//------------------------------// // Applejack and Soarin' // Story: Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa // by Metal Pony Fan //------------------------------// "Excuse me, miss?" "Huh," I jerked my head upright, "whuzzat?!" I fell asleep! "Are we there? Did Ah miss the stop?!" I pushed my hat back from where it had fallen over my face. The faded blue overalls that met my eyes told me that the pony who woke me was one of the train's conductors, which means I probably missed the stop. I don't usually take naps, but when I do, boy howdy, I can give Rainbow a run for her money. "Miss?" He asked again. I shook my head, skewing my hat and wiping away the last traces of drowsiness. "Yes?" I asked, "what is it?" "Are you Applejack?" "Ah am." How did he know? "Who's askin'?" "One, um," he took a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and gave it a quick glance, Granny Smith. She sent you a message via unicorn." I straightened up and adjusted my hat. "Why would she go an' do somethin' like that? She was sleepin' in her her car." The conductor "She probably woke up when her train arrived at it's destination." "We're in Appleoosa already?" I looked out the window to see the scenery flying by, just like you would expect from a train in motion. "Or did ya pass it already?" "No ma'am." The conductor started fidgeting. I'll tell ya now, that ain't a good sign. "We will not arrive in Appleoosa for another hour at least. The express train to Canterlot however, arrived at its destination approximately 20 minutes ago." Oh good gravy. "Y-ya mean?" "Yes miss Applejack, I am afraid so." I stood up with a sigh and the conductor jumped back, holding his hooves out in front of him like was expecting me to hit him. "Now, the train company will provide her with passage home, of course. Since the conductor of that train should have checked the destination on her ticket. Next time, please make sure that she gets on the correct train." How the hay did this happen? Twilight said she- Twilight! Oh consarn it girl! "Ah think Ah need to send a message, can Ah do that?" "Yes ma'am." He pointed towards the front of the train. "Just head to the front of the train and talk to the only unicorn conductor you see." His business concluded, the conductor walked away from me towards the back of the train. "'Scuse me a minute, Sugarcube?" I called after the conductor. "What was the message?" He looked back with a small shrug. "Don't go go above 225." I nodded as he went through the door. "Understood, Granny, Ah won't let ya down." It's amazing, really, she wakes up alone a hundred miles away from her family and the first thing she does tell us to think about the farm. "Applebloom, Ah'll be right ba-" I sighed mid-sentence and looked at the bench where Applebloom was supposed to sitting,"Ah really don't know why Ah expected ya to actually be there." I set off for the front of the train, searching for Applebloom as I went. Why can't that filly stay out of trouble for one train ride? ***------------------- "Hyaaaaaaaaaa." I yawned and stretched out, letting my eyes flicker open. That was a good nap. That's why I like earth pony transportation, you get to rest while you're traveling . The sun had risen a little higher in the sky as I slept and was now hitting me squarely in the face as it streamed through the window. I glanced over to the empty bench across from me. We'll probably be in Appleoosa soon, so I better go find Divin'. I thought I told him to come back after he got his snacks. I got up, stretched out, and started off for the back of the train to look for my little brother. I'm in the car right behind the engine, so my search path is a straight line back. I wonder if he found the snack cart? I didn't have to look very far for the answer. I opened the door to the next car to find him sitting and drawing with a yellow earth pony filly who was wearing a red bow in her red hair. The once stacked paper was now strewn across the room. Nearly every page was drawn on. There was also no doubt that Divin' found the snack cart, because there were cupcake wrappers and crumbs all around and on the two foals. What a mess! How is it even physically possibly to get that covered in crumbs from a cupcake? "Applebloom!" I looked up when a voice shouted from the other side of the train car. Entering the car, was an orange earth pony in a hat. A cute earth pony in a hat. "What in tarnation is all this?" She demanded of her, I'm guessing, daughter. Too bad, but I guess it makes sense that somepony as her would be snatched up pretty quick. It would be nice if I could find somepony, but nice mares in Canterlot are few and far between. And the nice ones I do meet have no interest in romance. I remember them all though. There was Twilight Sparkle, the purple unicorn, she used to be in some of the same classes as me back when the Royal Academy for Flight and the school for gifted unicorns shared a building. She was always lugging around bags full of books and I used to offer to help. Unfortunately, I was always too shy to offer loudly enough for her to hear. Then one day, I decided to change all that. I had everything planned, I would bump into her at a mutual acquaintance's birthday party, chat, then I would follow the script I had prepared and ask her out. Long story short, she moved out of town literally five minutes before the party started. Then there was Sky, she was a really nice pegasus with an eye for business. She was also an athlete and that's what her company focused on. Even though she tended to be a little overly serious sometimes, our personalities clicked pretty well. As we spent time together, she was even starting to pick up a little of my laid-back goofiness. I never let on that it was a facade to cover my insecurity around other ponies, but hearing her laugh at my sometimes stupid jokes gave me the courage to ask her out. Long story short, when a mare challenges you to a hoof-wrestle on your first date and breaks your fore-leg in front of a crowd of at least a hundred ponies, it tends to make things a little awkward. Then there was princess Luna. I didn't know it was princess Luna at the time, but we shared a few coffee dates at a local book-slash-coffee shop. I was about to ask her out one evening when somepony decided to rob the place, singlehoofedly doubling the city's crime rate. Long story short, when a prospective date turns a building into a crater, confidence tends to slip away you. Especially if you're as shy as I am. But then there was Rainbow Dash, the brightly-colored weather pony of Ponyville. I don't know why, but I never felt nervous around her. We even danced at the royal wedding, something I was never able to do at a party before. Long story short, I don't know why, but I just can't help but feel sad around her. I hide it, but it's there, and I don't know why. Then there was that beautiful mare at the gala, a white unicorn with a flowing purple mane. She was so beautiful, practically glowing with perfection. I also knew she just had to be nice, since she was apparently a friend of both Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Long story short, before I could even work up the courage talk to her, I saw her walking through the party with Blue. So much for that. The gala got kind of crazy near the end, so I don't know what happened, but I hope it worked out. Blue's actually nice once you get to know him and he deserves better than those royal suitors that pop up all the time. I wish I could find somepony nice. There's no shortage of gold diggers, attention seekers, and crazed fans, but I do my best to avoid them. That doesn't mean I'm always successful though, and things invariably don't end well. Usually involving me somehow exiting a building via a window. Well, there it is, my entire romantic history, laid out to see. I sighed. If there was patron saint of lost causes, it would be me. Pushing the thoughts of missed chances and outright failure out of my head, I cleared my throat, causing the foal in my charge to jump. "I would like to know the same thing. Divin', why did you make such a big mess?" Both foals faced their respective accusers in silence, formulating a response that they no doubt hoped would keep them out of trouble. "We were gonna clean it up," they said in unison, "honest!" "Well hop to it then." Using my wing, I picked up a cupcake wrapper from the back of a seat and held it up for emphasis. "I want this cleaned up before we reach Appleoosa." "That leaves ya with one hour," said the orange mare, "git to it." "Ok," they both sighed reluctantly as they moved away from their unfinished drawings and started collecting the ones that had scattered. They both slumped their shoulders and walked slowly, almost as if they were prisoners who had lost all hope of freedom. "Heh, foals." I said, trying to break the awkward silence. The mare let out a whistle as she adjusted her hat. "Ah know what ya mean. Applebloom can be a real hoof-full sometimes. But Ah'm sure she didn't mean ta get yer son into trouble, she was just bored cause she forgot her paper." "Oh, Divin's not my son, he's my little brother." The luck I have with mares, I'll probably never have foals of my own. "He forgot to pack his crayons and apparently, your daughter shared hers. You can't blame them for getting bored on a long trip." The earth pony shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, she ain't mah daughter. Applebloom there's mah younger sis'. But Ah know what ya mean, still don't mean they can make a mess a' things an' get away with it. Ah'm Applejack by the way." Apple pie. At the gala, when I was feeling crummy about letting my social ineptitude get in the way of even talking to that white mare, I decided to drown my sorrows in something sweet and sugary. This mare provided that in the form of an apple pie. I didn't even recognize her. After a few moments, I noticed that I hadn't responded. Applejack was sitting there, patiently waiting for me to tell her my name. What do I do?! There wasn't any pressure when I thought she was married, and I could still barely talk to her. Now I find out that she might not be! I could feel the overwhelming urge to just hide under one of the benches, or to just slip into my Goofball facáde, but, through sheer force of admittedly crumbling will, I stopped myself. Appearing to be a crazy pony probably isn't the best way to make an impression. But I don't even know if I should be trying to make an impression. For all I know, she's got a special somepony. I can't know for sure without just asking her. "Are you single?" But saying that out loud would be insane and- Oh, hailstones. I just said it, didn't I? ***------------- Everything froze. He did not just say that, did he? It brought up a lot of hurt. Not that he asked, but that the answer was yes. And that despite my every effort to the contrary, the answer always ends up bein' yes. Those three little words dragged up years' worth of bad memories. Most of those memories were old, like the unrequited crush on Thunderlane, the time I asked out Caramel only to find out that his marefriend was standing behind me, and that whole debacle with Johnagold. But one of those memories was more recent, Frost Bowl, the lyin' cheatin' scumbag of a unicorn that owns the snowcone cart in Ponyville. Several months, all his little business trips, all his lies, even with me being the element of honesty, I never even knew. Big Macintosh had to tell me about it when he returned from one of his tournaments. He was in a pub celebrating a victory when he ran into that two-timin' lowlife tryin' to seduce one of Fluttershy's friends. That was nearly a year ago. After that happened, I swore it off, love, romance, special somponies, the whole bushel of apples. I had the comfort that Mac, and then Fluttershy's friend beat the stuffing out of ol' Frosty boy, but the damage was done. I felt used, dirty, like something that had been thrown away. I couldn't take the risk of letting somepony break my heart again, so I just buried myself under as much work as I could find. I was over love. I had my family, I had my friends, and I had the farm, that was all I needed. But here's this random stallion asking the one question I hoped I would never hear again. I sat down and stared blankly at him as he smacked himself in the face. Then he held out his hoof. "I'm single." He shook his head quickly. "Soarin'! I'm Soarin'." His eyes were clenched shut and he was shaking as he held out his hoof. He looked terrified. What's he scared of? He pried one eye open. He immediately let out a gasp and put his hoof down. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, it's just that, I, um, well, you see, I, uh-" He seemed to shrink back with every word he said until finally lowering his head. His next words were barely even a whisper. "Please don't cry." Was I crying? I lifted a hoof to my face and, sure enough, it came away wet. I guess I'm not as "over it" as I thought. I closed my eyes and tried to clear away the tears. "WHAT'D YOU DO?!" I snapped my eyes open in time to see Applebloom leap onto Soarin's head. She latched onto his mane and started whacking away at his head. "NOPONY MAKES MY SISTER CRY!" She yelled as Soarin' tried to dislodge her. "BIG MAC WOULD FLATTEN YOU IF HE WAS HERE!" "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Soarin' gave up on trying to fend her off and collapsed to the ground, covering his head and face with his hooves in an fruitless effort to Ward off the blows. "I'm sorry," he sobbed, "I'm sorry." I was about to say something, anything, to stop her when she was tackled by Divin' sending both foals tumbling in a blur of yellow and blue until they hit a wall. Divin' recovered first and stood up to yell at Applebloom. "Leave my brother alone!" Applebloom got to her hooves and tackled him back. She had the strength advantage and was able to pin the young pegasus easily. "You tell him ta leave mah sister alone!" Divin' grabbed her hair and pulled her off of him. It delvoved into a frenetic tangle of kicking, biting, and mane pulling. "EVERYPONY STOP!!!" It took me a moment to realize that I was the one who yelled, but it worked. All three pairs of eyes were on me as their owners stayed sill in place. Just in time too, as Applebloom had pinned Divin' with her left hoof as she prepared to punch him in the face with her right. "Applebloom! Get off him, right now!" She moved to the side, allowing the now free colt to roll over and get to his hooves. They were both sitting and staring away from eaxmch other when Divin' reached over and smacked Applebloom in the shoulder. Without missing a beat, Applebloom smacked back. "STOP IT!" I stomped a hoof to help get my point across. "Look, nothing happened, you two. Soarin' just said something that brought up some painful memories. It's not his fault." They looked at me for a while before glancing at each other. Then they each fixed their gaze on the floor between them. "I'm sorry I pulled your hair." "I'm sorry I punched your face." I let out a sigh. "We all better now?" They glanced back at each other then looked over at me. They nodded sheepishly. "Good. Soarin', you okay?" I turned to see him get to his hooves. "I'm sorry, Applejack." Soarin' spoke quietly as he stared out the window. "I spoke carelessly. I didn't mean to hurt you." "It's all right." I moved around in front of him. He turned his head in response, determined to look anywhere but at me. "There's no way ya could've known Ah'd shut down like that. And Applebloom, well, she's Applebloom." I sat down beside him and stared out the window. "The answer to yer question is yes. I am single, and there's a long and somewhat painful chain a' mem'ries connected ta that." "I'm sorry to hear that." He let out a sigh. "But it can't be any worse than mine." I doubt that. "Try me." "Ok," he looked over at me, "have any of your dates ever ended with you going out of a second story window?" I pointed to the wings on his back. "That don't seem like it'd be much of a' problem fer you." He smirked and looked back out the window. "I was stuffed headfirst into a winebarrel at the time." I winced at the thought. Winebarrels are smaller than the cider barrels we use on the farm. "I ain't talkin' bout physical pain, Sugarcube. I'm talkin' 'bout it hurtin' inside." He nodded. "Like spending three months working up the courage to confess to somepony just for them to move away the day you make your move?" I sighed. "Like findin' out months later that he was cheatin' on ya from day one." He nodded again. "That's worse. No wonder you reacted how you did." He kooked over at me again and my eyes met his. "I really am sorry." I don't know why, but something in me snapped as I looked at him. Something inside told me to do it, to take one more risk. "If ya really want ta make it up to me, ya could buy me dinner." His mouth slowly fell open in shock. I know how he feels, I'm surprising myself here. A flash of worry crossed my mind as he started working his jaw. Then he started to speak. "I-" "We're done! Now what?!" I turned to see Divin' stuffing the cupcake wrappers into the waste basket by the door. Once he managed to cram them all in, he picked a straggler out of his mane and dropped it on top of the pile. "We still have thirty minutes left." Applebloom was on one of the seats, straightening out the stack of collected drawings. They sure finished that quickly. "Ah s'pose we can, uh-" "Get something from the snack cart?" Soarin' pointed to himself. "My treat. If you don't mind, that is. Of course, we could always- No. Stop that." He looked down and started muttering to himself. "I am not going to chicken out just because I'm too shy to talk to a pretty mare. I'm just going to-" I decided to interrupt him before he got too far. "Uh, Sugarcube." He snapped his head up so quickly that my neck hurt. "Yes, Applejack?" "Ya do know you were sayin' that out loud, don't ya?" His lip gave a single twitch as the color started draining from his face. It was quite a trick really, considering that he was already a pretty pale shade of blue. Then he sprinted to the nearest window, thrust it open, and stuck his head out. "HMMGHBBLLEEUUAAARRRFGG!!" "SPLAT!!" I watched in horror as the train's slipstream plastered the sudden expulsion along the outside of the train car's windows. After a few dry heaves, Soarin' pulled his head back in and slumped into one of the seats. Then he wiped a tear from his eye and swallowed loudly. "So," he said weakly, "snack cart?" I raised my hoof. "Pass." Divin' divin' did the same. "Pass." "I want another cupcake!" Divin' and I looked over at Applebloom. She merely shrugged. "What? Ah ain't had breakfast yet."