Rainbow Dash’s neckhairs stood on end as she heard the inevitable thumps of orange hooves on wood.

She’s coming, Rainbow thought.

She suppressed a yawn as she rolled forward and balanced her forehooves against the trunk of the tree; There was no time for yawning when battle approached. This was always how it went… Rainbow would be enjoying a nice quiet nap in an apple tree when Applejack would come along, bucking trees until she found Rainbow napping in her tree, at which point she’d knock her out of it for no apparent reason.

Rainbow was wise to her game, though. It took her awesome vision less than 1.3 seconds to locate her approaching assailant; Moving swiftly from tree to tree, Applejack…

Well… Actually, she wasn’t moving all that fast. Rainbow narrowed her gaze and pulled her pillow to her chest. Normally Applejack darted from tree to tree, turning and kicking and flinging buckets in a blur of apple-harvesting… Umm… Apple harvesting. But now she was just… Not. She was barely even harvesting anything, actually. She just kinda… walked slowly up to a tree and gently struck it with one hoof.

Rainbow Dash cocked her head. One hoof? Rainbow wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Applejack give less than two hooves to a buck. And she didn’t even put any power into it!

Rainbow gasped as she realized what was going on; Applejack was trying to lull her into a false sense of security! By moving slowly and using little energy in her kicks, she planned to sneak up all quiet-like and Wham! Knock her out of the tree.

Rainbow snickered to herself. She was wise to her game. Any moment now AJ would dart over and kick her tree, and she’d be ready with a 360 Double-Hoof Branch Grab, or maybe a Tail Twist transitioning into a Trunk Wrapper 6000; She couldn’t plan these things ahead, flexibility was important.

As Applejack plodded toward the adjacent tree, Rainbow took a deep breath. The moment of truth; Would AJ go for the fake out, almost kicking that tree only to break off at the last second to sprint over and kick this one instead? Or perhaps she’d just dash straight for the killing blow in a display of brute force and speed?

Applejack reached the other tree and lifted one hind leg. Rainbow tensed her muscles in preparation.

A tiny thump stagnated in the air as Applejack’s hoof tapped against the tree’s bark, one apple lazily deciding to give up and fall into the basket below. Applejack turned to look at it, sighed, and picked the apple up in her mouth before plodding slowly over to the apple cart.

Rainbow scratched her chin. She didn’t opt for the fake out after all… Unless, this was just a more elaborate fake out. That must have been it; She knew Dash would be ready for her, so she walked back to the cart as an excuse to get a couple extra footfalls in her sprint to pick up enough speed to–

“Hey RD,” Applejack mumbled as she plodded past Rainbow’s tree to the next one in line.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Uh… Hey?”

Applejack just… kept plodding. When she reached the next tree, she turned, gave it one limp kick, collected the fallen apple and went on her way.

Rainbow untensed her body and rubbed her neck. This was weird. Applejack never passed up an opportunity to kick her out of a tree. It was one of her all time favorite things to do, right up there with… Well… with Applebucking.

“Aren’t you gonna try to get me out of your tree?” Rainbow called out.

Applejack sighed, eyes cast to the ground as she tapped the next tree with a hoof. “Nah... You’re havin’ yerself a nap, I reckon you deserve it…”

Rainbow felt a pit open up in her stomach. She had to be sure. “Yeah, I do,” Rainbow said slowly. “Anyway, I bet you couldn’t even knock me out of the tree if you tried.”

Applejack shook her head. “Probably not… Reckon I’m not much good fer nothin’ right now…”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide as she heard Applejack’s words. She didn’t even get a little angry at her taunt. Clearly something terrible must have happened. Hopping out of the tree, Rainbow glided over and landed next to her friend, grabbing her by the shoulders and looking deep into her eyes. “AJ, are you okay?”

Applejack grunted an unintelligible response and headed for the next tree. Rainbow chewed on her cheek.

“Did you pull a muscle or something?”

Applejack shook her head as she tapped the next tree. “I’m fine, Dash. Just go back to nappin’.”

“No,” Rainbow said with a glare, floating in front of her friend at hoof’s reach. “Something’s up with you, and I wanna know what it is.”

Applejack started narrowing her eyes, but abandoned the action halfway through and hung her head. “You’re not gonna go away until I tell you, are ya?”

“Nope.”

Applejack sighed. “Fine. Pinkie said no. Now go away.”

Rainbow watched as Applejack walked off toward the next tree. “Uh… what?”

Applejack grunted back at her, stomping her hooves. “I told ye what’s wrong, now skedaddle!”

Rainbow creased her brow. “What do you mean, Pinkie said no? Like, you asked her out?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “How much cloud you got stuck in yer ears? Yes, I asked her out, and she said no!”

“But… That doesn’t make any sense,” Rainbow said, as much to herself as to Applejack. “I really thought she liked you…”

Applejack took a deep breath in through her nose and sat down on the ground. “You’re gonna make me talk about it, ain’cha?”

“Well,” Rainbow started, pausing to chew on her lip. She didn’t really want to talk about, like, feelings or whatever. She’d made it all these years without them, breaking that streak now kind of seemed like admitting defeat in some way. She’d much rather just play horseshoes or steal AJ’s hat or something.

But on the other hoof, Applejack looked decidedly less awesome than normal. If she was upset enough that it showed through her usual thick skin, she must’ve really been hurting. She couldn’t just let that go without at least trying to help.

“... Do you think it would help?” she asked softly.

Applejack pawed at the ground in silence for a few moments before drawing a shuddering breath. “Maybe,” she croaked. “S’not like I’m gettin’ much work done anyway… Granny has me on ‘light duty.’”

“Okay,” Rainbow said, walking over to Applejack’s side and sitting next to her. “So uh… I’m not super good at this, right? So why don’t you just, uh, tell me what happened?” She watched as Applejack mulled her thoughts over, her heavy green eyes flickering across the dirt.

“... I thought knowing would make it better,” Applejack finally said.

… That didn’t make any sense. “What do you mean?”

Applejack took a deep breath and shook her head. “I’m a tough pony, right? And I thought, for some stupid reason, that if I just knew if she liked me or not, that I’d be fine either way. That it’d be better’n wonderin’. S’not like I never got rejected before, yanno?”

Rainbow sucked air in through her teeth. All this confusing mushy stuff was exactly why she chose not to have feelings in the first place. “So… She doesn’t like you, and knowing didn’t make it better?”

“That’s the problem, though!” Applejack shouted with surprising gusto. “She said she does like me!”

Rainbow cocked her head. Apparently these ‘feelings’ things were even more complicated than she’d realized. “And that’s… bad?”

“I don’t even know…”

Rainbow shifted her hooves, unfolded her wings, folded them again, and shifted her hooves back into place. “I don’t get it.”

“Sorry, I’m not explainin’ myself all that well… She said she likes me, but she doesn’t wanna date me anyway.”

“... Why not?”

“I dunno, she doesn’t wanna mess it up, I guess… She thinks I’ll get sick of ‘er, and we’ll break up and hate each other.”

“That’s, uh…” Rainbow paused as she tried to gauge what sort of reaction Applejack wanted from her, but her moping was difficult to read. “... crazy?”

“I know that, and you know that, but how do I get Pinkie t’see that?”

“I have no idea.”

“So that’s it, then,” Applejack said with a sigh. “I get to go to my grave knowin’ I was this close, but–”

“Stoppit!” Rainbow shouted, surprised by her own sudden burst of volume, and the horrible sensation in her stomach that accompanied it. “AJ, you’re… You’re being stupid!”

“Pardon?” Applejack jerked backwards, eyes open wide.

“So you’re upset, fine, but you can’t just give up! That’s not the Applejack I know. You’re supposed to be, like, the most stubborn pony ever!”

Applejack creased her brow. “Is this s’posed t’be a pep talk?”

“Sure! Whatever’ll get you to stop with the pity party,” Rainbow seethed. “If you’re not happy, don’t just putz around the farm feeling sorry for yourself… Get out there and change Pinkie’s mind!”

Applejack raised up onto her hooves and snarled. “Yanno, Rainbow, I don’t rightly remember askin’ for yer advice…”

“Too bad!” Rainbow shouted, swooping over her and swiping her hat away.

“Hey! Rainbow, give that back! I ain’t in the mood for any a’ yer games right now!”

Rainbow landed in the boughs of a tree and stuck out her tongue. “Yeah, well, I gotta do something to get you acting like yourself!” Applejack stamped her hooves and blew a burst of air out her nose. Rainbow grinned. That looked like the Applejack she knew. “Come on, Applesnack, just try to knock me out of the–”

The next thing she knew, Rainbow was on her back looking up at the sky as Applejack passed through the corner of her vision, her hat restored to its rightful place atop her head.

“Yanno what, Rainbow? You were right. I do feel more like m’self,” she chuckled.

“–tree,” Rainbow wheezed.

“I can’t just give up ‘cause things’re lookin’ bleak… I gotta try harder! That’s the Apple way!”

“Ow…”

Applejack walked over and held a hoof out to her fallen friend. “Sorry. Need a lil’ help?”

Rainbow let Applejack help her up to her hooves and stretched her wings. “Don’t worry about it, that barely even counts as a crash.”

“... Thanks, Rainbow, fer talkin’ some sense into me,” Applejack said, smiling gently.

Rainbow grinned and brushed the dirt out of her mane. “Any time. So, what are you gonna do?”

Applejack’s smile faltered. “... Oh. Yeah, guess I need a plan, huh?”

“Can’t be that hard to come up with something. We’ve just gotta find a way to show Pinkie you’re totally awesome, right?”

Applejack nodded, tapping a hoof to her chin. “Not just awesome, but that I won’t get sick of ‘er and wanna break up and wind up hatin’ her for the rest a’ my life.”

“I still think that’s ridiculous,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “I mean, you’re Applejack! You’re, like, the loyalest pony ever!”

“Uh… Don’t ya mean ‘most loyal?’”

“No,” Rainbow said with a snicker, “I’m pretty sure it’s loyalest. I’m the Element of Loyalty, I  should know.”

“If you say so,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes.

“Maybe she just needs a little reminder. I could talk to her,” Rainbow offered.

“That might be a little transparent, don’cha think?”

“Right. So I’ve just gotta be cool about it.” Rainbow smirked, donning her sunglasses.

Applejack scratched her neck. “Yeah… So, I think I got a better idea. Why don’t you invite her to a game of horseshoes?”

“Horseshoes?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “How’s that gonna help?”

“Just… Trust me, okay? Invite her to play horseshoes with us, and you can subtly mention to her that I’m the most loy–”

“Loyalest.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “–Loyalest pony you know.”

“Got it. Horseshoes, subtle, loyal. Wait here, I’ll be right back!” Rainbow launched herself into the air, taking a direct path to Sugarcube Corner, ignoring Applejack’s shouts of what were almost certainly gratitude echoing behind her.

“I didn’t mean right now!” Applejack called to the rapidly shrinking blue dot flying away from her. Sighing, she turned back to the apple trees.

“... Maybe I shoulda gotten Rarity to invite her to the spa…”