Appledashery Vol. Two

by Just Essay

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat

Cl-Clank!

Multiple tiny glasses full of spritzy gold liquid were lined up across the table between the two mares.

Applejack looked up, freckles scrunching. "Lightning cider?"

"Thanks, bud." Rainbow Dash tipped the waiter. As he trotted off to the far end of the Canterlot Bar, she leaned over and smirked. "Lightning Cider Shots, to be precise. It's only the coolest way to outdrink your friends!"

"I... can't say I'm familiar with this drinkin' game," Applejack said, fidgeting in her seat. "Or any drinkin' game, for that matter."

"For real?" Rainbow arched an eyebrow. "You and Big Mac don't just... chill on the porch and take sips every time a non-white chicken skulks by?"

"Nope. Can't say I ever have."

"... ... ...you and Winona?"

"Will ya just explain to me the dag-blame'd rules?"

"Okay... so..." Grinning devilishly to herself, Rainbow Dash's hooves blurred over the assortment of glasses. She rearranged them into two rows of five glasses each—one row in front of her and the other in front of her friend. "...Lightning Cider Shots. You've done toasts before, right? Please tell me you know how to do that."

"Well, shoot. Who doesn't, Rainbow?" Applejack smiled brightly. "Never a Hearth's Warmin' goes by without givin' cheers to one thang or another. It's tradition!"

"Well, this is tradition too! Only slightly less festive," Rainbow's voice cracked. "And funneled through the ammunition chamber of a minigun!"

"I... dun quite read ya." Applejack squinted. "Ain't a toast supposed to be delivered slow and thoughtful-like?"

"Not these kinds of toasts!" Rainbow Dash gestured. "You gotta out-toast your friend! One for each shot!"

"How do ya 'out-toast' a friend?"

"Your next toast after the one you hear your friend give has gotta be more sincere than the one she made!"

"Pfffft... are you for real?"

"Totally!"

"Yer makin' this up..."

"No I'm not! I've done this all the time with Lis—er... lots and lots of cool barflies!" Rainbow smirked. "Now I wanna teach you how to do it."

"But... why's it gotta be so fast?"

"Cuz you get this rush of blood in your head by the time you're done!" Rainbow Dash said. "And it's fun and it's silly and it helps you get to know the other pony more!"

"Hmmmm..." Applejack fiddled with one glass, watching the liquid contents shake and ripple. "So... if I was to do a silly lil' toast—say—to ear lint—"

"Shhh!" Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. "Don't give it away!"

"Just usin' a random example!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Then I guess I'd toast to dust bunnies and you'd have to toast to—I dunno—apple stems or something."

"Heh..." Applejack smirked. "Now I think I'm gettin' it." She took her hat off and placed it down on the table. "So..." She tossed her golden mane. "What's the catch?"

"... ... ... ... ..."

Silence. The bar crowd milled about in the background. Applejack was forced to cock her head to the side. "...Rainbow?"

"Ahem! Uhm... right! There's one last rule." Rainbow smiled. "If you take more than five seconds to think of a toast, you lose."

"And what happens to the loser?"

"They have to buy the next round. Then you rinse and repeat until you collapse!" Rainbow winked. "I mean... they're only shots, after all."

"Heh... reckon it does sound like a hoot."

"Then, when you have a large crowd, you go in a circle. You theme it up and stuff. Blah blah blah. Something something profit... and rotting livers. Heh."

"Hmmmm..." Applejack tapped her chin. "'Theme it up,' huh?"

"Uh huh."

"How 'bout a theme for this one?"

"Like what?"

"Oh, I dunno..." Applejack blinked. "Oooh!" She smiled. "I've got one that's most fittin'!"

"Yeah?"

Applejack nodded. "How 'bout..." She pulled one glass to her side of the table. "We toast to thangs we appreciate about each other."

"Pffft! Hahahaha!" Rainbow Dash nearly fell back in her chair. She hoofy-kicked the bar's hazy air and fought tears. "That's the sappiest thing I ever heard!"

"Sappy...?" Applejack arched an eyebrow. "So... that means yer scared?"

"Hahahahaha—ahem..." Rainbow tilted back forward, glaring across the table. "I didn't say that."

"Then put yer muzzle where yer stomach is!" Applejack gripped her first shot glass tighter. "Let's toast to each other!"

"Start low..."

"...and aim for most respectful!" Applejack grinned. "Shouldn't be too hard!"

"If you say so."

"Hey!"

"Hahahaha... fine..." Rainbow folded her forelimbs. "Since you're so feisty, you start off!"

"Me? Go first?"

"What? Don't like the pressure?"

"Oh go soak yer fat head." Applejack raised her glass. She paused. "...no more than five seconds?"

"Quit stalling."

"Right! Got it!" Applejack took a breath... then purred: "A toast to rainbow-colored lint!"

"Oh come on!" Rainbow squeaked, fetlocks flailing.

"Heh!" Applejack tilted her neck back and emptied the shot glass' contents down her muzzle in one flick of the hoof. She wiped her freckles clean and nodded. "Now draw!"

With a glint in her eye, Rainbow Dash was already raising her glass. "To Sweet Apple Acres grass spurs that cling to your fetlocks when you stroll into Sugarcube Corner!"

"Ohhhhhhh..." Applejack nodded slowly as Rainbow took her shot. "So it's gonna be like that!"

Rainbow Dash exhaled after her shot and slapped her glass upside down. "Five seconds, ya hick!"

Applejack raised a glass of cider high. "To Rainbow's unscheduled rain showers when I'm tryin' to have a picnic with Apple Bloom and Granny Smith!" She sipped.

"Ah..." Rainbow sat up in her hair, hunched over like a fuzzy blue squirrel. "Up the ante!" She raised a glass. "To Applejack always knowing when to interrupt Twilight's lectures with her slow-ass drawl!"

"HAH!" Applejack smirked as Rainbow drank. She lifted a glass. "A toast to that one time ya caught me in mid-fall and saved me from a nasty slide into the manure trench outside Golden Harvest's place!" She downed her glass, and exhaled. "Never will forget how safe and clean I felt bein' lifted off the ground by yer wings."

Rainbow Dash teetered, her eyes off-center as she cradled a glass. "Buh. Buhhhhh..." She fumbled for words suddenly. Then—just as her five seconds were almost up—she blurted: "To Sweet Apple Cider!" And she drank.

"Whew-wee!" Applejack remarked. "Jumpin' to the top of the list prematurely, ain't ya?" She held up a glass, smiling calmly. "To the most courageous equine Ponyville's ever known. We're all mighty proud of her." And she sipped.

Rainbow Dash blinked several times. Her lips were pursed. She fumbled to pick up her glass, her voice taking on a foalish squeak. "To... uh... to..." A gulp. "TotheoneponyI'dtotallywanttohaveasabigsister!" Clenching her eyes vice-tight, she downed her second-to-last glass.

"Hmmmmmmm..." Applejack smiled rosily. With no hesitance whatsoever, she picked up her last glass. "To the one pony I'd be more than happy to have as a lil' sister."

Rainbow Dash nearly spat at that. She cradled her last glass in shaking hooves. "Uhhhhhhhhh..." She dared to look at Applejack. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Her teeth clenched as a slight tremble overcame her. "Ghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—"

"Five seconds!" Applejack jumped up and slapped the table-top. "I win! Woohoo! Yeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaa!"

Several ponies looked over, gawking.

Rainbow slumped in her seat, cradling her shot glass. She was panting heavily for some reason.

"Heh heh heh heh!" Applejack slumped in her seat across the table. "Woo! That was a mite bit more enjoyable than I thought!" She smirked. "Guess you owe me the next round of drinks, partner."

Rainbow Dash slowly woke up to the moment. She broke a small smile. "Yeah. Heh... you said it... p-partner..."

Comments

[FamousLastWords]

Noice.

[Phoenix Kitten]

Oh Dash, Dash, Dash....
That was so close. sooo close.

[Autumn Rush]

I'm starting to better understand why Rainbow didn't remember this part of her afternoon with Applejack.

But this whole exchange is both entertaining and endearing.

[DrEggnog]

This is the best chapter in, like, I don't even know. Fifty chapters or something.

[Lamplighter]

"To that fine mare flank"
"To that sweet Apple pie!"
"To those six god damn words!!"

[destinedjagold]

8396406
That's a better profile picture than the previous one. :3

[Booster Spice]

Ahh, drinking games. For when you want to make sure your so called freind with depression is socially force fed with the optimal drug for making it worse, while getting them to spend even more money they dont have, to ensure they feel even worse, because hey, why not. Its not like your trying to fake people out in thinking youre the life of the party instead of suffering crippling debt and depression yourself through overspending and being too hungover to keep your job.

I can stop any time? First sign of severe addiction.

[Leftover of Saikano]

They brozoned each other.

[Thursday]

Watch them both get black out drunk and cuddle. Then that's where JE/IC/SS&E just ends the entire series. With a rick roll to finish.

[zaponator]

Sisters?
...kinky.

[Snowdrifter]

8397020
So they are together forever, and never to part?

[Finelita]

So amazing! Cannot believe how the writer come up with so many great ideas!

[SnowOriole]

Sister-zoning herself. Brought to you only by Rainbow J. Dash.