Chapter 1 - Poll the Crowd

Edited by Clavier

The next morning, Rainbow Dash lay on a low-flying cloud above Ponyville thinking.  She knew the plan: she had to show Applejack how awesome she was.  The only question that remained:  how?  How do you show the most hardworking, honest and tough pony around... herself?  Rainbow Dash knew that no other pony could run the apple orchard as well as Applejack, but how could she prove that?  She couldn't make Applejack stop working on the farm just to show her how poorly it would do.  

It was almost funny that Applejack, of all ponies, couldn't see herself honestly.  

Rainbow Dash sat up suddenly as a thought struck her.  One thing didn't add up.  Why in Equestria did Applejack think she had no admirers?  That couldn't possibly be the case.  Applejack was cute, smart, and hardworking, so why weren't the mares and stallions lining up for dates?  Rainbow Dash began to worry that she was biased.  Was she too close to Applejack to see how others felt about her?  

Rainbow Dash peered over the side, looking down into the busy market square, with all the stallions and mares buying and selling their wares below.  The spot where the Apple family wagon usually stood was empty.  It must be an apple picking day, she thought, not an apple selling day.  

Rainbow Dash put a hoof under her chin, thinking.  An idea struck her.

She could just... ask.

"Hello?" she asked loudly, standing up on her cloud to see better.  "Excuse me, everypony?  Hi, excuse me!  I just need a second, here!"  The muttering and moving in the square slowly came to a halt.

"Hi, hello... thank you, everypony!  Sorry to interrupt, but I have a quick question."  She thought for a second how best to phrase it.  "How many of you think Applejack is... attractive?"

Dead silence.

"You know, Applejack?  The one who sells apples here every couple days?"

Nothing.

"Anypony?"

A yellow pegasus in the market below urgently muttered to a pony next to her before flying up to Rainbow Dash.  Her face was the most red Rainbow Dash had ever seen it.

"Oh, hey, Fluttershy."

"Rainbow!" said Fluttershy in an urgent whisper, "What are you doing?!  You can't– oh goodness– you can't just ask a whole town that sort of question!"

Rainbow Dash snorted.  "What?  Of course I can."  Fluttershy looked like she wanted to add more, but Rainbow Dash turned back to the crowd.  "Come on, ponies, I wasn't born yesterday!  We've got ourselves a tall, blonde pony who spends like eight hours each day bucking trees.  I hear that does great things for your..." Wait, there are some children down there.  "... tail-end!  Do you mean to tell me that nopony thinks she's cute?"  

Nopony said anything.  Fluttershy, floating close, looked like she was going to explode.

"Look, I'll start.  I think Applejack is cute," said Rainbow Dash, surprised at how true those words felt.  "There, I said it!  Anypony else?!"

Nopony said anything.  They all just stared at her, in complete shock that anyone would think to even ask them the question.

"Anypony?" murmured Rainbow Dash, shocked.

Another silence.

"Shoot, I do!" said a male voice.

"Me too!" said a feminine one.

"She's as cute as a button!" said an older voice.

"I love her accent!"

"Me too!"

"And those freckles!"

"I wish she'd let her hair down!"

At first it was just a handful of voices, but soon the whole crowd was buzzing with compliments for Applejack.  All the voices toppled over each other, and the crowd laughed at the strange freedom of shouting these things.  Fluttershy looked completely baffled by the display.

"I knew it!" whispered Rainbow Dash to herself.  She addressed the crowd once more.  "That's great to hear!  So how come nopony ever asks her on a date?"

There was another pause, but this time someone in the crowd was braver.  "When would anyone ask her out?" said the male pony.  "She's almost always on her farm, and when she's here, she's so busy selling apples it's impossible to start a conversation!"

That's it, realized Rainbow Dash.  She worked so hard on the farm and in the market that nopony knew when to approach her!  Applejack had almost no free time, and she probably spent all she had visiting her five closest friends, not meeting new ponies.

"Great, thank you all!  That answers my question.  You can go back to your day!"

There was an awkward pause as they all still stared at her, unsure of what to do.

"Hey!  What did I just say?” she beckoned, her Wonderbolts logo absent from her flank yet plain in her air of authority.  “Go back to your day!”

Suddenly the crowd was buzzing again, trying their best to look busy.

Rainbow Dash flipped back over on her cloud, looking up at the blue sky.  She was right all along!  The whole town thought Applejack was attractive, so there was nothing to worry about there.  Rainbow just needed to figure out how to give a few of them the chance to talk to Applejack!  So how...

"Uhm... Rainbow?" said a voice.

"Oh!" gasped Rainbow Dash, who had completely forgotten that Fluttershy was there.  Rainbow Dash sat up to meet her eyes.  "Sorry, Fluttershy, what's up?"

"Fine... just... uhm... why... why did you just ask the whole town about Applejack?" she asked.  

"I had to find out if I think Applejack is cute because I'm so close to her and I know her so well or because she's just... cute.  As you heard, it's cause she's cute!"

"Um.  Why did you need to know... that?"

Rainbow Dash remembered her promise to Applejack.  "I can't tell you," she said.

"Oh," muttered Fluttershy, sounding hurt.

"Not that I don't want to!  I just made a promise I wouldn't tell," she said.  Fluttershy still looked a little sad.  Rainbow Dash's mouth turned up in a sly smile.  "Why? Would you like to ask me if they think you're cute?"

Fluttershy turned bright red.  "Rainbow Dash, don't you dare!" whimpered Fluttershy in terror.

"Are you sure?  I bet you're curious!"

"Oh, please don't!"

Rainbow Dash leaned out over the cloud, taking in a big breath as if she was about to yell out to the crowd.  Fluttershy dropped to the cloud, next to Rainbow Dash, and covered her head in her hooves, letting out a tiny, panicked scream.

"Fluttershy, I'm just kidding!  Fluttershy!"  The yellow pony's eyes stayed hidden.  "Fluttershy, I would never do that to you, I'm just kidding!  Don't worry!"  Her eyes peeked out, and it was such a cute sight that Rainbow Dash had to chuckle.  "I'm sorry, that was mean."

Fluttershy looked relieved that it was just a joke and sat up.  "Oh... no, it's alright, Rainbow... I just get so nervous in front of crowds...!"

"Yeah, I know.  Hey, aren't you doing a book reading soon?"

She squeaked out something that Rainbow Dash took to mean yes.  From the look on Fluttershy's face, there could be no worse activity.

"Aw, come on, Fluttershy, you'll be great!  I was there at your book signing, and that was alright, wasn't it?"

Fluttershy looked thoughtful.  "Well... yes, but I only had to talk to one pony at a time.  That wasn't so bad.  This time I'll have to read to a big crowd!"

Rainbow Dash smiled at Fluttershy.  Fame would never change the shy, soft spoken little pony she grew up with.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do great."  

"I'm glad you think so, Rainbow," said Fluttershy, relaxing a little bit.

“You know, you never said anything when I asked.  Do you think Applejack is cute?"

Fluttershy flushed yet again.  "Oh, I'm not... I'm not a..." she stammered, unsure of what to say.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.  "Oh come on, Fluttershy, you don't have to be into mares to say if one is cute!"

"Oh!  ...well, yes!  Applejack is very pretty."  Fluttershy hesitated for a second before continuing.  "Rainbow Dash, aren't you worried that Applejack will find out... what you asked everypony?"

Rainbow Dash froze.  She hadn't considered that.  What would Applejack say if she found out?  Would she be mad?  “Well," she said, "I dunno."  She flopped on her back with a crooked smile.  "I guess that's future Rainbow Dash's problem!"

Fluttershy giggled at Spike's famous quote.  "I guess it will be.  Rainbow," she started, and then looked unsure, "Do you think you could come to the book reading?  It would mean so much to me if you were there."

"Sure!" said Rainbow.  "Of course I'll–"  Rainbow Dash froze again.

"Rainbow Dash, what–" asked Fluttershy.

"Shh!" she said.  "Do you hear that?"

Fluttershy gracefully lifted her ear up.  "I don't hear anything at all."

"Exactly!" said Rainbow Dash, and leaned back over the crowd.  Everypony had stopped shopping and selling, and the crowd was once again frozen in silence.

...uh oh.

"Fluttershy, I'll go to your reading," she said in a whisper, "But you have to help me with something first."

Fluttershy looked uncertain, but nodded loyally.

***

Applejack's least favorite part of her week was dragging the apple cart to the town square.  The trip there with all the apples loaded up was hard work.  The trip back, when the cart was empty, wasn't so bad.

But she had finally made it to the square.  She was late because she had to fix one of the cart's wheels this morning.  She hated being late, it meant she missed potential customers.  

She was about halfway into the square when she realized that everypony in the square was dead quiet.

And staring at her.

She stopped pulling the cart, and looked around.  A bit of red touched her cheeks from all the attention, but mostly she wondered why everypony was looking at her.  They certainly had odd looks on their faces.

‘Well,’ thought Applejack, ‘I might as well use the opportunity!’  "Ah guess y'all are hungry for some delicious Apple family apples!"

The crowd laughed at this for some reason, but they went back to their shopping, and the buzz went back to its normal level.  Applejack had no idea what had just happened, but decided to simply set up the cart and think about it later.

She dragged the cart to its usual spot and bumped it open, revealing all the fresh fruit inside.  With the cart ready to go, she took a moment to stretch her aching back.  It had been a tough week, and the trip with the full wagon didn't help.

Suddenly a blur of colors landed in front of her.

"Howdy, Rainbow," said Applejack.  "Making a grand entrance as always, ah see."

"Always!" said Rainbow Dash, posing proudly.  

Fluttershy made the complete opposite entrance, gently floating in and landing gracefully next to Rainbow Dash.  "Well hi there, sugarcube," said Applejack to her sweetly.  "It's nice to see you both.  Are y'all hungry?"

"Nope," said Rainbow Dash, "But you see, me and Fluttershy here were talking, and it seems like you're so busy lately, you haven't had any time to yourself!"

Fluttershy shyly avoided eye contact with Applejack and nodded, staying quiet.  She was doing her best to follow Rainbow Dash’s lead.  

"So we figured maybe we could take over selling apples for a while today, and you could... I dunno, do some shopping around the market, just relax, walk around, or whatever."

Applejack had some horrifying flashbacks to the time she allowed Apple Bloom to run the store.  Rainbow Dash had about one hundred times the spunk that her little sister did, so this seemed like a horrible idea.

"Rainbow, thank you for the offer, but ah don't think–"

"Now wait a minute before you say no," said Rainbow Dash.  "I'll just be yelling to get attention.  Like this.”  Floating up above the stand, she started hawking the fruits.  "Apples!  Apple family apples!  Get your delicious, red, green and yellow apples here!"  She floated back down.  "Like that, see?  No problem!  I'll get the ponies over to your cart to buy the apples, but Fluttershy will be the one they'll buy from, so you don't have to worry about my horrible pony skills!" she finished, cheerily.

Applejack looked uncertain.

Fluttershy finally spoke up.  "And I won't let them haggle me down, Applejack, I promise."

"Well," mused Applejack, "Ah guess it's been a long time since I got to shop around the market..."

"See?" said Rainbow Dash, "So why don't you take a while to walk around the square?  And you'll always be able to see the two of us, so if anything goes wrong, you can just come galloping back!"

Applejack looked at the pair suspiciously.  Fluttershy had a shy smile on her face, but refused to look in Applejack’s eyes.  Rainbow Dash had a giant, Pinkie-Pie-like smile.  Applejack knew they had to be up to something.

Still though, thought Applejack, it had been so long since she could shop and not worry about all the work she had to do.  And she would be close, so... what's the worst that could happen?  She had learned a long time ago to accept help when she needed it, and, well, she needed it.

"Okay," she said, "I'll let you two run the stand for a while.  Shoot, ponies will be lining up to get apples from a famous author and a Wonderbolt!"

Rainbow Dash jumped into the air, happily, and Fluttershy looked pleased.  "We won't let you down," said Fluttershy, softly.  "I promise."

"Ah know you won't, sugarcube," she said to Fluttershy.  Applejack’s mouth twisted up into a sly smile as she added, "And try to make sure Dash doesn't do anything stupid."

"Hey, I heard that!" barked the cyan pony, and stuck her tongue out.  

Applejack winked at Rainbow Dash, which caused Rainbow Dash’s heart to flutter for some reason.  Applejack started to walk around town square and tried not to think about the two of them running her beloved stand.

“So, uhm,” started Fluttershy, “Now what?” she asked.

“Now we sell apples!” laughed Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow flew above the stand and restarted her pitch, but as she yelled to the crowd, she never once took her eyes off of Applejack.  The country farmer casually perused the shops, looking at a few items and, every now and then, checking back on her two friends and her stand.

Rainbow watched as she stopped at a stand, out of the way, filled with hourglasses of different shapes and sizes.  A chestnut stallion with a kind face ran the stall, and the two of them struck up a conversation.

It was working, thought Rainbow Dash with excitement.  Now that she had free time, anypony could ask her on a date!  It was working, and of course she would realize how many admirers she had!

She saw Applejack laugh at something the stallion said, and watched as she blushed and crossed her front legs.

Something funny happened in Rainbow Dash’s mind.  Something made time stand still as she saw that blush creep across Applejack’s face.  Rainbow’s big smile slipped away as she watched from across the market.  This is what she was trying to do, right?  Show Applejack how many admirers she had?  Of course the amount of admirers wasn’t what made Applejack so special... but knowing she had them would help her see how special she was, wouldn’t it?

That was the plan, right?  

Right?

Rainbow Dash felt something in her chest she had not felt in a long time.  It was a tight pain as she watched Applejack laugh and blush at somepony who was not... her.

It was the same feeling that Applejack had confessed having just the day before.  It was horrible, awful, and she had no idea why she was feeling it.  

Rainbow Dash was jealous.

***

I hope you liked this chapter.  I think it got a bit sillier than I planed, but I liked how it turned out.  Please review to tell me what you think!

-Gold

EDIT:  If any talented artist with free time would be so wonderful as to make me an Avatar picture, I would be forever in your debt.  Please PM me if you're interested!  I'd be sure to shower you with compliments!