Soarin noticed that her heart had stopped, and he gently started the conversation again. “So, which of the Fruity Foals is your favorite?”
“Apple Colt,” she answered. She chuckled. “Made me feel kinda guilty when I learned to make apple pies, but I got over it pretty quickly.”
“You can make apple pies?” Soarin gasped, his wings flaring out.
“I make dang good pies,” she answered confidently, now leaning easily on her broom.
Rainbow grinned as she flew off, leaving the two alone. Her work here was done.
Now she just had her own Apple colt to worry about.