She was there all along

by Thunder Light

Chapter 6

Your alarm went off more loudly than expected making you toss and turn before you move your hand blindly towards the direction of the sound. You start to tap randomly on your phone till you end up tapping on the stop button and the noise stops. You slide out of your sleeping bag, switch off your phone to save battery and start to clear out your tent. You double check to see if everything is in order, then you begin to carry your stuff outside your tent. As you step outside, you notices that Applejack's tent was already packed up and was neatly placed next to her belongings but you don't see her. You shrug it off and you start to dismantle your tent piece by piece. You pulled out the base structure and taking off the cover, before you eventually finish the last piece and placed them neatly in a bag. Just then, a 4x4 start to approach you as you placed down your bag to in surprise to see your car being driven by Applejack so early in the morning before you could do it.

“I see you're up early,” you spoke.

“Well, it's better to leave early, I already collected your car early so that we both don't have to carry our stuff back,” Applejack smirked.

You both worked together to put all the gears in the back while placing them neatly as possible and in the same position as it was in Applejack's car. You set the last bag down and head to the driver seat while Applejack close the truck and goes to the passenger seat beside you. This time, the gearbox has changed to be automatic rather than manual as you didn't want to break another car. You also wanted to get back into the habit of driving first until you're confident enough to switch back. Thankfully the mechanic allowed to switch the transmission box for free in exchange and a discount for the manual parts in order to fix the other car you broke earlier.

“Why’s the gearbox is different than before?” Applejack asked. You instead look at her rather than saying anything until she realised what you meant about the changes.

“Well, better not break this one,” she spoke.

“When are we getting your car back,” you asked.

“By the time we get back the car should be done fixing by now. But are you keeping yours?” she looks at you as you start to think about it.

“Probably not because I don’t wanna have to drive home alone and having to pay for petrol as well,” you said as a moment of silence returns. You didn't make any mistakes so far which was something you were hoping for. But you now have a challenge of driving continuously for hours while having to be on alert if anything was to happen.

“One more stop till we’re there,” you spoke.

“At least you finally get to see her again,” Applejack replied calmly.

“Yep,” you spoke back as another moment of silences comes back. It's very difficult to keep a conversion going for hours unless you had any ideas.

-----

While Applejack stares off into the distance, admiring the view, you finally thought of something as the two of you are only half an hour away from the nearest stop.

“This next town should be more interesting than the one before,” you said.

“What it's like?”

“Well, it's more bigger than the last but this town is pretty popular for travelling tourist to come by.”

“How would you know that?”

“I read up on the internet once while researching the difference between sport events happening in the countryside and our school.”

“You meant the athletics event just like the one we had at school?” Applejack said.

“Yes like that, but only with more of physical strength involved and more tougher events,” you spoke as you drove passed the overhead sign telling you that the next town is getting closer while the endpoint is further away for a few more hours.

“We’re almost there,” you said.

“That’s the last one,” Applejack said.

As the two of you exited the highway, you took extra care to put your foot on the brake more gently to allow the car to glide to a steady halt at the junction before turning left with the town coming into view. You drove slowly below the speed limit as trucks fly past you on the opposite lane carrying it’s heavy load while entering a number of tight bends as you make a steady turn through each blind corner. You try to stay close to the edge as possible while making sure you didn’t run off as more trucks comes speeding through as their loads lean close to you. While on the bends, another truck comes way too close to your driver side window giving you a glimpse of a truck that looks to drop its load on you making you end up flinching even though your window is up.

“Oh my, that was close, how can you drive through this?” you said.

“It’s not that hard, you just need to pay attention to what you're doing,” she said.

As you reach closer to town, you did whatever you can not mess up as you successfully passed 4 curves with the final bend coming up in sight. You make the final turn around a corner before you finally enter town successfully despite getting a few nervous fright from passing convoys of trucks as you sigh in relief.

“That’s some nice driving there,” she nudges you as you chuckled.

However, you went too fast on the straight to notice some obstacles lying on the road causing the car to jump violently a few times before realising that you were going over a few speed bumps. Some objects in the back jump up briefly and end up moving in different position, making some content fall over. Thankfully the car has some good suspension making the bump not as hard as you thought, but could have been if not driving a 4x4.

Applejack looks at you seriously as you could only try to make a fake smile. The bump causes your speed dropped down dramatically to a safer pace as you approach a roundabout within a hundred metres. Having to decide where to park your car, you look carefully on each side with no cars coming up from behind to rush you. On your left was a red large building, looking identical to the one ahead, leads to some residential areas. The right was a cream warehouse with a repair service being advertised above, leads towards the town commercial district. Ahead was a historic schoolhouse, but there's some parking on both sides with barely any cars nearby, making it an obvious choice.

You drove straight past the roundabout before turning left, and park right in front of a local store. You pulled the parking brake up, set to the gear forward to park before you start turning the key, causing the sound of a rumbling engine goes off smoothly to a calm silence. You look at Applejack before the two of you hop out of the car at the same time.

“Time to get some good rest,” you start to stretch out your arms and legs while Applejack takes a deep breath and enjoy the sights the town has to offer.

“Yep, this place is really amazing,” she spoke and look at you as you finish.

“Well, let’s go and get something to eat, I’m getting hungry from all that driving,” you spoke and she nod as the two of you head below the shade of the hotel balcony and walks towards the main junction.

Moments later Applejack spot a nice small white building by the edge of a steep hill. It was another cafe, but it was much smaller than what you had in mind. You can tell that it was originally converted from a house as the front windows still holds some plant baskets with flowers blooming along with a normal house door that hasn't changed at all.

You nod in agreement before suddenly Applejack grabs your hand while you both run across the road. By the time the two of you reached the cafe, you look at Applejack with a raised eyebrow before she lets go and looks away from you.

“Oh right sorry,” she said.

You both enter and head to the counter on the left. You ring the bell while scrolling through the menu above as the waitress comes out of the kitchen to take your order. There was a wall cut out on the right that leads to the balcony along with a huge glass pane that separate the area allowing to see the scenery from the inside. You admired the environment outside while you wait for Applejack to finish before the two of you walk out outside and sit at one of the tables closest to the edge.

“You know, everywhere we go there’s always a spectacular view,” you said.

“It is really amazing to see new places. And come to think of it, we really have gone this far,” she said.

“Yeah,”

“Wanna do something soon?” she asked.

“I don’t have much on my mind, but there’s an event today we can watch.”

“Isn’t it the carnival event?”

“Yes, it is today, but you can compete in it?”

“I’m good, I’m taking a break from a few I already compete, plus I already earned enough ribbons for this month,” Applejack said.

“Why not it’s a greater challenge you can take,” you said

“Hmm, I think about it, but I don’t think we have time for it,” Applejack said and you agree that she was right as the waitress comes out with your meal and you turned to thank the lady before beginning to enjoy your meal.

“So why do you live alone?” Applejack asked as you placed your sandwich on the plate.

“It's just that my family lives in another region and they tend to travel around a lot because of work and I decided that I rather stay and be able to continue my studies rather than dealing with a lot of moving. But sadly though I don’t get to see my family often in real life as they continue to move about, but at the same time, I don’t wanna leave as well cause I don’t want to put up with missing everyone I know and having to repeat again,” you spoke as you continue eating.

“It must have been hard for you,” Applejack said.

“Yeah,” you start to look down on your plate.

“Going really well, Applebloom has been camping with her friends recently at the beach, Big Mac has been helping out with the harvest and Granny Smith and Pinkie Pie are busy creating pies for the farmers market that’s coming up soon. I can tell that the pie taste really good with the way they made them.”

“What’s so special about them?”

“Can’t tell ya, it’s a secret,” she wink at you.

“We better get going,” as you looked at the time as it shows midday.

You finish off your sandwich quickly before you both paid for your meals and head back to your car. But you remember that you both need to gather extra supplies for your trip and you also need to grab some spare things for your car in case something goes wrong.

“Hold on, before we get moving I need to get a few things,” you said.

“We already have enough fuel and food, but what else do we need?”

“Gotta get some tools in case our car breakdown. It’s better to be prepared than nothing,” you said.

“Alright, good thing you parked your car right where the store is.”

"Also Applejack, we need some more water bottles, we ran out since the last trip," you said.

"Alright, we meet back here," she said.

"Yep," you said.

-----

Applejacks later return with a few large bottles of water as she unlocks the trunk with the spare keys you gave earlier. But when she opens the trunk, the place was a big mess of untidiness as multiple bags fell after going over a few speed bumps earlier. This causes many items to end up mixing with the other items where they suppose to belong. Applejack sigh in annoyance as she tidies up the back, sorting out the items to the correct backpack between you and her.

You were still inside the shop as you busily look at the different products that was available. But you couldn’t find any gears that would be useful to you and Applejack, as you only found some spare clothing and some more food, but no trolley jack or wheel spanner which is needed to change tires in an emergency as your car does not have much equipment to deal with emergencies.

“Can I help you?” the store clerk asked.

“Do you sell any tools for changing the tires?” you replied.

“It’s over at the back,” he pointed towards the small hallway leading into another area which you presumed that it was a garage, “we don’t repair cars often anymore but there should something you can use there.”

You thank the man and head into the garage through the short hallway. The garage was quiet abandon as the area, didn't had any activity going on for awhile. The main sliding door was rusted and worn out from heavy uses, cobweb can be seen from every corner of the building, cracks on the concrete floor, bricks getting chipped off and the roof was made using the same material as being in a warehouse to allow the sunlight to pass through. There's only a small broken light that still dangle from the ceiling as the light continue to flash on occasion as you look around the area.

There were all sorts of car parts laying around from truck bumper, to spark plugs and from new to used. Some would still have oil stains that were around for months or even years.

All sorts of tools were arranged into different categories on the concrete floor based on the different usage and needs as most tools was still in top notch condition which was a positive thing to see. As you start browsing from the left, you slowly walk past one by one looking at each and one of them till you eventually find a wheel spanner laying down on the floor next to a toolbox. You pick it up and look over it to see if it’s still useable. One side was already worn out from heavy use as the plastic part being loose with stains still remain along with marks and scratches all over the tool. Although the price was only half of the original, which were still a bit pricey but it would have to do for now as you continue to look out for the trolley jack.

As you look past the corner, you found a few located just hidden below a few shelves along the wall. Three of them were worn out and rusted as you bend your knee in order to see closer and deciding the best two to compare. You compare both and do your best to pick out the best one out till you notice out of the corner of your eye, you see a blue trolley jack still looking newer than the rest hiding in the corner, you went over and have a look, but you see that one of the parts being loose and missing a bolt which made you a little disappointed as you later found a tag saying that it was one of the defect that they found earlier. But you decide to buy it anyway as you grab some bolts from the shelves despite you had a talent of being able to repair since learning engineer back at school. After that you grab everything you need, you head out to the counter and start paying your goods.

Meanwhile, Applejack finishes off tidying the mess and notices you coming out as she leaves the trunk open for you while she head back to her seat. You quickly fix the trolley jack before neatly placing it next to your backpack before placing the wheel spanner in a hidden compartment by the spare wheel. As you close the trunk, you notice something in the window reflection being so close to you that you immediately turn to only see a girl who's about the same age as you, is standing right in front of you. She was wearing a checkered green jacket and has a hat similar to Applejack’s but darker brown, matching brown boots and blue jeans.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“Hey there, can I help you?” you said.

“Yes, I was wondering if you could help fix my truck over there?” she asked and you look over to the small truck having a flat tire.

“Sure,” you replied as you open up the trunk again and grab out the gears you just brought before closing it.

“Awesome, follow me,” she looks at you before the two of you head to the truck parked on the other side.

You placed the trolley jack under the car and you start to use the lever to slowly lift the car into place before beginning to examine the tire for any damages done to the left rear tire as the girl goes up the back to grab a spare. You rub your fingers along the trends to check for holes while observing the tire until you found the main cause of the deflection. A bunch of nails was sticking into the tire, making a puncture through the trend as the air is still slowly coming out through the gap. But at the same time, you also found a few holes nearby that needs to be patched up. You carefully remove all the nuts and bolts attached to the wheel before dropping everything next to you before you slipped off the punctured tire and start to patch up the tire with the repair kit you always bring along as you always do to prepare for cases like this. The girl comes back with the spare before you both swap the tires as you repeat the process till you finally finished changing in after a few minutes.

“Thank you so much,” she said as she placed the fixed puncture tire at the back of the truck.

“Not a problem,” you said. You then grab both the spanner and the trolley jack, but then she asks you something.

“By the way I didn’t get to know your name,” she asked and you gave her your name.

“Please to meet you,” you do the same, “I’m Jessica, are you new around here?”

“Yes, but I don’t live around here,” you walk back to your car before she stops you.

“Do you wanna maybe, hang out sometime?” she asks you.

“Thanks, but I got a girlfriend already and I need to get going anyway,” you said as you open the trunk and placing them back the way they were before.

“Oh, ok” she looks disappointed, but she follows you to the driver seat as Applejack is finishing up her phone call. Jessica then looks at Applejack suspiciously before you spoke.

“Well, it's been nice to meet you,” she nods and waves you goodbye as you turn on the engine and slowly back out while Jessica watches on as she lean against a car as you switch gears and drove away.

“So what have you been doing?” Applejack asked.

“Well, I was helping a girl out with a flat tire,” you spoke.

“So that’s why you're weren’t here for awhile,” she said.

“Yep,” Applejack nods and looks towards the fields ahead while you pay attention to the bends and speed bumps you're going through.

Comments

[MatrixZL1]

That must be god in a mechanic disguise :P