Mirage rolled over in his sleep and a light hit him in the face, of course he didn’t want to get up but he felt… rested, how was that possible?
“Good mornin sunshahn.” Hummed an angelic voice,
“Yaaaawwwn morning Applejack.” Then a light bulb came on in Mirage’s head and his eyes snapped open, Applejack was standing face to face with him by his bed in his home. Only one thought crossed his mind, “How long was I out?”
“Two days.” She said wiping the drool from his face with his bandana.
Mirage sat up it was too late for him to panic about how his team was doing now, he had already failed in his responsibilities. But it was obvious things were running smoothly on their own otherwise his wake up would have been more frantic. Still he covered his face with his hooves in humiliation and groaned.
“Hey don’t worry bout it pardner we got yer back, let me tell ya somthin Ah lerned from mah experience in farmin. No matter how much work ya do there’ll allus be somthin else fer ya ta work on sometahms it’s best ta put things off fer a bit ‘specially if’n there ain’t anythin ya can do bout it.”
That was why Mirage loved Applejack she had a way of grounding his pegasus heart, just like the Stallion in Black he’d Walk the Line for Applejack.
“Ah fixed ya some brekfest if ya want some.” Applejack said turning to leave,
“Yeah I’m starving.” Starving didn’t begin to describe how mirage felt, if he didn’t get down to his table soon he’d start eating his house, it tasted like cotton candy anyways. The only trouble would be collecting more water to rebuild, it had taken him a month of tornado water transfers from the Lariat River by himself to get his house the way he wanted it.
“Well Ah would hope so after sleepin fer two days.”
Mirage jumped out of bed and something occurred to him, “Hey, how are you in my house Applejack? Only pegasi can walk on clouds.”
Applejack gave him a teasing look leaned close and said, “Mmmmmhhhhmmmm, well Ah recon Ah’m walkin on clouds cause Ah’m bout ta marry tha handsomest pegasus in all Ehquestriah.”
“You know it.” Mirage said pounding his chest,
Resting her head on his shoulder Applejack whispered, “Yer wings er stiff Merahge.”
Looking over his shoulder then back at Applejack he smiled and licked his lips, “Mmmmmhhhhmmmm, cause I’m fixin’ to have apples for breakfast.”
Lifting her head up she smiled back, “Oh yeah? Ya maght want ta slow yer glahd Ah gess is how ya pegasah say it, Ah think yer hooves er too full ta start makin foals just yet.”
Mirage whistled and made a crashing noise “Down in flames huh?”
“Not quaht.” Applejack said pulling Mirage in for a kiss,
Mirage could have stayed there forever until a cramp racked his stomach and he sat down holding his barrel, “I should probably get down to breakfast.”
Applejack just laughed at him, “Yeah, yeah ya should.”
They both went downstairs together, “Do you know what happened after the battle?” Mirage asked his responsible side kicking back in
“Hmm, well ya were passed out fer that weren’t ya? From what Ah was told Princess Luna negoshiated with tha mahnotar trahble leaders, acourse they claimed no rusponsability fer their ‘mavrick war lords’ and tha whole thang was passed off seein’ as how they didn’t want any more bloodshed, har har, them mahnotars er a shiesty bunch.”
Applejack stayed to watch Mirage finish his breakfast then said in an apologetic tone, “Sahry ta cut it short but Ah got ta get mahself on back ta Sweet Apple Acres sugar cube. Ah’m glad Ah got held up here fer a couple more days than Ah expected. Rainbow Dash is waitin on me ta head back ta Ponyville.”
She said kissing Mirage on the cheek and tying his bandana around his neck with a tight hug, it smelled like apples and cinnamon. Mirage’s heart sunk, he knew Applejack had to get back to her life he just wished it wasn’t so soon,
“Don’t look so glum pardner, Ah know it won’t be much longer, what with ya headed ta Cloudsdale fer that suhlecshun screenin’ an all, Ah’ll be waitin’ under tha apple tree fer no one else but you.”
Applejack kept her eyes locked on Mirage’s until she had backed out of his door to where Rainbow Dash was waiting on the porch, “It’s about time what took so long?”
“Jus sayin goodbye Rainbow, burr, little bit of frost on tha pumpkin thismornin’.”
“Yeah whatever, that’s the longest goodbye I’ve ever heard of, its freezing out here, you ready to go?”
“Eyup.” And like that Applejack was gone like a dream, it was time for Mirage to see how his team had survived without him, he suspected Sand Blast had decided to take the Wonderbolts up on their offer to help with the Weather Watch. Stepping out onto his porch he immediately locked up in the cold air, it took him a few minutes of working himself up to flying in the frigid air,
“Flying is for the birds.” Mirage muttered to himself lowering his goggles and pulling up his bandana, Applejack’s perfume was stronger than he thought and just thinking about her was enough to warm him up.
Mirage held off on any fancy flying today, it wouldn’t be good for his split hoof anyways; he made his way directly to Phoenix Nest Mesa. Passing over he saw Silver Lining and Spitfire huddled together in a bison blanket, he tried to control his wing wash as he came in but it was unavoidable the blanket went flying.
Silver glared mischievously up at Mirage, “Well look who it is, the pegasi that decides to sleep on the job and then tries to freeze us solid. How does it feel to be back among common ponies oh favored one of the Night Princess?”
So it wasn’t a dream, “Hey cut me some slack, how was I supposed to know that was going to happen? Anyways I came out to see how my Dusties are doing.”
“We’re doing good boss, the Wonderbolts have been a big help. I think if we can get those pegasi from Cloudsdale like Princess Luna promised the Dusty Bolts will be set.”
Spitfire wiped her cannon across her nose shivering uncontrollably, “I don’t know how you do it Mirage the weather duty out here is miserable, I thought the stories I heard were just exaggerations from a conceited weather team but I wouldn’t be able to keep this up permanently.”
Mirage brought the blanket back over to the two, “Thanks Spitfire that means allot, but don’t feel like you have to stay if you don’t want to.”
Silver Lining rolled her eyes as she threw the blanket over her and Spitfire again, “We’ve been hurting as it is without Tumble Weed boss, if we get rid of our help now we’ll be in no condition to screen anypony to replace us.”
Cantering in place and pumping his wings to keep warm Mirage asked, “Would you know where the rest of the team is?”
“Shoot they’re probably holed up in their homes staying out of this cold.” Silver Lining said pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders, “Speaking of which boss, it can’t be healthy for you to be out in this cold you should join us.”
Taking a step back Mirage shook his head, bad idea, “I don’t think so, it wouldn’t look good to Applejack for me to be huddled with two mares on weather watch.”
Silver glared incredulously at Mirage, “She’d probably smack you around for being stupid enough to fly out on a day like this.”
“That’s funny because she’s on her way back to Ponyville right now.”
Silver facehooved and shook her head, “I don’t know how Applejack can deal with your stubborn flank.”
“Yeah I bet Brayburn is the perfect stallion too huh?” Mirage said with a road apple smirk,
Silver grimaced and stuck her tongue out at Mirage, “That’s low boss.”
“If you’re not careful you’ll turn into a tonguecicle. Anyways, I’m going to check up on Tumble Weed, is he still on bed rest?”
“He should be, but he took stupid lessons from you, he’s ‘resting’ back up at his house.”
“He’s not drinking is he?” Mirage asked nervously ready to bolt for Tumble Weed’s house,
Silver shook the frost out of her hair and sniffled before replying, “No, he’s been better boss.”
“Well I think I’ll take my stupid, stubborn flank to his place and get out of your mane.”
“Don’t catch any flies in your teeth on the way over.” Silver jabbed as a parting shot,
Turning to leave Mirage asked over his shoulder, “What would I do without you Silver?”
“Freeze.”
Mirage chuckled to himself as he flew towards Tumble Weed’s cloud cabin; it wasn’t like he was a buddy bucker he always worked his hardest for his Dusties. What Applejack had said was true there were some things you just had to set aside while you rested, but what if Silver had meant what she said deep down? While he hadn’t replaced Crazy Wing or Tumble Weed he had slept for two days leaving his team hanging.
There was a time for rest but should he justify his power nap to placate his conscience? It didn’t matter anymore he was awake and ready to lead, all that mattered was what he did from now on.
Mirage glided up to Tumble Weed’s cabin, it looked unnervingly the way it had when he had been here last and it made his pulse spike as he braced for the worst. Curtains drawn and no sign of life inside, Mirage knocked on the door; there was some dark muttering and shuffling, that was a good sign. Now to find out if Tumble Weed had stayed dry or not, Tumble Weed opened the door his good eye screwed shut, his socket staring back, his mane looked as though he had flown through a bad thunderstorm. He was in a bathrobe and slippers, but thank Celestia he didn’t smell like a brewery.
Tumble Weed yawned expansively, scratched his flank, and asked, “That you boss?”
“Yeah it’s me.”
Tumble Weed stood with the door open for a few seconds the cold air had no effect on his awakening, “I’m glad you stopped by, come on in.”
As Mirage stepped in his eyes adjusted to the dimness before Tumble Weed struck a match and light a lamp, putting a patch over his eye to make himself look halfway presentable he turned back to Mirage still trying to open his eye.
Through a yawn he said, “Ohhhhhhaaaahhhhhhh, make yourself at home, can I get you any hot cider, or something a little bit harder?”
“Some cider sounds nice.” Mirage said a worried tone in his voice,
Tumble Weed shuffled over to the stove and light the burner under the kettle, “I’ve been trying to get the rest of the team to finish off my stash, because as soon as I can get it out of my house I’m not getting another drop.”
“That’s good to hear, what brought you to that decision?”
Tumble Weed leaned on the stove and spit on his hooves to straighten out his mane, “I guess it was just everything that was happening lately, loosing Crazy Wing, then my attempted suicide, you killing the dragon as a result, falling for Apple Bumpkin, and now we have new Dusties to look after… I can’t be acting like a colt anymore.”
One less thing for Mirage to worry about, it seemed that he had finally made it to the clear skies he had been fighting for since he had first arrived in Appaloosa, had he earned it? Buck yes.