Apples and Lightning

by Leaf Blade

03. Hesitant Affection and Definitely Not Lust

Applejack’s place was only inside Canterlot borders on a technicality, being like a million miles away from the Academy, and separated from the city proper by a river. It was on the bridge above said river that Rainbow finally stopped pretending like she wasn’t injured and leaned on the side of the bridge for support, gasping for breath.

“I swear we’ve been walking like sixty years,” she wheezed, “how do you put up with this every day?”

“Ain’t nothin’ to it, sugarcube,” Applejack offered a warm smile and shrug of her shoulders, walking back across the bridge to offer Rainbow her hand. “I’m sure if you weren’t already roughed up, you’d have no problem with it.”

“I guess you’re right,” Rainbow crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks. “If I wasn’t injured, I probably could’ve made it there and back to the Academy like three times by now.” She smirked at Applejack, “Geez Applejack, why’re you so slow?”

“Gee Rainbow, I dunno,” Applejack smirked back and crossed her arms, “it almost feels like I got a ball and chain draggin’ me down.” She stuck out her tongue, and Rainbow snorted. Applejack turned her back and pointed at herself, “You want a lift? We’re practically there already.”

Rainbow chewed her thumbnail. Letting Applejack carry her while she was conscious would be super embarrassing, and if they were almost there, Rainbow could totally tough it out the rest of the way, right?

Rainbow felt a throbbing in her legs, practically hearing them scream out for mercy, as if even a single extra step would cause them to collapse into dust.

“You must be really dedicated,” Rainbow changed the subject suddenly to give herself a little more time to think and/or stall, “if you make this walk every weekday.”

“It’s like I toldja before,” Applejack faced Rainbow and shrugged, then put her hands on the bridge’s railing and looked over the river, Rainbow folding her arms on the rail too and watching the water flow by, “I’m tryin’ to reach my dream. And ain’t nothin’ gonna stop me from achievin’ it.”

“To become a Holy Knight?” Rainbow asked.

“Somethin’ like that,” Applejack adjusted her straw hat and pushed herself away from the railing. “Honestly, becomin’ a Holy Knight is more a means to an end than anything.”

“Gotcha,” Rainbow slapped the rail and put a hand on her hip, taking in a deep breath; she really didn’t like what she was about to say. “Hey, I guess I’ll take you up on that lift after all, if you’re alright with it.”

“No problem, hon,” Applejack flashed a really cool smile, and Rainbow felt her heart swell up for some weird reason.

Applejack turned her back on Rainbow, who hopped onto Applejack’s shoulders and rested her arms across them, Applejack’s hands resting underneath Rainbow’s thighs. And as Applejack took off to her place at a pretty solid pace, Rainbow realized this wasn’t too embarrassing after all. It was actually kinda rad.

Not that she’d admit it, of course.

Rainbow was back on her own feet by the time they reached Applejack’s place, and it was funny; the whole walk there it felt like it was taking forever, but when Applejack was carrying her, it almost seemed like they got there too quickly. Weird.

But it was important that Rainbow walk into the place on her own, cuz Applejack apparently had a cousin she lived with, and Rainbow would be mortified if someone else saw her clinging to Applejack’s back like some kind of big kid, or like a possum baby.

“Hey, cousin!” Applejack’s roommate was a peach-skinned dude with really long, flowing hair, wearing a black cowboy hat. He greeted Applejack at the door with a big hug, and Applejack patted him on the back. “Took ya long enough to get back!”

“Yeah, I had some stuff to deal with at the Academy,” Applejack shrugged. “Had to help out a f—uh, a person in my class. Y’know how it is.”

Applejack gave a tepid smile, and Rainbow poked her head out from behind Applejack, the cousin’s eyes lighting up as he saw her.

“Is this who I think it is!?” the man pushed Applejack out of the way and grabbed Rainbow’s hand, and if she wasn’t standing right in front of Applejack, she’d have half a mind to cut the guy’s fingers off for just grabbing her like that.

“Yup,” Applejack rubbed the back of her neck, but then she saw Rainbow’s pained smile and grabbed her hand and the cousin’s and separated them, standing in between the two.

Rainbow quickly took her hand away from Applejack, brushed some hair out of her face and took a look at her hand, which was feeling all tingly now after Applejack touched it, not that it was any big deal or anything.

“Rainbow Dash, this is my cousin Braeburn,” Applejack pointed a thumb at Braeburn. “Brae, this is Rainbow Dash.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash!” Braeburn held out his hand again and Rainbow hesitantly shook it, immediately being rattled by the heartiness of the dude’s handshake. “Applejack’s told me a ton about you, I’m pleased as punch to finally meet’cha!”

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow flicked her thumb across her chin and gave the slyest possible grin to Applejack, who pretended not to notice by playing with her hat. “She tell you about how awesome I am?”

“Pretty much!” Braeburn chuckled, and Applejack loudly coughed as Rainbow’s grin grew wider and smugger.

“Uh, hey, ain’t soup ‘bout to be on?” Applejack tapped Braeburn’s shoulder several times.

“Oh yeah!” Braeburn laughed from his belly, and Applejack took her hat off and wiped her brow with it, Rainbow arching an eyebrow cuz it felt like she was missing something. Maybe she was imagining it, but it felt like Applejack was sure eager to change the subject.

“You stayin’ for dinner, Rainbow Dash?” Braeburn asked with a big smile. “We got plenty’a extra!”

“Yeah, I think I will,” Rainbow said casually, sticking her hands in her pockets with a shrug and pretending like she wasn’t stranded there for the night. “Maybe we can talk about how awesome Applejack thinks I am over some grub!”

“I’m sure we can!” Braeburn grinned, and Applejack shot him a nasty look. “There’s a lot to talk about!”

“No there ain’t!” Applejack huffed, scrunching up her face and darting her eyes away from Braeburn and Rainbow.

“Ha! You’re doin’ the face, cuz!” Braeburn laughed as he disappeared inside the house.

“I am not doin’ ‘the face’!” Applejack screamed, and even though Rainbow didn’t know what exactly ‘the face’ was, she was pretty sure Applejack was still doing it.

Rainbow’s tongue fell right out of her mouth when Braeburn put the food on the table; plate after plate of pork and beef cuts, all steaming and looking juicy and tender and just really good!

Braeburn puts the plates in the center of the living room table—which was like the only piece of furniture in the empty, barren living room— and sat down, and before anyone could even blink, Rainbow had grabbed three or four or five hunks of meat and slapped them onto her own plate.

She thought for a fraction of a sec that maybe just going in on the food that fast might’ve been kinda rude, but her worry was washed away when Applejack did the exact same thing, not even waiting to put the meat on her plate before shoving two strips of beef into her mouth.

Applejack tore into her food like a lion devouring its freshly slain prey, but Rainbow wasn’t about to be outdone, tearing strips of meat and stuffing as much into her mouth as possible to the point she could barely close it to chew.

Braeburn watched in awe, content with the slabs that he’d taken at the beginning of the meal and not wanting to put his hand into the center plate just in case Rainbow or Applejack mistook it for a porkchop or something and bit his whole arm off.

Rainbow swore dinner only lasted like five seconds, and before she knew it there was only one scrap of meat left; a beef thigh on the center plate. Rainbow reached for it, digging her fingernails in even as Applejack tried to swipe it out from under her.

Rainbow glared at Applejack, who just offered a predatory snarl in return and tugged on the beef. Rainbow tugged back, and Applejack tried once more to yank it out from Rainbow’s grasp, but Rainbow wasn’t about to let go; she yanked the beef closer to her and then sunk her teeth into one side, even as Applejack’s fingers were still on the other side.

Applejack’s eyes glistened at the challenge and she tugged on the beef before biting down on her own side, the thick cut of beef caught between both girls’ teeth, their heads less than an inch apart and their foreheads colliding as neither one wanted to give up the meat.

Rainbow tugged with her teeth, but Applejack just sunk her own teeth in and refused to give an inch, the two girls growling and snarling at each other and pushing their foreheads against one another, until Applejack snickered, and that was Rainbow’s chance to rip the meat out of her mouth and devour it, proudly eating the whole thing in one bite as Applejack chortled into her hand and reached for a glass of apple juice.

“Darn,” Braeburn sighed as Applejack drank and Rainbow struggled to chew the entire thigh in her mouth, “I thought for sure y’all were gonna smooch for a sec.”

Applejack spat her drink across the table as Rainbow hacked up her food, both coughing and Rainbow pounding against her chest as Braeburn chuckled.

“Hey look everyone’s finished!” Applejack stood up so fast she banged her knee into the table, only acknowledging that pain with a brief wince. “Guess I’d better clean up the dishes!”

Applejack took the empty plates— Rainbow swiping the hacked up thigh and stuffing it back into her mouth— and hurried off into the kitchen.

Braeburn took a drink of apple juice while Rainbow struggled with the thigh until she finally choked it down, quickly and queasily realizing she may have had one too many.

She took a deep breath and folded her arms on the table. The kitchen wasn’t in earshot of the living room, but Rainbow could still just barely see Applejack through the open door, cleaning the dishes at the kitchen sink.

“Hey Brae,” Rainbow said casually as she watched Applejack work, “so what did Applejack say about me anyway?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah!” Braeburn chuckled and put down his juice, and Rainbow tore her eyes away from Applejack to pay attention to him. “She basically said yer like the only other person in her class that’s on her level, y’know?”

“Uh, not really. What do you mean?”

“Applejack’s a cool gal, and she doesn’t like to throw stones,” Braeburn rolled his head back, “buuuut, she doesn’t have a lot of kind words for the other students in the Squire class. Lotta bullies and stuffed shirts, y’know what I mean?”

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow snickered thinking about all the fights she’d gotten into with the other Squire students, “that I totally get.”

“She told me one time, I guess after fightin’ ya—”

“Me and Applejack fighting? I’m sure that didn’t happen,” Rainbow tugged at her jacket collar.

“Uh-huh,” Braeburn rolled his eyes, “well anyway, she told me that you were like the only gal in her class she actually cared about knowin’ better. It’s a real shame y’all got off on such a bad foot, she thinks you’re pretty cool.”

“Y’know what?” Rainbow looked back at Applejack, still working diligently in the kitchen, and felt her cheeks warm as a soft sigh escaped her lips. “I think she’s pretty cool too.”

“I’ll tell her ya said that!” Braeburn laughed.

Rainbow stood up and gave a tiny smirk, “You won’t have to.”

Rainbow headed into the kitchen and patted Applejack on the shoulder, grinning at the way AJ jumped.

“I’m here to tag you out, bitch!” Rainbow declared.

“I’m almost done,” Applejack chuckled, eyes focused on the dishes in the sink, “don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“Will you let me do it?” Rainbow leaned over the sink and offered what she hoped came off as a warm smile. “I mean, I’m a guest in your place, and I’d feel super lame if I didn’t pull my own weight, y’know?”

“Um,” Applejack looked at Rainbow, who blinked a couple time and kept smiling, and Applejack bit her lip and pushed herself away from the sink, “if you insist, go ahead.”

“Cool!” Rainbow beamed and took Applejack’s place at the sink, Applejack sitting down in a nearby chair. “So, not a big fan of our classmates, huh?”

“Ugh,” Applejack threw her face into her hands, “what’d Braeburn tell you?”

“Said you told him that all our classmates were ‘bullies and stuffed shirts’,” Rainbow turned her head away from the sink just long enough to give the smarmiest of grins to Applejack and to make sure she saw it, “except me.”

“Yeah, well,” Applejack shrugged, hiding her face behind her hat and looking away from Rainbow, “you’ve met our classmates. Not exactly Holy Knight material, y’know?”

“Yeah, but I wanna focus on the part where you think I’m awesome,” Rainbow cackled as she scrubbed a plate.

Applejack was silent, and Rainbow kept smiling as she waited for the inevitable smart remark or denial.

And waited.

And then Rainbow stopped smiling.

She turned to look at Applejack, who had her fists up to her cheeks, elbows resting on her legs, and looking off into the distance.

“What’s the matter, Applejack?” Rainbow asked, hoping she hadn't screwed things up. “Are you embarrassed that Braeburn told me that stuff?”

“Nah,” Applejack shrugged. “You were gonna find out eventually; not like I can keep a secret or nothin’.”

“Then what’s up?”

Applejack sighed, “It’s just… this whole thing at the Academy, it hasn’t been goin’ like I thought it would.

“I thought when I came here, that I’d meet a bunch of likeminded folks and we’d all work together to achieve our dreams and stuff. That’s how it always works out in the stories, right? But no one likes me, not for anythin’ but my name at any rate.”

“I like you,” Rainbow said, tightly clutching a plate so hard she almost worried she’d break it.

“Then why do you keep pickin’ fights with me?”

Rainbow put the last plate on the drying towel and turned off the sink. She gripped the edge of it and bit down on her lip, her mind racing for an answer to that question that didn’t suck ass.

“I thought I told you,” Rainbow grumbled through gritted teeth, “I just didn’t want to admit that I was weaker than you.”

“But why does that matter so much?”

“Wouldn’t it bother you?” Rainbow spun around and snapped at Applejack. “If I kept kicking your ass, wouldn’t it drive you crazy!? To know that no matter how hard you tried, you’d always be too weak!?”

“Nope,” Applejack tipped up her hat and stared Rainbow straight in the eye. “Cuz I know that no matter how weak or strong I am now¸ it’s all just a steppin’ stone to my ultimate dream. And like I told’ja on the bridge, ain’t nothin’ gonna keep me from that dream.”

“Damn,” Rainbow leaned her back against the sink, propping herself up by the edge, “wish I had that kinda confidence.”

“You got a dream, Rainbow?”

Rainbow twitched her nose, frowned, and weakly shrugged, “Not really.”

“Then why’re you even goin’ to the Academy?” Applejack frowned, cheek leaning up against her fist.

“Cuz I wanna be strong!” Rainbow barked, pumping a fist toward Applejack. “Stronger than anyone else!”

“Why?” Applejack arched an eyebrow.

“So I won’t get pushed around anymore!” Rainbow yelled, her cheeks instantly heating up when she realized she’d said that, but she kept her cool and stared Applejack down. “So that no one gets pushed around anymore, so that I can protect the people I care about. I don’t have much of a dream for myself right now, I just-” Rainbow sighed and gave a pitiful little shrug “-I just want everyone else to be happy.”

“Rainbow,” Applejack scoffed and shook her head, and Rainbow crossed her arms and puffed up her burning cheeks, “that’s a damn fine dream.”

“Wh—wait, what?” Rainbow took a step back and bumped into the counter.

“I mean,” Applejack chuckled, “y’think I wanna be a Holy Knight for the good of my health? Course I wanna make my family proud, but more’n that, I want everyone in Equestria to know they can count on me, that I can be relied upon to carry everyone’s burdens. I wanna be that beacon for Equestria that the Holy Knights are s’posed to be, so that maybe everyone else can take it a little bit easier.

“I know that’s super cheesy, but…” Applejack shrugged and took her hat off, “…that’s my dream. And it doesn’t seem like it’s that different from yers.”

Applejack looked so cool, sitting there with her hat dangling from her hand, wearing that weary smile and looking at Rainbow, who couldn’t do anything but tap agitatedly at the countertop and stare back at her.

“I…” Rainbow bit down on her thumbnail. She knew what she had to do now, but this wasn’t the right time to tell Applejack; not literally two seconds after she decided. Maybe she should sleep on it first.

“I think you’re pretty cool, Applejack,” Rainbow crossed her arms and looked away from Applejack, puffing up her cheeks. “But don’t get a big head over it or anything.”

Applejack got up and, before Rainbow could get away, grabbed Rainbow and squeezed her in a big bear hug. Rainbow tried to squirm out of her grasp, but Applejack just held her tighter until Rainbow sighed and begrudgingly admitted to herself that it wasn’t so bad.

“I think you’re pretty cool too, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack laughed and ruffled Rainbow’s hair.

“Well yeah,” Rainbow scoffed and let a little smile creep onto her face, “obviously.”

Rainbow Dash collapsed into the bed as soon as she got to Applejack’s room, her feet still throbbing like crazy. The room was neatly organized, but tiny as heck; with only the one bed, a nightstand, and a wardrobe on the other side of the room. But there was an adjacent bathroom, and that was pretty sweet.

“So hey wait,” Rainbow sat straight up and crossed her legs as Applejack walked in the room, “shouldn’t I sleep on the couch or something?”

“We ain’t got a couch,” Applejack shrugged. “You saw, it was practically a wasteland out there.”

“Huh,” Rainbow pondered and looked around the tiny, nearly-empty room, “then where am I gonna sleep?”

“Right where yer sittin’,” Applejack yanked a pillow and blanket off the bed and threw them on the floor. “I’ll just be sleepin’ on the floor tonight.”

As Applejack tossed her pillow to the ground and sat on the floor, Rainbow puffed up her cheeks and threw her fists into the mattress.

“No no no no no!” Rainbow huffed. “No way!”

“What’re you—”

“After everything I—” Rainbow was about to say ‘put you through’, but she bit her tongue just in time to stop herself from humiliating herself, and cleared her throat instead.

“Look,” she said calmly, “it’s your place, and I wouldn’t feel right at all about you sleeping on the floor.”

“I ain’t about to let you sleep on the floor, hon,” Applejack stood up and put her hands on her hips, wearing a stern frown that kinda reminded Rainbow of the Academy instructors, but way easier on the eyes, “not with those injuries of yers.”

“Well I’m not gonna let you sleep on the floor either!” Rainbow shouted. “I’m gonna make ghost noises and keep you up all night if you try to!”

“Look, Rainbow,” Applejack sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “I ain’t lettin’ you sleep on the ground, so unless you wanna sleep in the bed with me, I don’t see how we’re gonna resolve this.”

“I mean—” Rainbow coughed and felt her cheeks burn up again. She shook her head wildly, her hair slipping out of its ponytail and falling around her shoulders, and she looked Applejack right in the eye. “I guess we could.”

“Wha—are you serious?” Applejack’s eyes widened, and it looked like her cheeks were heating up this time, which was a score for Rainbow Dash! And she wasn’t about to settle for just one point.

“C’mon AJ, what’s the matter?” Rainbow grinned. “You’re not intimidated by my powerful presence, are you?”

“Well it’s just, uh—” Applejack cleared her throat and took off her hat, fanning herself with it. She wasn’t exactly a master of subtlety. “The bed’s big, but it ain’t that big. We’re probably gonna be bumpin’ into each other—”

“I can think of worse things to bump into,” Rainbow purred, her grin growing wider as Applejack’s lips formed an o and her eye twitched.

“Well, uh,” Applejack tossed her hat to the ground and placed a hand on top of her head, “I guess when you put it like that-“ Applejack released her hair bun, causing golden hair to cascade around her face and fall across her shoulders like a waterfall, and Rainbow’s jaw dropped “-I guess it’s fine,” Applejack tilted her head to one side and gave Rainbow a cocky smile.

Rainbow only barely registered Applejack’s words, staring at her with wide eyes and gaping mouth as she finally accepted a truth about Applejack that she’d been denying for a long time.

OH NO SHE’S HOT!

“What’cha lookin’ at, hon?” Applejack put a hand on her hip and bit down on her lip, and Rainbow’s entire body tensed up as she held her hands down in front of her.

“Uh, bguhhhhh, ffffffff—” Rainbow loudly hacked and slapped her cheek. She tried to think of a way to wrest control of this conversation back from Applejack, but damn! Applejack had her beat so hard she couldn’t think straight.

Applejack laughed softly. “Hey,” she said, and Rainbow looked up at her with bright red, burning cheeks; if her skin was pink it would’ve been no big deal, but it’s kinda hard to act like you aren’t blushing when your pale blue skin turns bright red. “Y’don’t got a change of clothes, do you?”

“Uh, n-no,” Rainbow shrugged, not really sure what Applejack was getting at. It’s not like Rainbow packed her bags before she got her ass kicked in school.

“Alright, lemme just—” Applejack turned around and rifled through her wardrobe, and as she bent down to search through a lower drawer, Rainbow smacked herself over her eyes and dug her nails into her face because FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

“I hardly throw anythin’ away,” Applejack said, and Rainbow nodded even as her hand was still covering her face, “so I probably got somethin’ in here from when I was mite smaller that you can wear for tonigh—ah! Perfect!”

Rainbow was bowled over onto her back by a thrown wad of clothing, but quickly sat up and blinked at what she was given. A white shirt with an apple painted on it, and black shorts.

“I hope that’s okay,” Applejack said pensively, like Rainbow was gonna be like ‘no your generosity isn’t good enough for me!’, which was a fair concern with Rainbow involved, “those shorts should fit’cha, and that shirt’s gonna be too big, but who cares, right?”

“I don’t need new clothes y’know,” Rainbow scoffed.

“Y’ain’t gonna sleep in those, are ya?” Applejack’s brow scrunched up.

“I mean, that was plan A, yeah,” Rainbow awkwardly tugged at her shirt. “I usually just sleep in my clothes.”

“One, that’s gross,” Applejack said flatly, and Rainbow rolled her eyes, “two, ya can’t sleep in those! Not in their condition! I’ll run out in the mornin’, getcha somethin’ fresh to wear tomorrow, but for tonight you can just wear what I gave ya.”

“Wh—you can’t just buy me new clothes!” Rainbow’s grip on the clothes tightened and she gave a flustered glare at Applejack, who just looked confused.

“Sure I can,” she shrugged. “I ain’t got a lot of money, but I got enough to getcha some fresh clothes. And it’s no trouble.”

“Well, it’s—but I—I can’t just—”

“Rainbow,” Applejack said sternly, Rainbow looking up at her like a dog that’d been scolded. “Relax, okay? You don’t have to feel weird or nothin’, cuz I ain’t puttin’ myself out. I’d do this for anybody, and I’m happy to do it for you. Okay?”

Rainbow bit her lip, and her head lowered as she couldn’t stand looking at Applejack. She took a deep breath and let it out as a defeated sigh.

“Yeah, this’ll be—” Rainbow cleared her throat and smiled at Applejack. “This is great, thanks.”

“My pleasure,” Applejack winked, and Rainbow felt like her heart stopped for a sec.

Applejack took some other clothes from off the top of the wardrobe and threw them through the open door into the bathroom.

“I’m gonna get changed real quick,” Applejack said, “and you can just let me know when yer done changin’ so I can come out, okay?”

Rainbow nodded and Applejack headed to the bathroom, but she didn’t wait until she got there to start undressing; though Applejack’s shirt was already off by the time she reached the bathroom, the door was thankfully closed before she could hear the pained wheeze Rainbow made when she saw all of Applejack’s amazing shoulder freckles.

Rainbow got changed into her new jams in record time, trying not to dwell on the weird sensation of being naked for a sec in Applejack’s room, and she found AJ’s clothes to be pretty snug; another thing she really didn’t wanna dwell on.

“You can come out, AJ,” Rainbow said as she rapped on the door with the back of her knuckles.

Rainbow’s heart—and junk—wasn’t prepared for how cute Applejack looked in her apple-pattern pajamas, and she had to bite her lip to keep from shrieking.

“What?” Applejack’s nose curled and she backed up a step. “What’s that face?”

“You’re adorable!” Rainbow squealed, putting her hands on her cheeks. She put some sass into her tone too, so it sounded like she was teasing Applejack when she was actually just totally blown away by the cuteness.

“N-no I’m not!” Applejack’s cheeks puffed up and she crossed her arms, but it was hard to look defiant or intimidating in little apple footy pajamas.

“You are!” Rainbow snickered, tapping Applejack’s nose with her finger. “You are precious and cuddly and adorable!”

“You are!” Applejack huffed, throwing her fists to her side.

“A-am I?” Rainbow stopped for a sec, putting a finger up to her lips and pointing at herself.

“Uh, I mean,” Applejack ran her hand through her hair and coughed awkwardly, “no.”

Applejack’s lips scrunched up and her eyes darted away from Rainbow, whose blush was in full-force now as her smile reached from one ear to the other.

“You’re doing the face!” Rainbow hollered. “You think I’m cute!”

“I-I don’t!”

Rainbow jumped back toward the bed and did a little dance, shaking her hips as she teasingly sung a little song to the tune of “You think I’m cuuuute!”

Applejack huffed and stomped toward her, trying her best to look serious even with cheeks redder than an apple, and Rainbow just grinned at her.

“You think I’m cute,” Rainbow beamed and tapped Applejack’s nose.

Applejack just looked bemusedly at Rainbow and shoved her onto the bed, but what neither of them expected was for Rainbow to grab onto Applejack’s jams as she fell, dragging Applejack on top of her, with Applejack snatching Rainbow’s hand off her chest just in time to pin it to the bed as they hit it, Applejack’s other hand landing on Rainbow’s other wrist.

Welp.

Rainbow blinked, and she could feel Applejack’s warm breath on her cheek. Applejack stared at Rainbow, expression totally undecipherable, and her gaze so intense that it forced Rainbow to turn eyes away. It felt like she was in an oven all of a sudden, or like… the apple equivalent to an oven. Rainbow didn’t know how to cook with apples.

Applejack stood up and cleared her throat, and Rainbow curled into a ball on the bed as fast as she could.

“I, uh,” Applejack tugged at her collar, “I guess we should get some sleep, huh?”

“Yup,” Rainbow blurted out.

“You sure you still wanna share the bed?” Applejack asked awkwardly, and Rainbow knew a chance to pounce when she saw it.

“What’s the matter, AJ?” she said with a sly grin. “After all that, you don’t wanna sleep with me?”

“Why ya gotta phrase it like that?!” Applejack tried to cover her face with her hat, but she wasn’t wearing it so she just swiped the air above her head and then slapped herself in the face, Rainbow holding back a cackle as Applejack’s hand slowly slid down her face. “G’night, sugarcube.”

“Goodnight, AJ,” Rainbow decided to let AJ off the hook with the teasing for now and settled into bed, but as Applejack laid down in the bed next to her, Rainbow knew she would be running through this night in her mind until the sun came up.

She just hoped she didn’t screw things up too terribly.

****

Applejack’s eyes fluttered open and she saw little beams of light filtering through the curtains, but she barely paid them any mind, what with Rainbow’s sleeping face two inches from her own.

Maybe it was just Applejack being delirious from just waking up, but she couldn’t help but smile at Rainbow sleeping peacefully, and she absentmindedly brushed some hair out of the blue gal’s face, only to have Rainbow giggle under her breath and bite her lip.

Applejack bolted up, her shoulders tensing.

“Yer awake?” she asked, trying to ignore the burning sensation in her cheeks. It was too early in the morning for her to get this flustered.

“Yep,” Rainbow said groggily, pushing herself up and giving a weary glance at Applejack, and practically looking like a zombie.

“Ya not sleep well, hon?” Applejack couldn’t help fretting with Rainbow’s wild mane, brushing it out of Rainbow’s face and behind her shoulders.

“Nah,” Rainbow shrugged, and then yawned. “Don’t worry about it though, I don’t usually sleep well. I think I got insomnia? Can’t afford a doctor, so I dunno for sure, but I can’t usually sleep.”

“Oh,” Applejack frowned, “I’m real sorry to hear—”

And then it struck her, like a clear bell ringing inside her head.

“That’s why you sleep in class,” Applejack whispered, her eyes widening in realization, “cuz y’ain’t sleepin’ at home!”

“Yeah,” Rainbow ran her hand through her hair and gave a half-hearted shrug.

“Wh—I thought it was cuz ya didn’t care about the classes or the teachers or somethin’!”

“And I let you think that,” Rainbow’s shoulders rose up as she lowered her head, “cuz it was less embarrassing than the truth.”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” Applejack struck her face with her palm and slowly shook her head. “I totally misjudged you.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘totally’,” Rainbow laughed, and that made Applejack smile, “and it’s not like I even tried to explain anything to you. I didn’t exactly make myself easy to like.”

“Maybe,” Applejack sighed and put her hands on Rainbow’s shoulders, “but still, I apologize.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rainbow brushed Applejack’s hands away and slumped down onto her pillow with a yawn, “no biggie.”

Rainbow grumbled and fidgeted around a bit as she tried to get comfortable and maybe catch a few more winks before her and Applejack had to head to the Academy. Applejack felt for her; she couldn’t stand to think of Rainbow struggling to stay awake through another class cuz she couldn’t sleep on her own time.

Applejack felt a tug at her heat and her entire stomach became like a violent sea. She had an idea, and her gut said it’d help, but to face the overwhelming embarrassment of suggesting it? She’d rather climb a mountain barefoot, or be thrown into a coliseum and fight lions barehanded.

She took a deep breath. It wasn’t like her to run away from what she believed was right, and she sure as sugar wasn’t gonna start here.

“Hey, Rainbow?” Applejack said, her voice cracking as little drops of sweat formed on her brow. Rainbow grumbled an acknowledgment, and Applejack forced herself to talk, every word that came out feeling like a pinecone being scraped across the inside of her mouth. “I got somethin’… that might help you sleep.”

“I don’t wanna take anything, but thanks,” Rainbow yawned.

“Not what I meant,” Applejack shook her head in bemusement, but she still felt a smile creep onto her lips. “I got… well, it’s kinda, uh… um…”

Rainbow peeked an eye open and her pretty face was blessed with a small, eager smirk.

“’sup, AJ?”

Applejack cleared her throat.

Now or never.

“I used to have nightmares as a kid,” Applejack said, faking calmness, “real bad ones. My ma, she—” Applejack swallowed a lump of anxiety, almost feeling like she’d vomit if she didn’t. “She used to sing me a lullaby, said it had magic in it. Dunno if that’s true, but… you wanna hear it?”

Rainbow bit her lip, closed her eyes, and rubbed her head against her pillow, a tiny purr escaping her lips.

“I’d love to,” she said quietly, and Applejack felt her heart ready to beat out of her chest.

“Okay,” Applejack took a deep breath— or several— “here goes.”

“Sleep, my little apple, lay your weary head

Know that I’ll protect you, little apple red

You can be at peace now, although the night is long

Know that you are safe now, and that your heart is strong

Family will guide you, if you stumble or you fall

We will walk beside you, and see you through it all

So sleep, my little apple, and lay your weary head

You deserve to rest now, my dearest apple red.”

Applejack took a deep breath and fanned herself with her hand, and while she was waiting for some biting comment or barely contained laughter, what greeted her ears instead was Rainbow’s loud, obnoxious snore, as she slept with a smile on her face.

Applejack had never heard anything so beautiful.

Author's Note:

What if Appledash, but it's like a greatest hits album of gay fic cliches.

Please feel free to alert me to any typos or errors.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.

Comments

[Lk Pon-3]

Im really enjoying this story.