The Sunshine Chronicles

by TwilightUCrazy

Shop 'til it Drops (part 7)

“TWENTY BITS FOR TWO CORN-ON-THE-COBS?! YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!”

From the corner of her eye, Rainbow Dash saw ponies looking her way, and Applejack dropping her face into her hoof. Snorting, her breath steamed up the glass separating her from her objective. After a glare at the annoyed food vendor, she sighed in disgust and threw down the money.

“I hope ya choke on it, pal,” she muttered, grabbing the two buttered snacks and trotting over to the grass in the shade of a tree where her wife lounged.

Applejack squee’d happily and snatched one stick out of Rainbow’s hooves, messily gorging on the simple meal.

Rainbow stared, half in amusement and half in awe, until she quickly found the other ear plucked right out of her grasp.

“Hey! That was mine!” the pegasus squeaked in protest.

Applejack finished with one and was about to bite into the second before she turned to her.

“Yeah, well, I’m eatin’ for two. you're only eatin’ for one. I get dibs,” the farmgirl said, before taking another unnervingly large bite out of the clusters of kernels – and from the looks of it, part of the cob too.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and couldn't help her smile, or the giggle that got away.

“What’s so funny?” her mate asked with a full-faced scowl, flecks of corn all over her cheeks.

“Nothin’.” The pegasus shrugged.

The farmgirl slowly smiled and leaned against her. The two shared a comfortable silence. Applejack finished her emergency meal, and the duo relaxed back against the tree, bringing a sleepy yawn out of the pegasus. She nuzzled against her wife’s scented mane and sighed contentedly.

“You should try wearing perfume more often…” she muttered with a smile.

“It’s sticky, it smells unnatural, and it burns my eyes,” her wife replied. “And that doesn’t say anything about how expensive it is.”

"What if I bought you some? Would you wear it?"

Applejack leaned back and looked up at her. "After I bonked ya on the head for buyin' it, yeah." She paused. "Only in the bedroom, though."

"That'd work for me."

The farmpony rested back.

Rainbow chuckled and held her closer. “Never change, AJ.”

More silence. Applejack stretched and used her as a makeshift lawn chair. She stroked a cyan hoof through her blond mane and glimpsed up at the progress of the sun.

“So, what’re we gonna do?”

“Hm?” Rainbow muttered, shaken out of her reverie. “Do about what?”

“What’re we goin’ to say to Twilight and them about why we’re here?” Applejack scooted up and tucked her head beneath her chin.

“Hmm…” Rainbow pondered. “Could get bad…” she admitted. "One thing's for sure... I'm not ready for all the drama..."

“I mean, what would we be doin’ in Canterlot on a day like today?” she asked, elbowing her softly in the stomach. "We'd usually be out... ahem, 'frolickin'' in the orchards when it's this nice."

"That's still an option if we get back in time," Rainbow said as she wrapped her hooves around her mate, resting them on her belly. There was no evidence of her pregnancy as of yet, but knowing their baby was there made it feel real.

"C'mon, be serious. What would we come up her for?"

"Lawn gnomes?" Rainbow yawned and reclined, sneering at a curious, well-dressed stallion as he trotted by. A thought suddenly hit her, and she grinned to herself. “Toys?”

Applejack jerked and whipped around to glare at her.

“What? It was just a suggestion!” She smirked. “I found this great little hole-in-the-wall place in the shopping district with a ton of—”

“Rainbow!” she snapped, her freckles vanishing in a scarlet sea of embarrassment. She lowered her voice and leaned in. “How many times have I talked to you about mummin’ the word in public?”

“Are you keeping track of the number of times, or would I be okay ballparking it?”

Applejack sighed.

Rainbow waggled her brow. “Have I told you how hot you are when you’re embarrassed?”

Her mate shook her head. “Rainbow…”

"'Cause I did keep track of how many time's I've told you that."

"Rai—"

"Thirty-seven times."

She groaned and slumped defeated against her chest.

She sighed. “Look, I don’t know, okay? Maybe we have… like, secret twin sisters or something and they’re in town on their honeymoon.”

“You’re worse at lyin’ than I am.”

“Don’t hear you coming up with anything.”

Applejack was silent.

Suddenly, a surge of light and heat washed over them. The curtain of clouds overhead parted to make way for Celestia’s beaming sunlight.

“Okay,” she grunted, standing up with a huff. “I’m ditchin’ the threads,” she said, yanking the peacock headdress out of her hair.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Applejack asked, her mouth muffled around the remains of one of the corn cobs.

The pegasus managed with some difficulty to pull out the giant feathers that had been laced into her right wing, restricting her ability to fly. “Why wouldn’t it be a good idea? It’s really hot outside, it’s keeping me from flying, and I don’t like this flippin’ dress anyway…”

“It’s kinda helpin’ us blend in better, wouldn’t ya say?”

“Yeah, I’d say… if everypony and their flippin’ grandma hadn’t already seen us in ‘em,” the pegasus muffled, wrestling out of the gown. She flicked a hoof through her gelled mane to return its natural, windswept appearance and she sighed in relief, flexing her free wing delightedly. “Oh, sweet Celestia, that feels better than sex.”

Applejack snorted playfully. “Good to know. That'll save me some time next Saturday.”

Rainbow stuck her tongue out at her grinning wife and glared at her left wing. “One to go.”

She paused, looking down at Applejack and her corn-covered face looking up at her.

“You don’t wanna lose that dress?”

Her wife looked down at herself and conceded with a sigh. She stood and slid out of her gown back-first, flinging herself free with a flick of her mane.

Rainbow giggled at the corn kernels all over the pristine cyan garment and pitched all the garments in a nearby trash can. Then she paused. Something seemed off to her, but she was having trouble putting her hoof on it.

When Applejack shook out her limp and undone mane, it all became clear to her.

“Umm… AJ? Where’s your hat?” she asked nervously.

Her mate looked at her like she had spoken a foreign language. “Whaddya mean, darlin’? It’s right—”

Her hoof met the tiara that had come with her gown instead of her old beat-up Stetson.

Applejack’s eyes widened, her pupils dilating into pinpricks as she brushed her hoof over the foreign-feeling object. “Uh oh…”

Rainbow waved her hoof. “It’s cool. I’ll just zip back to the fashion show and ask somepony what they did with it. Nopony in this city would be looking to own a—”

Before Rainbow Dash could do any zipping however…

“THERE THEY ARE!” came a familiar, accented voice.

The couple turned their widening eyes to the other side of the park and saw Rarity pointing at them, a familiar hat illuminated by her horn’s grasp. She was flanked by Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy, as well as a half dozen snorting and angry-looking guardsponies.

Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “Oh, spit.”

“GET THEM!” shrieked the fashionista.

The whole group charged at them with a cry of war.

Applejack blanched and easily jumped her own height into the air. “SWEET ROVER!”

“RUN! Rainbow screamed, and the two took off up an alley in a technicolored blur.

Comments

[MarvelandPonder]

Awesome, sweet chapter! Glad to see an advancement in the story! Has that 'funk' passed?

I love those two, but this can only end poorly

[BronyPonyMan]

why is it that there first idea was changlings?!? i mean, WTF?

[Aatxe360]

Applejack squee’d

You win this round.

“Have I told you hot you are when you’re embarrassed?”

Missing something.

[SHL]

Those girls...

[NobleValor]

Why would the guard be after the Element Bearers (former or otherwise)? I know they technically stole those dresses, but still...

[RainbowJack2000]

“I hope ya choke on it, pal

That's what she said. Literally.