Dinner with Oranges
Since the beginning of their relationship, Applejack has always had one small fear: whether they would be congratulated or hated. Granny Smith, who Rainbow believed had such a wild energy about her that she must've experimented around back in her heyday, took the news with a grain of salt. Not that it was over her granddaughter's sexuality, more that it was the pony she had fallen in love with. The old mare didn't make a fuss over it, and Dash would like to thank they'd reached a mutual understanding. Big Macintosh and full-of-innocence Applebloom had no change of opinion on their sister either.
One of the major differences between them was Rainbow Dash's lack of concern over what ponies thought of her. She had no anxiety over what shame she might've brought to her family name, never did anyway. She didn't give a flying buck about the opinions of her parents, she was happy and that was all she needed. Applejack felt a little sorry over that, family was a big aspect of the farm mare's life and she believed everypony needed it in some way or another. And while her immediate family had no qualms, Dash hadn't heard much about the other hundred or so members. Nothing from Cousins Braeburn or Applefritter or Applebumpkin or anypony else, not even on Hearth's Warming.
Sitting at this dinner table, with its blindingly white cloth and glistening silverware, the pegasus did her best to fit in. This area reminded her of the dining hall at her academy, only smaller. Applejack sat to her left a few yards away, an exaggeration of course, but not much of one. How was it this earth mare talked her into eating at her Aunt and Uncle Orange's apartment? After the mention of having to go to Manehattan for a night it all became fuzzy. Dash had been looking for a reason to visit the bustling city, not for its beauty or cultures, but because of a concert she had been looking forward to for what had been months.
"Ya had to drag me to this, didn't you?" she whined, not bothering to whisper. A room this size, she'd have to yell for everypony to hear her.
Applejack turned to her, amazed at how loud she had been. "Auntie Orange was my father's sister, it's important that she meets ya. 'Sides this ain't supposed ta be fun."
Hope, "Then why don't we leave? There's a concert going on a few blocks from here that I've been dying to see!" Dash nearly fell out of the chair, praying for an answer she knew she wouldn't get.
"Not this again Rainbow! Ya know Ah'd love ta go see Huey Lewis and The Mules, but family comes first." The turquoise pony sunk back into the chair, defeated.
"Applejack dear, is everything to your liking?" Mrs. Orange had shouted from the end of the table.
AJ cleared her throat, "Yes ma'am, everything is absolutely scrumptious!" she replied in a voice that lacked what Dash considered to be a cute little country drawl, this was only one of the many odd things Applejack was doing to disguise her actual nature. Her hair had been styled so oddly, curled and wrapping around the top of her head, mimicking that of her aunt, it looked way too complicated to manage and took away her natural beauty.
"Good! Tell us Miss Dash, how long have you and our niece been . . . dating?" the tone and emphasis she put on dating made both the pegasus and her marefriend's skin shiver, it sounded so calm and yet so malicious and insulting. From the looks and tones, Dash could only assume these two weren't comfortable around fillyfoolers, even if one of them happened to be their niece.
"It's been about ten months, almost a year." Rainbow turned to Applejack, surprised over how long it had been since they threw each other through a barn wall and started making out.
"And how did you two meet?" asked Mr. Orange, looking over the head of a unicorn that was slicing his food.
"Well we've known each other since . . ." Applejack cleared her throat yet again, straining to keep away what she considered her unsophisticated accent. "We wrote to each other as fillies, but I first met Rainbow after she . . . graduated flight school and moved to Ponyville." The green eyed pony glanced at the pegasus, whose mouth had dropped to the table at the sound of her lie.
"Graduated?" Dash mouthed silently, unable to distinguish what hurt more: her marefriend being ashamed of her, or the fact that the Element of Honesty was able to lie so easily about it. Actually it had to be the former, Applejack had been demonstrating just how great of a liar she could be all night, another metaphorical log in the fire wasn't much of a surprise.
"Please," AJ mouthed back, eyes pleading. Her pride should've come first, it usually did, but somewhere down the road she must've turned into a big softy because the pegasus just choked back her offense and nodded.
"Uh . . . yeah, after I graduated I decided to leave Cloudsdale. Applejack and I were pen pals and I decided to look her up in Ponyville." Suddenly missing Huey Lewis and The Mules wasn't the worst disappointment of the night. The fact that her marefriend was embarrassed by her topped that little concert so effortlessly.
"Thank you," Applejack mouthed, staring at the floor in self-disgust. Rainbow truly couldn't blame her for that.
"And you said you were captain of the weather team, isn't that a little wasteful of your education?" Aunt Orange gave a look that suggested she was suspicious of the pegasus.
"I never thought so, but maybe you should ask Applejack." Dash gave her marefriend an angry glare, that usual spark and enthusiasm had vanished. "What do you think Applejack, is being a weather captain only for stupid little dropouts?"
Applejack squirmed in her seat as all eyes fell upon her, "Surely there's a lot of work into runnin' an entire town's weather, but Ah . . . I have no place in sayin' how much of an education one needs to do the job right!" Dash was amazed at how well she'd avoided a direct answer, the pegasus would've been so proud under regular circumstances.
"Yes, what an . . . informing answer!" Uncle Orange said, trying to appear as though he understood her point of view.
Applejack desperately wanted to change the subject, lest she get Rainbow even more infuriated with her. Her eyes dart over the room, looking for the slightest spark of an idea. She just kept coming back to her marefriend, sad and trapped in deep thoughts a few feet away. "Of course Dash isn't always goin' ta be a weather captain, someday she'll be a member of the Wonderbolts!" she yelled enthusiastically, bringing the winged pony out of her mind. "Ya ain't never seen anypony that could fly half as good as RD!" That high-class pronunciation had disappeared in the excitement and it brightens Dash up, though Aunt Orange was cringing over it.
"Well, let us know how that goes Miss Dash," Uncle Orange took another bite out of his food, some French dish that she couldn't pronounce if she had a thousand years to try. Silence followed for an uncomfortably long amount of time as no pony had much to say, except for Rainbow, but anything that came to mind would not have been appropriate in front of present company. For yet another time in her life she was biting her tongue, and it reminded her just why she detested it so much. After this dinner was over she vowed to never think before she spoke ever again, starting with what she thought of all of Applejack's little lies.
Is dying of boredom a real thing? The pegasus questioned, certain she'd find out soon enough.
"How is young Applebloom, I haven't heard from her in ages?" one asked, neither were paying enough attention at this point to really differentiate.
"Oh she's fine," a short answer from Applejack.
"You're careful not to influence her, right? Such a young filly is so susceptible to those around her. We wouldn't want the poor thing getting confused."
There was an incredibly annoying grating sound coming from somewhere close, it was the only thing the turquoise pony could hear. Looking left and right for the source, she soon realized it was coming from inside her mouth. Teeth grinding, muscles tensing, she had to find an excuse to exit the room before she lost it. And how could Applejack just sit there and take this, wasn't she offended? Sure this was her aunt, but even with family one had to draw the line every once and awhile.
"Ya know what!" AJ slammed her hoof onto the table, making everypony jump in fright. "Ah'm sure whatever you've taught her is plenty worse than what we have Aunt Orange. And Ah'm not "confused", Dash makes me happy an' I was really hopin' that'd you'd see that." Applejack, trembling in anger and on the verge of tears, pushed away from the table and got to her hooves, trotting out of the room into the hall and towards the front door. She closed it shut with her back limbs like she was bucking an apple tree.
"Thank Celestia for that because I gotta say I was one second from jumping onto this table and tackling one of you two, I'm not sure which. I really hadn't thought that far ahead. Probably you," she gestured toward the colt with the shocked expression plastered on his snout. "Ah hay, I'd probably come after you next." She turned toward Mrs. Orange, who had the spitting image of surprise. "This was . . . something, food was good at least." Dash followed her girlfriend's example and left the room with a smile that stressed her lips and cheeks. She was tempted to open a wing and knock over a vase on the way out, but she fought it and took the satisfaction in so calmly walking away.
Applejack sat on the stone sidewalk outside the apartment building, wiping at her eyes and sniffling. Rainbow Dash stood in the doorway and remained unnoticed, certain the farm mare wouldn't want to be seen like this. "Outta the way!" an impatient unicorn barked, shoving her forward. Applejack turned, a look of dread as she picked herself up and dusted herself off.
"Hey ya sugarcube, what'cha doin' out here?" she asked, as if nothing had happened.
"Are you okay?"
"Ah've had better days, but Ah've also had worse."
"Pretend you're me, for just one second, and tell me. Are you okay?" Dash repeated, keeping her violet eyes fixed on Applejack.
"No, Ah'm not fine alright!" she shouted, throwing her forelimbs in the air. "They're the only family on my father's side that Ah ever see an' Ah just yelled at them!" pressing her back against the building, she slid back down to the ground and cradled her head. "Now Ah have to go back in an' apologize." Rainbow sat a centimeter away from Applejack, watching as ponies crossed in front of them, some entering the building, others stopping long enough to stare and imagine themselves living there.
"I just told your uncle I was planning to jump onto the table and tackle him." Dash said, breaking their silence. Applejack lifted her heat from her hooves and smiled. "And then I said I'd save some for your aunt." she started laughing, which sounded like music to the feathered pony's ears. In fact it really did sound like music, she could hear a guitar and drums and faint cheering. Maybe it was the city, perhaps it held some magical quality. Or – and this took the pegasus awhile to consider – maybe it was the music hall a few blocks down the hill. "Listen, I love you, more than I've ever loved anything. But if you make me go back in there for even a second, I will dump your flank faster than I can clear a sky." She teased, placing a forelimb around Applejack's shoulder.
"Ya still love me, even after Ah put you through that?"
"Yep," Dash smiled, expecting a compliment or reward of some kind.
"Sorry to tell ya this Rainbow, but Ah think ya might be missin' a few bulbs."
"Was that some country way of calling me stupid?" Applejack nodded, grinning. "I guess I have to be to stay with you." A few more minutes of laughing, both ponies looked at the door, expecting one of the Oranges to come walking out. Rainbow remembered the lie about her graduation, but for some reason the anger and hurt she'd experienced was drab compared to how happy she was. It wasn't worth the argument it'd cause.
"For Pete's sake, what did Ah do ta my mane?" the earth mare moaned, placing her hooves at the top of her head.
"Massacred it?"
"Suppose Ah did," in one motion the hair fell, curling just above her shoulders.
"Sexy," Dash complimented, swiping away the blond hair in her eyes.
"Thanks," she blushed. "Wish Ah had my hat, Ah feel so naked without it."
"Well now you're just torturing me." Dash presented a red hair tie to Applejack, who looked down in surprise.
"Ugh, where'd ya –"
"I hoped you'd come to your senses before we got here and tucked it under my wing." A kiss on the cheek as the green eyed pony took the tie.
"Ya know me all too well RD," she muttered, fixing her mane until it became recognizable to the pegasus. "So now what, we can't just sit here all night?"
Music, how could she not hear it? Dash wasn't even an inch away and she could hear it clear as day. "C'mon," she groaned, climbing to her hooves. "I brought enough bits for an amazing seat at a concert, or two decent ones."
"Do ya really feel up for it?"
"Right now I just want to take my marefriend out to a show, and I always wanted to hook up with somepony at a concert and have meaningless sex." Dash shrugged, holding a hoof out for Applejack.
"Lucky me," she stated as she was pulled off the ground.
"I didn't say it was going to be you." They trotted off down the hill, laughing and shoving each other.
A/N: Again, way too much Back to the Future, but I got a stupid pony band name out of it. Huey Lewis and the Mules, really? Speaking of which, eight chapters. Only eighty more before I can make another reference!
Hope this wasn't too preachy for anyone, believe me I wasn't trying to teach the fears of homosexuality. I can only assume that if you've read this far than you don't have a problem with lesbianism, or at least lesbianism involving cartoon ponies.
Onto my small rants that you can and probably have skipped, I would just like to take a moment to say happy Saint Patrick's Day (which has passed since I published this). Also I've been hearing a lot about the endings to that Mass Effect 3 game, sorry to those who feel cheated. To everyone else that, like me, has never played the game, show sympathy to those that have.