10. Where The Dance Circles
10. Where The Dance Circles
The sun was just settling to rest on the distant horizon when Applejack looked up and realised the day had all but ended. It wasn't often that the passage of time could surprise her so, yet as she looked back, Applejack found that her memory of the time between the incident at noon and her ceasing work was little more than fruit-filled blur.
Applejack knew the work had gone on; the distant rumble of laden carts trailing toward the storage barns on the far side of the farm were evidence enough of that. The satisfying burn in her legs and the itch of sweat in her mane told her she had done her fair share of it, too. Then there was the fact that she was a good half a mile west of where she had begun, standing beneath a tree that awaited harvest the next day according to the mark on its trunk.
Her gaze returned to the tree, and to the mark. It was simple, as her father had taught her and as she had taught every worker to join her farm: a single line down and to the left, a second line horizontally over the top. An ancient rune, one that indicated a tree ready to drop its burden with just a tickle. A scattering of bright yellow apples on the grass beneath the tree demonstrated the truth of it. Applejack kicked a freshly-fallen fruit from the ground and caught it in her teeth, then turned her back on the tree.
After the yard...
After she'd had her lunch, Applejack had returned to harvesting. She'd been with a pair of the new workers Spritzer had hired, and found them to be competent, if somewhat simple-minded.
"Guess she really did hire them for their docks," Applejack grumbled around a mouthful of apple. Her chewing slowed. After a quick glance around to be sure nobody had seen her speaking through her food, Applejack swallowed her snack and returned to her contemplation.
Of course there was a lot to be said for simple-minded folk. They worked hard, they didn't get distracted, and neither did they try to 'entertain' ponies with stupid stunts that could have got them killed.
A final time, Applejack's eyes turned to the tree and its mark. She traced her hoof across the horizontal, following the slender curl at its end where she might have included just a rough backtick if she was in a more artistic mood than usual.
She was still staring empty-eyed at the mark when the shrill peep of Apple Bloom's whistle sounded through the orchard. With a start Applejack looked over to the horizon, to see the last arc of the sun sinking behind the tops of distant trees. She gave the tree one last frown and turned away just as Apple Bloom came scampering along the narrow path, with Apple Fritter trotting alongside and Spritzer wheezing in the rear as she tried to keep up.
Apple Bloom's eyes brightened as she saw Applejack look toward her. The little filly bounced into the air, blasting excitedly with her whistle as she danced up and around Applejack.
"Hey, hey now, settle down," Applejack called through her laughter. "Y'all sound like you're tryin' to swallow that whistle and talk through it all at once!"
Apple Bloom's bouncing slowed to a trot as she circled Applejack one last time, before drawing to a halt at her sister's front. The youngster spat out her whistle and grinned up at Applejack.
"I was just happy we found you is all," she said. Her hoof strayed to the whistle hanging around her neck. "Everypony said y'all were 'bout ready to kick a hole in the barn earlier, and then Big Mac said you'd gone off up the ridge by yourself all afternoon and ya didn't come back and—"
"Apple Bloom, slow down a mite!" Applejack wrapped her forelegs around the filly's neck and pulled her into a hug. Her eyes briefly strayed to Fritter and Spritzer as she spoke. "I ain't goin' to go drop off no cliff, okay? I was just workin' off a bit of steam is all."
"Enough to run a whole train by the look of it," Apple Fritter said, looking around. She whistled and tipped back her hat. "You done cleared more'n forty rows all by yourself. Gotta wonder why ya need all us other ponies around."
"Cause I ain't dumb enough to think one pony could run this whole farm. Y'all remember that time when I did try an' do the whole place on my lonesome?" Applejack ruffled Bloom's hair and grinned. "What a day that was. By the time I was done I couldn't tell a pony from an apple tree."
"There's some as still wonder 'bout that," Spritzer said, glancing at Fritter. The younger mare laughed and rolled her eyes.
"You be careful now, Spritzer, or I might forget which is which and try buckin' apples outta your ears."
"This be before or after thi's bucked me across t'Everfree?"
"At the same time," Applejack shot back, grinning, as she trotted past Spritzer's bemused face. The old mare shook her head a moment later and laughed breathily, before turning with the others to follow in Applejack's wake.
Yet after only a few steps, Applejack found herself slowing to look back at the nearby trees. She stepped aside to let Fritter and Apple Bloom trot past, the latter chattering excitedly about her day at school, while Fritter listened with feigned interest.
The air chilled as the sinking sun drew its last warmth from the evening. With shiver, Applejack turned back to the orchard to stare at the same trees. She felt Spritzer sidle up alongside her a moment later, as only Spritzer could, and then nuzzle gently at the back of her head.
"What's the matter lass?" Spritzer's eyes followed Applejack's gaze to the trees, and to one in particular. She snorted as she recognised the mark on its trunk. "Sable's work?"
"Aye. I mean yes." Applejack shook her head and squinted at the tree.
"Fast learner, tha'un."
"I know," Applejack replied. She walked toward the nearest tree, pacing slowly as she thought, while Spritzer trundled along beside her. "Did you tell her how to do any of that?"
"Barely said a word to 'er t'whole day long, Jack. Tha knows why n'all." Spritzer squinted at the tree and its mark. Now it was her turn to frown as she leaned closer to examine the markings. "She's prob'ly looked up how it works in t'library that unicorn friend of yours lives in."
"This stuff ain't exactly written down any old place, Spritzer," Applejack replied. She trotted around the tree, letting her body brush against the trunk as she passed by. High above, the tree's branches shivered quietly, as if anticipating the coming storm.
"Jack, there's no way a pretty little unicorn like her'd know anythin' 'bout apples otherwise."
"Mind your tongue there, Spritzer. Y'all might be family, but I ain't above whuppin your butt."
Applejack turned toward the path home. She moved quickly, lifting her hooves in a high canter, as if the speed would take away the quiet discomfort of seeing those far-too-perfect marks. They were old, her pappy had said once. Old and as close to a secret magic as earth ponies could get. The idea that they were written down for just any pony to read about was more discomforting than she'd expected.
They four walked in silence as the shadows lengthened around them. Soon the last light of the sun would be gone, to be eventually replaced by the moon's pale glow; already a thin mist had risen from the ground as the chilling evening air met the warm soil. The moisture was a good thing, but Applejack knew it was just another omen of the coming storm.
"Spritzer, I figure you'd know this one. Is a hobby farm really what I think it is?"
"Where'd you 'ear 'bout them, lass?"
Applejack kicked at a stone on the path. She shook her head as she watched it sail into the grass. "Somethin' Twilight said about Sable earlier."
"Sable?" Spritzer tipped her head. Applejack nodded. "Aye, well I'll tell it plain Jack, that lass ain't no hobby farmer. She might 'ave t'horn but she's got earth in her blood and rock in her bones an' no two ways about it. There's things 'bout that pony what are hid under that plump backside of hers an' if tha lets that'un get away, tha's a bigger twit than I thought."
"Who said anything about lettin' her get away? I need all the workers I can get with that storm comin' over. Sable just needed a little time to get herself straight is all."
"That why she was down in the market with Twilight?" Apple Bloom poked at her whistle and looked up at Applejack. "Round lunch I saw them headin' towards that fancy coffee place by Rarity's. Miss Sable sure looked tore up over something."
"I'm sure she was fine, Apple Bloom. Like I said, just needed to get herself straight." Applejack looked around to avoid Apple Bloom's scrutinising stare. "Sure could use some of that light of hers right now."
"There's a lamp in the shed up ahead," Apple Fritter called back, before setting off at a jog. A moment after she ducked inside there was a loud crash, followed by a string of muttered profanity.
"Is there any pony in this family that ain't tryin' to get herself kilt?" Applejack rolled her eyes as the trio approached the shed.
"I'm not," said Applebloom, with a cheery grin. Applejack looked down at her little sister with a sceptical frown.
"Whatever you say, Bloom."
☆ ☾☆
The farmhouse was silent, save for the gentle creak of timbers settling against the cool of the night. Apple Bloom had been packed to bed the moment they got home; Granny Smith and Big Mac had turned in soon after, leaving Applejack alone in the dimly lit kitchen.
For a while she had sat there in the cosy warmth, surrounded by the smells of home and family. It was comfortable at first, but eventually the room began to chill as the old stove lost the last of its heat, and before long she was compelled to leave the kitchen. Rather than turn to her bedroom, Applejack had stepped out into the cooling night and settled on a chair at the end of the verandah.
Bright stars carpeted the dome of the sky, the mansion of blue as her pappy had once called it one evening, so long ago. She leaned back and her eyes fell toward Bucking Butch – Ippomeda – and then on toward the bright lights that flew close to the rising moon. Come to think of it, the three together looked a lot like Sable's mark.
Before the thought could really settle in her mind, Applejack caught sight of a flash of blue in the light of the porch lamps, followed by the loud gravelly crunch of a pegasus landing in the yard. A moment later Rainbow Dash trotted into the light. Her coat was even scruffier than usual and her mane glittered with shrinking crystals of ice, but she wore a huge grin on her tired face as she trotted up the steps toward Applejack's perch.
"Well boy howdy," Applejack said as her friend flopped down on the deck. "You look beat."
"Don't I know it," Rainbow replied. She was still grinning even as she flopped onto her stomach. "I've been flying non-stop for forty hours. AJ, after this week is done I'm sleeping in for the next month."
"Business as usual then, huh."
Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled onto her back, splaying her wings to keep herself steady. She tucked her legs close to her body and stared up at the night sky. "So aren't you going to ask why I'm here?"
"I was wonderin'," Applejack said. She looked down at Rainbow, but the pegasus was uncharacteristically reticent. "Okay Rainbow Dash, we'll do it your way. Why are you here on my porch after sundown, when by all rights we should both be tucked up in bed and fast asleep?"
"Maybe because a super awesome friend used all her amazing personality and obvious charm to get a certain storm pushed back a couple of days?"
"Two days?"
"Two whole days! I had to pull a few strings and cash a few favours, but that's what friends are for, right? Actually it was pretty easy once they understood I wouldn't take no for an answer." The grin returned, wider than ever. Rainbow Dash rolled into her side and pointed her hoof at Applejack's face. "And I won't even say you owe me for it."
"Well maybe I could see a couple of bottles of cider floatin' your way," Applejack mused. Ignoring the way Rainbow Dash surreptitiously pumped her hoof, Applejack tipped her hat back and turned to look up at the stars once again.
Perhaps it was the clear air, or perhaps her mood, but tonight the sky seemed so close that she could almost reach out and touch it. Yet at the same time, it had never looked so distant, or so untouchable. Even the gibbous moon seemed to shrink away as she watched.
A hoof jabbed at Applejack's shoulder. She shook her head and looked down into Rainbow Dash's impatient face. "Sorry, guess I zoned out a mite."
"I've been talking to you for the last fifteen minutes," Rainbow Dash groused. She was sat on her haunches now, occasionally glancing toward the sky, and frowning all the while. "You were just sitting there and staring at the moon like I didn't even exist. Come on, what's up?"
"I dunno. I think Sable walked out on me today."
Rainbow Dash rubbed a hoof against her temple and shook her head. "Really? No way..."
"She seemed so reliable too, y'know? Keen. Why I never saw a pony so excited about apples since little Bloom bucked her first tree!" Applejack sat back and sighed. "That first day here, she was so eager she skipped breakfast. And today she—she learned stuff faster'n I could give any pony credit. Good talker too."
"Sounds too good to be true," Rainbow Dash said as she wandered back to Applejack's side.
"Maybe."
"Doesn't sound like the kind of pony who'd just walk out on the job though."
Applejack chewed thoughtfully at her lip before taking a deep breath. She sighed. "Round lunchtime she got into a fight with an axe. Didn't do anything serious," she quickly said, before Dash could add voice to her shocked expression. "Just nicked her ear a mite. She was so casual about it is the thing."
"Some ponies are more laid back than others." Rainbow Dash brushed a hoof through her mane before settling herself down on the deck. "Doesn't explain why Sable left though. So you yelled at her a little. I yell at my crew all the time."
"Sure. Thing is, I didn't think about it at the time, but I reckon I might have told her to clear out and not come back."
Rainbow Dash flung her forehooves in the air. "That'd do it!"
"Yeah. It would. Guess I don't need her anyhow if you got the storm pushed back," Applejack muttered. She waved her hooves about, not for the first time wishing one of them held a mug of cider. "Hobby farmin', that's what Twilight called it. Can you believe that? Like this is all just some sort of game to her? Maybe I'm better off—"
Applejack jerked at the touch of a hoof on her neck. She turned to find Rainbow Dash shaking her head and grinning. "AJ, come on, you said yourself she worked hard. So she likes to play around too, what's the big deal?"
"The big deal is she could have got herself killed! And Twilight too!"
"Wait, Twilight was there?"
"Sure, Granny said she was up on the farm lookin' for Sable earlier. She kinda blinked herself right into the middle of it all, hollerin' like the world was ending. Huh." Applejack rolled her ears back and frowned. "I was fit to be tied when I thought she'd been hurt. Didn't think about it at the time... I mean, I was upset when Ginger near tore up her leg, but that was an accident. Accidents happen sometimes. This was—it wasn't—"
Applejack fell silent, clenching her jaw. She made to get out of her chair, but then fell back in it again, as if the weight of her own body was too much to carry. It was warm in the seat anyway, she didn't have to be anywhere else. Why bother moving?
"She was mad as a mule chewin' on bumble bees, till all that stuff came an' fell down at her. Huh." Applejack rubbed one forehoof against the other, tracing a circle around the hock. "Moment it all went wrong, Sable eyed up that axe and blammo, right into a tree."
"Sounds pretty cool," Rainbow Dash said. She gently thumped Applejack's shoulder, laughing all the while. "And it sounds like you think it was too, AJ, huh?"
"It was dangerous!"
"Hey, cool usually is," Dash shot back. She hopped to her hooves and stretched out. "Anyway I gotta fly. They want me back tomorrow for a double shift, one of the favours I gotta repay for fixing that storm."
"Sure," Applejack muttered, while Rainbow Dash worked through a set of stretches that would have looked lewd coming from any other pony. Come to think of it, she could have used a good stretch before work that morning. Maybe she could ask Rainbow to show her a few.
"Twilight sounds like she was pretty upset."
Applejack shook her head, dislodging the image of dozens of her family stretching out like rubber bands. For some reason Sable had been leading them.
"Yeah, like I said. Hollerin' about Sable being too good for farm work." She spat on the porch, then immediately hopped from her perch to scrub it clean while praying for Granny's forgiveness.
Rainbow Dash slowed until she was crouched low with her wings stretched forward past her head. She looked up at Applejack. "Maybe Rarity was right, you know? I never heard of Twilight getting that wound up about a unicorn working on a farm before. Maybe there's more to it."
"Ain't you the one who said she'd be more interested in books?"
"Hey, take it easy." Rainbow's wings curled back to her sides with a loud crack and she settled back onto her haunches. "I just meant she might be, y'know, jealous."
"Jealous."
"Yeah, like, protective. They were friends when Twi was in Canterlot, right? Maybe she's just mad that Sable's spending so much time with you and the farm instead of burying her nose in her—in her books."
"I guess she was pretty worked up about it. But hey it's not like I forced her or anything. Sable was all but beggin' to come down and work here."
"Which is why she wouldn't just walk off without a really good reason," Rainbow Dash concluded. She glanced up at the sky. "And Twilight's upset because she can't keep Sable all to herself. Kind of makes sense if you think about it. I mean even I can see she's pretty. Kinda tubby though."
"Dash—"
"Hey, I'm just saying!" With a yawn, Dash raised her wings. She glanced at the sky again. "Catch you later, Applejack," she called as she jumped into the air. "And don't forget that cider!"
"Sure," Applejack muttered. She watched Dash until she was a tiny blue dot in the distance and then until she had disappeared entirely in the gloom.
With nothing left to do now she was alone, Applejack turned her eyes to the stars and the moon, and the two bright lights that danced before it.
☆ ☾☆
A mist was creeping across the ground when Applejack woke, curling slender white tendrils around the foot of the porch and the roots of nearby trees. Her back, pressed against the unyielding wood of her chair, felt as if it had frozen in place, and her coat was sprinkled with dew.
Groaning, Applejack leaned forward, ignoring the slick, slimy feeling of water on her coat. She stumbled from the chair, teeth chattering in a dawn chill that whispered of the approaching autumn, and shivered as a rivulet gathered and ran from the root of her mane and down her neck.
The farm was silent and the sky still dark, but the air felt thick with anticipation of the coming day, to the point that Applejack wouldn't have been surprised if the mist itself started buzzing. The combination of the morning dew's icy touch on her skin and the weighty atmosphere felt akin to the tingling greasiness of magic. Applejack lifted her hoof and stared at the invisible band of power whose touch she could still feel even now.
The kitchen door opened with the barest of creaks as Applejack entered her home. She wasn't surprised to find Granny Smith pottering around the kitchen, though she moved with the stealth of a pony with decades of experience. Her ears caught Applejack entering and, after taking a moment to lay down a large frying pan on the stove, she turned to smile at her granddaughter.
"Y'all are up early. Slept outside?" Granny sidled over to Applejack, pausing to drag a towel from a cupboard. "Better dry yourself off while I git y'all some coffee."
Granny Smith tossed the towel over Applejack's shoulders before shuffling back to the stove, muttering to herself the entire time. The door swung, sending a chilly gust of air across Applejack's backside that set her shivering. She quickly set to rubbing herself down and shaking the worst of the dew from her sides.
"How'd you know I was out all night?"
"Land sakes girl, you're soaked to the bone and shiverin cold," Granny Smith replied, while setting a blackened pot on the stove. "Sides, ain't the first time an Apple's been hunkered down on that there deck and pinin' after a pony, sure as sugar won't be the last either."
"Granny, I ain't pining after nopony!"
"Sure y'ain't," Granny Smith snorted. She measured a rough spoonful of coffee grounds into a mug, then topped it off with the now boiling water. "Course your pappy said the same thing right before he brought your momma home that first time."
"I ain't courtin' anypony either!" Applejack waited for Granny to totter back to her side with the steaming coffee mug hooked lazily over one hoof. Granny all but slung it to the table, before turning to eyeball Applejack.
"Did I say you was?"
"Kind of implied it," Applejack muttered.
Granny just snorted again before wandering away to her chair in the corner of the room. With great effort she clambered up to seat herself, while Applejack carefully sampled her coffee.
"Oh yeah, Rainbow Dash dropped by. Said she'd got the storm pushed back a few days."
"That so? Guess y'all won't be needin' that pretty little Sable helpin' out around the farm no more, huh? Shame. She looked near ready to shake her tail an' settle down yesterday."
"Granny!" Ignoring Granny Smith's lewd cackling, Applejack took another gulp of coffee and wiped her mouth. Probably could have used some milk. "That ain't a nice way to talk about my friends. Besides, even if she was she'd be disappointed. Big Mac's already got himself an understanding."
For a moment it seemed Granny had frozen in place, or perhaps had some sort of stroke. Then she shook her head sharply and laughed, just a little. "Finish your coffee," she said.
The quiet crackle of hooves in the gravel yard outside added their weight to Granny's suggestion. The workday was already calling. Applejack shrugged and tipped back her cup, draining it until a thick cloud of grounds swirled into her mouth. She spat it back. One of these days she'd have to teach Granny how to use a coffee filter. Of course she knew how that'd go. Granny would insist that the family had always done it that way, no matter that Applejack preferred her coffee free of gritty sludge, as well as not having to strain the last third of her cup through her teeth.
Instead of leaping to work, though, Applejack set the cup down and stared into it. If she swirled it just so, the remainder of her drink would briefly rise into view, shifting the grounds around before disappearing again. Some days the effort was worth it.
"Granny, did y'all talk to Sable much yesterday?" Applejack looked up at her grandmother. Granny Smith didn't answer right away, seemingly lost in the careful preparation of ingredients for the day's breakfast. She set a pot of flour down next to a pitcher of water.
"Not a word," she said. "Cept when I saw her leavin' with Twilight around lunch. Poor girl looked famished so I gave her somethin' to be goin' along with."
"So no chance you told her how to mark up for harvest?"
"Nope! Why, she get it wrong?"
Applejack shook her head. "No. She's a natural. Picked it up lickety split. Figured she might have watched what I did, but then I saw the marks she'd been makin'. Real old stuff. Spritzer didn't show her, I didn't, Mac swears he didn't speak a word to her all day and there weren't any time for anypony else to show her how. I can't figure it out."
Granny snorted. "Did you even think to ask her?"
"Nah..." Applejack poked at her cup again. "She left before I thought about it."
"Y'mean you threw her off the dang farm first," Granny replied. She turned to face Applejack's surprised look. "Big Mac told me what went on, I was just waitin for you to come clean as well."
"That boy just can't keep his big mouth shut," Applejack growled. Granny shook her head and sighed.
"That ain't the point," she said, fixing Applejack with another of her impossible-to-avoid glares. "Y'all did wrong by that girl. Now I don't care what she was up to, what you did back to her weren't the Apple way, so y'all are goin' to march into town, find that young mare and apologise to her. And y'all can mean it too."
"Granny—"
"And no backtalk neither!" Granny Smith plucked Applejack's coffee up and carried it to the sink. "Sides, you can ask her about that markin' thing while you're there."
Which seemed to be that. Applejack rolled her eyes and slipped from her chair while Granny fussed around the sink. She turned to the door, paused and turned back again.
"What about—"
"The orchard ain't gonna explode for wantin of your hooves agin the trunks, Applejack. Now go on, git, before I have to wrassle y'all out the door."
"But—"
"I said git!"
Applejack found herself standing outside the door before Granny Smith's words had even finished echoing around her head. She blinked, looking over her shoulder at the now closed door. Slowly shaking her head, Applejack stepped down from the deck and made her way across the yard.
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I had the impression Spritzer was glad to see her go before now.
An update? AN UPDATE!
fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/171/5/2/_mlp_base___fangirl_intensifies_by_autumn_bases-d7n6use.png
[FangirlingIntensifies]
EDIT: 1:45PM
Dag'nabbit.
Cute chapter, but it's such a tease. I do hope this means we'll be getting more updates on this one?
Eagerly looking forward to the next chapter! <3
Good chapter, but it looks as if I need to go back and reread the last chapter. I seem to have forgotten a few things.
4904849
Yeah, I'd forgotten a lot of stuff too
Nice chapter, but then again they've always been nice. It's great to see a bit more on AJ's side of the story, up to this point she kindda felt like she was mostly along for the ride so it's great to take a chapter just to check up on her.
Thanks for the update!
Sexy chapter, arch muh nigguh.
An excellent update too.
Can't wait for the update this one set up for. Great chapter.
Granny knows. Granny Smith always knows.
skeptical
Hehe, CMC Bloom.
Been hankering for an update from this for a while. When you last blogged, I'd hoped you might throw an update this way and there was no disappointment. Now, the anticipation from wanting another perspective is ravenous. Also, I'm sure Twilight is still upset about all this.
4909010 I think "sceptical" is valid, just less common.
4909415
Fair enough.
I am going to read this again. The portion with Luna's history is ingenious.
Yep, you always meant to say books there didn't you Dash?
So who's Mac's understanding with? Cheerilee? Flutershy? Somepony else?
I really need to finish that headcanon blog about what ponies find attractive...
In any case, always happy to see this update. Applejack's being stubborn, Granny Smith's being her usual awesome self, and Dash is being a good friend. Fantastic all around. Definitely looking forward to AJ's apology.
And for the record, I like the grounds. They're like chewy sprinkles.
Read it again and I had hoped Twilight picked an apple with her magic when she was looking for them.
tree
"If somewhat a simple-minded" doesn't parse. It should probably be just "if somewhat simple-minded".
"Sceptical" is the British English spelling of the word, as detailed here. Since you're using American English everywhere else in the story, it should probably be spelled "skeptical".
"Wa" should probably be "was". If you want to make it an intentional malapropism, it should have an apostrophe to indicate the missing letter.
"Granny Smiths' " should be "Granny Smith's", since there aren't multiple Granny Smiths.
There's no shame in that -- one of the best ways to fix up a document is to crowdsource the proofing
5001287
Unless she found her way to the clone pool...
Just got caught up with this. Love it so far!
nice save rainbow.