//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: Always Together, Forever Apart 
// by bahatumay 
//------------------------------//

	Applejack chuckled as she looked at the sink and the plate in it. “Ain't that like her,” she said. “She hates doing dishes.”

Rainbow may have hated doing dishes, but she was very helpful everywhere else. It was almost like magic, coming back in the mornings to see cherries sorted, things cleaned, floors swept, bottles organized, dough set out. Having Rainbow Dash as an additional worker definitely made things progress a bit faster. The short remainder of the season seemed to fly by. 

And finally, Applejack slid the bits she'd earned at market today over. “Alright,” she said. “That’s everything from today, and all she wrote. Harvest is done.” She paused as Ledger Line counted, but could not hide her interest. 

She popped up on the desk. “How's it looking?” she asked, more eagerly than she’d intended. She paused, realizing just how close she was, and then sheepishly stepped back, taking her hooves off the desk. 

“Promising,” Ledger Line said, doing his best to ignore the recent invasion of his privacy. “Did most of this already. With this, just… carry the one…”

Applejack chewed nervously on her hooves as Ledger Line finished making a few calculations. 

He set the quill down, sat back in his chair, and laughed. “We made a whole fifteen bits.” 

Applejack exhaled as she watched her hopes dissipate like smoke. “That’s… that’s good,” she said slowly. “I mean, I wish we’d made more, of course; but no more debts for the orchard, right? That’s the important part.”

“Oh, no; that’s the pure profit for the orchard,” Ledger Line said, unaware of Applejack’s internal thoughts and with more than a hint of pride for his number-crunching abilities. He underlined the relevant parts with his quill as he spoke. “I included the cost of the roof repair, future foreseeable expenses, and your wages in my calculations already. Aunt Cherry used to pay her workers pretty well before she passed, so…” He circled a number, pointed to another, and slid the pad over. “That’s your take, and that's Rainbow’s.”

Applejack’s eyes widened as she saw her cut. She sat back, blindsided, her chest heaving. “I don’t… I don’t know what to say,” she said, her voice cracking.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Ledger Line said. “You saved the orchard. Ponies are saying Cherry Jubilee’s name with pride again, not shame. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Applejack grinned wryly and shrugged, but her cheeks did tinge a bit pink. “I worked on a farm, ‘s’all I did. It’s what my calling is, anyhow.” She looked down at her share of the bits again and exhaled, imagining what that number would look like translated into actual bits. “But this’ll help, for sure.”

“I’ll see that you get it from the bank before you go. When are you planning on leaving?”

“Tonight,” Applejack admitted.

There was a long pause. 

Applejack adjusted her hat and coughed. “Well, it's been fu-” 

“Let me come with you,” Ledger Line blurted.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. 

“Well,” he defended himself, “you did so much for me, and-”

“Dragged you through the orchard, and that’s about it,” Applejack interrupted, but a little smile played at her lips.

Ledger Line shrugged. “I guess I just… I want to see your happy ending.”

Applejack exhaled. “Fine,” she conceded. “But I ain’t slowing down, so you'll have to keep up.” She faced the horizon and adjusted her hat, and she held out her leather-clad foreleg so Rainbow could land on it. “Saddle up, Ledger Line. We've got a date with destiny.”



*  *  *
 


Destiny was not a fun date, Ledger Line decided. The journey back to Ponyville was a bit of a long one, and Applejack definitely didn't stop. Most of it wasn’t bad, aside from all the walking.

Most of it, anyway.

“Is there a reason we’re walking through the forest?” Ledger Line jumped as the sound of an animal cry split the night. He shuddered. “In the dark? In the middle of the night?”

Rainbow chuckled wryly. “This is our hometown. We’re known here. And since I’m a wanted criminal, and Applejack’s presumed dead, strolling down the street is not exactly a good option.”

Ledger Line grimaced as another unknown (but probably predatory) animal cried out.

“Stay cool, Ledger,” Rainbow said loftily. She leaned back to pat the timberwolf on the head. “We’re perfectly safe with Timberjack here. Most animals know timberwolves are bad news.” She leaned back and put her hooves behind her head.

Ledger Line did not care for Timberjack. Mostly because Timberjack had elected to let Rainbow Dash ride, but had bared her teeth at him when he’d tried to get on. So he was walking. 

Again.

And it certainly didn’t help that Rainbow Dash flew forward to scout the way every five to ten minutes. She was very fast, and very impatient. The main issue with that was, that left Ledger to walk with Timberjack.

Timberjack didn’t seem to like him very much. And her breath stank.

Thankfully, Rainbow soon returned with good news. “We’re almost there!” she said.

“Where’s there?” Ledger Line asked.

“You’ll see.”

And see he did; he ducked under a branch to see a tree, decorated with large (rather frightening) masks. He jumped, not expecting anything like this in the forest. “What in Equestria?”

But Rainbow Dash seemed to be expecting this; she patted Timberjack on the cheek. “Stay here, girl,” she whispered.

“Who lives out here?” Ledger Line asked.

Rainbow knocked on the door. “A friend of ours. A zebra named-”

The door opened, revealing a zebra. Ledger Line blinked. He’d never seen a real zebra before. 

Rainbow Dash, though, had. She brightened. “Ze-”

But the zebra had a very different reaction. She let out what could only be a startled curse in her native language, reached blindly back for a bowl of something on her table, and threw it all on Rainbow. “Begone, spirit! Your time here is done! / I banish you to whence you came from!”

“Zecora!” Rainbow protested, scampering backwards and wiping off her face. “Wait! I’m not a spirit! It’s me! Rainbow Dash!”

Zecora panted, her ears still pinned; but she soon calmed as she realized what was going on. She scuffed a hoof, embarrassed. “I can see, forsooth / that you are telling me the truth. Forgive my reaction; I was not believing / I’d meet an old friend this late in the eve’n.” A wry smile crossed her face. “And I’m grateful you’re of the living group.” She looked down regretfully at the empty bowl she held. “It seems I threw on you my soup.”