Cared For
The sun made its slow, steady progress across the clear blue sky. While the day was certainly beautiful, it came at the cost of a slow, baking heat that tenderized the ponies underneath the sun’s glow.
Applejack grunted as she bucked backward, striking the trunk of the apple tree behind her. Immediately, several brightly colored apples, their red skins glowing in the sunlight, tumbled from the tree and into the baskets that she’d placed around the tree’s base. Applejack let out a heavy exhalation and doffed her hat for a moment, wiping sweat from her brow. She looked around her. Surrounding her on every side were acres and acres of apple trees, all of them standing proud and tall, bearing fruit. Other ponies were milling about the trees, collecting the apples with the aid of ladders, magic, and wings. A few attempted bucking the trees, but their efforts were only ever half as fruitful as hers at best.
A familiar, sweet voice carried a love song to her ears, instantly bringing a smile to her face as a calming feeling like ice water slowly trickled down her back. Applejack turned to see Big Mac trotting towards her, carrying a wooden cart behind him. Rara was sitting in the back of the cart, eyes closed and head tilted back to enjoy the warm sun on her face, singing in a crystalline voice.
“Hi, AJ!” Rara called as Big Mac pulled up. She reached into a cooler in the cart next to her and pulled out a chilled glass bottle of lemonade. “Thought you and the others could use a drink,” she said, handing the bottle to Applejack.
“Many thanks, sugarcube,” Applejack said, unscrewing the top and draining the contents in one go. The sweet lemon flavor more than parched her thirst and soothed her dry throat. She sighed in satisfaction and wiped her mouth off on her foreleg.
Big Mac hefted up one of the baskets of apples using his mouth with little effort and carried it into the cart, setting it down gently in the back. “Here, let me help,” Rara said, eagerly walking over to another basket. She bent down and grasped the handle in her mouth and started to stand up, only to let out a muffled grunt as the basket refused to come up off the ground. She braced herself and tried to lift it again, grunting with effort.
Stifling her laughter, Applejack walked over to Rara’s side. “Let me help you there, darling,” she said, grabbing the handle in her mouth. The two of them lifted up the basket and carried it over to the cart, Rara huffing and puffing with every step. They both lifted the basket up into the back of the cart and Applejack pushed it further into the back as Rara leaned against the cart, panting.
“I think...I need...to get back...in shape,” Rara puffed, wiping the sweat from her brow.
AJ chuckled. “Work here long enough, you won’t have much of a choice,” she commented as Big Mac hitched himself back to the cart and started to walk back to the main barn.
“Oh, fiddlesticks!” another voice cried. Rara and AJ looked up to see Caramel sprawled on his face a few feet away at the base of a tree. He sat up, rubbing his nose.
“Still trying to applebuck, Caramel?” AJ called, half-laughing to herself.
“I keep slipping on this dang mud,” Caramel grumbled. He stood up and looked back over his shoulder at the tree. Carefully, he shifted his weight onto his forelegs, then lifted both his hind legs off the ground and wildly bucked backward. His hooves struck the tree, with the result being that he pushed himself forward and landed on his face again with an “Oof, dagnabit!”
But no sooner had he said that then a bright red apple detached itself from a branch over his head and fell, landing on his head with a thump. Caramel winced at the pain, then his expression instantly brightened when he realized what he’d done. “Hey, I did it!”
“Good job!” Applejack cheered. “But I see what you’re doing wrong.” She walked up to the tree. “You’re rushing through the movements. You gotta get your weight set on your forelegs, and then kick backward in a controlled manner. Watch.” He turned her back on the tree, carefully positioned her weight on her forelegs, wound up, and bucked backward hard. Her hooves crashed into the tree, causing the solid wood to shake. Apples spilled from the leaves and into the waiting baskets.
“You make it look so easy,” Caramel sighed.
“Just takes a bit of practice,” Applejack said. “‘Course, I’ve been doing it since I was a filly, so I guess I’ve got a bit of an advantage,” she chuckled.
“It doesn’t look that hard,” Rara said, walking over to another, smaller tree with several apples hanging from its branches. “I bet I could do it.”
“Uh, Rara, sweetie,” Applejack said, concern flashing across her face. “Maybe you should…”
“Relax, AJ, I’m not that out of shape,” Rara said, turning her back to the tree and positioning herself closer. “I’ll just try it with one leg first.” Sticking her tongue out between her teeth in concentration, she lifted her hind right leg back and snapped it out at the base of the tree.
But instead of a thump, there was a sharp crack. Rara instantly froze, her eyes widening and her pupils shrinking.
“Rara!” Applejack shouted, rushing to her side. “You okay?”
Rara’s eye twitched a couple times and she let out a soft noise somewhere between a squeak and a whimper. “Ow…”
“Here, lean on me,” Applejack said, allowing Rara to put her weight on her. Caramel quickly hustled over to her other side so she could limp away.
“Big Mac!” Applejack yelled. “Get that cart back here! Rara’s hurt! We’re taking her down to the house!”
Big Mac hustled back up to them and swung the cart around. Applejack climbed up into the back and carefully hoisted Rara into the back amongst the apple baskets. Rara laid down, wincing with every movement that sent jolts of pain up her leg. Big Mac started to carry her back down the hill, moving carefully to try to avoid jolting the cart.
“Let me see it,” Applejack said, crouching down next to Rara. She very gently took Rara’s hoof in both of hers. “Does that hurt?”
“OWWW!” Rara howled.
Applejack immediately released Rara. “Okay, I’ll take that as a yes,” she said. “Looks like it’s just a sprain, you should be fine.”
Big Mac carried them back to the farmhouse and paused near the front door. Applejack climbed down from the cart, then carefully lifted Rara off the back, one leg at a time, and helped her limp into the house. Nosing open the front door, she helped Rara into the living room and had her lie down on the couch.
“Now what’s all this here?” Granny Smith asked, walking into the living room.
“Rara sprained her ankle trying applebucking,” Applejack explained with a bit of a scold in her voice, tucking a pillow underneath Rara’s injured leg.
Rara scoffed. “For heaven’s sake, AJ, I’m not a fragile little flower. Don’t talk about me that way.”
“I wasn’t saying that,” AJ said. “But applebucking isn’t something you can learn overnight. Thinking you could just buck a tree right off the bat the way you are—”
“Excuse me?” Rara cut in, giving Applejack a glare as cold as the ice pack that Granny Smith had just retrieved from the freezer. Granny Smith paused, looking between the two mares.
“AJ, what do you see when you look at me?” Rara asked. “Do you still see the pony who staggered in after you when you first brought me here almost two years ago? The mare who was throwing up and shaking all night while she went through withdrawal and who got migraines if she so much as looked out the window during the day?”
“No, Rara—” Applejack started to say.
“Because I am not that mare anymore!” Rara snapped. “I kicked the red poppydust, I kicked alcohol. I am not weak! And I’m not just some fragile little thing that you have to baby around all the time!”
“That’s not what I meant,” Applejack protested, meeting Rara’s glare with one of her own. “What I meant was you ain’t got enough practice to be bucking out there, and trying to buck a fully grown tree with no experience or practice is a just plumb crazy thing to do!”
“Well, I at least tried!” Rara shouted back. “Why don’t you get back to work? You’re always saying the farm ain’t gonna run itself.”
Applejack huffed and stormed out of the house, slamming the door shut behind her. Rara folded her forelegs across her chest and turned away with a humph.
“You shouldn’t be so harsh on Applejack,” Granny Smith chided gently as she laid the ice pack on Rara’s ankle, drawing a brief hiss of pain. “She’s just trying to look out for you.”
Rara sighed, some of her anger evaporating at the touch of the comforting cold. “I know, but...I just hate that she sometimes treats me like I’m so fragile or something.”
“Nopony here thinks you’re fragile or broken, dearie,” Granny said. “But you also gotta know your limits. I’m not stopping you from helping you on the farm, and neither is Applejack, but there are some things that you’re not suited to doing yet. And unfortunately, applebucking is one of them.”
Rara sighed and looked down at her injured leg. “Maybe I was a bit harsh on her…”
“You were,” Granny nodded. “Don’t mean she was right, either. Y’all can talk about it when she gets back inside. For now, you need to rest.” She tottered back into the kitchen. “Once I’m done cleaning up the kitchen, I can bring you something if you like.”
“Just some water would be nice, thank you, Granny,” Rara said, closing her eyes.
Granny Smith disappeared into the kitchen. Rara heard some clattering in the kitchen, then Granny’s voice: “Ah, there’s that bottle of cider. I was wondering where it went...hmm, still good.”
Rara’s eyes opened and her tongue slithered out of her mouth on its own, licking her suddenly dry lips. A familiar thirst scratched at her throat; the demon whispered in her ear again, Feed me, feed me, feed me...you’ll feel better…
“No, Rara,” she said out loud, closing her eyes again. “You don’t need it.”
She tried to force herself to calm down, to relax, to find the stillness at her core from which was born her music. But no matter what she did, the demon still scratched away at her throat.
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Sure that isn't Rarity?
8714761
Rarity doesn't have "darling" trademarked. It seems like the kind of thing that AJ might say to a loved one.
8714805
Applejack usually says "sugarcube" in situations like that.
8715489
Okay, that's fair.
Ouch, poor Rara spraining her leg applebucking.
8720198
Well, when you hang around a pony as stubborn as Applejack...
8724178
Very true.
This is great! I'm really looking forward to more! It's nice finding an unfinished story that isn't on hiatus...
Oh, and where is the cover picture from?
8755639
Thank you for the comment and the watch! I appreciate that people do seem to like this little sidestory, even if it's not my main project.
The cover art is from here: https://jhayarr23.deviantart.com/art/Love-Song-685431379
On the one hand, I can see Applejack's point. Rara's not a farm pony. But on the other, really girl? You keep treatin' Rara like a fragile doll about to break and she probably will. Self-fulfilling prophecy. Bam.
Also, I really wish we had more flashbacks to Rara's life as the Countess. I want to see more of that, and more of just how bad it was. Might give the story a bit more punch, if you know what I mean.