//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11: Picking v. Bucking and Minor Confrontations 
// Story: The First Five 
// by Epimetheus 
//------------------------------//

	“Hey Rainbow, get a good nights sleep?” The voice startled the pegasus, who’d spent the night in one of Applejack’s trees. It had been a week since Pinkie and Rarity had been introduced to the humans and the Apple’s were preparing for the harvest by bucking the apple trees that had ripened early. But Rainbow Dash just preferred the smell of the orchards during this time and slept there almost religiously. She leapt into the air, her wings and hooves reacting on instinct as she struck a defensive pose. Applejack usually bucked or shouted her out of a tree, nopony snuck up on her with good intentions and she not going to go down without a fight. The resulting laughter caused her to take a better look at her so called ‘attackers’.
“Oh, hi guys.” She lowered her forehooves recognizing the smiling faces of Marcus and Taylor. Both were standing on ladders and picking apples off the trees with their hands and placing them into baskets they held with one arm. Marcus was wearing a plaid button up shirt and jeans while Taylor was sporting a t-shirt that was too big for her and a pair of tight fitting jeans. She did her best to regain her composure after the paranoid pose she had taken. 
“We didn’t think we’d find you up here. Are you here to help?” Marcus’s tone was nonchalant, as if he hadn’t just asked the towns laziest pegasus if she was there to work. She raised her eyebrows at him, not having heard that question asked in an innocent manner for a couple years now. 
“Nah, I just sleep here sometimes. Nothing better than an apple tree to sleep in.” 
“I know whatcha mean. Especially in the spring when their in bloom.” Marcus nodded as Taylor spoke before agreeing.
“And when the fruit has just ripened. Apples fresh off the tree are the best.” Rainbow looked at the two, dumbfounded. She’d never heard of anyone else sleeping in a tree outside of the Guard when they were doing war games.
“You’ve slept in an apple tree before? When?” She looked between the two, unsure who would answer. It was Taylor who answered first.
“Well, my uncle had one in his backyard and I’d spend entire weekends up that thing. I loved to look up through the branches and see the stars.”
“And my grandmother owned an orchard about a tenth of the size of this one and she made the best applesauce, pies, butter, and jam. Oh how I miss her apple jam on toast in the early morning. She used to put in just the right amount of cinnamon too. Delicious.” He licked his lips at the memory, while Rainbow Dash smelled a challenge for Granny Smith. Unlike Applejack, the two humans seemed to have no problem with Rainbow’s presence when harvesting the crop. Their slower picking style made it easier to carry on a conversation than bucking did, which required a lot of concentration so one could avoid injury. 
“How long have you two been working?” Rainbow looked at the height of the sun and it told her it was about noon. Marcus looked at his watch instead of the sky, it being far more accurate.
“It’s about 11:40 now and we started at about 6, so almost 6 hours now.” Neither stopped picking apples the entire time they had talked. 
“How many trees have you done?” 
“Oh, about 10, maybe 11.” The number shocked Rainbow. Picking was so much slower than bucking! Applejack had probably cleared six times that number in the same amount of time. 
“Only that many?!” She exclaimed, “How do you do that?”
“Well,” Taylor responded “our legs aren’t strong enough to buck and our hands are perfectly designed for picking, so we just live with it. Applejack did say that we bruise almost none of the apples, while she loses about 10 per basket every time she bucks a tree, so I guess we help make up for that loss.” Taylor shrugged as she spoke, before descending the tree to empty her basket in a larger bin. She quickly climbed the ladder and rejoined her friends. Rainbow watched them silently, analyzing their hands as each finger enveloped the spherical fruit, pulled, and then placed the apple in the basket.
The two humans felt her eyes on them but didn’t react, understanding how odd the simple act of picking could be to a creature that’s never had it done before. Well, Marcus could. Taylor just liked blowing Rainbow’s mind and did little tricks with her fingers between picking apples. She’d move them quickly, slowly, touch them to her thumb and other simple things, but her favorite reaction was when she imitated a worm with her index finger, causing Rainbow to baulk. 
“Stop teasing the pony Taylor.” Marcus admonished with a suppressed smile. Rainbow blushed slightly at how noticeable her reactions were and Taylor rolled her eyes. 
“Don’t tell me what to do Marcus.” She said with annoyed sarcasm before shoving him lightly. 
“Hey, I let you wear my t-shirt today, I can ask for it back.” He said pointedly. Taylor got a devious look in her eye and smiled. Rainbow was slightly confused, but remained silent. 
“I’m sure you’d just love for me to work without it for the rest of the day.” She retorted with a smile. Her tone became sultry as she continued, leaning closer to Marcus. “You know, I’m not wearing a bra.” What ever that meant, Rainbow could tell Marcus wasn’t going to let her get the satisfaction of reacting. 
“I’m sure you aren’t.” He said simply, not taking his eyes off his work. Rainbow tilted her head in curiosity at the two, at a complete loss.
“And how are you so sure hm?” Taylor asked, still in a sultry voice. “Were you watching me get dressed this morning you naughty boy?” Rainbow was beginning to understand what was going on; flirting and teasing, like she would with some stallions she knew well enough. Realizing that humans probably had a different way of doing it, she watched the exchange with a bemused smile. Marcus simply shook his head.
“No, I’ve just learned not to doubt anything you say.” He said neutrally. His basket full, he climbed down the ladder and emptied it before climbing back up. 
“You’ve learned Muscles.” Taylor smiled evilly. Her favorite nickname for him since they’d met and it just irritated him. 
"What have I said about calling me that?” He said with a sigh. Rainbow loved every minute of this exchange and reclined on a limb to watch more comfortably. 
“Oh, you know it’s all in good fun Mr. Muscles.” She said sweetly. It was at this point that she noticed a few apples were up higher than they could reach. Being as confident and simply brash as she was, Taylor decided to handle them herself. “Take this and hold it.” She passed the basket off to a confused Rainbow and climbed up towards the apples. 
“What do you think you’re doing?” Marcus asked concerned. Taylor brushed off the question and set her foot on a branch next to Marcus’s hand unintentionally. “Be careful!” He warned. It was at this point that Taylor lost her grip and began to slip off the branch. 
“WOAH!” She shouted, falling backwards, towards the ground. Marcus reached out quickly and was able to grab onto one of her legs as she fell, preventing her head from impacting the ground. Luckily for Taylor, she kept her arms at her sides so the shirt didn’t reveal anything she didn’t want it too. Unfortunately though, the front of the shirt didn’t stay as close to her body as the sides, so Marcus, as he looked down to check on her, saw what she had tried to hide. He proceeded to blush profusely and snapped his head back up and towards his basket. 
“You ok?” He said down to her, keeping his eyes forward. Rainbow noticed this and was slightly confused, wondering why he was embarrassed. 
“Yeah, no damage done.” She responded. “Marcus, you can lower me down now, I’m a safe distance.” He did as told and lowered his arm a few feet, allowing her to approach the ground safely. When he stopped, she was a foot from the dirt of the orchard. Rainbow approached and helped support her when Marcus let go. Her head didn’t strike the ground, but the rest of her body caused a thud. 
“Thanks Rainbow.” She said with a nod. 
“Sure thing Taylor.” The polychromatic pegasus responded. Standing back up, Taylor looked up at her friend to see that his face was a brilliant red and still staring at the branch in front of him. She realized what he must have seen and felt blood rush to her face without the aid of gravity. 
“You saw didn’t you?” She asked. Marcus opened his mouth to respond, but quickly closed it before nodding. Taylor sighed and put her face in her hands. No matter what she’d say or insinuate, she wouldn’t actually reveal any part of her body to someone unless the situation called for it; like a doctors visit or she wanted to get laid. She decided to salvage the situation and collected her basket before climbing back up to join him. The two worked in awkward silence for a few moments before a question popped into Taylor’s head. 
“Did you like what you saw?” She tried to ask nonchalantly, but she failed and both Marcus and Rainbow could tell she was genuinely curious. Marcus’s blush, which had started to subside, came back full force and he didn’t respond right away. “I wasn’t being rhetorical.” Taylor added, seeing his reaction. Marcus nodded in understanding, trying to come up with the proper response. He breathed deeply and opened his mouth. 
“It was… nice?” He said tentatively, unsure of how the word sounded out loud. Taylor blushed slightly at the comment, which was missed by Marcus but not Rainbow, who raised an eyebrow at this.
“Ok.” She answered once the blush had dissipated. Rainbow smiled lightly on the outside, but on the inside she felt terrible. These humans were really quite friendly and fun to be around, much like her own friends. They joked around, teased, and helped each other like ponies did, nothing like she expected. To be honest, she hadn’t known what to expect from the humans; when she first met them they seemed nice enough, just lost. But once she’d heard about their eating habits that view had changed drastically. The moment that they said they ate meat, she became paranoid. 
Most creatures that Equestrian’s came in contact with weren’t omnivorous, so most ponies, including Rainbow, had no idea what that word meant other than meat was on the menu for them. And that made them little different from the carnivorous Griffons and dragons that used to eat ponies before numerous wars taught them not to. Gilda, back in her fillyhood, had told her how Griffons could eat fruit and some vegetables, but didn’t need them to survive. And that they generally tasted bland to them. 
But Marcus and Taylor had just explained how they love apples and apple products for the taste, and it didn’t take a genius to know that if they liked apples, they’d eat them. Then she remembered how Fluttershy had explained Mr. Bear’s eating habits to her when he first came to live with the shy pegasus. Rainbow had had a similar reaction, but once she saw him eat four salads and a large bowl of berries without vomiting, she relaxed a bit. Fluttershy had convinced her to have tea with them one time and she realized how mellow and polite Mr. Bear could be and did her best to apologize to him. He waved it off and the two were actually pretty close. 
“Um, guys?” She asked quietly, getting their attention. Marcus and Taylor, having suffered through an uncomfortable silence, turned to her with slightly hopeful and curious looks. 
“What’s up?” Taylor asked. Rainbow swallowed nervously. She muttered something neither could hear. 
“Didn’t catch that.” Marcus said, leaning closer. Rainbow gulped and spoke louder. 
“I want to apologize.” She murmured. Taylor gave her a confused look. 
“Why?” The human asked. 
“I said something’s at the meeting with Princess Luna that I was wrong about.” She explained. “About how you eat.” Immediately Marcus’s expression and attitude cooled and he climbed down to empty his basket. 
“What’d you say?” Taylor asked, ignoring him. 
“That you guys should be forced to eat like ponies.” She fiddled with her forehooves as she spoke, avoiding eye contact. Taylor nodded and also put more effort into picking apples, but didn’t ignore her. 
“How come?” She asked in a somewhat flat tone. 
“Because she’s xenophobic like most ponies it seems.” Marcus spat as he climbed back up the ladder. Rainbow flinched and Taylor glared at him. 
“Marcus!” She hissed. He shrugged. 
“What? We have to stay hidden because the ponies of Equestria would probably attack us on sight.” He snapped. “If that isn’t xenophobia, then I’m a monkey’s uncle.” This statement slightly confused Rainbow, but she put it aside. 
“She’s apologizing!” Taylor admonished, her face flushing with anger. Marcus gave her a hard look before turning to Rainbow. 
“Why?” He asked sharply. Rainbow Dash was doing her best to suppress her fight or flight reflex as he looked at her. 
“Because I got to know you guys and you’re nothing like I said.” She answered quietly.  Marcus nodded and silently continued to pick apples. Taylor nodded in understanding. 
“Well it’s good to know we changed your mind.” She said honestly. Rainbow smiled weakly. 
“You did.” She assured. 
“So why can’t we change everyone’s?” Marcus said harshly. “Why can’t we go out and introduce ourselves to the town?” Both Taylor and Rainbow gave him looks, the former in irritation and the latter in trepidation.
“Because it would cause mass panic.” She snapped. “These ponies have gone through a lot recently and the last thing we should do is pile on more for them to deal with.” Rainbow kept quiet, not wanting to upset either. 
“I don’t like hiding here one bit.” Marcus responded angrily.
“Well there’s nothing we can do about it at the moment.” Taylor retorted.
“And I especially don’t like seeing my best friend since childhood getting clawed up for no reason and then scaring ponies with them.” Marcus added with a dark tone. Taylor was glowering at him by this time and Rainbow began fidgeting nervously.
“He forgave Spike knowing he did it to try and protect Twilight. He knew it wasn’t personal!” Taylor pressed, emptying her basket and grabbing her ladder angrily. 
“Thomas may easily forgive people and ponies for ‘accidently’ wronging him, I’m not as perfect.” Marcus said, taking his ladder to the next tree. Taylor followed him with an irritated look on her face and Rainbow flew to the next set of branches with a hurt expression. 
“The least you could do is try.” Taylor snapped, making sure her ladder was steady before ascending it. 
“I will. I’m not angry at Spike for what he did; I even checked to see how he was doing.” He argued. “I’m just warning her that if she betrays my trust that it’ll be a long time before I give her a second chance.” Rainbow could understand that, especially since it was her own philosophy, and she resolved never to have to go through that. 
“I won’t. It’s against my Element to do that.” She said resolutely. Both humans gave her queer looks, not understanding what she meant. 
"What does that mean?” Taylor asked curiously, pausing in her task for a few moments to focus on Rainbow. Marcus did the same, albeit a little more irritated. 
“No one told you about the Elements of Harmony?” She asked, surprised that it hadn’t come up before. Both shook their heads. “Ok, so the six of us, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy and I are bearers for the Elements of Harmony, this really old and really, really powerful magic.”
“Bearers?” Marcus asked, his irritation lessening. Rainbow nodded. 
“The Elements are split into six… elements. I’m loyalty, Aj’s honesty, Rarity’s generosity, Twilight’s magic, Fluttershy’s kindness, and Pinkie’s laughter. So it’s against my element to be disloyal.” She explained. The humans digested this information quietly, unsure of what to say. ‘Congrats’ didn’t really work, and ‘cool’ wasn’t much better, so they simply shrugged and went back to work. 
“Well, I guess then you’re pretty trustworthy.” Taylor said pointedly, looking to Marcus. Before he could retort though, they heard the lunch bell and Granny Smith’s voice calling them in. 
“Well, I guess I’ll head out.” Rainbow said, preparing to leave. Marcus stopped her.
“Why not join us?” He asked. “I’m sure Granny Smith made more than enough food.” Rainbow smiled and accepted the offer. The two humans set their smaller baskets next to the larger ones at the base of the tree and left their ladders standing as they headed back towards the farm house. Rainbow joined them, hovering at their eyelevel, and they turned to a less divisive topic. Marcus seemed to have accepted Rainbow’s apology and moved on, which pleased both Taylor and the pegasus. The idle chit chat continued until they reached the Apple Family home, where once Applejack spotted her friend, was about to lay into her about distracting others while they were working. 
Taylor headed off the rant, explaining that because they worked at a slower pace than her or Big Mac, it really wasn’t that big of a deal. The cowpony relaxed and was about to strike up a conversation when Granny Smith stuck her head out the kitchen window. 
“Ya’ll whippersnappers get in here now! Ah’ve got lunch ready an’ it ain’t goin ta waste!” She snapped. Everyone quickly shuffled inside, Applejack inviting Dash to stay for lunch. Somehow Granny Smith had anticipated the extra mouth to feed and had set a place for the pegasus. As everyone took a seat, she steered Rainbow to the seat next to Big Mac, who ended up conspicuously closer together than any other pair. When she wasn’t looking, Rainbow scooted away a few inches, a blush evident on her cheeks. 
“Granny, wha’d ya make today?” Applejack asked, wishing the mare would stop trying to set up her brother with her friends. Ever since the events during cider season, Granny had been giving Big Macintosh little nudges towards each one, especially Fluttershy, which just made things awkward. 
“Sandwich’s, green apple coleslaw, an’ some salad.” She said, not failing to notice the movements away from her grandson made by Dash as she brought over the food. Marcus and Taylor quickly learned that if Granny Smith wanted help with anything, she’d ask, and unless she did it was best to stay out of her way. The food was quickly served and eaten, conversation straying from one topic to another but never staying on the same one for very long. 
Too soon it was time to head back out and the younger crowd thanked Granny for lunch, feeling pleasantly full. Big Mac pulled Marcus aside to get his opinion on if a piece of equipment could be fixed or not and Applejack returned to her own section of the orchard, leaving Rainbow Dash and Taylor on their own to head back to their work. 
“You like Marcus don’t you?” Rainbow asked abruptly with a snicker. Taylor was startled, but did her best to keep her composure. 
“Not in that way.” She answered. “Why do you ask?” 
“Because I saw how you reacted after you fell.” Rainbow said, smiling. Taylor rolled her eyes at the statement. 
“It was embarrassing. Imagine you crash into someone and end up with their nose in your tail.” She retorted in irritation. 
“I don’t ask if they like what they saw.” Rainbow smirked, seeing a massive blush spread over her friends face. 
“So I think he’s hot, what’s wrong with that?” Taylor conceded, frustrated that the pegasus was pressing the issue. Rainbow smiled wider and swished her tail. 
“Absolutely nothing.” She answered slowly. “Absolutely nothing.” The pair had reached the tree where they had been working and Taylor quickly climbed the ladder with her basket, wanting the conversation to end. Rainbow helped by grabbing the apples from the higher branches, saying that Marcus wasn’t there to catch Taylor if she tried, earning another furious blush. They worked in silence for a few minutes before Rainbow saw Marcus making his way towards them. He was still too far away to hear anything they said, so she turned to Taylor, who was climbing back up the ladder after emptying it. 
“Hey Taylor, don’t you two share a room at night?” Rainbow asked, looking down to the human. Taylor nodded, unsure as to where the pegasus was taking this. “Do you share a bed?” 
“Kinda, yeah.” She answered, giving her a curious look. Rainbow’s turned devilish as a smile spread across her face. 
“Then cuddle up to him one night.” She said. “See what he does.” Before Taylor could respond, Marcus spoke up from the base of the tree, having missed the exchange. 
“Thanks for the help Rainbow Dash.” He said, nodding to her. She saluted in return and went back to work. Taylor didn’t speak for a little while, trying not to look either of her coworkers in the eye. 





The rest of the day went by much quieter than the morning, with Rainbow’s help greatly speeding up the picking. The trio finished off another 15 trees before sun down, when Granny called them all back to the farm house for dinner. All of them were exhausted from the work, especially carrying the bushels of fruit into the barn, and nearly collapsed into their seats at the dinner table. Rainbow and Big Mac didn’t bother to move apart as they eagerly ate their dinner and quietly ignored the looks hopeful Granny gave them. Applebloom had returned from school a few hours before and groaned about some math homework she was having trouble with, but seemed happy none the less. Once dessert, apple pie and coffee, had been served and eaten just as quickly, Rainbow Dash thanked them for the food and flew out the door towards her home. Big Mac helped Applebloom with her homework, while Applejack, Marcus, and Taylor headed up to bed. Granny smirked to herself, and hummed as she did the dishes. 

Taylor lay on her side of the bed, having an internal monologue fight. She and Marcus had gotten ready to sleep heavily, changing into pajamas and brushing their teeth before getting into bed on their respective sides. He’d fallen asleep almost immediately, but she was kept awake by her runaway mind. One monologue told her to take Rainbow’s advice and cuddle up to Marcus, but the other said that it’d be weird and that he doesn’t like her like that. The two sides fought for what felt like hours, but the clock next to her indicated was only ten minutes.
Sighing, she looked over at the silhouette of Marcus and came to a decision. She lifted the sheets a little so that they wouldn’t get in her way and moved over towards him. Once she was next to him, she lowered sheets, rolled onto her side to face him and rested her arm on his chest as she placed her head on his shoulder. She was tense for a few seconds, hoping that Marcus wouldn’t react adversely to this. The next few moments felt like hours as she waited to see what he’d do, but in his sleep Marcus put his arm around her and shifted a little to get comfortable. She felt his chin and nose rest on the top of her head. She sighed happily and closed her eyes. Marcus peeked his open and smiled.