Search for a Home

by TheRainbowDashShow

Applejack

Applejack trotted hollowly down the black concrete roads that paved most of Manehatten. The streets were littered with a large quantity of garbage at every corner, and giant clouds of smog were being produced from the dozens of foundries established inside the city. The aroma of the rotting trash on the roads, and the pollution from the factories combined together filling the air with an almost toxic scent.

The orange filly continued down the streets, looking at a map every few minutes, each glance she grew more frustrated. The whole thing made her feel like she was trying to applebuck with her face; both ineffective and exhausting. Her cheeks began to fluster with anger as she found herself somehow back at the original street she had arrived at, she gave the map one last examination before ripping it apart with her teeth.

Having given up with the now unsalvageable map which blew away in the putrid air, she attempted to ask a pony for directions. She approached a gray pony with a silver mane who wore a black top hat, and a golden rimmed monocle, her nervous voice squeaked, "Uh, excuse me sir, ah was wondering if-"

"OUT OF THE WAY YOU RUBE!" he shouted at Applejack, shoving her aside and continuing on his way.

The filly felt ashamed for whatever mistake she had just made, so she kept quiet and didn't look back at the stallion. Just as she was ready to make another feeble attempt to ask for directions, she came to a familiar building she had seen in photos back at the farm. A large red brick house towered in front of her, an image of a pair of oranges stamped above its massive doorway.

Applejack walked inside slowly. The hallways were coated with a fresh layer of cream colored paint, and illuminated with twirling fluorescent bulb fixtures attached to the ceiling. Portraits of sophisticated and well-dressed ponies were aligned side by side, covering a good portion of the pale walls. Her hooves pattered quietly on soft orange wool that carpeted the floor beneath her, decorative green patterns sewn into its borders.

At the end of the long walkway stood a mahogany door sharing a similar color to that of the carpet, just in a lighter shade. On the center of the wood, the same picture of a pair of oranges had been imprinted into it as well. Applejack took in a deep breath, knocking lightly on the door which was soon answered by a yellow stallion with a lime green mane. A beige mare with a sandy blonde mane wearing a rather heavy looking golden choker, encrusted with emerald and hessonite gemstones soon accompanied him.

Applejack let out a wide smile, "Aunt Orange! Uncle Orange! Thank y'all so much fer lettin' me stay!" she said gleefully as she walked inside studying her surroundings.

"Y'all" Aunt Orange repeated before bursting into laughter, "Isn't she just the living end?"

Soon Uncle Orange chimed in, "Ha-ha how quaint!" he said making every effort to make himself sound far more educated then he really was.

Applejack looked down at the silver and black tiled floor of their main room, she suddenly felt embarrassed about her mannerisms.

"Don't worry; we'll have you acting like a true Manehattenite in no time." Aunt Orange said proudly as she bounced Applejack's golden mane.

The young orange mare blinked blankly at Aunt Orange, she couldn't help but think maybe the pony had been dropped on her head a few too many times as a filly. "Uh, that's great!" she replied, putting on a fake smile. "So, um, what room will ah be stayin' in?"

The cream colored pony nearly gasped, "You will be staying in the guest bedroom down the hall third door on the right. Furthermore, you will do well to remember it is pronounced eye… aye… I… not ah" she lectured the filly with a belittling tone of voice.

Applejack bit her tongue, holding back her irritation, she took another deep breath to calm herself before speaking again, still making no effort to cover up her southern accent. "Uh, thanks, ah'm gonna go unpack!" she said quickly, running down the hallway.

Aunt Orange nearly lost balance as her ears were tortured once again with such poor pronunciation. "I'm going to go unpack" she corrected, "and in this household you will walk, never run!"

Applejack slowed her pace down to a walk, "Sheesh!" she muttered under her breath "It is pronounced I, not ah." She mocked as she trotted through the hallway, "Ah'll pronounce it 'ah' until yer hooves fall off!" she said bitterly, pushing the white painted door open.

The room was small and rectangular in shape. The floor was covered with a burnt orange bordered navy blue carpet, an uncolored diamond shape in the middle. A tangerine shaded blanket covered a steel framed bed pressed against the peach tinted walls.

The bedroom did not share the same fancy lighting system as the rest of the household did; the only source of light was an inactive dark purple electric lantern that rested on the nightstand in the corner of the room, in between the small square window and the bed.

Applejack trotted over to the bed, unhinging her saddlebag, and placing it on the bed. She proceeded to the other side mattress towards the small lantern, and pressed the on switch. Its soft yellow glow brightened the dark room, revealing pictures of ponies or flowers pinned to the wall.

However, what captured the orange filly's eye was the light pink wooden dresser a few feet from the window. A small pin orange pin cushion sat on top of it, next to a tiny blue vase, but what she saw behind the two was what she was interested in. She scampered over to the object to get a better look.

What she spotted returned the emotions that she desperately wanted to escape. It was a brown wooden picture frame holding a photograph of a filly. The pony frozen in place on the image shared a striking resemblance to herself. A small dark orange mare grinning widely as a lassoed rope hovered above her brown cowboy hat covering a short honey-shaded mane.

Applejack had been so caught up with trying to find her way to the Orange's home, that it had provided the perfect distraction to keep her mind off what had caused her to come here in the first place. Now it was clear to her as to whose room this used to belong to, softly she placed her hoof on the glass of the picture frame and whispered sadly, "Ah miss you, momma."

She slumped herself away from the dresser, and onto her mother's old bed, hugging the white feather pillow tightly. She attempted to suppress her sorrows, as she did; small sniffles escaped her, picking up on something that helped comfort her. Despite the entirety of the house smelling of the citrus fruit, the bed's blanket and pillows emanated with scent of blooming apple tree flowers.

Applejack lay there quietly, squeezing the soft cushion, staring at the silver crescent moon hanging just above Ponyville outside the window. After a few minutes, the view was gone, covered by the thick cloud of chemicals and smoke.

Here in Manehatten everything was so industrial. Since Applejack had arrived, she heard no birds chirping their sweet songs, nor witnessed any naturally flowing sources of water. What bothered her most about the city so far was that she had yet to see a single tree, not even one sapling.

The familiar aroma of the apple flowers had helped to make this strange foreign place seem just a little more like home to her, but only for a few moments. Every last ounce of nature had been purged, replaced with machinery and pollution. She assured herself that these were things she simply needed to adjust to, and that she would grow to appreciate them, but deep down, she didn't believe it.

There was a light tapping on the bedroom door, "Yes?" Applejack called out.

The door crept open, and Aunt Orange walked inside shutting the door behind her, and then joined the filly on the bed. Gently, she picked up the weepy-eyed pony and hugged her, "Me and your mother weren't exactly the closest of ponies." She said, softly stroking Applejack's back. "She always spent her days out in the fields playing, whereas I spent mine studying in the library. The two of us rarely spent any time together, and when we did, it always ended with us arguing."

Applejack dried her eyes on her aunt's shoulder, listening silently as she continued to speak, "I couldn't wait to leave Ponyville, I had always dreamed of coming here to the big city. When the day finally came, I packed my bags, and I left without saying a word to her…"

The beige pony's sky blue eyes started to moisten, and her voice broke apart, "Ah loved mah sister, and ah never even told her, ah was always so angry at her, an' ah don't even know why… When ah was told the news..." Aunt Orange began to shed tears, and she was unable to continue the charade of her posh speech, "All ah could think about was every last cruel thing ah said tah her, and how sorry ah was. Ah wish ah had taken any chance ah had been given so ah could make things right with her, tah tell her how important tah me she really was."

Applejack put up a strong face; it had never even occurred to her what events she could be resurfacing, "Ah'm sorry, Aunt Orange."

The crying mare let out a laugh of embarrassment when she realized she was pouring her emotions onto a mere filly, "Oh heavens, she was your mother, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. I didn't mean to burden you with my troubles, I'm sure you have your hooves full trying to deal with your own emotions, and you don't need the extra weight." She said, recovering her sophisticated accent, and smiled. "Now, it's getting late, so time for bed!" she kissed Applejack on the cheek, switched off the purple lamp then stopped at the doorway.

"Good night, Aunt Orange." The filly called out from across the room.

The beige pony let out another smile, "Good night sweetie." She replied, and then walked back out into the bright hallway.

Applejack understood now that her Aunt Orange wanted to change her mannerisms not because she was intolerant or too high class, but because of how much alike she was of her mother. Everything she said, and everything she did must have brought up so many memories for her Aunt. Painful memories that would fill her with sorrow and regret for every cruel word she may have said, and all the lost opportunities to mend her mistakes with her sister.

"Good night, momma, ah love yah." Applejack whispered to the photograph across the room.

A strange noise awoke the sleeping filly sprawled across the bed beneath the orange sheets. The sound wrenched at her ears as it blared through the quiet room. Applejack covered her ears with her pillow as she looked around to find the origins of the hideous high pitched beeping that disrupted her dreams.

A clock bounced around from the force of a small metal pin bouncing back and forth between two bells welded to its top. Unsure of how to make it stop, she poked a small button on the back of the clock, which only made the ringing grow louder. She flinched, and prodded the other button, and it stopped.

Applejack let out a small sigh of relief when once again the room was filled with only the sound of clamoring ponies outside. She looked out the window to observe as the crowds made their way to carriage stops, or breakfast stands selling all kinds of steaming-hot foods she had never seen before.

Uncle Orange poked his head quietly through the doorway, "Oh excellent, you're awake. Fix your mane and come outside into the main room." He commanded, retreating back into the hallway once more.

Applejack hopped over to the mirror on the dresser, "Fix mah mane? What's wrong with mah hair?" a quizzical look covering her face while she examined herself, bits of her golden mane pointing in all directions. She shrugged and re-tied her mane and tale with her scarlet hair bands, then skipped over to the door.

Prior to opening it, she caught what her Aunt and Uncle would view as improper, and decided it was best she follow the house rule and maintain a steady walk instead. As she entered the living room, joining the Oranges' in the living room, Uncle Orange covered his face with a hoof when he set his gaze on the filly.

"What?" Applejack asked innocently, not understanding what she had done wrong this time.

He trotted over, grabbing a tuft of her mane, "I thought I told you to- oh never mind."

Aunt Orange approached with a look of disapproval "This simply won't do." She said, taking the same tuft from the stallion. "I suppose I will have to teach you how a proper pony does manetenance"

Applejack found herself getting annoyed again, "Ah don't get it, what's wrong with mah mane?"

The mare corrected her again, "I don't UNDERSTAND, what's wrong with MY mane, and what's wrong with it is that it appears as if it's been placed in a blender."

"It does not!" the orange filly shouted.

"A lady never shouts. I also think you'll find that everypony will agree with me on the matter. Now come with me, I'll show you how to properly brush and style your mane." Aunt Orange patted Applejack on the head and trotted away.

"But-" the filly began but stopped herself, she knew there would be no point in arguing, so she did as she was told and walked silently behind. Soon Applejack found herself sitting on a stool in front of a large mirror.

"Now, dear, it is quite simple, first you just…" Aunt Orange grabbed a brush with her teeth, then combed down Applejack's blonde mane, "and then you…" she grabbed a few transparent bands off the counter, then proceeded to layer the mid section of her mane on the upper section, "after that you just…" she picked up the base of her mane, placing it on the newly layered mid-section, adding a third layer.

Using the bands she secured the sections in place, forming what Applejack would describe as a mountain of mane. "And it's as simple as that, any questions?" Her manestyle was an exact replica of Aunt Oranges now

"Uh…" Applejack thought for a moment, she could tell her Aunt the truth that she didn't have the faintest idea of anything she had just done, or she could just lie and avoid the ordeal being repeated. "Nope, ah got it!" she wore the suspicious grin she always put on whenever she lied.

"Perfect, now we can move on to your speech. Remember, a true Manehattenite pronounces it I, not ah, and we never use slang such as got it you will instead say understand. Now you try." Aunt Orange nudged the filly's shoulder to provide motivation.

"Oh fer pete's sakes, really Aunt Orange?" Applejack protested.

"Yes, really, go on now." She said nudging her once again.

Not wanting to prolong this lesson any longer than necessary, Applejack once again, did as she was told, "I do believe the weather outside will be quite splendid today."

"Oh that's perfect! It appears this won't be as difficult as I thought, very well done!" Aunt Orange beamed.

Applejack stifled a laugh; she had actually been mocking her Aunt, and hadn't in the least bit even attempted to be genuine. "Does this mean we are through with the lessons for today Miss?" she continued, replicating the voice she had just used.

Aunt Orange grinned again, the perfect pronunciation of each word like music to her ears, "I should say so. Perhaps I'll even have you join us for tonight's dinner party."

"Oh that would be just lovely." Applejack replied even more sarcastically than before, not at all thrilled about the idea of spending an entire dinner with a group of upper class ponies who probably couldn't even tie their own bowties.

Applejack hopped off the seat, and walked away, "On second thought…" Aunt Orange examined the filly's stride, "your hoofing could use a little work."

"Oh do we have tah?" Applejack's voice being covered up by her Aunt clearing her throat, while making strange gestures, "Uh, I mean, do we have to?"

The beige pony nodded, "We most certainly do. We can't have you trotting around the house like you were raised on a farm."

Applejack tried to think of something to defend herself, "But ah was raised on a farm!" she argued weakly.

Aunt Orange placed her hoof over the filly's mouth to silence her, "That isn't important. Right now we need to focus on making you more lady-like. Now walk down the hallway and back."

Applejack groaned again, and began to trot down the hallway. As she turned around, the face her Aunt was made her feel as if she looked like a drunken mule wearing roller-blades on an ice skating rink. Her Aunt continued to watch, and when Applejack came to a halt, she covered her face with her hoof, just as Uncle Orange had earlier.

Aunt Orange let out a quiet, "Hmm…"

"Oh it can't be that bad!" Applejack cried out a little peeved.

The mare walked over to Applejack and circled her repeatedly, taking mental notes as she did "Now, keep your hooves close, take small steps, always move your front left hoof, and then the back left hoof, then do the same with your front right, and back right hooves." Aunt Orange quickly pushed and prodded the orange filly's hooves, manipulating them into the proper position. "Alright, now let's give this another try."

The filly took a small step with her front-right hoof, fighting the urge to move her back-left hoof. Carefully, she moved the proper leg forward, and repeated the step with the opposite side, moving incredibly slowly.

Once Applejack felt confident enough, she attempted to move a bit quicker, the result was her tripping on her hooves and planting her face into a black tile. She let out a laugh of embarrassment, and Aunt Orange, once again, covered her face.

The two practiced at this for hours, the result always the same. Applejack could keep her balance, but at the pace she moved she would lose a hundred yard dash to a snail. She eventually made some progress, and brought her record of taking five minutes to trot down the hall, down to a depressing four minutes instead.

As they continued working tirelessly, a knock on the front door interrupted them. "Well, it appears we've run out of time Applejack, be a dear and open the door for our guests." Applejack nodded and trotted off, forgetting her lessons. "Properly!" Aunt Orange called out.

The orange filly grumbled as she awkwardly approached the door, the banging growing louder as the ponies outside became impatient. She looked around to see if she was being watched, which she wasn't. Quickly, and silently, she bolted to the door in her normal manner, and opened it.

A familiar gray pony with a top hat and monocle walked inside. It had been the same pony she tried to get directions from the other day. The stallion kept moving, taking a spot at the end of the dinner table, making no effort to acknowledge Applejack.

As she was about to shut the door, an entire group of ponies arrived. All the stallions were wearing monocles and black dinner jackets. Applejack was curious as to why they did so, it in no way made them look intelligent, just old.

The mares that entered were dressed in glittering pieces of jewelry, and absurdly large hats that were meant to be fancy, but all the hats seemed to accomplish was making them look absolutely ridiculous.

Applejack peered out the door, finding no other ponies about to enter she closed it, and slowly walked to the only empty spot remaining at the table, all eyes watching her as she made her sluggish journey. The staring eyes seemed to say to her, "Could you please just move a little slower?"

Finally the filly made it to her seat, her white dimples on her cheeks now bright red from the shame of her pitifully slow journey.

A brown stallion that happened to be the only male pony who wore a pair of glasses instead of a monocle eventually broke the silence. "And how are you finding good old Manehatten" he asked, staring directly at Applejack.

"Oh it's simply divine!" Applejack replied in her posh voice.

"Very well said my dear." Her aunt whispered into her ears.

The filly grinned, finding a new confidence in herself; she dared to continue on, "Although, I must admit, the city noise took some getting used to." Everypony at the table was watching her again, smiling with adoration as she kept on talking, "Where I'm from nights are so quiet you seldom here a peep until the roosters wake you." As she spoke parts of her mane came loose, flying out in random directions, and at the mention of the word roosters, the smiles around the room quickly faded.

Everypony at the table gawked at her, "The what-?" a white mare asked.

The same brown stallion spoke again, "I say my dear, what in the world is a rooster?" he sounded as if he were insulting her, and all the ponies were stifling laughs.

Applejack immediately regretted her decision to try herself at a conversation. She racked her mind trying to think of what to say, afraid of looking foolish. Two rings from a bell interrupted her thoughts, as well as the mocking gaze of the eyes surrounding her.

"Dinner is served" A unicorn called out.

Plates covered with round silver lids levitated in front of everypony. "Thank goodness, being a city pony is hard work, I'm so hungry I could eat a…" Applejack's thoughts were interrupted as the covers were removed. The miniscule amount of food that rested on her plate made it nearly impossible to identify, she couldn't guess whether she was looking at a carrot, or an orange slice. The only thing she could recognize in front of her was a small bit of parsley being used to garnish the plate.

The ponies around her cut down their food into even smaller sized bites. Applejack imagined shouting at them, explaining they could easily fit dozens of whatever this was in their mouths with no problems. She burst out into laughter as the mental image of how they would react if she had done this.

Silverware clattered down onto the plates, and once again all eyes fell on her again, "Would you feel like sharing whatever it is that you find so amusing?" asked the gray stallion who had called her a rube the previous day.

"Oh, it's nothing." She answered, picking up the single slice of orange colored food and placing it whole in her mouth. "Ah-ha! It's an orange." She thought to herself. Everypony stared wide-eyed at her as she devoured the tiny wedge of food in a single bite.

Uncle Orange elbowed her, "If you'll excuse my niece, I think she is rather tired." He said, motioning for her to leave. Applejack obeyed, quiet snickers escaping her as she trotted down the hall in her normal fashion. As she walked, she looked back at her Aunt, her face partially concealed behind a handkerchief to hide her grin at the filly's performance.

Unable to sleep the young orange filly paced back in forth in front of the window for what had most likely been hours now. She had spent most of the time listening in to the topics, most of which she was unable to follow, as they had continuously used words she had never even heard before. Eventually the conversations of the ponies in the dining room died away as the hours went by.

Applejack found herself again with no distraction to prevent her from thinking about Sweet Apple Acres. She waddled over to the window, finally giving up on trying to silence her thoughts. It was almost time for applebucking season to start, and this was the first year she would be old enough to participate, before she had just done simple tasks like placing the buckets by the trees, or sorting out the bad apples from the barrels.

Her mind wandered to her mother and how she would never hear from her again, and how much she would miss her. She started to reflect back to her Aunt's story she had been told last night. Aunt Orange's tale made her remember that she to now would have a sister living at Sweet Apple Acres, and she definitely didn't want to share a similar relationship that her mother and Aunt had.

Applejack hadn't realized how long she had been staring out the window, just thinking. As the sun rose, so did her want to go back to the farm. "Cock-a-doodle-doo…" she said sadly as the sun came over the horizon. Just as it did, a rainbow formed, ending just above Ponyville reminding her of Rainbow Dash, the new friend she had made, and then abandoned.

The beautiful arch of colors made her think of exactly how much she missed the outdoors, and the apple orchard. How much she missed her friends and her real family and how much she wanted to be there for her new baby sister. Most of all, it made her realize that even with her mother gone; she still belonged somewhere, and that place was not here in Manehatten.

Applejack gathered up her unopened saddlebag, and hitched back on herself, and rushed out the door. "Bye Aunt Orange! Bye Uncle Orange! Thanks again fer letting me stay!" she called out to the two ponies that were still asleep. Slamming the door behind her, she ran down the orange carpet and onto the black paved street heading towards the dirt road leading to Ponyville.

As she ran down the dirt road, she soon escaped the foul stench of the city, and breathed in the country air, enjoying its fresh, clean scent. Trees came into sight, their dark green leaves reflecting sunlight off the dew drops that covered them. Soon followed by the appearing trees, the sound of birds chirping beautiful melodies replaced the noise of hundreds of city ponies talking all at once.

Finally, Applejack came to the sight she had wanted to see most; a brown wooden sign dangling from a small vine covered archway connected to a short white painted fence that surrounded hundreds of acres of lush farmland. As she walked through the fence's opening, she took no notice in the image of three red apples forming on her flank. Applejack was just glad to be back. This was where she had belonged; this was her home, at Sweet Apple Acres.

Comments

[TheRainbowDashShow]

Yes I am aware chapter two is partial canon. It is supposed to be an elaboration of what happened as the show never went into much detail. It never explained what triggered her to go to Manehatten and hardly anything of what happened there.

[Tay the Chemist]

Um... flees, not fleas, in the story's description. As it is now, it's saying there's a type of Rainbow Dash insect living in an orphanage. Which, frankly, is (sorry for this) 20% cooler than other fleas would be.

[TheRainbowDashShow]

839243
I swear to walruses, I miss the STUPIDEST things in the world.

[Tay the Chemist]

839246 Yes, but so does everyone else.

[DbzOrDie]

839246 are the other chapters gonna be relevant for 'The rainbow arc' or only the AJ and RD chapter?

[TheRainbowDashShow]

839264
Honestly the Rainbow Dash chapter is the only one that has relevant information at this moment. Which, will be important for the whole series.

[TheRainbowDashShow]

839479
Don't worry, that gets explained. Story is still in progress. Although yes you are probably right about the flight school thing. I kind of mucked that up a bit...

[Arco Iris]

"Manetainence" pony puns are too MANESTREAM

[TheRainbowDashShow]

839508
THANK YOU! You are the first to ever respond to this, it's been driving me crazy!

[Arco Iris]

839521 its a great story, with maybe 3 or 4 more chapters like this, it'll get featured. i especially like how you give aunt orange more personality than some prude stuck up old lady like in the show, keep writing!

[IAmScootaloo]

This is awesome! Can't wait to see more.

[RageSeeker]

Uhm...is any continuation planned?

[TheRainbowDashShow]

1495917
Yes, a continuation is planned. I've just been super busy with moving out, getting a job, etc. Started doing a lot of real life things in the last 5 months or so, so it's been a bit difficult to work on my stories. :( But yes, I will continue this, when I eventually catch up on everything.

[Applejack_8]

when we are going ta see the next chapter?