Azure Edge

by Leaf Blade

67. Useful Lesbians

Rainbow helped Spike pull the blanket over him as he laid down to go to sleep for the night, ruffling the kid’s hair one last time before saying goodnight to him.

“And you’ll stay the night?” Spike asked, trying to hide his worry behind a brave face.

“Yeah, no problem,” Rainbow flashed a charming grin.

“Not cuz I’m scared or anything!” Spike insisted, puffing up his cheeks.

“Of course not!” Rainbow scoffed, happy to play along with Spike’s lie. “But somepony’s gotta watch over the library while you’re up here, right?”

“Right!” Spike nodded, giving a big smile.

“Goodnight, kiddo! Sweet dreams!”

Rainbow waved to Spike and headed down the stairs, but didn’t get two steps down before being stopped by Spike’s voice.

“Rainbow, wait!”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Rainbow poked her head up into the attic.

Spike pointed toward a nightstand over by Twilight’s bed, on the other side of the room from Spike’s. “My doll, I need it.”

“Oh, sure,” Rainbow said and hopped back into the room. She didn’t realize exactly what doll Spike was talking about, what with the darkness in the room, until she reached the nightstand and saw a little doll of a very realistic purple dragon, with a starry galaxy etched into its wingspan.

Looking at the thing gave Rainbow pause, and she felt a droplet of sweat come down her brow before she reminded herself it’s just a doll, and grabbed it, tossing it to Spike.

“You actually like that thing?” Rainbow said, instantly realizing she’d stuck her hoof in her mouth the moment she heard herself speak.

“Y-yeah,” Spike said defensively, clutching the doll to his chest.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like a jerk,” Rainbow ruffled her own hair. “I just can’t stand dragons.”

“R-right,” Spike said, and Rainbow could swear it sounded like all the emotion had drained from his voice. “W-well, I like this one, cuz it reminds me of mom.”

“Oh yeah, I guess it kinda looks like her,” Rainbow said to humor Spike, not seeing any real resemblance between that monster and her friend. “Anyhoo, sleep tight, buddy! See you tomorrow!”

“Wait, Rainbow!”

“Yeah?” Rainbow asked, a slight irritation in her tone. She promised herself that she’d take care of Spike no matter how many times he had to call her, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be a little annoyed by it. “What’s up, kid?”

“You’ll be here in the morning, right?”

“Probably asleep, but yeah, I’ll be here.”

“And tomorrow, we’ll pick Twilight up at the train station? Together?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Rainbow flashed a grin. “She’s my buddy, and I’d never leave a friend hanging like that. Pinkie’s gonna be coming back too, so we’ll probably have a party or something when she gets back!”

“Okay,” Spike said, and breathed what sounded like a sigh of relief before lying down on the bed, his little arms clutching the dragon doll super close to him. “Goodnight, Rainbow. Thanks for always coming by the library, and for being friends with us.”

“No problem,” Rainbow chuckled, “I should be thanking you guys.”

When Spike only responded with a snore, Rainbow let out a relaxed sigh and headed down the stairs, where Applejack was sitting in a chair, muzzle buried deep inside Daring Do and the Razor of Dreams.

Rainbow cracked a smile seeing Applejack looked so enthralled by that book. Rainbow had wanted to give AJ some recommendations forever, especially after they started dati—er, uh, they went out those one or two times, but she was always too scared Applejack would think her taste was dumb and bad.

Seeing Applejack staring at the book, mouth half open and eyes glued to the pages, it made Rainbow’s heart feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like a geyser of steam at one of those lookit-the-geyser places.

Applejack closed the book and whistled, and Rainbow bit down on her lip to keep herself from laughing. AJ put the book on the desk and looked up at Rainbow, smiling at her and giving her a wave.

“Enjoying that book?” Rainbow asked cockily.

“Barely been able to put the damn thing down,” Applejack laughed. “It’s real good!”

“I think it’s probably my fave of the series, honestly,” Rainbow yawned, stretching her arms above her head.

“Hittin’ the hay?”

“Almost,” Rainbow arched her back. “I’m staying here for the night, so you probably gotta be heading home now, yeah? You can take the book with you, if you want to.”

“So yer gonna be here?” Applejack propped her elbow on the desk, leaning her cheek against her hand.

“Yep,” Rainbow sat cross legged on the blankets covering the floor. “Told Spike, and I promised Twilight, that I’d watch over the library for the night.”

“All night?” Applejack asked. “In the dark, with nopony else around, all by yourself?”

“Don’t rub it in,” Rainbow laughed, and lied down on the blankets. “At least I’ve got books!”

“I wasn’t tryin’ to rub it in, sugarcube,” Applejack got up and stood over Rainbow, “I was tryin’ to subtly ask ya if I could stay over with ya.”

“Oh! Yeah, I don’t do subtle,” Rainbow laughed nervously, feeling her cheeks heat up cuz she was a dumb stupid idiot who couldn’t read a room.

“Duly noted,” Applejack smiled warmly, and Rainbow—who had been expecting a joke at her expense—started to let her guard down a little. “Still though, would you mind the company too terribly? If I stayed the night here with you?”

“I mean,” Rainbow’s breath got heavy and she could swear it was nearly a million degrees in the room all of a sudden, “if that’s something you wanna do, you don’t need my permission.”

“Then it’s settled,” Applejack said with a gleaming smile.

“Yeah,” Rainbow bit her lip again, “so uh, what do you wanna do then?”

“Uh, I dunno,” Applejack said coyly, “maybe we could—oops!”

Applejack suddenly ‘tripped’—more like awkwardly stumbled and then jumped to the ground, and boy was she a bad actor—but for half a second Rainbow thought she was really falling and moved to catch her, grabbing the earth pony’s chest in her hands before realizing what had happened.

“Oh geez, I fell over,” Applejack said flatly, grinning at Rainbow as Rainbow held her up.

“It’s—” Rainbow said through heavy breaths as she laid back down and gently removed her hands from Applejack's chest, Applejack putting her own hands on the ground at either side of Rainbow's head. “—a good thing I caught you then.”

“Yeah,” Applejack whispered as Rainbow leaned up, her and Applejack's lips inches apart— agonizingly close to each other now— and Applejack put her hand on Rainbow's cheek and stared right into her eyes, “good thing.”

Rainbow leaned in closer— it was now or never and she knew it. And as Rainbow inched closer to Applejack, Applejack pressed her lips against Rainbow’s, sending a jolt of fire and electricity rocketing through Rainbow’s body.

“Uh, w-wow?” Rainbow pulled herself away for just a sec, feeling just a little overwhelmed, but Applejack just smiled at her before pulling Rainbow in close and planting another kiss onto her lips.

It was gonna be a good night.

Author's Note:

set sail

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

Comments

[Failsafe99]

Aye aye captain! Everyone, way anchor! Hard to starboard, set course North by North West! Set sails to half mast, take us to about ten knots! It's time for the maiden voyage of the AppleDash!

[AppleTank]

almost definitely shape shifting dragons