//------------------------------// // Show, Don't Apple // Story: Appledashery Vol. Two // by Just Essay //------------------------------// The days flew by in a sweaty blur. Applejack scarcely noticed. She was working as hard as before—perhaps even harder. What made the time fly was a new regimen... a fuzzy regimen. Even in her most strenuous of moments—kicking trees, lugging baskets around, pulling wagons—Applejack felt a tiny, feathery massage to her scalpe... a constant kiss that carried her along. At night... far away from the sunlight and the heat and the brightness of the agonizing harvest... she was soothed by it. The softest of things. A blue feather belonging to nopony but her. Even when Applejack stared at it and cradled it until sleep overtook her senses, she forgot who it belonged to. Perhaps purposefully. This was because it no longer mattered. The source wasn't important; simply the meaning. The sensation... and its ever lasting effect. Once upon a time—perhaps—there was a blonde mare and a prismatic pegasus who had an awkward, drunken, and ultimately clumsy moment in some backend alleyway atop the roof of the world. It wasn't important then and it wasn't important now. Applejack reasoned that she wasn't lying to herself over the matter. After all, it was more than evident that Rainbow Dash didn't harbor any legitimate feelings. Applejack had just caught the mare during a completely innocent, completely vulnerable, completely delicate moment. Applejack had long thought she had no need for delicate things. It would seem she was wrong, only now she was acknowledging a new reality. She needed such precious things in her life—if only to make herself feel needed... to feel treasured. She didn't need to treasure another pony to experience that elevating sensation. She just needed something to make the thought—the inspiration concrete. That feather was such an ark. It preserved and carried emotions that Applejack didn't know she had. It was happy, but also bittersweet. But in a life built out of grit and sweat and apple stems, Applejack knew very little—outside of family—that could invigorate her so heavily. And she was so very used to family. This feather... this foreign element felt so strange, so unusual, so dependent on happenstance... and now dependent on her. And—in a lot of ways—Applejack had to admit she was dependent on it all the same. On the feeling. On the dream-soft fantasy of being adored. And to adore back... Applejack wasn't a psychiatrist, but even the simple-minded laborer inside her knew that she probably needed to see someone about all these things racing through her mind. But none of that was important right now. Saving the farm was. And if a measely little feather could quicken her pace in the field... make it easier for her to put on a smile at the dinner table... ... ...make it somehow feel okay to lose moisture from her eyes as she tried to sleep at night... ...then it would all be worth it. Sooner than later, the work... the concentration... the obsession would all be worth it. To think about it would only make the entire matter implode. So Applejack concentrated on her harvest... just as she was doing right now... pivoting and kicking trees... praising the powers that be that nothing could possibly distract or interrupt or annoy her at this current juncture— "HeyAJhow'sithoofing—Ohcrap!" A cracking voice collapsed right behind her, followed by a petite winged body crashing into a pair of stubby trees. Thud! Applejack blinked hard, waking up to the moment. It was midday. The sun was out. She was covered with sweat... ...and she had her hat off... pausing to admire the feathery treasure lying within. Six phantom words echoed bloodily between her ears. "Snkkkt!" Sucking her breath in through her teeth, Applejack immediately slapped the hat back on and recoiled at the collapsed scamp beside her. "Rainbow?! What in tarnation...?!" A goofy cluster of blue horse noodles struggled to disentangle herself from apple tree branches looming above. It wasn't until a few seconds into the absurd spectacle that Applejack realized Rainbow was attempting to spout something out. "Uhhhhh..." Hot, winded, and stained all over with sweat, Applejack was hardly in the mood for her loyal friend's goofiness. Just a friend. Friend. "Come again, sugarcube?"