Chapter 5: Questions
The day started with a small drizzle. Applejack had woken up early despite going to sleep late the night before and went to the orchard to do her duties once again. She had been assigned to buck the northeastern section this time, while Mac would plow the fields. This would’ve been normal, except that Applejack would work for 12 hours straight, then rest half a day and start anew for three times. Nopony had actually ordered her to do so, but rather she had thought that herself to make her work faster and be done with her debt. She didn’t really care if she got a cold; the rain actually woke her up a bit. After all, it was just a little drizzle. It wasn’t a storm and she’d likely only get a sore throat, but nothing bad. She knew she had to hurry up today and make a triple effort, since the Summer Sun Celebration was coming soon and the whole Apple family would come to visit. That meant that if she was still back on her duties she’d have to overwork herself like she never had done before to make sure there were enough bucked apples to make the pastries for the holiday and to feed her family. All 37 of them.
She slowly made her way to the lake to relax a bit before her body became tense. The usually calm surface of the lake was now constantly deformed by the slight drizzle that was going down on Ponyville. She took off her hat and dipped herself in the water. She held her breath and dove down. The crystalline image of the lakebed woke her up along with the cold yet relaxing feeling of the water. Applejack returned to the surface and decided to swim a bit. She stood like that for about 20 minutes enjoying the cold in her coat and the rain in her face. She stepped out and shivered a little as she felt the chilling wind on her. The orange earth pony thought it was enough and made her way to the northeastern section of the farm.
She arrived on time and saw there was already a big cart waiting for her. She had put that the day before to save the trouble of going to the orchard and back to the barrels. She started to buck as many apples as she could and filled the cart of the delicious fruits she had carefully watched for months.
After about 5 hours, Applejack realized there weren’t many trees left. Somehow she had accelerated her pace to an incredible speed. She knew that if anyone was watching she would have earned herself a medal. She strapped herself to the train of carts behind her and pulled them slowly to the barrels of the barn. She carefully unloaded her cargo onto the barrels and decided to give herself a couple of hours of rest. If she continued at this pace, maybe she would be done in a week or maybe even half.
Looking to the sky she spotted a lonely white cloud that contrasted itself with the grey background behind it.
‘ No. She can’t be ’ —thought Applejack. ‘ I’m going to puke my lunch (wait, did I even have one? Never mind) if she’s— ’. The orange earth pony squinted and spotted her target. ‘ She is !’
By some magical coincidence, the small cloud moved and from it flew a cyan pegasus. She looked around on all directions seemingly bored. She then turned her head to the ground and saw something and flew towards it. She fluttered around for a while before she posed her hooves on the mud.
“Hey AJ” —said Rainbow Dash.
—“Ah can’t believe yer so lazy .”
—“I’m sorry?”
—“Even if there’s a hurricane howling its storm towards Ponyville yer not gonna wake up for all yer might. Yer amazin’ Dash” —said Applejack teasingly.
—“Hey, remember our convo last night? You’re not the only one who’s had a rough week. Thank Celestia that Cloudkicker granted me a break. I mean, we already finished our job for the day and got it raining. There’s nothing else to do!”
—“Dashie calm down. Ah’m just pullin’ yer hoof.”
—“I know, but I’ve been so frustrated lately. The pressure’s going to give me an aneurism and kill me.”
Applejack was surprised for an instant that Rainbow Dash managed to know that word and use it right (something she couldn’t quite do. Maybe she got it from a medical note or an athlete’s anecdote) and decided not to waste time.
—“Ah know! We’ve both been workin’ off our flanks today, right? How ‘bout we go somewhere nice so we can talk further about last night? We didn’t quite finish our talk and there are some things ah’d like ta discuss with ya.”
—“I’m game. Let’s go.”
They both parted towards town with nothing more than their determination. They hoped they didn’t run into their friend Rarity. She —being the fashionista she was— would surely have a heart attack if she saw them naked with no umbrella over their heads, their pelts soaked wet and no raincoat covering their bodies. They made it to downtown and decided to go into a café. The warm drinks would replenish their energies and take away the cold.
They entered the establishment and sat at a nearby table by the window. The place was relatively empty. Most ponies simply decided to stay home today. They ordered a hot chocolate for each and waited.
“So…” —Rainbow began. “Waddaya wanna talk about?”
—“Well…” —stammered Applejack. She wasn’t sure where to start. There were so many things wrong with her that every topic just piled itself on top of the previous one.
—“Well?”
Applejack sighed and continued.
—“Remember what ah said back at the barn?”
—“What? You mean how you’ve been workin’ yourself to death?”
—“No. It’s not that, it’s…” —the orange mare paused a bit before continuing. Trying her might to put the best way to say what was on her head. AJ sighed and proceeded. “It’s Big Macintosh.”
—“What’s wrong with him?”
—“A-ah don’t know. He’s been actin’ real strange lately.”
—“How?”
—“Well, ah’ve noticed he’s been using this cutting tone with me. Like if ah screw up he’s gonna ‘splode.”
—“Aw, c’mon! He’s obviously having bad days. Maybe it’s the Summer Sun Celebration that’s been stressing him up.”
—“Well ah don’t know. Ah mean, it does make sense, but ah think he’s been actin’ like that a lil’ bit longer than that. Like a month or so. About—” —AJ cut herself midsentence as a little speck or realization hit her. Could it be?
—“About the same time your dreams started?”
—“Yeah.”
—“Anyone else knows about this?”
—“No. Just you sugarcube.”
—“Maybe you should try talking a bit more sense into him. Try to explain him the situation. He’s understanding, from what I can gather. Maybe he’ll even offer to cover you up and help you.”
—“Yeah, maybe yer right.”
Applejack took a sip of her chocolate and pondered. She still had one thing bugging her, but she wasn’t going to tell Dash. At least not yet. Could the dreams be bad luck? Could they have begun as a sort of curse? But what would she have done to deserve such a fate? She needed answers and she needed them now.
“Dash, could ya make me a favor?”
—“Sure, AJ!” —exclaimed the cyan pegasus.
—“Can you accompany me ta Twilight’s after this? There’s somethin’ that’s been bugging me.”
—“Sure thing. There’s something I’d like to ask her as well.”
They changed subject and talked about Dash’s days. She sure had a rough couple of days with Cloudkicker being as stressed as Big Mac surely was with the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration since she was always nagging at Dash. They both were driving the mares crazy and both needed a rest. As soon as they finished with this mess they’d spend their time hanging out as much as they could to make up for lost time, whether by competing or simply hanging out with the girls.
They finished their drinks and went out into the now raging storm that was happening outside. How long had they been there? Did they lose track of time? Who screwed up for this storm to happen? They hurried along the rain and into the Ponyville library, a building carved on the inside of a gigantic tree, where they knocked violently on the door since the howling wind couldn’t let them hear properly. If they knocked too soft or too hard, they couldn’t tell. The noise was deafening.
The door opened up and out came a lavender unicorn with dark blue mane with a pink and a purple stripe in the middle of her fringe just as her hair was parted by her horn.
—“Girls!”
—“Hi Twi” —greeted Applejack.
—“Quick! Get inside! This storm’s getting worse at every second” —said the unicorn with a worried look on her face.
The two mares stepped in soaking wet and dried themselves. Twilight turned on the lights and stared at her two friends.
“Wow, you don’t look very good. Let me help you out!” —said the librarian.
The two wet mares felt a wonderful sensation as a gushing wind warmed their bodies and dried their pelts. Within a matter of seconds both were as dry as if they had stayed indoors all day. Whatever hint of hypothermia or a cold they were manifesting, it had gone now that they were warm and cozy.
—“Wow, Twilight that was awesome! Even better than my Rain-blow Dry!” —said excitedly Dash.
—“Well, it pays off as being both the Element of Magic and Princess Celestia’s pupil” —said Twilight in the most honest and natural way she could ever muster, like it was something she’d say in a casual conversation.
—“Where’s Spike?” —asked Rainbow.
—“Oh. He’s upstairs taking care of Owlowiscious and Peewee. Poor thing hasn’t left the house since the storm started, so Spike’s feeding him some seeds and food Fluttershy left earlier this week. Plus, they both keep each other good company while I’m gone. Anyways, girls. What brings you here?”
—“Well, me an’ Applejack came here to ask you a few questions.”
—“Applejack and I” —corrected Twilight.
—“Whatever. We have some things on our heads and we were wondering if you could answer them” —said Rainbow.
—“Sure, what’s wrong?”
—“Well…” —stammered nervously Applejack. “Ah’d be more comfortable if ah talked to ya in private. No offense sugarcube, but ah don’t intend for anypony to hear mah stupid questions.”
—“It’s no big deal” —said Rainbow with a wave of a hoof. “As long as you’re comfortable you just ask however you feel like asking.”
Twilight’s face bore a puzzled expression as she wasn’t exactly sure what were her friends talking about. She and Applejack walked over to a more faraway corner of the library to whisper without Rainbow —who was trying to eavesdrop despite her look of innocent filly— hearing what they were going to say.
—“So” —began Twilight. “What are you going to ask, AJ?”
—“Well, Twi. Ah’ve been wonderin’… Can someone get a curse?”
—“Well, sure. I mean, if you were cast one, of course. Why? What’s wrong AJ? Did some dumb unicorn put a curse on you?”
—“N-No! No, it’s not that. It’s jus’ that ah’ve been havin’ a rough week an’ ah was wonderin’ if ah was cast a spell.”
—“Well, do some things just magically appear to be against you?”
—“Not technically. They look more like coincidences rather than jus’ magic.”
—“Then what’s exactly the problem?”
—“Well, ah’ve been havin’ these… Things in mah head. Yeah. An’ it jus’ so happens that somepony is actin’ a lil’ strange, that’s all.”
—“Oh, AJ. It’s just you having a rough day. Surely you can overcome a bad moment. There’s nothing to worry about. You’re not cursed.”
—“Well, thank ya kindly Twilight” —said AJ, not entirely convinced of the answer she received. It was definitely not the answer she expected, so she turned around and proposed to leave.
“Ah’m leavin’.” —she said in a slight cutting tone.
—“That’s OK. We need to rest.” —said Rainbow with a slightly tired voice.
—“Bye, girls.”
—“Bye” —said both Twilight and Rainbow in unison.
—“So… What about you Rainbow?” —asked Twilight. “What is it that brought you here in the first place without having to crash through my window again?”
—“Ungh! Twilight Sparkle! I thought we agreed to never speak of it again!” —replied Rainbow in an angry and annoyed tone.
—“Heh heh. Yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, what brings you here?”
—“Well, the other day I had this… Thought. And I wondered if they might exist.”
—“They?” —asked Twilight Sparkle, not missing a bit how both of her friends paused to express themselves, obviously trying to hide something painful. “Who’s ‘they’, Dash?”
—“You know…” —said Rainbow. She then proceeded to make loud noises and make gestures with her hooves.
A spark of realization hit Twilight as she understood what her friend was trying to say.
—“Ooooooohhh!”
—“Yeah! You got it. Well? Do they exist? Huh? Tell me, please ” —begged Rainbow while stammering with that annoying fast-talk Pinkie usually did when she was curious.
—“Well, some ponies have said they’ve spotted them once or twice. No one ever found the exact place they saw them. Many of whom believe in such stories are tinfoil crazies that make up conspiracy theories, Dash. But, honestly, nopony has seen them and no one is sure.”
—“Oh” —said Rainbow with a tone of disappointment on her voice and an expression of relief in her face. “Well then. I’d better get going. I have something to do.”
—“Good luck, Dash” —said Twilight as she dismissed her friend.
—“Thanks Twi. Bye!”
And with that, Rainbow opened the door and took to the skies at high speed, leaving her trademark rainbow trail in her wake.