“AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“Please calm down…” Wind Stream requested. Even though the shouting was quite annoying, he was still impressed that his passenger had been screaming her head off for more than an hour now.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Applejack said in reply. All four of her legs were wrapped tightly around her chair, as if it the piece of furniture was the only thing preventing her from plummeting to her death.
At this point Wind Stream’s wings were cramping for keeping his ears plugged up. He needed a way to calm the mare down, lest he be stuck with a banshee for another three hours. “Are you afraid of flying?”
“AAAAAAAAAAH!”
“Would it help if I said that this beauty only crashed once since it was built?”
“I try to break the sound barrier one time and you can’t let it go, can you?” A voice shouted from the front, followed by an annoyed grumble.
“There are also seven Pegasi, including myself, on-board.” Wind Stream continued, ignoring their dare-devil pilot. “You are completely safe!”
“AAAAAAAAAH!” Applejack said in reply to his safety information. Clearly she had a few trust issues when it came to flying as her only reference point was Rainbow Dash who crashed quite frequently while doing stunts.
“Boss!” A purple Unicorn mare shouted as she poked her head out of a door at the back. “Could you please calm her down? Some of us are losing our concentration down here.”
“I’m trying, Garnet, but it seems she has a bit of a phobia for speed and heights.” He said. “I just don’t know how to calm her down!”
“Try talking instead of giving her a safety lecture!” She shouted back, her nerves already frizzed by Applejack’s constant screaming.
The Pegasus thought this over for a bit before speaking again. “Applejack, why don’t you tell me a bit about your family?” He prayed to Celestia that this would work. Professional courtesy or not, even his nerves were at an end.
“A-Ah got a lil’ sister, a big brother and a g-g-granny.” She said, supressing her urge to shout for help. Her newfound calmness was largely due to Garnet saying that they were losing focus. She might not know how the flying machine works, but when one of the workers that’s keeping them airborne asks for a bit of calm, she knows she better give it. “Rest of the f-family’s strewn all over Equestria, but we get tagether once every year.”
“And all of you own apple orchards?” He asked.
“Mostly, yeah.” She answered, much calmer now that she could talk and take her mind off of the whole ‘high speed flying’ thing. “But Aunt and Uncle Orange live in Manehatten, they dun own any orchards.”
“I bet you grow all kinds of apples!” He had her calm; it was best to keep her talking and focused on the conversation instead of the aircraft. “Any special dishes you make?”
“All kinds!” She said enthusiastically. Apples were her life, she could talk about them for hours on end. “We got apple fritters, apple tarts, apple pie, apple waffles, apple pancakes…”
She kept listing them while Wind Stream listened with a smile on his face. He was genuinely interested in what could be made with just a few apples. When Applejack reached the end of her long list, he decided to keep the line of conversation going. “That’s pretty awesome! Do you know that other countries make a few interesting apple dishes as well?”
“Really? Like what?” Applejack asked happily, releasing her death grip on the chair.
“Well, the Saddle Arabians make some very nice tasting apple curry slices. Wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t like spicy foods though.”
“I can’t believe it!” Twilight ranted. “All of that planning for nothing! NOTHING!” After Applejack took off, Twilight went directly to the Apple Family’s house where Spike was waiting. She told them how their sibling had left before being completely ready and how her schedule had been messed up because of it.
“Give it a rest, Twilight!” Spike said in a vain attempt to get the mare to calm down. He knew better than anyone how Twilight could get if she couldn’t follow her perfectly laid out plans. “She’s probably nearly in Zebrica by now! Why don’t you just draw up a new schedule? We got lots of work to do while Applejack is gone.”
“He’s right ya know,” The oldest pony in the house said. She had fallen asleep moments after Twilight started her rant, but had woken up when Spike spoke as if sensing the opportunity. “With ‘ol Applejack gone, half of tha farm work will be left undone.”
“Yes!” Twilight shouted, eager to get something productive done. She fired up her magic, levitating a piece of paper and a quill in front of her. “What do we need to do?”
“First off,” Granny Smith swatted at the floating items, causing them to clatter to the ground. “No magic! Yer taking Applejack’s responsibilities an’ she don’t have any magical mumbo-jumbo!”
“So…” Spike began as he picked the items up off the floor. “Me and Twilight’s gotta buck trees, instead of just having her float them down like last time?”
“Exactly!” She shouted, pointing a hoof at the young dragon. “For the next week, yer flanks are mine!” Somewhere during her speech, Granny Smith got an old army helmet put on her head. “And mark my words, before this week is over, I will have both of you whipper snappers turned into lean, mean, apple-picking machines! Am Ah clear?”
Spike instantly stood up straight and saluted. “Yes ma’am!”
Twilight just groaned, earner her a swat from the old mare. “Ow!”
“Ah said. Am. Ah. Clear?!”
“Yes ma’am…” She said unenthusiastically. This was going to be a very long week.
“So they just…throw ‘em in a huge pot along with sugar?” Applejack asked, intrigued by the strange apple beverage.
“Yup!” Wind Stream said with just as much enthusiasm. “The mixture won’t spoil for years, and you just mix it with water to drink it!”
For the remainder of the trip, the two ponies had been swapping stories of different ways to prepare apples. While Applejack knew specific and complicated ways to prepare apple dishes, Wind Stream knew of a few exotic dishes. They were both so engrossed with the conversation that they almost didn’t notice when Golden Way spoke to them. “Buckle up kiddos! We’re about to land!”
With that, Wind Stream double checked the straps securing Applejack to her chair. When he was satisfied, the Pegasus returned to his own chair. “All set!” He called back.
An instant later the aircraft jerked violently, causing Applejack to yell out in alarm. “It’s ok, that was just the balloon deploying again!” Wind Stream reassured her. “Take a look out the window, we’re here.”
Hesitantly, Applejack complied. When she saw the ground slowly approaching she calmed down. She looked around a bit more and spotted a gigantic waterfall where ponies, zebras, donkeys, cows and even a few Griffons were wandering around. There were several market stalls beneath them, each selling strange little trinkets. The tranquil look of it all brought a smile to her face.
“Yup,” He said, enjoying Applejack’s reaction. “Welcome to Zebrica.”