Her Frontier

by FromTheMoon


Decisions [Part 1]

Chapter 4: Decisions [Part 1]

Rainbow Dash turned around to wave goodbye to Whisky but the stallion had already gone back inside the restaurant. She looked up at the night sky above and saw the thousands of stars that glowed brilliantly. Rainbow was used to seeing the stars before but never like this. Even the moon was spectacular, its size being almost triple that from back in PonyVille. Princess Luna was definitely no slacker when it came to her duty as Princess of the Night. Rainbow wanted to fly but it was so dark that she could barely see Top Notch and Apple Jack just a few feet ahead of her. She told herself that tomorrow she would have the chance to truly stretch her wings.

The group left EverGlade and moved out onto a road that lead through the scrub land. They walked for what seemed like thirty minutes in the pitch black of night with only a few random conversations scattered throughout the journey. The rest of the walk was taken by complete silence only being broken by the sound of the wildlife every minute or so.

Rainbow Dash let out a long drowsy yawn long before breaking the silence herself. "Hey Top Notch, how much farther until we get to your place? My hooves are killing me over here!"

"Not much farther Rainbow Dash, just over the next hill and we'll be there. To keep the blood pumping through your veins how about a race to the top of the hill? Ready? one, two, three GO!" Top Notch took off at top speed leaving both Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack confused for a few seconds. Both friends realized what had happened and they both began running after the stallion. "Not a smart move on yer part cousin. Me and Rainbow over here are the best athletes in PonyVille fir yer information!"

"Yeah what AJ said! Except that I'm also the fastest flier in all of Equestria so I guess that makes me the better athlete!" Rainbow considered using her wings but realized that it would of been too easy. She would hoof it and make Apple Jack along with her cousin eat her dust.

Rainbow had already passed Apple Jack and was closing in on Top Notch but the stallion was already making his way up the hill. "Nuh uh, no way am I letting this guy beat me after that cheap start." Rainbow thought to herself. She put more of her energy into her legs and sure enough she began to close the distance until she was running right next to him. "Ha! Didn't think you'd win that easily after pulling that stunt did you?"

Top Notch looked over to Rainbow Dash and smiled. "Gee I didn't think I'd ever live to see the day that a Pegasus would beat an Earth Pony in a hoof race. You're something pretty special you know that Dashie?" Rainbow couldn't tell from how dark it was but she could of sworn that she saw the stallion wink at her. She could feel her face heat up and tripped over a rock doing a few rolls before coming to a complete stop. She looked up just in time to see Apple Jack run past her, scrambling quickly to her hooves she got off the ground and started running again but it was too late. She saw Top Notch already looking down at her from the top of the hill with Apple Jack moving next to him.

Rainbow stamped her hoof when she reached the top of the hill. "No fair! That was a lousy dirty trick that you used!"

"What trick is RD yapping about Top Notch?" Apple Jack asked. Top Notch just kept on smiling and wouldn't answer. A few pokes in the ribs from Apple Jack and he let out the truth. "Oh nothing much cousin, all I did was lay on the Top Notch charm. Nothing less and definitely nothing more." Apple Jack looked at Rainbow Dash a little closer and thought she saw her blushing. The mare started laughing and her cousin joined her.

Rainbow Dash was now starting to get upset, she never had liked it when other ponies laughed at her. "What!? Whats so damn funny!?"

"Don't take it personally Rainbow but Top Notch here is sorta a ladies stallion. Ah didn't tell you before because I thought you'd be immune to it. Guess ah was..."

"WRONG! I was just thrown off guard that's all. I wasn't expecting him to do that!" Rainbow quickly turned away and began concentrating on getting rid of her blush. As soon as she felt the heat from her face disappear she turned back to face them but before she could continue telling Apple Jack just how wrong she was Top Notch spoke.

"Any who Rainbow Dash let me introduce you to Top's Quality Dairy Farm." He pointed his hoof to the other side of the hill. Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes and made out a few buildings at the bottom of the hill but couldn't really see anything in detail. "I can't see anything, its too dark."

Top Notch began rubbing his chin with his hoof. "Yeah I guess I can see what you mean. Oh well just wait till tomorrow and I give you a tour of the place. As for right now I'm guessing you girls are pretty tired after that train trip. Follow me and I'll get you settled in." He made his way down the hill toward the farm with Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack following closely behind.


"Over here we have the living room where I usually take a load off after a long days work. In that room is the kitchen, I'm not much off a cook but the fridge is fully stocked. That door down the hall is the bathroom, I don't think we have to talk about what goes on in there right?" Top Notch lead the girls upstairs to the second floor of the farm house. "Your rooms are right here across from each other at the top of the stairs. My room is the last door down the hall and I don't think we need to talk about what goes on in there also, or do we?" If there was one thing that Rainbow had noticed about Top Notch it was that he seemed to laugh a lot at his own jokes. A characteristic that reminded her of a certain pink mare back in PonyVille. "If I was you girls I'd rest up, I got a full schedule planned for us tomorrow before your train leaves the next morning."

He opened the door to this right and motioned for Rainbow Dash to enter. Aside from a bed, a nightstand with a lamp on it, and window the room was completely empty. "Wow, talk about a simple life style. I'm no Rarity but even I can tell when a room needs some more color." Rainbow Dash dropped her saddle bag on the bed before hoping on it herself. She bounced up and down on it a few times before being satisfied with how comfy the bed was. "Still a long way from being a cloud but a freaking huge improvement over the train." She laid her head down on the pillow with her forelegs behind her head and let out a happy sigh. "You know this ain't actually half bad. A bucking cozy life style if you ask me."

"A cozy life style fir you since ya don't actually work here RD. My cousin Top Notch works his flank off running this farm all by himself."

"Now now cousin, I myself will be the first to admit that I do live a comfy life when I ain't working. Come on Apple Jack let me show you to your room." Top Notch and Apple Jack left the room leaving with the latter closing the door behind her.

It was quiet. Not the boring quiet either but the kind of quiet where one could actually hear the tension leave their body. For most that would be enough, for Rainbow Dash however she needed one of two things to get her to relax completely. Since it was pitch black outside she settled on the second option. Getting off from the bed she made her way out of the room. "Hey Top Notch, you wouldn't happen to have a shower would you? Kinda want to wash my troubles away you feel me?"

Top Notch came out from the room across from Rainbow's and pointed his hoof downstairs. "Sure thing the shower is in the bathroom downstairs."

Apple Jacks voice came from inside her room. "Don't take too long Rainbow, water is scarce around these parts and ah want to take a shower myself." Top Notch and Rainbow Dash went downstairs where he handed her a fresh towel from a closet and pointed her to the bathroom.

The shower had taken less than seven minutes. What Top Notch and Apple Jack had failed to inform Rainbow Dash about was that there was no hot water. It had been such a system shock to her body when the water torrent had hit her that she yelped in surprise. She swore that she could hear Top Notch and Apple Jack laughing their flanks off upstairs. She got out of the shower, dried herself off, and then headed back upstairs to her room closing the door behind her announcing that she was going to sleep.

While she would of preferred hot water the shower had still done the trick. She could feel that all her muscles were relaxed, she tossed herself onto the bed and sent her saddle bag flying to the floor. She closed her eyes and waited for sleep to take her, it didn't. She tossed and turned but still could not manage to fall asleep. Eventually enough time passed where the whole house went silent. She assumed that Apple Jack and her cousin had fallen asleep and she envied them for it.

Something was noticeably off for Rainbow Dash. For the first time in the longest time she didn't feel stressed, she didn't feel anxious, and she didn't feel angry. Granted she still felt unhappy but even that feeling was lessened to some extent. "Crap." She whispered to herself. "I haven't felt this way since....well since..." For some unknown reason everything in the world just felt right to her. "What do you know, maybe this little trip was just what I need heh." Her head fell to the side of the pillow. "What happens when I leave?" Was the last thought in her head before she passed out.


Rainbow Dash was woken abruptly by the sound of heavy knocking on the front door of the farm house. A mare's voice was calling to the inhabitant of the building. "Top Notch! Top Notch wake up!" More pounding on the front door. Rainbow heard a door open inside the house and a few moments later there was a single knock on Rainbow's door before Top Notch burst through it. He quickly apologized to Rainbow for the inconvenience before making his way to the room's window and opening it. "Clover Leaf? What are you doing out here at this hour?"

"Thousand apologies Top Notch, I know you have family over but this an emergency! It's the town's water tower, its..."

"Say no more Clover, just tell Whisky that I'll be there in a jiffy!" He shut the window closed and turned to look at Rainbow Dash. "Sorry Rainbow but looks like today's schedule of activities are going to have to wait, somethings come up!" With that being said he ran out of the room and made his way downstairs.

A second later Rainbow Dash jumped out of her bed and flew downstairs followed by Apple Jack appearing behind her a moment later. "Top Notch? Whats the matter? Whats happened?" Apple Jack asked.

"Look cousin I'm real sorry about this but duty calls and it looks like this can't wait." Top Notch ran into a room and then came out a few seconds later with a saddle bag on his right side and a tool box on his left. He ran to the front door of the house and looked back at his cousin and her friend from the doorway. "You girls just stay here and make yourselves comfortable. I'll be back as soon as I..." He was caught off guard by a blue blur flying past him out the door.

"Hecky nah, if I wanted to sit around on my ass and do nothing I would have stayed in PonyVille. You never know when you might need a Pegasus as awesome as me to lend you a hoof." Rainbow Dash was in the air a few feet above Top Notch with a content look on her face.

Apple Jack moved to stand right next to her cousin. "Ah'm going too Top Notch. Who knows we might actually be able to help you with whatever emergency's fallen on your head."

Putting his hoof to cover his eyes while he thought for a moment Top Notch considered all the possibilities of letting the two mares come along. "Well alright, I guess it wouldn't hurt if you two tagged along with me and besides...you two were probably going to come anyway even If I told you not to right?"

"Uh huh." Both mares said at the same time.

"Yeah that's what I figured. Now come on, I can't waste anymore time dillydallying with you two, not when it concerns the water tower."


The two Earth Ponies ran towards town as Rainbow Dash flew above them. It was actually the first time that the Pegasus had gotten a good look at the surrounding area. Just like she had seen from the train it was all scrub land covered by rocks, chasms, and plateaus. She had once thought it impossible for any pony to survive under these conditions let alone a whole town of them. "Huh, these ponies must be pretty tough I guess" She thought.

Finally EverGlade came into view from Rainbow's perspective and she flew down with a running trot to move along side Apple Jack and Top Notch. "Towns just up a head you guys. It looks like there's a group of ponies gathered near a tower and..."

"That would be the water tower Rainbow Dash and its usually a very bad sign when a group gathers around a point like you said. Come on girls we gotta double time it!" Top Notch put all his energy into his sprint and made his way as fast as he could to the town with Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack following suite.

The group entered the town ran down the main boulevard turning a a corner and stopping when they reached a group of ponies gathered around a large lower. Top Notch and Apple Jack began making their way through the crowd as Rainbow Dash flew overhead. Top Notch managed to break through and spotted Whisky standing at the base of the tower with the latter seeing his first. "Top Notch! Top Notch over here, you might wanna take a look at this!" Standing next to Whisky with Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack at his hide Top Notch looked up in horror as he saw what was the problem. He set down his tool box, saddle bag, and made his way to inspect one of the towers legs.

Rainbow Dash looked up as well and saw nothing particularly wrong with the water tower. It wasn't leaking or anything and the the wooden supports seemed to be in good shape. "I don't get it, what exactly are we looking at here?"

Apple Jack removed her hat and scratched her head for a bit before placing it back on her head. "Ah don't get it either Top Notch. Tower looks to be in tip top shape shape from here."

"Looks can be deceiving cousin, you see those little black balls spaced out on the towers legs?" Both mares looked and saw that indeed the towers legs seemed covered by a few dozen little black balls. Rainbow Dash still couldn't see anything wrong with the tower. "Right, I still don't get whats the big deal. Apple Jack do you..."

"The big deal is that those are Scrub Lord nests." Whisky interrupted.

"Huh, what are Scrub Lords?" Rainbow Dash asked. She turned to look at Apple Jack hoping that her friend would tell her but the farm pony had a confused look on her face as well.

"Scrub Lords..." Whisky continued. "...are a type of special termite found only around these parts. What makes them so special is that they nest on wooden surfaces and when they hatch the newborns completely devour the host structure in the blink of an eye. So if those bugs hatch on the tower then..."

"Game over man, its game over." Top Notch finished. He took one last look at the nests before turning back to face the crowd of ponies. "Every pony please stand back, I didn't exactly bring the right tools to deal with...well this and I'm going to need to work fast before these things hatch."

"Top Notch ya'll can't be serious. You can just go back to the farm and grab the tools you..."

"I wish I could cousin but there may not be enough time. Scrub Lords hatch petty quick and these definitely weren't here yesterday."

"Then let me and RD help you out with getting rid of these..."

Top Notch shook his head. "No can do cousin, this is a precision job. If one of those nests breaks then the scrub lords will just pour out anyway."

"But Top Notch..."

"But nothing Apple Jack!" He gave her a stern look. "I've already made my decision, its too dangerous and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you two. It'll be safer if I handled this myself."

Rainbow Dash had heard enough, she stepped out in front of Apple Jack and looked directly at Top Notch. "Look here Mr. It'll Be Safer If I Do This, the tower is pretty big. You seem pretty fast but I doubt even you can get out of the way in time of the tower falls. You do realize what'll happen to you if you fail right?"

Top Notch let out a long sigh. " Of course I realize that, but I also realize what'll happen to the whole town if I don't do this. Besides I tend to live my life by an old saying that my father told me when I was just a colt."

Actually surprised by his answer Rainbow Dash found her curiosity peaked. "What would that be?"

"All in all of the time." Top Notch smiled and he put some scissors in his mouth from his tool bag before going to work.


Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, Whisky, and what seemed like the rest of the town watched in silence for hours as Top Notch diligently worked removing each of the nests one by one. Each nest seemed to take around thirty minutes to successfully remove. The removed nests were then taken away by some other pony to be safely disposed off. Top Notch worked until there were only two nests left. By then most of the town had left the scene believing the danger had passed with only a few ponies remaining watching Top Notch work.

"I'd hate to think what would of happened if Top Notch wasn't here." Whiskey said to Rainbow Dash. "Talk about being the hero of the town."

"You know damn well shug what would of happened if that tower fell." A familiar voice to Rainbow Dash came from behind Whiskey. The three ponies turned and came face to face with a Unicorn mare. She had a tan brown coat with a reddish mane and tail that had yellow streaks running through it. "Town wouldn't of lasted long with out it, we would have had to...."

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "I recognize your voice, you were the one..."

"That's right honey, I was the one at the farm this morning. The names Clover Leaf."

Whisky laughed as he put a hoof to his face. "Right, Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack, let me introduce you two to Clover Leaf. She works for me back at the restaurant."

Clover Leaf gave Rainbow Dash a quick look over. "So you're Top's cousin Apple Jack huh? Would of met you yesterday at the restaurant but it was my day off. Pardon me honey but you don't really look like an Apple Jack to me, definitely not with that rainbow mane of yours."

"That's because ah'm Apple Jack, this here's my friend Rainbow Dash. Pleased to make you acquaintance either way though."

"The feelings mutual honey. Hey look, seems like Top's just gotten rid of the second to last nest. He should be done in no time."

Top Notch took the nest and carefully handed it off to another pony. He wiped the sweat from his brow before going to work on the last one. He put his hoof to it and fear immediately entered his heart. The last nest was vibrating violently which only meant one thing. "EVERY PONY GET BACK NOW!" He shouted as loud as he could before turning his attention back to the nest. His heart skipped a beat when he saw that it began to crack. He watched as the crack grew larger and as tiny insects began to come out if it. With no other choice he yanked the nest from the tower and tossed it into a water trough. A few scrub lord insects were flung onto one of the towers legs and right before his eyes Top Notch watched as they devoured a small portion of the leg before they fell to the ground.

The tower began creaking and without warning one of the steel screws shot from where it had been previously and hit Top Notch square in the ribs. He fell to the ground in pain and watched as the water tower began to shake. He looked at Whiskey and the three mares, "Run! Get as far away from the tower as you can!" He looked back at the tower and saw that it was beginning to lean towards him. "Buck me."

He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.