Ponyfeathers

by SaintThunder

RD and AJ at the Orchard

Thoomp.

Rainbow Dash jerked awake to a sitting position. It didn’t do much good, because she was already being held upright by a gnarly forked branch along her midsection. From what she could see, she was dangling twenty feet from the ground, surrounded by dark green leaves and juicy apples of all the colors apples can be. Rainbow tried to extract herself from the rough pincer-grip of the branch, but her wings were pinned to her sides too tightly. With no branch curved and wide enough to grip by hoof, she rubbed her forehead, groaned, and hung limply again.

Thump.

Dash tried to wonder where that sound kept coming from, but she was still too dazed. A slight sensation (Dash couldn't quite place it as anything specific) dug into her wings. She didn't like it.

Thu-crack.

It occurred to her that her ears were ringing, and that the tree was shaking. Looking down, she saw a familiar orange, blonde-maned, brown-hatted mare glaring back at her.

Applejack turned around and bucked the tree.

Thu-CRACK!

The vibrations tickled Rainbow in exactly the wrong way, in that it tickled, period. Her thought processes now unmuddled, Dash flailed and squirmed about, if not to dislodge herself, then to at least convince the cowpony below her to stop with the bucking.

Applejack rolled 0 for Sense Motive.

THU-CRAKACK!!!

Dash’s body slid in all sorts of directions, and finally exited at the wide end of the fork with a nasty scraping sound. She floated down with an unusual grace, much like a leaf during the fall. Her hooves touched down on the soft green grass daintily, as if they were kissing each individual blade and offering salutations.

Dash inhaled softly, a breeze-like sigh, and proceeded to let out a bloodcurdling wail.

“IT BUUR-HUR-HURRRRRNSSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—”

Her wings had started her into a hover with their fluttering. Limbs dancing in midair, Dash's deep pink eyes scanned her surroundings for water, and found none. The realization struck her like a hoof on the bum, spinning her around.

"Rainbow Dash, what in the HAY are you doin' ta mah precious Blossomdown?" demanded the realization. Her grass green eyes pierced through the pegasus with an ice cold intensity.

"Uh" —Dash touched down again; her wingburn didn't seem to bother her anymore— "I, uh, crashed?" She was telling the truth. This time.

"Likely story," intoned Applejack. "Rather likely, since this makes for the fifth time you've 'crashed' into mah Blossomdown, Rainbow Dash."

"Hey, it ain't my fault the damn tree is so tall. Or so conveniently close." rebutted Rainbow with an eyeroll, who immediately regretted doing so.

The frost in Applejack's voice sublimated into raw fury. "There's a REASON for that there tree bein' so tall, Rainbow!"

At this, Applejack strode forward, gradually forcing the pegasus' back against the tree.

"Blossomdown is the OLDEST and MOST VALUABLE tree in this orchard, and ah ain't havin' no daredevilin' pegasi either crashin', sleepin', or otherwise INTERACTIN' with 'er unless they have mah and ONLY mah say so. Do ah make mahself clear?" The mares were nose to nose.

"C-crystal." Rainbow Dash refrained from a salute.

Applejack about-faced, clicking her hooves with a practiced snap.

"Now unless ya have some business with me, you'd best git goin', RD. It's harvest time, and ah don't want you muckin' up my operations." She walked away without looking back, towards the path back to the barn.

I'd better get outta here... thought Dash. But...

"Wait."

Applejack clicked her hooves to a stop, perfectly aligned. She turned her head and cast an impatient glance through her golden locks.

"I may not have meant to come here, exactly," continued Dash. "But I do kinda sorta need help with...something."

"I'm not too well inclined to do ya any favors right now, Dash." AJ resumed ignoring and walking away from the intrusive pegasus.

"I just...need some advice." Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. She had never known the apple farmer to indulge in such things as romance, but she did know that Applejack always had a word of wisdom or two for most things.

"Advice on what, Dash?" She hadn't stopped this time, forcing Dash to trot to her side.

"Er...well ya see, there's this one pony that I really--" began Dash.

"Oh." Applejack blinked and went wide-eyed for half a second. "That sorta advice. Hoo boy."

Orange and blue walked up the path under the sunlit sprinkled shade of apple trees in silence, not only because hello, awkward topic, but also because Dash's wingburn was beginning to flare up again. Applejack spoke again once they crested the hill overlooking the barn's backside.

"Lemme tell ya right now Rainbow, ah ain't an expert by any means. But ah suppose ah can try to uh-hum, guide you, as best ah can."

The mare had glanced at Dash when she said the word guide, and very nearly guffawed in shock. Spurred into the air a-buzzing by her wingburn, she had turned scarlet and was slowly rising higher, like a steam-driven helicopter with its boiler pressure beyond maximum.

Applejack gestured with a hoof towards the barn. "There's a well just around--"

Dash disappeared in an explosion of dust and feathers. A second later, a geyser burst into the air from the opposite side of the barn. Applejack just tipped her hat down and groaned on the inside.

The short trip to the barn's front side led her to find Rainbow Dash, sopping wet, flopping wildly like a beached shark with a mouthful of similarly flopping sardines on the dry yellow grass. The well had not survived their encounter: the stone wall was in pieces, surrounding the hole in the ground as if they were to be used in some sort of ritual; the roof and its supports were missing completely, presumably disintegrated into sawdust. The only part left intact was the spool of rope, which had managed to wrap itself around the weathervane, into the barn's front doors, out the window and through ten feet worth of fence before finally running out material and lodging itself into a haystack.

The criminal pegasus finally tired of her shenanigans and laid still, limbs all splayed out like a snowflake. Applejack stood over her, eyes like daggers burrowing into her skull.

Obviously guilty, Dash merely smiled and squee'd.

"Ah'm goin' ta ignore this fer now on account of you just bein' you, Rainbow, and also 'cause ah don't wanna put even more on yer plate than ya got already." Applejack's face softened, and she pulled Dash up by her fetlocks.

"Just be aware, ah did say 'fer now,' Dash." She jabbed at Dash's chest, right on the muzzle-nuzzle fallout zone. Dash winced a little.

"Sorry, didja get burned there too?" asked Applejack. Her brows had furrowed in concern.

"Nah, it's not that. I'm just...remembering what happened earlier today." Dash looked away. She couldn't stand making ponies worry.

"Well, ah reckon it's best to start from the beginnin'. Who is this mystery pony anyways, Rainbow?"

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, and found it difficult to say the name. She'd never told anypony about her crush before, and the prospect of doing so suddenly seemed much more terrifying when she was actually about to do it.

But not saying it would make her a coward. The Great Rainbow Dash was no coward, and she certainly wasn't going to start now. Not now or ever.

"It's Twilight," she said, after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

Applejack didn't even have the decency to look scandalized. Or even mildly surprised. "Ah figured as much," was all she said.

The pegasus took mild offense at this. "Hey, just because my dad named me Rainbow doesn't mean tha-"

Applejack held up a hoof. "Ah didn't mean it that way, and ya know it, Dash. Ah'm just observant, is all."

She walked past the colorful mare and began to pace the width of the barn doors.

"Ah'm in town more often than ya think. And from what ah've seen, you don't talk to stallions much, do ya Rainbow?"

Dash reluctantly nodded. Applejack continued her rationalizing.

"Thought so. Ah only ever seen you speakin' amicably with the mares o' the town, and you don't even do that much. Most of the time ah see you with Pinkie, Twilight or mahself, and that really narrowed it down."

Applejack put a hoof to her mouth. Dash's face hardened at the mention of her pink party friend. It's only been a few weeks since she left; the sting of loss was still heavy on all of them.

Applejack recovered first. "Ah, uh, keep forgettin', heh." She took off her hat and placed it over her chest.

"Is she really not-"

"Coming back?" finished Dash. Her eyes held a twinge of bitterness. "No. She's not. She said as much, the last time I saw her. And I never knew Pinkie to ever go back on anything she promised." The last word dribbled out of her mouth, as if it were poisonous candy.

"A-anyway," stuttered AJ as she replaced her hat, "as ah was sayin', you only hung around three, er, two ponies, and since you came ta me fer advice, I figured it was Twilight you was pinin' for. If ya were pinin' for anypony, that is."

"So what do you think I should do?" Dash had turned to gaze at the road going from the farm to Ponyville.

"Well, ah suppose that's more or less up to you, so long as it's from the heart and something a smart pony like her'll appreciate." Applejack moved to stand side by side with her.

Dash sheepishly scratched the back of her neck."I DID have a plan to show her my new trick, but I haven't gotten it down yet."

"I get that yer fancy maneuvers are pretty to look at, but what about this particular one makes it so special?" AJ had that smile going; the teasing one with the raised brows that got ponies punches in the shoulder.

"Er," Dash blushed, "It has something to do with...waves? Math stuff. I don't really get it; all I know is that it takes two Rainbooms at the same time, and they're supposed to...touch, I guess. "

The other mare's eyes widened. "You can do that? Sounds real dangerous, Rainbow. Where'd ya learn about this fancy-schmancy 'wave' stuff?"

Rainbow put a hoof to her chin and looked up, as she was about to have a flashback.

"I think it was about three months ago... I don't keep track. I was at Twilight's to borrow the latest Daring Do..."

Author's Note:

I split part 2 into more parts?!? I felt it necessary, though, since a flashback like this needs its own chapter for me to fully realize it. But then I have to come back to this scene...

Comments

[livinthelife]

'Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra' ----> What your chapter titles make me think of.

[mint20]

I anxiously await more!

[Gyro Pony]

7013852
'Dash and Twilight on the ocean'.

[TwiDasherboop]

Applejack put a hoof to her mouth. Dash's face hardened at the mention of her pink party friend. It's only been a few weeks since she left; the sting of loss was still heavy on all of them.

Wait…what happened to Pinkie Pie?