I take a gander at Pinkie Pie moseyin' away with that infernal lil' bounce of hers. The farm always does brighten up somethin' special when she's pokin' her fluffy head around, but there's only so much of the Cakes' niece that a mare can take in one afternoon. I was simply extendin' proper hospitality when I told her to visit the family more often. As much as I like havin' the mare around, I'm not sure I could handle her sassafrass everyday. Ah well, I don't think the cheerful darlin' will let it get to her head. I mean, Pinkie Pie's an adult; she knows how to be subtle, right?

Awwww shucks. Reckon I just dug myself a hole I can't climb out of. Ah well. I've got more work to do. Actually, come to think of it, somepony else is comin' and she's the one who's gonna be doin' all the work.

My heart does one of its silly lil' square dances inside my chest, and darned if I ain't surprised at how soon I trip over myself. I can feel a sigh swimmin' through me, as if the last five seconds has gotten me more tuckered out than an entire day's worth of apple buckin'.

Heaven to Betsy, I thought I was past this! Just keep yer fruit all in one basket, AJ. Yer frettin' over nothin'; you always have been. Think about the farm. Think about the crops that need waterin'. This is strictly business, and if there's anythang yer good at, AJ, it's gettin' the job done.

Doesn't help that the pony I'm waitin' for is as lazy as a sack full of worn out ol' galoshes. Ugh, I swear, it's like this every dag blame'd time I ask her to help me with somethin' at the farm! The day I had her to tear down the old barn on the edge of the family property, I had to wait for four blasted hours past our scheduled meetin' time before she so much as showed a single feather. I really, really wanted to wring her neck at the time. It's not all that different from right now, I reckon. Shucks, how long have I been sittin' on this here tree stump? Thirty minutes? Forty? I'd have better luck waitin' for an actual hurricane to come on its lonesome and tackle the job instead!

And then, I see it, and my foalish lil' heart does that dance yet again. I hate myself, and yet I'm too busy tryin' to catch my breath. Does she even know what it's like for other ponies? Here I am, sittin' all patient-like, and suddenly a part of the sky moves away from the rest. I figured she was foaled with a coat that matched blue daylight for a reason. It's like she came out of the clouds by means of some spooky accident. It'd make sense, if ya asked me, considerin' she's just as loose and as flighty as raindrops, the crazy mare. Maybe I'm the only pony who notices it. It pokes at me constantly, the thought that is: that I can look up at the sky and—at any given moment—she could be there, flyin' my way, fixin' to pull a prank, or just hoverin' about all calm-like, watchin' me from above.

Nah. Nah, she couldn't possibly care to take a high-flyin' gander at this boring, laborin', smelly farm filly. I've been over this. It just ain't true, and besides, I should really stop sweatin' the issue; I should just stick to sweatin'. It seems to be all I'm good for, and—Whoah Nelly! Here she comes. Gosh darn it...

She plummets down towards the farm like an anvil, clutchin' a pair of thick black thunderclouds in her petite hooves. I realize once again, as I always do when them sharp ruby eyes of hers stab my way, that this is really just her world and we all happen to be livin' in it. With a single, careless smirk, the darn lazy pegasus makes all those wasted minutes of waitin' dissolve in a blink.

"What's up, Applejack?" Rainbow Dash's voice cracks. "You in love with that tree stump, or did you decide to try planting apples with your cutie mark?" She follows this nonsense with a wink.

Gosh darn it...

"Howdy yerself," I grunt. I try to sound angry, but what's the use? Reckon it's one way to keep my fumblin' breaths even like cornrows, at least. "What kept you? Was there one of them Wonderbolt conventions between Cloudsdale and here?"

"Pfft! Look, I had to sandwich this between a late afternoon nap and an errand I still have to do for Fluttershy!" She fiddles with the thunderclouds until they are parked all even-like above the two of us. "So don't pop a hair ribbon loose, Miss Timekeeper! You're not the only pony in town who asks for my help on a regular basis, after all."

She's just talkin' hooey. I really ought to smack her; any self-respectin' adult with a farm to manage would have full right to tear her down a notch for bein' so tardy. But, just like that, all of may anger is sapped, like I'm a fisherpony on a boat and all the wind's taken from my sails. And yet, I reckon I dun mind.. I wanna hate myself, but there's that silly little dance inside my chest again, and I feel like a little filly's who's left breathless, and rightfully so, for a piece of the sky has come down to pay her a sweet little visit and—my stars and garters, it's really hot out today, isn't it? I almost wish Pinkie had stayed, bless her heart. She always outsweats me.

"Mmmmm..." I mumble like a moody housecat, then shrug the argument off my shoulders as if it were a worn out old raincoat. "No use in frettin' the small stuff, s-sugarcube," my voice cracks, and darned if it's not even close to havin' that swell little chime that she produces without even tryin' to. "Let's just get wet, shall we?"

"H-huh?"

"The fields!" I sputter forth like a rusted shotgun. "The fields: they need waterin' like there's no tomorrow." The only thang keepin' me from fallin' flat on my face is the huge lump in my gut right about now. Shucks, Ma and Pa would be rollin' in their graves if only they weren't too darn busy laughin' at my dumb flank. "What say I lasso one of them clouds and take it to the north field while you drag the other one over yonder to the east orchards—?"

"Pffft! Bwahahah! That's rich!" Her voice claps like thunder, that is... if thunder fancied itself as bein' all raspy, foalish, and full of insufferable chuckles. "No doubt you could wrangle up a minotaur if your life depended on it, AJ. But it's best that you leave the cloud kicking to the real experts." Rainbow Dash flexes one of her forelimbs as she says this. Surely she knows that even all four of them legs' muscles couldn't benchpress more than my right rear hoof. Shucks, that's just it: she knows, but she doesn't care. She's better than everypony, after all, even when she ain't.

Oh darn, I haven't said anythang in a while. Uhm... "I just wanna make sure that you get all them plants properly watered—"

"Hey! Chillax, Applejack!" her voice cracks again. Gosh darn it. "I've got this! You just sit there and... I dunno... count seaponies or somethin'."

"Seaponies?! Why of all the confounded, hog-tyin' nonsense—"

"Hah! Yes!" She cheers and giggles her way over the apple trees with the twin clouds in tow. "I did it! I filled your angry mouth with country! Heh. Annnnnyway, this will only take a few seconds!"

I groan, hopin' that the air leavin' my lungs will cool the burnin' that I'm startin' to feel in my face. Maybe it's a good thing that she's doin' all the weather work up there on her lonesome. I swear, I'd eat all four of my horseshoes if she so much as saw me... doin' what? Blushin' like a schoolfilly who receives a note full of sappy nonsense in the classroom?

When did this start? I reckon nopony can put her hoof on the birth of somethin' so wonderful and dag blame'd stupid all at once. All my life, I've been the go-to pony in Ponyville for whenever some household task needed fixin' or tidyin' up. Truth is, though, I was never the only dependable pony. Rainbow was always there, always doin' her own thang in the sky, always alone with her laughter and her sneers and her boastin' and her showin' off, fillin' the air with fancy moves and color. We never really did interact much. It's not like we were rivals or nothin', but she had the clouds and I had the fields. When them things met, it was always nature's doin' it, so we never interacted all that much.

And then Twilight showed up, and everythang changed. I realized that ponies beyond my immediate family meant more to me than just work buddies. There were so many new friends in my life, so many new opportunities of sharin' my joys and fears, my laughin' and sobbin'. It was okay to talk about my folks' passin', to talk about the concerns I had for the future of the farm and all. And among all the new friends I had, the one that stood out the most—that spoke with such bluntness and darin' swagger that it put my own honesty to shame—is the same crazy pegasus who's doin' loopty loops over my head right now, spreadin' rain all over the parched corners of the farm and whoopin' and hollerin' like the whole thing is a game.

That's life, I guess: a game—or at least it is to her. Every day is a new leg in a sport, and Rainbow is always havin' to outrace and outclimb and outshow everypony that crosses her path. She doesn't just live in the sky, she plum owns it. It's downright arrogant, I reckon, and I'd be lyin' if I said I never butted heads with her ego from time to time.

But I think part of that fussin' was 'cuz I envied her, and I rightly still do. There's no shame in admittin' it, really. Rainbow Dash does what she wants. It's really as darn simple as that: she does what she wants and doesn't let anypony tell her different. How many times have I wanted to do my own thang when somethin' Apple Bloom or Big Mac needed to get done got in the way of my plans? How many times have I wanted to give a few stuck-up windbags in Ponyville a good piece of my mind? And yet, I never did, for the very same reason that Rainbow Dash can and will.

Fear. I see it, I smell it, and I respect it. But Rainbow doesn't. She's the most fearless, courageous, and downright darin' soul I've ever had both the pleasure and frustration to know. For months I chewed her out for it, lectured her somethin' awful, and just about bit her blasted tail off from yankin' her away from a potential fight more times than I could count. But, now that I look back at all that, I reckon it was all cuz I wanted somethin' that I could never have, but was hers from the beginning. Just like the sky blue of her coat, she was born with it.

And t'ain't all she was born with neither. Those ocean-blue feathers of her, them stabbin' red eyes, that voice that cracks and crackles and sends my heart smackin' into invisible barns left and right: she never even tries to make herself presentable or nothin', and yet there's some special and fancy beauty to it all.

And then there's her mane. Who'd think that somepony—anypony—could sport all them ridiculous colors and somehow not come across as rambunctious or just plain goofy? I've never been one for fussin' much with my looks, but from my early days of trottin', my Ma raised me proper, and I knew that it took a lick of good sense and decent work to make oneself presentable for a public stroll through downtown.

But Rainbow? She doesn't fuss at all, not one darn bit. I've seen her walk in unwashed from a downpour or a nasty mudslide, and still her mane—as ragged and colorful as ever—just looks... so dang perfect.

And then there was that one weekend at Twilight's. I don't tell many ponies about this. Why should I? Reckon it makes me sound like somethin' downright pathetic. But it was fresh on the tail of Cider Season when Twilight had invited the whole heapin' lot of us gals to her place for a sleepover. We had some extra mugs of the family product to pass around. Now, I never take to samplin' my own cider much, so we had some extra rounds to share around the rest. Of course, Rainbow leapt upon it. Before we could stop her, she had chugged four of them mugs down. Whewie! I've never seen a mare get so tipsy in all my life. Heh. I get into stitches just thinkin' about it now.

Anyways, after much silliness, she eventually went out like a light, along with the rest of us. But the next mornin', Rainbow wasn't up to doin' much of anything at all. Turns out she had one whopper of a headache, and she couldn't admit to the other ponies that she needed a helpin' hoof in gettin' home. Well, I took it upon myself to step in, and Rainbow Dash let me help her. I think she trusted me, since I wasn't one to poke at her much for gettin' all sloshed in the first place.

If she had told me ahead of time that I had to carry her limp body across half of Ponyville, I might have thought twice. Still, I had already offered to help, so I oblidged the best way I could. I'd never seen Rainbow Dash so tuckered out before, and I've never since. The poor thang was moanin' and groanin' about her achin' head. I simply chuckled about it at the time, but lookin' back, I feel mighty sorry for her.

Where was I goin' with this? Oh, right. Well, I carried her home and all that nonsense. And when I did, I felt her mane for the first time. It couldn't be helped; she was sprawled across my back like Winona after a trip to the vet. It wasn't like I was pawin' at her hair or nothin', cuz that's just one huge heap of gross.

But, I couldn't help but notice: it felt like silk. And I'm not just blowin' hot air either. Rarity once let me try on a silk robe to help her with a sewin' job at the Boutique. I know what the fancy-shmancy stuff feels like, and still—I swear to Celestia—it didn't feel as heavenly smooth and all soft-like as Rainbow's mane. And this is a mare who doesn't even try to condition her 'do or nothin'! She simply lives, all colorful and happy and brave and alive, and she somehow manages to do it in such a purdy way that... that...

Gosh darn it. Why is it always like this, lately? Every time Rainbow visits, every time she brings that piece of the sky with her over my farm, it's like a part of me wants to lift up into the clouds with her and ask Rainbow all her secrets. Sure, it used to be all about envyin' her, wantin' to be as brazenly selfish as her, wantin' to be able to sport such pretty looks without even makin' a fuss about it. But then I realize that I really don't want to try and be all them crazy things myself. Instead, I reckon I just want to have all of them crazy things around me, hangin' out with me, maybe... m-maybe even seen in town right next to me...

Land's sakes, I'm stronger than this! What holes in my life could there be that must be filled up with somethang that only she can provide all of the sudden? I have my family. I have my apples. I have my hard work and self-respect.

I guess... I guess what I don't have is the sky. I don't have freedom, excitement, or none of them other thrills, and Rainbow Dash is simply all of them and more. And when she's gone, I feel lonesome, as if it's nighttime for days on end. And yet, when she's around, I can't say a single darn thing about it. I just can't. Cuz, even now, she's makin' it rain like some barrel-rolling angel of the weather. And me? I can only do what she jokingly hollered just minutes ago: sit around and count my own borin' thoughts.

Oh Rainbow, you big-headed, high-gallavantin' braggart, do you have a lick of sense what bein' around you does to me? I just feel so...

So normal...

"Whewww!" Rainbow Dash chirps. It's me who's lost track of time now, and I can see the soft gray drizzle of rain as it smothers the once-dry lengths of my precious orchards. "All in a day's rinse! Hah!" She twirls and backflips her way toward the ground, toward me. Even when she doesn't try to be special, she simply is. She plants her petite hooves on the soft soil before me like the very act is a gift and we both know it. "That didn't take long at all! Anything else you need me to do, Crackle-Jack-Pop?"

Yes. Would you fancy spendin' the afternoon with me, sugarcube? Would you tell me all about yer adorable pie-in-the-sky Wonderbolt fantasies, just so I can hear that adorable voice crack again and again like an old record playin' timeless tunes? Would you watch the rain with me for a little while, so that I could build up the strength to tell you a secret, a secret that might make you blush? I mean, it's all well and fine, because the blue sky is always due for a sunset anways, don't you think?

"Nah, that about covers it, Rainbow." Gosh darn it. "I'll wait until the clouds have cleared up, and then I'll see if the moisture gets to the roots or not."

"Pffft! What, you don't trust me to get the job done?"

"Now I didn't say that—" Watch it, AJ. Don't breathe too hard. T'ain't the same when yer voice cracks, after all...

"Whatever." She dismisses it. She dismisses everything and smiles. "There's a dinner scheduled at Sugarcube Corner this evening. Am I gonna see you there?"

Oh, land's sakes, yes! "I reckon so. All the other gals will be there too, right?"

"Uhhhh... Yeaaaaah?" Her ruby eyes glint weirdly. "Of course they will. Why you ask?"

"Ahem. Just gettin' all the facts straight."

"Well, as long as one of us is."

"Heheheheh... Good one, Rainbow—" I freeze in place, twitchin' something awful. "Wait, what—?"

"See ya later, cowpoke!" She zooms off towards the edge of Everfree Forest. I swear, the sky's already turnin' dark and gloomy without her. "I gotta meet up with Fluttershy to deliver something for her to Cloudsdale! Try not to choke on any appleseeds between now and the meetup!"

"And just what's that supposed to mean?!" I feel a frown being foaled across my face again, but she's gone before she can see it. Everythang is nothin' but dirt and soil and sweat—my sweat—and it's doubled since she came here and I reckon it'll triple now that she's gone.

Gosh darn it...