A Bittersweet Apple

by MegaTJ

Fighting a Losing Battle

Fighting a Losing Battle

"Phew…it's a scorcher out t'day!" Applejack squinted against the brightness of the sweltering day and let her eyes adjust as she left the farm house. Big Macintosh waited for her near the last few trees with four buckets of apples Thorny had bucked earlier in the morning. He was too busy putting a harness on to notice her.

She wiped the sweat from her brow. She had just finished moving the bales of hay to the barn, and that was tiring enough. Now she and Big Macintosh had to carry the morning's apples into Ponyville for a hopeful profit. It was going to be a long walk to Stirrup Street for her today. Her hoof had only just finished recovering, and today was the first for her to get back to real work instead of just lounging around the house with almost nothing to do.

She happily trotted across the yard to her older brother. She helped him tighten his harness and wiggled into hers. "It's gonna be pretty hot today, Big Mac."

"Eeyup", he agreed.

"Say", she said, looking around, "You seen Thorny? I ain't seen him since he left to go buckin' in the orchards. Is he done?"

"Ah think Granny Smith sent him off somewhere", he answered.

She nodded. "Probably some business with the mayor 'bout expandin' the south fields."

The red stallion shrugged. He latched his buckets to the hooks on his harness and hooked up to their mobile stand. He started off for Ponyville in silence like they did ever since Thorny suggested two ponies work the stand during the week. Now Big Mac and Applejack worked the stand on Wednesdays instead of just him.

Applejack followed him with her apples at her side. She didn't talk; it used energy she couldn't spare until they stopped. She trotted alongside Big Macintosh into the scorching plains of Ponyville's outskirts. It was an instant hassle. The burning ground instantly stung their hooves and refracted heat into their faces. She didn't complain. The last thing she wanted was to be offered help on her first day back on the job.

They trekked over the blazing hills, carrying the weight of the day's heat with them along the way. It was an automatic hassle on the two farm ponies. What was supposed to be an easy walk to town quickly transformed into a sweat-filled desert crossing. The already-fatigued ponies were nearly dragging their hooves by the time they decided to take a small break.

Applejack wiped the sweat from her face. "Phew! Now why would Princess Celestia decide to make it so dang hot today!?"

"If you can't handle it…" Big Macintosh's heavy voice said.

Applejack straightened up. "Now hush up with all that! Ah can get there just like always!"

The bigger sibling obeyed and didn't open his mouth again. It made no sense to argue with his sister. If she wanted to do it, she would do it. No matter what "it" may be. And almost nothing could stop her.

"Applejack!"

The Earth Pony sighed in frustration. This was the last thing she needed! Looking behind her, Applejack saw a pink container of energy bouncing toward them. Twenty minutes in, and they already hit their first speed bump of the day.

"Not now, Pinkie Pie! Ah got work t' do", she said.

The sugar-energized pony stopped in her tracks, still smiling to see her friend. "I just wanted to tell you that Rainbow Dash is going to make it rain and cool everything down. It makes sense since the sun is putting out so much heat like—"

"Why are y'all tellin' me?" Applejack inquired, generally confused, but glad that she had the delay to rest a bit. She would never admit it, but she was glad she had the break. She and Big Macintosh were carrying more apples than either of them were used to. They had Thorny's seemingly non-stop horsepower to thank for that.

"Because you look soooooo hot and tired. If you want to cool down, Rainbow Dash is going to make it rain soon. Hurry to town if you want in on the fun!" Pinkie Pie didn't even let them answer. She just bounced down the path toward Ponyville's marketplace.

"Ah'll never understand that pony", Applejack sighed.

"Ah don't know about you, but Ah would like to catch the rain before it starts", Big Macintosh stated. With that, he started walking. Applejack frowned, but followed wearily.

The main street was full of ponies moaning and lying still on the ground in the heat. Overhead, Rainbow Dash and a black Pegasus were moving all the nearest clouds over Ponyville. The shadow provided only some refuge from the high temperature. The heat made it hard for anypony to carry out a job correctly, so many were sluggish in even setting up the booths that should have been undergoing business for the past two hours. Complaints and groaning were the only sounds being made besides the flapping wings of the Pegasi collecting what few clouds left floating through the air. The farm ponies continued on until they got to their usual marketing spot.

"Okay, Dash. I think that's enough", Applejack heard the black Pegasus call. Rainbow Dash plopped down on the cloud, breathing heavily. He landed next to her and fanned her off with his wings.

"Thanks Cloud", she gasped. He flapped his wings harder while she stood up.

"Ready?"

He nodded, "Let's get this over with."

They both flew upwards until they landed on a small cloud that barely held the two of them. It was much higher than the big, dark gray cloud they had accumulated a few minutes ago. They stood on their hind legs facing each other. Slowly, they fell backwards, picking up speed as their altitude dropped. They dived downwards, and then flipped so that each of their hooves hit the cloud. A huge crack of lightning streaked from the cloud followed by an instant downpour.

The ponies below them cheered. The rain was just what the doctor ordered. The Pegasi that brought the relief flew down to join in on the cool fun. The young fillies and colts of the town were now running and splashing in puddles. The older ponies focused on getting everything set up for the day. Now that the air was cooling, the pace of the town picked up and things were beginning to get accomplished.

"Ahh", sighed Big Macintosh.

Applejack was too busy setting up their booth to notice. Most of her fun outside rodeo season came from the hard labor she went through every day. Just as she finished, the first customer of the day trotted up through the celebrating.

"Howdy there!" Applejack greeted over the rain.

The pink pony smiled an average day-to-day smile behind her glasses. Her apple red bow was drooping with wetness and her watch was covered with mud. She was carrying a large burlap sack. "Hi, how much for all you have here?"

Applejack did a double take. "Did y'all hit your head or something? All our apples?" Applejack asked in disbelief.

The customer nodded seriously. "Yes. My little cousin has just been born and it is my family tradition to hold a feast in celebration. My job is to gather a good supply of apples."

"How many apples did we bring?" Applejack whispered to Big Macintosh. He shrugged.

Applejack looked at the apples and tried to give a rough estimate, which was pretty tough since Thorny provided them with enough apples to feed a couple of families for a week. "Err…Ah think we have about 800 bits worth of apples here."

"800…" the pony echoed, "Good! I have just enough for it and a fifty bit tip for each of you!"

If Applejack's jaw wasn't connected to her face, it would have been muddy on the ground. Even Big Macintosh was surprised. What kind of pony carried that kind of money around?

"I take it we have a deal." The pony raised an eyebrow. They shook their heads and blinked.

"Big Macintosh, y'all help our friend here get these apples home. Ah'll bring the money back t' the farm", Applejack instructed.

The burlap sack that the pony had on her back jingled as she hooved it over to Applejack.

"900 bits. And thank you."

Applejack shook her head. "No, thank you. Y'all have no idea how this'll help our farm."

When the baskets were in place on Big Macintosh's and the pony's backs, they went their separate ways. Applejack hooked up to the stand and started on her way out of the marketplace. Pinkie Pie saw that the farm pony had finished work super early, and bounced over to her friend, hopping and splashing in any puddle she could find between her and Applejack.

"Applejack, you sold all those apples really fast, huh?"

"Yep, and now Ah get to bring the money we made back to the farm and count it." Applejack donned a large smile, signaling her happiness of the day's sellout.

"Soooooooooo…" Pinkie drug out the word. "You wanna do anything fun?"

"Ah can't just at the moment, but Ah'll come a lookin' for you when Ah'm done." They continued to walk, well, in Pinkie Pie's case bounce, down the path to the farm. The wetness had by now dried from their coats, leaving them once again vulnerable to the sun. It soon got very hot again. A bit of good luck did smile upon them, however. The wind started to pick up. It cooled them down, until something crazy happened. Suddenly, the wind turned into a fierce torrent of air, whipping them both in the face and almost ripping the grass from the ground.

"Weeeeeeeee!" Pinkie Pie cheered as the wind picked her up from the ground and flung her through the air.

Applejack had the exact opposite reaction. She desperately tried to stay on the path, happy that she had the cart to tether her to the ground. She had to keep the sack of money on the ground with her. If that bag was lost, then so were many of her hopes of fixing up the farm. She gripped the heavy sack and hung on for all she was worth.

Unfortunately, something just could not withstand the wind. Her signature hat flew right off the top of her head before she could clamp a hoof on it. She watched it soar away sadly. She had worn that hat ever since she had started her farming duties as a young filly.

When all hopes of anypony helping her were gone, a colt dashed onto the path at full speed. Applejack immediately saw that it was Thorny. He jumped once, and after getting the momentum he needed, jumped as high as he could, catching the hat in his mouth. He flipped it onto his head and kept running, jumping a third time and into a low hanging cloud. As he came out of the other side, three young Pegasi that were causing the wind flew away, either rubbing their sore flank, or just trying to get away from the bigger pony.

The pale green pony landed. He straightened up and looked at Applejack with a wide smile. "Y'all miss me", he said cheekily.

She stared at him in disbelief. Of all the ponies…

"Ah do believe this is yours." He held Applejack's hat out.

She shook her head, eliminating any more thoughts of how he looked and took her hat back. "…Thanks, Thorny. Who were them trouble makers?"

He shrugged. "Dunno, Ah just saw what they were up to and did somethin' about it."

She turned to pick up the sack again. "Thanks, again…"

"Let me get that for you." He picked up the sack and slung it on his back.

"Now Ah can handle it by myself-" He cut her off.

"You and Big Mac done already? See what I was tellin' y'all about teamwork and such?" He gave her a cheeky grin.

She blinked. Irritation hit her, not only had he interrupted, he still had the bag. "Thorny, gimme the bag. Right now."

He stared at her. "Ah'm sorry, Applejack. It's just that y'all was looking real tired and Ah just wanted to help is all…" He set the bag down, and as it lowered, so did his ears. He began to walk to the farm without her.

Applejack watched him start to walk away. Had she been that mean to him? Guilt caught up quickly, compelling her to rush forward to stop him, accidentally jerking the stand. "Wait. Ah'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell like that…it's just this dang heat."

"Can I at least pull the stand?" he asked with a hopeful smile.

"Alright, fine", she said casually. "But don't come whinin' to me when you hurt yourself." In the back of her mind, she was very happy she didn't have to pull the weight of the stand and the bits behind her. She fought it as hard as she could, but she lost the battle to a smile spreading underneath her nose.

"Y'all should know by now Ah ain't no weakin'." Thorny took the mare's place in front of the folded up stand and pulled it along with no effort at all.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie had just fallen out of the tree, giggling and bouncier than ever. She was watching the two talk and Applejack laugh nervously at a joke Thorny had made. They didn't noticed her eavesdropping and soon started to walk back down the path to the new home of the bits in the bag. Pinkie flew into the air, her hooves running before she even hit the ground. The other Elements of Harmony would definitely like to hear about Applejack's new coltfriend.

Applejack walked silently while Thorny yammered on about something he and Granny Smith were talking about earlier. She wasn't really paying any attention. In her opinion he talked a little too much. However, something about what he was saying reminded her of his absence for most of the morning. "Thorny", she interrupted, "where were y'all this mornin'?"

"Oh, that…" Thorny rubbed the back of his neck. "Granny Smith sent me to talk to the mayor 'bout rentin' the community center for Saturday."

That struck Applejack over the head with a stick labeled "odd". Before she could ask, Thorny answered her question.

"She said that the barn wouldn't be fixed up enough in time for the Blue Moon Harvest Festival." He looked at her. "Ah said Ah could do it, but she wanted me to talk to the mayor still anyways."

Applejack couldn't believe it. For the past six years, the Apple Family's annual custom was always held in their barn. "Did Granny Smith lose her marbles? The barn just needs a cleanin' and a paintin'. And that ain't gonna take long!"

"An' Ah'd hate to see somethin' so tradition like that be held in someplace it's not supposed to. When we get back to the farm y'all wanna get it cleaned up?"

Despite still being uneasy around him, Applejack couldn't refuse. It was just ludicrous to have the Blue Moon Harvest Festival in a place other than the barn. "Ah guess…"

There was no telling how much longer Big Macintosh was going to be, but she couldn't wait for him with the list of things they had to do. The Blue Moon would be over Ponyville Saturday night and that was not much time to get everything ready. Thorny did fix up much of barn, but it wasn't quite ready to hold a celebration. Applejack listed off the things that needed to be finished before the hootenanny started.

"When we get back, Applejack, y'all tell me what needs t'be done."

"What?"

"Y'all been workin' in the barn, right", he asked. "Before your hoof got better?"

She nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Then y'all gotta know what needs cleanin'. Ah don't know much outside what Ah saw the other day…"

She didn't know if he was playing her for a fool or not, but she liked the idea of getting to tell him what to do. "Alright, we'll see when we get there."

They stayed quiet for the rest of the walk. Occasionally, Applejack would chance a glance at the stallion, but quickly looked away before he could suspect her of looking. Thorny's head was too far in the clouds to have noticed anyway, so he just kept walking. By the time the heat got unbearable again they reached the farm. Thorny quickly made for the shade of the trees to drop the stand while Applejack left to tell Granny Smith about the profit. Before Thorny followed her in, he stopped by the well beside the house to dip his red bandana into. Once it was thoroughly drenched he dumped the bucket over the rest of his body.

Inside the house, Granny Smith was busy filling jars with freshly made apple jam. She thought she heard Applebloom walk in, but the filly was in school so assumed it was Thorny on his way back to tell her what the mayor had said. One could only imagine her surprise to see her granddaughter back so soon from selling apples. At first, she feared something may be wrong, but that was only until she saw the wide smile glued to Applejack's face. The younger mare set the giant burlap sack down on the dining table.

"Granny Smith", she said with a chuckle, "Hold on to your dentures, somepony just paid us nine hun'ered bits for our apples today!"

The years of life experience Granny Smith had couldn't have prepared her for news like that. She gawked at Applejack for a good ten seconds before Applejack laughed.

"Ah'm not lyin', y'all can see for yourself."

"I believes ya, Applejack", Granny Smith replied. "I just can't believe our luck."

"Ah gotta say, it's got a whole lot better since we hired Thorny", she blurted. Her eyes widened as she watched her grandmother smile knowingly at her. "N-no, Granny Smith, y'all know—"

"Ah need to get all this money in the family vault", Granny Smith interrupted. With that, she grabbed the heavy bag of bits and, with great difficulty, dragged it from the kitchen. She stopped in the doorway, "Don't worry, your old granny's still got some muscle left, eheheh."

She disappeared, leaving Applejack to question just what she had said to her grandmother. She didn't get much time to think before Thorny trotted in. The water still dripping from his mane was all it took to bring her out of her thoughts. She blinked but didn't turn around. "What'd Granny Smith say?"

She remained silent, not wanting to talk to him just yet. In her head she ran over a few safety precautions. She put her mind on the sole subject of fixing the barn. "I didn't get to tell her 'bout it. She went ahead and put the money up."

"Say, why don' we s'prise her by fixin' up the barn all the way!?" he suggested excitedly.

"Ah was thinkin' the same thing", she agreed. She finally turned, then wished she hadn't.

The light coming through the kitchen window bounced from one of the shiny lids of Granny Smith's jars to Thorny's freckled face, setting the pale green ablaze with light. His eyes twinkled with happiness. She had tried so hard not to look at him for too long since the walk back home and now she was staring him straight in the eyes! Her face darkened to red-orange with a blush while his just went red. They watched each other in what seemed like an endless staring contest.

When the burning in Thorny's eyes started to really hurt, he blinked and looked away. "…Ah guess we should start doin' it then…"

Only barely hearing him over her pounding heart, she replied in a mumble, "Yeah, let's get on it…" She let him leave first, then followed slowly out, wondering just why she couldn't keep her act together. With a sigh and a huge amount of willpower, Applejack followed him out to set into motion what she had yet to know would be the events to something she could never see coming.

Author's Note:

Confusing last sentence, no?