Applejack fidgeted impatiently as she waited for the train from Ponyville to come into the station. As much as she loved Braeburn and the rest of her family, she was aching for the familiarity and comfortability of Granny Smith and her siblings. Looking at Braeburn, standing next to her, she thought a reminder about the importance of family and tradition wouldn’t go amiss either.
But Braeburn was almost as excited as she was. “Whooee, Ah cain’t wait to see the rest of the family! I bet Apple Bloom’s gotten so big and Big Mac—well, he probably can’t have gotten any bigger, but it’s been so long Ah can’t be sure!”
Even Applejack raised her brow at that. “You know you did see them all a couple months back at the Summer Sun Celebration, remember?”
He blinked owlishly at her. “I don’t follow.”
Only Braeburn… Applejack rolled her eyes fondly. He’s the biggest goof around, apart from Pinkie Pie. A train whistle brought her attention back to the train as it rolled in. She tapped her hoof as it slowed to a crawl before finally stopping. The train doors opened—and suddenly a yellow-red blur rushed out an attached itself to her leg.
“Applejack!” The smile on Apple Bloom’s face almost knocked her sister over. “We’re here, we’re here! How’s the rodeo! Did you win lots of blue ribbons yet? Can I compete? Ooh, there’s cousin Braeburn!” She took off like a rocket, hugging her cousin.
“Howdy little darling!” Braeburn hugged her back. “Welcome to Aaaaa—” Applejack quickly plugged his mouth with her hoof in the hopes of saving her little sister’s hearing. Big Macintosh and Granny Smith exited the train soon afterwards.
Granny Smith looked around. “Place is drier and dustier than mah bonnet after I left it on a beach that one time. Found a hermit crab making it his home when I found it again.”
“Granny Smith! Big Mac!” Applejack beamed, going over to hug them both. “It’s so good to see you both. Ah missed you.”
“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh nodded.
With his mouth free of Applejack’s hoof, Braeburn let out a joyous whinny of his own. “That goes double for me, cousin! How’ve you been? Did you have a good trip? How’s the farm?” He followed up with a barrage of questions, but Big Macintosh didn’t let himself get overwhelmed. He just slowly answered an ‘Eeyup’ or ‘Eenope’ whenever Braeburn paused for breath, while Apple Bloom peppered Braeburn with her own series of questions.
They should be at that for a while, Applejack mused. “C’mon y’all—it’s time for the reunion! Last one there’s a rotten apple!” As she expected, Braeburn, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom raced for the fair ground without a moment’s hesitation. That left Applejack time to do what she wanted.
“Granny Smith, can I talk to you?”
“Yer doin’ it now, aren’t ya?” She jabbed her with a hoof as she slowly started making her own way to the reunion. “What’s on your mind sugarcube?”
Applejack felt uneasy. I feel like I’m going behind Braeburn’s back, but … I need to talk to Granny Smith about this. “Well, it’s like this—Appleloosa’s a bit … different than Ponyville and how we do things.”
“Hmph, every orchard’s different if you know how to look.” Granny Smith rubbed her chin. “Is there something in particular that’s got a bee in your bonnet?”
Squirming slightly, Applejack tried to think of how to explain it. “It’s not any one big thing … it’s more like a lot of little things.”
“Little things can build up,” Granny Smith agreed. “But the secret is to handle each little thing at a time. Half the time you find out that on their own, they ain’t even a problem. The ones that are, you fix and the rest tends to itself.”
Applejack nodded slowly. “I guess I understand. Maybe I have been a little too quick to see … what in tarnation?” She blinked as they arrived at the fairground. The Apple Family Reunion was usually a big affair, but this had gone to a whole new level. There were large apple-shaped balloons, banners and confetti, tables full of every sort of apple-based treat imaginable, games for the foals, the works. And right in the middle of it was, predictably enough, Pinkie Pie.
She sighed. “Darn it Pinkie,” she face-hoofed. “Things‘re changing enough without you going around and turning the reunion into a carnival.”
Granny Smith prodded her. “Don’t be such an old fuddy-duddy. Ah’m looking to sink my new choppers into a caramel apple! Be a dear and get me one? I’m gonna find Apple Rose and head over to get our knitting underway.”
“Sure thing, Granny. You have fun working on the quilt.” Applejack trotted off, making a beeline for Pinkie Pie. She found her making balloon animals for the foals. “Pinkie?”
“Hi Applejack! Just a second!” She made a balloon buffalo for one last foal, who took it delightedly as she scampered off. “What’s up?”
Applejack waited until the foal was out of earshot before answered. “Pinkie Pie, I appreciate everything you’ve done for the reunion, but maybe you might want to think about taking it down a notch?”
A confused look crossed Pinkie’s face. “But why? Isn’t everypony having fun?”
“Well, yes,” Applejack admitted. “It’s just doesn’t have the sort of…” she gestured vaguely “—feel to it that our reunions usually have.”
“What’s wrong with that, silly? It’s fun to try new things sometimes!” Pinkie Pie grabbed a hooffull of balloons and fashioned them into a rather accurate manticore. “See? I’ve never tried making one of those before and it turned out great!” She hesitated. “Although maaaybe I shouldn’t give this to one of the younger foals…”
Applejack coughed meaningfully, engaged in the full-time job of keeping Pinkie Pie on track. “Ah ain’t saying that new is bad, but between you, me and the apple trees? Mah cousin Braeburn’s been changing up a lot of things as it is. That just makes it more important that the reunion is true to tradition.”
“So, you’re upset because Braeburn is doing things different?” Pinkie tilted her head in thought.
“I didn’t say that … exactly.” Applejack fidgeted. “I don’t want him to forget the things that make the Apple family, the Apple family. Tradition’s important, after all, right?”
Pinkie hesitated. “...Can I tell you something?”
Applejack blinked. “Of course you can, Pinkie: we’re friends!”
“Thank you.” Pinkie took a deep breath. “You remember my cutie mark story, how Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom made me want to see everypony smile?” Applejack nodded. “Well, the thing is, my family’s pretty traditional too. And I like our traditions, especially for Hearth’s Warming Eve. They were really happy the first time I threw them all a party … but they don’t like having them as much as me.” Pinkie’s ears lowered. “It bothered me, a little. I still really really love my family, even though they we don’t always like the same things.”
The sight of a sad Pinkie Pie was one of the most heart-wrenching sights in Equestria. “Aww, Pinkie, Ah didn’t know. It’s hard to imagine family not understandin’ their own kin.”
“It’s okay,” she regarded Applejack with a more serious expression than she was used to seeing from her. “Just because I chose to do things differently than my family doesn’t mean I don’t care about them.”
“I don’t—I know Braeburn cares about the family. He’s great! He—” Applejack swallowed a painful lump of emotions as she thought back to a painful period in her life. “—he’s the best. I dunno, maybe that’s why it bothers me so durn much,” she sighed and rubbed her face. “And of course I ain’t saying anything bad ‘bout you, Pinkie. You gotta be who you are and nopony does it like you.” Of course, if you had a whole family of Pinkie Pies things’d get mighty out of control mighty fast. “Even if Braeburn did something crazy like saying he didn’t want to farm or something, that’d be fine. Ah might not understand it, but I’d be okay with it. Heck, even the Oranges of Manehattan are still family and they’re barely like us, and that’s fine, for them. But Braeburn? It’s not that he’s not following the family tradition … he’s changing the traditions!”
Pinkie pulled a cupcake from her mane and chewed it thoughtfully—a phrase Applejack could only think of applying to Pinkie herself. “Well, you know the saying you can’t step in the same river twice? Unless you’re wearing cement horseshoes because then you’d only step in it once—but things change! And it’s not bad!” She reached into her mane and pulled out a photograph of the Cake family. Applejack didn’t even question it. “Mrs. Cake was sad one time and I was worried, so I threw her a party to cheer her up! But when I asked why she was sad it was because Pound and Pumpkin were old enough that they didn’t wake up in the middle of the night crying. At first I was confused because, why would she miss having them cry in the middle of the night? She said it was because it meant they were beginning to grow up, that one day they wouldn’t need her as much.”
Even though Pinkie Pie didn’t mean to, bringing up Mr. and Mrs. Cake and their children was the emotional equivalent of a sledgehammer. Applejack closed her eyes and slowly counted to ten, trying to remain composed. “Ah can see where she’s coming from,” Applejack allowed despite her own feelings on the subject of children not needing their parents being sharply different. I never outgrew my parents … and I don’t think I ever will.
But Pinkie Pie went on, “I was sad too, but then Mrs. Cake said that it wasn’t a bad thing! Because Pound and Pumpkin would learn how to talk and say things like ‘I love you’ and do all sorts of things! Can you imagine the Cakes’ Twins never growing up? Even if they are cutey-wutey now, that’d mean they’d never learn how to do new cute things! Can you imagine the Cakes changing their diapers for year after year after year?” She gasped. “But if things don’t change, they’d be wearing the same diaper for all that time and that’d be really really gross!” She shuddered.
“I get what you’re saying,” Applejack quickly put in. “Well, thanks for talking with me Pinkie. I gotta go take care of some things. You take care.” Even as Pinkie Pie waved good-bye, Applejack’s mind was still a torrent.
Pinkie doesn’t understand, Applejack decided. Her family’s pretty small compared to mine, and pretty close together too. There are a ton of Apples and we live all over Equestria. We need that sense of a tradition to remind us all that we’re one family. With a family as large and scattered as Applejack’s, tradition was what bound them together. Despite living all across Equestria, every Apple could come together and enjoy a meal prepared the same way their parents and grandparents had made. It was the sense of a shared history and tradition that kept them together. It was what Applejack had inherited from her parents and what she intended to pass on to Apple Bloom and to future generations of Apples.
The next round of events began a little while later. With her family here from Ponyville, Applejack was more determined than ever to win. Fortunately, the next event turned out to be something that put a gleam in Applejack’s eyes: a lassoing competition. Applejack beamed as she grabbed a coil of rope, neatly tying it off into a lasso. “Woohee, now this here is my event!” She looked out to a row of strawponies, each one wearing a hat. The object was to lasso the hat off the strawpony without damaging it, or having the rope touch anything but the hat.
“Knock ‘em dead, AJ!” Rainbow whooped as Applejack twirled her lasso, leaping through it with ease.
Applejack tilted her hat to Rainbow, glad for the support. She watched Braeburn demonstrating for Little Strongheart … this time the buffalo was definitely not getting the hang of the event. Braeburn demonstrated a few of the familiar techniques both he and Applejack had learned when they were young … but as she continued to watch, Applejack noticed him subtly shifting the forms to make them easier for Little Strongheart to imitate. She knew it only made sense, seeing as she had a different build than them. But it still bothered her.
She went to double check that her rope was in good shape when a sudden loud yelp drew her attention. Applejack looked over to see Rainbow Dash had somehow managed to hogtie herself with her lasso while Twilight was somehow bound to Braeburn. “Uh, what’d I miss?” she asked with a chuckle.
Twilight blushed sheepishly. “Rainbow Dash said she’d show me how to lasso and, well…”
Braeburn looked equally embarrassed and having a mare tied to his back. “Was the darndest thing...”
Applejack set about untying them, ignoring the glares Rainbow shot her at being left on her own. “Landsakes Twilight, if you wanted to get closer to the Apple family there are better ways t’do it.” She winked, unable to resist a little teasing.
Twilight’s cheeks turned scarlet. “It’s not like that! I don’t like him--I mean, Braeburn seems like a very nice stallion but, um…”
“Applejack!” Braeburn lowered his hat to cover his blushing face. She just chuckled. The idea of Braeburn and one of her friends certainly had merit … but that could come later. For now, there was a rodeo to win!
Reluctantly, Applejack helped untie them. “Come on now, Twi--you take a seat and watch.” She grinned. “This is gonna be a real treat!”
“Hey AJ!” Rainbow Dash suddenly called out from her place on the ground. “Forgetting something?”
Applejack thought about it. “Not really.” She smirked, prompting a glare from Rainbow Dash. “Alright, enough laying around…” She freed her friend and helped her up. “Time to rope up some other dummies.” She didn’t even bother trying to dodge Rainbow’s retaliatory wing whap. It didn’t do anything to dispel Applejack’s smile.
This always was my favorite event. She began to twirl the rope over her head, narrowing her eyes as she lined up with the straw dummy. With a toss of her head the lasso sailed out and neatly landed atop the hat. She jerked her head, smoothly bringing the hat to land at her hooves. “And that’s how it’s done!” she whooped, delighting in the cheers Apple Bloom threw her way. “Just do it the way I did it, Rainbow.”
“Yeah yeah…” Rainbow whipped the rope around her head so quickly it was little more than a blur. Then with a lightning flash whip of her neck—one so sudden Applejack was briefly afraid she’d hurt herself—Rainbow’s lasso flew towards the dummy. It had scarcely landed on the hat before Rainbow pulled the rope taut, bringing back the dummy’s hat … with its head still attached to it. “Whups. Might’ve pulled too hard.”
“Ya think?” Applejack deadpanned as she prodded the straw head with her hoof. She looked over to see Braeburn and Little Strongheart take their turns. Braeburn was nearly as good with the rope as Applejack, which was little surprise. Shoot, we used to practice together, she thought.
Little Strongheart clearly wasn’t as adept with a rope as the ponies were, but Applejack was impressed she was managing as well as she was. Strongheart’s lasso didn’t open up, but it did manage to knock the hat off her dummy. She gave Braeburn an apologetic glance. “Sorry, Braeburn.”
But Braeburn shook his head and patted her back … having to reach up in order to do. “Nah, you did great for your first real roping contest! You know how long it took me to do as good as you did just now? I think if you keep working at it the way you were earlier, you’ll be a champion in no time!”
Applejack sighed silently. Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to notice, clapping her on the back. “Well, I guess that’s a win for us! What’s next?”
The thought of the next event caused Applejack to brighten. “Pie eating contest! Fun and delicious!”
Rainbow blinked then went silent for a moment. She sighed, “I suddenly miss Cloud Kicker for some reason.”
“It ain’t that kinda pie,” Applejack rolled her eyes as she headed over to a pie-laden table, taking her seat with the other contestants. “This here’s a solo event. Seeing as I’ve been eating apple pies since I was knee high to a grasshopper, I figure I’ll take this one and you can take whatever else they’ve got going on right now.” She looked to Braeburn. “You gonna go up against me, cuz?” When he shook his head no, her shock was so great that her hat practically leapt from her head. “What? Why not?”
“Cuz Little Strongheart loves apple pies—shoot, almost all them buffalo do. So when she heard there was a pie eating contest, you bet she wanted to take a crack at it,” he paused, scuffing his hoof sheepishly. “Plus she asked real nice and, well, it ain’t polite to refuse a lady’s request.”
Figures, Applejack shook her head. “All right then, how about it, Strongheart? You think you got the belly to go up against mine?”
Little Strongheart took a seat across from her. “I have not eaten since yesterday morning in anticipation. I am ready.”
“You best be,” Applejack set her hat down next to her and tentatively sniffed at one of the pies. Just like Granny ma—wait a second. Something was different. “Who made these?”
Strongheart beamed proudly. “My tribe assisted the ponies of Appleloosa in baking these! And your friend Pinkie Pie helped as well!”
“Y’all wouldn’t have added some of that, uh, mush of yours into it, did ya?” She winced when Strongheart nodded. It’s not that the newer pies she’d had tasted bad but…
It’s all right…Applejack exhaled, calming herself. I got this.
I ain’t got this, Applejack moaned, clutching her poor belly. I always figured a pie would do me in—Ah just thought it would be Pinkie. She lost track after the tenth pie. Little Strongheart didn’t seem as bad off—likely cuz she’s got more space to hold those pies in, Applejack thought—but she was clearly at the end of her rope too. The other competitors had long since dropped out, leaving it just the two of them. Seeing Strongheart reach for another pie, Applejack knew she’d been beat.
She picked up a napkin and waved it like a white flag. “Ah’m done. You win Strongheart.”
The young buffalo dipped her head. “You were a most worthy opponent, Applejack.”
Pinkie Pie hopped onto the bench. “Wow, you two were amazing! Ooh, can I have some of those pies now?”
Applejack groaned. “Help yourself, Pinkie…”
With a wide grin, Pinkie planted her face right into a pie and began gobbling it up. Within seconds she had polished it off and grabbed another. Little Strongheart and Applejack could only watch in amazement as Pinkie Pie quickly devoured more pies than both of them together had eaten, all without slowing down or looking the least bit full.
“Where does she put them all?” Strongheart asked in awe.
Applejack grunted. “Either she has a tapeworm or a black hole in her stomach.”
Pinkie stopped eating just long enough to burp. “Can I get some ice cream to go with this one?”
With an barely subdued sigh, Applejack went looking for Rainbow Dash. As expected, she had beaten Braeburn at hoof-wrestling.
The next several events passed like a blur for Applejack: tug-of-war, juggling, horseshoe tossing, turkey call (that one was an easy win—the buffalo had never even heard a turkey!). Applejack and Rainbow Dash were tied with Braeburn and Little Strongheart—but she could take little pleasure in it. All of her hard-won skills from past rodeos only accounted for a few of their victories. And many of the events Braeburn and Strongheart won were thanks to their decidedly non-traditional takes on old games—or were buffalo-inspired games. Applejack felt more and more discouraged as time went on. Even winning felt empty when it was thanks to Rainbow Dash, who won things her own way.
The point was driven home during the wrestling. Applejack had been girding herself for the event the way it had always been done. But once again, the Appleloosans had put their own spin on it. Apparently the buffalo had their own style, tatanka, and they changed the traditional rodeo rules to accommodate them. Again.
Buffalo wrestling involved both competitors laying on their backs, trying to flip each other just using their backlegs. It was confusing.
Rainbow Dash adapted pretty quickly—she realized that she was a bit set in her ways … but was distressed to see Braeburn making the transition with little difficulty. Is it that easy to let go of the past, to forget the things that make us who we are? Her stomach churned. What’s that say about us? About what we hold dear?
Of course, the fact that Rainbow Dash and her cousin had their legs wrapped around each other wasn’t doing anything to improve her disposition. Nor was the fact that she was being neatly tossed around by Little Strongheart. Darn buffalo … way too strong. She tried using some of her own wrestling tricks, but moving anything but her legs resulted in a win for Little Strongheart. “Aw shewt…” She climbed up, dusting herself off. Still, Applejack was never a pony to forget her manners. “Good match, Strongheart.”
Little Strongheart beamed. "You were a most worthy opponent."
"Same t'you," Applejack lowered her hat to her, turning back just in time to see Rainbow flip Braeburn over. "Looks like the match's over."
“I will see to Braeburn.” Little Strongheart quickly announced, making her way over to help the bruised stallion up.
Applejack went over to congratulate her own teammate. “Nice going, RD. Hope you didn’t rough up my cousin too bad?”
“Nah, he’s a big colt.” Rainbow rolled her shoulders, stretching out her wings to get the kinks out of them. “Was that awesome or what?”
“Was definitely ‘or what,’” Applejack blew a stray strand of hair out of her face.
Rainbow Dash nudged her. “So, what’s the problem? Braeburn and Little Strongheart look happier than you do, and they lost.”
Applejack sighed and adjusted her hat. “Winning ain’t everything. How you win’s least as important as if you win.” She frowned. “T’me, me and Braeburn ‘re both losing. No matter who wins the contest.”
“Really?” Rainbow’s skepticism was almost palpable. “Anypony who doesn’t do things your way is a loser? Come on, AJ…”
“Look, Ah got nothing against how the buffalo do things.” Applejack shook her head. “That’s their business and Ah wouldn’t want try to tell them to do any different. But I’m not a buffalo—I’m a pony and an Apple. And Ah want to do things the Apple way—the way we’ve always done them—and not be made to do things some other way. The Apple way ain’t the right way for everypony—but it’s the right way for us Apples.”
That didn’t seem to impress Rainbow Dash anymore than her last efforts had. “Uh uh. So it’s just wrong for you Apples and I’m guessing the rest of us don’t count?”
“It ain’t like that!” Applejack swore. “They ain't doing anything wrong—they're just doing things their way. And that's all right for them. Ah don't want to tell them what's right and wrong. I ain't a buffalo after all ... but since I'm not, Ah gotta be allowed to do things the right way for Apples, cuz that's what Ah am." She took off her hat, staring at it for a long moment. “I wouldn’t want to change something that makes them who they are—I just don’t want nopony changing what makes me me either. You know?”
“I ... think so.” Rainbow sighed. “Look, when I was in Canterlot, it was a huge pain in the flank. Ponies tried telling me how I should behave since I was the Princess’ student; I tried getting them to loosen up and be more awesome like me ... it never worked out.”
Applejack set her hat back on her head. “So, what’re you saying? Ponies cain’t change?”
“No, that’s not it.” Rainbow struggled, searching for the right words. “Ponies change all the time. Trying to force them to change to make you happy—that doesn’t work out so good. You say you don’t want Braeburn changing your traditions and stuff. But is he trying to force you to change how you keep your traditions? How you live your life at home? Doesn’t seem like it to me. Seems more like you’re the one trying to force somepony to change.”
Before Applejack could even begin to think of a counterargument, Apple Bloom walked up to them. “Hi Applejack, hi Rainbow Dash! That was amazing! Could you teach me how to wrestle like that?”
“How about I teach you t’wrestle the way me and Big Macintosh do?” Applejack was quick to offer. “You use your hooves a lot more and--” she paused, spotting something in her sister’s hoof. “What’s that?”
“A carrot-dog!” Apple Bloom chirped. “Cousin Half Baked bought me one … he said they’re gonna start growing carrots and all kinda fruit and vegetables out here!”
Applejack staggered back as if struck between the eyes by a two-by-four. Heaven’s to betsy, now they’re gonna start growing other crops besides apples?! What next?
She didn’t know how long she zoned out, only half-listening to Rainbow Dash’s boasting to Apple Bloom. The sudden ringing of a bell snapped her back into focus. “That’s the call for the final race!”
“Let’s get moving then!” Rainbow nudged Applejack. “Come on, AJ! We’re gotta win this one!”
Applejack felt her blood pumping. “All right! This time’ll be different, just you see!” They galloped to the start line and began some quick stretches. “Okay then, looks like we all get to go together ‘stead of taking turns.” Looking ahead, she saw the first part of the race was the barrel weave. There weren’t any separate lanes for each runner either, so they needed to strategize. “We just gotta be sure we don’t end up gettin’ in each other’s way. I’ll head right and you go left.”
“Right!”
“No, left!” Applejack stressed.
Rainbow looked to her. “That’s what I said!”
Applejack turned her head. “No, you said left!”
“No, I said right!”
“That’s what I said and I told you to go left!” Applejack moaned, burying her face in her hooves.
“I said right meaning left!” Rainbow explained, beginning to grit her teeth in annoyance.
Applejack goggled at her incredulously. “Now what kinda fool sense does that make? When the race starts just go to the left! Honestly!” She shook her head, spying Braeburn and Strongheart chuckling together over some shared joke out of the corner of her eye. A sudden feeling of loss swelled up in her, mixed with something else. In a moment Applejack realized it was jealousy. That’s some stinking thinking there, she snorted, annoyed with herself. Strongheart’s a nice filly or whatever buffalo gals are called. S’dumb. She sighed. Still wish me and Braeburn were competing together, the way we used t’before he came out to Appleloosa. Shoot, together we could’ve shown Rainbow Dash just what Apple family’s capable of!
Applejack nearly jumped out of her horseshoes when the startpony rang the bell. It was little surprise that Braeburn, Little Strongheart and the other competitors had a head start on her. Oh, horseapples!
“Hurry it up, AJ!” Rainbow shouted back, already heading into the barrel area.
Scrambling after her, Applejack let out an annoyed grumble. “Don’t you shout at me!” Having literally started out on the wrong hoof, she felt herself almost lumbering as she headed to the barrels. Her hooffalls were too heavy; she’d been in too much of a rush to make up for lost time and was off-balance. That ain’t good… She winced as she headed for the barrels.
But her long experience in these events let her negotiate the pathways through the barrels without too much difficulty, though she had to end up trading speed for accuracy. Even then, it wasn’t quite enough. Her haunches nudged a barrel, resulting in the referee adding time to her score. Rainbow's gonna make jokes about mah flank for a month for that. Leaping away, she overcompensated and knocked another one fully over. That barrel went rolling right into Rainbow's path. "Look out!"
"Whoa!" Rainbow Dash leapt clear over the barrel, landing heavily on her hooves. She glared quickly at Applejack before she started running again. Great, she's probably gonna think I did that on purpose, she sighed. Rainbow soon cleared all the barrels without so much as brushing one. Little Strongheart, much more small and nimble than her larger tribemates, had also made it through. The two were neck-in-neck in the lead. Braeburn was having a bit more trouble navigating through the barrels, but was about to make his way out. Applejack opted not to dwell on her own less-than-perfect performance and made her way through the barrel weave without further incident. By the time she was done she saw Rainbow Dash and Strongheart making their way through hurdles in the next segment, the two of them neck in neck.
Grim determination crossed Applejack's muzzle. No chance she was going to be left in the dust. I may have goofed up the barrels, but I ain't gonna do it here! She took a deep breath and began leaping. Hurdle-jumping was a regular rodeo event and she had plenty of practice doing it, as did Braeburn. Before long the two of them were closing the gap.
The next part of the course should slow them up enough for me to get back in the lead. Sure enough, both Dash and Strongheart were stalled. Applejack found it hard not to grin. They wouldn't be familiar with this!
For each of the competitors there was a seesaw with a bucket of moldy or unusable apples on one side. The object was for each race to jump on the other end, propelling the apples onto the target. Once they hid the bullseye, they could continue on.
All them years of apple bucking is paying off here! Applejack thought. She learned long ago that she needed controlled strength to buck the apples out without damaging the trees. So when it came to judging just how much strength she needed to apply to the other end of the seesaw, Applejack had the edge over the more powerful Little Strongheart, and the impatient Rainbow Dash.
Applejack smacked her two of hooves down on the upper-end of the seesaw. The apples went flying and hit the center of the bullseye, coating it with apple mush. First attempt, too! Applejack beamed, enjoying the grumbling Rainbow Dash sent her way. “Don’t you worry none, Rainbow. Ah’m sure you’ll get it … eventually.” She smirked and ran ahead.
Her hooves thudded against the ground as she made her way down the race track. Before too long though, she heard the sounds of more hooves joining hers. “Hey cousin!”
No surprises there. “Hey Braeburn!” Applejack called back, shooting him a grin. “How you liking the taste of mah dust?”
Braeburn laughed, his easy going nature making him difficult to rattle. “Race ain’t over yet!”
Applejack looked ahead at the next obstacle. There were a series of mud pits in the path that she had to leap over, and beyond that… Ah ponyfeathers, Applejack winced, spying a particularly huge pit that covered the entire race track. The only way to cross it was a thin plank resting on some stakes protruding from the mud. One small misstep and a racer would go right into the mud.
Luckily, they had left poles for them to hold in order to provide balance. Not so luckily, the ends of each pole ended in a small, shallow bowl with an apple in it. Applejack figured the point was to cross the pit without falling into the mud or dropping either apple. Of all the times to not have wings, she thought as she grabbed a pole.
She slowly made her way onto the plank, swaying precariously as she tried to find her balance. The beam was barely wide enough for a single hoof, making her progress slow and awkward. Braeburn didn’t seem to be doing any better though, with both of them reduced to a snail’s pace.
The sound of thudding hooves alerted Applejack to the fact that she now had company. Risking a glance behind her, she saw Little Strongheart and Rainbow Dash snatching up their own poles and getting onto the beams. She paused, half expecting the two of them to fall off. Strongheart’s too bulky to stay up and Rainbow’s more used to flying than walking. Ah got this.
Rainbow, catching Applejack’s eye, smirked and began balancing the pole on her muzzle—and just to add insult to injury, she started to move down the beam … while walking on just her front hooves.
Showoff, Applejack grumbled. To her surprise, Little Strongheart was easily making her way down the plank. She wasn’t as sure footed as Rainbow, but she was remarkably nimble. Applejack thought back to when she had seen her maneuver between several larger buffalo and realized she’d underestimated her. This ain’t good.
She tried move faster, but her pole began to wobble and the apples began to be jostled. Applejack suddenly craned her neck to keep the apple secure, but found herself overbalancing in the other direction. “Ah hay—” she winced as she toppled over into the mud.
Scrambling to her hooves, Applejack swore and shook the mud from her coat while galloping back to the start. By the time she grabbed another pole and got back on, Rainbow Dash and Little Strongheart were almost at the end! Moving as quickly as she dared without falling off again, Applejack managed to catch up with Braeburn. The two of them raced over to the next section, where Rainbow Dash and Strongheart were waiting.
“Come on Applejack, hurry it up!” Rainbow snapped at her, readying a pair of cords to fasten around their legs.
Applejack, her hair streaked with mud and her patience frayed, was in no mood for Rainbow’s attitude. “Just hush it and tie the durn things.” As Rainbow set about tying their legs together, she stole a look over at Braeburn and Little Strongheart. They seemed to be having more trouble, given their widely different body types and sizes.
“Alright, done. Let’s go!” Rainbow nudged her.
Snapping back to attention, Applejack nodded. “Okay, follow my lead and start off with your right hoof.”
“Your lead?” Rainbow practically radiated skepticism. “After the way you’ve been handling things? I’ll lead. C’mon!” She nudged their bound front legs forward.
Applejack resisted. “Now hold on, Ah’ve been competing in these contests fer years—Ah know what I’m doing!”
“Been doing real good so far,” Rainbow grunted as she tried to force Applejack forward. “Come on, the others are catching up!”
Braeburn and Little Strongheart had secured their front legs together and were now working on their hindlegs. Applejack tossed her head. “Alright, giddyap!”
“Wait a—whoa!” Rainbow yelped as Applejack suddenly surged forward, almost dragging her along. “We have to move together, you know!” She barked, her free legs not quite moving in synch with Applejack’s, giving them a lumbering, lurching gait.
Applejack grunted. “Just follow mah lead!”
“Will you knock it off with that?” Rainbow snapped. “How about you follow my lead so you don’t stomp on me with one of your fat hooves!”
“Listen here—” The two began to bicker, their argument picking up steam even as their speed did the same. They were soon neck and neck with Braeburn and Little Strongheart, the finish line drawing close. This is my last chance to show Braeburn that the traditional Apple way is still the best! Just what the Apple way of winning a race while tied to another pony was, she didn’t really think on.
Applejack’s eyes narrowed as her hooves pounded heavily against the ground. She felt Rainbow Dash’s exertions next to her. The finish drew closer, but Braeburn and Little Strongheart kept pace with them. Rainbow Dash, nodded to them before surging forward. Applejack put on one last burst of speed, carrying them forward just as they reached the end. “YES!” Rainbow cheered, flapping her wings with glee. “We won! WOO!”
After untying the two of them, Applejack clapped her on the back. “We sure did! Way to go sugarcube!”
“Congratulations cousin!” Braeburn panted, half leaning against Strongheart. “That was some race!”
Applejack felt herself almost bursting with pride. “Well, shucks it’s just how—”
“Applejack, you did it!” Apple Bloom shouted as she approached.
Applejack felt the bottom fall out of her stomach as Apple Bloom galloped over, her trademark pink bow—something she wore every day and was as much a part of her as her hooves or tail—was gone, replaced by a pair of white and black feathers. “Isn’t this neat?” Apple Bloom waggled her head, getting the feathers to waft back and forth. “This little buffalo filly was showing me how to play their game and I showed her how to loopty-hoop! She liked it so much we decided to trade!”
Ah cain’t win. Applejack felt numb. Don’t matter how hard I try, s’all still slipping away. I can’t--I can’t … she couldn’t handle it. Hot tears stinging her face, Applejack wheeled around and galloped away blindly.