Chapter 1: A Strange Storm
The sun was finally rising, it's orange rays coloring up the dark night, banishing the last stars in the sky that was quickly turning blue. It meant that a new day had begun, and for the Apple family it meant morning chores. The first one up on the farm was usually the red and only stallion in the house, Big Macintosh. He was a stoic stallion of few words, but with a kind heart and a sharp mind. He trotted through the house, making himself a quick mug of coffee before going out to enjoy the sunrise for a few minutes before starting today's work.
Today however he noticed an orange figure sitting on the porch, it was not hard to guess who it was, it was more difficult to figure out why she was out there this early in the morning. Moving his way through the farm house and stepping outside, Big Macintosh sat down on his usual spot. Just about a meter to his right sat his sister, Applejack, looking at the sunrise without a word of greeting to her brother.
Big Mac had noticed his sister getting up earlier than usual lately, but had not wanted to press her on it. Today however he chose to break the silence. "Mawnin." He said, hoping it would spark some sort of conversation or at the very least give him a clue to why Applejack was getting up so early.
At first she did not respond, it took about twelve seconds, maybe twenty before she finally seemed to come back to reality. She turned her head over so slightly towards her brother and gave him a half smile. "Mawnin Big Mac.." Her voice did not sound tired, more like she was not using her usual energy, like if she was still far away in thought.
"Ya up awful early, agayn.." Big Mac continued eyeing his little sister with a look that told her he was concerned. He had practically raised AJ along with Granny Smith so he knew when something was on her mind.
"Yep, ah suppose... ah suppose I am.." Applejack simply replied. Big Macintosh frowned, it was not really like AJ to be so far away in her thoughts. She looked back towards the sunrise and let out a sigh. "Ay'm sorry Big Mac, ah know this ain't like me at all.. Ah reckon it's just..." she shook her head and sighed. "Never you mind, i better get started on those there chores."
She stood up on her four hooves with a small forced brave smile and started to trot away. This worried Big Mac as he had never seen his sister like this, sure at times she was sad, annoyed, angry, but this was just strange. As he was sitting there thinking he suddenly heard hoof steps behind him and to his surprise it was his fillyfriend. The one and only Rainbow Danger Dash, or just Dash as he called her. They had been dating for almost a year now and Rainbow had settled in quite nicely.
"Morning..." she yawned, her eyes only half open. "Watcha sitting here for..?" She asked and sat down beside her handsome stallion.
"Mawnin Rainbow." Big Mac greeted as she leaned in against him, still trying to wake up.....She was failing... Big Mac chuckled. "Ya can't fall asleep again darlin, ya have to go to work." Big Mac reminded her. Rainbow Dash had not moved in or anything, but at times she would sleep here and on other times Big Mac would sleep at her place.
"Sush.... You did not answer my question... You have that face on..." She mumbled barely keeping her eyes open.
"What face?" He asked
"The 'Something is wrong and I am gonna fix it' face." Rainbow Dash replied with a teasing smirk before she moved to sit straight. She stretched her wings to their fullest width before folding them back and stood up. "I better go to work, i'll see you tonight?"
Big Mac nodded "Eeeyup." Giving him smile she planted a kiss on his muzzle before she finally leap into the air and flew away. Big Mac was grateful that Rainbow had let the issue drop for now, it was not a secret, he just wanted to have a brother and sister talk first.
*****
Applejack was not one for pouting for very long, it was not even that she was mad at anypony, she just felt frustrated lately. She did not like to admit it, but now that she was alone in the far north field she let out a long annoyed sigh. She did not like to admit it, but Applejack knew her frustrations came from lacking what her brother had.
Love...
True love, though she was happy for her friend and for her brother, she liked to have what they had with somepony special. So far she had not yet figured out if she was frustrated that she did not have the kind of love her brother had, or if she was frustrated her mind was focused on such matters instead of work!
Grunting a little she kicked some dirt with her hoof and tried to get her mind back on more important matters, apple bucking!
*****
Time passed and soon enough the early day had become late afternoon. Applejack had so far succeeded keeping her mind busy with her chores and so she had not been able to think to much about the whole love thing. Looking over the baskets full of apples she smirked, she could handle this all by her-
*Drip*
Self?
Applejack felt something wet hit her flank, cold and wet. Looking up she finally noticed the mass dark rain clouds that had gathered over her. Strange, it was supposed to be sunny all day and she had not seen anyone from the weather team preparing the weather, not even now.
Feeling the wind picking up and the sound of distant thunder AJ figured it was best she headed home with the apples she had before the rain got bad. Hooking herself up so she had a basket with apples on each side of her body, Applejack made her way towards the farm.
Trotting down the the small dirt trails between the apple trees, she started to feel the drops of water more frequently second by second. The wind was picking up too and before she knew it the rain was coming down hard and the wind got stronger really fast. Applejack squinted her eyes in order not to get to much of the water clouding her vision, she could feel the wind keeping her from going very far and right now it was hard not to loose her balance.
She moved with a mix of speed and precision, not wanting to be knocked over by the strong winds by being careless. She could feel the ground beneath her turn to mud and that only made it harder for her not to slide and loose balance.
"What in tarnation is goin' on?!" She yelled out feeling herself slide back.
Lowering herself she hoped she could almost crawl forward, but it became clear with he weight of the apples, the rain, the strong winds, she knew she would have to let the apples go. Soon enough to her horror her hat flew off into the chaos of the storm.
Gritting her teeth she began to loose the saddle straps that held the baskets in place, but she did not get very far. Soon enough to her shock a bright light flashed through the sky and then a loud sound startled her. A lightning flashed before her, hitting one of the apple trees, ripping it open like it was a simple stick!
Applejack let out a scream as the result from the lightning and the strong winds, the tree suddenly moved over her. It all happened so fast, soon enough she found herself lying in the mud, the tree over her forcing her to stay there as the storm raged above her.
She did a mental check of herself, luckily the tree was not resting it's full weight on her. The many branches held up just enough for her to fit below it, but with the baskets and the straps around her, she was not going anywhere.
The thunder roared above her, the rain and wind creating confusion and chaos, the many dark skies made it almost look like it was night time! She had no one to call, no one with her, she was alone.. At this point she did not care how this storm was created, she only feared for her family and friends. Was Apple Bloom out playing with her friends? What about Big Mac? He had to be outside working too! And then what about Rainbow Dash? Was she in the sky trying to stop this with the rest of the weather team?
Groaning and struggling beneath the tree in the hopes of getting out, she found out pretty quickly there was no way out of this! She kept trying until her heart felt like it was gonna explode and then finally she sunk down into the mud. Here Applejack laid, wet, cold and muddy, she would try to call for help, but the noise of the storm would surely muffle any attempt she made.
Suddenly she felt the tree press down on her. "Oh.. No!" the branches were snapping or sinking down into the mud, which meant the trunk would soon press down on her back. She moved like her life depended on it, which it most likely did, but the more she struggled the more the tree seemed to sink down. It was hard to tell at this point if it was tears of fear or the rain that was moving down her eyes, but she did know one thing, if no one came to her rescue she would be injured or worse.
Applejack did what anypony would do in her situation, no matter how bad the chances were that someone would hear her. She called for help.
"HEEELP! Sweet apples, somepony!!!" She screamed more and more, to the point she was afraid her voice would crack and fail her. She didn't care, she could feel the tree pressing down on her now, slowly moving down onto her. "HELP! Please!!" her voice started to fail and it did not help the rain and the mud was starting to cover her muzzle. "Hel-ppfth, helph!"
At this point Applejack could only look at the storm, her voice did no good and she was nowhere near strong enough to move the tree. At that moment she truly thought it was over, she closed her eyes and waited for whatever was going to happen.
Then suddenly, it just stopped. The tree stopped while in movement, the stop had been to sudden, like something was grabbing onto it. Opening her eyes AJ saw two light orange hoofs, someone was there! But that was not all, suddenly the tree was pretty much lifted from the mud freeing her! Her eyes could only grow wide as she saw, a single earth stallion with a blonde mane and deep blue eyes.
He was lifting the tree up from the mud and moved it away from her, he was buff, clear muscles under what looked like a green shirt or a tunic. She stared up at him, not believing her own eyes, but when the tree was finally off her he looked back at her with serious eyes.
"Come on!" He yelled in a loud booming voice so she could hear him over the storm. AJ still felt weighed down by the saddle straps for the baskets, but before she could tell him the problem he had apparently already spotted it. Moving his head down to her back she was not sure what he did, but she felt the strong and thick leather straps snap open!
Before she could do anything herself she felt him moving his head under her and just like that settle her onto his back, like it was nothing. Applejack would usually protest such a thing, but truth be told, she was still in shock over this was actually happening!
Turning himself in the direction she was going he started to march forward. The wind worked against him like it had done with Applejack, but she felt how his strong muscles flexed and moved as he moved at a steady pace forward. To her amazement he seemed to make progress and much faster than she had done
*****
Soon enough the farm was in sight and by this point the storm was dying down. It was still strong, but it was clear it was dying. She could see the lights in the house and suddenly as they moved closer the door sprung open and another booming voice yelled out. "Applejack!"
Big Macintosh ran out towards them, but before he even got close Applejack could feel the strange stallion shake and then suddenly collapse beneath her. She yelped as she was flung forward a little and landed just in front of him as his head and body fell into the mud, he had fainted.
Her brother hurried over to them. "Applejack, are ya alright?" he asked worried as he helped his sister. "Who's this?"
Applejack did not take her eyes of the strange stallion, instead she simply leaned into her brother as to give him a sign that she was okay. She then shook her head as the rain and wind started to fade away and the sky starting to clear. "Ah have no idea.."