Loving in the Sunlight, Fighting in the Moonlight

by bahatumay

Chapter 3

In a public park in the heart of Manehattan, Rainbow lay flat on her back, gazing up at the clear sky. Around her were scattered various food wrappers, all purchased from street vendors until Applejack wouldn’t give her any more money. She watched various clouds float by and then sighed. “You know,” she remarked, “it’s times like these I wish I’d fallen in love with a pegasus, ‘cause then we could just build us a cloudhouse and call it good.”

Applejack didn’t even look up from the table where she sat poring over housing pamphlets. “Yeah, but then we’d have to pay for sky permits, and those ain’t cheap either.”

“Really?” Rainbow asked, looking over in mild interest. “Ponyville barely charges anything.”

“Why would they?” Applejack asked absentmindedly, still skimming the page. “Yours is the only real cloudhouse we have.”

“Yep,” Rainbow said with a sigh. “Best thing I got from my parents. Aside from my life, you know.” She wiggled her wings. “Or maybe these.”

Applejack said nothing.

“Maybe it’s my confidence,” Rainbow mused. “I can do anything, after all.”

Applejack said nothing.

“Or maybe my awesomeness... Ooh!” Rainbow Dash perked up as a new idea occurred to her. “Do you think they could bottle up my awesomeness and sell it? It’d be great as cologne or something.”

Rainbow expected Applejack to comment on her word choice, but Applejack just turned a page and kept skimming.

“Maybe it’s my totally awesome cutie mark. Wait. That was all me, wasn’t it?”

Applejack made a grunt that might have been in the affirmative.

“Or maybe it’s my rainbowness. I have never seen another pony with these colors.”

Applejack finally spoke. “Ah think the best thing you ever got from anywhere is sittin’ right here at this table.” Though she didn’t look up, a slow, sly smile spread across her face. “Or maybe it’s that bridle sittin’ under the rope in the little side pocket of...”

“You know what AJ I’m going to go ask ponies who live here gonna get their opinion on where to live have fun looking bye!” Rainbow said quickly and without any punctuation at all. After a furtive glance at her wings to ensure they weren’t moving, Rainbow Dash turned and, true to her name, dashed away.

She stopped when she noticed a red stallion sitting on a bench, apparently drawing. He had been positioned facing them.

She laid a hoof threateningly on his paper, forcing it down. When he looked up in surprise, she met his eyes angrily. “Were you spying on us?” she demanded.

He shook his head. “Not in so many words.”

Rainbow looked down at the paper, and was mildly taken aback. He had drawn a candid sketch of them, with Applejack sitting at the table and smiling while Rainbow stretched out, relaxing on the grass.

“This isn’t bad,” she said, unsure if she should feel flattered or violated.

The stallion rolled his eyes as he grabbed the page back. “You flatter me. It’s quick, rough, and ugly. I’m actually a music pony, but sometimes the lyrics just don’t come. So I do other things until my muse comes back.”

“Can’t you just go buy a new one?” Rainbow asked, cocking her head.

The stallion laughed. “‘Muse’ is another word for inspiration. Let’s see...” he said, tapping a hoof against his chin as he tried to think of a relevant example. “You fly, right? And you fly because you have a reason to. You could just walk, but you fly. You have an inspiration. Your reason for flying. Your muse, if you will.”

“I fly ‘cause I can,” Rainbow shrugged. “That’s all there is to it.”

The stallion let out an annoyed ‘hmf’. “Ok, bad example. I was always bad with symbolism, you know?”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “But you’re a musician,” she accused. “Isn’t music supposed to have all kinds of hidden meanings? Like that one song that sounds like it’s about going swimming, but it’s about actually about getting drunk and having a threesome?”

The artist flicked an ear in annoyance. “I prefer songs that tell stories,” he said shortly. “I think music has more power than just words, and a story told in music is the most powerful form of communication, and can affect not just the mind and the ears, but the heart and you’re not listening anymore, are you?”

“Wazzat?” Rainbow jerked her head up. “Nah, I was paying attention.”

The stallion rolled his eyes and went back to his drawing.

“Actually, I did have a reason for coming over here.”

“As long as it’s not throwing vegetables at me,” the stallion muttered.

Rainbow cocked her head before deciding not to ask. “Nah. I was just wondering if you knew any good places to live around here.”

The stallion looked up. “You know, that one I might be able to help on.”

* * *

Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed their landlady, an older, short earth pony mare, on what could be called a tour of the place. This was the last place on their list, and Rainbow was definitely getting sick of looking at apartments. Even Tank, with his supply of indicate patience, seemed to be getting tired as well.

“At least this one doesn’t smell like mothballs,” Rainbow Dash mumbled, looking around, noting that she couldn’t fly in here, either. Pegasi aren’t a fan of small ceilings, but she had had worse.

Applejack had to agree. Also, seeing no evidence of rats was always a good sign.

“You sure you wanted one bedroom?” the landlady... screeched? squawked? There certainly wasn’t a singing cutie mark under her dress.

“Yeah,” Applejack said. “We’re... together.”

“That’s cool, right?” Rainbow Dash had to ask.

Their landlady gave them a flat look. “As long as you pay your rent on time, I don’t care if you’re banging goats in there.”

Rainbow Dash shuddered at that particular mental image.

“I’ll give you some time to think,” she said, turning to leave.

Rainbow poked her head into the closet and looked around. “This isn’t so bad,” she said. “It’s a bit tiny, but not bad.” She looked down and noticed Tank seemed to be content. Then again, they had been on the move for most of the afternoon, and he probably would have been content in a cardboard box down by the river.

Applejack inspected the shower. “Looks like the hot water works.” She poked her head out, catching a view of Rainbow Dash from behind. She dropped into a more inviting tone. “And the bathtub is nice and large. You know what that means, right? Ah ain't talkin' 'bout gettin' clean, either.”

As Applejack had expected, that got a, for lack of a better term, ‘rise’ out of the pegasus. “Not funny, AJ,” she spat, doing that funny shoulder roll pegasi do when trying to ensure that their wings stay down.

Applejack laughed. “It was too.” She entered the bedroom and threw herself on the bed. To her surprise, it was comfortable. This was a most welcome change from the earlier apartments. She stretched out and sighed lightly. “Rainbow, you gotta try this.”

“No way. Nuh-uh. I’m not fallin for your tricks again!” Rainbow maintained, glaring at her wings as if daring them to react.

“For serious.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, but did join Applejack on the bed. Her eyes widened in surprise. “This is a nice mattress,” she said, pushing down and watching it spring back up.

The landlady poked her head back in. “That’s brand new,” she said.

“It’s no cloud, but it’s good enough for me,” Rainbow said, rolling over onto her stomach.

The landlady nodded. “Yep. Couldn’t get the bloodstains out of the old one, had to get a new one.”

Rainbow’s eyes shot open. “What was that?”

The landlady acted as though she hadn’t heard that. “So, made a decision?”

Applejack nodded. “We’ll take it.”

The landlady might have smiled, if it were possible to smile when your face looked like you'd sucked on a lemon for the past hour. “Great. Come to the office, we’ll get the paperwork all worked out.”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t entirely sure she liked the way the landlady had used the word ‘work’.

* * *

“I have never seen so many papers in my life,” Rainbow Dash grumbled as she walked through the door of their new apartment. “And you reading them all through twice didn’t help any, either.”

“Ah’m sorry,” Applejack said, in a tone that clearly indicated that she was not. “Just wanted t’ make sure Ah knew what we were gettin’ into. Ya know Ah hate contracts with tricky wording.”

Both ponies looked at each other, and annoyance dissipated into acceptance as both understood. Applejack had been suspicious of contracts ever since she had needed to take out a loan for the farm a few years ago. Profits had been better than usual recently, and it should be paid off in a few years. Problem was, the contract specifically stated that if Applejack, as signer of the contract, were to get married, the contract would pass into the name of her husband. Rainbow Dash was and is undeniably female, and very proud to be. Therefore, if the two were to wed, the bank’s lawyers could--and would--construe it as a breach of contract, and take the farm.

Obviously, neither wanted this to happen.

“So,” Rainbow Dash said, fiddling with her hooves. “Can we bring out Mare-do-well tonight?”

“Thought we agreed to wait until we were settled?” Applejack asked.

“We are, see? We have a place to live, we’ve got an awesome bed (that we need to break in, by the way), what more do we need, right?"

“Food fer dinner?" Applejack suggested flatly.

Rainbow’s ears fell. “Right. Knew I was forgetting something.”

Applejack laughed at her expression. "You don't really think Ah'd come all this way with no food, didja? You should know me better'n that. I brought us some apples in the little suitcase."

"All right!" Rainbow rushed over and pulled one out, but Applejack smacked it out of her hoof before she could take a bite.

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack scolded. "Ah ain't havin' us move in to a new place just t' have plain old apples for our first dinner!"

"But you love apples," Rainbow protested.

"Exactly," Applejack said, picking up the discarded apple, "and that's why Ah'm makin' somethin' great with 'em for tonight. You like apple fritters, right?"

Rainbow nodded and grinned. Granny Smith was the real baker in that family, but Applejack was no slacker in the kitchen. "Makes sense." Her smile turned devious as Applejack turned to walk away. "So, do we get to break the bed in tonight, too?"

Applejack looked behind her. "We'll see," she said with a small half-smile before turning and walking away.

Rainbow Dash’s face fell. “But that usually means no, doesn’t it? AJ, please don’t tell me that means no. Please, AJ? ...AJ? AJ?”

* * *

"It did mean no," Rainbow said sadly as she climbed into bed beside Applejack, whose body position clearly indicated that there would be no breaking in of the bed tonight.

“Cheer up,” Applejack said, even as she pulled the covers higher, “We still got the rest of our summer here. Maybe even the rest of our lives. We’ll have plenty of chances.”

“But...” Rainbow Dash bit her lower lip. “First time...”

“Ah’ll make it up to you. Promise.”

Rainbow Dash yawned. “Yeah, great. You’d better...” And with that, she was fast asleep.

Applejack giggled lightly. That muscle relaxant she had slipped into Rainbow's dinner had worked better than she had expected. She went to her suitcase and opened the little side pocket.

* * *

Rainbow Dash woke up groggily, with a slightly metallic taste in her mouth. She tried to reach a hoof to her mouth to clear it, but to her annoyance, her hoof didn’t seem to want to move. Neither did her other hoof. Nor did her rear hooves. Or her wings, for that matter.

Grumbling, she shook her head to wake herself up a little more, and saw Applejack standing above her, with her hat on her head and a gleam in her eye. She looked to the side and saw that there were ropes holding down each of her four hooves and there were even a smaller set for her wings. She then realized that the metallic taste came from the bridle in her mouth.

All sleepiness was quickly forgotten and replaced with excitement. “Oh, you looped them underneath the bed,” Rainbow observed, giving her bonds a gentle tug. “Clever.”

Applejack smiled. “Ah try.”

“Am I gonna have to beg?” Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes shining hopefully.

Applejack shook her head. “Not tonight. Tonight’s a special night.” She slowly dragged a hoof up the length of Rainbow’s outstretched body. “But don't get used t’ it or nothin’.”

Rainbow Dash licked her teeth in anticipation as she watched Applejack turn away and pick up the crop.

And all in all, it was a good night.

Author's Note:

...I have no excuse for this.

Also, the song Rainbow Dash references doesn't exist (to my knowledge, that is); but my prereader firmly believes that it should.

Comments

[Rated Ponystar]

Their landlady gave them a flat look. “As long as you pay your rent on time, I don’t care if you’re banging goats in there.”

I gotta remember this one.

[Tchernobog]

Squee!

[quade]

Good stuff, the tricky contract that AJ signed made me laugh, and the rest of the chapter was well paced, but the crime fighting seems to be coming soon, and I can hardly wait.

[Derpface127]

I agree, that would be an interesting song.

[Agent Brony]

Not a big fan of crops myself, but I could imagine AJ and RD as biters :p

[happynoname56]

This book is really good so far keep up the good work

[LeopardCay]

Ok...
That was certainly....

Eh, ill just give you ma raiting of this chapeter.

8/10

[AppleFire-Fan99]

wow that would be one hell of a way to wake up, Looks like Dash is going to have a wild night.
Also loved what Rarity did with the Mare-Do-Well costumes. And the features Twilight and Zecora added.

[Karrakaz]

I think this story is going a little overboard with the sexual references, and I also think I know why...

[Sirius_Face]

You stopped just as you were getting to the sex. Why would you stop there?
Overall the chapter was... interesting.