Misery, pure unadulterated misery, those were the only words that could describe how Rainbow felt right now. She felt nauseous and as though somebody had tried to split her head open with an ax. She wrapped her pillow around her head in vain as she attempted to block out the thrumming and pounding she was hearing inside her own head.
Letting out a groan she rolled over and let her eyes crack open just a sliver, a decision she immediately regretted once the sunlight hit them. “I’m never drinking again,” she grumbled to herself squeezing her eyes shut as tightly as she could.
“That don’t sound like such a bad idea,” a calm deep voice said softly off to her side.
“Please don’t shout Mac, I’m hungover as a son of…” she started but Mac cut her off.
“Language young lady,” he teased lightly as Rainbow reluctantly let her eyes open once more.
Mac looked better than she felt, granted that wasn’t exactly saying too much. His mane disheveled, and there were bags under his eyes, but at least he seemed to be functioning.
“Please not now Mac, I feel awful,’ she groaned as she buried herself once more in his pillow and sheets.
“Well Ah got something that should help with that,” he said as he set down a tray.
Her curiosity piqued as Rainbow fought the urge to keep her eyes shut tight and looked to see what Mac was doing. Much to her horror she saw him concocting some foul home remedy which appeared to be orange juice with several other unidentified ingredients be thrown in.
“Just add a dash of tabasco and one large egg and we have a good old fashion fixer-upper,” He said cheerily pushing it towards her
“I don’t think so, my mouth already tastes like vomit and I don’t want to add…whatever that is on top of it,”
“Trust me, it’ll help.”
Rainbow eyed him skeptically but renewed pain piercing her head forced her to reconsidered.
“Well…I can hardly feel any worse than I do now,” she admitted defeatedly.
Taking the glass, she stared at the odd mixture. It looked as thick as syrup and about as appetizing as eating cow pies. Making a gulping noise she looked up at Mac who gave her a silent nod. Letting out a sigh Rainbow held her breath and chugged the concoction down as quickly as she possibly could.
Making a face and almost gagging she stared up at Mac, “That was terrible,” she said sticking her tongue out.
“It made you forget about your hangover didn’t it,” he said smirking.
Rainbow gave him incredulous look, had he just pranked her? She was about to start shouting at him when she realized that her hangover did, in fact, feel better. It was by no means gone, but the pain in her head had been reduced to mild ache and her sensitivity to sunlight had diminished.
“Told you it would help,” he said a little too smugly for Rainbow’s liking.
“Yeah, well…it was still gross.”
“Ah never said it would taste good, Ah just said it would help,” he chuckled as he took her empty glass and turned to head downstairs. “We saved you some breakfast if you feel up to eating, just come on down when you're all set,” he finished as he turned and left.
Making her way slowly out of Mac’s bed she began to take full stock of her condition now that she was no longer bemoaning her hungover state. Beyond the normal headache and light sensitivity; she found herself sore in several spots, her stomach growling, and there was a rather noticeable lump on her forehead. She must have had an interesting night but she would be damned if she could recall too much after she had made the poor choice to engage in a contest of drink with Big Mac.
“I’ll have to ask Mac about that,” she mumbled to herself as she felt the lump gingerly.
Standing up straight Rainbow went through her normal morning stretching routine. There were the normal pops and clicks in her joints and wings but nothing that seemed serious or out of the ordinary. Her stomach growled audibly as she moved to make her way downstairs to get some breakfast.
Rainbow found Mac still in the kitchen pouring himself a mug of coffee.
“You know, Ah would have thought would have wanted a bit more sleep…coffee?” he offered raising the pot.
“Sure,” she replied pulling a plate of apple pancakes towards her and dousing them in butter and syrup before tucking into them with vigor.
“Ah have no idea how you can eat like that and stay so fit,” Mac said placing the mug of coffee next to Rainbow’s plate.
“Easy, I’m awesome,” she said confidently in between bites. Any attempt to seem awesome, however, was ruined by a rather noticeable dribble of syrup running down her chin.
“Well, you didn’t look so awesome last night when you were leaving your dinner in the bushes,” he said chuckling lightly.
“Well that answers why I’m so hungry, say Mac…I uhhh…didn’t do anything too stupid last night did I?” she asked almost nervously. Rainbow had blacked out a few times in the past and she had done and said some rather foolish things.
“You don’t remember?” he asked and she replied by simply shaking her head. “Well, do you remember falling off your stool?”
“Yeeees,” she drew out the word, the memory was fuzzy but she did remember hitting the floor of the bar.
“Okay, do you remember a certain Rainbow maned mare making the very bad decision to goad me into a drinking contest?” he asked smirking, earning him a steeling glare from Rainbow.
“Har…har” she deadpanned.
“Alright, alright, what was the last thing you remember?”
Rainbow racked her brain as she tried to recall last night's events. The whole night was hazy after she had tried to go tit for tat with Mac at the bar, and then those foggy memories gave way to pure darkness.
“Not a thing after I tried to out drink you, so I can’t be held responsible for anything I said or did after that point,” she said matter of factly as she shoveled more pancakes into her mouth.
“Awww, does that mean you don’t really think I have pretty eyes?” Mac teased her over his mug of coffee.
Rainbow Dash stopped eating mid-chew her cheeks; bulging with pancakes and smeared with syrup, turned red as she stared at Mac.
“I…I didn’t really say that…did I?” she stammered out, hoping very much that he was screwing with her. She didn’t get her answer as Applejack walked in at that moment.
“You know, we may have to start charging you rent if this is going to making it a habit of staying here every night and eating our food,” she joked as she went to get her own cup of coffee.
“Hey, if you keep feeding food like this I don’t have a problem with that,” Rainbow replied a little peeved that Applejack had interrupted Mac’s answer, but at the same, a little grateful the subject had been changed.
“Anyhow I’ve finished up with my chores for the day so Ah’ll be heading into town,” Applejack told her brother who simply nodded in response.
“Wow... you Apples sure have a lot more free time than I would have thought,” Rainbow joked earning her a look from both siblings. “Oh lighten up I’m just messing with you, I know you’re in your off season,” she said jamming more pancakes into her mouth.
“Well at any rate make sure you take it easy today Mac, you gotta make sure you have enough energy to catch those apple stealing varmints,” Applejack half joked but the seriousness was still evident in her voice.
“Well, Miss Dash here will be helping me tonight, so hopefully we’ll have some better luck,” he told her matter of factly and Applejack gave him a curious look “Did Ah not tell you that yesterday?”
“No, this is the first Ah’m hearing, but we’re glad to have the help,” she said her confusion still evident. “Ah’ll be back later, see you,” she finished as she turned to leave. After they heard the sound of the closing door Rainbow turned to Mac.
“Is it just me, or was that just a little…off?”
“Ah think she just a mite confused that you offered to help me and not her.”
“Yeah well, you know the reason,” she replied finishing the food on her plate.
“Let me ask you something Miss Dash,” she glared at him, “Sorry. Rainbow can Ah ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“What is your plan with this whole…misunderstanding,” he finished not quite sure how to word it.
“Uuuuugh, I really don’t want to talk about this,” she groaned.
“Like it or not this ain’t going to get any better on its own,” he said kindly but firmly.
“Well…what would you do?” she asked.
“Honesty is the best policy, just talk to them and tell them the truth,” he stated simply.
“That's what I thought you’d say, I think I’d rather just stay on the farm and hide,” she mumbled in a defeated tone.
Big Mac just chuckled a bit, “Well, if you want to stay here you have to earn your keep,” he said throwing on his yoke “You can lend me a hoof with what’s left to do today,”
Rainbow just stared at him almost incredulously as he turned to leave the farmhouse. Letting out a sigh she made to follow him. At least she would be able to put off any awkward conversations for at least another day.
Several hours later the work was done and Rainbow was dripping with sweat. The farm work was not at all what she was used to when it came to physical labor. She was all about speed and conditioning, not heavy lifting. She drifted down from the sky towards the farmhouse, she landed and collapsed on the ground staring up at the sky. It was just before twilight and the air was beginning to chill and she felt herself begin to shiver.
“Are you alright?” Mac asked as he stood over her.
“I can’t believe that was considered light work,” she responded with an exasperated sigh.
“You should see what it’s like when it’s time to harvest, or in spring when we plant,” he said grinning.
“No thank you, you can do all the heavy lifting you want, I’ll stick to skies if you don’t mind,”
“Hehe, fair enough,” he laughed as he turned to head for his family's homestead. “Well, come on inside and get something to eat and rest, we are going to have a long night ahead of us,”
The meal Big Mac made for them was simple but surprisingly good. Rainbow had always thought; well, that was not strictly true, she had never really given much thought at all to the matter. She would have figured that the cooking skills in the family would have been with Applejack and Granny Smith. At the very least that is the reputation around Ponyville.
After they finished eating they retired to the living room where Mac took a seat in a well worn, but comfortable looking chair and let out a sigh as he relaxed into a comfortable position. Rainbow mimicked him on the couch, where she assumed Big Mac had been sleeping the past two night.
“So what time do we head out?” she asked stretching out and lying down.
“Me and AJ, usually head out a few hours after dusk, so we have a few hours to kill,” he said as he let himself fully relax.
“Awesome, I’m gonna take a nap,” she responded making herself comfortable on the couch and closing her eyes.
“Ah’ll wake you when it’s time,” was the last thing she heard before she drifted off surprisingly quickly.
Rainbow found herself shaken awake a few hours later by the surprising gentle nudges of a large hoof. She groaned and rolled over pulling her blanket closer to her. Wait, had she had a blanket when had fallen asleep? She didn’t dwell on it however as a soft spoke but deep voice said her name.
“Rainbow, it’s time to get up,”
“Alright, alright give me a minute,” she grumbled as she rolled over again. Waking up was always an issue for, but once she got on her hooves she was usually fine.
After a moment or two she finally made her way up and was able to fully open her eyes. It was pitch black outside and glancing around the room she noticed that Mac was no longer present. Assuming he had already made his way outside Rainbow walked out onto the porch and was struck by how cold it had gotten out. Her teeth chattered for a moment before she heard a deep chuckle.
“Here, Ah wouldn’t want you catching a cold,” Mac said providing Rainbow with a scarf and hat.
“Thanks, I always forget how fast it gets cold this time of year,” she said quickly donning the provided garments.
“Weren’t you a weather pony before you joined the Wonderbolts?” Mac asked both confused and a little amused.
“Yeah, what’s your point?” she responded, there not a single trace of snark or sass in her voice.
“Well Ah would have figured…” he started but stopped himself when he saw her quirk an eyebrow in mild confusion and all he could was chuckle,“You know what, it’s not really important, come on let’s get to work,” he said turning away from the slightly bewildered Rainbow Dash and heading to the barn.
“Okay...so what’s our plan?” she asked trotting after him as he pulled a set of lantern from the barn.
“Remember where Ah found you the other night?”
“Oh you mean the tree you bucked me out of?” she joked.
“That’s the place,” he responded his tone unchanging, but Rainbow could just barely see a small grin on his face in the light of lantern. “That’s the part of the orchard that we’ve been having the issue with, so that’s where we’re going to be focusing,” he finished, handing her a lantern.
Rainbow took the lantern in her teeth and the two of them began to make their way towards the location where this whole strange companionship had begun. Once they made if a fair way into the orchard Rainbow turned to Mac.
“I’ll let you know if I see anything,” she said simply before taking to the sky as Big Mac gave her a nod.
As she climbed higher, Rainbow felt a thrill run through her. There is a certain level of danger involved in flying at night, especially around the Apple Family farm with no lights below to guide her. But that was part of the excitement, the pitch black sky, the gusts of cool air without knowing exactly where you were in relation to the ground, she loved it. She allowed herself a moment to indulge in the rush as she spun and looped through the night sky before reminding herself she had a job to do.
Righting herself she began to glide lower over the orchard being sure to stay a fair distance from the light of Mac’s lantern trying to make sure the pair of them were able to cover as much ground as they possibly could.
After a few hours of thrill flying and looking for criminals, the excitement had long since worn off as she was simply coasting just above the treetops. She was starting to think nopony would be around tonight, granted, was always a possibility but that didn’t help to alleviate the sense of boredom that was beginning to build.
At this point, Rainbow had a fairly good idea of the height of the trees and decided to extinguish her lantern for the time being just to keep herself on edge and reintroduce some of thrill of flying in the dark. However, after a few minutes of flying in the dark, Rainbow found her eyes adjusting to the lack of light and noticed something that barely caught her attention.
A small bit of movement ahead of her near the edge of the orchard. She stopped beating her wings and entered a glide. Maneuvering quickly and quietly through the branches and set down noiselessly on one of the sturdier branches of the trees. Peering through the leaves, she found herself just able to make out the outlines of three ponies, whom were bigger than Scootaloo, but definitely smaller than herself. They were talking in hushed whispers and were moving nervously but quickly.
Rainbow had to fight the urge to jump out and give them a scare right then and there, but she had promised Mac she’d come and get him if she found anything. As gingerly as she could,Rainbow took off and started to make haste towards the light of Mac’s lantern.