Always Together, Forever Apart

by bahatumay

Chapter 9

Ledger Line didn't pay much attention as Rainbow retold the story. Zecora’s soup was simple but filling and flavorful; and, best of all, it didn't have any cherries in it at all. He ate happily.

“And so that’s why we need your help,” Rainbow finally finished.

Zecora pushed her bowl away and tapped her chin. “I truly wish there was a way / to have at the same time night and day,” she said thoughtfully. “The curse would likely broken be / if you together he could see.”

Rainbow cocked her head. “Say what, now?”

“All spells have fail-safes. The magic may travel / but with a paradox situation, it would surely unravel.”

“Yeah? Waiting for twilight doesn’t seem to work,” Rainbow scowled. “We’ve tried that.”

Zecora hesitated, as if about to say something else, but then smiled. “Then I’ll stick to that which I know how to do. / Let me look at this potion for you.” She cleared the table and rolled out her neck.

If Applejack was a master of the orchard, Zecora was a master of potions. Like some kind of master chef, she cast a practiced eye over the recipe. She pursed her lips, murmured to herself, bobbed her head as she imagined how the ingredients would react together, looked over at her supplies, drew circles in the air with a hoof as she considered it, and then she inhaled through her teeth as she reached the bottom. She turned to look at Rainbow, a slight look of regret in her eyes.

“Expensive and you don’t have all the ingredients?” Rainbow supplied.

Zecora smiled wryly and nodded. She jumped as a sizeable bag of bits landed on the table, spilling its golden treasure across the top.

“Money is no object.” Rainbow grinned widely. She leaned over to Ledger Line and stage-whispered, “I've always wanted to say that!”

But Zecora still didn't look convinced.

“What is it?” Rainbow asked.

“Another hitch, I believe I have found. / This last ingredient: angustia ground.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her hoof in a circle, wordlessly asking for clarification.

“It's a rare mushroom, white and brown / and grows in the forest, close to the ground. It’s rarely found, for it’s rarely seen; / they are only found few and far between.”

“How few?” Rainbow asked.

“How far?” Ledger Line asked.

“They grow every two years or so. / And this last cycle ended four months ago.”

“So how much do you have?”

“Last time I found a little patch.” Zecora winced. “It’s enough for half a batch.”

So just one pony could drink it. Ledger Line grimaced. He did not envy being put in that position.

Neither did Rainbow. She shook her head. “Who else has it?”

“Unless I myself harvested it / I will fear it's counterfeit. // And its most common imitator, Bladewing’s Fall-” here, she pointed at another of the ingredients on the list, “-has a deadly reaction with Ear of Threstral.”

Rainbow looked up at Zecora. “So, basically, one of us is free, the other will keep changing?”

Clearly hating the answer she had to give, Zecora bowed her head and nodded.

Rainbow stood up abruptly. Her face contorted, her expression unreadable, and she disappeared.

Well, a rainbow-colored blur zoomed through Zecora’s hut, rattling most of the items inside; but then, yes, she was gone.

* * *

Ledger Line found her in the forest. It hadn't been too hard; he'd just had to follow the muttered stream of angry words.

Timberjack turned and growled at him, as if letting him know that she preferred to be alone, but Rainbow Dash scratched at her ear, and she calmed down enough to let Ledger Line approach.

Rainbow didn’t even wait for Ledger Line to start before bursting out. “We were so close. So close!” She slammed a hoof into the ground. “Almost free!”

“You're getting somewhere,” Ledger Line wheedled.

“Barely!” Rainbow snorted. “Just one of us? How is that fair?”

Ledger Line inhaled, held it, then let it out. “It's not,” he admitted. “It’s really not.”

There was a lengthy pause.

“What are you going to do?” Ledger Line finally asked.

“What I have to do,” she answered. She looked up. “You have paper and quill?”

Ledger Line cracked a smile. “Always.”

* * *

As Zecora and Ledger Line sat down to breakfast, the door to Zecora’s hut burst open, and a rather disgruntled orange earth pony with her hat askew stomped in. “If that fool pegasus thinks for one pear-pickin’ minute that I'm going for that, she's got another think coming.” She marched over to the table. “Ledger Line! Paper and quill!” she ordered.

Ledger retrieved it quickly. He had no desire to cross Applejack, and certainly not when she was acting like this.

Applejack quickly wrote her response, underlined a few portions, and then snorted, clearly self-satisfied.

There was a pause.

Ardie squawked, as if reminding all that she was currently a hawk, and therefore could not read; and would remain thusly illiterate and unable to respond until the sun set.

Applejack scratched at the back of her neck. “Uh… so, uh, Zecora, need anything done around here while you're gone?” she offered.

* * *

Rainbow Dash crumpled the note and tossed it into the fire. She snorted, self-satisfied, and then looked towards Ledger Line. “Quill!” she called. She paused, then looked at the paper burning in the fire. She bit her lower lip, slightly bemused at her own actions. “And paper,” she amended.

* * *

“It's not…!” Applejack slammed a hoof into the page. “Quill!” she called.

Ledger Line huffed as he retrieved his (now somewhat battered) quill. “You two deserve each other.”

* * *

The door to Zecora’s hut opened, and Ledger Line looked up from the table. “Zecora!” He brightened. “How were the Smokey Mountains?”

Zecora entered and hung up her traveling cloak. “It was glorious. Time flies past / when you're able to afford first class. // But as fun as it is to far away roam / there is no feeling quite like coming home. // It was a productive trip, I picked enough / of ingredients we need, and other rare stuff.” She paused. “If you don't mind me asking you / what is it, that work you do?”

“Picked up some accounting work in Ponyville for the downtime,” he said, gesturing at the pages. “I don't know if you know who DJ Pon-3 is, but her finances are a mess. This mare goes through headphones like they're candy, and unless she can prove she used each pair in her studio or for live monitoring—like, actually for her business—I can't write them off as business expenses.” He sighed. “And Rainbow Dash and Applejack still haven't decided on who’s drinking yet.”

Zecora shook her head wryly as she organized her shelves, sliding her new ingredients in place. “Though offending none is a personal rule / I dare say each of the two are stubborn as a mule.”

“I can hear you two, you know,” Applejack called.

Zecora sniffed dismissively as she pulled a jar off the shelf and looked at the back. “To be fair, I was aware; / I just simply did not care. // Though you may feel the path forward’s hilly / I confess I think you're acting silly.”

“Yeah, well, look at it from my perspective,” Applejack defended herself. “How am I supposed to condemn her to that over myself?”

Zecora shrugged. “You love each other. If I may, / so you may have a better day // have Rainbow drink, and then, for one, / neither of you will fear the sun.”

Applejack paused. “That's… logical,” she was forced to admit. You could do a lot more during the day. She sighed, grit her teeth, and then exhaled. “Alright. I'll let her know.”

* * *

Zecora’s calm words and simple logic convinced Rainbow Dash as well; and before long, Zecora was working on the potion. She hummed contentedly to herself as she worked.

She was the only one. Rainbow shifted in place consistently, and Ledger Line was only awake because he was morbidly curious to see how this would turn out.

Soon, far sooner than either pony had expected, Zecora was done. She poured the potion out, a dirty murky brown, into a small cup and slid it over.

“Nervous?” Ledger Line asked.

“Me?” Rainbow squeaked. “No, no, not at all. Maybe a little apprehensive.” She looked at the potion in front of her. She exhaled. “Yeah, I'm nervous,” she confessed quietly. “It's… logical, I guess. And us both being there during the day, I… day’s good.” She paused, then darted over to the window and stuck her head out. “No offense, Luna!” she called to the night sky.

If Princess Luna had heard, she didn't respond.

Rainbow sighed and pulled her head back inside. She looked up. “Zecora?” she said, asking for advice.

Zecora shrugged. “Any speech I could make, I'll save. / It's time for you to be loving and brave.”

Rainbow nodded. “Alright. Bottom’s up.” She inhaled. “For the day. For Applejack.” Steeling herself, she tilted it back and downed it.

“How is it?” Ledger Line asked.

Rainbow nodded, as if tasting the subtle intricacies of the flavor. “Tasted like a skunk’s tail hole.”

Zecora cracked up laughing.

Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder at the timberwolf outside. “Mind if I stay outside tonight? I… I want to see her. When, you know.”

Zecora nodded. “That would be fine. / I do not mind.”

Ledger Line slept well that night, excited to see what the morning would bring.

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

SO CLOSE! yet SO FAR

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

8150880 Indeed!

Can't wait to see what happens next!

But I do wish that they could do something to the sleezebag that STARTED all this with his selfishness.

[AJtheRaven]

Can't wait for more!