Applejack sat with Rarity on the train ride home from the Crystal Empire, talking and laughing and trying to ignore the suspicious glare Fluttershy was shooting at them. Rarity assured AJ that she would explain everything to their friends later, but for right now, it was part of the plan. Applejack tried not to look at Fluttershy, and kept glancing over at Dash, who was just staring out the window glumly.

AJ pretended to be interested in the cut, size, and clarity of shiny rocks for about twenty minutes before Rarity finally whispered, “That should do it. Now, go and talk to her. Mention how fabulous I looked, but don't say anything else. Be mysterious.”

“Mysterious. Gotcha.” Applejack nodded, standing up. “I hope this works.”

Applejack walked over and sat down next to Dash. She smiled and nuzzled her marefriend, and Dash gave a brief nuzzle back before returning her attention to the window.

AJ cleared her throat. “Boy, Rarity sure looked pretty, all see through and stuff.”

“Huh? Yeah, she looked hot.”

“Did she now?” Applejack started to frown, then Rarity caught her eye, urging her on. “I mean, she sure did.”

A silence settled over them. Dash seemed to be the only pony one the train who failed to notice Applejack flirting with Rarity. Except for maybe Twilight, who was in the middle of her third nervous breakdown in as many days.

"She was a little down, ya' know, cause she couldn't stay all crystally. But talkin' to me seems to have cheered her right up."

"That's cool."

Applejack just looked at Dash, looking out the window, and muttered, "Least it works on somepony."

This obviously hadn't worked. Flirting with Rarity was a last ditch effort to get a reaction out of Dash. Nothing had worked so far. From trying to be more open and publicly nuzzling her, to a very interesting evening with translucent bodies, nothing seemed to really hold Dash's interest.

“What's wrong, sugarcube?” Applejack whispered, abandoning the dumb plan and trying what she knew should work, for the hundredth time.

“Nothing. Everything's great. Equestria's safe, and I didn't even have to throw a punch.”

“I thought I saw ya' throwin' a few at random ponies on the street.”

“They didn't fight back, it doesn't count.”

“You got to joust with Fluttershy, that's kinda like fightin'.”

“AJ.” Dash turned from the window to look at her flatly. “Jousting with Fluttershy isn't like fighting. Fighting with Fluttershy isn't even like fighting.”

“Not as much fun as fightin' with me, huh?” Applejack gave a small smirk.

“I told you, I don't want to fight with you.” Dash sighed. “I just said that 'cause. . . I don't know why I said that. Just drop it, okay?”

“Okay. But. . . what 'bout joustin' with me? That might be fun.”

“Yeah,” Dash said, and a light seemed to go on in her eyes. “Yeah! That would be cool! But we don't have any of that stuff, lances or armor or anything.”

Applejack grinned happier than she'd been in weeks, thanks to the change in the pegasus. “I'll have a word with Rarity, I bet she can whip us up some armor. And lances are just sticks, right? I got plenty of them.”

“That sounds awesome. You really want to joust with me?”

“Are you kiddin'?” She nudged Dash happily. “I wanted to, at the fair, but I never got a chance to figure out how. I was stuck doin' all the cookin' so Pinkie could learn to play the flugelhorn.”

“That was a great idea.” Dash rolled her eyes. “I hope I never see another flugelhorn again.”

“Ya' know she took one home.”

“No way. I poked through her mane, twice. I threw away three of them. And a tray of berry muffins.” Dash wrinkled her nose.

Applejack smirked. “Ya' know she took one home.”

“Yeah. I know.” Dash laughed, and to AJ that would've made up for Pinkie having a dozen flugelhorns. Which she probably did, anyway. "So, let me teach you about this jousting stuff. . ."

After a stop in Canterlot to assure Twilight that she was still the smartest pony in Equestria, the six ponies and a dragon returned home, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash revealed their plan. Rarity happily agreed to help, creating two suits of padded armor modeled after the Crystal Empire armor. Applejack’s rodeo practice ring was turned into an arena, and grand stands added after everypony in town expressed an interest in seeing the match. Two long poles were acquired, and pillows were tied to the ends at Fluttershy's insistence.

By the next weekend, Applejack stared at Rainbow Dash on the other side of the practice ring, lance ready. The stands were packed with ponies, and Twilight and Fluttershy stood by for emergency medical assistance that AJ and Dash both assured them would not be needed. Across the ring, Dash smirked at AJ, and playfully pawed the ground a few times. Applejack grinned with narrowed eyes.

As Applejack and Dash faced off, Pinkie blew the flugelhorn she had managed to smuggle home despite Dash's best efforts. Applejack leapt into action, charging at Dash as fast as she could. The crowd seemed to fall away, even though they were cheering loudly. She shifted her body, aiming the pillow tipped lance at the pegasus coming at her just as fast. For just an instant she could clearly see the look of determination on Dash's face.

Then came the impact, like a buck to the chest, it pushed her to her hind legs. At the exact same time her own lance jerked in the holster, shoving her hard in the side and knocking her onto her back. The crowd gasped, and Twilight teleported to Applejack's side.

“Are you okay?” she asked quickly, the concern obvious on her face.

“Think so. Probably. Just gimme a minute.” Applejack panted. “What 'bout Dash?”

“Ow! Stop touching that! I told you it doesn't hurt!” AJ heard from a few feet away. She tried to chuckle, but the jolt of pain made her stop.

“Well, you didn't kill each other,” Twilight said dryly.

“Course not. That was just the first pass.” Applejack gave a grin, which made Twilight smile back.

“You're not really going again, are you?”

“Well. . .” She sat up a little and glanced over at Dash. Dash looked to be in the same state Applejack was in. Fluttershy was standing over her and Dash was doing her best to shoo her friend away. Then Dash caught AJ's eye and grinned.

“I'm goin' again,” Applejack said, willing herself to stand up.

Dash was getting to her own hooves, though AJ could see that she had more than a few feathers out of place. “Coming back for more?”

“You didn't think you could take me down with that lil' ol' poke, did ya'?” Applejack teased back.

Dash smirked. “That's not what you said last-”

“Dash!” Applejack blushed, they were surrounded by other ponies, including her family. But her heart was soaring. This was them again, it was right. She smirked. "Just cause you get lucky every now and again don't mean you're gonna win."

"You're right. I'm gonna win 'cause I'm the best knight in Equestria!"

"Well now, that makes sense, bein' as you ain't that bright."

"Wha- hey, I meant knight, with a k. I should've known you can't spell it."

"I. T. Now we gonna have a joust, or a spellin' bee?" Applejack was starting to laugh.

Dash grinned. “Let's go!”

“Ready and waitin'!” Applejack said, trotting to her spot with a smile. If that goofy pegasus needed to bash somepony dizzy every now and then to have fun, it was a good thing she had a marefriend who could bash her right back.

Late that night, the two battered ponies lay in the barn on a pile of hay, recovering from their earlier combat. Both mares had pushed themselves more than they probably should have, and both were covered in bruises, sweat and dirt.

After that first pass they had both missed a few, but more often they ended up sprawled in the dirt to the increasing worry of Twilight and Fluttershy. It had finally been called a draw when Twilight enlisted Big Macintosh to stand between the two knights, and neither had the strength to give him more than a feeble shove.

Despite that, they'd both enjoyed the chance to show off their physical prowess in front of a crowd, and with Dash finally content that something cool had happened, Applejack couldn't have been happier. Dash was next to her, grinning, even if both of them could barely move.

“Ow, hey!” AJ said, a hoof poking a sore spot on her side.

“Sorry, just checking,” Dash said, giggling, until Applejack gave her wing a gentle push. “Owowow! Stop that!”

Applejack chuckled. “How's that for checkin'? I can kinda see why ponies gave up on joustin'.”

“But you have to admit, it was awesome. You looked so cool in that armor.”

“You didn't look bad yourself.” Applejack wrapped a foreleg around Dash and stroked her mane.

“Why can't every day be like this?” Dash sighed.

“'Cause we'd kill each other,” Applejack pointed out. “Dash, what's goin' on? I know life's been kinda borin' lately, but it really seems to be eatin' you. We're a team, when you gotta problem, I gotta problem, but right now I don't even know what the problem is.”

Dash thought for a minute, searching for the words. “I just feel like everything is. . . good.”

“Good is good, ain't it?” Applejack asked, confused.

“No. Good is boring. Why isn't it awesome and exciting? My life needs to be awesome and exciting.”

“What about us?”

“Huh?”

“Are we good?” Applejack asked softly.

Dash hesitated. “. . .Sometimes.” Then she snuggled close to AJ. “But sometimes we're totally cool, like today. That was amazing.”

“It was awful fun.” Applejack said, happy to once again have a content pegasus snuggled in her forelegs. “I dunno how often I can be amazin' like that, Dash. I'm pretty beat up.”

“I know. Besides, that would get boring after a while. I can't wait to figure out what we can do next!”

Dash was nuzzling AJ's chest, so she didn't notice her ears fall, or the look of worry on her face. Of course there had to be something next. There would always have to be something next.