Try to Look Forward, Elspeth
“So, what held you up on the way inside, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Applejack’s face fell from the friendly smile she’d sent her friend off with to a more somber one that reflected her true state of mind. Like light reflected from a warped mirror, she felt wrong. Slowly, the hoof she’d been waving lowered to the ground. That question had forced her to bend one of her most sacred tenets: be truthful.
Honesty was one of, if not, the most important aspects of the mare’s personality. While she hadn’t lied as much as she’d simply withheld choice details, Fluttershy hadn’t received a complete answer from Applejack, and in the farmer’s eyes, a lie of omission was still a flat-out lie.
She sighed and adjusted her hat before turning tail from her friend’s cottage. Applejack chose a brisk pace for her return trip to the farm; any slower and she would have felt the urge to stop what she was doing and turn-tail back to Fluttershy’s with a pie on her back as a token of forgiveness. Fluttershy’s future mental health notwithstanding, Applejack still couldn’t completely shake off the chill that ran down her spine over her little white lie.
“I can’t thank you enough for this, ‘Shy.” Applejack held the door open for her friend. “You’re risking a lot just by helping us. I kind of feel like we should, ya know, give you something...”
Fluttershy stared at the mare for a moment then cocked her head to the side, confused. Like wilted leaves, her ears fell flat under their own weight. “Applejack… I’m disappointed. You know that I could never accept payment for this.”
Now, it was the farmers turn to be addled. “We’ve been friends for almost four years. You know that I’m not doing this for you or me, but for that hurt mare upstairs.”
Applejack sighed. “I know, but it’s just...” One of Fluttershy’s hooves found itself resting gently on her lips. When the farmhand let her eyes travel down Fluttershy’s foreleg, she found herself locking gazes with the blue of Fluttershy’s eyes. That cursory glance was all it took for the pegasus to inform her that she wouldn’t be budging on the issue.
“Alright, alright. Sheesh, girl, I swear you’re the hardest pony to compensate that I’ve ever met.” The earth pony shook her head sadly, but such a half-hearted gesture couldn’t hide the small smirk on her face from Fluttershy. “Go on up to Elspeth’s room. I’ll be right behind you.”
Giggling, the mare entered the house and left Applejack to her own devices. She made to follow, but, as if caught off-guard by the changing of seasons, she was hit with a sudden case of the chills. It was a primal feeling, a sixth sense. Years of living on a plot of land bordering the Everfree had drilled an understanding of this feeling deep into her mind; she was being watched.
Applejack whipped around, instinctively searching out the cause of her paranoia. Nothing to her left; zilch to her right. Slowly, panic seeped into her mind. Like a cornered animal, she lowered herself into a defensive position. Whatever was skulking about wouldn’t take her without a tussle.
She gulped, her dry throat feeling as if she were trying to swallow a sandy stone whole. Applejack bit back her apprehension and stepped off the porch; she would not be hunted on her own turf. Once clear of the porch, the mare took a quick look up at the clear skies… At least, the skies should have been clear if Ponyville’s weather schedule was to be believed.
A single, large, white puff ruined the view of the great blue expanse above her. A grumble formed on her lips as she stared at the errant cloud. At this point, Applejack was asking herself why? Why leave that body of fluff over Sweet Apple Acres?
That was when she saw it: the telltale rainbow-stripped tail hung limply over the side of the cloud like a damp rag on a clothesline. All of Applejack’s trepidation evaporated in an instant, quickly being replaced by annoyance.
“Darn it, Rainbow! What are the hay do you think you’re doing!?” The Apple mare shouted to the heavens.
No response.
A devious smirk spread across Applejack’s face as she stalked closer to a bushel of apples. ‘Well, if you’re going to act like that.’ She took one of the fruits in her hoof and carefully sighted her target. The difference in elevation was drastic, but she didn’t let that discourage her.
With a quick toss, the mare chucked the apple into the air. Not too high, though. It hovered at perfect bucking height briefly. Perfect. In that instant, Applejack whipped around, every muscle in her body moving in perfect harmony as if it were a well-oiled machine. Years of practice applied itself as hind hooves met red fruit in a demonstration of strength, accuracy, and finesse.
“Buck!” Applejack heard a tomboyish voice cry from overhead. “Why’d you do that, AJ!?” The Apple mare smirked, clearly satisfied with her accuracy.
“Well, if you’d have come down here when I called instead of trying to snoop all stealth-like, I wouldn’t have had to put the old Apple Family bucking skills to use on you. Now get down here!”
Despite the distance between them, AJ could still hear the conflicted mumbling coming from her sneaky friend. She sniggered at her friend's expense. How Rainbow ever thought that she could spy on anyone was a complete mystery.
Eventually, Rainbow glided down from her fluffy perch and stood face-to-face with Applejack.
“Why?”
“Why what?” The flyer asked, feigning ignorance. Applejack’s frown said all that it needed to. “Well, you see I… umm… I’m not going to be able to get out of this without spilling the beans, am I?”
Applejack met Dash’s gaze with a glare and shook her head. The pegasus sighed, resigning to her fate. “Fine. I was worried, alright?” she admitted.
“Worried? What’s there to worry about?”
“C’mon AJ, Fluttershy told us about your ‘house guest’!” she snapped at her friend. Now it was her turn to glare.
Applejack was taken aback by her friend’s sudden emotional outburst. For a moment, she stood stock-still, her face blank as she simply stared at the mare in front of her. After a moment, she took a calming breath smiled at her friend. “I know, Dash.”
Rainbow rose her hoof to protest, but the argument died in her throat. “You… you know? You know!? So, you know that the strange, armored pony you took in could be one those rebels; that the mare you have Flutters playing doctor to could be a dangerous k-killer, and you didn’t tell anypony!?” she seethed.
‘Calm down’ is what Applejack wanted to say. However, even the farm mare knew to avoid giving emotional ponies such nonchalant-sounding answers. The rebels were a serious threat. As a filly, she remembered Granny Smith telling her stories of ponies who, even back then, were dissatisfied with the Princess’s rule. In the old Apple’s own words, it was a ‘Live and let live’ relationship. Lately, the rebels were gaining supporters and power, which lead to a shifted status quo the year after Twilight became a princess of Equestria. Rebel guerrillas had taken to raiding merchant convoys. At first, they were simple, little thefts, but soon, the threat began to escalate at an alarming rate. Thefts became hijackings. Hijackings became hostage situations. Hostage situations became executions. Entire towns became known as rebel hotspots overnight, and the general populace could do nothing but watch as the world they knew slowly unraveled at the seams. Equestrians, even her brother, called them monsters. The look of abject horror on Granny Smith’s face when she heard about the first open conflict between the rebels and the Royal Army was enough to reaffirm the gravity of the news. ‘They were good ponies,’ the elder mare said. And Applejack believed her. Neither Granny nor Big McIntosh held any ill will towards the mare.
“Now, Rainbow, I kind of know what you’re thinking about all of this… I’ve had most of the same thoughts myself, bu--”
“--Then why keep that pony here?” Dash interrupted. “Send the princesses a letter, and turn her over to the guard! Hay, at the very least, take her to Ponyville’s hospital and let them deal with her!”
Applejack stomped her hoof. “Don’t you think I wanted to do that? Turning her over to Twilight, the Princesses, or the Hospital was my first instinct. Granny and Mac don’t want to leave the filly to the system though. I don’t trust her, but Big Mac trusts her, and I trust him.”
The pegasus harrumphed. Her hard stare eventually wavered, replaced by a concerned looked. She gently placed a hoof Applejack’s shoulder. “Just keep an eye on that pony. The air hasn’t felt right since she got here,” Rainbow warned before backing off and taking to the skies.
Thinking back on how little she’d actually told Fluttershy, AJ couldn’t help but scowl. It was true that Dash wanted to talk about the current state of inner Equestria. “Darn it Rainbow, why’d you have to come and muddy up my thoughts?” the mare grunted as she dragged her hooves through the dirt.
The wooden stairs creaked with each step the massive stallion took. Big Mac winced as his heavy hoof-falls gave away his approach. Like frightened birds, the boards squeaked obnoxiously; anyone around would have instantly been alerted to his presence. He cursed silently; this staircase had gotten him in trouble more than a few times back when he was a colt. Many times had he carried a tray, as currently was, in an effort to sneak a midnight snack, only to be caught by an irate Granny Smith after she’d heard the loud sound-offs from the hallway.
McIntosh shook the thoughts out of his head. After all, he was coming up here with a purpose. A purpose that he and Applejack had argued fiercely over. The stallion loved his sister with all of his heart, but sometimes he just wanted to take a hoof to her face. All he wanted to do was help with their charge, but his sibling felt the need to deny him the opportunity. She had claimed that he’d get emotional, that his judgment would have become impaired by assumptions on the nature of the pony in their care. It had taken an infuriating amount of effort for the stallion to convince her that he was over that. In the end, Applejack relented. That put a smile on his face. He was a stallion of few words, but every so often he could get the better of his more outspoken sister.
It took only a second more for Big Mac to reach the door to the guest room Elspeth was occupying. Fluttershy and AJ hadn’t closed the door fully behind them when they exited. A thin stream of dark, orange sunlight poured through the sliver of space afforded by the crack in the door. Now Mac was faced with a choice: he could either peek in on Elspeth to see if she really was up to something nefarious or simply knock like a gentlecolt and wait for her approval to enter. He knew what the proper choice was, but curiosity was a heck of a drug. Right now, the stallion chose to throw caution to the wind and indulge the peculiar feeling in the back of his mind.
From the other side of the door, he could hear faint grunts. It sounded as if she was frustrated. Then again, one look at her situation revealed plenty to be frustrated about. Mac leaned forward, his body rigid and his breathing slow. Bumping the door or dropping the tray could prove ruinous for him right now; what little trust was shared between her and the Apples could be shattered in an instant. Big Mac licked his lips and mentally prepared himself for anything.
His eyes needed to squint to get a clear picture of what was happening within their guest room, but Big Mac’s vision managed to adjust just in time catch Elspeth face-planting against the wooden floor. The stallion winced but fought the urge to step in and help her up and instead opted to watch her rub at her muzzle and attempt to stand once more.
Throughout her entire ordeal, his eyes never left her face. He’d seen that look so many times. It nearly tore him apart just watching it. Determination. Apparently, her injuries were worse than he had imagined. When Mac had seen her injuries in the barn, he easily discerned that it was a blade wound, but for it to affect her motor functions to such a degree… Mac slammed his eyes shut in an effort to fight back memories that he never wanted to experience again. Is this why AJ wanted to limit my time around Elspeth? He contemplated.
Elspeth’s legs wobbled as she rose to her full height. The stallion knew that she would soon tumble to the floor again, but he didn’t dare interrupt her. He knew that this was something she needed to do on her own. Tentatively, the pegasus took a few uneasy steps while Big Mac watched silently. Though she stumbled a few times and looked as if she were going to quit with each hiccup, she persevered. He watched, full of anticipation as the pegasus rose again. This time, she made it a full lap around the room before collapsing onto her stomach. She tried to stand again, but Mac had seen enough. Earlier, Elspeth’s muscles had the strength, but she couldn’t coordinate them properly; now, she was exhausted and clearly strained by the effort it took to maintain her posture.
She’d managed to get onto her hooves again, but another spill was fast approaching.
“Whoa, careful there!” Big Mac called out as he swiftly entered the room. In an instant, he was beside Elspeth, his large body supporting her weakened frame. The tray he’d brought to collect her dishes was summarily forgotten in his wake.
Elspeth growled and stiffened against him from the sudden contact, her coat bristling from his sudden, unwanted intrusion into her personal space. Big Mac liked to think that his voice would calm her. After all, his was the first she’d heard after her terrible spill. The stallion could feel her taut muscles loosen beneath her coat. His gambit paid off it seemed, in more ways than one, even. From just this contact, he could tell that she was athletic and similar in build to his sister or her friend Rainbow Dash.
In Big Mac’s head, pieces of the of the puzzle fell into place, though he still wasn’t sure if his call to have her remain here instead of taken to the hospital was the right one or not. The fruits of that choice were in the future. Right now, he had an exhausted guest who needed help into bed.
“I must look pathetic. Curse this body; why won’t it just do what I say!?” Elspeth growled, clearly frustrated with her condition.
He remained silent as the mare climbed into bed. She had promptly refused any aid Big Mac tried to give before he had even offered. At the moment, pathetic wasn’t the word he would use to describe her. Brick-headed was much more appropriate, but he kept that opinion to himself. “Eenope,” the stallion answered as if it were the most obvious conclusion. “If that’s what you believe, I can rightly say that we must be thinking about two different mares.”
Elspeth settled in bed and cocked her head at him. Instead of finding a spot under the sheets, the mare had opted to simply lie on her stomach in the center of the comforter. Every so often she shifted her legs around as if she didn’t know what to do with them until they eventually found themselves tucked in close to her body.
She didn’t have to say anything. Mac knew that look that he was receiving all too well. After living in a house full of mares for most of his life, he’d picked up on their body language and right now, Elspeth’s eyes were saying “Explain yourself before my hooves find purchase on your face.”
He took a small step away from the bed. “I saw you up and about not too long ago,” the farmer admitted. “I wasn’t trying to peek or nothing, just found it admirable; many ponies would be perfectly fine just lying around on their haunches and being waited on like a foal, even if the only thing wrong with them was a paper cut.”
“There is nothing particularly admirable about that. Staying put isn’t something I’m well versed in.” Her ears splayed back against her head while she stared at the bedding beneath her as if it were the most entertaining thing in the world. Mac raised his eyebrows slightly. What was that inflection he’d just heard? Her tone near the end hung somewhere on the borders of hurt and disappointment. He couldn’t quite analyze it properly, seeing as he didn’t know her.
“Honestly, I don’t know what was running through AJ’s mind when she figured keeping you cooped up in here would work.” He snorted indignantly. “You pegasi are a rowdy bunch; can’t sit still for ten minutes. Her friend is proof enough of that.”
At the claim, Elspeth stared at him for a moment, her eyes slowly narrowing into a glare. “I have never had much of a choice!” she blurted out. Instantly her hoof flew to her mouth, but it was too late. She tried to look as small as she could by sinking down into the bed’s soft covers, but the red tinting her cheeks ensured that she stood out even more from the caramel-colored linens than before.
Big McIntosh’s mouth hung open for a split second before he regained his composure. Strong as he was, the stallion could still prove himself to be a complete fool at times. He cursed himself for making such a tactless jape, especially since he was sure that he knew where she had run away from. “I-I shouldn’t have joked about that. I apologize.”
Silence hovered awkwardly over the two ponies like a clumsy dare-devil making his way across a tight-rope for the first time.
“I reckon can I speak with Applejack and Miss Fluttershy ‘bout letting you out into the fields. You were walking on your own, so you’re well enough to get some fresh air. How’s that sound?” Big McIntosh offered with a smile.
Just the thought of an open sky above her head and verdant fields beneath her hooves sent a shiver down her spine. Her wings and hooves twitched in anticipation of the coming freedom from her cramped room. Her gaze migrated to the nearby window.
Elspeth’s answer was quiet, almost a whisper. “I’d like that.”