Apple Back, Fashion Forward
Well, my little apple blossom, the truth is I don't remember how I actually said goodbye to my family and friends much, memory is a funny thing playing tricks on you like that. Anyway, after I left Ponyville I began wandering from place to place, buck apples whenever I could find work, kinda like I had after that whole Canterlot rodeo fiasco. I bucked apples in Tall Tale, I bucked apples in Fillydelphia, I bucked apples in Baltimare, and I bucked apples in Hollow Shades. It was always easy ta find a branch of the apple family to take you in for a time, and give ya work until you were ready to move on. They just accepted I was some distant cousin who looked liked their famous relative, and they'd welcome ya as kin and not asked any questions.
So wait, that's all you did for a thousand years? Knocked apples off of trees?
No little one, but that's what I did for a really, really long time. Buck apples, hang around for a few years, not talk much, and move on. After about the first thirty years or so, I came to realize that 'great Celestia, ah ahm immortal!' but it was something I came around to admitting to myself slowly. It happened one day, when I was sitting and looking over a rain barrel at an an apple orchard in Trottingham. Looking at my own reflection in the water, I realized that I hadn't changed in over a century. Sweet Apple Acres, Big Macintosh, and Apple Bloom were all long gone, and here I was still trying to be a pony nobody outside of a museum or history class even cared about anymore. Being an apple bucker had been my life, but it was then and there I realized I had been doing it for my WHOLE life. And I began to wonder if there might be more to life than just that.
Y-you got tired of apple bucking? How could you get sick of your own special talent?
Apple blossom, you'll often find if you do one thing for far too long, boredom sets in. My siblings' children and grandchildren had sold off the farm and moved into Ponyville, so why was I clinging to family pride, when my own family had thrown tradition away? My memory drifted back to my Uncle Mosely Orange and his wife, who had taught me all these fancy manners and proper ways to speak, and I decided it might be high time to put 'em to good use. Now as a filly, I had rejected that life and run home, but this time there was no home to run back to. The princesses obviously knew of my predicament, but were content to let me find my own way and make my own life, unless I had come to them with a problem and asked for help- which in, my foolish pride, I never did. So, using some of the money I had earned from years of bucking, I decided to get myself all dolled up, and make my way back to Manehatten.
Ohhh, what did you do there?
Well, I hadn't been back there in over a hundred years, so I decided to set about finding a job. Now mind you, I really wasn't looking to get into working in fashion or even doing anything glitzy, I just wanted a job to support myself and live amongst the sophistication of the great and glittering pony metropolis. See, there was this mare who ran a fashion shop I had heard about there, by the name of Glittery Heart. So one day I decided to pay her a little visit...
"Ahh, five o'clock, right on the nose!" The weary yellow earth mare with a pink mane declared, looking up at the clock with a smile. "Time to pack it up, and head for home!"
Glittery always loved this time of evening in Manehatten- the hour most of the small shops and businesses around the city closed up their doors for the day. The cool spring breeze blowing through her door, was accompanied by the sound of several ponies outside trotting their way home from the bank or the diner or whatever place of employment. It was the conclusion of another work day, and time for the city's equines to take a well earned good night's rest.
Putting a few dresses from her inventory that had been left in the fitting rooms back on the rack, the young mare could only reflect on the fact that she had only moved four dresses the day before the annual Manehatten Spring Fling. That was the best sales period of the season! But nopony knew about her Manehatten shop, seeing as she and her siblings had only moved here last year, and everypony still shopped at all the big stores here in the city. So she really needed to get exposure for her fine hoof stitched dresses.
"I really, really need to find a model for my dresses for fashion week!" The mare with the pink hearts cutie mark thought. "If I could get my designs out there on the runway, mares would surely take notice!"
Oh, who was she kidding? The honest truth was she couldn't stand up in front of all those ponies, and present the dresses herself. Glittery was far too shy of a mare to show off or model her own dresses. Heck, she couldn't even deal with other ponies knowing she made the dresses, with how they'd be all over her all the time to make gowns for them. If there was only somepony to act as the face for dress shop, a mare with the charisma and style to act as the model for all the wonderful gowns she loved creating, in only...
Ah, well... her brother would be here in about fifteen minutes to walk her home (she was too timid do go by herself after dark), so she had better finish getting everything put away. As she put the last of the hangers away, a knock came on the door of her shop.
"Coming, coming!" The unhappy dressmaker grumbled, trotting up to the door and opening it. "I'm really sorry, but we're already clo-"
Glittery's jaw nearly hit the floor, as a sleek, athletic young orange earth pony trotted her way into the shop. Looking around, the naive-looking pony with the apple cutie mark spoke to the dressmaker softly;
"Excuse me... Miss Heart?" Applejack asked nervously. "I'm really sorry fer botherin' y'all, but ah heard ya was lookin for a pony ta help keep yer Dress shop clean, and ta keep things nice n' tidy. Ah don't know much about dressmakin none, but growin up on a farm ah know enough ta do simple chores and stichin, and ahm not afraid ta get mah hooves dirty...."
As the other mare spoke, the dressmaker could only stare in silence. Those hips, that mane... Glittery couldn’t believe it! She was the perfect size and shape, not to mention those gorgeous looks, to model her creations on the runway! Oh, the accent could use some work, but their definitely some rough potential there. It was like a gift from Celestia, the perfect pony to do her modeling so she could sell her dresses ,while staying in the shadows!
"Ummm, excuse me... Miss Heart?" The orange mare waved a hoof in front of the dress, snapping her out of her daze. "Everything all raight?"
"Huh? Oh, yes!" Glittery blinked, quickly putting a smile on her face. Looking the newcomer over, the dressmaker bluntly asked. "My good mare, have you ever considered doing modeling work?"
"Me? A model?" The orange earth mare asked in surprise. "Uh, look, ah really appreciate yer offer an all, but ah really don't think ah could get all fru fru'ed up like thait, ahd trot around on stage."
"Hey, Glitter, you ready to go?" A pink stallion came in the shop's door, two pairs of roller blades slung over his back. "I'm ready head for home, and- oh, hello..."
This time, it was the orange mare's turn to stare. A flowing blue mane, a tight flank with a cloud cutie mark gracing it. The earth mare only gaped at Glittery heart's brother, who was studying the earth mare's luscious form himself.
“Who… who are y’all?” The mare asked, trying to keep the blush from creeping up her cheeks.
Hook, line, and sinker... The dressmaker thought with a smug smile. "Ah, I see you've met my big brother, Glittery Skater, this is my new assistant and model-" She looked at the orange mare in confusion, cocking an eyebrow. "Say miss, I never did catch your name?"
"Jewel." The mare finally blurted out, after thinking for a few seconds. She stared back at the handsome sports stallion standing near her. "My name is Apple Jewel."