Team Players (Hearts and Hooves Day)
The butterflies flapped. . .
Aaand that's about all they did. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were still waiting for the migration to start, and Dash was already dangerously bored.
A blue butterfly landed on Dash's nose in what she was sure was a really cute and adorable scene of a rainbow maned pegasus frolicking with nature.
“Not happening, buddy.” She said, wrinkling her nose and shooing it away.
“Did you say something, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy said from across the meadow. She had about half a dozen butterflies perched on her head and back, and there was clearly frolicking going on over there. Now that was a cute and adorable scene.
“I was just talking to a-” Dash stopped and considered the rest of that sentence. “Know what? Never mind. I'm gonna take a nap. If anything looks like it's frolicking near me, would you chase it away?”
“Um. . . sure?”
“Thanks.” Dash said, finding a relatively comfortable patch of grass and curling up. This was going to be a really long day.
***
Applejack was also facing a really long day, but hers consisted of the same farm work she always did, with an added loneliness knowing that other ponies were enjoying the day with their special somepony, and her special somepony was enjoying the day with somepony else.
She worked most of the morning, trying to keep her mind from wandering. It was almost lunch time when she heard a familiar voice.
“Yoooo hoo! Applejack!”
Applejack looked around and blinked in confusion as she saw Rarity walking towards her. She tried to remember the last time Rarity had come to Sweet Apple Acres without their other friends or Sweetie Belle. Applejack was pretty sure that was never.
“Hey there! What brings you to these parts?”
“I wanted to invite you to the spa.”
“Um. . . beg pardon?” Applejack asked, confused.
“I normally go with Fluttershy, but she told me about that nature thing she's doing. She mentioned she was taking Rainbow Dash with her, so I knew that you didn't have plans. I would adore some company, if you wouldn't mind.” Rarity saw the uncertain look on Applejack's face. “Maybe just for a massage and a dip in the hot tub?”
“As fun as goin' to the spa sounds, I'd rather-” She stopped. Rather what, buck trees by herself all afternoon while her marefriend was in some romantic meadow with another pony on Hearts and Hooves day? “Now that I think it, the spa don't sound so bad.”
“Wonderful!” Rarity said with a smile and a little hop. “This will be such fun! Come dear, let's be off.”
Applejack gave a backwards glance at her work, but she decided she deserved a day off for Hearts and Hooves day. She would have taken one to spend with Dash, so she might as well use it to spend some time with Rarity instead.
The two walked to the spa in Ponyville, covering small talk about the weather and and their friends various activities. They continued that as they got settled in the lounge chairs at the spa and Aloe applied Rarity's facial mask while the masseuse went to work on AJ.
The massage relaxed Applejack a lot, but it also gave her a break in the conversation, and thoughts of Dash crept back into her mind. As soon as the masseuse left she could feel the annoyance at the situation tensing her muscles again.
She realized that she was laying next to the one of her friends who claimed to be any sort of expert on relationship issues, so she took a deep breath and asked, “Rarity? Just say for a moment your special somepony said they didn't care 'bout romance and mushy stuff. If somepony else asked you to do somethin' with 'em on Hearts and Hooves day, what would ya' do?”
“I'd tell Fluttershy to find somepony else to go with her, and plan a simple, private dinner. But you're not dating me, and Rainbow Dash is unbelievably dense sometimes. Surely you know that by now.” Rarity said plainly.
AJ sighed, “Yeah. So should I be mad at her?”
“Are you mad with her?”
“I don't know, that's why I'm askin you. I ain't happy with her, that's for darn sure. I just feel like. . .” Applejack trailed off. Discussing her feelings was never easy for her.
“Yes?” Rarity said eagerly.
Applejack shook her head and started to climb off of the lounge chair. “Never mind, this is dumb. I gotta get back to the orchard.”
She got a few steps towards the door, when Rarity said softly, “Applejack, dear, may I tell you a secret?”
“Sure. I guess.” Applejack stopped and turned around, then trotted back over to Rarity so she wouldn't have to yell it across the room.
“I asked you here today because. . . I don't have a special somepony. I hate it! I'm beautiful and talented and successful, and here I am, alone another Hearts of Hooves day!” Rarity moaned dramatically. Then she gave a little huff. “Pinkie and Twilight don't seem to mind so much, but when I heard that Rainbow Dash was going to be spending the day with Fluttershy, I thought that you might be lonely as well.”
Applejack gave Rarity a small smile. It was sad that a pony who cared so much for romance hadn't found it yet, and it was nice of her to be thinking about other ponies who might be lonely today. “Well now, I reckon I was lonely, some. You know the spa ain't my favorite place.”
“I know. Thank you for humoring me.”
“Thank ya' for thinkin' of me. And that massage thing was kinda nice. Real relaxin'.”
“That is actually the point of a spa.” Rarity pointed out.
Applejack chuckled and sat back on the lounge chair. “Okay, so maybe I shoulda given it a chance before.”
They were quiet for a moment. Applejack thought about what she had been trying to say before, and admitted to herself that if anypony could help her, it was Rarity.
“Rarity? What I was sayin' before. . . I feel like Dash just don't think 'bout me. She does all them dangerous tricks, and got herself hurt. Then she went and did a bunch of crazy stuff tryin' to be like Darin' Do. I worry when she's doin' stuff like that. And she agrees to go with Fluttershy on Hearts and Hooves day and tells me Fluttershy's pretty. Well, that makes me worry too. I don't wanna keep her from doin' stuff, but I'd like if she thought about how much I love her, and maybe once in a while held back so I don't have to worry.”
“She said Fluttershy is pretty? What did she say about me?” Rarity asked quickly.
Applejack gave her a glare. “Nothin.”
“Sorry.” Rarity said, embarrassed. Then she gathered herself and went on. “I can certainly see how dating Rainbow Dash might take patience. . . a lot of patience. If you don't mind my asking, have you spoken to her about any of this?”
Applejack blushed. “No. . . don't suppose I have. I kinda got a habit of doin' that. Gettin' all worked up without sayin' nothin'. I like to handle things myself, ya' know?”
“A relationship isn't about you, Applejack dear. And Rainbow needs to understand that it isn't about her. You need to think of it like. . . one of those sports teams. You can not handle things by yourself, and she must consider what's best for both of you. You must work as a team if you want it to succeed.”
Applejack thought about that for a moment, and smiled. “That makes a lotta sense, Rarity.”
Rarity paused a moment, then said, “It does? That worked? Oh, thank heavens. I honestly had no idea if sports teams worked like that.”
Applejack laughed. “I appreciate ya' tryin to make me understand.”
Rarity smiled. “I told you when you started down the bumpy road of romance that I would always be here to help. That's what your friends are for if you give them a chance.”
Applejack was laying in her bed, but not asleep. She was watching the clock tick. She hoped, somehow, that Dash would think to come see her before Hearts and Hooves day was over. Just to say goodnight. But it was 11:30 now, and she was losing hope. Not that she could be mad, it was one more thing she'd dropped the ball on by not saying anything.
As the clock flipped to 11:31, she thought she heard a knock at the window. Probably just the wind, she figured. She wouldn't let herself get too hopeful.
As she got out of bed and peeked through the curtains, a grin spread across her face. She opened the window quickly.
“I was hopin' to see ya'. Happy Hearts an-” Applejack was cut off by a deep kiss. Dash wrapped her forelegs around AJ, and AJ returned the embrace.
Then Dash broke the kiss. “I have a surprise. But you've gotta let me bring you to the ground.”
“Can't I just meet ya' down there?”
“You could, but I'd have to let you go. So no.” Dash said with a grin.
Applejack looked down at the ground from her bedroom window. It wasn't that far, really. She'd jumped that height before. “Alright then. But this better be good.”
“It's the best.” Dash assured her, as AJ climbed half way out of the window. She wrapped her forelegs around Dash tightly. Dash slowly flew back from the window with Applejack held securely, and AJ tried to ignore her heart pounding. But in just a few seconds, Dash had landed them safely on the ground.
“So, where are we goin'?” AJ whispered once her hooves were planted on the ground in the dark farmyard. Dash nodded towards the barn, where AJ could see the door was cracked open and there was a soft light coming from inside.
“You been tresspassin'?” Applejack teased.
“Yeah, you wanna chase me off?” Dash answered, grinning.
“Let's see this surprise, then I'll decide.”
Dash grinned and opened the barn door enough to let them in.
Inside was lit by a few lanterns which provided a dim light towards one side of the barn, but left most of the large interior dark. The light surrounded a pile of loose hay with a picnic blanket spred over part of it. Next to that was a basket with two bottles of juice and two cupcakes, and the phonograph softly playing one of Applejack's country records.
Applejack couldn't help but grin. “Oh, Dash.”
“Come on.” Dash smiled and flew towards the lighted area, landing on the blanket and laying down.
Applejack happily trotted over and laied next to her, nuzzling her face. “How was your butterfly thing?”
Dash made a face. “Even less awesome then it sounds. I actually think it might have been sucking awesomeness out of me to fill the massive lack of awesome it had.”
AJ had to chuckle, “I dunno. Ya' still seem plenty awesome to me.”
“That's because being here with you is extra awesome. It actually makes me cooler when I spend time with you.” Dash said, grinning and nuzzling her face. “So how was your day? Did you get a lot of farming done?”
“Actually, I went to the spa with Rarity.”
“Yeah right. Really, what did you do?”
“I just told ya'. I got one of them massages, and it was kinda nice.”
“You're serious.”
“Yup. And while I was there, I kinda asked her some advice.”
“About what kind of hoof polish is best when you kick trees all day?” Dash said giggling. “Or what mane style looks good if you're never gonna brush it and spend half your time sweating and tossing it around?”
Applejack shook her head, “No, 'bout what I'm gonna do with my fool marefriend.”
Dash's face fell instantly. “AJ, is there a problem? Why didn't you talk to me?”
Applejack put her head on Dash's shoulder, smiling. “Cause it's silly. I was tellin' her that I worry 'bout ya. I worry 'bout losin' you. I worry 'bout you bein' safe when you're doin crazy stuff, and I worry 'bout you findin' somepony you like better when ya' say how pretty other ponies are, or go out with 'em on Hearts and Hooves day.”
“AJ, I-” Dash whispered, but Applejack cut her off.
“I know it's dumb of me, Dash. I know you and Fluttershy are just friends. But this is how I feel, and I gotta let ya know. That's part of what Rarity said.
“She said that you and I are like a team. That I can't be hidin' stuff from ya', 'cause you're on the same team and you gotta know what's goin' on. And you oughta think more about how I'll see things, cause I'm on your team and whatever you do you pass off to me.
“The way I see it, that seems 'bout right. If we lose one another, we both lose. And neither of us likes losin'. But Rainbow Dash, I know I'm in this game with a winner, the best of the best. The prettiest, toughest, most lovin', most loyal mare in Equestria. So I gotta do my part. I ain't gonna be the one to lose all this.” Applejack finished, looking into Rainbow Dash's eyes.
Dash looked back at her, thinking a moment before she said, “You're right, AJ. You're totally right. You deserve my best, we deserve the best for our team. I can't let you think for a minute that my head isn't in this. Together we're the most awesome team in the world, I won't let us lose.”
Applejack grinned. “I love you, Dash.”
“I love you too.” Dash said, smiling. “So you really spent the day with Rarity and didn't kill each other?”
“Yup. Just talked 'bout stuff.” Applejack remembered something and glanced at Dash. “Oh, and she wanted to know if you think she's pretty.”
“I know a trick question when I hear one. . .” Dash said with a smirk. “Okay, how about this. Do you think Rarity's pretty?”
Applejack blinked. “I never thought about it. . . um, yeah? She's got a real pretty color, and a nice figure. But she wears too darn much make-up.”
“I totally agree.” Dash said with a nod. “We have a team answer, we both think Rarity is pretty but wears too much make-up.”
Applejack smiled, “Well, that ain't so bad when it's us agreein' on it.”
Dash smiled seductively, “So who else do you think is pretty?”
AJ got a teasing grin, “Well now, I suppose Twilight's got a real cute face. . .”
“Applejaack!” Dash whined.
“But I know this beauty of a pegasus with big eyes the color of roses, and an amazin' rainbow mane and a body I could look at all night.”
“No way. You've gotta do more then look.” Dash said with a grin, moving on top of AJ and kissing her deeply. "We need a good long team practice session."
"Well, long as it's for the team." AJ said smiling as she pulled Dash in for another kiss.
Stats
Page generated in 0.023 seconds
Total duration
1,001 users online
1,536,772 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Update, yay!
Ah, the pleasures of proofreading. It allows me to read these works of art ahead of schedule
I liked how this one turned out. Rarity was awesome
Dawww . . . @ Dash coming to the window and the ending.
You never fail at creating heartwarming chapters.
i made an account just to comment on this one story and say this
never stop making these, they're so well written and i love them :3
also i'm kinda curious what fluttershy did when rainbowdash when she took her nap considering she likes her.
also moustache
Rainbow Dash is a romantic?
Well, ya know, I never thought I'd see the day.
Great chapter. Poor Rarity was a nice touch, and at first I thought I saw a problem brewing there. Dashie knows how to handle the situation apparently, so it all worked out. Love it. Remarkable.
D'awww! Manly tears of joy were shed.
Excellent chapter.
846037
And preform an invaluable service at the same time. You keep me saner than I would otherwise be, so thank you.
846563
Thank you! Rarity is a very smart pony.
846698
Thank you, I try my best.
847090
Thanks! I think Dash is getting better at reading AJ as the relationship progresses.
849160
Wow, I'm totally flattered. I'm nearing the end of season two now, but I totally plan to pick back up for season 3 if I can.
And since it's Fluttershy, I doubt anything too interesting happened.
849470
Are you kidding? Dash is awesome at romance! Just ask her.
I'm just glad I pulled it off.
851265
Aww, thanks.
I'll day it again, Rarity is best troll. this is an amazing story. please don't give up on it, ever! when you run out of episodes, you could still do filler chapters. I don't mind.
Dash is an amazing romantic. AJ is so lucky to have her! 
+
=
and awesomeness!
This is one of the best Appledash stories in existence so far, complete in plot, pacing, grammar, and character portrayal. It's so sweet, and I could see it happening in the background scenes where they belong, so to me it's realistic and adorable. I do love it when you mix in drama, and I'm excited to find out how you're going to up the ante on the relationship drama to keep readers more and more invested in the romance. Your Last Roundup chapters were really really good, and I felt you could have taken it further, considering how badly being abandoned hurt Rainbow, and how easily AJ was able to do it. I'm surprised RD just let go of those insecurities over that event so easily, or that AJ just hasn't wondered once about fallout from hurting Rainbow since the end of that chapter. It still hasn't occurred to AJ that there could be insecurities and fears lingering in Rainbow Dash all the time now. Forgiving is easy, but forgetting is impossible since being flat out dropped and abandoned must be scary and traumatizing for loyalty to be so simply and suddenly hit with. Seeing as chapters build up on top of each other to build a grander, more involved plot, and since the last roundup in the context of this story does make it really clear to everyone that Rainbow NEEDS AJ and couldn't fathom trying to get by without her, but AJ deserted Rainbow pretty quick and planned to keep running from her... with that in mind I don't see how rainbow could not have that insecurity and fear and knowledge influencing her emotions pretty much non-stop for a long time afterward.
That's what was especially great about the last roundup chapters; you gave that one more time and attention, so readers could get really involved with that particular part of the story. I think this story would benefit a LOT from having more time and story put into each episode you write around. With that kind of room to grow, you can really play with your Appledash story and do all kinds of things with it. You could even write your own adventures into it that way if you wanted to. You're writing this story in a way that gives you SO MUCH freedom and potential to write anything into the show that you'd like.
This is awesome. Can't wait for more!
869057
I'm glad you like it! I do have a plan for the break between Season 2 and 3, and I'm currently planning to be ready to go when we get more episodes in season 3. The project will probably go on hiatus between seasons, but I'll do my best to keep people updated when related stories go up.
882920
I'm glad you're enjoying it!
I really appreciate your feed back. In a lot of ways, this has been an experiment for me. In the beginning it was supposed to be very episodic, just a short fic to go with each episode. Then episodes like Over a Barrel and The Last Roundup seemed to require some backstory for why the characters would act like they did, and the story arcs were born. But I've always been limited by the episodic nature of the show. The characters have to be back to mostly normal after each episode.
I do think I'm going to play more with Season 3. I'll have to wait between episodes, so why not make each story longer and more involved. I'll also probably try to work more with episodes that don't feature AJ or Dash, so that I don't have to skip as much. Those can be useful, too, because they're episodes where I can carry over emotions.
There's a lot I would fix on a rewrite. I hope that next season there will be less, if I've learned from mistakes I made along the way.
This was a wonderful chapter! I was so....tense, almost!...wondering if RD was gonna show up before the end of the night!
i have to agree with
and 
Rarity does wear too much makeup
Finally i got time to continue reading this story/project.
Really, really good job madame, i LOVE it and how you describe their relationship. It gets better and better with every chapter. My favourite so far is chapter 17 <3 And grat idea btw.... a story to every episode....appledash deserves it
Right when I read the first sentence I thought it said The butterflies fapped...
Aw, poor AJ, having to think she wouldn't get to do anything at all with Dashie on Hearts and Hooves day. I was seeing this guy once, and it was the first time I was seeing someone on Valentine's Day, and he knew this. And I'm not all sappy or anything - just spending some time with him on Valentine's day would have been nice. I didn't care about getting roses or chocolates or anything. So what do we do on Valentine's Day? He had to work, so we didn't so anything. But that's okay - he had to work, totally understandable. But what IRKED me was that I didn't even get a "Happy Valentine's Day" text from him. We didn't last long as a couple >_<
Liiiiittle typo here.
This was really lovely and the cameos from Rarity and Fluttershy were really lovely for showing that Dash and AJ haven't totally forgotten about their friends
The team puns towards the end made me groan
The Incredibly Dense Mind of Rainbow Dash. I know it's a RainbowPie story, but the title is truth. It is so much truth. It's like, beyond Applejack levels of truth. AJ can't lie but she can distort the truth. Not this. This title is absolute truth. Maybe not the story, but the title is so true. I think I've gone on a bit too long about how true it is. AppleDash forever!
Haha, Rarity really does wear too much makeup - did anyone ever notice how when they cry she's the ONLY ONE who cries black tears? (not meaning Rarity is evil, you fanficers, but that she's wearing A LOT of mascara)