//------------------------------//
// ==Part Fifteen:  The Cider Princess Lives== 
// Story: Appledashery 
// by Just Essay 
//------------------------------//

	"Whew!  I'm jazzed!  Are you jazzed?"  Stu Leaves smiled as he briskly heaved one piece of rigging over himself after another, affixing himself to the wagon in the dim morning light.  "Because I'm jazzed!  Whew!  Yeah!"

"Well, somepony definitely slept well!" Applejack said, tossing the last of their camping equipment into the back of the wagon.  "And here I was almost afraid you would lose your spunk."

"Heh."  Stu winked.  "Never around you, AJ."

"I'm just gonna pretend that I didn't hear that."  Applejack took a deep breath, stretching her lithe orange muscles as she basked in the rays of dawnlight.  "Mmmmmm... eeyuppp.  That certainly hits the spot!"  She smirked, her face full of freckles and sunshine.  "Land's sakes!  Do I have a good feeling about today!"

"I know, right?"  Stu smirked, giving his haunches a little shake as he tested the tightness of the reins.  "I'd say let's get this over and done with!"

"Nah, I wanna take it easy on the way there."  Applejack climbed into the wagon with a grunt.  "Nnngh... no hurryin'.  No stressin'.  No sweatin'.  Just get there easy and let me take care of the the hard part, ya feel me?"

"Not sure I can succeed in the 'no sweating' part," Stu said, chuckling nervously.  "But I'll give it my all!"

"Not by yerself, you won't."  Applejack called over the back of the wagon.  "Rainbow?  Rainbowwww!"

The pegasus was just then putting her sleeping bag away.  She blinked blearily, her eyes still moist from a mostly restless, emotional night.  She stared into the glossy edge of a cider carton.  A sad-faced pegasus stared back.

Rainbow sighed, her ears drooping.

"Rainbow?!"  Applejack craned her neck to look beyond the mountain of crates and cider samples.  "Heavens to Besty, girl!  Dun tell me it's still the breadsticks hauntin' yer belly!"

Rainbow took a deep breath.  Bravely, she slicked her bangs back, cracked the joints in her neck, and exhaled through a devil-may-care grin.  "Heh... breadsticks?  Don't be lame, Applesnap!"

Trotting briskly, Rainbow Dash slid into her reins beside Stu Leaves and grind a hoof through the earth.

"So you wanna do this slowly, huh?  How 'bout we just speed zig-zagged through a swamp instead?  I could use the exercise... and danger."

"Uhhhhh..."  Stu bit his lip.

"No joke, Rainbow," Applejack said.  "Let's just do this nice and easy, okay?  T'ain't no reason to startle Shindig in the manner we arrive."

"Awwwwww..."  Rainbow stuck her tongue out into the air.  "You're no fun."  She nudged Stu beside her.  "How about a race around the citrus farms later on while we wait for her to get finished with her Shindig shindig?"

"Uhhhhhhhh..."

"Pfft!  As if you have a choice."  Rainbow chuckled and began trotting.  "Wagons ho!—and all that jazz."

"Guh!"  Stu stumbled, struggling to match Rainbow's strong pace.  "Er... r-right!  Eheheh!  All that jazz!"

Applejack squinted curiously at Rainbow Dash.  She adjusted the brim of her hat, tightening the article on her crown.  She glanced up at it, then at the camp that they were leaving behind.  Her eyes squinted in brief thought, but she ultimately shook it off with a shrug, leaning back and mentally preparing her speech for Shindig as the wagon rolled back onto the highway and made its way south towards open pasture.






Part Fifteen:  The Cider Princess Lives
(Where the Story Completely Flips its Lid)