Rainbow Dash awoke in her cloud home early in the morning feeling refreshed and a lot more cheerful than she usually felt when she woke up so early. She smiled at the fond memories she had of the previous night. She stretched and yawned lightly before slowly getting out of her bed. She smiled down at her pet tortoise Tank, got out of bed and walked over to him. She patted his head lightly a few times to wake him up. Tank, being a tortoise and slow by nature, opened his eyes slowly and lazily looked up at her. He gradually got up out of his bed, the whole process taking about twenty seconds. The pegasus smiled in adoration for her pet. She really had grown to love him since she had taken him in after he had proven himself to be loyal and caring, much like herself. She grabbed the reptile chow from her dresser and poured some in his little bowl.

"Morning, Tank." She said happily. He looked back at her for a moment while walking to his bowl, as if to say, "Good morning, Rainbow Dash." She giggled lightly and patted his head again before going to her bathroom to get ready for work that day. She stopped in her tracks as her stomach felt like it sunk down. She scowled as she grabbed a water-filled cloud from inside her shower and punched it a few times, coaxing the water out for a shower. The one thing Rainbow had regretted leaving weather patrol to go see Applejack at her get-together was the scowls and angry looks she would be receiving from her fellow weather patrol members, as well as the verbal abuse she was sure to receive from her boss.

She washed herself off, sighing occasionally, until she was clean and prepared to go to work. She brushed her teeth and gargled water noisily before spitting it down the drain. After her breakfast of hay oats and apple juice (The applejuice bringing a smile to her face.) she patted Tank on the head and left for another day of weather patrol, certain this day was going to be more miserable than most.

She flied through the sky in a relatively straight path, strangely absent of her usual flips, loops and tricks. Her thoughts drifted to the overtime she would most likely have to do for leaving. Then, her thoughts drifted to the actual reason she left. The actual reason she was willing to miss work and possibly get fired. Applejack.

Her beautiful face, adorned with adorable freckles, her mesmerizing bright green eyes and the loving way she looked at Rainbow Dash with those eyes the previous night after they had made love. Rainbow smiled widely as she did a horizontal spin and began to plummet toward the ground. After a long fall, she pulled up and did a gigantic loop in the air, letting out a happy shout as she flew at full speed toward the weather patrol meeting center, where her boss would undoubtedly be waiting for her. But she no longer was apprehensive of what would happen when her boss saw her. With Applejack on her mind, she felt like she could do anything, overcome any obstacle. She touched down in front of her boss' office and laid her eyes upon Cloud Kicker, her co-worker, who winked at her. Now slightly confused, Rainbow ambled toward the office door.

She opened it and walked in with her head held high and a serious look on her face. Her boss, Rolling Storm, was writing something down on a sheet of paper. He looked at her and frowned. This was not the disappointed, angry frown she had expected, however. This frown seemed to be one of sympathy. Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him. He didn't say a word to her, obviously waiting for her to speak first. Rainbow cleared her throat.

"Hey there, Mr. Storm...About skipping out on weather patrol last night..." Her boss raised a hoof and closed his eyes. Rainbow cringed slightly. This was not good. Her boss was known to have a temper.

"Say no more, Rainbow Dash. I'm not angry that you left." He said. Rainbow's eyes widened slightly as her head tilted slightly.

"Huh?" Was all she offered as a reply.

"I'm so sorry about your tortoise. Is he okay?" He said to her.

"Uh...He's...doing better now..." Rainbow said, still thoroughly confused, but now working to hide it from the stallion.

"That's amazing! I've never heard of a tortoise recovering that quickly from a broken shell." He said. "I'm very happy for you." Rainbow, now knowing enough to go along with the story smiled at him.

"Oh, well, it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. He can still walk around and stuff. It was just a little fracture. But I'm here now, Mr. Storm, and ready to work!" She smiled at him. He shook his head.

"Oh, no, Rainbow Dash. I know how hard it is to nearly lose a pet. Take the day off and care for him."

"But sir, my day off is tomorrow..." Rainbow said.

"I'll give you half wages for today, how about that? It's a clear day anyway, you wouldn't really be doing anything if you stayed." He responded, looking down at his checklist. Rainbow, extremely happy at this new development, nodded.

"Okay, Mr. Storm. Thanks!" She ambled out of the office happily before stopping in her tracks. Someone had covered for her and lied to her boss. Her coworkers didn't seem to be angry at her either, so she assumed that whatever had been told had spreaded to them as well. She looked around to see any indication of who could possibly have told the story. Then, she saw Cloud Kicker again, she was smiling widely at Rainbow. Rainbow raised an eyebrow and walked over to her.

"It was you?" Rainbow said to Cloud Kicker. "You did it?" She nodded. "But why?"

"I saw you leaving, and since you never leave weather patrol, I figured you had a good reason. So, I made one up and told the boss. Plus we're cool, so that didn't make it any harder." Rainbow smiled and patted Cloud Kicker on the shoulder.

"Thanks a lot, Cloud Kicker. I owe you one." Rainbow smiled again and flew away from weather patrol, deciding to go spend a day in Ponyville to scope out possible places for her and Applejack to go on their date. She touched down in the market and looked around, searching for any ideas of what they could do. They could possibly get dinner at an eatery around Ponyville such as Sugarcube Corner or Cafe du Mane, then parhaps see a movie or sightsee. As she was contemplating what to do, she heard a familiar voice from behind her call her name.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow turned to see her friend Twilight Sparkle ambling toward her.

"Oh, hey, Twilight. What's up?" She said with a smile.

"I was actually going over to your house." Twilight responded.

"What for?"

"I have a proposition for you."

"Okay. I'm listening."

"Well, it has to do with Applejack." Twilight said.

_____

Three Hours Earlier

The morning shot sunlight into the room of one sleeping Applejack. The sunlight causing the mare to stir slightly in her bed as her eyes drifted open. She slowly got out of bed and walked into her bathroom. She turned on the water and looked at herself in the mirror as she waited for the water to get hot. She looked very well-rested and smiled as she remembered the previous night with Rainbow Dash. Their dance, the tender kiss they shared and the passion that followed. The smile never left her face as she entered the shower and washed herself.

Applejack finished her shower, brushed her teeth and donned her stetson before going down the stairs to be greeted by her brother. He nodded at her.

"Mornin'." He said simply.

"Mornin', Big Mac. Sleep well?" Applejack asked her brother. He nodded.

"As well as Ah could on that 'ol bed of mine." Applejack snickered.

"Well, then, you ready to sort the apples?" She said.

"Actually, while you were walkin' Rainbow home last night, Granny said we could take today off if we wanted to, seein' as how the celebration was last night and it's a special occasion and all." Applejack nodded as they both sat in silence for about a minute before she spoke up again.

"You ain't takin' the day off, are ya?"

"Nope."

"Ah suppose Ah won't either." Applejack replied. "Let's eat up and get to it." Big Mac nodded and went into the kitchen and got out a plate of leftover pasta from the night before. They both ate some and went to the barn and began sorting apples. The work wasn't arduous, so much as tedious, as sorting the vast quantities of apples housed in the barn took a lot of time. Applejack huffed as she adjusted her stetson, raising an eyebrow at her brother.

"Ah think Ah would've preferred to take the day off..." Applejack said.

"You can still go back into the house if ya want to, sis." Big Mac said. "Wouldn't bother me none." Applejack smirked.

"What, and leave you here to do all the work by yourself? You'd be hopeless without me." Applejack said, obviously joking around with her brother. Her brother looked at her sadly, with his ears splayed back.

"Ah think Ah can handle myself just fine sis..." He said, his lip slightly trembling. He looked down sadly. "It hurts that you don't think so..." Applejack felt an immediate pang of guilt at hurting her brother's feelings.

"Oh, Big Mac...Ah didn't mean to call you stupid or anything...Ah was just jokin' around." He looked up at her and immediately smiled and winked, dropping the act that had fooled his sister so easily. Applejack frowned and threw an apple at him, which he dodged with a chuckle. They continued to sort the apples, seperating the bruised from the perfect, the fresh from the rotten, all to be sold at a later time in the market.

The task continued for hours, though neither Applejack nor Big Mac seemed to mind. They were perfectly happy doing what they were doing at the moment. After they had finished, Big Mac looked at his sister as they walked back to their farmhouse.

"You took an awful long time walkin' Miss Dash back to her house. What were y'all doin'?" He asked. Applejack gulped silently and struggled with the lie she suddenly had to tell her brother.

"W-well, uh...Ah, uh...We just talked a lot..." Applejack said nervously.

"It's none of my business, anyways." He said, looking forward again. Applejack nearly sighed out loud with relief. Just before they reached the front door of the house, Applejack noticed Twilight Sparkle ambling down the path toward her, followed by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. She then noticed Rainbow Dash flying up to her as well. She smiled at the sight of her recent lover. Rainbow noticed this and smiled right back.

"Hey Applejack..." Twilight said, snapping the farm mare back to the situation.

"Hey there, Twi. What're y'all up to?" She looked over to her brother, who was already halfway through the door by now. Twilight smiled at her.

"Well, we all feel pretty awful about not coming to your hoedown last night..." Twilight said.

"So we figured that we'd all go and do some fun stuff together today!" Pinkie cheerfully interjected.

"Pinkie, Ah thought you were foalsitting for the cakes." Applejack said.

"I was, but they got home late last night. Apparently, the trip didn't work out." She said. Applejack nodded. Rainbow landed next to Applejack and put her hoof around her shoulders. Applejack's heart beat just a little harder at this motion, as she blushed slightly.

"Since, you know...none of us could make it last night." Rainbow said before walking back behind her friends. She turned around and winked at Applejack with a smirk, which none of the others noticed. Applejack blushed just a little more and nodded.

"Well, Ah just got through with work for the day, so Ah suppose we could do it." She said with a smile. "What did y'all have in mind?"

"Well, we figured we could all go to the spa for a while..." Twilight said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Rainbow Dash said nervously. "You didn't say anything about the spa..." Twilight looked up at the pegasus and said through clenched teeth,

"Get over it, Rainbow." Rainbow frowned and looked at Applejack, who was looking at her with an eyebrow raised, smirking.

"...Fine. But I'm not doing anything." Rainbow huffed. Twilight looked forward at Applejack to continue her description of the day's activities.

"Anyways, then we could go and get something to eat..." She continued.

"Then we could all go see a movie together!" Pinkie Pie interrupted Twilight, who simply sighed in slight annoyance and nodded. Applejack smiled.

"Sounds like a solid plan. Let's get goin'!"

The group departed from Sweet Apple Acres and walked down to Ponyville, chatting happily along the way. They all arrived at the Spa, ready to be pampered and cared for. Lotus Blossom sat at the counter and greeted them.

"Hello, my friends! Are you ready to be relaxed and made more beautiful?" She said.

"Darn tootin'!" Applejack said. "Where do Ah sign that little list or whatever it is?"

"You do not need to. Miss Sparkle has already arranged for your visit. All of you have been signed up for the mane and tail management, coupled with the hooficure massage special with a complimentary mineral bath." Lotus Blossom said happily. Applejack's eyes widened as she and her friends looked at Twilight, who laughed nervously.

"Twilight...you already paid for this?" Fluttershy said. "Thank you...I...I don't know what to say."

"How about thank you exactly five more times?!" Pinkie exclaimed as she took Twilight into a huge hug, squeezing her tight. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"No problem, Pinkie...I was happy to do it." Twilight responded, strained from the hug. Finally, when Pinkie put her down, Applejack approached her and smiled happily.

"Thank you, Twilight. Ah really appreciate this." Twilight smiled back at her.

"I really was happy to do it. You're my friends and I want you to know that I really do care for all of you." She said. Applejack nodded before noticing Rainbow, who was still sulking. She elbowed Rainbow in the shoulder.

"Ow!" She exclaimed. "That hurt!" Applejack looked at her sternly. "Oh. Thanks, Twilight." She said. Twilight giggled as they entered the spa room.

"Rarity would go nuts if she knew we came to the Spa without her, eh, Fluttershy?" Applejack said to her pegasus friend. Fluttershy sighed, frowned slightly and nodded. Applejack merely patted Fluttershy on the shoulder before continuing on. Lotus Blossom and Aloe met the group in there, enticingly gesturing toward the comfortable looking chairs set up around the interestingly tranquil, calm room. They each layed down and relaxed, save for Rainbow Dash who was on edge and nervously looking down at her hooves. Applejack looked over at her and smiled. Rainbow's heart skipped a beat as she melted into her seat and relaxed finally, still looking at Applejack. Lotus Blossom approached Rainbow with lotion, oil and a file.

"Look, Rainbow, Ah know you don't like nopony touchin' your hooves, but it is very relaxing and worth the trouble. So, just for today, could you give em a chance? Let 'em do their thing for a little bit, and if you still don't like it, you can tell 'em to stop. Okay?" Applejack said to her. Rainbow looked at Lotus Blossom, then quickly back at Applejack, who still smiled at her sweetly. Rainbow sighed heavily.

"Okay..." She said, giving Lotus Blossom a "go-ahead" gesture. Lotus Blossom began to rub lotion on her hoof and slightly up her leg, massaging the muscles soothingly, and even though Rainbow jolted or cringed occasionally, she began to fully relax and get into the treatment. Fluttershy and Twilight went and got into the mineral bath and prepared for Aloe to wash thier manes as Pinkie Pie got the treatment Rainbow was currently getting. Applejack merely waited her turn, all the while watching Rainbow Dash enjoy her massage. Rainbow eventually closed her eyes and let Lotus Blossom continue to rub her hooves relaxingly.

"Okay, fine..." Rainbow said, slowly opening one eye to look at Applejack. "This is pretty relaxing."