Sweet Apple Acres were much more hectic than usual. The Applebucking Season was coming on, but only two ponies, Big McIntosh and Applejack worked on the farm. Their grandmother, Granny Smith, was suffering from a weak hip and way too old to help with the farm work. The youngest, Apple Bloom, was just a young filly.
Applejack looked on this year’s harvest with a big grin, “Boy howdy! That there is the biggest bumper crop o' apples I ever laid eyes on.”
Big McIntosh looked at his sister, whose front legs were wrapped in bandage, “We can’t possibly harvest all the apples. There’s just one pony now but hundreds o’ apple trees. Now, Ah ain’t a pony that’d bite off more than Ah can chew.”
“Fret not, big brother,” Applejack reassured, “Though Ah fell off the dang gully and broke my legs, I found some help from my friends, and they’re helpin’ us to make thangs easier on the farm.”
“You on about the pressin’ machines an’ the tractors again?” Big McIntosh frowned.
“Big Mac, we have to get on wit the time, y’see? Now Ah’m friend with Twilight, who’s the Princess’s pupil and had plenty of say an’ resources ‘round, and Pinkie, who turned out to be a master tink’rer. What’s the best time to stir things up a little bit?”
“Ah don’t trust any contraption over mah good ol’ hooves and ploughs.” Big Mac huffed.
Applejack frowned at her big brother, “Yer too stubborn sometimes, Big Mac.”
“Says the dogged pony who insisted on surveyin’ the hills in the rain.” Big Mac quipped.
“Arguin’ wit ya made mah head spin,” Applejack held her head with her hooves, “I still think that usin’ jus’ pony power is not the way to go. So, if the dang tractor shall beat ye down, ye’ll slam it with the plough in yer mouth?” Applejack retorted.
“Eenope,” Big Mac stonewalled. Applejack looked at him, then her broken legs, and she sighed again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Applejack trotted back to the farmhouse in the walker she borrowed from her old granny. She was embarrassed and cursed herself again at being careless and somewhat reckless. She had been talking with the estate reeve of Lower Canterlot, and she was allowed to survey the hills nearby the Sweet Apple Acres in person. She was confident that, with Twilight’s help and bits to be earned in Canterlot, she could soon get the royal permit to expand the farms all the way towards the shore of the Saddle Lake. Then she will be able to not only improve the life of her family, but also provide extra funds for the common endeavors with her friends.
After the initial frenzy from fighting Nightmare Moon, the six of them had largely settled back to their daily routines. Despite Twilight’s expressed wishes of early thwarting of villains, they were heavily constrained by their lack of resources.
Efforts to locate the changeling hive or Starlight Glimmer through consulting secondary sources proved fruitless, and Twilight’s brief but dedicated outing to the Northeast to locate the future Equalist leader bore no results as well. She was mystified that how could she not find somepony, knowing for certain that she lived in Trottingham. Friendless like Twilight herself had been in the past, at least her neighbors would at least have heard of her.
Since King Sombra was probably wandering in the frozen expanse in the north and almost impossible to locate safely, and Tirek was still locked away in Tartarus, this left Queen Chrysalis and Starlight Glimmer as their primary targets to track down. However, they didn’t have the time to personally comb Equestria to look for them. At this point Twilight wasn’t even sure if they were inside Equestria.
They also didn’t have the bits to hire third-party searchers, not to mention they were reluctant to expose others to such danger. Therefore, with reluctance, Twilight settled down on her usual magic studies, while fervently finding ways to earn some bits and gather social influences in Ponyville. Applejack’s farm renovations therefore were a common interest for both.
But now, the apple farmer was stumbled by the very first task she’d set out to do. Although her friends had comforted her and told her that it couldn’t be helped, but she couldn’t help but feel incredibly annoyed at her incompetence and inability to help out.
One thing she gained from sharing Twilight’s experiences was the possibilities that her farm could have tapped into. Now, a war with a yet-to-appear northern neighbor that led to the disbanding of Ponyville was the last thing she wanted to see, but she did become partial to the idea of a degree of automatization in her farm. It tied into her idea of expanding the orchard. She even had some rough ideas to ensnare two certain fraudsters into her service using their own foul tricks.
However, her family didn’t seem to be supportive of her radical ideas to improve the farms. Of course, the nature-loving Ponyvillians would be averse to industrialization and large-scale farming that might pollute the lands and cut off the personal bonds between the residents, but she’s confident that she would have the moderation required to keep things under control, especially with the distant visions of something highly similar on the other world.
However, the biggest opposition came from someone she didn’t expect. Her brother. He had been stonewalling Applejack’s proposal since the beginning, and he refused to divulge even the smallest bit of the reason why. Their relationship had been strained since she first proposed to bring in machines to help.
“Buckin’ Luddite.” Applejack glumly said.
Suddenly, she heard a rumble from out of the town. ‘A stampede, now?!’ Applejack thought. A herd of cows dashed madly towards the town of Ponyville, seemingly running away from something. The stampede rumbled the earth and its booming sounds were heard throughout the valley.
Applejack gritted her teeth. She should have prepared for this. She couldn’t do anything in her state, much less trying to divert the cow away from the town. Just as she was floundering in her self-pity, she suddenly realized she was right on the path of the stampeding cows. She went wide-eyed with shock, that’s when she was suddenly tackled by something to the side.
Applejack thought she was hit by a stampeding cow and about to be stomped on, then she opened her eyes and saw a wagging tail in her face. It was Winona, her family dog, who saved her from grave danger.
“O Winona, thank you so much, you’ve saved mah plot out there.” Applejack gratefully petted the loyal Winona, and signaled her to go back to the farmstead for now. She sat on the ground looking at the cow herd, who was about to rush into the town through the bridge. She watched helplessly as her walker was stomped on and broken into little pieces.
“Great.” Applejack deadpanned.
Just when she prepared to witness the inevitable destruction of properties, now that she wasn’t available to divert the cows herself, something miraculous happened: A pink pony with puffy mane dashed forward and pulled a mechanism never seen before, and the pink town bridge creaked and moved. With impressive speed, the bridge folded itself up into an ‘N’ shape. Applejack was surprised that somepony, probably Pinkie herself, had converted the old bridge into a movable bridge.
The front-running cows saw that their route has been removed all of a sudden. They decelerated before running into the river, but that unfortunately did not stop a few cows from crashing into them from behind. A loud moo was heard, and the panicking cow slowly began to calm themselves. Fortunately, no cows were knocked into the river on that day.
The crowd cheered and even the Mayor Mare stepped forth to congratulate the pink pony, who simply beamed in her brightest smile. Applejack was glad for her friend who saved the day. However, she suddenly heard a bashful moo nearby and turned.
“Moo—” The cow called, then quickly changed into the pony tongue, “Oh my! We’re so sorry, Applejack, but...”
Applejack looked at the cow. She was Daisy Do, part of the roaming cow herd near Ponyville and around Lower Canterlot in general. They were basically the standard milk supplier for Sweet Apple Acres, as they often need a copious amount of milk for catering services. Usually, Big Mac handled the transactions, and they only talked very occasionally before the arrival of Twilight. Daisy Jo was sort of a matriarch figure, but cows did not really have a rigid vertical hierarchy.
Applejack thought quickly, it would be advantageous if she could befriend the cows, and possibly … include them into their community in the future. She decided to impress Daisy Jo for a bit, so she interrupted the cow’s apology in Cowhili. "You don't need to apologize, Daisy Jo."
Daisy Jo’s eyes went wide, “Ee, Applejack, who taught you our tongue?”
Applejack smiled and pointed to Twilight on the other side of the river bank, “That purple mare , Twilight Sparkle, is a great... teacher.”
“She's a clever mare isn't it, that Twilight,” Daisy Jo grinned, glad that some ponies were interested in their culture. But she then remembered something and made an apologetic face at Applejack, “But… uh… that walker...”
“Hmm?” Applejack merely smiled and shook her head, “It's all in the past, don't worry about a mere stick.”
Daisy Jo was thankful that Applejack was so forgiving of their fault, “You're so forgiving, Applejack. Care for some free milk then as my gratitude?”
“Well, your kind gesture is very welcomed.”
Applejack was at first hesitant, but as Daisy Jo insisted, she nodded. She thanked Daisy Jo and bid her bovine friend farewell.
As Daisy Jo rejoined her herd and excitedly told other cows about the pony who spoke Cowhili, Applejack nodded with satisfaction. She then wincingly climbed towards a broken piece of her walker, and used one of the rods as a makeshift crutch.
Suddenly, Applejack saw Rainbow Dash flew at a high speed towards her, with a deeply concerned expression.
“What on earth are you doing out here, Applejack? You’re injured and should be resting at home!” Rainbow Dash scoffed.
“A—Ah…” Applejack struggled to reply, when Rainbow Dash cried out, “Oh dear, where’s your walker? Hang on there, I will get you your crutch!” Rainbow Dash flew away in a blink of eye, leaving a stunned Applejack on the ground.
With Rainbow Dash’s help, the two eventually made it back to the farmstead. Applejack thanked her friend, who simply beseeched her not to work again before recovery. With great reluctance, she nodded and went to rest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Applejack looked to the ceiling, then to the crate of milk sent by Daisy Jo, and to the ceiling again. It has been three days since her injury, her legs have been healing, but she’s far from strong enough from helping with the harvest. She was barely able to walk without the crutches, but she swore that she’d become stir-crazy if she stayed in her bed longer. So she acted against the advice of her visiting friends and family, and walked out of the farm with some difficulties.
Applejack always saw herself as sort of a dependent big sister, more so now with five more litter ‘sisters’ and Spike to watch over. She wanted to feel less useless and helpless. Big Mac was still strongly against her idea of introducing farming machinery, despite tiring himself out completely with the harvest, so she figured she would look for her friends and see if they have any good idea so she could try talk him into it again. Besides, Twilight and Pinkie told her they were trying to build a state-of-the-art apple harvester, so she wanted to check up on their progresses too.
When Applejack trotted slowly into the town, she noticed that a celebration was taking place. It had seemed that Mayor Mare was holding a ceremony in honor of Pinkie Pie, who had averted a disaster for Ponyville a few days ago by her suggestion of reconfiguring the old bridge, a suggestion which had seemed bizarre at first, but turned out very well for the town at the end.
Applejack brushed by a number of cheery ponies, and reached her friends in the central plaza. Pinkie stood on stage, and talked about how thankful as well as awesome that Mayor Mare adopted her suggestion, and other assorted outlandish suggestions, mostly for easy party access.
Her friends noticed the orange pony, and Twilight yelped in surprise, “Applejack, your legs aren’t fully healed yet!”
“But su—garcube, I will be bored to Tartarus if I stay in the bed for a minute longer.” Applejack pled in a rare childish tone. She then asked, “How’d Pinkie persuaded Mayor Mare into adoptin’ her crazy idea anyway?”
“I vouched for her idea as the Princess’s student. Plus we together saved Equestria once, surely this gives some weight to her talk... even if it’s just Pinkie.” Twilight chuckled.
“Don’t just casually wear our fame around like it’s somethin’ expendable, Twi. Ponies might one day begrudge us for appealin’ to that agin’ an’ agin’.” Applejack warned.
“Applejack, we know there’s going to be a stampede ‘round this time and you’re injured, so we have to have some backup plan.” Applejack winced. “Besides, it’s about building trust … and influence. If we didn’t start with something, we could never take off. Of course, I’m not going to wear the ‘we-beat-Nightmare-Moon’ badge all the time for favors.” Twilight reassured Applejack. “By the way, what brings you into town?”
“Big Mac’s still against mah ideas to bring in the machines.”
Applejack frowned, “Ah wondered that you girls might-could have some idea to help me talk ‘im into it.”
“What, are you talking about seducing him?” Rainbow Dash jokingly interjected.
“Are you volunteering?” Rarity rolled her eyes and asked back.
Rainbow Dash blushed a bit, and said, “Pfft, you’re doing something like that all the time to your Spikey-wikey anyway.”
“Well I never! I know Spike likes me a lot, but I also… uh, I’m not just toying with him!” Rarity glowered at Rainbow.
Twilight blushed. “Okay girls, calm down. These things should be natural. I don’t think anyone of us here is comfortable with the idea of exchanging our uh, marish wiles… for favors anyway.”
“Big Mac huh? He shouldn’t be too much of a difficult pony as I recall.” Rainbow Dash pondered.
“He’s a bit stubborn, yes, but he is a practical pony, and wiser than other ponies think he is. He also loved his family. There must be some deep-seated reason that he refuse to take heed of your suggestions.” Twilight said to Applejack.
Applejack shook her head, “Naw, no idea whatsoe’er. I’ve known Big Mac for all mah life. Can’t think o’ a reason he hated machineries.”
“… Have you tried asking Granny Smith?” Fluttershy, who was keeping silent up until then, suddenly asked.
“… Huh?” Applejack said.
“Well… You’re quite a few years younger than him, right? So there might be something you don’t know… because you were too young.” Fluttershy suggested.
“… You might be onto somethin’, Fluttershy.” Applejack nodded, “By the way Twi, how about the machine you an’ Pinkie’s been tink’rin’ wit?”
“Oh, Pinkie just finished the prototype,” Twilight glanced the cheery party pony on the stage, who was turning the solemn ceremony into a stand-up routine, “She’s just gave me the machine and I’ve been fine-tuning it in a small shed I built by the river… Can’t do it in the apple orchard, y’know? ... But it seemed to be working well so far.”
“Very well Twi, bring me to it after Pinkie’s little gig’s done.” Applejack smiled, it’d seemed that something good was finally happening for her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Ta-da! Unveiling, the ultimate harvest-assisting machine, the Handy Apple Harvest Accumulator, HAHA for short!” Pinkie grinned widely, as she pointed towards the strange-looking machine. It was like an oversized red street car, with metal boxes stacked in layers, and its body wrapped in thick, black tubes, which were in turn connected to a metal hood overhead.
“This design was the final version after we modified the draft blueprint based on field results,” Twilight reported, “Basically, it sucks apple in through the vacuum tubes and pack them neatly in those rectangular bins.”
“Vacuum-tube, huh? Won’t that bruise mah apples when they bump into each other?” Applejack asked, “We had to empty ‘em into bins carefully after we buck ‘em into the buckets to prevent that.”
“Don’t worry, AJ! The vacuum system was designed so that there’s no apple-to-apple contact from the inlet all the way to the bins!” Pinkie smiled.
“Wow, this machine sounds great y’all. But how does it suck apples in from the trees exactly? Won’t it suck in the branches and the leaves as well?”
“Well, that was Pinkie’s crazy brilliant idea. I originally thought that you’ve got to have somepony to pick the apples after all, and the machine only help you transport and pack the apples,” Twilight said.
“… But I said ‘screw that’ because I want to make a fully automatic harvester!” Pinkie exclaimed, “So I think and think and think… Until I get the idea from my party cannon! If the party cannon can shoot things out in perfect order, why can’t it suck things in perfect order as well? I just need to tinker this and install that, so that the HAHA would only begin sucking when something round and bulky is at its mouth. And you can just cover the tree crown with this whippy hood, and watch it do magic!” Pinkie jumped up in excitement.
“Mind you, just don’t stick your head under that hood. It would not pluck all your manes off… But you would probably have to wear that hood as your new hat for quite some time.” Twilight cautioned.
“Whoa, that’s plum great. What does it run on, by the way?” Applejack asked curiously.
“We made it run on oil that come from fermenting plant materials. Leaves, decaying branches, apple cores, something like that. We might make a prototype that runs on electricity later, but the power grid in Equestria is anything but reliable.”
Twilight sighed wryly. “We will bring you a feeder later. You just need to throw in some plant materials into it now and then, clear out the residues and it would produce fuel oil, but of course fleshy bits works better than dry branches.”
“Alright, last question, how many apple trees can it handle and how fast can it harvest ‘em?” Applejack asked.
“It shouldn’t break if you give it normal maintenance. Grease the gears and such. As for speed, I think it should be able to cover 200 acres per season.”
“200 acres?! We only have a few hundred apple trees in our orchard! We barely scratch two acres!” Applejack gasped, “Whoa nelly, thank you so much for this Twi, Pinkie.”
“No problem at all. We’re just glad that it might be helpful to you and your family,” Twilight said, “Just don’t turn us away when bits start rolling in.” She jokingly added.
“You know that wouldn’t happen, Twi.” Applejack rolled her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Applejack gulped when she entered the farmhouse at the Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight and Pinkie had not followed, because this was something that has to be done by herself alone, as an Apple and as Big Mac’s sister.
She trotted into the quiet living room, and she saw her Granny Smith dozing off on a rocking chair. She reached before the sleeping form of her grandma in hesitation. She stood there, but couldn’t find the heart to ask about the painful subject matter.
“… What’s troublin’ ya, young filly?” Applejack was surprised by Granny Smith’s sudden voice, as it seemed that her granny was not dozing off after all.
Applejack sighed and brought herself to finally ask, “Granny, Ah wanna know that why Big Mac hated heavy machineries so much,” Applejack closed her eyes and continued, “Did it have somethin’ to do wit…”
“… Yes, Applejack, it has ev’rythin’ to do wit your parents,” Granny Smith said with a sad voice.
Applejack gasped, “How so, granny?”
“Yer a grown mare now, Ah didn’t want to upset you when yer younger, but Ah figure it’s time,” Granny Smith said, “… When Big Mac’s jus’ a young’un, and before yer even born, a relative of us in Baltimare invited yer pa to work in his fruit canning factory. Although he wasn’t too glad to have to work so far away from us, he’s promised a handsome pay, and it’d have helped a lot because our farms were strugglin’ back then.”
“So there he went, away for half a year without any message or contact. Yer ma then discovered that she’s pregnant with you months after he went away. Then not long after, a relative had brought us the bad news from Baltimare…” Granny Smith sighed, “Yer pa was caught in some malfunctionin’ machinery. He was wheeled back here only missin' some limbs, but he was a changed stallion since then. Yer ma couldn’t quite accept the terrible news, and she grew all glum and like.”
"No wonder it was you who took care of me..." Applejack frowned sadly.
Granny Smith sighed. "At first, things were not too bad actually. Even though we're all sad, your ma still took upon herself to look after your da. But he was always frustrated about not bein' able to work, and grew very depressed. The only happy thing back then was the birth of yer little sister. However, he left a message to us one night, saying that he didn't want to be a burden anymore... He's never seen again."
Applejack gasped, and Granny Smith gruffly said. "Yer ma couldn't handle this second shock, and she fell really sick. She was too weak to hang on after giving birth to Apple Bloom." Granny Smith shook her head, “So now, you see why Big Mac hated the machines.”
Applejack was speechless. The reactions from her big brother suddenly all made sense to her, and she hated herself for being so insensitive by so tactlessly bringing up the hated topic. She also cursed herself for not thinking of that by herself before, even with her new found knowledge and experiences from the mind magic… She gritted her teeth, what use was living so long if she… it couldn’t even tell the nuance in the most important pony interactions for her. The instinctive insecurity was creeping up in her mind again like a veil of kudzu vines.
But Applejack’s resolve and determination eventually won over. There was no use tottering in sadness and regret, she still had a farm to run and bring to success, she still had a family to love and feed, and moreover, she… and her friends … still had a vision of future almost unimaginable for any living creature in the whole world, and they were going to bring about that no matter the time and cost it would need. They were not only going to change pony society, they were also going to fulfill that … selfish little wish of the ancient tome, now living on in her and her friends.
Applejack gulped and said, “… Ah appreciate it, granny, for tellin’ it like what it is to me,” But she hardened her gaze, “… Ah’ve always tried to stay strong despite mah … lack of parents. Ah loved y’all and Ah always tried to do what Ah think it’s best for the family.”
Applejack trotted slowly to the window, and looked at the orchard. She saw her strong big brother’s tired form dragging across the orchard. “Ah’ll admit, it might be a difficult sight for mah big brother. But what Ah’m doin’ right now is not jus’ a silly impulse or jus’ for this one harvest.”
Applejack’s eyes glimmered, “… Ah have a dream, of makin’ our farm into the greatest farm of Equestria, so that Ah could easily provide for mah family, even mah friends and make the land into a better place. Ah’ll never stop until that dream o’ mine is attained,” She looked back to her granny, who was staring at her directly, “So I’m goin’ to keep on convincin’ Big Mac an’ all of you. Please granny, Ah…”
Applejack kneeled to the ground and almost kowtowed, to Granny Smith’s surprise. Granny Smith interrupted Applejack, “… Stand up, young’un, Ah hear ya,” Granny Smith shifted herself in her rocking chair, “Ah don’t actually blame ‘em machines for claimin’ yer pa, Ah’m jus’ afeared that it’d upset yer big brother. But Ah see you’ve thought about this and you’re very determined. That kind o’ determination was what drove me to come here an’ build the Acres in the first place… Ah’ll support you, Applejack. Try talk to yer brother agin’ ‘bout this.”
“Thank you, granny, Ah thank you wit all mah hearts.” Applejack gently embraced the old pony, who simply smiled and nodded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Big Mac was completely exhausted when he came back from his work. Although he was certain that he couldn’t harvest all the apples by himself, his sister clearly wanted to bring in all the apples, and he loved his sister with all his heart, so he tried to please her by working all day long to harvest as many as possible.
Illuminated only by the dim starlight, Big Mac entered the farmhouse of Sweet Apple Acres. There in the living room, he saw his sister Applejack waiting, with a deeply concerned and worried expression.
She leapt forth and almost tackled him to the ground, “Big brother! You shouldn’t be workin’ yerself this late, ye’ll hurt or tire yerself and even keel over! Didn’t you say that you weren’t goin’ to chew off more than what you can bite?”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac said, but despite his response, he showed little sign of wanting to follow her plea.
Applejack gritted her teeth, and said, “Ah asked Granny Smith about our pa an’ ma today.”
Big Mac’s eyes shot wide, but he said nothing.
“… Ah now know why you hated ‘em machines. Ah’m sorry that ah kept mentionin’ ‘em to you, I should be more sensitive ‘bout this.” Applejack said in a low voice.
“… It’s fine, ya didn’t know.” Big Mac quietly said, with a complicated expression.
“Y’know why Ah’m so pigheaded about this?” Applejack suddenly asked.
“Eenope.” Big Mac said.
“Ah love mah family as much as mah own life. Ah’m always afeared that somethin’ might happen and that the farm can’t be maintained. That’d be disastrous for our family.”
Applejack sighed and continued, “It’s not until I fell and broke mah legs, that I realized in mah own heart that how close we’re wit unexpected happenins. Granny’s already very old and Apple Bloom’s too young, there’s only two o’ us on the farm. If somethin’ bad happens to both o’ us, then Celestia knows what we do to earn our livin’.”
Big Mac wanted to speak up, but he’s interrupted by Applejack.
“… Hearin’ ‘bout pa an’ ma only hardened my resolve.” Big Mac raised his eyebrow at the mention of their parents. “The failin’ farm was what drove pa to the cities in the first place. And Ah would never allow somethin’ like that to happen ever again, so Ah still want to bring in the machines to help.”
“Ah don’t want the machines to claim ya too, Applejack!” Big Mac almost yelled out in a rare outburst of emotion.
“Not all machines harm ponies, Big Mac. The one Twi and Pinkie made wouldn’t even hurt a bunny.”
She bit her lip and said, “… We should always remember the past, for that’s where we came from and where our roots were. But we also have to look at the future, for that’s where we’ll become and where our dreams lie.”
Applejack paused and stared directly at Big Mac’s eyes, “There are times in our lives when we have to realize our past is precisely what it is, and we can’t change it. But we can change the story we tell ourselves about it, and by doin’ that, we can change the future. Please big brother, we have to move on, an’ give ourselves a chance, that’s what pa an’ ma would’ve wanted too, right?”
Big Mac went silent, and he looked at Applejack’s determined face for a very long time. Eventually he said, “… Ah’ll have to think ‘bout it.”
“Give it time, brother. Ah can wait.” Applejack said with a loving smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“… And that’s how Ah managed to talk Big Mac into adoptin’ the machines.” Applejack grinned.
“That’s great, Applejack!” Twilight looked at Big Mac, who was riding on the apple harvester. The air was filled with the sweet scent of freshly picked apples, as the trees were covered by the suctioning hood of the harvester and picked clean one by one. “But why’s he carrying a lasso and a hammer with him?”
Applejack chuckled, “He said he’ll personally lasso and pick apart the dang machine if it dares to harm ponies nearby,” She shook her head. “That’s not how machines work!”
“…Well, he’ll need time to get used to it.” Fluttershy said.
“True, true.” Applejack nodded.
“By the way, Applejack, are you sure your legs are totally fine now? Don’t force yourself if you haven’t completely recovered!” Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack worriedly.
“I told ya, I’m perfectly fine now!” Applejack kicked a small rock with her front leg, sending it far away. “See?”
“Ouch!” The mares were startled by the sudden yelp of pain. It turned out that the pebble had landed squarely on Spike’s head, who was chewing on some apple pie.
“Oh dear, Ah’m so, so sorry Spike!” Applejack looked at Spike with a troubled face, “Are you alright?”
“Uh, Applejack, you should be more careful next time.” Spike touched his head and groaned.
“Spike, I’m sure Applejack didn’t mean it,” Twilight looked to the fretful orange pony, “I’ll give you a ruby to make up for it when we’re home. In the meantime, would you help me for a bit and write a friendship report to the Princess?”
“Sure thing, Twi.” Spike beamed at the prospects of tasty gems, as he pulled out a quill and a paper from her saddlebag.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
My dear friend, Applejack, has helped his brother to cross a hurdle of their family’s sad past. While life can only be understood backwards, it must also be lived forwards. Therefore, we must treasure the present and our loved ones, in order to open up a future of possibilities and hope.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle”
“Whoa…” Spike couldn’t help but gaped at the words he just wrote.
“You’ve really waxed poetic on this one, Twi.” Rainbow Dash chuckled.
“Well, that was written as much for us … as for the Princesses,” Twilight said, “I really hope they would understand.”