An Adventure in Love

by IAreBrony

Explanations and Acceptance

As Celestia's glorious sun rose over the dew-coated apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres, it's bright shafts of light cut through the darkness of Applejack's room. Despite always being the early bird, Applejack's sleep went undisturbed. Having been plagued by restless nights for some time now, Applejack and the grip of sleep were reluctant to release their most recent embrace. However, the sound of Big Macintosh's large hoof thumping the bedroom door pulled Applejack back to reality.

"Applejack, we got work to do. Up an' at 'em, Ah'll be down in the orchard getting' started," he said, his slow drawl ever present.

Still groggy from her rest, Applejack pulled herself from her surprisingly dry sheets. She blindly but deftly grabbed the Stetson from her nightstand and tossed it up onto her head. Forgetting to brush her mane, she trotted into the hall and down the stairs to the kitchen. Hazily searching the pantry, Applejack poured herself a glass of apple juice to start the day. Downing the liquid quickly, she set the glass back down on the wooden counter and strolled lazily outside.

The ground was moist and a low fog had settled, stopping just below the leaves of the apple trees. The natural sugars of the apple juice slowly kicked in and Applejack realized she had somehow managed to transport herself outside. Well, Ah'm here. Might as well get to applebuckin'. She thought lazily. Cantering over to the nearest unbucked tree, AJ turned away from the tree and slammed her back hooves into the bark full force. Even the top apples dropped into the buckets below and Applejack walked slowly to the next tree.

Ah can't remember ever bein' this darn tired! Ah'm just glad Ah finally got a good night's rest. . . But Ah'm still so tired. Maybe a quick nap will get me goin'. . . She told herself as she lay down under the nearest tree, just far away enough the Big Macintosh wouldn't see her from the barn. She quickly succumbed to the warmth of sleep and dozed off right there in the wet grass.

Off in Cloudsdale, one energetic pegasus found herself sprawled out on her front steps. Oh my head. . . How long was I out? Dash asked herself, glancing at her hoof. Slapping herself in the forehead with a hoof, she realized once again that she doesn't actually wear a watch. I should really get one of those if I'm gonna keep checking for one. Hmm, I must have flown right into my house and taken a well-needed rest. . . Oh well. I guess I can't complain; I really needed the sleep. Walking to the edge of the cloud her home rests on, Rainbow Dash glanced off into the distance, trying to remember what she was thinking about what had caused her accident.

Oh right, I was flying and Applejack had just kissed me and- Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! I forgot all about that! I need to go talk to AJ about that! She began to rush off into the open air; Dash just barely stopped herself at the last possible moment. "What am I gonna say? 'Hay AJ, you remember that awesome moment yesterday when we locked lips?' C'mon Dash, think this one through!" She said to herself, pacing back and forth. "Just be normal about it. Yeah! Play it cool. Y'know, like everything else you do," she resolved, smirking at her self-doubt. Jumping off the edge of the clouds, Rainbow Dash released her wings, swooping through the air towards the huge farm in the distance.

She soared over all of Ponyville, admiring the grace of the small town. She knew that if she were an earth pony, that's definitely where she would wish to live. Rainbow could pick out all of her friend's houses from this altitude. In mere minutes, Dash was hovering over Sweet Apple Acres, making but the slightest of breezes. Looking around, she spotted Applejack resting under one of the trees and darted into that particular tree.

Peering through the leaves below her, Rainbow Dash gazed upon her friend. Her hair was unkempt, falling loosely over her soft orange head. Even though her eyes were closed, Dash knew the chillingly beautiful emerald she had grown so fond of sat just behind Applejack's limp eyelid. After observing for a moment or two longer than Dash wanted to admit, she snapped out of her daydreaming to return to the present.

"APPLEJACK!" She shouts, bouncing the apples out of the tree and one large one straight down onto her secret crush's head, the mare's treasured Stetson having been blown off her head while she napped.

"Wha- Who- Where am-" Applejack answered, startled rudely. Her questions ceased as the apple landed harshly on her head just behind the ear. "Ouch!" She yelped.

Dash hopped out of the tree, scared she had hurt her friend. "Ohmygosh, Applejack, I'm so sorry!" Rubbing her head, Applejack rose.

"That was you, Dash?" She questioned. Dash turns her head away and smiles shyly, rubbing the back of the neck nervously.

"Yeah, sorry about that, AJ. Here, let me have a look," she said, looking at the small bump on Applejack's head. Lightly poking it, she heard a quick, but small, intake of breath from her friend. Applejack's heart fluttered as the touch sent tingles through her whole body. "Are you alright?" Dash asked, fearing her poke had hurt Applejack.

"Ah'm fine. Question is, what're yah doin' here so gosh darn early?"

"I don't know if you noticed, AJ, but it's like 10 o' clock," Dash told her fellow Element of Harmony.

"Oh hay, Ah haven't gotten hardly any buckin' done! Whatever yer here fer, Dash, say it quick!" Applejack told Rainbow as she rushed over to a tree and bucked the apples down quickly.

"Oh, well, actually it's about yesterday. In the barn. . ."

Applejack recalled the moment Dash was surely talking about. She stopped bucking trees to look at her companion. Blushing slightly, she nodded, showing her understanding. "Well, what do yah got to say 'bout it?" She asked, relatively quietly.

"Well, I don't have much to say, except that it was an accident. I didn't mean for it to happen, and I hope it doesn't ruin our friendship," Rainbow explained.

"Aww, shucks, if anypony here should be worryin' about it, it's me. Ah tripped over a board, and it was a complete accident. Ah'm so glad yah didn't take it the wrong way," she said, unconvincingly, as she gave the ground a look over. Both of the ponies were dejected upon realizing the other mean nothing by it. Or so she believed. Looking at her friend, Dash noticed once again that Applejack's mane was untied and uncover. And it also looked more spectacular up close, not to mention the way she shyly perused the ground. She looked so innocent and adorable, and Dash quickly found her thoughts fumbling inside her head.

As AJ looked up, she saw Dash's wings sticking out like branches from her sides. "Umm, goin' somewhere, Dash?" She inquired. Dash snapped out of her thoughts, and began stuttering an answer, causing Applejack to raise an eyebrow in response.

"I- Umm- Flying- Fluttershy. . . Gottagobye!" Dash called as she took off in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage. Stumped, Applejack resumed her applebucking, praying the Big Mac hadn't noticed her half of the day's work was unfinished. Little did she know, Big Macintosh had not finished his half of the work either, seeing as he had not been at the farm since that morning.

Comments

[will1982]

Great, funny, well-paced....I love it.

[Pidgeons]

Darn it, how'd Ah let mahself get lost him her eyes again? (forgot what chapter that was in, but I thought it would be wrong not to mention it. Basically, the story as a whole, so far, could use just a tad bit more proofreading. If you ever have time, I'd take a second look at the story, if I were you)

"APPLEJACK!" She shouts (The story was in past-tense, and suddenly you use present tense.)

By the way, I complain a lot, so don't take this as me flaming ya. Actually it's not often that the majority of my complaints are centered around grammar and punctuation and spelling rather than the story itself (there was that sort of out-of-character thought from Applejack about things that only Rainbow Dash would say of herself, but that's just one thing). The story is really interesting so far.

Dash told her fellow Element of Harmony.---It always seems out of place to me when the narration goes out of it's way to remind us about the elements. I also see the group as more bearers of the elements rather than elements themselves, but basically everyone writes it the latter way anyway so whatever.