A Pony a Day

by OfTheIronwilled

Glass (8/5/2022)

Applejack didn’t really know how to feel about the stained glass.

She cocked her head at it as her friends trotted (or in Pinkie’s case, hopped) ahead through the castle, chattering all the way. Normally Applejack would be pleased as punch to join them in their talk, but something about this hallway – the sun pouring like apple jam through the depictions of her friends’ adventures – always got under her hide. She wouldn’t lie: even though he was sort of her friend now, or at least pretty darn close to becoming so, part of those jitters came from the memory of that first meeting with Discord. The shape of him moving unnaturally across the colorful glass like a snake in the grass, it just sent shivers down her spine thinking of the way she abandoned her Element and her friends soon after.

But mostly it was her. That little picture of her on her hind hooves, front hooves in the air like she was just raring to go off and save Equestria one more time.

Of course, it wasn’t as if she regretted it none. She was proud to fight beside her friends, save the nation she called her home. It was just…

Applejack gulped. She brought her hoof up and brushed the rim of her beloved hat.

Why, she was just a humble apple farmer. Giving a helping hoof to the ponies in town, being known as the most dependable pony in Ponyville, that was one thing. She loved helping ponyfolk, and it would be a lie to say she didn’t like at least a little of the attention it garnered her. But to be a national hero? Galavanting off and vanquishing magical demons and whatnot?

It was… she gulped. It was just a lot for a little pony to take in sometimes, that was all.

“AJ, come on! Put a move on, cowgirl!” RD called to her from down the hall.

Applejack shook her head of these silly thoughts. Overwhelming or not, the changes in her life had also given her some of the best friends in the whole wide world, some gals she would consider close as kin. And that meant more to her than some silly stained glass mural ever would.

So she buried the squirming feeling in her chest, let a smile replace her grimace, and trotted after Rainbow Dash.

Her tiny reflection watched her go all the while.