Applejack went about her apple bucking work on muscle memory. Her legs knew what to do without her having to think about it, leaving her free to keep her attention on the sky above Sweet Apple Acres, where Rainbow Dash raced and looped and performed for an audience of one. When the sun finally wound its way down from the height of afternoon to the early edge of dusk, Rainbow Dash ended her performance with a stylish yet controlled landing a fair bit away from Applejack.

"Speed, check. Agility, check. Endurance..." Rainbow Dash stretched her legs and wings, then rolled her neck around. "Mostly check." She trotted the rest of the way to AJ then kissed her, both of them stained with dried sweat from the day's work, neither of them minding in the least. "How'd I look up there?"

AJ shuffled off her apple catching baskets. "Honest opinion?"

"As if you even [i]could[/i] give anything else."

"Honestly, it's a bit warm still. Let's mosey on over to some shade so I can think without poppin' a gasket."

Rainbow Dash shrugged, then walked next to Applejack toward the nearest tree big enough to keep the last of the sun off of them.

"Your hips feelin' alright?" AJ asked as level as she could.

"They're fine." Rainbow Dash replied.

"Knees?"

"Also fine."

"Neck? Clavicle?"

"Still fine."

"Wing joints? Your articulation good?"

"Applejack, come on. I got a full clear from the Wonderbolts' entire medical team. Yeah, sure." Dash rolled her neck around again. "I'm pretty sore right now, but that's what happens when I spend a whole afternoon shaking the rust off."

"Mm hmm." Applejack stopped in the shade of a large tree, then laid down on her back with a grateful sigh. "That's more like it." She patted a spot of grass next to her, and Rainbow Dash happily complied with the request.

They took a minute to rest, enjoying the shade, the stillness, and the quiet; the only motion their steady breaths and occasional slow glide of one mare's fetlock against the other's.

"Something did seem a might bit off up there, Sugar. Not [i]technically[/i]. I've seen you perform enough all these years to know what it's supposed to look like, and it all looks just about right. Reckon nopony but me or one of the other 'Bolts would even notice you weren't perfect up there."

Rainbow rolled to head toward AJ, eyebrow cocked.

"Fear's a funny thing," Applejack said, pushing her hat back further from her eyes. "Three things it can do to a pony."

"You think I'm afraid of something?" Dash replied, less indignant than she sounded. "Come on. I'm [b]me[/b]."

"And I love that about you." AJ winked, then proceeded to ignore Rainbow's indignation. "Fear can paralyze you. Stops you from runnin', hidin' doin' anything at all. That's the obvious one. Can also make a pony faster and stronger than they ever thought they could be. Mighty powerful. Last one's trickier to spot."

Rainbow Dash rolled up onto her side waiting for Applejack to finish.

"Last thing it does," she said, looking up at Rainbow Dash lovingly, "is make folk hesitate, just a little. Steals a little hitch from their step. Might be that nopony ever even notices if those folk never need to be in a hurry. But you--" AJ poked Dash's chest from below "--are the spitting image of 'hurry.'"

Dash scrunched her nose, then exhaled. "Like I said, I'm still shaking the rust off. I've never been grounded that long before."

"Exactly. You've taken some mean spills, Sugar, nopony who knows you would ever say otherwise without being called a dirty liar." AJ's expression softened. "But this last one was the worst yet, and it took you longer to recover than any time before. I reckon you're afraid you might not make it back in the air if you go down hard again." Her ears pinned down. "Or you might not make it back home to me."