Appledashery

by Just Essay

==Part Three: Trouble on the Farm==

”And if we don’t get Granny’s hip replaced soon, she might be stuck with havin’ to use a miniature carriage or some other form of wheels permanently.” Applejack took a deep breath, gazing into the fluttering rose bushes that lined the cobblestone pathway. “Her body has taken such a toll on her throughout the years. Of course, she never fusses about it, ‘cuz she’s tryin’ to keep a strong face for the rest of the family. But I can see it in her face: she’s sufferin’. We’ve gone on for far too many years, puttin’ the extra expenses on the farm without so much as payin’ her back for all of her loyalty and commitment.”

“Jeez, AJ…” Raindow Dash exhaled, hovering above where the mare sat on the edge of the Diamond District in upper Canterlot. The sun was setting on the day after the Gala, casting a golden sheen over the polished granite walls and immaculate rooftop shingles. “I knew that getting old sucks, but when it’s somepony you know and care about…?”

Applejack nodded. “Granny’s always been so strong. That’s what makes it so darn miserable seein’ her fall apart after all these years. And it’s not just her health.” Gulping, the mare adjusted her hat and gazed up at the Equestrian expanse looming beneath the bowers of Canterlot. “She’s worried somethin’ awful about the farm.”

Silence.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. She hovered lower as she muttered, “Doessssssssssss she have something to be worried about?” Her eyebrow arched in curiosity.

“Oh, Rainbow, it’s nothin’ for ya to get yer windy head all wrapped around.” Applejack waved a hoof, putting on a courageous smile. “Runnin’ a farm ain’t exactly no vacation. There’s always bound to be some bump or another around the bend, and each passin’ year is no different from the one before it. We’ve managed before and we’ll manage again!”

Rainbow’s brow furrowed. “If you ask me, Applejack, I’d say you were getting dangerously close to cracking your Element in half!”

Applejack flashed her hovering friend a frown. “I am so bein’ honest! The Apple family and I are totally gonna pull through the next two apple buck seasons!” She then took a deep breath, shuddering, her eyes distant and dull. “Somehow…”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “What’s really going on, Applejack?” She planted a hoof over her fuzzy chest. “You can tell me.”

“Oh Rainbow…” Applejack slumped on folded hooves, gazing forlornly into the burning sunset. “It just ain’t proper conversation for spendin’ a lovely afternoon like this with one’s best friend.”

Rainbow Dash smirked. “Wanna try me?”

“Please, sugarcube…”

“What? You think I’m not brave enough to take it?”

“Huh?!” Applejack squinted up at her. “Heck, no!”

“Then let ‘er rip, girl!” Rainbow Dash stopped flapping her wings so that she could plop down before the farm filly. “I’m all ears!”

“Pffft… ‘thick fuzzy ears’ are more like it.”

“Yeah, well, they’re your friend’s ears all the same.”

Applejack bit her lip. She looked at Rainbow, at the sunset, then at Rainbow again. After a deep breath, she spoke, and it was in a low tone. “It… it ain’t good, Rainbow.”

“Oh?” Rainbow cocked her head aside. “Define ‘ain’t good.’”

Applejack opened her mouth, hesitated, and eventually sighed. “Things have been pl-plum awful this year and the one before last, Rainbow. What, between Big Mac bein’ injured, the parasprite infestation, and now the Gala bein’ a bust…” Applejack’s eyes watered slightly. “I don’t want the other girls knowin’ about this, but--at the rate which things are goin’ downhill--I fear that… that I may have to sell half the land.”

Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “Half of Sweet Apple Acres?”

Applejack gulped hard. “Or all of it…”

---

Rainbow Dash hovered still in the bright sunlight. Her face was long, sad, and contemplative.

Slowly, she tilted her head down towards her apron’d body.

A cardboard box lay in her hooves, and the name on it read “Apple Smith.”

The pegasus took a deep breath, two, then thrusted her head up. She was smiling bravely, a very plastic yet cockeyed smirk. With wings flapping, she descended on Sweet Apple Acres to deliver the package. She landed on the farm house’s front stoop, knocked on the door, and waited in a low hover.

At last, the door opened, and Apple Bloom stared out. Her amber eyes widened, and she gasped, “Hey! Rainbow Dash! How ya doin’?”

“Heeeeeeeeeey… just fine, ya little scamp! I got a package to deliver!”

Apple Bloom blinked, then made a face. “What the hay are you doin’ in that schmancy raincoat.”

“It’s not a raincoat,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “It’s more like a yellow funeral suit.”

“Huh…?”

”Ahem.” Rainbow Dash leaned forward. “Is… uh… one of the grown-up apples around?”

“What, you mean like Granny or Big Mac?” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Pffft!” She smiled and motioned into the house. “Come on in, Rainbow! I’ll fetch one of them! They can’t be hard to fine! Besides…” She waddled down the middlemost hallway. “...t’ain’t like an Apple pony to abandon this here farm!”

Rainbow Dash floated into the room, trying to keep ahold of her fractured smile. “Yeah… that totally wouldn’t be like you guys at all…”

---

Part Three: Trouble on the Farm
(Where Rainbow Dash Shares in the Sweat and the Dirt)

---

Comments

[Tchernobog]

I wonder how far back that flashback is...

[I AM CINNIMEN BUN]

3734001 probobly the weekend after the gala

[BabySkittleMonster]

I think this is perhaps one of my favourite arc coming up. Problem is, they'really all so good it's hard to choose!

[Metal Aura]

The shipping business is going well in all senses of the word at least.

[Snowdrifter]

”And if we don’t get Granny’s hip replaced soon, she might be stuck with havin’ to use a miniature carriage or some other form of wheels permanently.”

Trixie agree thagt this would be the worst. Possible. Thing.

[AppleTank]

inb4 Twilight buys the land?