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// 2: The Right Moment 
// Story: The Pegasus Apple 
// by KiraOnlinePony 
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	“Ok, kiddo.” Rainbow Dash started talking to Jackpot, “Applejack tells me you’re not the best flyer.”
Two weeks after being brought to the farm, Applejack had finally convinced Rainbow Dash to give Jackpot flying lessons. She told Jackpot to meet her in the park by the lake. This way, if he fell in flight, he’d be ok if he landed in the water.
“R-Right.”
“Well then, today we’re gonna start with some basic-” Rainbow stopped dead in her sentence, “Um… have you never preened your feathers?”
“N-No one taught me how…” Jackpot said. Rainbow Dash sighed and sat behind him.

“Ok, buddy, just watch. I’ll preen your right wing, then I want you to try and do your left. If you do it enough, you’ll fall into a routine and not even think about it.” Rainbow extended his wing and examined it. His feathers were in far worse condition than she thought. Then again, he was homeless until not long ago. She carefully plucked the dead feathers out and adjusted the few healthy ones she found.
She repeated this process for a few minutes, accidentally pulling out a healthy feahter. “Ow!” Jackpot exclaimed.
“Sorry, buddy. Sometimes when your wings are as bad as this, that’ll happen.” Rainbow felt sorry for Jackpot. She’d heard his story from Applejack, as had all her friends and she couldn’t imagine having such a hard life at so young.

“Ok, so now, I want you to try preening your left. Ok? You’re a pegasus, so instinct should kick in pretty quickly.” Rainbow said, finishing up and sitting in front of him. 
“Uh… Sure, Rainbow Dash…” Jackpot said, before pulling his wing in front of him. He attempted to recreate what Rainbow had just done. And after a few minutes, he got it it done. His pegasus instincts must have kicked in, and, just as Rainbow said, his instincts had kicked in. From instinct alone, he carefully plucked out the dead and weak feathers to make way for new ones that would grow in.
Rainbow laughed, “Awesome job, kiddo! Now, I don’t wanna rush you, so we’ll take it slow. We’ll start next week. I wanna see those wings nice and healthy by next class, ok?”
“Ok, Rainbow!” Jackpot smiled. With that, Jackpot headed for home.

Back at home, Jackpot went to work at the farm. He was still too little to do any bucking but he helped how he could. Be it catching apples that fell out of the bucket, pulling out other fruits and vegetables, or making small deliveries. He was no earth pony but Applejack noticed he loved the hard work.
As the weeks turned into months, Applejack also noticed that Jackpot was gaining muscle mass, getting better at flying and his grades in school kept climbing and climbing She often found herself smiling with pride. Applebloom even told Applejack that Jackpot was gaining his own circle of friends outside of the Crusaders.

After a solid five months after coming to the farm, Applejack noticed that Jackpot was finally flying! His wings had gotten so much stronger from daily, not weekly like before, but daily exercise with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. That strange feeling of pride was hitting Applejack again.
She stood at the barn and watched as Jackpot tried to develop a pegasus way to get the apples. His first attempt, which ended in disaster, was creating a small tornado to pull the apples off using the force of the wind. He eventually lost focus, got dizzy and slammed into Big Mac. “Uh… Sorry, Big Mac!” Jackpot said and took flight again, leaving Big Mac chuckling.

His second attempt worked a little better. He circled the tree and flapped his wings as fast as he could, creating a whirlwind. He got the apples off but not one of them landed in the bucket. Big Mac showed him his technique of apple bucking and gave him lessons on how to get his legs stronger. Applebloom informed her that he and Diamond Tiara were spending a lot of time together at school.
He considered her a close friend, but Applejack had a suspicion there was more to the story.

Jackpot and Diamond split up from Silver Spoon and the Crusaders to take a long way home. This happened often so they could talk, make jokes, get to know each other generally. But today was different, as they’d went through Froggy Bottom Bog. Jackpot stopped suddenly.
“D… Tell me you heard that.”
“No? What?”
Jackpot saw the ground around her hooves crack. Thinking fast, he shoved her out of the way as a Tatzlwurm sprung out from the ground!
“Jackpot!”

Jackpot was caught in the tentacles but took a bite of it to get free. “I’m fine, go get help!” Jackpot watched as she ran off towards Ponyville and dodged as the tatzlewurm lunged upwards at him, “You’re gonna have to try better than that!” Jackpot yelled. The young colt took off as fast as lightning, trying to lead the beast away from town.
As he flew, he thought he felt a heat radiating from his body but he paid it no mind as he flew. The worm grabbed him again and threw him to the ground. One bad landing later, Jackpot was sure he felt his left hindleg snap. All he had to do was just wait and bide time for help.
“C’mon, you big ugly worm! Gonna need more than that to take me down!” Jackpot taunted as he began to fly. He stopped midair when he saw the wurm get blasted with an aura of purple and light blue. He looked over to see Applejack and her friends, and Diamond Tiara, had come.

Rarity and Twilight blasted it with magic, Pinkie and Applejack were herding it to its hole and Fluttershy went for Jackpot. The butter yellow pegasus grabbed him and yelled “I’ve got him!” and flew off with him and Diamond Tiara.
About an hour later, Jackpot had been admitted to the hospital and Applejack and her friends finally arrived.
“Hey, sugarcube! Diamond told us what happened. Ah’m so proud of you, buddy.” Applejack smiled, “And ya got yer cutie mark out of it!”
“Wait, what?!” Jackpot tried to adjust his body to see.
“Whoa, there feller. Hold on, Ah’ll show ya.” Applejack grabbed a mirror from Rarity and held it so Jackpot could see. On his flank were twin thunderbolts, one red and one gold. Jackpot looked as if he were about to explode with excitement!
“Easy Jacky, you need yer rest.” Applejack said, pressing him against the bed, “Otherwise the doctor is gonna throw us out. Oh, and ya got another visitor! We’ll letcha talk in peace, Jacky.” Applejack smiled, leading the girls out.
Then in came Diamond Tiara. “H-Hi, Jackpot.”
“Hey, DT. Are you ok?”

Diamond limped over, not looking up. “A sprained ankle and some scrapes but ok… I just…” Diamond looked up at Jackpot, her eyes on the verge of tears, “I-If I’d stayed with you-”
“You would have gotten hurt or worse. I won’t allow that, DT.”
“But you got hurt because-”
“Because I was biding time for you to get help. Diamond, don’t blame yourself, it’s a broken leg. Give me, what, three months max and I’ll be fine. What’s most important is that you’re ok.” Jackpot smiled, holding his forelegs open. Diamond Tiara took the message and hugged her friend.

“Why’d you push me?” She asked.
“Because you’re my best friend, Diamond. You think I want to lose my best friend to some worm?”

Applejack looked on from the door, smiling. Twilight and her friends knew of Applejack’s plan. “When do you think you’ll do it?” Twilight asked.
“Ah dunno, Twi. Soon, ah know that much.”
Rarity beamed. “You’ll be doing the right thing.”
“Totally! It’s gonna be great!” Rainbow chimed.

“Ah know, girls.” Applejack looked on at the two young ponies, “Ah just need the right moment…”