Always Together, Forever Apart

by bahatumay

Chapter 7

Morning finished breaking, and the sun finished rising. Not long after, Applejack returned, a wide smile on her face. “Well, hey there!” she started. “How did you sleep?”

“Not very well,” Ledger Line admitted with just a hint of bitterness. “Almost froze my horn off.”

“Aw, shucks. Sorry to hear that.” Applejack stretched. “I got a great night's sleep out there.”

He cracked a smile. She was such a bad liar. “Oh, I’m sure,” he said sarcastically.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “And just what's that supposed to mean?” she asked.

“I met Rainbow Dash.”

Applejack froze. “Who, now?” she squeaked, her voice nearly an octave higher than normal.

He chuckled, almost taking pleasure in her discomfort. “I met Rainbow Dash,” he repeated, a bit slower than before.

Applejack licked her lips. “Did you now.”

“You left her in the saddlebag. You grabbed the wrong one when you took off last night.”

Applejack blinked. “Huh. Thought she seemed a little too quiet.”

He cracked a smile. “She seemed like a great pony.”

Applejack cracked a smile back as she relaxed. “That she is,” she said slowly. “That she is.”

“She, uh, left this for you,” he said, passing her the note.

Applejack nodded as she took it. “Gotta communicate with notes,” she explained, flicking it open with a quick flick of her wrist. As she read it, her eyes brightened, and a genuine smile spread across her face. “Rainbow…” she whispered wistfully. She glanced up at Ledger Line. “Can't wait to hear her voice when it's not just screaming,” she murmured.

“Huh?”

“It's a painful transformation. So the only time we get to see each other, at twilight and dawn, we're in pain. I gotta see her little face all scrunched up and she's screaming like a rusty gate in a twister. It ain't a pretty sight.”

Ledger Line nodded. “She left so I didn’t have to see. I could hear, though.”

“She’s a good mare,” Applejack murmured as she finished reading. She exhaled and folded it. “Ok, since she started this, I’ll bring you up to speed. How far did she get?”

“She said you went to Tartarus and got your answer about what Stratus Shine did to you.”

Applejack nodded. “Yeah. Turns out Rainbow is really good at chess; but don't tell her I told you that. She's super embarrassed about it. Calls it an egghead thing.”

Ledger Line cracked a smile.

“As for the whole curse-breaking thing, we’ve got a couple things to try,” Applejack explained. “One is a potion recipe. We’ve got a zebra friend who can whip it up no problem. Probably. We’re hopin’, since it was something we drank, drinking something else will cancel out the curse.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Ledger Line asked.

“If that doesn't work, we're gonna kill him with this.” She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a short dagger, curved and wickedly twisted. The hair on the back of Ledger Line’s neck lifted. It was definitely a magic artifact, but like none he'd dealt with before, and he hoped she'd put it away quickly. “It can kill an undead pony. We were right about that part. If he dies, that’ll stop the curse cold.”

Ledger Line hesitated as something occurred to him. “That implies that…”

“Yeah,” Applejack said softly. “No more transformations. Ever.”

Ledger Line nodded, processing this. He licked his lips, not wanting to ask but needing to know. “So which one of you remains pony?”

“I don't know,” Applejack sighed. “It's probably Rainbow; he's a pegasus and she's a pegasus, and earth ponies ain't exactly known for walking on clouds. Unless you know a good cloudwalking spell?”

He shook his head. “Clean out.” Clouds were somewhat hard to come by in the desert, except when they weren't.

Applejack exhaled. “It don't matter too much,” she said. “Hopefully the potion works; but if it don't, and we have to use the knife, I’ll be fine with it. Being together's really all that matters to me, no matter what we look like.” She stood up and stretched. “Welp, that’s enough jawing,” she said, heading over to the cart. “Let’s get going. Got lots of stuff left to do!”

* * *

Back in the main sorting area, the two ponies looked over their haul. The ones in the barn had been more or less spared, but their journey back had taken them past many, many trees that had been damaged in the storm.

Applejack said what Ledger Line had already suspected. “Everything here is good, but just about everything else is a total loss. After lunch, we can go see what we can scrounge from the other trees, and maybe use the better stuff for pie filling; but I think this is as about as good as it's getting.”

“But did we get enough?” Ledger Line asked.

Applejack shrugged. “We can only hope,” she said.

The rest of the day was quietly hopeful, and the trees in the south part of the orchard were not a complete loss, either. By the time they came back for dinner, they were returning with sizable baskets, and more were on the schedule for tomorrow.

As Applejack cleaned up the food, she did another plate and left it on the counter. “For Rainbow,” she explained at Ledger Line’s confused look. “Secret’s out; might as well make the most of it.”

Ledger Line nodded. He'd almost forgotten, but her ‘midnight snacks’ made a lot more sense now. “I'll stay up for her, if you'd like.”

Applejack smiled. “I’d appreciate that; and I bet she'd like that, too.”

* * *

Rainbow Dash ate voraciously, shoving the food into her mouth. Ledger Line had long since given up trying to update her on their situation, instead overcome by morbid fascination at her eating habits.

“I gotta say, it’s really nice eating at a table again,” she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hoof. “Applejack brings me food all the time, but sometimes I miss being civilized, you know?”

Ledger Line cast a suspicious eye at Rainbow’s plate and the bits of food surrounding it. ‘Civilized’ was a bit of a strong word.

She finished everything on her plate, sat up, burped loudly, and then brought her plate over to the sink. “Alright, what can I do?”

“Do?”

“Well, I’ve got no excuse to not help now,” Rainbow said with an easy shrug. “Besides, at this point, I just really want to get Applejack back.”

“Sounds good,” Ledger Line said hesitantly. “Do you know how to use a packer?”

“Sure I do!” Rainbow said. “I worked here for a while, once, chasing down Applejack.” She sighed. “Good times.”

* * *

“It was a long time ago,” Rainbow defended herself.

“Must have been,” Ledger Line snarked, “because you put that gear mechanism on upside-down.”

Once it was oriented correctly, though, Rainbow seemed implacable. She worked fast, almost as fast as Applejack.

“You and Applejack make a good couple,” Ledger Line said, fighting to suppress a yawn.

“Thanks!” Rainbow said. “Now go to bed before you fall asleep on your hooves. If I know Applejack—and I do—she's got a long day planned out tomorrow looking for more undamaged cherries.”

As Ledger Line went to bed, he found himself really hoping that this spell could be broken.

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

YAY, more RD! I hope the first option works, but I think we all know it won't. Where would be the fun in that?

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

8140184 That's me, too, but that's true.
No suspense, and everyone who's EVER seen Ladyhawke knows how things go in it.
Drama to the very end,.

Where would be the fun in that?

Indeed!