//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Swayback Mountain 
// by butterscotchsundae 
//------------------------------//

But then Rarity groaned – so soft, Applejack thought she must have imagined it.

"Rarity?"

She brought her face close and nuzzled the unicorn pony's cheek.  Rarity groaned louder and started to cough, and water suddenly dribbled from between her lips. Applejack quickly turned her onto her side and held her as wave after wave of river water poured out of her mouth.

"Oh thank Celestia!" said Applejack, patting Rarity on her back to help dislodge the last of the water she had breathed in. "Yer breathing again! Yer OK!" Applejack's top lip quivered, "Fer a minute there Ah thought Ah'd lost ya," she whispered. 

Rarity's looked up at Applejack groggily. The unicorn pony's beautiful indigo mane, wet and tangled, was plastered to her face and neck, and her coat was caked in mud and river weeds. It broke Applejack's heart to see Rarity in such a state. But then the unicorn pony smiled at her. "Darling," she whispered, "There's no way I'd go ANYWHERE... looking like THIS!"

"Does it hurt anywhere, Rarity?" Applejack asked in concern, "Do ya need anything?"

Rarity looked up at her friend and whispered, "Do you have a mirror?"

And then Applejack at last allowed herself to burst into tears.

With Rarity too weak to help it took a long time for Applejack to set up the tent – most of the pegs were lying on the bottom of the river, so she was forced to collect heavy river rocks and roll them onto the edges of the tarpaulin to keep the material in place. The wind was growing wilder with every passing moment, tearing at the tent and threatening to blow it into the air. From the dryness of the nook under the outcropping 
Rarity watched Applejack struggling in the rain. Applejack had wrapped her up in all that was left of the outfits she'd brought with her – the rest were floating downstream somewhere, never to be seen or admired by any pony ever again. The outer layer of Rarity's warm cocoon was the exquisitely sequined party dress she'd brought with her in case there was some kind of social event after the rodeo. She chuckled grimly. If 
only the gentlecolts of Cold Springs could see her now! The muddy river water had got into her saddlebags and ruined it. Half the sequins were missing, and it was stained with mud beyond repair. In a few moments, the gorgeous creation she had been so proud of, gazing on it as it glittered on its dressmaker's doll in her boutique, had become little 
more than a filthy rag. Rarity held back tears. All of those days of hard work, sewing each individual sequin on in perfectly straight lines - wasted! 

In her weakened state, Rarity felt absolutely useless. She'd tried to get up and help Applejack earlier – it was too much for heart to stand, watching the earth pony working so stoically, so  selflessly, in that cold dark maelstrom of wind and rain – but a sudden wave of weakness had set her entire body trembling, and she'd slumped back onto the ground. Applejack had galloped up to her, her eyes furious, berating her. "Ya try and move yerself one more time, lil missy, and ah'll come and roll some rocks on top o' ya as well!"

Rarity had lowered her eyes. "I'm so SORRY, Applejack. I just feel so terrible that I can't be of any assistance to you, darling," she sniffled, "And all of this is MY fault. If only I'd been more careful deciding where to put these big, clumsy hooves of mine..."

"Now don' you worry yerself about that, Rarity," Applejack had replied. The unicorn pony's distress had touched her. "It was jus' an accident is all. It coulda happened to anypony!"

"It wouldn't have happened to you," Rarity had replied, softly so that Applejack couldn't hear her as she walked back into the rain. "You always know the RIGHT thing to do."

************

Applejack rolled the final rock into place. "There!" she said in triumph. Even wearing her oilskin coat and hat, she was sopping wet, and she took herself over to a corner of the nook away from where Rarity was sitting and shook herself dry. "Now let's get outa this wind and git warmed up!"

Rarity nodded. Even wrapped in her so many layers, the wind was cutting into her, and her bones ached and her teeth chattered with the cold.

The two ponies crawled under the tent flap and into the dry, dark warmth inside. It was still daylight, but with the black clouds of the storm blocking out the sun, it was as if it was the middle of the night inside the tent. Applejack flicked on a torch with her mouth, and placed it in a corner of the tent. Its pale yellow light made huge shadows of the two ponies against one side of the tent, and Rarity's eyes suddenly lit up in delight when she saw them.

"Even wrapped up in rags I have such a svelte silhouette!" she beamed, striking a pose. "And Applejack! Just look at you!" She pointed at Applejack's silhouette magnified on the wall of the tent. "You know my dear, your cowboy hat really is sooo charming. Its wide brim is simply the PERFECT accessory for your pony-tail – it balances it so well!"

Applejack lay down, exhausted, and watched Rarity as she tried different glamorous poses, her silhouette mirroring them. She was tired, and part of her was still angry at the unicorn pony, but as she looked at her own shadow, wearing her pappy's cowboy hat, the memory of Rarity leaping into the river to save it without hesitation made the anger melt away as quickly as it had come.

Applejack closed her eyes for a moment and without realising it dozed off. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that Rarity was curled up beside her, fast asleep. The unicorn pony had earlier washed the mud and weeds off herself as best as she could with 
rain water, but her coat was still smudged with dirt and her mane was all clumped together in places. Applejack smiled at her sleeping face, the heavy eyelashes fluttering slightly as she dreamed, and she licked the unicorn pony's wet cheek. Even after all their adventures today, Rarity still looked so beautiful! Applejack sighed, and cuddled against her for warmth.

"An' jus' how in tarnation can ya still smell so sweet after slidin' down a mountain side and wadin' through river mud? Ya smell jus' like ya left one of those fan-cy spas!" She chuckled. "Like flowers an' soap and sandalwood all bundled up together! Unicorn magic. Mus' be...." And as the rain continued to patter and hiss outside, and the thunder rolled and growled, Applejack fell asleep as well.

************

When Applejack awoke, the light inside the tent was the dull gray of early dawn.

"Those Pegasus ponies musta finally got their act together," she thought in relief. The first event of the rodeo was scheduled for the early afternoon, and with a bit of luck and some determined hiking, they'd be able to get to Colt Springs in time.

She looked down at Rarity, swaddled in her layers of clothes like a baby. She was still fast asleep. Applejack snorted in annoyance. "C'mon Rarity! It's not like ya need any beauty sleep!"  She nudged the unicorn pony with a gentle hoof. "Time ta rise an' shine! If ya don' get up, we won't have any time ta find those berries ya were after!"

Rarity moaned a little – but she still didn't wake up. Applejack frowned, and came closer. Rarity's face was pale, and the area around her horn was covered in sweat.

"Ya ok, Rarity?" Applejack placed a hoof on the unicorn pony's forehead. She was burning up!

Applejack straight away started to peel the layers of water-stained clothes, pulling them off Rarity with her teeth – it was just like unwrapping a mummy! But that image didn't seem at all funny to Applejack at that moment. She'd seen the terrible things that could happen with a high fever.

She remembered her pappy, in those long last days, confined to his bed at Sweet Apple Acres. He'd looked just like Rarity did now – pale and sweaty, and so weak! Her pappy had always been such a huge and robust stallion – Big Macintosh was the spitting image of how he'd looked in his younger days, dragging his plough out in the fields in the broiling sun, the sweat of the heat and the labour beading on his flanks and withers. Applejack remembered how she used to skipped behind him, planting the apple seeds from her little saddlebags, and all the while he'd pull the plough and look back at his daughter now and then with pride and love in his dark eyes.

And when he'd fallen ill, the weight and muscle had fallen away from his frame, and he'd become so thin and fragile that Applejack and Big Macintosh had had to help him into bed – and he'd felt no heavier than a single bushel of apples. 

"Don' worry, little sis," Big Macintosh had told her one afternoon as she'd sat crying on the porch of the homestead as so often she had in those terrible days, "Pappy'll be fine. He jus' needs ta git his strength back. Ee-yup!" But Applejack had seen the tiny glimmer of doubt in her big brother's eyes, and she'd known at that moment that their pappy wasn't ever going to get better.

Rarity was unclothed now, lying on her side, her chest rising slowly as she breathed shallowly and with difficulty. Applejack nuzzled her, but she didn't respond.

Tears welled up in the corner of Applejack's eyes, but she angrily shook them away. "Watcha doin', ya dumb rabbit? Cryin' like a filly that's stubbed her hoof!" She rifled through her saddlebags, finally finding the water-canister.  She opened it and put it next to Rarity's mouth, but the unicorn pony didn't react. So she gently eased her head up and let some of the water trickle down into her mouth. Rarity coughed, but after a little while she started to swallow.

"Tha's a good filly," said Applejack.

"Apple...jack?" Rarity opened her eyes and looked at her friend. Her pupils were unfocussed, and she seemed half-asleep still.

"Applejack's here, Rarity," replied Applejack. She sighed in relief. "Don' ya worry."

"Applejack.. I..."

"Now don' you try and talk, Rarity! You got an awful high fever. Ya need ta rest up, else..." She tipped the little remaining water in the canister into Rarity's mouth and she drank it.

Rarity coughed again. "So thirsty.. Applejack."

Applejack nodded. "Course ya are," she replied. "Ya awful dee-hydrated," She stood up and went to the flap of the tent. "Jus' you wait a short while. I'll be back soon – jus' gotta go find some fresh water,"

************

The morning light was clear and crisp and the air fresh as Applejack followed the river a little way upstream. Thankfully she didn't have to travel far to find water. She knew there was a little spring somewhere on the rocky face of the ridge as it twisted away from the river and back into the foothills. Her pappy had been the one who'd first shown it to her, all those years ago, when she'd made the journey to Colt Springs to watch her first rodeo with him.

"My lil applebucker, ya got a real talent with the lasso," he'd told her as they'd travelled through the Swayback Mountains together. She'd been around Applebloom's age at that time, and she was riding on her pappy's back, since her own short legs had become tired from walking. "I seen ya snare a rabbit from fifteen feet away! That's no mean accomplishment for a lil' filly!"

"Ah told him ah was sorry!" Applejack had sniffed.

Her pappy had laughed a great, rolling laugh that had echoed through the mountains. "Applejack, that big ol' heart of yours is ten-sizes too big for that lil' bodyof yours!" He smiled at her. "One day, ya goin' to be something great!"

Applejack was so deep in reminiscence that she realised she'd already passed the spot. She doubled back a short way and at last found the spring. She nudged the canister into place under the trickle of glittering water and watched it slowly fill. "Ah'm sorry pappy!" she whispered, "Ah trained so hard the whole year. Ah was SURE this season I was gonna do ya memory proud!"

Before he'd become an apple farmer, her pappy has been a rodeo star. He'd been a famous name among the plains-ponies for years, but had finally given it away to start a family. But one day Applejack had found his old lasso in a box up in the hay loft, and had started practising with it during break times on the farm in secret. She'd gotten away with it for about a month before her pappy had stumbled upon her, trying to pull the lasso off a tree branch she'd snared. She'd thought he'd be angry, but he'd just watched her and smiled, a blade of grass in his mouth, until she finally got it loose.

"Ah always thought it'd be Macintosh that'd inherit the spark," he'd explained, taking the lasso from her and showing her how to hold it correctly – loose and lightly, "But it seems that ol' sayin' ain't wrong afta all – it's sometime the littlest apple seed tha' grows into the tallest tree!"

The canister was full to overflowing, so Applejack capped it and picked it up in her mouth. A sudden feeling of loss and disappointment welled up in her. She realised that there was no way that she'd be able to make the rodeo now. All those months of practice had been all for nothing, all those dreams of honouring her pappy's name. All because of that puffed-up unicorn pony!

She galloped back to the tent, and angrily pushed her way inside through the flap.

"Ah got yer water, Rarity," she said. "Are ya feelin' any better now?"

Rarity lifted her head. "A...little," she managed to say. Applejack brought the canister to her lips, and this time Rarity was able to drink from it herself.

Rarity watched at Applejack as she drank. The earth pony had turned her back on her, and was busy packing up her saddlebag.

"What's the matter darling?" she asked. Then realisation dawned on her and she said, "Oh."

"Oh? Oh?!" Applejack turned on her angrily. "Is tha' all ya have ta say fer yerself? Oh!?"

Rarity's face fell at the angry onslaught. "Darling, I'm so sorry... so frightfully, terribly sorry. You won't be able to make the rodeo now, will you?" She couldn't look at Applejack's incriminating eyes any longer and she stared at the floor of the tent. "And it's all my fault, isn't it?" she whispered.

"All of it," Applejack nodded. "Now jus' lay there and res' yerself while Ah get everythin' packed up. We should be able ta get back to Ponyville before sun-down."

Rarity got up unsteadily. "Don't worry about me, Applejack!" she said, starting to gather up her own clothes. "I'll be perfectly able to travel back to Ponyville on my own. You should go on to the rodeo yourself – you'll surely make it without me slowing you down."

Applejack shook her head. "Yer still much too sick," she said. "There's no way ya can make it back without my help."

Applejack turned back to her packing, and Rarity watched her, crestfallen. The terrible feeling of guilt in her heart was far worse than the fever and the ache in her limbs and she lay back down. But as Applejack was busy stuffing her oilskin coat into her saddlebag, Rarity suddenly stepped forward and knocked over  the water canister, its contents flowing all over the floor of the tent.

"Ooops!" she said. She looked at Applejack fearfully.

But the earth pony said nothing. She just stopped in the middle of her packing, walked over to Rarity in silence and picked up the canister in her mouth. 

************

Applejack was seething as she left the tent. It was almost as if Rarity had spilled the water on purpose! But what did it matter now, anyway? She stoically galloped back to the spring and refilled the canister, and in a short while she returned to the tent.

As she pushed open the flap, she said, "Now don' spill this one, y'hear?!"

But then she noticed that the tent was empty except for her own half-packed saddlebags. Rarity and all her belongings were gone.