Apple's Core

by Saiko

Chapter 3

‘Why is that guy stopping?’ Rainbow Dash complained as she felt the carriage they were in lose some of its speed.
‘Lemme take a wild guess. We’ve arrived? Maybe this is the reason?’
‘Duh, sure. It’s been less than ten minutes, don’t tell me…’
‘Ya thought Ah’d hired a carriage to take me to Manehattan?’ Applejack asked. ‘Don’t be silly.’
‘So why…’
‘Just put that tiny brain of yars to use, ‘kay, Dashie?’ the earth pony growled, growing more and more irritated by her friend’s appearance and its consequences.

Rainbow Dash sighed and got off the carriage before it could even stop. They were near the Ponyville Train Station; it was noisy and crowded with dozens of ponies waiting for their trains to arrive. She glided for a few meters and landed, turning towards her companion. Applejack was struggling to drag her huge suitcase off the carriage. The Pegasus was about to ask if she needed help but in the nick of time she realized it’d make her no good; instead of doing it the peaceful way, she took off again.

‘Launching an air strike!’ she grinned and caught the suitcase, lifting it in the air with ease. She hovered, her wings waving slowly. ‘Where shall I take it, captain?’
‘Oh, come ooon…’ Applejack complained, but she couldn’t help smiling a bit. ‘Thanks, silly. Ya can hand it over now.’
‘Nah, I’ll keep it. I can’t imagine why you’d take such a big suitcase with you though, like, what do ya have there? You need no clothes, in case you forgot!’ Rainbow Dash kept blathering and Applejack let the smile stay on her lips. A certain kind of sadness came to the surface of her eyes, one similar to The Day’s, but she didn’t let it win her. She had Manehattan to deal with and if it wasn’t enough, also one annoying Pegasus – it was no time for memories, especially the sad ones.
‘Here’s mah train, sugahcube. Or ours, Ah guess.’
‘Well said!’ Rainbow Dash smirked, glad to see Applejack finally agree with or at least accept her decision.

They entered the train with only few other ponies, a small part of the crowd that had been gathering for last minutes. A big notice-board said there’d be one huge train to Fillydelphia leaving in a moment; next were to be cancelled for some reason and what seemed to be half of Ponyville and nearby villages had arrived. The trains going to Manehattan weren’t affected by the changes though – the two friends hoped it would let them have one compartment only for themselves. They definitely had some issues to settle.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help laughing as she kept hitting everypony around her with the suitcase she was holding in her hooves. Ponies stared at her in disbelief; foals giggled, amused by seeing their parents getting smacked, mentioned parents were trying to resist using words unsuitable for their children, and Applejack just chuckled. She stuck one of her hooves to her face in order to remain serious, but it didn’t really help her in getting to the train, so she put the hoof back on the ground and rushed to the entrance, trying to mute all the tee-hees leaving her mouth. When they finally jammed themselves into the train, laughing and panting heavily, the crowd didn’t get quieter; just the opposite, ponies kept complaining even louder, demanding to be heard by some station officials. Rainbow Dash waved her hoof at the foals and closed the door.

As it slid and finally shut with a loud thump, Applejack placed herself on one of the seats, still gasping, with a wide smirk on her lips.
‘Well that was a mighty good performace, partner’ she laughed.
‘Indeed, miss Applejack’ Rainbow Dash grinned and threw the suitcase on one of the free seats.
‘Ho ho, there!’ Applejack sprung up in the direction of her suitcase, catching it in the last moment. ‘Careful with it, ‘kay?’
‘Whatever. Hey, good time for you to answer that previous question of mine.’ Both ponies sat in a comfortable manner on opposite seats, facing each other. They felt the train eventually start to move.
‘Which one?’

‘About the suitcase. Why the hay would you drag it all the way here? I mean, all the stuff would fit into your saddlebags, it’s really light.’
‘Yeah. It is.’ Applejack stopped, not sure if she should continue. She would never talk about it to anypony, at least not a few days ago, but… Things have been changing during last days. Last hours, actually. Rainbow was loyal after all, and even if it annoyed the hell out of the earth pony, her friend deserved respect. She deserved… Honesty. Suddenly, it struck Applejack; she was called the element of Honesty. But has it ever been present in her life? Maybe… Maybe something was changing? Nah. No time for reflections; time for explanations.
‘It belonged to mah Papa.’ Having said it, Applejack didn’t really know what she should say next, so she just stopped as if it had been all.
‘I see. Sorry for throwing it ‘round then.’

It was kind of scary, hearing the word “sorry” coming from Rainbow Dash. It didn’t suit her at all. Applejack had no idea if her friend intended on being sarcastic or maybe truly did understand the situation was serious, but nevertheless… It felt sincere; far more sincere than everything Applejack would say. She felt she ought to be honest. She should talk to Rainbow, explain everything, show that deep inside, she was grateful for her company, even if it wasn’t perfect. But she wouldn’t. She wasn’t strong enough, confident enough. Her mask was, but she knew it wasn’t the thing Rainbow Dash wanted to see, so she didn’t keep lying, she just tried to be quiet, not making her friend force her to be fake and artificial again.

‘AJ?’
‘Listenin’, sugahcube.’
‘Wanna hear one pretty little tale?’ Rainbow Dash still held that arch grin of hers on her lips, but something in her eyes looked serious. She cocked her head and gazed at Applejack, anxious to hear her answer. She hoped it wouldn’t be as preservative as most of her friend’s actions. The earth pony smiled, relieved that she wouldn’t be the one to do the talking.
‘Ya have mah attention, Dashie.’
‘Cool. So, ever been to Cloudsdale?’
‘Yeah, don’t ya remember? We visited it thanks to Twi’s magic. But what ‘bout it?’

‘Looks nice, doesn’t it? From the ground. You look up there… and all the clouds, rays of sunlight, the mist…’ Rainbow gently smiled, nearly closing her eyes. Applejack just nodded, not sure where the pegasus wanted to take this conversation. But suddenly the mood got different. Her friend’s eyes snapped open, now looking at her in a sharper way. ‘But it’s not all that beautiful, you know. Kind of… sorry to say that, but like with your family. A lovely apple on the outside, but it’s core… rotten, y’know? Rotten.’ She sighed.

‘Few ponies except for pegasi know about it, but… I wanna show you that others had it hard, too. No idea when or why it started, but we pegasi have no parents. Well, technically we do, but it doesn’t matter. The foals are taken after birth and there are ponies whose job is to take care of them. Then, there is this sort of kindergarten where you spend all your early childhood… And the flying school.’ She smirked, something bitter in the expression.

’It was cool with me, y’know, I’m not complaining. I’m strong, I’m awesome and what’s most important, I don’t care, never did. I dealt with that madness easily but believe me, even with my talent there was nothing nice about it. So having that in mind, look at Fluttershy. Or Derpy, you remember Derpy? That epitome of clumsiness? They were the poor ones, cause listen. The teachers are cruel and there’s no mercy for the weak ones. The strong kids wanna empower so they bully fillies like Shy. It sucks, really. You’ve never seen it nor experienced it so you won’t understand, it must lack sense to you, but really. It sucks. Foals live in the school, competing all the time, never looking back at their former friends they’d left behind. There’s always something to prove and something to improve, because if you’re not the best, you’re not worthy of calling yourself a Pegasus. At least that’s what they said…

‘Dashie, Ah…’
‘No need for compassion, AJ.’ Now the bitterness could be heard in her voice, too. ‘Because I was the best filly, the best of the best. The liar and traitor who left her friends and found her way to the top.’ The earth pony opened her mouth to speak again, but Rainbow Dash barged in. ‘And then, there was this breakdown of mine.’ She was more carefree now; it seemed she was about to talk about nice things for a change. ‘I’ve acted what could be called loyal for, I think, the very first time. I helped Fluttershy, saved her from the bullies; you know the story. And I performed that badass Sonic Rainboom, and got my Cutie Mark, felt speed and awesomeness of flying… and then I saw the look in Shy’s eyes when we met afterwards…’ The Pegasus laughed happily and squealed.

‘Gosh, so awesome! I felt it was time to… to change something. I kept being the leader, the best, but having defeated those colts and proven myself, I began believing in myself enough to actually start… interacting with ponies? Stop being afraid they’d drag me down. Shy made me understand what loyalty’s all about and here I am now. Plaaain awesome.’ Rainbow Dash grinned. It made her more Rainbow-like. She had never been the type to do speeches before, but her occasional bursts of pride and arrogance made what she said seem natural and sincere. ‘So now I have a debt to repay, sorta. Don’t you think?’

‘Ah do.’ Applejack let out a smile, a really wide one. ‘Much clearer now, Ah admit.’
And having said that, they fell silent. But the silence wasn’t awkward anymore.

***

When they got off the train, it was already midnight. It was discouraging; entering the train at dawn to leave it and see the day already ended. The station, to the ponies surprise, wasn’t as crowded as the one in Ponyville. Besides their fellow travelers, only a few sophisticated unicorns with stylish saddlebags were present. They stuck to each other, smirking with supremacy and commenting everything around them in a mean manner.

‘Duhh, Manehattan at its finest.’ Applejack sadly nagged. The unicorns eyed the newcomers up and down, scathing expressions on their faces. Rainbow Dash gripped her friend’s suitcase and took off.
‘This time I’ll be careful.’ She winked. Applejack said nothing, just looked at the Pegasus with a small smile, less biased towards expressing her gratitude now.

The farther from the station they were getting, the quieter the city was becoming. Darkness and silence were of utterly different kind than those they’d experience in Ponyville’s surroundings. Almost no stars could be seen on the sky because of the pollution; only the moon managed to stand out from the dirty blue background. It was ugly, foreign and scary, so dissimilar to Ponyville’s sky. The one in their hometown looked as if black silk had been stretched over the town to let its inhabitants savor its beauty. Manehattanites, as it seemed, didn’t deserve to be presented with such surroundings. They had their bleak buildings, bleak people. Bleak sky.

Only a strip of it was visible now; the ponies entered one of the city’s narrow streets. Both felt imprisoned between two buildings on sides of the road, Applejack used to grasslands and meadows of open space, Rainbow Dash – to freedom given her by the sky. The city didn’t seem to change around them as they went ahead. Every building identical to the previous one, the gray pavement going on and on.
‘How far…’
‘It’s here.’

Both ponies spoke at the same moment and giggled quietly. Breaking the omnipresent silence seemed a little bit awkward so they just looked up at the building near which they had stopped. It had an orange awning; it was nice to finally see something standing out. The walls were mostly made of glass, letting the friends take a peek inside at tables and chairs, all placed in one corner. The price list hung on one nail only, skewed in a funny way.

‘This is the store. The Oranges lived upstairs and that’s where Ah’m to live from now on. And ya too, Ah suppose?’ Applejack whispered, searching for keys in her saddlebag. Rainbow Dash just nodded in response.

Having found the keys, the earth pony opened the door. She expected it to creak, but it didn’t; and so they entered the large room, feeling like outsiders violating a foreign land. As quietly as she could, Applejack turned the key in the lock again and led Rainbow Dash to a counter. The stairs were situated behind it. After climbing the stairs, the ponies had to open yet another door before they finally found themselves in their new flat.

It smelled of something old; of tradition and conservatism, Rainbow thought, not really sure if she could have even felt those. There was one short, carpeted corridor and a few entrances to other rooms; it was hard to tell how many in the darkness. Applejack led the way, opening the farthest door to the left. A small but cozy bedroom was there, a nuptial bed and some wardrobes inside. There were paintings on the walls, with frames as dark as all the other furniture. It must have been the place where the Oranges slept.

‘Ya can drop the suitcase somewhere here, sugahcube, but gently, please.’
‘No need to tell it twice.’ Rainbow replied and laid the suitcase on the bed.
‘So there is this room and also the one Ah used to sleep in when I was a filly, but Ah’d call it more of a cell. I think they just stored stuff there after Ah had left, no idea if the bed stayed, but we can go and check. Feel warned though. It’s small.’
‘Duhh, AJ, you’re so amateurish. Being loyal includes sleeping with you.’ Rainbow Dash grinned, tempting tune in her voice.
‘Whatever. I survived a sleepover with Rarity, so…’

‘Really!?’
‘What, the sleepover?’
‘Nah. Can I sleep here?’ the overly seducing, almost funny expression on Rainbow’s face was gone and she was more than enthusiastic now. ‘C’mon, AJ, don’t tell me you’d rather sleep alone in this scary house.’ She shivered, clearly overdoing it.
‘Already told ya. Whatever.’
‘Aww, where’d your enthusiasm gone? Don’t wanna have your super-ultra-always-there-for-you-best friend with you?’
‘Shut up and sleep with me, Dashie.’ Applejack rolled her eyes, then burst out laughing, understanding the way it must have sounded.
‘What’s been said cannot be unsaid.’ The Pegasus smirked and cast off her saddlebags.

Applejack moved the suitcase from the bed to a corner of the room, deciding to unpack it on the following day. Having done that, she just stood there, not sure what to do, and so did Rainbow Dash. Both were struggling with embracing the fact that yes, there they were, finally in Manehattan. After a few minutes, the earth pony finally spoke up.
‘Ya as not-sleepy as Ah am?’
‘Even more. Or less? Or something. Aww, not-sleepy. As hell.’ Rainbow Dash replied, yawning. Applejack smirked.
‘Yeah, Ah can see!’
‘ ’twas just camouflage, you’ve got much to learn, kid.’
‘Duh, sure!’

Applejack approached what must have been windows and drew the curtains. There was a glass door behind it, leading to a small balcony. The pony opened it, letting some fresh air inside the room.
‘Good idea, we’ll get rid of this smell.’ Rainbow said, trying hard not to yawn. Having heard her struggling Applejack laughed up her sleeve. She entered the balcony; two wooden chairs stood there. Must have been Oranges’ place to rest. Talk. Spend nights like that one in a nice company.

‘Come over here, Dashie.’ Applejack said, placing herself on one of the chairs and pointing to the other. The Pegasus yawned again and also sat. ‘Ya’re such a baby, that one was the third time!’
‘The second!’ Rainbow denied with a playful kind of madness.
‘Thiiird!’
‘End of this… yaaawn… topic, AJ!’
‘Agreed, sugahcube.’ Both laughed for a few seconds and then sat in silence, trying to make out at least one star on this foreign sky. When some time passed, Applejack started talking as soon as the thought appeared in her head; she didn’t want to change her mind.

‘Hey, Dashie?’
‘Yup?’ she reacted, sleepiness visible in her half-closed eyes.
‘Ah’m glad you came.’
‘So am I, silly.’
‘Even though ya’re freakin’ annoying.’
‘Don’t say that!’

And they laughed and laughed, and Manehattan seemed less scary. And even one lonely star decided to stand out and shine for them, for which the ponies were truly grateful. Applejack hardly believed it, but she had finally said something from the bottom of her heart. One short sentence, but holding a great meaning; holding truth. She was heartily glad she wasn’t alone. She felt that her friend’s presence may give her a hard time in the future, but that day, in her first Manehattan moments, thought of being alone was an abysmal one, and Rainbow’s sleepy smile brought comfort. Suddenly, her expression livened up.

‘You wait here, I’ve got an idea.’ She grinned. The look in her eyes revealed she was up to no good, but Applejack simply nodded and, for the first time, yawned, too lazy to check what the Pegasus wanted to do. The earth pony heard her friend walking through the room loudly after she had left the balcony; things were bashing and falling, and Rainbow let out a quiet curse. Applejack chuckled. After a minute or two of slamming doors and generally devastating the flat, the Pegasus was back, small bruise on her face and, in her hoof, a bottle of wine she wielded like a sword or a bouquet of flowers.

‘Time to raise our glasses, don’t you think? …damn. Glasses. Nooo…’ she complained and went back to the room, this time to search for those. Only a few items were knocked off this time; Rainbow must have grown to understand the topography of the flat better. Having found the glasses, she appeared on the balcony again, this time for good. Apart from the bottle, she also held two beautifully carved, crystal chalices.

‘Those fellas of yours really flew high, didn’t they?’
‘Just please don’t break those, they must have cost half of mah yearly income!’ Applejack moaned, but she seemed pleased with the idea of drinking expensive wine from priceless glasses. A good beginning to what was supposed to develop in a terrible way. A chance to spend some time… having fun.

Her duty of responsible complaining had been done so Applejack accepted a glass full of wine with a smile. She waited with the first sip till Rainbow Dash also placed herself or the other seat with her beverage. Exchanging a gaze, they gulped down at the same time, and then just kept sitting and drinking slowly, enjoying each other’s company and encouraging other stars to also shine through the thick layer of pollution. They refilled the glasses twice and when Rainbow wanted to do this for the third time, she found the bottle empty.
‘Darn!’ the Pegasus hiccupped.

‘Don’t tell me we’ve already drunk it who-o-ole… Ah totally don’t feel like it…’
‘Nor do I!’ Rainbow Dash hiccupped again. She threw the bottle up in the sky, watched it fly over buildings’ roofs and grinned upon hearing it break loudly. Somepony far, far away shouted with anger; the vandals burst out laughing and without hesitation retreated to the flat, as if afraid their victim could see them.
‘Ya’re so stupid!’ Applejack laughed, panting heavily. She closed the glass door and pulled the curtain, making a pot fall from the windowsill. ‘Damn!’ She muttered, but didn’t feel like cleaning tonight.

‘That’s not how you spell awesome’ Rainbow denied, throwing herself at the bed. It was soft and comfortable; she felt like if she was drowning in its pliability. ‘God, feels like heaven. I’m so gonna be rich in the future…’
‘Ah’d be more concerned about tomorrow, it’s also sorta future… but… I’m not that looking forward to it’ Applejack murmured.
‘Silly mare, you’re drunk! You don’t have to say sad things now!’ The Pegasus reached for her friends mane and dragged her onto the bed.
‘Hurts!’
‘It’s for the greater good, AJ!’

They kicked the blankets and fumbled with the sheet until, after at least a minute or two of struggling, they were finally arranged in a comfortable way. The pillows were cold in a pleasing way after hours of being exposed to chilly air from the outside; the blankets gave just enough warmth and mattress let them sink in, but didn’t feel like slime sucking them in.

‘Dead ponies might have slept here yesterday.’ Rainbow said in a voice that was meant to sound scary, but with her drunken pronunciation sounded like haunted pony’s blabbering.
‘Ya mean they were dead then or they’re dead now?’ Applejack answered slowly, lazily, taking her time to understand what the Pegasus was talking about.
‘Whatever. Both suck. Plus they were a couple. We’re sleeping in the bed that had belonged to a dead couple. Gross.’
‘Already told ya, there’s another bed in the…’
‘Ohh, stop spoiling the fun!’

‘Ah have to, Ah’m sleepy’ Applejack replied.
‘Then you lose.’
‘What?’
‘The yawning competition. Not-yawning, actually.’ Rainbow said, letting out a loud yawn. Applejack chuckled.
‘Time t’ go t’ sleep, Dashie. Really.’
‘Okaay… But come here.’
‘Where?’
‘Here!’

And so, the earth pony rolled her eyes and moved closer to her friend. Rainbow Dash snuggled beside her, closing her eyes, angel-like expression on the face of a devil.

‘Glad I’m here.’, the Pegasus said.
‘Glad you’re here.’ Applejack agreed, embracing Rainbow with one of her hooves and smiling softly with her eyes also finally closed. She was trying really hard not to think about how terrible the following day would be.

Comments

[Dracmatais]

The Sheer levels of toothache inducing D'aaaw in this is making me go mad!

Seriously though I love this series already and It's only 3 chapters in. You've managed to take an approach to Rainbow's and AJ's friendship that I don't often see. Congratulations on a job well done thus far!

[The Grey Pegasus]

Very nice! I think you've captured their characters pretty well. Looking forward to more.

One minor detail-at the wine part, you said 'hands' not 'hooves'.

[Saiko]

257980 Thanks, I changed "hand" to "hoof" :)

[Gabriel LaVedier]

Drunksnuggle Appledash love. Good times!

[Posted]

A first night in the big city.

[Twye]

I really hope you continue this. I'm looking forward to reading more. Especially how they two will deal with that hangover.

[Dragon Master Spike]

Why? Why is this dead? Whyyyyy?

[sindi1980]

Will you continue and if you will when will you?