//------------------------------// // Captain, My Captain // Story: Under The Light of Dusk // by applejackofalltrades //------------------------------// Another day of hard work. It was nothing Applejack wasn’t ready for though. Apart from having to check and harvest more crops, it was the same routine she had been following for her entire life. The biggest difference was the different ponies who volunteered to help. It took a long while to explain to the newcomers what to do and find easy tasks for them to do. It certainly helped when the same ponies came back to help more than once since they didn’t need to be shown what to do, but Applejack found herself having to explain easy chores every day. This one would be a far more annoying task. Applejack eyed up the pony standing in front of her. She knew her by name and from Rainbow Dash but she had never really spent much time with her. They were occasionally put on patrol together, but they never really talked. It really didn’t bring up her hopes that this new helper was a Wonderbolt. From what she had experienced, pegasi weren’t exactly as adept at working a farm as earth ponies unless they were raised on a farm.  And she was definitely a lot prouder than Applejack would have wanted for a volunteer. That wouldn’t matter in the end, though. They needed all the help they could get, and who knows? Maybe her superb flying skills could come in handy. Applejack would find a way to make it work, she always did. “So,” Applejack started. She made a show of trying to remember the Wonderbolt’s name. “Spitfire, is it?” Spitfire nodded. “Yup. Come on, Applejack, I know you know who I am.” She rolled her eyes and turned to preen her wing quickly.  Applejack’s face flushed in embarrassment for a moment. “Yeah, true.” She frowned at herself for immediately sizing Spitfire up and not giving her a real chance. “So, just a preliminary question. Why are you here?”  Spitfire snorted. "Wow. It's almost like you don't want me to be here." She shot Applejack an amused glance.  "Now that ain't what I said," Applejack retorted. "I just wanna know how much work you're willing to do." And I want to know why you'd come help on the farm in the first place.  "I wanted some work, and I heard the farm's always looking for more hooves," Spitfire explained. "I'm down to do as much work as you're willing to give me."  Applejack smirked. Sounds like a challenge. "Are ya sure? Mighty hard work on the farm, 'specially for a lean pegasus like you." She shot Spitfire a sly look. She knew that something the Wonderbolts shared was the need to prove themselves. They never backed down from a challenge, and Applejack was about ready to test that.  Spitfire seemed to get what she was implying and narrowed her eyes at her with a grin. "Nothing I can't handle. Trust me."  "Oh really? We'll have to see," Applejack challenged as she trotted away from the barn, eager to find Spitfire some work to do. Considering the fact that she was a pegasus, an elite flier at that, Applejack would definitely make sure to use that to her advantage.  It was barely past sunup, and the air was a bit chilly as they stood in the clearing in front of the barn. Applejack looked around for a task to give Spitfire. Most of the other ponies who came to help were already busy with the easy tasks; watering plants, feeding the chickens, pigs, and sheep. She thought about making Spitfire fly over the orchard to check on the trees, but didn't exactly feel like explaining how to check the trees' health to her.  A warm-up never hurt, and there was no doubt that an athlete such as Spitfire would agree. She looked at the cornfield with an agitated glare. It'll have to do for now. She gestured toward the field with her head. "I'll start ya off with somethin' easy. Fly over the corn and make sure there ain't any of them darn varmints trying to ruin the crop."  Spitfire cocked her head. "That's it? I thought I said I could handle anything."  "Well sure," Applejack replied coolly. "But I need to think of somethin' first." She walked over to the cornfield. Spitfire followed closely behind. "Now, I'm sure ya know what to look for. I am going to warn you though, it might be a bit hard to see from above, but that's why I need your keen eye."  Spitfire stretched her wings out to the side and leaned forward to stretch out her leg muscles. "No problem, Applejack. You've got the captain of the Wonderbolts here," she reminded the earth pony. "I can spot when somepony's wing is a fraction of an inch too low. I think I can spot a pest." She shook her head and smoothened her mane, although it spiked up immediately again.  Although she normally hated boasting unless it was from herself, Applejack found herself grinning at Spitfire's confidence. It seemed like a common theme with the Wonderbolts. She seemed sure that it would be a cinch, and it probably would be to her, but that was just the beginning. "Alright, Captain," she said, drawing out the title with a smile. "Get on it then. If ya find anything, signal to me and I'll run over. There's a certain way of dealin' with critters that you really just need experience for."  Spitfire nodded. "Will do," she assured her. With that, she took off with the trademark speed of a Wonderbolt leaving Applejack's mane rustling in the wind her quick take-off left behind.  Applejack watched as Spitfire flew over the field, probably slower than she had planned. The cornfield was so concentrated that it was probably harder to see from above than Spitfire hoped. The Wonderbolt made her way down each row carefully, making sure to not miss any details. Applejack figured she could probably be an asset to the farm if she really wanted to be.  She realized it was probably stupid to waste time watching Spitfire do her work, so she decided to do something herself while she supervised. Next to the entry tunnel that was beside the cornfield, although still a good walking distance away, were a bunch of wooden planks that needed to be stored. Applejack was sure that Big Mac's friend was supposed to do that, but he clearly hadn't, so she figured she'd do it herself. Eager for something to do, she trotted to the planks on the floor. They were already neatly tied and on top of a tarp, so Applejack simply grabbed her lasso and attached the stack to herself and started pulling. She looked over to Spitfire for a moment, who seemed to still be carefully making her way toward the middle.  The air was cool, but pulling planks was hard, and Applejack found herself already starting to sweat. She usually had a warm body temperature anyway, and doing work easily made her overheat. She dropped off the planks in the barn, told somepony to stack them in their place, and started to make her way over back near the cornfield.  On her way back, though, she noticed somepony coming up the tunnel. She turned her head to see a blue pegasus squinting at the sun. She snorted at the irony. She already had one boastful pegasus up here. "Howdy, Dash," she greeted. "What brings you up here?"  Rainbow Dash blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light, then she looked at the floor and pawed at it. "I was wondering if you guys needed any help up here?"  Applejack’s face flushed, and the heat from her working body certainly didn't help. She took her hat off her head and fanned it into her face, hoping Rainbow Dash would assume she was just hot. Well, not in that way!  Applejack suppressed a cough and put her hat back on her head. She scanned everywhere except in Rainbow Dash's direction and spotted Spitfire waving her hoof at her. She squinted, trying to make out exactly what she was doing in the sunlight but she could safely assume that Spitfire was trying to call her over. "Uh, I think we have as many hooves as we need." That was true, but it would have been nice to have some company that knew Spitfire so it wouldn't be awkward.  Applejack didn't look back at Rainbow Dash as she spoke and instead tried to focus on the words Spitfire mouthed. The blue pegasus muttered something, but Applejack didn’t quite hear what she had said, so she hummed an acknowledgement, and stuck a hoof up at Spitfire, signalling to give her a moment. She turned back to Rainbow Dash, but found her already returning into the tunnel. She wanted to call her back, but found herself unable to do so.  With an annoyed sigh, she shook her head and ran over to the cornfield. "What is it?" she asked as she found her way to Spitfire, who lowered to the ground.  Spitfire looked around slowly. "I swear I thought I saw something out here," she explained. “And I’m never wrong. My eyes are like a hawk's.” Applejack snorted. There it was again; the pride and the gloating. It reminded her of Rainbow Dash, which is probably why the two pegasi got along so well outside of Wonderbolt training regimens. “Dash always says you’re really commanding,” Applejack pointed out. “But you seem pretty relaxed if I have anything to say.” The comment seemed to make Spitfire lighten up. “Crash only thinks that because she never listens to me,” Spitfire explained with a humorous tone. “So I have to be tough with her. But generally, yeah I am pretty commanding when I’m on the job.” Spitfire grinned proudly, but upon realizing what she said, the smile faltered. “Or, I guess, I used to be.” Applejack frowned. “Well, ya love flyin’, right?” Spitfire nodded. “More than anything.” She gave Applejack a crooked smile. “I guess I can’t stop loving something just because I can’t do it as much, right?” That was surprisingly philosophical coming from Spitfire, at least in Applejack’s opinion. She nodded. “Right. That’s a good saying, Captain.” Spitfire shrugged. "Hey, you're welcome to use it." Her passive grin grew deeper as she raised an eyebrow. "Are you just going to call me that from now on?"  "I dunno, maybe," Applejack replied with a shrug. "I think it suits ya nicely. Besides, if it annoys ya in any way, then I have to."  To Applejack's surprise, Spitfire let out a short laugh. "Hah! I like the way you think, 'Jack. I’m gonna call you that now." She gave the earth pony a quick nod. "But anyway, I saw the corn rustling from up in the sky. Any idea what that's about?"  "Well, it could be whatever critter is burrowing underneath the corn," Applejack pointed out as she started looking around to find any clues. "We did find a little injured mole over here. Mighta been one of ‘em, although I reckon it wasn’t the only one.” Spitfire pawed at the ground. "Well, whatever it was left. Do you think it matters?"  Applejack snorted incredulously. "Shoot, well ‘course it does!" She gestured to an uprooted stalk of corn not too far from where they both stood. "Just one of them darn critters diggin' around underneath the crop is trouble. We can't afford to lose more of the corn; it's our largest harvest apart from the apples."  The yellow pony nodded in understanding. “Right. I guess we’ll have to wait it out, yeah?” “Eeyup. Not sure where it would be best to wait though.” Applejack raised a hoof to her chin. “Guess we could just stay here and watch for more movement. I don’t suppose ya could just stay in the air ‘till we spot somethin’?” “Normally, I’d say yes, but it’s been a while since I’ve had to fly,” Spitfire admitted. “Plus, I didn’t do my stretches, you know?” “Sure.” “So I guess we’ll just have to hang out down here.” Spitfire took a seat and looked at the corn intensely. “We don’t really talk much. Who knows? It might be nice.” She had a point, even if she was awkward about it. Applejack talked to most of the ponies now, but she had never been close with Spitfire. The only times they’d ever hung out was because they both shared Rainbow Dash as a friend. “Yeah, we might as well,” she agreed.  “So what’s next on the menu, ‘Jack?” Spitfire turned to look at Applejack as she asked.  Applejack looked around them, checking to see if anything strange was happening. She was also stalling for time since she hadn’t thought about what chore she’d make Spitfire do next. “Harvesting.” “Harvesting?” “Harvesting.” Spitfire cocked her head. “Harvesting what?” Applejack snorted. “Well, we’ve got some apples down on the East orchard that seem just about ready. We can do those, or we can dig up the first portion of carrots that we planted. Big Mac says they’re ready to go.” “Why don’t we do both?” Spitfire smirked cockily. “I bet we could.” Did Wonderbolts know any emotion other than overconfidence? Applejack assumed not because most of the Wonderbolts she knew were like that. Mostly Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, though. “Alright, we can sure try.” Spitfire nodded. “Great. But for now, let’s focus on finding those pests.” They sat in mostly comfortable silence for a while, watching the stalks for any suspicious movements and keeping their ears pierced for noises. Applejack frowned, not liking the fact that they were idly sitting by when they could be doing actual work. She groaned and looked at Spitfire. “We can’t just do nothin’. We’d better get to the rest of the work and come by after we’re done.”  They both stood up silently and walked out of the field of corn, each glancing back one last time to make sure nothing was amiss. Applejack led them to the plot of land where the tops of carrots peeked out from the soil. She leaned down to take a closer look at one of the green, leafy tops and touched it gently with a hoof, before pulling one out with her teeth. “Yup, these seem ready to go,” she told Spitfire as she placed the carrot on the ground. “I’m gonna go get a wagon. You start pullin’ out the carrots on this side, alright?” After Spitfire nodded an agreement, Applejack turned toward the barn and began to walk toward it. Inside were a couple of ponies gathering tools for repairs, and a group just lounging around chatting. She shook her head in annoyance and looked at the three ponies making light conversation. “Now, I appreciate makin’ conversation as you work, but ya gotta be workin’! Come on, get on it, it’s too early to be on break and you know it!” She glared pointedly at the ponies who each grumbled and walked back out.  Applejack let out a short hmmph and went to the side of the barn. She lifted a harness off the ground that was attached to a wagon, positioned it on herself and started walking. The wagon had seen better days, but it still worked which was all that matters. With a struggling heave to get the rusted axle moving, she made her way back out and toward Spitfire who had only taken out a few carrots and seemed to be struggling with the one currently in her mouth. She noticed the amber pony pull but ended up ripping a few of the leaves off of the carrot, leaving the full vegetable still in the ground and bared her teeth angrily at it. The wagon-pulling mare chuckled as she walked up next to Spitfire and detached herself from the vehicle. “That ain’t how you pull carrots, Cap.” Spitfire turned around and looked at Applejack with a hint of dismay. “You made it look so easy.” Applejack smirked and raised an eyebrow. “That’s ‘cause I’ve been doin’ this my whole life.” She grasped the carrot’s leaves—or what was left of them—and pulled sternly once, causing the whole carrot to lift out of the ground effortlessly. “The trick is to grab the leaves as close as ya can to the top of the carrot so ya won’t just rip ‘em. And then pull really hard.” “Sounds simple enough.” Spitfire mimicked Applejack's instructions and, after a bit of a struggle, managed to pull out the carrot. “Hey, would you look at that?” she asked through the carrot in her mouth before dropping it in the wagon. “I did it.” “Now ya just need to do it for this entire half of the farm.” She gestured to the half they were standing on. Spitfire paled a bit at the reminder, which caused Applejack to laugh. “Go at your own pace, I’ll meet ya wherever you end up. Don’t worry about it.” Spitfire, probably realizing she looked a bit daunted, regained her composure. “No worries, ‘Jack. I’ll have these carrots out in a jiffy.” She really is like Rainbow Dash. It must be a pegasus thing. She grinned at the golden mare. “Right, then let’s get to it!” Spitfire did not, in fact, get the carrots out in a jiffy. She got about a third of the way through her side of the carrot farm before Applejack caught up to her. The farmer wasted no time in teasing the mare about it, leaving Spitfire growling at the floor. “Come on, Spitfire, not all of us can be good at pulling out carrots.” Spitfire grimaced further. “Well, I was hoping to be a bit better than that.” She dug her hoof into the soil.  “Whatever. It don’t matter none.” Applejack gave the pegasus a friendly push. “Come on, we’ve gotta replant them now. This one should be easy for ya.” Her passive smile turned into a deeper, eager smile. “In fact, you can do this one yourself.” The spikey-haired pegasus raised an eyebrow. “That sounds easier. What do I have to do? Drop some seeds?” Applejack gave her a half-shrug half-nod. “Pretty much. Just fly over the carrot field and drop seeds evenly throughout. I’ll make sure they’re done properly.” “Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Spitfire started as she grabbed the bag of carrot seeds Applejack held out on a hoof. She placed it on a wing as she spoke. “How do you guys grow things so quickly?” Applejack flicked her ear, unsure of how to explain it. “Well, it’s kind of just… earth pony magic, I reckon.” She thought about how she was explained the concept as a filly and sat back on her haunches. “See, us earth ponies have a connection with the land. It’s different for everypony, but for us Apples at least, we have a special agricultural connection.” She rolled her hoof in the air as she tried to find the right words. “I’m not sure how to explain it, but we know where to plant, and we can speed up the rate of the crop’s growth by taking care of them. “That’s how we have so many good apple trees over at the orchard. Usually, they’re kind of unpredictable, but we have a way of making plants grow nice and strong. That’s also how we even get food enough for everypony more or less.” Applejack chuckled darkly for a moment. “Well, around the fall harvest we usually get more. Not sure why, but that’s when we’re most connected to the land. Can’t tell you why that is, though.” Spitfire made an ‘o’ with her mouth and nodded. “Well, I certainly never learned that aspect of earth pony magic,” she admitted. “Not that they really teach anything other than pegasus stuff up in Cloudsdale. That’s interesting though. I’ll get to the carrots now.” Applejack watched as Spitfire grabbed the seeds in her mouth and shot into the air, leaving a gust of wind that ruffled Applejack’s mane slightly. Spitfire hovered above Applejack for a moment. The two made eye contact, and Applejack raised a hoof to signal that Spitfire should start. Carefully, the pegasus drifted along the rows, dropping carrot seeds onto the soil. For the most part, they were landing where they needed to. Only a few here and there required Applejack to nudge them with a hoof, but even then, they’d make it work.  The more rows they did, the faster Spitfire went until about halfway through, Applejack had to go from a light trot to a canter, to a full-on gallop. It seemed Spitfire was enjoying making Applejack run, and the poor orange mare kept having to stop to quickly push carrot seeds into their proper place.  Huffing, Applejack stood at the opposite side of where they had started and watched Spitfire casually touch down. She knew that had Spitfire been actually trying, there's no way Applejack could have kept up. “What the hay?” Applejack asked between gulping breaths. “I haven’t had to run that hard since the last time I got chased by something lookin’ to kill me.” Spitfire laughed as she ruffled her wings before setting them back into place. “I figured some real exercise’d be good for you. Rainbow Dash is always going on about how you can never keep up with her.” “What?” Applejack rolled her eyes. “That lazy mare? Figures she’d say that. She can’t keep up with me if it was on hoof.” She gestured to the empty sides of her barrel. “If I had wings, I’d beat her in every way possible.” Despite her comment, Applejack smiled a little.  “Yeah, you’re right. She’s about the laziest Wonderbolt I’ve ever had the pleasure of leading. But somehow, she’s also the most dedicated.” “She was tryin’ to get on the Wonderbolts for years. I reckon she’s a hard worker but only when she wants to work hard.” Applejack scuffed at the floor. “I mean, she’s not completely lazy. Sure, she’d always make up an excuse to procrastinate on her weather duties, but when she did ‘em, she put two hundred percent effort into it.” Spitfire nodded. “True. She’s one of the hardest working ponies I’ve seen in a long time... when she’s feeling energized.” She turned to Applejack and smirked. “But I think you give her good competition.” The earth pony’s eyes flickered for a moment. “Oh yeah?” “Positive.” The two mares stood in silence for a moment. Applejack felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of her cheek. Breaking the somewhat comfortable quiet, Applejack cleared her throat. “If you want, ya can go ahead and get a drink in the barn. I’ll finish tidying up here.” The pegasus fidgeted for a moment. “You sure? I don’t mind helping.” Applejack looked over Spitfire’s shoulder, a sudden movement catching her eye. It was a blur of blue going up and then going back down with a crash into the cornfield. The orange mare adjusted her hat, thoroughly confused. “Yeah, actually I have somethin’ I gotta check,” she mentioned absently. She flicked her eyes back on Spitfire. “You can stay in the barn ‘til I come back. If I take too long, find Big Mac and ask him for some work. He’s always got somethin’ he needs help with.”  “Uh, sure,” Spitfire responded as Applejack trotted off toward the cornfield. She looked at Applejack with a confused gaze, but then sighed and headed toward the barn.