Chapter Text
Rainbow flew to Rarity’s as soon as she woke up the next day, bursting through the boutiques door.
“Rarity! I need help!” She called, thinking a bit too late that she might be waking the unicorn.
“What did you do?” Rarity’s voice came from the stairs as she ran down, looking like she had thankfully already been awake.
“I’m not sure!” Rainbow said, throwing a hoof up exasperatedly.
“Ok, just sit down and tell me.” Rarity said, sitting down on one of her showing platforms. Rainbow sat next to her, thinking over the day in her head.
“Well, I did what you said. Yesterday evening, I went and I brought her out to a pond I found. We had fun, then we ran around a little, and then the sun had set and we got close. Really close. I almost kissed her.” Rainbow told her, unable to sit still and flying up in circles.
“Slow down, what happened?” Rarity said, holding a hoof up in a pacifying way.
“Well, we were sitting in the grass, and the sun had gone down, so we were looking at the stars.” Rainbow didn’t come down as she spoke, still flying around near the ceiling.
“And?” Rarity said when Rainbow didn’t keep talking.
“Then I looked back down at her, and she looked at me, and she wasn’t moving like you said, so I leaned in, but then I stopped. I couldn’t do it.” Rainbow flew back down as she spoke, coming to sit back down next to her.
“You couldn’t do something?” Rarity asked a bit sarcastically.
“Impossible, I know.” Rainbow said with a roll of her eyes.
“Why?” Rarity asked.
“Why what?” Rainbow asked in reply.
“Why couldn’t you do it?” Rarity elaborated. Rainbow shrugged, falling into silence.
“I’m not sure. It just didn’t feel right.” Was all she said when she finally spoke.
“Well then make it feel right!” Rarity said exasperatedly, standing up and starting to push Rainbow towards the door.
“Hey!” Rainbow protested.
“Whatever was wrong with the moment, find it and fix it!” Rarity continued as Rainbow finally stepped out of the door.
“Is that all?” She asked, completely taken aback.
“Mhm. Now go get her, tiger!” Rarity said before slamming the door. Rainbow stood there for a second, stunned.
“Tiger?” She shouted back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rainbow Dash spent the rest of the day planning, waiting, trying her best to prepare. It was a lot harder the second time, she couldn’t just repeat the day before. But she really didn’t have any other ideas. Until she remembered something.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Applejack!” Rainbow shouted as she flew through the orchard, not caring for the element of surprise this time.
“AJ! Where are you?” She yelled again, landing and looking through the trees.
“Rainbow? Is that you?” Her voice finally called from around a corner as she walked through the trees.
“There you are.” Rainbow said with relief, walking forward and hugging her around the neck.
“What’s going on?” AJ asked when Rainbow had let go.
“Can I show you something?” She asked, flying up and gesturing towards the sky.
“I mean, I’m supposed to be working.” AJ said, looking back towards the trees and then back to Rainbow, this time with a smile.
“Where are we going?” She asked. Rainbow grinned, landing next to her and bending her front hooves.
“You’re gonna want to hold on.” She said.
“Are ya sure about this?” Applejack asked, looking up into the sky a bit nervously.
“C’mon, would I let you fall?” Rainbow said, bumping into her impatiently.
Applejack shook her head, taking a deep breath before wrapping her hooves around Rainbows neck. Rainbow flew up, feeling AJ grip her probably tighter than necessary and slowing down.
“How high are we?” AJs muffled voice asked, since she had buried her face into Rainbows mane.
“Uh…” Rainbow said, looking down to see pony’s like ants from this height.
“Not too high.” She said, glad that AJ couldn’t see.
“You’re scared of heights?” Rainbow asked, not expecting it and surprised by it. It was hard to imagine AJ being scared of anything, much less something as trivial or normal as heights. She felt AJ shake her head.
“No - I’m just not sure I’m ready for this.” Her still muffled voice said. Rainbow flew a little lower, slowing down a little more.
“Relax, I’ve got you.” She said.
“I know.” AJ replied, but she didn’t relax. Rainbow picked up the pace a little, wanting to get to her destination as quickly as possible.
She finally landed on the familiar island of clouds that made up the city of Cloudsdale, but she didn’t go in.
“We’re still in the air.” AJ said, not removing her face from Rainbows mane.
“It’s safe.” Rainbow said, kneeling down a little bit to encourage AJ to get down. She did slowly, looking up at the city.
“You wanted to show me Cloudsdale?” She asked, sounding confused. Rainbow shook her head, smiling as she put her hoof on her friends cheek and gently turned her head away from the city.
“I wanted to show you this.” Rainbow said, stepping closer and watching her friends reaction. She could see the sight reflected in her eyes, the sight she had seen so many times that she didn’t need to look. The sun was starting to set, and from the clouds they could see miles and miles of forests bathed in golden light, and that was only half of it. Purple and pink streaked the otherwise orange sky, bleeding together like a giant was slashing paint across the sky.
“Woah.” Applejack said, staring in disbelief and the wondorous view. As for Rainbow, she wasn’t even looking. She was watching her friend, watching the way the sun covered her and reflected in her eyes.
“Yeah.” Rainbow agreed, lying down and glancing at the sunset for a moment before returning her eyes to the more captivating sight. Applejack lay down next to her, turning her eyes from the sunset and smiling at Rainbow. She leaned her head on Rainbows shoulder, and they watched with no words needed as the sun slowly disappeared over the edge of the sky. Applejack had gone so still and quiet that Rainbow thought she might have fallen asleep.
“Are you awake?” She asked, quieting her voice a bit too late.
“Yeah.” AJ whispered, pulling away and standing up. She held out her hoof to Rainbow, who took it and stood up. Applejack held onto her again as they started to fly back down to Ponyville, still gripping her as tightly as before.
Rainbow brought her up to her bedroom window, and AJ clumsily climbed through, but didn’t close it. Applejack set her front hooves on the windowsill, smiling down at the pegasus. Rainbow set her hooves on her friends shoulders, smiling just as softly. The purplish light gave both of them a soft, almost magical glow, but they were both so lost in each others eyes that they barely noticed.
“Ya know, I never get any work done with you around.” Applejack whispered, resting her chin on one hoof. Rainbow panicked for a second and pulled back.
“I can help later, I can -“ She started to say, but AJ cut her off by wrapping her hooves around the back of Rainbows neck, pulling her close again.
“I like being with you much better.” She whispered, making Rainbows breath hitch.
“I like being with you, too.” She said, almost hypnotized by her friends gaze. She carefully relaxed in her hold, leaning their foreheads together and smiling again.
But she pulled away after only a little. Both of their smiles had faded, not into frowns but definitely not smiles either. Applejack took her hooves back off of the windowsill, but didn’t step or look away. There was no denying it this time, the look on AJs face was definitely one of dissapointment. Rainbow was just starting to turn away when she stopped.
Something felt wrong again this time, but it was different. It wasn’t wrong because of the timing or the moment, it was wrong because she had pulled away. She turned back to see AJ was already turning too. One chance. She was never really sure if she was the one who fully made the decision to push her wings forward, all she knew was that the next second, her hooves were on the windowsill, and their lips were pressed together. Rainbow saw Applejacks eyes widen for a moment before she closed them, leaning into Rainbow.
Rainbow felt her own eyes closing as she also leaned into the kiss, moving to wrap her hooves around AJs neck. Applejack shifted after a moment, sliding her hoof around Rainbows back and tugging her closer. Rainbow felt her heart racing yet again, but it felt weirdly almost not bad. She couldn’t tell if Applejacks heart was racing too, so she pulled one hoof away and pressed it to her chest. Her heart was faster than normal, but relatively calm compared to hers.
AJs free hoof left the ground, coming up to hold the one Rainbow had on her chest, pulling her fully through the window. Rainbow could just tell that the room was dark through her closed eyes, but the change was only subtle since it was already so dark outside. They held each other there for a moment longer before finally breaking apart and stepping back. Rainbow smiled nervously at her, and Applejack chuckled softly.
“What?” Rainbow asked a little self consciously.
Applejack stepped closer, wrapping her hoof back around her.
“You’re adorable.” She said, pressing a quick kiss to Rainbows lips before nuzzling her head under the pegasus’s chin.
“I am not.” Rainbow grumbled, draping a hoof over AJs back and hoping she would never get used to this feeling, hoping she’d feel this heart racing love no matter how many times it happened.
“Mhm.” Applejack hummed, and Rainbow was sure she wasn’t listening. She pulled away all too soon, and Rainbow realized it was time to leave. But leaving was the last thing she wanted to do, especially now. She looked to the window and then back at AJ, who almost annoyingly didn’t look surprised that she wasn’t leaving, and shuffled her hooves nervously.
“Can I stay?” She asked. Applejack smiled, turning and nodding. Rainbow climbed into bed next to her, wrapping her hooves around her as she did the same, pulling the blanket over them both. Rainbow was almost asleep when she remembered something, pushing herself up a little.
“Applejack?” She whispered, gently shaking her shoulder. AJ blinked awake, smiling sleepily at her.
“Yeah?” She asked, voice half mumbling.
“I love you.” Rainbow whispered, tucking a strand of AJs loose mane behind her ear.
“I love you, too.” Applejack mumbled before shutting her eyes again, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Rainbow lay back down, nuzzling into her,
And eventually falling asleep in the hooves of the pony she loved.