Sweet Apple Acres
“Alright ya’ll, who’s ready to get their cutie marks?”
Applejack was not the least bit surprised to see three enthusiastic hoofs reaching and waving around. Aj couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Well, all right. Lemme see here, how about we start with something simple. The north field needs to be harvested, so we’ll start there. If you two could help Apple Bloom gather the baskets, Big Mac can get the cart an’ I’ll watch over ya an’ make sure things are safe.”
“You got it sis. Come on girls, baskets are over this a way.”
“You can wait here Rarity, Big Mac will be back in a minute. Just make yourself comfortable.”
“Oh, but of course. I was just wondering if you happen to have any, oh I don’t know, work clothes? I would hate to get messy, you have no idea how long it takes to get an alabaster coat spotless.”
“I wish I did, but frankly we just don’t have any, sorry about that sugar cube.”
“Oh, well, that’s alright. I suppose I’ll just have to be careful. I mean how dirty can harvesting a few apples make me?”
“Plenty, trust me.”
Applejack looked over to the orchard and was mentally working over how this day would go and carefully avoided the nervous glances of Rarity. Looking around, Rarity noticed that the CMC were having trouble moving all of the baskets. She watched as they tried balancing one basket between two of them while the third would try to stack as many as possible before the whole thing tumbled down. Giving up on that method, next they tried putting a basket over Sweetie Bell and tried stacking the baskets again. She watched as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom smiled at each other for their success in basket stacking and quickly turned to check each other’s flanks. Meanwhile Sweetie Bell was having a hard time going anywhere with all of the baskets stacked on top of her. Disappointment kept the Cutie Mark Crusaders company as Rarity made her way over.
“Oh, hey Rarity,” said a rather depressed Sweetie Belle. “We were just working on getting the baskets over to AJ-” “But it turns out our cutie marks isn’t basket moving or basket stacking,” finished Scootaloo. “Ah, cheer up. There’s plenty of other stuff to do on the farm. Maybe we can get our cutie marks in apple pickin like AJ said.”
“That’s the spirit Apple Bloom. Now let me just help you with these baskets.” As soon as Rarity stopped talking her horn lit up and soon several of the baskets were hovering in mid air. The baskets followed Rarity as she trotted back to the spot where Applejack said the baskets should go. Rarity was only halfway there when she heard a rather loud “A HEM.” Looking to the source, she found an annoyed Apple Jack staring her down.
“Now look Rarity. I can respect the fact that you wanna help out, it’s mighty generous of ya and I can’t thank you enough. But the Apple family has harvested apples for... well, as long as we can remember without magic an’ we don’t intend to start now.”
“Oh my, I’m terribly sorry Applejack, I just assumed using magic would be ok. How come it was ok to use magic when I helped you save the farm from the FlimFlam brothers?”
“That was an emergency an’ we needed all the help we could get. Besides, that was only ‘bout half an hour or so. Ya see, some ponies up in Canterlot have been workin real hard trying to come up with ways to speed up growin food with magic. Every single time they tried they found the food wasn’t good at all and the plants and soil were ruined.”
“Not that I doubt you Applejack, but how do you know about what ponies are researching in Canterlot?”
The steady rhythmic hoof falls of Big Mac were felt rather than heard and Rarity was shocked when he suddenly appeared behind her.
“Being farmers and such, we get letters all the time ‘bout anything farming. New plows, sunlight vs. growth analysis, which soil to use for what plants and why. I’m sure you get similar letters from Canterlot about fashion.”
“Big Mac... I uh, didn’t know you knew so much about farming.”
“Comes with the territory. So Aj, what’s the plan for today?”
“Well, I was thinkin we could all buck apples together but then I forgot I promised the Cutie Mark Crusaders how to work the tractor.”
“Well, it’s broken. Been broken since we were young. Granny never did like the thing.”
“Do ya think it’s fixable?”
“Hard to say... Why don’ you take the fillies to the orchard an’ I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks BIg Mac. Take the cart an’ whatever tools ya need. Just holler if you need help.”
“Eeyup.” With that, Big Mac expertly harnessed himself to the cart and headed off towards the tool shed.
“But sis, how are we gonna get the baskets out to the North field without the cart?”
“Now don’ get your tail in a twist Apple Bloom. Me an Rarity will pull a stack of baskets an’ you three can help by making sure they don’ fall over. We’ll work in teams, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell can help Rarity, and Apple Bloom can help me. Now let’s move em out everypony. YEE HAA!!!”
The CMC looked at the baskets with new found enthusiasm and began to stack them in neat piles of ten. Rarity looked towards Big Mac and the cart he was carrying away then back to Apple Jack with an expression of concern. “Applejack, why are you just letting him take the cart away? It would be easier for us if we had it.”
“Well, it sure would be but Big Mac has a lot of heavy stuff to carry, and besides he’ll meet us in the North field after we have our baskets good and full.”
Moving over to the stack of baskets, Applejack bit down on the lowest basket handle and started dragging them along towards the north field. Putting on as sincere a smile as possible Rarity followed behind. The start of the north field was only a couple a hundred yards away from where they started, but to Rarity it seemed more like a few miles. Sweat began to form on her brow as she moved through the soft earth. Making their way behind her were Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell doing an excellent job admiring the scenery. Finally all of the ponies reached the start of Northfield and as Rarity looked up her jaw almost dropped as she saw Applejack and Apple Bloom already had six of their baskets full. Not accustomed to working on a farm Rarity decided the best thing to do would be to ask Applejack what to do next. As Rarity trotted over towards AJ, she couldn’t help but smile to see the two enthusiastic fillies kicking the first tree they laid eyes on to death.
“Well, I can see you two have been busy.”
“Aww shucks, just doing what apples do best,” said Applejack with a smile.
“So, what can I do to help?”
“Ain’t nothing to it, jus’ buck the trees with the shiny red apples an’ let Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo put the apples in the baskets.”
“I’m sorry but I think I misheard you, did you say “buck the trees?””
“Uhhh… Yeah.” Applejack gave a subtle nod towards Sweetie Belle, then looked back to Rarity. Looking over Rarity could see Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell kicking away as hard as they could, barely budging a single apple. Getting the message and giving a small sigh, Rarity steeled herself and trotted over to the two. Picking the first tree, Rarity set her forelegs and bucked.
“That’s it sugar cube, but a bit harder next time.”
Rarity looked up and saw the apples swinging ever so slightly. Rarity was flustered that her first attempt was less than successful. “That was just a warm up. Now I’m ready, STAND BACK EVERYPONY!” Moving back like Rarity said, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell watched expectantly. Even Applejack and Apple Bloom stopped their work to watch. Rarity tightened her hind legs and bucked for all she was worth. Her legs felt like they were trembling and there were two rather large stinging sensations where her hoofs met the wood. Opening her eyes, Rarity looked to see if any apples had fallen from her most recent effort and was rewarded to see that about half actually did.
“Good job Rares, keep it up and you jus’ might earn your cutie mark in apple farming.”
The mention of cutie marks immediately prompted Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo into action and they began to pick up the apples and drop them in the baskets. However they quickly finished and looked towards Rarity to buck another tree. Rarity obliged and bucked the next tree allowing Sweetie and Scoots to help out on the farm. Satisfied that the three could handle the job, Applejack and Bloom went to work on their own trees.
Sweetie and Scoots set a quick pace and soon Rarity was struggling to keep up. Rarity tried slowing down to catch her breath, but she could never catch it fast enough. Looking over to see how much farther Applejack and Bloom were Rarity decided it would be to every ponies advantage if she used a bit of magic to help speed things along. As she approached the next tree she studied it carefully and selected several apples that she would wrap in her magic as she bucked. Setting up in the now familiar position, she unleashed two powerful kicks and in the space between the first and second kick dropped a few apples with the help of her magic. Looking at the results the technique seemed to be effective. Rarity quickly moved on to the next tree to get ahead of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and checked to make sure the two were busy with their task before selecting a few more apples to “buck.” Rarity was making great progress dropping more apples with magic than bucking, slowly catching up to team Apple.
Rarity looked back to see Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle working as fast as they could. Beads of sweat were working their way down Sweetie Belle’s and Scootaloo’s faces, struggling to keep up with the pace Rarity set. The two fillies worked as one, each knowing the others job as well as their own. They neither smiled nor talked as there was not enough time to. As they arrived at their next tree, neither looked up and instead concentrated only on the one tree, knowing that there would be another, and another, and another, and probably another after that. At some point Sweetie must have clipped her hoof because every time she took a step an annoying sting would make it’s presence known. Sweetie Belle looked over to Scootaloo and could tell that she hadn’t fared much better and absent mindedly wondered if it was worse to have one big scrape, or twenty small ones. Scootaloo looked up to see how far ahead Rarity was and was surprised that she couldn’t see her. She moved along the rows of trees and came to a small valley and looked down to see Rarity bucking the trees. Rarity looked up in surprise, smiled and waved to Scootaloo, and gave the tree another kick for good measure watching in satisfaction as the apples fell. Scootaloo made her way back to Sweetie Belle to continue their work, deciding it would be a good time to trade jobs with Sweetie.
Giving a quick sigh of relief, Rarity got back to her apple bucking. The slight sting she felt when she had started had transformed into what felt like raw skin. Each buck was harder than the last and her legs were beginning to feel weak. Deciding that it wouldn’t hurt to fall a few more apples with magic each time, Rarity slowly began to catch her breath. Her feelings quickly got the better of her though as she remembered what Applejack had said about using magic. Almost reluctantly Rarity moved to the next tree and prepared to actually buck it. Taking a deep breath, she kicked out with her two hind legs and visibly shuddered when her hoofs made contact. Despite the pain Rarity felt, she tried again and saw that hardly any apples had fallen. Rarity gave a small sigh of defeat and looked at what was left of her hoofs. She was shocked to find that in so short of a time her once perfect hoofs were chipped, dirty, and unbefitting of her. She actually suppressed a quiet scream when she looked up and saw just how much more work there was to be done. Thinking about how bad her hoofs looked now she imagined what they would look like after. Looking up to see that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were making their way down the hill, Rarity watched them for a bit as she ate one of the apples. Several bites in it was apparent that both of the fillies were extremely focused on their tasks and Rarity gave herself a mental pat on the back for teaching Sweetie the importance of concentration. Rarity quickly finished her apple and set her mind to bucking the trees. However, the first tree nearly made Rarity’s eyes water from the pain she was feeling. Deciding it would be a good idea to go back to using a little magic, Rarity continued working. Despite the appearance of bucking, Rarity hardly gave any physical effort and instead focused on using her magic. It wasn’t too much longer before Rarity stopped bucking the trees altogether, relying on her magic to do all of the work. Rarity calculated that at her current pace she could “buck” at least three trees before Sweetie and Scoots could do one. Deciding that it would be a good idea to slow down, Rarity made her way slowly from tree to tree, falling the apples as she moved. The work was so easy and routine for her after several trees that she found herself humming a tune to help pass the time.
Applejack and Apple Bloom were moving along at a steady pace, easily falling into the familiar rhythm that is bucking apples. To a casual observer, it would seem like the two were actually trying to make music rather than buck apples. The bucking of the trees, the falling of the apples, even the way they breathed helped create an underlying sense of energy, of purpose. It was beautiful to behold. The two hardly noticed or cared about all of the dirt and grit slowly accumulating in their coats. It was a fact of life living on a farm, but once accepted the rhythm could be unlocked and explored. To Applejack the rhythm of the farm was everything, guiding her choices and ultimately her character.
Looking off in the distance she could see Big Mac finishing up with his work and preparing to bring the cart around to collect the baskets of apples. Deciding that it would be a good time for a lunch break, Applejack called Apple Bloom and the two sisters made their way to where Rarity was working. It didn’t take too long to find her though, and when Applejack saw what Rarity was doing she just couldn’t believe it.
“Apple Bloom, why don’t you go and get some lunch ready an’ meet us back here alright?”
“You bet. How about some sandwiches?”
“Hmm… sounds good,” answered AJ rather distractedly, who was already trotting off towards Rarity.
“Well, that’s a mighty nice song you’re singing there. I thought you’d be out of breath by now, guess not, eh?”
“Wha, why Apple Ja-a-a-ack, I didn’t see you there… how long have you been, watching?”
“Long enough. Look, I know you want to help out around here and all, and it’s mighty kind of ya but we just can’t have anypony using magic. Tain’t natural.”
“I know, I know… I’m really sorry, but look at my hoofs. They were hurting so bad that I just couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Well… shucks. If your hoofs were hurting that bad, why didn’t you just find me? There are tons of other jobs that need to get done around here.”
“WHAT! Why didn’t you say so. Applejacckk I need a new jobb, my hoooveesss are killlinnngg mmee.”
“Whining about it ain’t gonna work on me. Try again.”
“But they hurt, and they’re all dirty. Is there anything else I can do?”
“You mean something that don’t involve you usin’ magic?”
“Oh... that.”
“Yes, THAT! I can’t believe you would do that. Usin’ magic behind my back especially when I told you not to. I just don’t know what to think about all this.” Applejack sat down in the dirt and struggled internally with her emotions.
She shot a look at Rarity and was taken aback slightly when she saw how distraught Rarity looked.
Applejack couldn’t help but feel bad for her. She shrugged it off, got up and went over to her friend, Rarity.
She put a hoof on her shoulder and sighed softly. Rarity looked up to her and mumbled a soft “I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright suger cube. I’m sorry I lost my temper. I shouldn’t have yelled at ya like that. Can you forgive me?”
Rarity was taken aback. She thought about what Aj had said and let it sink in. She looked back up to Applejack and with a tad more confidence in her voice and said “Can you forgive me?”
They sat in the sun for several seconds before Applejack broke the silence.
“Couse’ I forgive you sugar cube.”
The two let the moment sink in and pass. Applejack again broke the silence.
“Cheer up Rarity, it’s not so bad once you get used to it. Besides, it’s lunch time. Why don’t you head on back to the house an’ have a sandwich.”
“I guess I can handle that.”
“Great, I’ll go an get Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Meet ya back at the house.” She gave her a slight nudge in the right direction and headed back towards the house.
As AppleJack left, so too did a piece of Rarity’s heart. The only thing she could think about was how she betrayed AJ’s trust and so took her time getting back to the house. Lost in thought, Rarity looked around and sighed. Applejack seemed to accept her apology well enough, but Rarity knew that there was a rift in their relationship that wasn’t there before and she was at an absolute loss at how to go about fixing it. Rarity put one hoof in front of the other, looking down towards the ground. She couldn’t help but think about how dirty her hoofs had gotten. They would need some serious attention when she got home. Finally, she arrived at the Apple’s house and saw everypony enjoying each other’s company and some sandwiches. Taking her seat at the table, Rarity took one of the sandwiches with her hoofs, still very conscious about using her magic on the farm. She took a bite and chewed slowly, and just looked out to the fields, trying to enjoy the sense of peace and tranquility that Applejack seemed to find out there. After several minutes she gave up and returned to her sandwich, constantly looking at the damage done to her once pristine hoofs. Curiosity got the best of her and she glanced around to see what everypony’s hoofs looked like. Not surprisingly, Apple Bloom’s looked alright, maybe a tad dirty but that’s to be expected. A slight twinge of guilt shocked her as she saw Sweetie Belle’s hoof with the rather large, but relatively minor cut on it. Scootaloo seemed to be ok, but the tiny cuts must be driving her slightly insane. When her eyes rested on AppleJack’s, Rarity nearly fell out of her seat. The evidence of countless hours of hard work were plainly visible for any who cared to see.
Suddenly, a thought struck her and it just felt right. She knew what she must do, and she hoped that it would not only mend her friendship with AJ, but also help her gain some business at the boutique. With a speed that surprised even herself, Rarity jumped up from her chair, startling everypony.
“Hold on there Rares, where are you off to in such a hurry?”
“No time to explain, inspiration waits for no pony,” Rarity stated as she galloped back to her boutique with a certain glint of determination in her eyes.
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Valley Girl Rarity best Rarity?
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For everyone
any feedback about the emotions during the dialogue sections would be helpful. Mainly, are you getting how they are feeling without me describing their body language. Thanks :)