“The fact is, I had every reason to see this comin’ from a long way’s off.” Applejack said, sniffling. “It ain’t Granny’s fault, nor Big Mac’s. After all, I was the one who done took up the mantle of this here farm.” With a sigh, the mare stared out at the growing shadows of the orchards stretching westward. “And don’t get on me for bein’ all down on myself none. Truth is, there really isn’t a whole lot I could have done to prevent it on my lonesome. The market’s simply been goin’ downhill. Shucks, it probably was before Ma and Pa… well…” Her voice trailed off.
Rainbow gulped. “Yeah, b-but…” Her eyes narrowed. “To give up the whole frickin’ farm?”
“Ohhhh… it ain’t quite so terrible.” Applejack smiled painfully. “Really. It’s the smart thang to do. If we clung to this here land just for the sake of doin’ so, then we’d end up collapsin’ even harder. Best to sell what we’ve got to ponies with the know-it-all to turn these here crops into a better industry.”
“But… you’ve owned this place for years! You and your family! I mean…” Rainbow gulped. “Right?”
“Don’t nopony know it more than me, Rainbow.” Applejack took a deep breath. “But, fact is, unless we can find ourselves a loyal investor willin’ to cash in big time on our crops, we’ll be goin’ under before the next season.”
“But, don’t you… er… I mean…” Rainbow Dash bit her lip before she could go further.
Applejack looked towards her, and she blinked her eyes dry. “What?” She smirked. “You were gonna bring up Filthy Rich, weren’t ya?”
“Well…” Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “Hasn’t he been… uhm… loyal to you?”
Applejack sighed. “I never did fancy business folk too much. I always thought Mr. Rich was the exception, considerin’ all the thangs his father did for Ma and Pa back in the day. But, turns out he’s bits first and blood second. In this day’n’age, with cities becoming bigger and countries stretchin’ thinner, I suppose it’s only natural. Don’t make it right, but not like I’m the mare who’s in charge of anything.”
“Yeah, well…” Rainbow gritted her teeth, pulling at the blades of grass in front of her. “I think it sucks.”
“Hah hah hah!” Applejack guffawed. “Glad to know we dance to the same tune, Rainbow Dash, though you take mightier strides than I.”
“What are you gonna do?” Rainbow Dash blinked. “You and the family, I mean?”
“Reckon we’re gonna do what the rest of the folks here do,” Applejack said. “Stay here in Ponyville. Learn to blend in. Get work somewhere in town. We Apple folk have plenty of friends in town, and I don’t mean just Rarity and Twilight and Pinkie. Over the years, we’ve made our fair share of connections, and I’d be darned if none of them feel like reciprocating.”
“So… you’ll be staying here?” Rainbow leaned forward “In Ponyville?”
“Well, shoot, either that or move in with the Oranges in Manehattan.” Applejack shuddered. “Brrrrrr… Now there’s somethin’ I ain’t too keen on.”
“What about Granny Smith.”
“What about her?”
“Well, AJ, she’s goin’ on in her years, right?” Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head nervously. “You think--at her age n’stuff--that this sort of sudden change will be… h-healthy for her?”
Applejack gazed curiously at Rainbow. “Yer really concerned for the whole family, aren’t you?”
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t be?”
Applejack chuckled slightly. “Nawwww, sugarcube. I just don’t think I’ve ever seen you have a single conversation with Granny Smith ever.”
Rainbow Dash glanced towards the distance farmhouse. “Well… she’s your family, Applejack. I know that she means a lot to you.”
“She means a lot to many ponies. She’s the salt of the earth, ol’ Apple Smith.” Applejack took a deep breath. “I just hope she doesn’t feel as though I’m lettin’ her down.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, I know that she manages well for herself n’all, but a lot of time it’s just show. She’s lived a long life and has seen many ponies she cares for leave this earth. A mare with that degree of experience and moral fortitude also stands to clam up an awful bit, especially when it comes to the things that would only tear her apart if she let ‘em out on the surface.”
Rainbow Dash squirmed where she sat. “Wow, Applejack…”
“Hmm?” Applejack looked up.
Rainbow tried to hide her smile. She had no problem with failing at the moment. “It’s just that you’re… you’re so on top of the ball. I mean, you’ve got everypony figured out.”
“Well, everyone in the household.”
“Right! That’s the point! You’ve had to carry your close kin on your shoulders for-freaking-ever. You’ve had to think for them as well as for yourself.”
“Heh. I reckon…”
“If you ask me, it sounds like one heck of a juggling act.”
“Not really. Not if you do it everyday.”
“It still blows my mind.”
“Yes, well…” Applejack chuckled. “It’s all part of livin’ with family members. I guess I really can’t expect you to understand--” Immediately, Rainbow cringed. Wincing, she swiveled her head Rainbow’s way. “Aw shoot.”
Rainbow Dash was gazing towards the sunset.
“Sugarcube, I’m awful sorry.” Applejack’s face was long. “I didn’t mean nothin’ by that! I wasn’t thinkin’--”
“Heh… s’all good.” Rainbow smirked at her. “No feelings hurt, okay?” Her wings flexed and unflexed as she said, “I’ve gotten used to goin’ the distance on my own. Ages ago, ponies used to get all sappy with me--cuz of what… well… with what happened to Dad.” She cleared her throat. “Truth is, all the stuff in my life--both crappy or not--have made me into a better, awesomer mare.”
“You really believe that?” Applejack.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I… uh… I kinda have to.”
Applejack nodded silently. “Reckon you do.” A few seconds tick by. “Still, does it ever get lonesome?”
Rainbow sucked her breath in. She was infinitely grateful to the stars above that Applejack wasn’t looking at her squarely, or else she may have seen the spastic twitch to her eyes. “Pffft. Naaah. You kidding?” It took all her body strength to curve her lip muscles upwards. “I get to chillax on my own schedule. I’ve got tons of hours to practice the coolest flying moves. And when or if all of that freedom bores me… heh… well, I always got you rad gals to hang out.” She winked.
Applejack stared at her. She tilted her gaze slightly, then finally chuckled. “Yer one of a kind, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow exhaled liberally. “You th-think so, eh?”
“I have to admit, I’ve always admired the way you carry yerself about.” Applejack said.
Rainbow’s wingtips fluttered. “You h-have?”
“Even if yer a downright sassy braggart about it from time to time.”
Those wings deflated. “Oh.” Rainbow glanced aside.
“Still, it’s inspirin’. You strike everypony as a mare who always has what she wants and has the gumption to show off about it. Ya feel me?”
“I… I guess.” Rainbow took a shuddering breath, trying not to stare at Applejack for too long. “The way I’ve figured it, being awesome is knowing that what you want… m-more than anything in the world… is right in front of you all the time.” She gulped. “Sometimes… sometimes it’s all that keeps you going.”
“Well, more power to ya, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “I gotta admit, there are times when I wish I had that sort of straight, rigid vision.”
Rainbow Dash kneaded her hooves into the grass, stared blankly, and said, “What’s stopping you?”
“Hmmm?”
“Things are changing in your life, aren’t they?” Rainbow shrugged. “Who’s to know? Maybe now’s a time for a perspective shift.”
Applejack squinted. “How do you mean?”
“I mean, you can still take care of your family and all, but perhaps you can set apart some time for yourself.”
“I’m… uh… I’m still lost, sugarcube.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Oh puh-lease, Applesmack! Think about it!”
“Think about what?”
Rainbow Dash stood up and practically growled. “What do you want more in your life than anything else!”
“Pffft…” Applejack waved a hoof towards the setting sun. “To save this here farm, what else?”
“Aim further.”
“Huh?”
“It’s no big friggin’ secret that you wanna keep this farm, this land, and all the squirrels that live in its trees.” Rainbow Dash shrugged dramatically. “But there’s gotta be more to it than that!”
“I swear, darlin’, there r-really ain’t.”
“Really?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow with a smirk. “There isn’t something you’ve wanted to maintain the farm for?”
“Like… like you mean a goal?”
“Yeah, girl!” Rainbow grinned wide. “A goal!”
Applejack blinked. She stared down at the orchards and shadows of orchards. Slowly, like melting gold, a smile formed across her freckled face. “Hmmmmm… welllll…”
“Yeah? Yeahhhh?” Rainbow leaned forward.
“I… I always fancied…” Applejack took a deep breath and rested her muzzle on her forelimbs. “...f-fancied havin’ a family of my own.”
“Pffft. Don’t you already have that, silly pony?”
“Well, yes. And… n-no. This here’s a different dream, sugarcube.”
“Oh?”
Applejack slowly nodded. “I wanna be a mother someday, Rainbow Dash. I wanna foal a kid… shucks… a whole gaggle of young’n’s. I wanna raise ‘em good’n’proper, show ‘em the ropes, give ‘em the love and attention that they deserve.” She shuddered slightly. “And not disappear on ‘em, because of one really cruel hoof of fate or ‘nother.”
“Huh…” Rainbow Dash’s eyes trailed off. “That’s really sweet, Applejack.”
“Course, t’ain’t all there is to it.”
“Oh?”
“Nosiree. I gotta lasso myself a fine stallion sometime. And pretty darn soon, too.”
Rainbow exhaled. Her ears drooped as she gazed aside. “Oh.” It was a wheeze.
“And I dun mean none of that ‘stallion of my dreams’ or ‘knight in shinin’ armor’ hooey that Rarity is always swoonin’ over.” Applejack rolled her eyes, but swiftly replaced the gesture with a warm, warm smile. “But rather… a simple, sweet, and down-to-earth gentlecolt. A stallion who knows the lay of the land, and yet is willin’ to learn new things… things that I can teach ‘em, cuz relationships are all supposed to be about give n’take. Ya reckon?”
“Hmmm? Oh, yeah. Sure…” Rainbow Dash plopped down on her haunches, exhaling. “Give and take…”
“He’d be strong and capable.” Applejack gulped, then frowned. “But none of that macho… bravismo nonsense. A stallion who’s too preoccupied with showin’ off and tryin’ to woo me ain’t worth the time. I’d rather have a kind, patient, understandin’ sort of a special somepony. A pony who’d stick by my sides at all times, and yet… I-I could take care of him too.” Applejack blinked, and then her muzzle scrunched up. “You don’t reckon that sounds a tad bit silly, does it?” She glanced at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow didn’t realize Applejack was staring until several seconds into it. “Oh! No!” She fought the urge to shiver. “Not… strange at all for you to want to take care of a pony…”
“Yeah…”
“To… h-hold him close and make him feel safe… and wanted…”
“Heheh… sure thang. Sure thang.”
Rainbow Dash took a deep, squeaky breath as her eyes glossed over. “Cuddle him tightly in bed. Wrap your legs around him and nuzzle his ears… whisper to him that it’s okay to be weak sometimes, so l-long as you’ve got the strength to help pick him back up together.”
“Sure--wait… huh?” Applejack gaped.
Rainbow bit her lip. Hard.
The farm mare looked past it. “I… uh… think I’d settle for a stallion who could help me take care of the young’n’s…” Applejack said with a smile. “And the farm, of course.”
With a shudder, Rainbow pivoted about. “But AJ…” She winced. “What… what if you don’t get to salvage the farm, y’know?”
Applejack’s face stretched. She lingered for a few seconds, shrugged, and said, “I reckon in the end, it doesn’t matter. Trust… loyalty… commitment.” She rolled her eyes. “A handsome scent.” She chuckled.
Rainbow Dash smiled crookedly. “Heh. Heh. Hehhhh.”
After a prolonged sigh, Applejack’s ears twitched, and she stared a million miles away. “In the end, it’s all about havin’ somepony special to come back home to.” Her jaw hung straight.
Rainbow Dash would have felt her heart skipping a beat, if only it weren’t for the massive lump lodged in her petite throat.
“Yeah, well…” Applejack shrugged, squirming her hooves in the grass. “Yer a better dreamer than I am, Rainbow Dash. I’m ‘fraid it only gives me the blues somethin’ fierce.”
“I… uh… I feel ya. Believe me.”
“All that stuff--however charmin’--has gotta take a backseat to what I’m dealin’ with now. Once I’m done havin’ somethin’ to fret over… for better or for worse… that’s when I’ll get to relax.” Applejack nodded, breathing lightly. “And settle.” There was the hint of a sniffle, and her eyes grew moist. “And, land’s sakes, I sure do look forward to settlin’ one of these days.”
Rainbow Dash saw the look in Applejack’s eyes. It almost drowned her. So, she flapped her wings hard, hovering above the surface. Not a second later, she was forcibly yanking Applejack up by her hooves.
“H-Huh?” Applejack stumbled upright, teetering from the bloodrush as she gazed up. “What in tarnation--”
“Come on, Applejack.” Rainbow Dash motioned with a swift swing of her forelimb. “We’ve got some work to do.”
“But… but Rainbow, I can’t ask you to sweat yerself anymore.” She sighed and gestured towards the fallen sun. “Just look. We done gabbed the sun into hiding. Thanks for all yer help, sugarcube, but honestly, you don’t have to--”
“Bite your tongue!” Rainbow Dash hovered low with a growl. “Does that sound like the Applejack I know?”
“Uhhhh…” Applejack gulped nervously. “Maybe?”
Rainbow grinned devilishly. “We’ve got some apples to buck! It’s a full moon out tonight! We’ll kick trees until we collapse if we have to!”
“Rainbow Dash, honestly, I appreciate yer spunk, but--”
“But nothing! You wanna get a heads up on the Apple Buck Season while it may be your last?”
“Well, of course!”
“Then let’s get our flanks into gear!” Rainbow Dash soared towards the nearest line of trees downhill.
“Rainbow, what’s gotten into you? Yer usually not this gung ho about farm work!”
Rainbow Dash paused, spun around, and planted her hooves on her hovering hips. “Applejack, look at me. Are ya looking at me?”
Applejack reluctantly did as she was told.
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “I promise you. Things are gonna be okay. You’re gonna have your farm.” She hesitated, quivered, and spat out, “And you’re gonna live out your dream. Ya hear me?”
Applejack opened her mouth, lingered, but ultimately smiled. “Sure thang, Sugarcube.”
“Save the sugars and cubes for the morning.” Rainbow Dash spun. With her back to Applejack, she winced, and took a few seconds to flex her forelimbs. “Brrrrbbrrrbb…” Getting the feeling back into her legs, she tossed her mane and darted forward. “Now let’s get goin’! Last pony in’s a rotten apple!”
“Oh, jee…” Applejack picked up her apple baskets and trotted towards the wagon. “That’s soooo darn original.”
“Your face is original! Now move it or lose it!”