A Pony a Day

by OfTheIronwilled

Vegetation (7/22/2017)

Author's Note:

This snippet is a continuation of Rocket.

Applejack stared at the screen, her jaw set and hoof tapping with a tinny little clack against the metal. None of this stuff made any sense to her -- it was just a scrambled mess of green words thrown willy-nilly onto a black screen -- but Twilight always knew what she was talking about. Even if "what she was talking about" was just another long-winded and confusing jabber that didn't make even a lick more sense than the machine, but basically boiled down to "the soil's not right". Especially then, actually, because unfortunately the soil was bad just about darn everywhere.

But today? Today had to be it. How long had they been cooped up in here with nothing but those rations? Applejack could get by and she wasn't complaining... really. After what happened to get them all here... she was more than grateful, sincerely. But they couldn't fulfill the wishes of the Princess and her family if they didn't find some place to settle down. And no matter how pretty some place was, it just wouldn't do if the soil wasn't right. They needed plants, and plants they could rely on as being healthy.

She had a good feeling about today.

Applejack snorted as Twilight waved a hoof in her face, whipping her head around and blinking wildly at the blur in front of her muzzle.

"Applejack? Are you... okay?"

"Oh! Uh, yeah! Sorry there, Twilight, just got a little lost then. Go on and tell me what you said again."

Twilight opened her mouth to speak-- before Applejack realized the horrible mistake she'd inflicted upon herself, and waved her hoof in panicked flurry.

"-- But dumb it down again for me, Twilight. You know I'd love to let you say all the details of it, but we've all got other important chores we've got to take care of. You can brief me on it later, Sugarcube."

Twilight blinked, then pouted, then pouted even more... but then her expression dropped all together. Her frown calmed, but went tight and somber on her face as she bit her lip. Her ears and withers sagged. Her tail flicked.

Applejack's heart dropped. She physically felt her little bit of hope crumble.

"It... It's no good, is it?"

"No. I'm afraid not. I had suspicions when I saw the toxic flora around, but..."

And that meant more days on this ship. More days scanning the empty horizon, looking for little orbs dotted with green. More days floating around and tying herself down to sleep so they could conserve magical power. More walks onto hopefully-hospitable planets hoping for miracles-- water, magic, good soil, animals, maybe other ponies or other folks entirely.

More days spent waiting, looking out that big old porthole window, remembering flashes of fire and ashes and the little planet underneath all of those things. The planet that used to be her home.

Applejack sighed. Disappointment hung in her chest. Disappointment and pain. For a hot second all she wanted to do was scream, but...

But... it would be okay. She couldn't let herself get down about this. Not when Twilight looked so crushed. When everypony except Pinkie Pie (more like especially Pinkie Pie) were feeling so down. She still had friends to support, and a mission to follow through with.

For her family. For her friends. For herself. For all of them she needed to keep her chin up and be the dependable pony she'd always been.

She sighed again.

"It'll be all right, Sugarcube. We got plenty of food in the meantime, and you know we can get through this. Now come over here."

As she yanked Twilight into a hug, Applejack smiled.

She had a good feeling about tomorrow.