//------------------------------// // Test Lap // Story: What A Long Strange Trip // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// Sunset gave a short stretch as she reclined in one of the chairs in the farmhouse den of Sweet Apple Acres, reading through some of the early pages of the journal she had began writing when her redemption had first started. It still amazed her how far she had come. Through completely unknown means, Applejack managed to convince Pinkie Pie to let her host Hearth's Warming dinner this year, and so she and Granny Smith were hard at work in the kitchen, Rainbow and Fluttershy were gaming in AJ's room, and Twilight and Rarity were playing horseshoes in the backyard. "Hey there Sunset, you busy?" Applejack asked, coming into the den from the hallway. "Not terribly," Sunset replied, taking a sip of cider from the mug sitting on the end table against the wall. "Well, finish that cider and grab your coat. I want to show you something," the farmer told her as she grabbed her own coat from the rack by the front door. Her interest piqued, Sunset finished the mug of cider in two more gulps, then closed her journal and set it into her bag that leaned against the recliner, getting up and grabbing her leather coat off of the rack, following Applejack out onto the front porch, the afternoon sun moving overhead. After stepping off the porch, Applejack led Sunset down the path to the right, towards the barn. "Bet you've been wondering what I've been up to this fall when the Rainboom's aren't practicing," Applejack said as they approached the large red wooden building. "You have seemed awfully busy the past three months. Putting your new farm truck through its paces?" Sunset asked. "Nope..." AJ began, as she pulled the large door open, revealing anything but a regular farm truck. "Having fun with the old one." Sunset's eyes widened as she looked at the pickup that had very clearly had work done on it. The paint was the same industrial green, but that was likely the only thing that had not changed about it. The most noticeable change was the suspension, which had been raised several inches, and larger tires with deeper treads had been placed on the wheels. A chrome grill guard had been added to the front, as well as running boards on both sides to compensate for the added height. That was all that Sunset could see, and she was assuming that so much more work had been done under the hood. "Well, you have been busy," Sunset commented. "Yup. Haven't made the time to paint her yet, but as soon as we got the new one at the end of the summer, Granny gave me this one as a senior gift. Been turning her into an offroading truck for the past few months," Applejack replied. "So when's the first test drive?" Sunset asked. She saw AJ take a key out of her pocket. "Right now. Hop in." "You sure? We won't be missed?" Sunset asked. "Nope. Not as far as I can tell. Everyone else is busy, an dinner isn't ready for at least another two hours. Come on, let's try her out." Applejack opened the driver's side door, and Sunset went over to the passenger side. She noticed that the seats had been re-upholstered since she had taken her driving test, and found that the seat belts had been replaced with four-point harnesses. "Nice," Sunset commented, as Applejack helped her fasten the harness, before clicking her own together. "Yeah, these are highly recommended for the kind of driving I'd like to do with this," the farmer told her. With that, she slid the key into the ignition, gave it a turn, the engine roared to life, and it sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine. "Whoa..." Sunset commented. "Right?" Applejack replied, unable to keep the smile from spreading across her face. She pressed down on the clutch and brake, put the vehicle into first gear, and slowly let up on both to begin to idle out of the barn. She made an immediate right and went down one of the dirt roads that went around the outer edge of the property along the fence. "Is Granny really going to let you tear one of the fields up?" Sunset asked. "Offroading isn't about high speeds or tearing fields up, Sunset. It's about slow to moderate speed, and traction," Applejack explained, as she made for one of the more swampy areas towards the very back of the Acres, away from the orchards. Sunset lurched in her seat as they hit the first puddle, but the harness kept her upright and fairly steady. "Whoo!" She exclaimed as the spray of water splashed up onto the hood and windshield. Applejack gave it a little more gas, and game up out of the other side of the puddle. "Don't want to get too deep into this area just yet, I don't have the engine snorkel installed yet," she commented. The next half-hour was a bumpy, noisy tour of some of Sweet Apple Acres' most wild, undeveloped territory, and it was quite a ride. It was only possible in a vehicle like this. If you were to go on foot, you'd need knee-high swamp boots and considerable leg muscles to pull your feet out of the muck with each and every step. But Applejack was taming these swampy hills fairly easily, and Sunset was hoping that she'd be able to make enough modifications to tackle the deeper, wetter areas before the school year ended. "Alright, you wanted speed?" Applejack asked as she had come out the other side of the Acres' wetlands and back onto the dirt road. With a smirk, she floored the accelerator and Sunset was pushed back into her seat as the engine roared and the truck surged forward. Without a doubt, everyone back around and in the farmhouse could hear the fun they were having all the way out here. Applejack slowed off the gas as they approached the rearmost orchards, and they returned to a much more reasonable speed as they made their way through the trees and came back around to the barn, where AJ backed it in through the doors to where it had been parked earlier. "Whoo! Well, that was quite the successful test lap. Want to help me hose her down?" Applejack asked as she helped Sunset unbuckle her harness. "After that ride? Absolutely."