Appledashery

by Just Essay

For the Love of a Bushel

Sweet Apple Acres loomed below like an emerald chessboard with red-bespeckled pieces. Hedge after hedge of plump fruit glistened in the sunlight. A lone pony trotted from row to row, her golden coat casting a golden sheen. She paused in the middle of her labors, pulling her hat off and brushing at her sweat-kissed bangs.

Rainbow Dash stared from cloud level, wings flapping, legs curled to her fuzzy chest. Gone was her apron, her chariot, and her clipboard. All she carried now was a saddlebag and a limp cloud of hesitation, and she was presently fidgeting over which of the two to toss first.

"'Heya, AJ,'" she murmured aloud, gulping. A faint smile. "'Working hard, huh? Say, would you mind lending me a bunch of your apples? I just need them to... uh... use 'em for Wonderbolt practice! Y-yeah! After all, I hear that Spitfire and Soarin' have added a new pie-juggling stunt to their flight maneuvers and I wanna see how my slick skills add up!"'

Silence.

Rainbow Dash grimaced, then rubbed her face into a pair of forelimbs. "Mmmm-rfffgghh! Idiot. That won't work! How could that ever work?!"

More silence.

Clearing her throat, the pegasus lifted her face and grinned plastically into the sunlight. "'Hey, hotstuff! Mind if I borrow a few apples?! I've flown in from Trottingham and boy are my forelimbs tired!'" A pause. Her eyes went crooked. "Hotstuff?! Ungh! Friggin' get with the program, Rainbow. You just need a few apples! That's it! Just a barrel! No more!"

Applejack could be seen sitting with her flank to the wagon. She fanned herself with the hat, sighing into the country winds over the farm.

Rainbow's jaw clenched and unclenched. "Buck it. Let's knock this out." Before she could squeak at herself in protest, she rocketed down to earth level. Her descent was so swift that her spread feathers produced a whistling noise in the air. "HeyAJhow'sithoofing—Ohcrap!" At her momentum, she barreled viciously into a pair of stubby trees. Thud!

Applejack gasped. The first thing she did was juggle her hat and slap the thing swiftly atop her head, pulling the article tight over her ears. Breathing with relief, she stood up, brow furrowed. "Rainbow?! What in tarnation...?!"

Rainbow poked her head out of a swath of leaves, wheezing for breath. Upside down, she horse-smiled and squeaked, "Hey hot-apples! Mind if I borrow a few stuff?! I—I mean..." She gritted her teeth, twisted, and fell loose to the grass floor below. "Whoah!" The nearby cart rattled.

"Uhhhhh..." With a blank expression, Applejack trotted over and helped Rainbow up with a strong hoof. "Come again, sugarcube?"

"Ummfnngh..." Rainbow Dash stood up straight, shaking her head viciously. She failed to launch a branch or two loose from her spiked mane. "Hey there, Applejack."

"Hey yerself. Now what's all this dive bombin' business about?" Applejack's green eyes narrowed in the center of her sweaty forehead. "I'm rather busy at the moment."

"I, uhhh..." Rainbow Dash stared at Applejack's flouncing blonde bangs. "Uhmmmmm..." Applejack's tight, curved muscles and sweat-slick flank. "Ahem." She spun her petite body around and pretended to march proudly in a casual circle. "So, I was doing my usual rounds today, delivering junk to ponies all across Ponyville and beyond..."

"Oh, right..." Applejack nodded with a slight grin. "Yer new job! How's that holdin' up, exactly?"

Rainbow went on. "...And I was starting to break a sweat. So I thought to myself 'Jee, Rainbow! If only you had a way to parch your thirst in the middle of all this hot afternoon air-gliding n'jazz!' And then it occurred to me. 'Duh! You have a best friend who grows the most delicious apples in all of Equestria! Why not ask her for a few to spare, and then you can make yourself an awesome baked snack to munch on in the middle of doing your rounds!'"

Applejack stared at her. When it became apparent five seconds later that Rainbow had nothing more to say, the farm-filly performed a double-take. "Oh! Uhm... right. Apple... snacks... huh?"

"Oh, y'know..." Rainbow shrugged. "I figured I'd make a fritter... or a pie..." She ruffled and unruffled her wingfeathers. "...or a fritter." She bit her lip.

"Darlin', do you even know how to bake?"

Rainbow Dash instantly paled. Her pupils shrunk as she stared into oblivion.

"I mean, unless you've been hangin' out with Pinkie Pie a lot lately."

Rainbow's mouth hung open dumbly. "Uhhhhh..." She shifted her weight from one hoof to another. "Buhhhhhhhhh..."

Just then, Applejack sighed. "Reckon it doesn't really matter none." She hung her head. "I'm awfully sorry, Rainbow Dash..."

Rainbow snapped out of it. "Huh?" She leaned forward. "What for?"

"But I'm afraid I can't lend any apples at the moment," Applejack said in a low, remorseful tone. "Even to a good friend."

"What—really?" Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed. "Not even a barrel?"

"A barrel?!" Applejack barked.

Rainbow slunk back like a frightened cat. "Eh heh heh heh!" She sweated nervously. "Kidding! I'm j-just kidding!" She gulped and stammered, "But, in all seriousness, your hooves are tied."

"I... I apologize, darlin'," Applejack said, nervously rubbing one forelimb with another. "Normally, I'd totally let any pony take a hearty sample of my family's finest fruit."

"Yeah... Uh... wh-what gives?"

"It'd take too much time to explain. Just believe me when I tell you that I'm unable to spare any fruit at the moment. It breaks my heart, but that's the way it's gotta be."

"What..." Rainbow blinked, then smiled brilliantly. "Wh-what if I pay for them?!" She reached into her saddlbag and pulled out a bit satchel in her teeth. "Mrmmmmfff—I just g-got paid this week too—"

"Rainbow..."

"How much for a dozen apples?" Rainbow squatted, rattling through coins with her hooves and an opposable wingfeather or two. "I'll give you an extra few coins for delivery and labor! Not that tossing them ten feet at me counts as 'delivery,' but hey, you look tired as heck!"

"Rainbow, I'm sorry!" Applejack said, a bit more forcibly. She sighed hard. "I just can't, Sugarcube. I need every single one of these here apples for... for..." Applejack squirmed where she stood. "Well, for a special harvest the family and me are doin', ya hear? Maybe in a few weeks, I can spare some, but now...?"

Rainbow stared at her, muzzle agape. "Does this have anything to do with Filthy—?"

Applejack snapped her a look.

"Uhhhh-F-f-filthy irrigation?!" Rainbow grinned wide, cheek muscles twitching. "Cuz, y'know... pegasus pony!" She winked and gave her wing muscles a good flap. "I'll go round up some crystal clean water from the nearest lake and get these orchards soaked up in a jiff!"

"It ain't as simple as that, sugarcube."

"But—"

"Please, I respect yer loyalty and all, Rainbow..." Applejack gave a weak smile and rested a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "But I've got this. Really, I do." She brushed past the pegasus. "I'll make it up to you somehow, ya hear? It may not be soon, but I will. I promise." She spun her rear legs towards a tree and gave it a heavy buck. "Mmmf! I'll... I dunno... throw you and the rest of the gals a special apple feast. We'll all..." She sighed as she began collecting the fallen apples. "We'll all eat like queens..."

Rainbow Dash rubbed her shoulder where the warmth of Applejack's touch still lingered. With folded ears and a cracking voice, she muttered, "You sure that you can't spare any?"

"All I can afford to give at the moment is my attention, Rainbow." Applejack sweated and wiped her brow. "But, sorry to say, even that is a might bit stretched out at the moment." She smiled wearily. "How about you drop on by sometime in the mornin' tomorrow, right before I set to work, and we can give it the gab, ya hear? For old time's sake..." She kicked and bucked at the tree again. "Nnngh! I may have a strict harvest to deal with, but Celestia forbid the day I can't afford to share some time with a dear friend."

"Uhm... sure..." Rainbow Dash felt her wings flapping before she could stop them. "I'll... uh... I'll mull it over."

"You do that, sugarcube." And Applejack returned to letting her frustrations out on the trees.

Comments

[Tchernobog]

Oh no... things are that dire?

[MellowMabari]

Gah, just tell her, ya flying feather duster! I'm sure Applejack would jump at a business opportunity, especially one as potentially promising as what Fancy Pants is offering. And, no offence, but I hope Rainbow was planning on having Pinkie bake the apples up, because if she tried to give the buffalo something she made she'd probably cause another war rather than avoid one.

[zaponator]

Well... crap. Honestly forgot that this might be an issue.

[BabySkittleMonster]

Hot-Apple? Well... That's a new one. And I'm not too sure Hot Apple would appreciate you calling her produce "stuff".

[Metal Aura]

5189456 Hey, Apple-Stuff can I have a barrel of hot?

[Lucasmembrane]

Seriously, RD? Tell her the truth!

Where's Genie when you need him?

[arancaytar]

A lone pony trotted from row to row, her golden coat casting a golden sheen. She paused in the middle of her labors, pulling her hat off and brushing at her sweat-kissed bangs.

I'll never get tired of Skirts narrating AJ's appearance through Rainbow-vision.

[arancaytar]

"Darlin', do you even know how to bake?"

Fun fact, Dashie: Did you know that at Sweet Apple Acres they not only grow famously good apples, but they also bake them into famously good pies?

Why not ask for those?

[Boop-Happy Lass]

8444154
Me too. XP