Appledashery

by Just Essay

Nuttyturnals

"Ughhhh... gosh!" Stu Leaves stretched his legs and feathers from where he stood in the back of the dormant wagon. As the flicker of a campfire splashed across his smiling face, he hopped down and trotted limply across the grass. "Well, looks like I was out for a century and a half."

"Way to go, partner," Applejack droned. She smirked as she added a few twigs to the glowing fire beside the parked wagon at night. "You done got all yer sleep over with. Now it's nighttime!"

"Just my luck," Stu sighed. "Heck, maybe I'll catch up on some reading."

Rainbow squinted from where she was rolling her sleeping bag out. "You brought a book with you?"

"Yeah!" Stu Leaves grinned. "Green Hoof's Almanac to Proper Farming! I never leave home without it!"

Applejack chuckled. "Ya mean ever since you arrived at Ponyville and checked it out from Twilight's library you've never parted ways with it."

"Hey! So what if I wanna settle a homestead of my own somewhere?"

"You?" Rainbow gawked. "You want to live on a farm?"

"Well, Ponyville is an earth pony village, after all. I figure it's the only real way to do long-term business."

"Oh." Rainbow blinked. "So you're in Ponyville to stay."

"Yeah! Isn't that great?" Stu Leaves blinked. "I mean... that was obvious, wasn't it? I thought I told everypony."

"Ya told me, Stu," Applejack muttered, stifling a yawn as she trotted across the way to her sleeping bag. "I doubt you told Rainbow Dash."

"So, like, why are you ditching Cloudsdale for Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash remarked.

"Heh... why did you?" Stu winked. "Just because we have wings doesn't mean we can't commune with the earth."

"... ... ..." Rainbow Dash blinked. "Uh huh."

"Ya gotta be good at plowin' first, ya noodle," Applejack said.

"Hey! I'm working on it! I'm working on it!" Stu chuckled as he wandered to the back of the wagon. "It's not like your big brother ever relinquishes his plow long enough for me to practice with it!"

"Hah! Good luck with that! There ain't no splittin' Big Mac up with Ol' Betsy!"

"Oh, for Luna's sake." Stu Leaves rolled his eyes and chuckled. "You name your plow. You name your orchards. You name our left and right rear legs. Is there anything you don't name?"

"Yeah. Trespassin' varmints tryin' to get his mangy hooves on our family plow."

"Hey." Stu Leaves pointed. "You didn't hear me say nothin'."

"Heheh... but you was thinkin' it."

"Impossible." He pulled a thick tome out of his backpack. "I'm in read zone right now."

"Heh, good luck with that," Applejack said. "Just don't keep the fire too bright while RD and I are catchin' Z's. Yer liable to become nocturnal at this rate."

"Yeah." Stu sat on the edge of the wagon, flipping through the pages while crickets sang in the background. "I'm a regular bat pony."

"Don't you mean a sarosian?" Rainbow muttered.

Stu looked up, blinking. "Huh?"

Rainbow bit her lip, swiftly ducking down into the velvety insulation of her sleeping bag. "Er... f-forget it. Not important."

"Heh... if you say so..."

Rainbow Dash turned around three times before plopping down inside the cushioned comfiness with a serene sigh. "Ehhhhyyeahhhhhh..." She shut her eyes, allowing the ambient sounds of night to lull her to a faraway place.

Just then, though, she was jolted awake by a fussing sound.

"Ugh... gul-durn it! This thang is full of tangles..."

"Need help over there, AJ?" Stu muttered from his book-reading.

"Nothing you can fix. Don't sweat it." Applejack suddenly yanked her red hair ribbon loose in one fell swoop. A full swath of golden silk fountained loosely around her neck and shoulders, settling like a platinum cloud in the starlight. "Just behind on a few brushstrokes, is all."

"Heh, I hear ya."

Rainbow Dash looked... then looked harder. Her pupils enlarged, positively sparkling. Her petite body shook and flounced with each heavy heartbeat as she sat up in her sleeping bag, eyes locked on the angelic visage across the firelight form her. "Oh..." She cooed... almost drooled. "...my Celestia..."

Applejack had her back turned, not like it would make any difference. Pulling each strand of golden hair out at length blinded her to the world behind her beautiful head. With very methodical, unexpectedly graceful strokes of a hoof-brush, she rid each lock of golden hair of its tangles and twists. There were very few—if any—moments when she had to fuss or struggle with a knot. Everything was like liquid gold, melting further and forther around the mare's strong, supple shoulders.

All things considered, this was the first time Rainbow had ever seen Applejack's mane completely undone. She had seen it braided, even perm'd in an old photo from the farm filly's foalhood vacation to Manehattan... but never let down. For all of Rainbow's dumstruck awe, she never ever conceived that Applejack's mane would be that long. It even gave Fluttershy a run for the money in terms of length and shine. Rainbow imagined that, even with the campfire extinguished, Applejack's head would stand out like a radiant beacon in the middle of the expansive darkness. And she wasn't even remotely done with her motions.

"Hmmmmmm..." Rainbow Dash's body curled into a fetal position inside her sleeping bag. She nuzzled the felt insides, sniffling, imagining she was swimming her way through that golden sea, head-first. "Yeahhhh..." She purred, cheeks rosy under the veil of a nippy evening. "...I can dream to that."

Applejack heard nothing, said nothing. She simply existed, and did so gorgeously.

Rainbow was afraid the mare would stop brushing her mane before she fell asleep. So she sealed the image by closing her eyes, and drifted off with the happiest of fuzzy smiles...

Comments

[Jay_Baker]

That was nice.

[Lightning Bearer]

Applejack and Stu didn't pay much mind when Rainbow excused herself to the nearby trees. Nor did they pay much mind when she returned with a bad case of the hiccups.

[Sharp Quill]

Rainbow Dash turned around three times before plopping down inside the cushioned comfiness with a serene sigh.

RD is really a dog!

[Blue_Thunder]

That... is a lot of chapters...

[RoboRed]

"Ya gotta be good at plowin' first, ya noodle," Applejack said.

I know Rainbow would gladly help you get started with that!
...With a nice piledriving technique.

Applejack suddenly yanked her red hair ribbon loose in one fell swoop. A full swath of golden silk fountained loosely around her neck and shoulders, settling like a platinum cloud in the starlight.

I can totally feel everything going in slow motion right now.

[TLP]

Hmm.. I never was a fan of these type of Head-Canon stories, and never will to the fullest, but I will give credit to where it is due. This is a very great story and it deserves my fave, along with more from others. Keep it going.

Semper Fi

[Autumn Rush]

"Yeahhhh..." She purred, cheeks rosy under the veil of a nippy evening. "...I can dream to that."

Careful, Rainbow. You tend to talk in your sleep, and guess who is now going to be up half of the night, able to listen to every word you say and confess.

[BabySkittleMonster]

5350875
Oh, SS&E, you have to make her do that! She's Apple-Deprived! The last thing we need is for her to go to the doctors, and she hasn't had her daily dose of Applejack for far too long until just recently. Stu would tell AJ, right? Besides, we all know AJ would say yes. She would say yes, right? Right? you aren't evil enough to make her reject Dash, right? Oh, sweet Celestia, you totally would, wouldn't you. Dammit.

[Lord Dragon]

Green hoof... That Affliction reference. Did the author do it as a tribute to her demise?

[zaponator]

She's gonna wake up with a terrible case of hiccups.

5350480
And I think you mean cat.

[Aatxe360]

This is my favorite chapter so far.

[Future Regret]

CREEP..

[LucyHorseThing]

It's always the hair...

[TartariusTheEvilOne]

6846901 Come on down to the fur-burger emporium...It's ALWAYS the hair!!

[arancaytar]

I confess I actually like Stu.

I just want him to fall into a deep hole somewhere so we can have actual Appledashery all the way to Fillyda and back.

I mean, they can just rescue him on the return trip.

Rainbow Dash turned around three times before plopping down

Because Ponies Are The Size Of Cats.

"Nothing you can fix. Don't sweat it." Applejack suddenly yanked her red hair ribbon loose in one fell swoop. A full swath of golden silk fountained loosely around her neck and shoulders, settling like a platinum cloud in the starlight. "Just behind on a few brushstrokes, is all."

At some points it's really obvious when Scoots is writing down verbatim what Dashie said when she recounted the trip.

[arancaytar]

5351815

Oh! I only noticed that name just now.

Hmm... it might just be a coincidence.

[bronyheat]

Oh..." She cooed... almost drooled. "...my Celestia..."

Down girl, you're getting drool on your sleeping bag!