Hearts and Hooves Day
Applejack finished brushing her mane and stared at herself in her bedroom mirror. Who was she kidding? She would never be pretty like Rarity. Heck, even now, nearly six moons on, she still couldn’t fathom why Rainbow had asked her out aside from it being a prank that had now gone way too far and extremely out of hoof. Buck, Rainbow had even introduced and invited Applejack to her parents for Hearth’s Warming. Had they been in on the whole scheme too?
A loud knocking from downstairs brought Applejack back to her senses.
“Stop overthinking things Sugarcube!” Applejack lamented to the reflection of herself before turning and heading for the door to her room and then the stairs. “Rainbow would never do something so mean. She loves you for who you are and more than anything else. Why, she even took time off from the Bolts for you!” She continued to reassure herself as she made her way down the stairs and then headed for the front door.
The Hearth’s Warming holidays had actually been the last time Applejack had seen her marefriend, over six weeks ago now, before she had left on tour with the Wonderbolts as a backup flyer in case any of the main squad suffered an injury. The tour was still ongoing but in her last letter Rainbow had informed Applejack that she had managed to “wangle a few days off” to coincide with Hearts and Hooves Day after their latest run of performances in Las Pegasus had come to a close. Applejack had made sure her family were all occupied for the day so that she could have some quality alone time with her special somepony. Big Mac had taken a delivery to Sugar Belle whilst Apple Bloom had been bribed to stay away for the entire afternoon and was likely consuming way too many sweets for Applejack’s liking right now with her friends in their clubhouse but for once that was something she could worry about in the future. She was actually more worried about what Granny was up to having gone away for the week with Applesauce, Apple Rose and Golden Delicious to the Crystal Empire. Whenever those four got together trouble was not far behind and the last thing she needed right now was her special time being disrupted due to the need to bail her grandma and her friends out of jail, again.
A second loud knock from the front door made Applejack realise she had been dawdling and she hastened her hoofsteps.
“Coming, hold your horses,” she bellowed as she reached the door and swung it open. “Seriously Rainbow, you can be so…” she stopped mid-sentence and stared at the pink Pegasus on her doorstep with a blue ribbon tied tightly around her head.
She looked like Rainbow but no, she couldn’t be, could she?
“R-R-Rainbow?” Applejack stammered as her golden orange cheeks started to take on a reddish tinge. Her back hooves involuntarily flung backwards and turned granny’s favourite vase into a jigsaw puzzle. Damn, why did her marefriend have to look so cute in pink? “Uhh… I have some questions…?”
The sudden click and whir of a camera followed by a chorus of laughter saw her swiftly turn her head to the side where Pinkie, Spitfire and a few of the other bolts were struggling to hold each other up they were laughing that hard.
“Her face,” Spitfire wheezed.
Applejack turned back to her marefriend, her flustered look of confusion replaced with one of anger and hurt as tears began to well in her eyes. “I-I knew it was too good to be true. You were playing me from the start, weren’t you?”
“What? No, Applejack, hear me out, please,” Rainbow pleaded. “Spitfire only agreed to give me these few days off if I came to one of the after show parties and beat her in a drinking contest. I now barely remember anything from last night after the show except that Pinkie turned up and well, chaos ensued. The next thing I remember I woke up pink in my hotel room. Trust me when I say you don’t want to know what happened. Just returning the chimaera to Tartarus was…”
“How long?” Applejack sniffled, wiping the tears from her face whilst interrupting Rainbow.
“Excuse me?”
“How long does it last?” Applejack replied.
“Eugh, one hundred days give or take,” Rainbow grumbled. “I can’t even get this damn ribbon of my head or post stick notes of my cutie marks.
“Post stick notes?” Applejack queried manoeuvring her head so that she could see one of Rainbow’s flanks which did indeed sport a post stick note. It read, “shampoo pranked”.
“What I was thinking I have no idea?” Rainbow sighed looking to the heavens.
“She was trying to impress you by giving you the best Hearts and Hooves day proposal ever,” Spitfire hollered. “I had to go and pay off the security team to obtain the CCTV footage and ensure it doesn’t end up getting leaked. I’ll bring it to the wedding if you like!”
Applejack’s eyes widened in shock as Rainbow turned and glowered ferociously at her captain.
“What?” Spitfire replied nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulders. “I had to sit through hours of you harping on about how your marefriend was the best in the world and how you wanted to propose but weren’t sure if…”
Spitfire never got any further as she collapsed to the floor unconscious. Everypony stared at Applejack and the shovel in her mouth.
“What?” Applejack muttered innocently through clenched teeth as she laid the spade she’d just knocked the Wonderbolt’s captain out with onto the ground. “She was getting on my nerves.” She turned her attention back to Rainbow. “Now Sugarpie, is there something you’d like to ask me or would you prefer…”
“Applejack, will you marry me?” Rainbow blurted, lowering herself onto one of her back knees and producing a metallic wedding band that had been tucked underneath her right wing.
“Woo, get in their Cra…”
CLANG
Soarin joined Spitfire on the ground, the shovel landing next to him. Applejack hadn’t even redirected her attention from Rainbow for a moment.
“At this rate we’ll need more reserves,” Rainbow chuckled nervously, holding out the wedding band. “So, what’s your decision? Is it a yes or am I going to need a helmet to protect my noggin?”
Slowly Applejack leaned in and locked her lips firmly onto Rainbow’s.
“Woo, get a room you…” High Winds began only to find her mouth suddenly filled with a clod of earth.
“Ahh, they make such a cute couple,” Pinkie squeed, taking another picture as the tender embrace slowly came to an end.
“Does that answer your question?” Applejack replied with a devilish smile before leaning in and whispering in Dash’s ear, “Now, how about we go somewhere a little more private, my little pink petunia?”