Storm on the Prairie
Applejack stuck her head out the window of the train as it chugged along the tracks, taking them closer and closer to their destination. The grin on her face grew wider with each passing moment. Even though her friends in the cabin couldn’t see her face, they could tell she was happy by other ways.
“Hey Applejack, you doing your best Winona impersonation?” Rainbow snarked as she watched her friend’s tail wag back and forth. “Careful you don’t swallow a bug!”
“Oooh, is she panting and doing that thing where her tongue hangs outside her mouth?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Because that’s so cute when puppies do that!” A round of chuckles broke out.
Applejack rolled her eyes and pulled her head back inside. “Oh ha ha, you lot. You’re a regular comedy troupe.” She shut the window and took her seat back with her friends.
Twilight looked up from a book she was reading and gave Applejack an encouraging smile. “You know they’re just teasing. We’re all really happy to see you so excited—and we appreciate you inviting us to your family reunion in Appleloosa.” Fluttershy was helping Rarity with some fashion work for a fellow named Hoity Toity, so it was just the four of them this time.
Just the thought of the reunion was enough to set Applejack smiling again. “Boy howdy, y’all are in for a treat! This year the whole family’s coming out and it’s gonna be just in time for Appleloosa’s first county fair and rodeo competition! Ah’m so excited Ah can hardly wait!” She grinned out at her friends. “And Ah wanna thank you all again for helpin’ out. It’d have been a major pain in the flank for my family t’set up everythin’ ourselves. Granny Smith’s a bit old and Apple Bloom’s a bit young to help carry everything, y’know?”
“Yeah, good to know that the magic of friendship translates into free labor,” Rainbow snarked.
“Hey now, s’not like I asked y’all to carry anything real heavy—“ Applejack grinned. “—like yer ego.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes as her friends giggled, watching the exchange. “Oh now there’s the stratus calling the cumulus fluffy. You’ve been building up the rodeo games and contests for weeks. Practically every time I flew by Sweet Apple Acres this week you were practicing throwing horseshoes or running around barrels or something. And it just so happened that Apple Bloom was dusting off your collection of Blue Ribbons every time we came over to help you guys pack your stuff?”
“S’just a coincidence!” Applejack scrunched her nose, her eyes darting this way and that.
“Ya huh.” Dash grinned predatorily. “Well, we’ll see just how many ribbons you win now that you have some real competition.”
Applejack’s smile was no less challenging. “That so? Fair warning sugarcube, this ain’t your usual skywinding, hotdogging airshow. Y’all are gonna have t’get down and dirty with the rest of us. Ah don’t reckon you got the stomach for it.”
“Is that so?” Rainbow leaned forward, almost pressing their foreheads together. “Well, you might have enough stomach for two ponies—and a flank for three—but I can whoop your apple-y plot all the way across the prairie!”
“You best bring it then!” Applejack pressed back. “Ah’m the ten time rodeo champion of Ponyville!”
“Only cuz I wasn’t around!” Rainbow shot back.
Twilight sighed, closing her book with a thud. “Do you two always have to argue?”
“Of course they do, silly!” Pinkie Pie reached over and patted Twilight’s mane, ignoring her frown. “It’s just like how you and Rainbow argue and bicker and bicker and argue about books or studying or sports and stuff! It’s all in good fun and s’just part of being friends!” She paused. “Unless of course they get a teeny bit carried away and start really really arguing, then that’s no fun. But then I get to throw a party to make everypony feel better, and that is fun. If they don’t argue, then I can throw a ‘Hooray for Everypony Being Friends and Not Arguing’ party!” She nodded. “It’s important to have fallback options.”
Applejack just shook her head. Pinkie would always be Pinkie. “Yer makin’ an orchard out of a sapling, Twilight, like Pinkie said … er, sort of. S’fun to face challenges. By pittin’ yerself against somepony else, it pushes you to become even better than you were before,” she looked to Rainbow Dash, grateful when she nodded in agreement.
“I suppose that’s fine, just so long as you two know to stop before it goes too far,” Twilight said as she put her book away. “I think we’re about to pull into the station.”
With a whoop of excitement, Applejack grabbed her bags and bolted for the door. Her friends joined her as the train slowed and then stopped. “We gotta hurry!” Applejack explained to her friends as they disembarked. “If’n we can get over to the rodeo grounds quick-like, then we don’t have t’worry about--”
“Hey there!” The group was stopped by an exuberant shout. They looked to see one of the widest grins they’d ever seen attached to yellow pony in a brown vest and stetson. His green eyes seemed to light up like a Hearth’s Warming Eve and he was charging at the group.
Applejack let out a tiny groan a half-instant before she was nearly tackled to the ground and swept up in a hug that forced all the air from her lungs. “Hey Braeburn.” She wheezed.
Braeburn barely seemed to hear her. “Cousin Applejack! You arrived early! Your letter said you’d be arriving closer t’dinner!”
That was ‘cuz I wanted to get the girls settled in town ‘fore you went and found us, Applejack thought ruefully, patting her cousin’s back. “Things got, uh, moved up. Lucky thing you were here at the train. Yep, real lucky…” She plastered on the largest smile she could muster.
Braeburn missed her discomfort entirely. “Come on, ya gotta introduce me to your friends here!” He let Applejack go, only to practically drag her over to her assembled friends.
Half bemused and half embarrassed, Applejack shook her head and went with it. It’s just Braeburn being Braeburn. “All right, so there are mah friends. This here’s Twilight Sparkle.”
“Nice to meet you…” Twilight ducked her head shyly, only extending a hoof after Braeburn had reached out with his own. Applejack smirked, knowing how this would end. Sure enough, Braeburn grabbed Twilight’s hoof with both of his and shook her so hard her teeth chattered.
“A mighty pleasure to meet you Miss Twilight! Any friend of Applejack is a friend of mine!” Twilight’s eyes spun even after he finally let her go.
After seeing what happened to her, Rainbow Dash spat into her hooves and rubbed them together. “All right, put ‘em there!” She held out of her hoof challengingly, intent on out-shaking Braeburn. Applejack rolled her eyes as Rainbow gritted her teeth and strained herself, with Braeburn not even noticing that he was being challenged. He just kept shaking her hoof as long as Rainbow was shaking his. The scene only ended when Pinkie Pie somehow managed to grab Braeburn and Rainbow’s other hooves and began to vigorously shake them herself. The three of them formed a blur so intense it was almost painful to look at. Eventually they stopped and nopony was sick, fortunately.
Applejack looked over Rainbow and Twilight. They were switching between looking at each other, then to Pinkie Pie, and to Braeburn and then back to themselves. Applejack could almost see the wheels turning in their heads. They’re either thinkin’ they’re related … or that they have to make sure they never have kids. Applejack knew, because she had the same thought when she first met Pinkie Pie.
With the Pinkie blur finally stopped, Applejack managed to get the introductions back on track. “Alright then…” Applejack nodded to her somewhat dazed looking relative. “Gals, this is mah favorite cousin, Braeburn. He’s one of the biggest movers-and-shakers behind Appleloosa.”
“Aw, shucks now…” Braeburn scuffed his hoof against the ground, tilting his hat downwards to hide his blushing. “Ain’t mah cousin just the sweetest?” He reached out and hugged her close. Applejack rolled her eyes, but was smiling as she did. Braeburn really was her favorite cousin, the way Apple Rose was Granny Smith’s. Applejack smiled as she remembered her Granny’s thoughts on him. When Braeburn was born he got all the words Big Macintosh never used. Between the two of them, ya got yourself one normal conversationalist.
Twilight smiled softly. “That really is nice that the two of you get along so well. It reminds me of me and Shining Armor.”
Braeburn chuckled. “Well shucks li’l lady, o’ course we do! Ah spent a couple summers working on Sweet Apple Acres--this was ‘fore Appleloosa got going, that is. Why, I remember when we were just foals, the way AJ always sucked her hoof when she slept and--”
“BraeBURN!” Applejack cried out, cheeks flaming as Rainbow Dash burst into chuckles before being being elbowed by Twilight--who also had a ghost of a grin on her lips. “Would you kindly zip it?” The poor stallion just blinked in confusion, not understanding why he was being yelled at. Sometimes he can be downright oblivious, Applejack grumbled. “Anyways, since yer here, how about you show us around town?”
Instantly Braeburn’s face brightened. “Now where are my manners? Of course I’d be glad t’show you around---AAAAAAPPLELOOOSA!” He reared up, whinnying in glee. Twilight leapt half a foot back in shock.
Pinkie Pie leaned in. “Ooh, that sounds fun! Applelooooooosa!” She practically seemed to taste the word as she stretched it out. “I like it!”
Applejack repressed the urge to facehoof. “C’mon let’s get a move on.” She let Braeburn take the lead as he led them through town.
Anypony that ever said a desert was a wasteland never had a chance to visit Appleloosa. The homes and stores looked to say ‘rest a spell, pardner.’ Most of the strong wooden structures with a earthy layer of sand, like the land itself wanted to add its touch to the new structures. Ponies politely dipped their hats in greeting to one another. Wells of cool underground water dotted most intersections. The rest were blended with stores, saloons and odd structures Braeburn described as outdoor showers, much to everypony's shock
“Well it does get a tad dusty round these parts,” he explained. “Just don't go confusing them for the outhouses.”
Rainbow Dash looked around. “So all this was built in a year or two?”
“You got it!” Braeburn trotted around. “Seems like we just set down our first tree last week, but now we’ve got everything!” He seemed to blissfully ignore the dust his hooves kicked up on the obviously not paved roads, but nopony had the heart to contradict him. “S’been a long road getting’ here, but it was all worth it! Even if we did have a bit of trouble with the buffalo at the start.”
“How come?” Pinkie asked.
Braeburn coughed. “Er, turns out we planted our orchard right plum in the middle of their sacred stampeding ground. Who knew?” He let out an awkward, sheepish chuckle as the mares gave him a blank look. Applejack finally gave in and facehooved--instantly regretting it when she shoved her dirt- and dust-covered hoof into her (thankfully closed) eyes. “It was the only flat land ‘round these parts that we could plant an orchard in,” Braeburn added. “‘Course, it was probably flat on account of them stampeding the place flat for hundreds of years … But we got everythin’ all worked out in the end!” He hurried to add. “Wanna meet ‘em? They oughta be nearby--they’re working on some ceremonies of their own to celebrate the Anniversary of our agreement with them.” Applejack was too distracted to do anything but nod. He led them down the main road to the edge of town.
At the edge of town the row of buildings came to an abrupt end. Between the town and the boundless, empty plains was a series of tables and tents. Braeburn explained that they were tipis, buffalo dwellings. So Applejack was a bit confused when she spotted ponies and buffalo heading in and out of them. At first she thought they were helping the buffalo make camp, but then she noticed that a lot of the ponies weren’t wearing the traditional large hats that were all the rage, as Rarity would say, in Appleloosa. In fact, the only thing any of them wore were a few feathers tied in their manes and tails, much like the buffalo.
“Hey AJ, over here!” Rainbow Dash caught her attention and she trotted over to her. “You gotta check this out!” Applejack looked to see a group of buffalo, and a few ponies, in the middle of a double-ringed circle of sticks. They were dancing and and looking up at the sun. In the middle stood a tree that had been trimmed and decorated for the occasion. Her ear flicked a bit at seeing what had clearly once been a healthy apple tree chopped down and stripped of its apples, but it was still an impressive sight.
“What’s this all about?” She asked Braeburn.
“S’part of a buffalo ceremony, they call it sun dancing.” He pointed to the dancers. “They’ve been dancing since dawn as a way of saying thanks for the sun.”
Twilight Sparkle’s eyes lit up as she levitated a notebook from her saddlebags. “It’s like the Buffalo’s own version of the Summer Sun Celebration!” She began eagerly scribbling some notes.
That caused Pinkie Pie to gasp and hop up and down. “An all-day dance party! That sounds so exciting! Girls! We gotta have one of our own!” She waggled her hindquarters, preparing to jump in.
“Whoa there li’l filly!” Braeburn stood in her path. “Ya can’t just leap in willy-nilly!”
“Hey, that ryhmes!”
Braeburn ignored that pearl of wisdom. “See, the tribe doesn’t just start dancing any old place. They have t’bless it first, then they invite others to join. The buffalo around here are friendly enough, but if it were another tribe or another occasion you could get in big trouble if you just rushed in.”
Pinkie’s ears flattened. “Oh, okay … but can I join in? I just want to make some new friends. Please please, pleasepleaseplease?”
Braeburn smiled. “Well, luckily enough, since we’re celebrating the anniversary, they declared it open to everypony who wants to join in. Go right on ahead Miss Pie.”
“Yay!” Pinkie Pie bounded over the circle in one hop and was soon in the midst of the revellers.
After shaking her head at Pinkie’s antics for a second, Applejack soon turned her attention back to the dance itself. “That’s powerful impressive! Ah know how hard it is t’start working at sun up--but to dance the whole day?” She cast a look up at the position of the sun in the sky and whistled. “That takes a lotta strength ‘n stamina.”
“You like them dancing so much, maybe we keep them in mind for when you get hitched. Think about it: buffalo dancers for your bachelorette party!” Rainbow snickered, her attention soon drawn by the participating ponies. “So, what’s up with the ponies joining in? I mean, Pinkie Pie I get--she like’s getting involved with anything fun.”
Braeburn dipped his hat to them. “Well, after we sorted things out with the buffalo, we started t’talking and turns out some ponies really like the way they live. They even took to sleeping in those buffalo tents, tipis they call ‘em, and join ‘em on their stampedes across the plains.”
Twilight briefly paused her furious note taking to nod and muse out loud. “Some ponies, especially from Mustangia, are known for preferring to travel for extended periods. I suppose that makes sense that they, or others, would find the Buffalos’ semi-nomadic lifestyle appealing.”
Applejack shook her head slightly. “That might be fine fer them, but me and my kin prefer to lay down roots.” She idly dug her hoof into the ground. “There’s nothing more important to us than family, and that means giving ‘em a home and keeping the family close together.”
Braeburn nodded. “Family’s important, no question. But even Granny Smith said that sometimes seeds grow best when they find their own soil. Shoot, s’why I made the leap to come all the way out here and help with Appleloosa!” His attention was suddenly drawn by something. Before Applejack could even ask, he was smiling broadly again. “We’re in luck! Here’s somepony I want y’all to meet.” He gestured. “Hey Wigwam, wait up a minute!”
Before Applejack or her friends could even respond, Braeburn managed to bustle the entire group over to one of the largest ponies she or her friends had ever seen, aside from Big Macintosh and the Princesses. He was a large stallion with an orange coat, and a white mane with a blue streak in it. He wore his mane and tail long, with the odd black-tipped white feather tied in. His fetlocks were similarly unshorn. The only thing he wore was a blue bandanna with white swirls tied around his neck. All this made him stand from among the rather clothing-conscious Appleloosans.
Wigwam smiled even as he towered over them, his blue eyes bright and friendly. “Hello Braeburn! These friends of yours? Or more relatives?”
“Both actually,” Braeburn clapped him on the back, having to reach up to do so. “This is mah cousin, Applejack and these are her friends.”
“Please t’meet you,” Applejack held out her hoof. “Any friend of Braeburn’s a friend of mine.”
Wigwam shook firmly. “That means you must have a lot of friends. Your cousin’s a pretty friendly guy.”
No fooling, Applejack thought wryly. “Ah suppose he is at that.” She looked him over. “Gotta say, you're the first pony with feathers I ever met what wasn't pegasus."
"I get that a lot," Wigwam gave an ironic eye-roll. "Still, it pays to be ahead of the trend for a change. A fair amount of ponies are eyeing Appleloosa and our agreement with the buffalo. Some of them figure they have the right idea."
Pinkie Pie appeared on Wigwam’s back. “And now you and the buffalo are all friends and you’re having a big anniversary party to celebrate! Woo-hoo!”
Temporarily put off by having a strange pony on his back, Wigwam soon found himself smiling as well. “And I found my real calling.” He turned slightly, presenting his profile. There on his haunch was his cutie mark: a pair of tipis, one red and one blue, above a crescent moon.
Rainbow Dash whistled. “Cool!”
Twilight scribbled some more in her book. “So, you came to Appleloosa and decided to adopt the buffalo lifestyle?”
“That’s about the size of it,” he said languidly. “With the buffalo and settler ponies starting to talk to each other, we got to hear more about the way they lived: the closeness of the tribe, their freedom to travel across the plains to wherever they wished--it all seemed so different than everything I’d grown up with.”
He grew wistful. “When you’re out there, running on the stampede trail with dozens of other buffalo and ponies racing besides you, nothing but you and the open prairie--I can only imagine it’s what pegasi feel when they fly for the first time.”
Rainbow Dash, looking more thoughtful than was her wont, noded, clearly impressed with him. Braeburn chuckled and offered his own opinion. “‘Course it helps us out when they go stampeding on through the orchard. Takes care of the Running o’ the Leaves and with apple bucking!” he explained, tilting his hat back. “Well, not so much bucking as just running past it makes the apples fall, but you get the idea! And all they ask for in return is Apple pie!”
Applejack looked at Braeburn in disbelief. “Y’all just … let them do the harvesting fer the crops you planted?” The idea of not bucking the apples out of the trees yourself was so alien to her that she had a hard time wrapping her mind around it. It ran against her work ethic and the Apple family tradition. The Apples were responsible for growing their apples from blossoming to bucking and baking. That’s the way the Apples had done things since as far back as memory recalled. Letting somepony else in on the process was just unfathomable.
Braeburn didn’t seem to notice Applejack’s unease, his ever drifting focus now having latched onto something else. “Whooee! There she is now! See you later Wigwam!” Before anypony could protest, Braeburn had once again ‘guided’ the group over to a new spot. Wooden benches and rings covered the area. “This is where the rodeo’s gonna be! And over there--” he pointed. “Y’all can see some of the competition!”
The mares looked to see practice areas for various rodeo events: barrel racing, haystacking, tug-of-war, and a host of other contests. Plenty of ponies and even buffalo were exercising or testing themselves before the main event. Braeburn pointed one of them out, a small young buffalo racing with a crowd.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash watched the little buffalo outpace her larger, bulkier fellows. She nimbly weaved between the other buffalo and even managed to leap over one of them, twisting and twirling in midair before neatly landing ahead of the others. Their jaws dropped. “She’s pretty nimble for being so … bulky.” Rainbow observed, obviously impressed.
“Shewt, she’s sprier than flea on a skillet!” Applejack commented.
Braeburn stomped his hooves in approval. “Yee-haw, that’s how it’s done! Go Little Strongheart, go!”
The little buffalo looked over, smiling when she spotted them. “Braeburn, hello!” She headed over. “Are you ready to practice now? I would hate to lose because one of us was out of step.”
Chuckling sheepishly, Braeburn dipped his hat. “Aw, don’t you worry none. I won’t let ya down! I was just passing by the train station and wanted t’see if kin had arrived early.” He brightened, stepping to the side and gesturing to Applejack and the others. “And they had! This here’s mah cousin Applejack and her friends from Ponyville!”
Little Strongheart dipped her head. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all—welcome to Appleloosa!”
“Nice t’meet you too!” Applejack reached out to shake her hoof. Little Strongheart blinked and hesitated before returning the gesture. “Guess yer not too big into hoofshakes?” She asked lightly, trying to get past the awkward moment.
But the young buffalo just shook her head and smiled. “I’m sorry. I know it’s customary among you ponies, but it’s just not something we normally do.” She paused. “Also, the first time I shook hooves, it was with Braeburn and…”
“Say no more,” Applejack rolled her eyes. “I get yo—WHOA!” She staggered to the side as Rainbow Dash suddenly surged past her. “Rainbow!”
Rainbow Dash tossed her mane and threw Strongheart a lazy wave with her wing. “Hey there, name’s Rainbow Dash! You got some radical moves out there? You gonna be competing in the rodeo?”
“Hello, Rainbow Dash—um, thank you?” Little Strongheart tilted her head at the word radical. “And yes, I’m going to be competing alongside Braeburn. We’re going to be a team!”
That made Applejack completely forget her annoyance with Rainbow. “Say whut now? A team?” Team events at rodeos weren’t unheard of…some even had teams competing against one another during the entire rodeo. But it’d been practically tradition that Apples would be on the same team.
But Braeburn just nodded. “Well, we fig’red since we’re celebrating the anniversary of our agreement with the buffalo, it’d only make sense for us to compete together in the rodeo!” His face lit up, “Say, Ah just had a thought! How about if you and your friends form your own team?”
Rainbow Dash frowned, “I don’t know … I kinda wanted to go head to head with AJ here.”
“This could be a good thing! I mean, the two of you competing together,” Twilight spoke up. “You’re both such great athletes, working together would mean you could do even better! Right?” She looked to Applejack for support, but all she received was an uncomfortable silence.
Seeing Applejack’s hesitation and mistaking its source, Braeburn piped in. “There’ll still be plenty of individual events for the two of you to compete in! Shoot, a lot of the team games are really just solo events with a couple of competitors from all the teams joining in. That sound good?”
Rainbow Dash made a big show of rubbing her muzzle in thought before nodding. “Hmm, well, sure. So long as I have a chance to show who the better athlete is, I’ve got nothing against working with Applejack to show you all how we do it in Ponyville! Right AJ?” She looked to her friend.
“Hrm? Uh, yeah, sure.” Applejack blinked, mentally shaking herself. So Braeburn’s gonna be on a different team. Yer a big filly Applejack, you can deal. Didn’t he just say he was doing this for the town and the agreement? That helped settle things for her. She didn’t doubt that if he had a choice, naturally he’d be on her team. But he didn’t so she’d cope. “Sorry, got a bit distracted.” She shot her cousin a smirk. “You best be bringing your a-game, cousin, cuz Ah aim to bring home another Blue Ribbon for mah collection.”
“Hey—who said it’d be you taking the ribbon home?” Rainbow challenged. “I’m the one who’s gonna dominate the Appleloosa rodeo!”
“You mean, Aaaaaaaappleloooosa!” Pinkie Pie bounced around her, until she was suddenly pulled back by Twilight’s magic. “Aww…”
Twilight, having secured Pinkie, looked to the two mares. “Settle down girls. We’re just here for a little fun.”
Applejack waved her off. “Course we are. Ain’t nopony said nothing different.” She looked over at the town’s clocktower. “S’almost lunchtime. Big Macintosh, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom will be coming in later tomorrow. How about in the meantime if we show mah friends some of Appleloosa’s famed hospitality—and the Apple family’s equally famed home cooked meals?” She smiled widely.
“Yeah!” Pinkie whooped. “We can have apple pies and caramel apples and apple tarts and apple fritters….” She had to stop to wipe her mouth. “Granny Smith makes the best pies ever!”
“She sure does!” Applejack beamed proudly. “Ain’t no meal like an Apple family meal!” Braeburn nodded, heartening Applejack. Apple family recipes were passed down from generation to generation, untouched and unaltered. It gave her a little thrill to know that the food she and her siblings ate was the same as the food her ancestors had been making even as they wandered all over Equestria to find a place to settle down.
Braeburn and Little Strongheart led them over to a table before heading off to pick up some freshly baked goods. When they returned Applejack found herself at a loss. They had a bowl full of mush with apple slices floating in it. “Uh, what is it? Is it applesauce?”
“It’s buffalo fare!” Braeburn explained. “It’s right delicious, try some!”
“Yeah it is!” Pinkie Pie announced, her mouth already ringed with bits of mush. “It looks gross but tastes amazing!” She promptly planted her face back in her bowl, chowing away. Twilight and Rainbow Dash hesitated, each clearly waiting for somepony else to try it. Somepony besides Pinkie Pie and her cast-iron stomach.
Applejack slowly reached out and grabbed a spoon, slowly dipping it into the bowl. She shut her eyes and swallowed. To her surprise, it was good. “Landsake, you weren’t kidding, Brae! This is good!” She dug in for more.
“Ain’t it just?” Braeburn beamed. “We even started putting it inside our apple pies! Everypony loves ‘em—they’re a new hot seller!”
The sound of Applejack’s spoon clattering against the table spoke for her, as she was unable to string a coherent sentence together. Changing the family recipe? He might as well have said that they were re-writing history! Her attempted protest died in a cacophony of coughing, so worked up that she hadn’t finished swallowing before she tried to speak.
“Applejack!” Twilight frantically grabbed a cup of water. “Here, drink!” Rainbow Dash made her own attempted contribution by pounding her hoof against Applejack’s back.
“’m fine…” Applejack’s voice came out as a dull croak. She started to take a sip, only to spit it out after Rainbow hit her. “For cryin’ out loud—!” She broke off coughing again. “Enough!” She barked, getting everypony to halt. “Gimme some room for pony’s sake…” She took another long pull of her drink and a deep breath. “Okay, I’m fine…”
Braeburn paced nervously on his hooves. “You should probably go lay down. I’m gonna go make sure your room is ready for you!”
“Now, wait a darn minute, we need t’talk—” But Braeburn had already galloped off. “Dangit…” Applejack sighed. Maybe a rest wouldn’t go amiss right now…half resigning herself to it. With Braeburn on one side and her friends on the other, she knew that she didn’t stand a chance. They’d insist she rest for a while. Still, perhaps resting for the night wouldn’t be so bad. Has been a long day. Could probably use some freshin’ up. “Alright,” Applejack sighed. “Ah’ll lie down for a spell, if only t’keep y’all happy.”
Applejack didn’t have to wait long for Braeburn to fetch her. She tried talking with him as he led her back, but he just kept bustling and fretting that she knew it was a lost cause. Hopefully Ah can talk t’him once he calms down, she thought as he led her inside his home.
“Here you go cousin!” Braeburn gestured with his hoof. “What’s mine is yours, as they say. Come on, my room’s back here. I’ll be sleeping on the couch.”
“Your room? Braeburn, I’m not gonna kick you out of your own bed…”
Braeburn shook his head. “Now now, I won’t hear another word. You don’t expect me to be a poor host, do you? You’re family!”
Applejack suddenly felt a flinch of guilt. Here I am, about to give him a talking to when he’s acting just like any good Apple should. I shouldn’t have doubted him. “Thanks Brae.”
Braeburn patted her back. “Anytime cousin. Bathroom’s right down the hall. Have a good night and I’ll see you in the morning!”
After bidding him goodnight, Applejack trotted into his room. Settling into his bed, she took a quick look around the room. It was pretty basic: a bed, closet, desk and chair. On the desk were several framed photographs of family members. She spotted one photo of the two of them embracing and smiling, a hammer in Braeburn’s mouth and some nails in hers. She remembered that. That was when we helped fix the barn after Big Macintosh went and put his clumsy hoof through the wall, Applejack smiled as she rested her head on the pillow and sighed. Everything’s fine. We’re best cousins, forever. Ain’t nothing ever gonna change that.