Awkward, But Worth It

by bahatumay

That Time You Accidentally Win Your Lover's Little Sister's Undying Approval

“Applejack!”

Applejack grunted, still buried under her mountain of blankets. “Huh?” she mumbled.

“Applejack!” Rainbow repeated.

Applejack began to be forcefully shaken, and one of the blankets slid off the top of her mountain. “Wha-?”

“Applejack! Get up! It snowed!”

Applejack blearily opened one eye. This was ineffective, though; she was currently face down in a large down comforter, and so she saw nothing but fluffy darkness. So, of course, she just closed it again. “Issat so?” she slurred.

“Oh yes! Get up, Applejack!” Rainbow began beating a quick drumbeat against the blanket.

“Can’t it wait?” Applejack moaned.

“There’s hot apple cider…” Rainbow said invitingly.

Applejack paused, the gears in her head turning. Turning as if rusted together, but turning. “How the hay did cider survive you?” she asked.

“There’s a little bit of cider,” Rainbow amended, “but you gotta come outside anyway! There's snow! Did you expect snow, AJ?”

“Not exactly, no.”

“There you have it. Surprise!”

Applejack cracked a smile. “Surprise? Sugarcube, how is that a surprise, seein' as you make the weather around here?”

“I am given guidelines and quotas from Cloudsdale's main weather factory and permitted to enforce them as I see fit,” Rainbow corrected. “Now come on!” She resumed her pushing. “Get up! Everypony likes snow!”

* * *

“I despise snow,” Rarity grumbled, using her magic to clear more snow. Intentional or not (and she wouldn't put it past Rainbow to pull a little prank like that), that little storm had buried her windows halfway up with snow, and she simply could not work without natural light. So while Sweetie Belle was out having fun with the other Crusaders, she was working. She sighed. At least she could show off her new boots.

Well, the top half of those boots, anyway; the bottom halves were mired in snow.

Finally, the windows had been cleared to her satisfaction, and, with a self-satisfied nod, she returned back inside and shut the door a bit more forcefully than necessary.

She froze as the thundering sound of cascading snow and the sudden darkness in the room let her know that the snow had fallen off her roof and blockaded her in. She sprinted back over, lit her horn and tore open the door, and was greeted with the sight of a white wall of snow up to her nose. She angrily ground her teeth together.

“Rainbow Dash!”

* * *

“Can't,” Applejack said, snuggling deeper under her covers. “It's warm here.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Come on!” she wheedled. “Everypony else is up!”

Applejack grunted and stretched her body, knocking off a few more blankets. She was many things, but the last one up was never one of them. It was a personal point of pride to never be the last pony in bed. “All right,” she said, struggling to extract herself. “That Ah could believe. Even Granny Smith?”

“Yep. She’s outside already, selling the cider,” Rainbow said, digging her hooves into Mount Blankets-n-such with the intent of grabbing Applejack and helping pull her out. “So is Mac. No idea where he went, though.”

“And Apple Bloom?”

“Yeah. Her too.”

Applejack noticed that Rainbow's voice had made it sound like she had deflated slightly at the mention of Apple Bloom, and her hooves slowed their search slightly. “What’re you thinkin’?”

“Nothing!” Rainbow said far too quickly.

“You’re a bad liar,” Applejack accused gently.

“Whatever,“ Rainbow said, digging her hooves in again. “Come out already!” Rainbow finally found a good, solid hoofhold on Applejack's body and yanked, intending to free her head.

“Whoa!” Applejack said, feeling a sudden jerk and her hindquarters suddenly out in the cold.

Rainbow blushed as she realized what she was holding. “Eh, heh heh…” she chuckled as she sheepishly put her down.

Applejack chuckled, too; but she had something else on her mind as she finished extracting herself. “What were you thinking?”

“Nothing.”

Applejack gently but firmly stepped on Rainbow’s tail. “Celestia as my witness, Ah’ll tickle you until you tell me.”

Rainbow blinked.

Applejack burst out laughing. “You thought about it!”

“Did not!” Rainbow blushed.

“You want me to tickle you!”

“No! That’s totally uncool!”

Applejack grinned evilly. “You’ve angered the tickle monster!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “AJ, I’m not a foa-”

It was too late; Applejack tackled her to the ground and began to tickle her. Already, she knew all of the pegasus's weak spots, and Rainbow was soon reduced to a squirming mess. Rainbow squealed (something she would later deny) and struggled to push her marefriend off. “No- AJ! AJ, stop! Sto- I gotta pee!”

* * *

Now that they were outside and appropriately bundled up, the conversation continued. Applejack learned that if she waited, often, Rainbow would share on her own; and this time was no different.

“I dunno. I mean, she likes me; but I think she's bothered that I'm taking you away from her. 'Cause she was happy at first that I was here all the time, and now she's not sure. It's like she sees me as a sister-not-sister when before she saw me as a sister… yes sister, you know?”

Applejack chuckled. “If two sisters were doin' the kinds of things we've been doin', yeah, that'd be cause for concern.”

Rainbow blushed slightly. She was still new enough at this whole relationship thing that mentions of their nightly activities outdoors made her uncomfortable. “Yeah, I guess; but still. I’m not used to… not being liked, you know?”

Applejack leaned in to nuzzle her, and Rainbow blushed again. “She likes you just fine,” Applejack said. “‘Sides, it’s me likin' you that you need to worry about.”

“Yeah, I... like you too; but if you tickle me again, I can’t be held responsible for my actions,” Rainbow warned.

Applejack laughed. “Ok, no tickling. What did you want to do instead?”

“Well, we've got all this snow; we might as well use it. We could go on a romantic walk; or…”

“Or?” Applejack prompted. Rainbow didn’t do romantic real well. Or walking, come to think of it.

“We could have a snowball fight!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Snowball fight?”

“Yeah. Everypony else is doing it.”

Applejack smirked. “Alrighty, then. Snowball fight it is.”

“Huh? I mean… Yeah!” Rainbow said. She hadn’t been expecting her to agree so quickly, but she recovered instantly. “I’d better give you a head start,” she said. “Don’t want to make it too easy for me.”

Applejack chuckled and began to walk away. “Fine; but when you least expect it… expect it.”

Rainbow waited until Applejack was almost out of sight. She grinned and then flew up into the clouds. She quickly found a good-sized cloud and embedded herself inside, pulling her tail in and hiding herself completely.

“Hee hee, I'm a cloud,” she said gleefully to herself.

She floated along, using gentle wing flaps to move the cloud naturally, as if it were being blown by the wind instead of pegasus power. She was going to scare the cutie mark off of Applejack!

Rainbow Dash watched as Applejack continued walking.

Then she slowed to a stop. Rainbow frowned, but she did too. She watched as Applejack bent over and began forming snowballs, slowly but methodically. Her tail flicked slightly as she worked, and Rainbow found herself enthralled by the somewhat teasing spectacle. It was almost as if Applejack knew she was…

Applejack suddenly tossed a snowball back and bucked it with a rear leg. It flew straight and true, and it traveled right through the cloud and hit Rainbow right in the nose. Rainbow, more stunned than hurt, fell backwards out of the cloud. She managed to quickly right herself midair and scowled, her face turning bright red from frustration and embarrassment (and making the snow on the tip of her muzzle began to melt).

Applejack burst out laughing. “Keep trying, Sugarcube!” she called, flouncing—flouncing!—away gleefully through the snow.

Rainbow Dash growled and wiped the snow from off her face. Oh, if that was how she wanted to play… “Five minute head start,” she shouted after Applejack. “For real, this time! Then you'd better watch your flank!”

“Ah dunno,” Applejack chuckled as she continued trotting away. “You're doin' an alright job at watching my flank for me!”

Rainbow scowled again, finding her well of comebacks had run dry. But no matter. Revenge was a dish best served cold and snowy.

* * *

Rainbow skulked through the sky, looking here, and there, and everywhere for Applejack; but she saw neither hide nor hair of her.

That was another one of those phrases Applejack used that just didn't make any sense. If Rainbow had seen her hide, she'd know exactly where Applejack was, because she'd seen her hide. Easiest way to play hide and seek if you saw where she had hidden.

Still, she said to herself, she was not about to give up that easily.

* * *

She was about to give up that easily.

Rainbow had almost determined to head back to the farmhouse and raid the rest of the cider when something made her stop short. Her ears pricked up as she heard a very familiar and distinctive cry of surprise. It was Apple Bloom. Rainbow felt her heart rate increase. It had to be Applejack. Only Applejack would tease her sister like that. The hunt was back on!

She flew over, deliberately flying slowly so she didn't get too loud. She found the back of a snow fort at the top of a small hill, and three very familiar fillies cowering for cover behind trees. Snowballs flew fast and hard, clearly the work of somepony as skilled as Applejack. She could throw with the speed of two lesser ponies!

But Rainbow Dash was no lesser pony herself. She dropped quietly to the snowy ground, out of sight of both the crusaders and Applejack, and formed a nice, tightly-compacted ball of snow. She exhaled slowly over it, making a tiny cloud from her breath, and pulled the resulting cloud of moisture into the ball and manipulated it, forming a nice, slushy masterpiece. Solid, but with a good explosiveness on impact.

Perfect.

Carrying her weapon on one wing, she skittered forward and slunk around the back of the fort, nearly hugging the wall, until she was right under where the snowballs were coming from. Without any warning, Rainbow popped out from cover and hurled her snowball with all of her might. It veritably whistled as it tore through the air with blazing speed. Never before had such a snowball flown as this one had in all the history of snowball throwing since ever.

But to her horror, as soon as the snowball had left her hoof, she realized she had made a terrible mistake.

Oh, her aim was true, and her target took the snowball right in the face as intended. The slushiness provided the perfect combination of force and explosiveness.

The problem was, it wasn't her intended target.

Diamond Tiara screamed as the snowball crashed into her face, and the impact knocked her over backwards so hard that her tiara remained where it was, hanging in midair. She crashed through the back of the fort wall and tumbled flank over teakettle down the hill. The thick snow coated her thick jacket and then coated it again, covering her in an ever-thickening layer of snow and muffling her screams as she transformed from a pony into a snowball.

Finally, the snowball that had once been a filly rolled to a stop at the base of the hill, and, in an oddly-fitting coincidence, her tiara bounced down and landed on top of the ball, a playful mockery of its previous perch.

Rainbow stared in silent horror as Silver Spoon shrieked and rushed down to help her friend. “I am so fired,” she whispered, sinking down to the snow, not even caring how cold it was on her hindquarters. “I am so, so, so fired.” She furtively looked around, hoping against hope that no one had seen.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) there were, of course, three witnesses: the three fillies that had been Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's previous targets. One was a small white unicorn with a two-tone mane, whose jaw was nearly on the ground; one was a small orange pegasus whose little wings were flared as wide as they could spread in equal parts shock and glee.

And most of all, a little yellow earth pony with a giant red bow in her mane, wearing a slow smile that spread wider the longer she watched. Once again, the look of admiration that Rainbow craved sparked and shone brightly in her eyes.

Rainbow cracked a weak smile and gave a nervous chuckle. Success?

Comments

[DbzOrDie]

Yay. Take that, Diamond Tiara

[TwilightUCrazy]

5628292

Too bad it didn't kill 'er.

[aleistergreynight]

Excellent, 4 mustache worth

[Themaskedferret]

Not a bad way to earn gratitude you gotta admit XD