//------------------------------//
// AppleDash - Attempt One (Romance, Adventure, but this chapter is SoL) 
// Story: xjuggerscrapsx 
// by xjuggernaughtx 
//------------------------------//

Land’s sake, where do they come from? Applejack thought as she strained against the metal pole.  She’d been trying to work a rock out of the south field for the last ten minutes, but its stubborn refusal to move was really beginning to irritate her.   With a low growl, she pulled the pole out from beneath the stone and brought it down repeatedly, hoping to break the rock up into smaller pieces.  Five strikes later, the stone still sat, whole, before her. Same thing every year, she thought, leaning on the pole and wiping her brow with the back of her hoof.  We spend weeks clearin’ these fields, and these dang rocks just show up outta nowhere come spring!
 
“Hey, Applejack!”
 
Applejack grinned, craning her head to watch Rainbow fly in.  She’d always admired the sleek efficiency the pegasus displayed.  Ain’t no wasted movement with that one, she thought, watching the minute adjustments Rainbow’s wings made as she angled toward the ground.  Look at her!  Like she was born to move.
 
“Ah, earth to Applejack,” Rainbow said, waving a hoof in front of her friend’s eyes.  “You still with me here?”
 
“Ah, yeah,” Applejack returned, feeling the blood rushing to her cheeks.  How long have Ah been starin’ at her? she thought, bending down to examine the stone, trusting that her hat would hide her blazing cheeks.  Ramming the pole into the ground, she attempted to chip away some of the hardened dirt around the rock.  “So,” she panted, “Whatcha up to, Rainbow?”
 
“Oh, just the coolest aerial maneuvering you’ve ever seen!” Rainbow said with a smirk, polishing a hoof against her chest.  “AJ, you gotta see it!  First I rocket straight up into the air!” she said, using her hoof to illustrate.  “Then, I bank, twisting into tighter and tighter helixes, you know, with my contrail streaming out behind me!” she continued, spinning in a circle.  “And finally, when I’m about to break the sound barrier, I shoot back up through the contrail circles and out over the top!  The pressure wave turns the contrails inside out and spreads them out like a fan!”  Rainbow flapped her wings, briefly taking to the sky to perform a quick loop-the-loop.  “You’re gonna love it!  Seriously, AJ!  It’ll be the most awesome thing you’ve ever seen!”
 
Applejacks eyebrows shot up into her hat.  “Wow!” she said, “Where’d ya learn to do that?”
 
Rainbow looked away, pawing at the dirt.  “Well, I haven’t exactly learned to do it yet.,” she said.  “I kinda just dreamed it up last night, but I’m about to learn!”  Breaking into a wide smile, she stepped forward, wings outspread.   Sidling up to Applejack, she elbowed the earth pony in the ribs. “That is, if Equestria’s second-best athlete can come watch me for a little while and let me know how I’m doing.”
 
“Second best?” Applejack said, smirking.  “Rainbow, now Ah know you’ve been dreamin’!”
 
“Well, put your bits where your mouth is!” Rainbow said, stretching.  “Let’s go for a run and loosen up!  Then we can work on that trick some.”
 
Applejack frowned, sighing.  “Sorry, Rainbow, but Ah can’t right now.”  Rearing back onto her hind legs momentarily, she raised the pole over her head, and then plunged it back into the ground under the rock.  “Ah… uh… gotta get… ugh… this here rock up… gah… before Big Mac can till this field!” she said, straining against the pole. 
 
“Oh, jeez,” Rainbow muttered, rolling her eyes.  Grabbing onto the pole, she threw her full body weight against it.  Together Applejack and Rainbow worked the stubborn rock out of the ground bit by bit.  Finally, as they both spat curses at it, the rock grudgingly gave way.  It popped out so suddenly that the two ponies lost their balance and fell into a heap, laughing as the rock flew into the air and landed with a few feet away with a muffled thud.
 
“Whew!” Rainbow said, leaning her head against Applejack’s shoulder as she panted.  “No wonder you’re so strong!”  Playfully, she groped Applejack’s shoulders and sides.  “I think your muscles have muscles!” 
 
Applejack rolled her eyes.  “If Ah was that danged strong, Ah’d’ve had that rock outta the ground ten minutes ago!”
 
“Well, whatever,” Rainbow said, dusting herself off.  “It’s out now, so let’s go!”
 
Applejack sighed, shaking her head.  “No can do, Rainbow,” she said glumly.
 
“What?” Rainbow shot back, already in midtrot.  “Why not?”
 
“That’s just one rock, Rainbow,” Applejack said.  “Ah gotta clear this whole field today,” she continued, spreading her hoof in wide arc in front of her.
 
“The whole field?!” Rainbow cried, her jaw dropping open.  “AJ, that’s, like, three days of work!”
 
“Well, it’s gotta get done,” Applejack sighed.  Rainbow frowned as she watched her friend’s mood darken.  “It’s plantin’ season, and we gotta get them seeds in the ground before you and the weather team get the rain goin’.  Otherwise, the crops won’t grow right.  So Ah need to get all these rocks outta here pronto, or the farm’s sunk.”  Applejack trotted the next rock and began wedging the pole into place.
 
“Well, I could ask the weather team to hold up for a week or two?” Rainbow said, trotting to catch up.  “It’s not like it’s going to make a huge difference.”
 
“That’s just it,” Applejack said breathlessly as she strained against the bar.  “That rain ain’t just for us.  Lot’s of ponies need it.  Ah can’t ask them to hold up the weather just ‘cause Ah don’t wanna work hard.”  Applejack stopped, tipping her hat back to give Rainbow a disapproving stare.  “You know better than that, anyway, Rainbow!” she said, frowning.  “You’re on the weather team, and you know how delicate that rain schedule is.”
 
“Yeah, yeah.  I know,” Rainbow said, looking away.  “I… I just don’t like to see you like this Applejack.”  She placed a hoof on Applejack’s leg.  “Look, I don’t want to get all up in your business, but we’re all kinda worried.  You’ve been pushing yourself really hard, and that’s great and all, but we haven’t really seen you in weeks.  We keep coming around, but you’re always working.”
 
“Well, what’m Ah supposed to do, Dash?” Applejack said, throwing her hooves out beside her.  “The barn got busted up last winter and we had to let Caramel and Barleystalk go to afford the repairs.  Right now, it’s just me and Big Mac.  Granny Smith’s too old to work at much, and Applebloom’s got school.”  Applejack swallowed hard and took up her pole again, leaning on it hard.  “It ain’t like Ah’m havin’ the time of my life, ya know.”
 
Rainbow sighed, dropping her eyes to the cracked field.  To the pegasus, it looked as hard as steel.  “I’m not trying to blame you, Applejack.  It’s just… we all really miss you a lot.”  She sat heavily, her shoulders slumping.  “I miss you a lot,” she said quietly.
 
“Well, Ah miss y’all a heap, too, but right now Ah just got too much to do to be foolin’ around.”  Applejack paused, tilting her head back so that she could see Rainbow clearly around the brim of her hat.  As Rainbow’s face clouded with worry, Applejack’s heart sank.  Good goin’, Applejack! she thought, wishing she’d just kept her mouth shut.  Now you’ve gone and upset her!  Sighing, she walked over to her friend.  Sitting down, she threw her leg around the pegasus.  If we could just sit like this.  Just for a little while, she thought, I’d give anythin’.
 
Applejack gave her friend a playful shake, squeezing her in a strong hug.  “Look, it ain’t that I wouldn’t love to be out there helpin’ you out with your fancy flyin’.  I’ll be around just as soon as we catch up around here.  It just...”  Applejack scanned the farm, mentally checking off the vast multitude of chores that had piled up.  “It just… might be a little while, okay?”  Applejack caught Rainbow’s eye and smiled.  “Besides, what does an earth pony know about flyin’ around, anyway?”
 
Rainbow grinned, rolling her eyes.  “Trust me, Applejack.  You’re worth like ten of those pegasi in Cloudsdale.  Okay, so maybe you can’t fly, but you know how to move!”  Rainbow shrugged, shaking her head.  “I dunno how to say it right, but you always see stuff.  Like when I’ve got my wings out too far, or my legs aren’t tucked enough, or whatever.”  She playfully poked her friend in the side.  “Too bad you weren’t born a pegasus!  Maybe then, somepony could give me a run for my money!”
 
“Run for your money?” Applejack said, trying to snarl but grinning in spite of herself.  “Land or air, if we was gettin’ paid to race, you’d be flat broke!”
 
“Pfft!  In your dreams!” the pegasus said, jumping back to her hooves.  “You’d never—”
 
Applejack stood, throwing out a hoof to stop Rainbow.  “Ah hate to do this, sugarcube, but I can’t sit here jawin’ all day.”  Slowly trudging back to her rock, she picked up her pole again.  “I got lotsa rocks to move,” she said, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as she strained against the pole.
 
“I think you mean we’ve got lots of rocks, AJ,” Rainbow said, adding her strength.  “I’m not going to leave you hanging here.”
 
Suddenly, Rainbow was beside Applejack again, pressing against her as the pegasus wrapped her hooves around the metal pole.  Oh, Rainbow, Applejack thought, struggling not to move closer still.  What are ya doin’ to me?  I-I just don’t have no time for complicated right now… She tapped her rear hoof smartly against her shin, and found a refuge in the pain.  “Oh, Rainbow, you don’t have to do this!  It’s your day off!” she said, trying to shoo the pegasus away with a hoof.  “You shouldn’t waste it workin’!”
 
“Yeah, it is my day off,” the pegasus, as she worked the pole back and forth.  “And that means I get to do what I want.”  She flicked Applejack’s hat back with a hoof.  “And what I want to do is help out my best pal.”
 
“Thanks, Rainbow,” Applejack said thickly, trying to get her emotions under control.  She hated asking for help, but for days she’d been feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the list of chores.  “Ah… Ah know it ain’t much fun…”
 
“AJ, you better catch up!” Rainbow said, smirking.  “My side of the rock is coming out already!”
 
“Oh, what?” Applejack said, leaning harder into the pole.  “You’re some sort of getting’ rocks outta the ground expert, now?  Ah’ll show you how we get some rocks up on the farm!”  With a final push, AJ popped the rock from its resting place.
 
“Well,” Rainbow said, wiping the sweat from her brow.  “That’s two.”

~~~

 
By the time they finished tossing the last of the rocks onto the large pile in the field’s corner, the clouds above them were tinged with the pink and orange of the setting sun.  As they both reclined against the pile, they wiped their brows and panted.
 
“Rainbow, Ah just can’t thank you enough!” Applejack said, throwing her hoof up to stop her friend from downplaying the day’s effort.  “Nope, don’t start.  We both know Ah wouldn’t even be halfway done without your help.”
 
“Pfft!  You think this is something?” Rainbow said, leaning back against the rocks and cradling her head in her hooves.  “Wait until tomorrow!”
 
“Huh?”  Applejack replied, propping herself up on her elbow as she turned toward the pegasus.  “What happens tomorrow?”
 
“Oh, just a little project called Operation Free Time!” Rainbow said, grinning.  As Applejack cocked her eyebrow and scratched her mane, Rainbow snorted out a laugh.  “I’m gonna get the girls together and were going to whip this place in shape for you!”
 
Applejack stood quickly, shaking her head.  “Nope,” she said, dusting herself off, “Not gonna happen, Rainbow.”
 
“Oh, don’t start this stuff again!” Rainbow said, frowning deeply.  “Yeah, we get it!  You’re the hardest worker of all time!  Didn’t we deal with this taking on the world thing of yours before?”
 
“It ain’t like that, Rainbow!” Applejack said, “It ain’t that Ah don’t want the help, but most everythin’ we’ve got to do takes some time to learn.  It ain’t all diggin’ up rocks!”
 
“So we’ll learn it,” the pegasus returned, shrugging.  “What’s the big deal?”
 
“The big deal is that I got a peck and a half of things to get done,” Applejack said, looking off into the distance.  From here, she could see the say the barn leaned unnaturally, and it tore at her.  “We’ve got to recalibrate the milkin’ machine, retool the plow seating, drill a new well for the west orchard, and splice new seedlings.”  She turned back to Dash, pursing her lips.  “Ya know how to do any of that?” she said, staring at her friend.
 
“Well, no, but—” Rainbow began, fidgeting.
 
“There ain’t no ‘but’ about it, Rainbow,” Applejack said sadly.  “Believe me, I’d love if  y’all could lend me a hoof, but we’re on a deadline right now, and I can’t take the time out of my schedule to train and supervise y’all.  It’d take three times as long as if Big Mac and I did it alone.”
 
“AJ,” Rainbow said helplessly.  “There’s gotta be something we can do to help!”
 
“Ya already did, sugarcube,” Applejack said, embracing her friend tightly.  As Rainbow returned her embrace, Applejack sighed, wishing she could just stay there forever.  “But I’d be mighty happy if you’d show me that neat flyin’ trick when this is all done!”
 
Stretching her wings, Rainbow leaned forward until her shoulders popped.  Sighing, she repeated this with her hips.  “Well, okay, I guess, but you gotta promise to come get us if we can help.”  She placed her hoof on Applejack’s shoulder, gripping it tightly while holding the earth pony in a fierce gaze.  “Pinkie promise.”
 
Applejack grinned, rolling her eyes.  “Okay, I Pinkie promise as long as you Pinkie promise to get that trick workin!”
 
“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow said airily.  “We’ll see how far I get.”
 
“Well, see if Fluttershy can help you out,” 
 
Rainbow held her friend’s gaze with a flat, half-lidded stare.
 
“Well, it ain’t like you need her to do the flyin’, Rainbow,” Applejack said.  “She’s probably better than me!  She could see from all different angles.”
 
“Applejack, you know how windy it gets up there!” Rainbow cried, throwing her hooves up.  “Fluttershy hates that!  I spend more time trying to keep her from flying home than doing any actual training whenever she comes.  Well, whatever,” Rainbow continued, tossing her mane to get it out of her eyes.  “Maybe I’ll ask Cloudchaser at the bar tonight.  She likes that athletic stuff.”
 
“Whattayamean, ‘ask Cloudchaser’?” Applejack said a little too quickly, wincing internally as Rainbow cocked her head to the side.
 
“What do you mean, ‘What do I mean’?” she asked, throwing a hoof out wide beside her.  “You’re busy, you don’t want any help, and you do want me to learn that trick.  Cloudchaser and I fly together sometimes.  She’s strong, she’s fast, and she likes athletes!  I’d rather it was you, but I need somepony who can keep up!  What’s the problem with that?”
 
“Nothin’!” Applejack said, busying herself with the rock pile.  She was just moving rocks from one place to another, but she just couldn’t look at her friend right now.  “Ah… Ah just didn’t know Cloudchaser liked that stuff.  Ah always heard she was kinda frou-frou-y.”
 
“What, ‘cause of that hair?” Rainbow said, “Yeah, she kinda goes overboard on the gel, but don’t let that fool you, she’s pretty fierce in the sky!  Last week, we were flying back from Cloudsdale and she pulled off this barrel roll around me, and then punched through a cloud right where I was about to go so that I didn’t get wet.” she said, demonstrating again with her hooves.  “You wouldn’t know this, but you lose a little speed due to drag when your feathers get wet from the clouds!  So when she flew around me and through the cloud, it let me rocket through the hole at top speed and the cloud just burst apart into all these water droplets, and the air was just filled with them, AJ!”  Lost in her story, Rainbow swooped her hooves through twists and turns.  “They were, like, all around us, and the sun hit them and soon everything was rainbow patterned.   We were just whooping and laughing, flying through it because it looked so awesome!”  Rainbow stopped as AJ dropped a rock with a dull thud.  Stepping forward as her friend’s back twitched twice.  “AJ, are you okay?  What’s wrong?”
 
“Nothin’!” Applejack said again, rubbing her eyes.  “Ah dropped a rock on my hoof just the wrong way and it hurt me bad for a second, that’s all.”
 
“Here, let me see it,” Rainbow said, snatching her friend’s hoof and inspecting it.  “I dunno, AJ, it looks okay.”  Rainbow gently massaged the hoof, carefully feeling the bones.  “Probably just a stinger.”
 
“Somethin’ like that,” Applejack returned.  “Look, Ah gotta get in before Granny Smith starts yellin’.  You know how she hates it when anypony’s late for dinner.  You… you have fun with that new trick, you hear?” she said, doing her best to smile.
 
“Will do, AJ,” Rainbow said, giving her friend another quick hug.  “And I know you’re not going to listen, but I still say you guys need some help.”  Jumping into the air, Rainbow beat her powerful wings, rapidly gaining altitude.  “You’re missing all the best stuff out there!” she called down as she banked away.
 
“Ah know, Rainbow,” Applejack sniffed, her eyes welling.  This time, she didn’t try to stop the tears as she watched the pegasus disappear.  “Ah’m missin’ out on a lot of things.”