Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash were down on Sweet Apple Acres in the chicken coop later that afternoon. They had raced each other there from Rarity's Boutique after their two-hour nap, and when they arrived, they collapsed onto the ground with laughter and wheezing breath right under an apple tree just off to the side from the 'Sweet Apple Acres' sign.

"So," said Rainbow Dash as she watches the chickens scratch around the coop; she was keeping all the chickens away from the chicken house so Apple Jack could collect some eggs from the nests. "So, how long have you...?"

Apple Jack came out of the chicken house with a pile of eggs in her hat, and when she noticed Rainbow Dash patting a chicken gently on its wings with a smile, she too smiled, but with adoration. "Err, I'm not too sure. It's not a recent thing but it's developed slowly over the time I've gotten to know ya."

"Oh!" Rainbow says in surprise, smiling brightly. "Me too!"

"You played a good darn-tootin' Rarity, by the way," Apple Jack decided to mention because oh my hay wasn't she so good! "You were awesome at being her! I thought you were her."

Rainbow Dash laughed and nodded. "Yeah, well, I didn't have to do much," she admitted easily, picking up the chicken and putting it on her back. The chicken turned around and sat on Rainbow's back with a cluck. "All I really had to do was be elegant, sit there, look pretty, and say darling in nearly every sentence. I got the hang of it, knowing Rarity for years."

"Yeah, you are really pretty," Apple Jack mumbled to herself as she stepped carefully through the mud and chicken poop to the chicken coop's gate to open it back up. She looked up at Rainbow Dash who she found just staring at her in astonishment with cheeks as red as strawberries, and blushing herself, she nodded at the gate to go. "Let's go! We've got a barn to clean up."

Rainbow beamed and followed Apple Jack out of the Chicken Coop in a trot, locking the coop behind them, and continued to follow AJ up to the barn. "You know, I don't really do the whole compliment thing, ever, but I just wanted to say that I think you're gorgeous." Apple Jack froze and turned to look at Rainbow Dash, a familiar warm feeling spreading across her face. Rainbow Dash was smiling at the ground and ran a hoof through her colourful mane, gradually looking up into the surprised face of Apple Jack. "I mean, yes, Rarity is gorgeous, she really is, and so are Pinkie, Fluttershy and Twilight but I'm not interested in them. I'm interested in a challenge, some pony that's hard to get and some pony who loves a challenge just as much as I do. You."

"I-" Apple Jack was at a loss for words again. She? A country farmyard girl? Gorgeous? If anyone had called her that she wouldn't have believed them. Not to mention Trenderhoof – ew, gross. But having Rainbow Dash compliment her and call her gorgeous? She feels like she's floating – she feels a whole lot of things, she feels - love. Not the kind that she has with all her friends, this one's different.

Rainbow Dash chuckled and elbowed the country pony in the chest. "You should see how red your face is – I am so flattered and humbled that my words make you all flustered," she said softly, and as she neared the country mare, she looked down at the wooden floorboards of the barn and drew circles on the wood with her hoof. When did they arrive in the barn so quickly? "Anyway, to go on with what I was saying before... I think you're gorgeous – you're a beautiful, strong, country mare who I have always had deep, confusing feelings for and I will beat you to the top of that hill tonight though!"

"I'll make sure your wings are tied behind your back," Apple Jack said with a hard smile; she made a mental note in her mind for this afternoon to make it a fair race by tying Rainbow's wings to her back so she wouldn't try to use her wing power to gallop faster. "The feelings are mutual – confusin' is what I mean. I didn't understand them at first. I didn't understand if I wanted to be you or if I wanted to sneak you behind a nice, large tree during the Falling Leaves race and just... cuddle you!"

Rainbow Dash smiled but then let out a roaring laugh and fell back onto a haystack behind her, laughing some more. Apple Jack rolls her eyes at her best friend, places her hat with the mound of chicken eggs beside her on top of a barrel and joins Rainbow on the haystack, towering over her and quietly admitting, "Trust me when I say cuddlin' wasn't all we were doing."

Rainbow Dash stopped laughing and looked up at the country mare above her, rubellite eyes glinting with something AJ had never seen before but it excited her. "Oh, really?" the Pegasus mare says smoothly as her face colours once more, a smile turning into a smirk. "What were we doing?"

Apple Jack rolled her eyes, again, and huffed. She didn't realise how dirty-minded Rainbow Dash was. Or, perhaps, she had a dirty mind and was blaming it on Rainbow Dash. Now she's confused. "We have chores to do, ya know," she said and hopped down off the haystack and back to her hat filled with eggs. "Help me sweep up in here, will ya?"

Rainbow groaned, "Oh, fine!" as she got to her hooves and jumped off the haystack. She grabbed the broom that Apple Jack had tossed to her but she had other, fun plans in her head that involved the eggs.

"Don't even think about it," Apple Jack said as she noticed Rainbow Dash staring at the eggs in her hat. She knew Rainbow and the tricks she'd get up to. She could see those mischief clogs in Rainbow's head turning and clicking.

"What am I doing wrong?" Rainbow Dash asks at once, confused but very certain that AJ knows what she is thinking. "Look! I'm sweeping!" As she said so she began sweeping a bunch of dust around.

"You're supposed to be pushing the hay straws towards the haystack!" Apple Jack said, frustrated, while keeping a close eye on the Pegasus. "You're just pushing dust around in circles."

"Well, you didn't give me any clear instructions on what I should be doing!" Rainbow Dash said loudly. "Thank you very much!"

Apple Jack snorted and turned her back on Rainbow Dash for just one tiny little second just to sweep a bit – that was a mistake. An egg hit her on the back of the neck and she grunted, and a second came flying just past her ear. "You little rat!" she snapped and ducked just in time to turn around and see where Rainbow was. She was behind the barrel with the mound of eggs, her wings spread out and flapping but she wasn't flying. Come to think of it, she hasn't seen Rainbow flying at all today. "How dare, you! That's our breakfast tomorrow mornin'!"

Rainbow Dash grinned wickedly. "I'll buy you a carton of eggs then to make it up to you!" She shouts.

"How nice of you," Apple Jack said with sarcasm, "Buying me a carton of eggs when we have chickens! And you're destroyin'g the eggs our chickens gave us!" Rainbow kept pelting eggs her way, and she leapt her way towards the Pegasus while dodging flying eggs coming every which way, until she had the Pegasus in her reach and leapt towards her, but Rainbow was too quick.

"Oh, pfffft! The chickens will give you more eggs by tomorrow!" Rainbow Dash said at once, zooming up towards the ceiling of the barn to get away from AJ's grasp. "Can't catch me now!"

Apple Jack grabbed a string of rope from nearby and tied a lasso. Flinging it up into the air, she looked up at where Rainbow was and grinned. "I'll hog-tie you!" she shouted up at the Pegasus.

"What was that? Can't hear you over the rope in your mouth!" Rainbow shouted back with a laugh.

Apple Jack sighed and tossed the rope aside, looking up at the mischievous Pegasus in the air. As much as she loves being around Rainbow Dash and having fun with her, they still have chores to do. "You know, that is the first time I've seen you flyin' today! Flapping your wings and all!"

"Oh, well, I have been rather distracted, I admit," Rainbow Dash said, rubbing the back of her neck, her cheeks pinkening again and she started lowering herself down from the ceiling of the barn.

"Yes, same here," Apple Jack said, feeling giddy about the fact that she's distracted the Pegasus mare so much that she forgot she could fly.

"Sorry about the eggs, I got excited," Rainbow said with a guilty little smile on her face.

Cute, Apple Jack thought at the smile Rainbow gave her. "It's alright," she assures her and decides to get a little payback as she walks backwards towards the eggs in her hat. "As you said there will be more eggs tomorrow to collect." She turned her back on Rainbow once again, this time gathering some eggs in her hoof, and once she turned to face Rainbow Dash who she noticed was distracted by her thoughts. That's when she took her shot.

The egg hit Rainbow on the forehead and out of shock, she floated the rest of the way down, arms crossed and glared at Apple Jack. "Really?" she said flatly, unimpressed.

Apple Jack only grinned and threw the two eggs she had at Rainbow Dash, who dodged the eggs coming at her as she dove down towards the other mare and then she pounced on her. Rainbow grinned as she pinned Apple Jack to the floor, trapping her legs between her hooves.

"Gotcha!"

"Nope."

"Yep," Rainbow said. "Aw." She smiled. "You look so cute below me!"

Apple Jack narrowed her eyes at pretty Rubellite pink eyes sparkling with mischief, thinking How dare she call me cute. I am not cute, and using all her Earth Pony strength she had, she pushed her legs outward, hoping to push the Pegasus off of her but Rainbow's hooves slipped and the Pegasus collapsed down onto her. 

Closing her eyes for the impact, AJ slowly opened them to find those rubellite eyes staring right back at her, only they were closer than before, and she felt hot breath in her mouth. She realised what had happened and felt her cheeks warm up with a blush as she pulled her lips off from the other mare's.

"Oops," she says, distracted by that familiar twinkle in those eyes she gets distracted in every day.

"That was a nice oops," Rainbow Dash whispered, smiling slowly, eyes glancing from lips and back to eyes again. "Could we do it again?"

Apple Jack chuckled. What a flirt, I love her! "You're the one on top of me so go on," she says softly.

Rainbow's smile grew as she lowered her face back down, and Apple Jack watched, not knowing what to do next as Rainbow's face neared hers. She licked her lips, feeling her heart accelerate in her chest as if she were running, running with Rainbow Dash through a race. That was until she felt warm, soft lips touch hers and she felt as though she couldn't breathe, but she could. It was the sensation as though she was just a whisp of air floating through the autumnal breeze, but it was Rainbow Dash that kept her warm and down-to-earth. She felt more alive than ever.

Rainbow Dash was like a breath of fresh air, but warm and very cosy, her feathery blue wings wrapped around AJ softly. Her lips moulded with Rainbow's as if they were meant to be kissed by each other. 

"Sweet Celestia! Bloody finally!"

"E-yup."

"But look at the mess they made!"

"E-yup!"

Apple Jack recognized the voices of her younger sister Apple Bloom and her older brother Big Mac, but she paid no attention to them at all as all she cared about was Rainbow Dash and giving her what she had been wanting to give her for years.

That was until a broom was thrown at them. Pissed, Apple Jack grunted, pulled away from the kiss and looked to their side at who threw the broom. She was still trapped in Rainbow Dash's embrace and she kind of wanted to stay here all day like this. "Big Mac!" she said loudly, angrily when she noticed him backing away slowly with a guilty look on his face.

"E-yup! Quick, Apple Bloom, run!"

"On it," Apple Bloom said happily as she fled from the barn, laughing, and Big Mac galloped away.

Rainbow chuckled, and she reached a hoof up and played with AJ's blonde fluffy fringe. "I love your family, AJ. They're awesome!"

"They're always, well, sometimes gettin' on my nerves," Apple Jack mutters, enjoying the feel of Rainbow's hooves in her fringe. It felt nice. "They're right, though. We've got a mess to clean up."

Rainbow groaned and wrapped her hooves around AJ tightly, her wings tightening around her too. "It's so comfy, though! You're comfy!"

"My bed is comfier than a hard floor and much preferable too," Apple Jack states, and Rainbow's eyes glittered with mischief again. She noticed it and smiled. "Let's just clean up the mess we made then we can relax in the haystacks or under a tree."

Rainbow Dash sighed slowly but got to her hooves, pulling Apple Jack up with her. AJ headed back over to the barrel holding her hat with the few remaining eggs left and decided it was time to take them inside. She's got an eggy barn to clean up and she'd rather there be no more eggs to spill. "C'mon, sugarcube, you're helpin' me clean all this up. I'll just take these eggs inside and I'll come back with some buckets of soapy water."

"Got it, boss!" Rainbow Dash said with a salute and a grin. Apple Jack gave a smile and took the eggs inside, returning minutes later with two mops and buckets of soapy water and cheeks ablaze with colour after running into Big Mac in the kitchen making kissy noises at her and Apple Bloom laughing hysterically. She'll get them back someday.