The Other Route

by Silent Strider

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Big Mac was plowing the field at the right side of the barn when he heard a familiar voice.

“Big Mac!”

The red stallion looked towards Ponyville. A white unicorn mare was running towards the farm, a warm smile in her face. As she approached the arc in front of the barn a green glow embraced her, a similar one appearing in front of Big Mac and leaving the bouncing unicorn in its wake.

“You got the princess to help me! I can’t believe it!”

“That would have been me, sugarcube.” An orange mare came out of the barn. “Woah Nelly! Rarity got ‘hold of you?”

Emerald Wind looked like a different pony. Her coat was now spotless, her hooves shining in the sun. But the biggest difference was her mane and tail; they were now properly combed and tied in a ponytail style, similar to Applejack’s own but slightly wavy.

The unicorn was beaming. “Yes, that too. She told something about not wanting somepony walking around with a bird’s nest for a mane and dragged me to her boutique. She didn’t even charge me anything! Was that you too?”

Applejack suppressed a laugh. “Nah, that would be just Rarity being Rarity.”

Emerald opened her mouth to speak, then turned back to face Big Mac, who had a confused look. “You don’t know what happened, do you?”

“Nnope.”

Applejack put a hoof over Emerald’s shoulder. “Why don’t ya’ tell him, sugarcube? I reckon you’re itchin’ to tell.”

Emerald looked at Big Mac, a gleam in his eyes. “The princess herself found a job for me! She talked to the mayor and I got hired as a town courier, my special talent being speed and all that. I’m even allowed to stay in a spare room in the town hall until I can get a place of my own.” She turned towards Applejack and raised an eyebrow, the bit finally dropping. “Wait, you know the princess?”

“I sure do. She is a good friend and really nice. Well, I reckon Pinkie gonna throw a welcome party as soon as she sees you, might as well introduce the girls then.” Applejack took a step back, still smiling, but with a firm look on her eyes. “You gotta something else to tell, don’cha?”

Emerald turned back to Big Mac. “Well… The mayor will be docking part of my wages to pay for what I stole back in Mountain’s Star. Princess Twilight got a word with the guards, and they reached an agreement to let me stay here. Seems like the princess found a loophole in one of her books to have my employment qualify as community service.”

Applejack’s eyes softened. “Ya ain’t off the hook, sugarcube, but we all believe in second chances here. We will —”

Big Mac took a step towards Emerald, holding a hoof towards his sister. “We’re gonna help you in any way we can, but …”

“But if I ever steal again you are going to hoof me to the guards yourself, is it that?” Emerald winked at Big Mac, beaming despite her words.

“Eeyup.”

“Ya got the hang of speaking with my brother darn fast.” Applejack elbowed her brother, winking her eye. “You sure she’s not your special somepony, Big Mac?”

Emerald giggled and looked right at Applejack, a mischievous smile on her face. “I don’t think you should joke about that, ‘sugarcube’. You know what Big Mac likes in me?” She shook her head, making her long golden mane flip, and blinked a green eye towards Applejack. “He tells me that I remind him of you. Now think again about what you just said.”

Applejack’s mouth dropped open, her cheeks matching color with the apples in her cutie mark. Laughter filled the air, suddenly becoming distant as a green magical aura flashed in front of Applejack. Down the field, leaping out of another green flash, the white unicorn was bounding and laughing.

A smile of her own spreading, Applejack looked at the unicorn and started running after her. “Now come back here, you rascal.”

Back by the plow, Big Mac looked at the antics of the two mares, his deep laugh echoing across the farm.

Author's Note:

Feel free to point flaws, errors, or to make suggestions; I'm here to learn.

Comments

[Lunias]

This was pretty good! Thanks for the story!

[Max Caulfield]

I personally loved it! It's going down it my top 10 one-shots.

Though, there were a few spelling mistakes, nothing too unfixable. So, all in all I give it;

9/10

[CCC]

Very nice. I enjoyed it.

[Silent Strider]

4081243
4081909
Thanks for your comments

4081539
Thanks, but... spelling?
I will have to take another (manual) look; Google Docs doesn't show any spelling errors, and the simpler and more strict browser one only shows the intentional mangling I've used to create Big Mac and Applejack's accent and the ponified words. There might be errors where the wrong word actually exist, tricking the spell checker, though.

Do you mean grammatical errors? I do tend to make a few of those, unfortunately.

Either way, if you point the errors I will fix them right away. Otherwise, I think I will do a couple more passes looking for errors, though I will likely wait a few days; doing a new pass too soon after the previous one tends to be wasted effort, as without some distance the mind tends to skip over the errors that were skipped the first time.

[Max Caulfield]

4082960

... Can I add it to the 'Gem Hunters'?

[Silent Strider]

4083850
Well, the group seems nice enough, and you are one of the group's admins. Feel free to add it if you want

[Lord_Kalbario]

this stuff's a gem!

[Cobra55]

(Jeopardy theam song) sequel. sequel. Sequelsequelsequel!