//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: The Destination // Story: A special request // by chaos2012 //------------------------------// Shifting in her sleep, Applejack slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was slightly blurred, only able to make out that the light was very faint."Ugh. Mah head." she mumbled to herself. Her head was groggy from that sting she had and from a lack of water after getting through the canyon. Blinking several times, her sight began to come together, giving her a clear picture of her surroundings.  A large down field spreading far as she could see gently swayed in the breeze of the wind. The sky was a light orange from the sun as it sat low on the horizon. Forcing herself up, she lifted her head to get a better view, but Stopped midway from the tightness in her neck. Lifting her hoof up, she rubbed the side of her neck to get out the knot in her muscles. To her discomfort, even led foreleg was sore and tight. Standing up, she arched her body back to stretch out all of her legs. Afterward, she leaned foreleg so her backless remained stretched out and back bent inward towards the ground. Doing so caused numerous pops to sound out throughout her spine, each one of them giving a wave of release to her. After she was done she stood up straight. To her surprise, she didn't feel any pain in her back ankle anymore. Looking back, she saw that it had shrunk back down to its normal size and was carefully wrapped in bandages. Hearing the sound of something shuffling caught Applejacks attention. Looking to her right she saw Zecora shoving her materials into her satchel. "Zecora?" Zecora turned around and saw her friend up, "Ah, I see you have awaken. That event in the valley left you quite shaken." "Yeah, ah guess it did." Applejack looked down to see Zecora still stuffing the items in, "What are ya doin? Aren't ya gonna get ready fer the night?" Zecora didn't look up as she spoke, "Time has passed when you were asleep. The sunlight you see is starting to seep." "Huh?" "The light is rising above the ground. It is the sunrise that is abound." Zecora bluntly stated. "Sunrise!?" Applejack shouted. She couldn't believe what she was hearing; she had been passed out from yesterday afternoon all the way to the next morning. "No wonder ah'm so sore!" she said to herself. She looked back to Zecora, and was surprised to see her already packed and ready to leave, "Wow y'all got ready darn quickly." Zecora didn't respond, but instead turned away and looked out to the grass fields. After a moment of silence, Zecora began to speak, once again not tiring to look at her companion, "Hurry and gather your stuff. Our journey ahead is still rough." Applejack caught something in the zebras voice, but she couldn't put it with anything. What she could tell was that something was bothering her, "Zecora, y'all all right?"  Zecora turned her head barely an inch, then stopped and went facing forward again, "We should not waste time. Sitting here longer during our journey would be a crime." and with that, she started walking down the slight embankment of the hill, leaving a confused zebra behind her.  --- For several hours the pair walked through the ever stretching field ahead of them. The bright rays from Celestia's rising sun warmed up the air to a comfortable temperature for the travelers, although it wasn't doing anything to help relieve the tension that was being felt between the two of them. Applejack followed behind Zecora several steps, since every time she was trotting beside her, Zecora would quickly turn her head away so that their eyes did not meet with each other. The farmer had no idea what was going on, "Did ah do somethin wrong to make her upset?" Applejack said to herself.  After thinking on it for some time, Applejack decided that it was time to find out the reason for the problem. Picking up her pace, she quickly caught up to her striped ally, "Alright Zecora, what's the big idea? Why have y'all been tryin to avoid me all day?" Zecora slowly turned her face towards the farmer, revealing the single tear dripping down her cheek. Applejacks frustration fell away immediately at the sight of the drip traveling down the black stripe on Zecora's face. "What's wrong Zecora?" "Applebloom is the reason I am doing this journey." Zecora responded. Applejack was confused by the answer, "What?" Zecora took a deep breath before speaking again, "I was alone in the forest and town. No matter how much I tried, I started to feel down. If your sister didn't try and visit me that day, I would still be alone in the forest from ponies away. She cheered me up with her happy mood, giving me more pleasure than the tastiest food." "She always brought a wide grin to my face, bringing joy to my humble place. She is the reason that I have you as a friend, while tense at first we have made amend. Now that she has fallen sick i must get her out of the gloom. That is why I am helping young Appleboom." Applejack sat quietly as Zecora finished her speech. She had no idea that Applebloom meant so much to Zecora. "But why are ya crying?" Zecora hesitated for a moment before speaking again, "It is my fault that you were hurt. My actions caused you to drop to the dirt." "What?" Applejack shouted, "How in the hay was it yer fault? It was that scorpion that got me-" It got you because I made us hide under that rock. If I listened to you and ran, you wouldn't have experienced that shock. What if something happened to you and you did not survive? I would never be allowed back in your town wothout you alive." Zecora now had more tears falling down her face at this point. Applejack stopped walking and reached over and put a hoof over Zecora's neck, pulling her into a hug. Zecora was startled at first, but after a moment let herself melt into the embrace, putting her own hoof around the farmer. Applejack leaned back to look into her friends face, "Zecora, y'all have nothing to be sorry fer. Everything that has happened had nothing to do with ya. And no matter what happens, everything will be fine." Zecora smiled and wiped away the few drops out of her eyes."Thank you for your kindness. My emotions just caused me blindness." Applejack chuckled at the response of Zecora, "It would happen to any pony that went through what you did." Smiling, both of them started off again to their destination, now walking side by side with each other. The awkward tension that had filled their morning together had lifted and dissipated between them, giving room to a much more comfortable feeling. --- After another four hours, the fields of grass had disapeared, leaving only dark brown sand in its place. The grains of this sand were much more coarse than the standard white sand, nearly the size of gravel. The pair came over a large slope as they crawled up the collapsing side of the face. When they reached the top, Applejacks jaw dropped, "Oh my...". Zecora smiled at seeing the reaction of the farmers face. Turning, she looked down to the sight in the distance, "The sight is one to surprise some. That down below is the home that I come from."