Azure Edge

by Leaf Blade

46. The Moment of Truth

Rainbow had been lying in bed awake, trying and failing to get some sleep —a grossly common occurrence these days— when she heard a knock at the door. She wasn’t awake enough to wonder who it was, but not asleep enough to ignore it.

As she rolled out of bed, falling on the floor for good measure, she remembered she had something important to do today. Was someone supposed to come over? She thought that’s what it was, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember who was supposed to swing by.

She remembered it was important though, so she forced herself off the ground and toward the door, and as she opened it, yawning herself awake and feeling the chill air blow through the doorway onto her bare body, she remembered who was coming by.

Applejack.

Rainbow didn’t think to get dressed before getting the door; why would she? She answered the door naked all the time, and who cares, right? But when the hottest mare you’ve ever seen knocks at your door and you answer her butt-ass naked, it’s more than a little embarrassing.

For a second, Rainbow wished for death to take her right then and there, but she let out a wheezy laugh to clear away that thought and ran a hand through her mane.

“Hey, Applejack,” Rainbow held onto the door frame and sleepily leaned against it, trying to act like she wasn’t totally humiliated to have Applejack—APPLEJACK—looking at her naked, “fancy meetin’ you here.”

Applejack stammered and cleared her throat, and Rainbow looked up at her and tried not to swoon.

Wow, she’s pretty.

“We had a thing?” Applejack said, and if Rainbow didn’t know better she’d swear AJ was blushing. “We were gonna do shopping together? You remember that? I mean, it’s fine if you don’t! Or if you’ve changed your min—”

“Why would I change my mind?” Rainbow scoffed, pushing herself off the doorframe and crossing her arms. Changing her mind about spending time with Applejack was the last thing she wanted to do.

That said, as Rainbow looked down at herself she remembered there was one slight thing she needed to deal with before her and Applejack could depart on their shopping trip.

“I mean, I can’t really go out like this,” Rainbow chuckled, “not in the middle of winter, so just give me a sec to grab some clothes, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Applejack nodded and gave a smile, and Rainbow felt pretty proud of herself that she didn’t melt into a literal puddle, because DAMN, Applejack was hot.

“Wanna come in?” Rainbow grinned, allowing herself just a second to revel in the fact that Applejack was actually here and she wasn’t dreaming this or anything.

Applejack paused for a second and her face flushed, Rainbow looking at her with concern and wondering if she was sick or something. She couldn’t just ask if Applejack was okay though, cuz then it’d seem like Rainbow cared a little too much and that’d be weird… somehow.

“If you’ll have me,” Applejack gave a relaxed sigh, and Rainbow replied with a wink.

“Make yourself at home.”

Rainbow turned around to walk back in the house and briefly wondered if Applejack was staring at her butt, and she wanted to turn around and look to see what Applejack was looking at, but then she realized she’d actually be kinda bummed out if Applejack wasn’t looking at her, plus what kinda excuse could she give for turning around to look at Applejack other than she wanted to know where Applejack’s eyes were—

—and before she could even finish any of those thoughts, she was already turning to see that Applejack’s gaze was directed right under Rainbow’s tail.

“Like what ya see?” Rainbow said with the proudest grin she’d ever bared in her life.

Applejack’s head bolted straight up as her cheeks turned bright red and she looked straight forward, through Rainbow’s living room and out the window on the other side of the room.

Wait.

Rainbow was suddenly having a revelation, but there was no way it could be the case.

But still, she had to wonder…

Is she into me?

“Eheh, sorry,” Applejack rubbed the back of her neck but she kept looking straight ahead and extremely not at Rainbow as she talked, “didn’t mean to stare.”

“I mean, I could go shopping like this,” Rainbow bit down on her lip cuz she couldn’t believe she just said that, “if you’d like. It’d be a little nippy, but I think I could manage.”

“That’s— that’s funny, Rainbow,” Applejack laughed nervously, and Rainbow’s whole body tensed with dread as she worried if she went too far and made Applejack uncomfortable. “You should probably get dressed though, it’s cold out there.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow nodded and forced herself to keep smiling. “Just give me a sec.”

Rainbow went into her room and closed the door while Applejack sat down at her dining room table. Rainbow slid down the door with her back propped against it, her head buried in her hands because FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

Rainbow inhaled sharply and stood up straight. No thinking, no worrying about how she screwed up—again, like she always—

None of that.

Just put a shirt on, get a jacket and some pants—

Would I look cuter in a skirt? Would Applejack like that—

None of that either.

Rainbow reached for a pair of grey slacks, her face twisting into a frown because she didn’t even like those pants but who cares it’s just clothes. But she paused. She walked over to her dresser, full of gifts and hand-me-downs from her parents that she never wore, and found something a little more…

…worthy.

That was the word that came into Rainbow’s mind. Worthy of what? Applejack? Herself?

It didn’t matter. For better or for worse, this was the day she was finally going to spend with Applejack, after like a year of pathetic pining, and she’d be damned if she didn’t look her absolute best.

A pink hoodie jacket, hiding a black and white striped shirt underneath, with the kinda black tights that bleed into like a deep purple at the bottom. Killer.

Now for the moment of truth; pants or skirt?

Rainbow dug around in the drawer for something, she didn’t even know what, and pulled out a dark blue pencil skirt, which would definitely restrict her movement and make her feel like a big dork—

Or maybe…

Rainbow dropped the skirt on the ground and stood over it.

Maybe it’ll be nice?

She crouched down and put her hand on the skirt.

To not have to worry about feeling like such a huge dork.

Rainbow pulled the skirt up her legs and felt a sigh of relief leave her lips as it settled around her waist.

Maybe it’s okay if I put all my cards on the table, just for today.

Just for good measure, Rainbow did a little spin. She wasn’t wearing anything flowy, but when you’re a trans gal putting on new clothes, you gotta spin.

“Hey,” Rainbow said as she stepped back into the living room, crossing her soft-fleece clad arms across her hoodie-covered chest and winking at Applejack. “How do I look?”

Applejack’s mouth opened like she was gonna say something, and then she just… never did.

“You okay?” Rainbow scoffed, feeling her cheeks warming up so she put her hands in the front pockets of her hoodie. “Look like you’ve seen—”

“A really hot girl?” Applejack said abruptly, Rainbow freezing in place instantly. “Oof, that was bad. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck and was suddenly very aware of how warm she’d dressed cuz wow it sure was hot in here all of a sudden. “Thanks.”

“I mean it,” Applejack tapped her fingers on the table and shrugged, her eyes bolting away from Rainbow. “For what that’s worth.”

“It’s worth a lot actually,” Rainbow sat down at the chair across from Applejack’s and put her elbows on the table, folding her hands and resting her chin on top. “But we’d better go, huh? That shopping isn’t gonna do itself.”

“Actually, can I be honest for a sec?”

Applejack’s words sent a chill up Rainbow’s spine and she could totally feel the sword of Damocles or whatever hanging over her head, the thread getting thinner with each word.

“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow said reflexively, no emotion leaking through her tone.

“I don’t actually need to go shoppin’ right now,” Applejack said, tapping her fingers on the table. “I mean, I do need to shop, but the part where I needed to do it today was kinda made up.”

Rainbow grit her teeth and tried not to nervously look every which way for the crowd of people who were gonna jump outta nowhere and laugh at her for thinking for even a second that Applejack really wanted to—

“I just wanted an excuse to spend time with you,” Applejack admitted with a sheepish smile.

Oh.

OH.

Rainbow didn’t say anything, cuz what could she say to that? She was totally sure she wasn’t dreaming, right?

“I just couldn’t ever think of the right thing to say,” Applejack filled the silence with her own words, but she didn’t look any more comfortable than Rainbow felt, “or it never seemed like the right time, but Pinkie pushed me into askin’ you to do the shoppin’ thing, but like, seein’ you walkin’ outta that room, all dressed up like that, I don’t really wanna shop, I just wanna—”

Applejack paused, and it was the most skin shreddingly, bone breakingly, nails dug into her palms painful pause of Rainbow Dash’s life.

“Yeah?” Rainbow said agitatedly, because for the love of everything she needed to know how that sentence ended!

“I just wanna hang out with you,” Applejack buried her face in her hands. “I know that’s so dumb, but like—”

“It’s not dumb,” Rainbow placed her hand on one of Applejack’s. “You’re not dumb.”

She lowered Applejack’s hand onto the table so the two could look each other in the eye, and said the words that she’d desperately wanted to hear from Applejack for like a year, the words she desperately wanted to say but was too big a chickenwuss until she realized— sooooo late to the party cuz she was a huge freakin’ idiot—that Applejack wanted to say and hear them too.

“You wanna grab some coffee? Maybe breakfast?” Rainbow gave Applejack a soft and reserved smile.

“I—” Applejack bit her lip, and Rainbow smiled at her because she was so beautiful. “I’d like that.”

“I’d like it too,” Rainbow gently rubbed her thumb across the crease in Applejack’s hand, and for a sec she felt like everything was gonna be okay, and she hoped more than anything that Applejack felt the same way. “I’d like it a lot.”

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

Comments

[stillinbeta]

Aaaaa, I love these absolutely useless lesbians

[Sylvian]

Applejack paused, and it was the most skin shreddingly, bone breakingly, nails dug into her palms painful pause of Rainbow Dash’s life.

You and me too, Dash, you and me too.

[Orphan]

Is it just me, or day all seem to have the same, exact, anxieties?! Or at least close to it.
It's like you duplicated the same Laundry List of problems, and added a little something extra for Twilight. Slap on some color differences, and a species change for Fluttershy and you're good?