A/N: Aha! A non-humanized fic? A third person fic? Yes, I am doing it! And what's this? **~ALL ORIGINAL MUSIC?! ~** You heard right. Enjoy.
POV: Third person.
"Now Kiss!"
1. Two Birds, Meet One Stone
The day was as bright as most: sunlight cascading across the roads in beams, birds singing in the distance occupying the easy breezes, the fading sounds of filly laughter rolling over the round hills and catching in what few clouds hovered in puffs overhead. The air was saturated with the scent of freshly clipped grass and the sounds of cicadas humming to the trees, which stood tall and shady holding their emerald-hue leaves still firmly on their branches. Buds were still blooming along the walkways, dust was still kicked up by travelling salesponies, and creeks were still flowing with the cool waters from mountaintops' melt. But Applebloom did not give one hoof about any of it, she was more focused on the dirt and a grudge. She dug at the grass incessantly, glaring at it the whole while. Keeping her company, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle watched their friend's odd and huffy behaviour from a somewhat safe distance.
"What's wrong, Applebloom? Why haven't you gone home yet?" Scootaloo decided to pipe up first, pushing the small wheels of her scooter through the lush grass with some difficulty.
"My sister ain't here yet," Applebloom murmured as she laid on her stomach in the foliage, her chin pressing against the dirt as she spoke. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged glances, finding the explanation no more confusing than the initial action, "Applejack's always here on time. Always."
"Maybe she got held up at the farm?" Sweetie Belle offered, but the glare of Applebloom was overwhelming evidence that such a thing must not have been the case. Sweetie Belle frowned with a pout, mimicking Applebloom's own expression nearly perfectly, "Well my sister doesn't even bother picking me up, my parents neither."
"She said she'd be here!" Applebloom groaned again, turning over onto her back and looking up at the sky with a wince, the sunlight bathing her nearly blind.
"Listen Applebloom, sometimes adults just—" Scootaloo stopped speaking suddenly, and Applebloom noticed something flash in a straight, multicoloured line above her head, "No way! Oh my gosh!"
"What in the hay are you hollerin' about Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked as she turned her head a bit to get a better look at her friend, who was not even paying attention to her any longer.
"Sorry I'm late, munchkins," Applebloom heard a strange voice that didn't belong to either of her friends. Tipping her head back further so that her bangs fell towards the ground, she noticed the sky blue coat of a familiar older pony. She landed from her flight and trotted over to the three of them casually. She flipped her rainbow coloured mane as the attention turned to her, and finished speaking only then, "Got a little carried away with a trick or two."
"I ain't waitin' on you Rainbow, where's my sister?" Applebloom asked, trying to keep the hostility from seeping out. She turned over onto her stomach again and looked dully up at the pegasus before her, expecting an explanation.
"What kind of a greeting is that?" Rainbow Dash's voice nearly broke at the height of her vocal range as she made some irritated expression. "Listen kid, Applejack had to run a delivery of apples and baked goods to a party across town, she knew she'd be back too late to grab you so she asked me to stop by instead."
Applebloom still pouted about it, upset that her sister would just not show up without telling her. At least she hadn't forgotten though, that was something, but sending somepony in her place was not much of a consolation. Not that it was Rainbow Dash's fault, and surely she would not have been half as sour if Rainbow had been on time the way her sister always was. Applebloom sighed and agreed to the conditions, pulling herself back up to her hooves. Though Rainbow Dash noticed Applebloom's odd behaviour, she wasn't about to ask about it and warrant some childish whining rant or anything. But before they turned to leave, Scootaloo took a deep breath in, and with it came an idea.
"Did Applejack tell you that we're having a Cutie Mark Crusader's meeting today? At Applebloom's?" Scootaloo intervened, inserting herself between Applebloom and Rainbow Dash. Clearly it was something she just came up with on the spot, because the other two younger fillies looked at each other questioningly.
"We are?" They both inquired incredulously, doubting that crusading was the motive.
"Yeah girls, we planned this out days ago," Scootaloo exaggerated the words and tried to gesture to them that she wanted to come along with Rainbow Dash, but they just continued to stare at her.
"We did?" The two girls questioned again, their voices raising with uncertainty.
"Must have slipped her mind. Well the more the merrier, way I see it." Rainbow Dash couldn't remember anything Applejack said about such a thing, but agreed willingly, turning back around towards Sweet Apple Acres, "Come on then."
"Right behind you, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo practically jumped with excitement, mounting her scooter and pushing off after Rainbow Dash. The two other girls just looked at each other oddly for a moment, before making their way after.
"How did I get roped into this?" Sweetie Belle whispered dully, glancing over at Applebloom.
Applebloom's only was response was a shrug, because she really didn't mind having the girls over to her house. Applejack might have a thing or two to say if Applebloom couldn't finish up her chores, but somepony as generally good natured as Applejack couldn't mind too much. Rainbow Dash walked them the whole way back to Sweet Apple Acres, despite her desire to fly there and shave time off the distance. Just as the name prescribed, the scent that came with the farm was the scent of sweet, plump fruits. As the year would drag on, fallen apples would wane to compost and their rotting sugary fragrance would pollute the crop fields with temptation. Applebloom loved the orchard any way, something in the soil under her hooves felt like home. Scootaloo insisted that Rainbow Dash escort them to the clubhouse, and chatted her up the whole way trying to convince her to come inside. With some solid effort she made a dent in the pony's tough exterior and she agreed to stay for just a little while.
The heart-warming laughter fluttered through the thin, pulled back drapes of the clubhouse, shaking the ripening apples with jubilant cheer. The four were gathered around a short wooden table they had somehow put together from the scraps of wood left after construction of the clubhouse, of course they had Applejack's help with that, since they remembered all too well the débâcle that happened with Fluttershy's table not too long before. Clearly Rainbow Dash was a little too tall to sit comfortably at the table, but regardless she found herself hunched over with a big grin on her face. She peeked above her cards at the seemingly innocent faces of the children around her, most of their tells already clear despite their deceptively adorable eyes. Rainbow had tossed another false metal bit onto the pile, which was already stacked with useless junk and more play bits.
"Call." She stated simply, revealing her card hand on the table in one motion, spacing the cards perfectly apart. There on the table lay a perfect set of high cards, each value one more than the last, "Read it and weep girls, a straight."
"Aww," Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo groaned, folding their losing hands in front of them with a pout, "Again?"
"What can I say? Don't mess with the bull." Rainbow Dash grinned greedily, scooping up the whole pot and pulling it closer to her. She didn't so much care about the junk as much as she cared that all that bogus shrapnel represented her victory, even if it was small.
"Now hold on just one minute," Applebloom spoke up, carefully laying her own cards across the table in front of her and double checking the values. The other two girls smiled a bit as they watched her, and saw the look on Rainbow's face, "That there looks to me like a full house, now don't a full house beat a straight?"
"Darn it Applebloom! You're just like your sister, you know? She whoops my flank at poker every time." Rainbow Dash made an irritated face and sunk a bit into her seat,"For the element of honesty she sure is a sneaky liar when she needs to be."
"Now cough that pot up my way, be a good sport, will ya?" Applebloom flickered her eyelashes up and now in a sickly sweet manner, and Rainbow Dash had no other option but to push the whole pile back across the table.
"I hate losing." She muttered as she crossed her arms and let Sweetie Belle gather the cards up again and shuffle them.
"We learned not to play Applebloom at card games, she used to hustle us out of our cookies at lunch time until we got wise." Scootaloo admitted, trying her best to make Rainbow feel less embarrassed. She just rolled her eyes like she didn't care and flipped her hair a bit to act cool.
"You gotta be good to match the Apple family," Applebloom took the stack of cards Sweetie Belle clumsily shuffled and expertly mixed them through the air. The rest of the bunch just watched in awe, Rainbow Dash frowning deeper as she let a child beat her in some silly game. She felt ridiculous.
"Well lookie here," A new voice breached the confines of the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse. The group looked behind Rainbow Dash at the window to the small porch, where Applejack and her trademark sultry smirk stood expectantly, "Looks like you got home safe Applebloom, and brought a few fritter tasters along with you."
"What took you so long Applejack? Here I was doing you a favour, and your little sister here's been taking me for all I'm worth!" Rainbow Dash complained, gesturing wildly with her hooves in the air all the while. Applejack stifled a laugh before managing to respond.
"You want your reward or not?" Applejack raised her eyebrow at the whining Rainbow Dash, sparking her interest.
"Yes Ma'am!" She furiously nodded and hurried out the window in a winged leap, causing Applejack to hastily pull away as to not get tackled.
"Here girls, I brought you down some treats once I heard all the gigglin' comin' from over here, thought you might be hungry and all." Applejack leaned down and picked up a small plate of treats with her mouth, placing it onto the window sill. The still warm scent of fresh baked apples held onto the window, calling them away from the table and game.
"Thank you Applejack!" The three crusaders yelled in unison, hurrying over to the plate of snacks and taking one of each of their favourites.
"Don't mention it, come on back to the farm if you need anything else." Applejack smiled at the bunch of them, but had one more warning, "I know it ain't a school night or nothin', but that don't mean you can stay out too late, got that?"
"Yes, Applejack." All of them replied with a sonorous stoic tone, including Rainbow Dash who mirrored the huffy expression of school fillies.
"Come on, you," Applejack laughed out loud and gestured for Rainbow to follow after her as she started off through the apple trees once again.
"You're leaving already, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo peeped up, leaning out the window and almost knocking the treats onto the porch. Luckily Sweetie Belle and Applebloom leaned forwards and caught the slipping tray, pulling it back into the room with accusing gazes.
"Yeah, see you later guys!" Rainbow called back with a grin and a wave, before taking off after Applejack in the direction of the farm. The quietude settled back in easily, the flaps of wings and steps of hooves breaking fallen twigs disappearing between the trees. Scootaloo sulked on the window sill for a moment longer, before turning to point an accusing hoof at Applebloom.
"You just had to win, didn't you?" She growled in an intimidatory voice as Applebloom lifted her head from the plate with a mouth full of something.
"What?" She murmured through her pastry obstructed teeth. Scootlatoo groaned out loud and began pacing the room, bored without Rainbow around to play with. "Why're you trottin' around like that?"
"You girls are boring, I'm going for a walk." She huffed as she pushed the door open and started down the sloped walkway, her hooves catching the grooves the way they were intended to. The other two looked at each other with wondering expressions before deciding to go after her. "We're never going to find our cutie marks sitting in the clubhouse. Come on, there's got to be something to do on the farm that we haven't tried yet."
"What makes you so sure our cutie marks will be from something we haven't tried?" Sweetie Belle voiced, hurrying after her friend and wiping her mouth, "Twilight said that it might be something we're good at or something we like to do, right? Shouldn't we go back and brainstorm before just marching out here like this?"
"Applejack says they'll show up when we're ready, and that you can't force 'em. But I'm tired of waitin', I'm with Scootaloo." Applebloom agreed, hurrying after the small-winged pegasus.
"Fine, but you can't make me go zip-lining again!" Sweetie Belle called after, her voice cracking about with the high volume. They moved through the apples trees, approaching the main part of the farm readily. Hearing the bucking of trees and the rolling of wagons, they looked over to the tree line to see Big McIntosh working away as usual, all alone. Sweetie Belle frowned a bit as they passed him, his back strained from all the weight of the apples, "It's too bad that our matchmaking didn't pan out with your brother, looks to me like he could use a reason to relax."
"Trust me, ain't nothin' in Equestria that can stop big Mac from working himself so hard, except maybe some illness or injury. Last time he got hurt my sister had to try and harvest the whole orchard all by herself." Applebloom explained as she looked around at the hills upon hills of apple-rich trees. "Somethin' tells me she ain't much better at taking breaks than he is."
"Well then where is she?" Scootaloo asked suspiciously, looking around.
"The cellar door is open, she's probably down there takin' care of the cider." Applebloom imagined as the group walked past the garden, "Any who, first thing we need to try and think up somethin' to do, and second we gotta think up some crusadin' idea!"
"Hide!" Scootaloo shoved the other two into the barn and concealed herself. She peeked out once, and noticing the confused looks from her friends she continued, "It's Rainbow Dash, we don't want her to think we followed her or something."
"Did we?" Applebloom raised an eyebrow questioningly, noticing that it had been Scootaloo guiding them the whole way. Scootaloo didn't bother answering, but the other two crusaders peeked out from behind the barn entrance, watching the cellar door as Rainbow emerged, excitedly gesturing for Applejack to hurry out with the barrel she was tugging along after her. "That's funny, my sister don't even let me down into the cellar. Why is she takin' Rainbow in there? And why's she bringin' up a cider barrel?"
"Two birds, meet one stone." Sweetie Belle whispered menacingly as her grin expanded, but the other two didn't seem to catch on. They hurried to the other end of the barn to watch them move the barrel over to a table and chairs located on the patio area, where the Apple family often sat and watched the sun go down over the farm.
Applejack hoisted the barrel onto a wooden table, attaching a nozzle to it carefully as to not lose a drop. She pulled two metal-rimmed wooden steins over for her purpose and cranked the nozzle until the cider poured out, foaming at the top. Rainbow Dash drooled at the sight of it, anticipating the sweet apple flavour that had only ripened with care in the cellar. Applejack passed the perfectly filled mug into Rainbow Dash's eager hooves, and in one long gulp she downed most of the whole thing. She sighed as her thirst was quenched, and she gently floated down into one of the chairs. Applejack grabbed her own mug and pulled up a chair right next to her friend, clicking their mugs together with a smirk. With another two sips, Rainbow Dash finished off her first mug of cider, and rushed earnestly over to the barrel once again. Since they had opened it, to consume it with the utmost attention to quality they would have to finish it off in one sitting, that's what Applebloom had been told once or twice before. Applejack watched carefully as her bushy tailed friend excitedly poured another full mug, sipping it all the while and loving the tickling bubbles against her lips. A small smile graced the farmer's lips, admiring such joy at such a small thing. Applejack leaned back in her chair, rubbing her strained neck with a hoof vacantly.
"Well anyway, what do you guys want to do?" Scootaloo was bored already, and turned around to face her friends. Sweetie Belle was not done watching however, as she stared on like she was gazing into the face of genius, "Uh, Sweetie Belle?"
"What we need is a new challenge." Sweetie Belle continued to look out at the pair before her, with this sinister grin creeping across her face and melting over her features like butter in the sun. "You girls remember how close we were to victory with the matchmaking we did?" She dropped a hint, but the two just sort of looked at each other, only vaguely understanding.
"What do you mean? What're you lookin' at, Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom put her head on her friend's, following the devious gaze to exactly where she hoped it did not fall: right on Applejack, "Hey, that's my sister!"
"And don't you think she deserves the best?" Sweetie Belle asked, turning her head up in suggestion.
"I think she likes her privacy, she won't like us meddlin' into her life like that." Applebloom argued, but thought about it for a second before continuing on with a better argument, "Besides, she never seems interested in any stallions in the slightest. She's got too much to do on the farm to worry about that kinda thing."
"Oh really? No stallions, you say?" Sweetie Belle made a face that told Applebloom she didn't believe but a word of it, and gestured out at the two girls who sat around drinking cider. Applebloom did not understand what she was getting at.
"What are you—?" She started to ask, but Sweetie Belle cleared her throat and stood up tall, commanding the attention of the other two. They stared on with confused expressions as Sweetie Belle swung the door open just a little more until the both older ponies were clearly in the fillies' sights.
"Girls, we have found our match." Sweetie started slowly as she turned to face the pair she had already decided upon, her eyes narrowing as if targeting her foes.
"We what?!" Scootaloo and Applebloom nearly shouted as they looked over the pony door of the barn, blinking at the accusation.
"You mean—" Scootaloo began first, but Applebloom caught on almost as quickly and joined in for the completion of the sentence.
"Applejack and Rainbow Dash?!" The two of them shouted at the same time that Sweetie Belle maniacally whispered the same two names that she had already decided upon. All three gazed back out at the two girls before their eyes, watching the way they smiled again and sipped at the cider in that glowing sunlight.
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