Intermission - The Farmer and The Fashionista
The Summer Sun Celebration
Shortly before sundown
Applejack didn't know what to think. And, truthfully, that was becoming something of a bad habit for her.
Getting up from that table and gently shouldering her way through the crowd of partying ponies was honestly one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do. Not because of the rudeness of pushing her way through the crowded party, though she probably wouldn't feel too badly about that on a normal day.
Pinkie Pie- bless her heart- that filly threw some real whoppers when it came to parties, but sometimes she just plain didn't factor in the locale. Half the town and then some invited with hardly anypony there yet, and it was already just about as crowded as a sold-out bull-show.
Lot less fun, too, and not a drop of cider to see. Now that stung somethin' fierce. She was happy for Berry Punch and her sobriety an' all, but this was about the sixteenth time she'd found the wagon, she reckoned. She wasn't saying she wanted to get hammered or nothin', but a buzz would take the edge off.
...Boy, would a buzz help. Saying it wasn't easy to leave Light behind was about as much of an understatement as callin' an apple tree a 'lil bush. She felt his eyes burning holes in her hinds even as she started a trot up the flight of stairs Rarity had scurried up not too long ago.
It was immediately darker in the stairway, and the noise of partying ponies finding their legs grew muffled as she left the room behind. Not to say that she wasn't as get up and go as the rest- she was no stranger to a shindig- but she was kinda appreciating the quiet for the moment.
It gave her a minute to think on the things that bothered her, as she grit her teeth and let her hooves work her up to wherever she was going. Shallow light grew in the tunnel, and she passed a small cubby in the wall holding a half-melted, flickering candle. It was the first, and she saw another soft glow just around the bend.
What was wrong with Light? Well, lots of things were wrong with Light- times it seemed like nothin' was right with the colt- but what was wrong right now?
Whatever it was, Rarity had seemed to know. She'd only stopped for a quick second to pass along what Applejack had thought was some nonsense about Light acting strange before going off on her way, though now she was kind of regretting not paying more attention.
It was just so easy to let that mare's regular jabber pass through the ears. She just had this whole bent on gettin' all bent outta shape 'bout anything and everything for nothing. Talkin' about colors and dresses and what the bigwigged high-society ponies were doing up in Canterlot- it all made her want to tear her ears off and throw 'em in a lake, sometimes.
They didn't so much as get along, and Rarity was real averse to bein' told she was strung like a banjo. Just proved her point when she started shrieking, but the moral win didn't taste so good aside all the yelling.
Rarity, though... that prissy pony who flew right off the handle whenever she saw so much as a pebble... she'd seemed really worried.
Maybe it was the lonely dark from the in-between of candles... or maybe it was how the close walls were beginning to press in... but Applejack found herself slowing strangely to a stop, and letting her tense shoulders relax with a quiet sigh. She pushed the familiar brim of her hat down to hide her eyes as she closed them, and let her wandering thoughts do just that for a moment.
She'd known Light Flow a long time. Longer than she'd known anybody but her family, as a fact. She'd seen him at his best, she'd seen him at his worst, and practically everywhere in between and out.
She thought she'd seen him at his worst, at least. Way back when his mom had died, and he'd seemed... maybe it was wrong to think, but... dangerous. He'd seemed dangerous back then, when he'd told her to run and not look back.
She could still remember, in that one moment, how something deep inside of her had hurt.
She hadn't thought he'd ever get worse than that, especially not after they'd reconciled, and he'd seemed better for a time. More easygoing; more stable. For that short while, she really thought he'd finally gotten his act together, even for as nervous and skittish as he sometimes seemed.
Heck- there'd be times when they'd spend the day together just the same as they always did, and he'd look at her, and his face would just redden till there was no more brown to see. He'd stammer out some new denial of whatever she'd pointed out that time, and then either walk away in a huff or literally trip over his hooves.
She thought it was cute. No shame in saying that: Light and his dopey babbling was real cute.
But then... he'd started to get odd again: picking up more and more n' stranger and stranger habits through the years. Gettin' distracted even easier, wandering off in the middle of conversations, disappearin' for days at a time; she was pretty sure he wasn't showering all too often, either.
That was all Light, though. It was very Light to forget birthdays and conversations and not show up 'til a week after, all the while smellin' like a wet dog.
...Well, it had been, once or twice ago. She'd stick by him thick or thin, a'course, but sometimes it hurt just a little more than another day to see him tottering around. To see him- what was the word..? Ah- regress.
But... even with his growing strangeness and all that she'd gotten used to, now he was...
Dim eyes unfocused on anything, like he couldn't even see her.
A stuttering jaw too frozen in fear to even tell her he was okay.
Tired, worn lines tread too deep to even get mad.
Her best friend.
He'd seemed... empty. Nothing like the Light she knew. Never like Light. Not when they were kids, and not now.
What was wrong with him?
Rarity knew. She'd seen it in her eyes.
A sadness.
Applejack let the pulled edge of her hat rise up, and started up the stairs again.
The Golden Oaks Library was a frequent enough stop for her and her friend, given that he'd practically lived with his nose in a book, but Applejack had never been up this back staircase before. It was longer than it had looked from the outside, and it even opened in a side to a bare-shelved kitchen she guessed what was about halfway up.
The library doubled as a home: who knew? Guess the librarian had to live somewhere. It was weird enough to her, but Light'd probably have a whole fit if he knew.
If he didn't already know. He seemed to have a knack for knowing the absolute darndest things with no kinda use. Even shared them with her often enough now she'd been infected with that darn curse a' redundancy.
Like the time he'd been sitting around on his butt watching her work, when he'd randomly busted out the weird-as-heck fact that pigs don't sweat. Sure, it was sort of interesting since the farm kept a few pigs for fertilizer, but when'd he ever be usin' that? Trying to put together a pig sweat lodge or something? Keep 'em cooled off for rolling around in the mud? Where'd he even learn that?!
She shook her head just to think of it, as she finally came to the head of the stairs.
The room she came into wasn't so big, especially in comparison to the downstairs library, but it was miles better than the cramped space of the stair tunnel, and she felt immediately better to be out of it. Her sides unclenched, and she let out a quick sigh of relief: brushing one hoof reassuringly across the front of the other and shaking the short top of her mane out from under her hat.
Tight spaces weren't really her thing. Not that she'd freak out or nothin,' just that they set her a mite on edge.
She took a quick glance around the room as she looked up from her hooves, just for the heck of it.
It was nice enough; about regular size for the bedroom it looked to be. Across the way was another short staircase leading to a nook with a bed up and behind her- which she could say was pretty good use of the space. Kept the room just that much more open and uncluttered.
There were a couple simple tables and platforms built into the wood around the room that each held flickering candles, just the same as she'd seen in the stairway. It was kinda strange; was every other room besides the downstairs lit by candles?
The last librarian- before she'd died, bless her soul- had been old and all, but no lanterns or anything? Talk about living in the past; even Granny knew when to move on.
Lots more fancy-lettered books 'round the walls on more shelves laid in the wood, and a few simple pictures of the sun and moon painted directly onto the wooden walls and ceiling. She had to crane her neck back just to see every bit of them, though it was only a curiosity.
She was thinkin' a certain somepony would love this place, and not just 'cause of the books.
All in all, even she could say it was a pretty room, though she couldn't say it wasn't kind of bare besides. Lacking a personal touch, if somepony was askin' her. 'Sides the point, though; she was really more interested in the white unicorn sitting across the room looking through a telescope sat in a large, open windowsill aside the stairs.
With... a... lizard? A big green-ish lizard wearing some kind of brown pack over its upright shoulders, sitting next to Rarity and talkin' up at her with a big smile on its face. Had Applejack seen the lizard coming up here too? She might've, though it had probably been around the time Light had come in and Pinkie Pie started jabbering, so details got a mite muddy.
Rarity and the... was it a dragon? Rarity and the dragon were facing away and hadn't noticed her yet, but she quickly made her way across the short room towards them anyway. She didn't have much time to dawdle, and rather than call out a greeting, she let out a sharp whistle through her teeth as she went.
It worked a wonder, and Rarity turned around as she approached, rubbing her ear. Thinkin' about it... was it even dark out yet? She was a little curious what they were looking at with that telescope.
"Hey there Rarity. I need to talk to y'all," Applejack began briskly, tipping her hat in greeting as she came to a stop in front of the platform with the telescope on it. As nice as she'd tried to sound, Rarity and her little dragon friend were staring down at her with some less than friendly looks.
Well, the dragon looked kind of indifferent- maybe a little too leery for their own good. Rarity just looked mad. Could be anything with her; She always seemed mad when Applejack was around.
She didn't like returning that favor- much as Light said otherwise- but Rarity sure made it easy.
"Applejack, dear: I do think a regular greeting might quite suffice next time, if you would," Rarity replied shortly, still rubbing her ear with the hoof not on the telescope. The dragon didn't say anything, but he nodded right along.
Applejack sucked in a breath through her teeth, and swept her hoof through her hair to rest against her hat. "Oh, whoops. Ah'm sorry, didn't mean to startle y'all." She flashed a bright, apologetic smile at the two of them, though she mostly did it to keep Rarity from working herself up.
Was it dishonest and rude to flash a fake smile? Yes, but she just didn't have the time to sit and listen about manners for an hour. She got enough of that from Mr. 'don't burp without saying excuse me,' and Rarity was as like to go off as he ever was.
She'd always secretly thought that it was an easy bet that the two of them would get along like pie and a tin.
Sweet holy Celestia forbid. She'd walk out any room they were both in.
Rarity seemed to take her smile at face value, or near enough. She just scoffed in an annoyed way and turned her nose up, like she did at everything. "Really, Applejack; I simply don't know what to do about you." She sighed, and shook her head, like she did at everything.
Applejack could feel her fake smile falling, and it felt liberating to frown and let her twitching eyebrow raise in response. "Yeah, 'cause ah'm the problem, here," she muttered dryly, but still loudly enough to let Rarity hear.
The jab landed as she'd meant, and Rarity groaned roughly as she put a hoof to her forehead. The little dragon beside her frowned largely and shook their head, though Applejack's deadpan stare back was interrupted as Rarity took her hoof off her head and angrily stomped it down.
"Manners, dear, honestly!" The fierce stare Rarity wore did make her feel a little bad, if not so genuinely, so she only did her best to frown a little more sincerely.
Her show of mild regret softened the angry glare some, but the short huff in Rarity's voice didn't go anywhere. "It is a wonder that you manage decency at all. Playing so rough hardly befits a lady."
Before Applejack had a chance to retort with something completely unladylike, Rarity put a hoof to her cheek and sighed heftily as she leaned into it: looking for all the world like she'd jumped right out of a storybook. "How ever will you find a coltfriend at this rate?" Her eyes fluttered, and she hummed prettily as her frown curled up into an insincere smile. "It seems a truly impossible task for one so oblivious."
Whatever patience Applejack had for Rarity fell to pieces in an instant. The heat of her temper flared, and she snorted roughly in her practiced impression of a bull. "Land sakes, Rarity! I ain't got time fer yer runaround!"
She stomped her hoof- and she considered it a miracle that she'd been able to refrain from breaking the floor. "Not that it's even related, but I've told y'all time an' time again that there ain't ever been a colt in Ponyville worth my time!"
Rarity met her barking and stomping as frustratingly calmly as she ever did. Looking coolly down at her with one hoof mussing lazily about with the end of her mane. One eyebrow raised haughtily like Applejack wasn't growling and yelling at her.
"Really." The complete lack of any tone in Rarity's voice had Applejack twisting her nose in confusion, and her train of angry thought stopped to a halt. "There isn't a single colt in Ponyville you've been thinking about? Not one?"
There was no way... She didn't...
Could she?
...This was not the time to be coming out about this.
Applejack shook her head to dislodge the moment of heavy self-doubt, and she raised her head with certainty as she nodded as firmly as she could manage. "Not a one. With all that's been goin' on at the farm, work's too important to be wastin' time thinkin' 'bout somethin' so silly."
She snorted something wet down her throat, as much as she wanted to spit at Rarity, and ticked her frown to the side. "Applebuckin' season's just 'round the next corner, and that's after we've had all hooves on deck 'fer the celebration. Family's in town and as tumble as ever: putting them up's been no picnic."
She scoffed and shook her head. Raised her eyebrow again to fix placid Rarity with her most expressively incredulous stare. "An' that's just recently. Y'all even know 'bout the kinda market changes we're goin' through right now? How the farm's been keepin' with just me and the family? An' you want me to think about colts?"
She lowered her stare: squinting reproachfully up at Rarity from under her brows. "Now that's oblivious."
Applejack felt reasonably satisfied by her answer. She'd wrapped in all up in one tidy bow; absolutely no room for doubt or denial. Couldn't be a simpler thing. Completely believable. Sure as sugar n' salt.
...That was how she'd made it sound, anyway. Lying was easier in more words- that was something Light had taught her.
Rarity didn't look so convinced, though: her eyebrow still making a steady, doubting climb up her forehead. Aw, but that was just her. Rarity'd sooner take a bath in mud than see things her way, no matter how well she'd been fooled.
But the dragon looked kind of skeptical, too. Flicking his eyes all around and playing with his... claws? -his claws nervously like he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. Somewhere between one and both of them looking at her with some kind of... look in their eyes. Like she had something on her face.
She didn't, did she? What were they staring at?
Applejack swept a hoof across her face self-consciously, checking to make sure there wasn't somehow mud on her fur- wouldn't be the first time- before looking back at the pair in honest confusion. "What? What'ch y'all starin' at?"
She expected an answer, not to watch and gape as Rarity and the dragon took little peeks at each other like she was the only one not getting the joke.
Rarity talked about rude, and here she was: actin' like the rudest one in the room.
What was the word... hypocrite? Yeah, sounded like Rarity. Well, she wasn't about to stand around and let herself be some kinda freaky thing to gawk at.
Applejack took a breath: got ready to really chew Rarity and her dragon friend out: to give them a heckuva earful that they'd never forget- but she didn't get the chance. Not before Rarity's oddly expressed face turned up in a second, into a smile so still and beautiful it was like she'd always been wearin' it.
Applejack's dander fell away, and she blinked puzzledly as Rarity took a step away from the telescope and down the stairs: waving her hoof in the air daintily with a dazzling grin on her face. "Oh, forgive me, Applejack! I fear I've been terribly rude; you will have to pardon my atrocious manners!"
Applejack really couldn't even begin to think of what to say as a widely smiling Rarity continued down the few long steps, leaving her dragon friend standing alone and looking lonely after her as she... well... tittered.
Rarity sure liked her masks. Facial and all.
Even if Applejack believed her as far as Light could throw her, she still managed to drop her face into a mostly neutral expression as Rarity swept around the stoop towards her. "It really is quite horrid of me to distract you like this, when you must have so much on your mind already! It's as you've said, and as we both know."
She came to a stop just a hoof-length or so away from Applejack, who looked down at her with an unimpressed stare, as she covered a giggle with a hoof. "I'm an absolute terror, really I am! Go ahead, admonish me!"
Rarity's tinkling giggles rose into a painful laugh as she pushed an ineffectual hoof at Applejack's chest; the grating sound bringing to mind the wonderful picture of a hoof dragging on a blackboard. It lasted only for as long as Rarity herself could probably take it, ending with the mare just smiling expectantly at her with eyelashes periodically fluttering.
...Rarity sure knew how to get on her nerves. Big time.
Applejack worked her shoulders as she cast a tired eye to the far corner of the room, wondering just how important whatever Rarity knew was, before she rolled her roving eyes to a stop on the gabbing pony, and rose her brows into a wide expression of deadpan.
"Alright. Yer' a terror," Applejack said plainly: a completely straight look on her face as she nodded once.
Rarity's very pretty smile fell instantly; first to a disappointed, impassive frown, then it slowly grew more and more angry until Rarity was just glaring. That might've had something to do with the worsening scowl that Applejack had on her own face, but it plain wasn't her fault.
Rarity was just so- why couldn't she ever just be straight about anything?! It was always- 'oh, darling you simply must,' or- 'Applejack, dear, this is all absolutely so-and-so.'
It was never just honest. It was never clear. She was always trying to make everything some kinda 'thing.' It always had to be something! Couldn't just talk to Rarity- no, they had to have a 'get-together.' Couldn't just ask Rarity anything, it had to be some big 'favor!'
Rarity never went to parties, she went to 'events' and 'soirees,' and that meant there were rules and regulations and a million little do-nothing e-ffects and a-ffects to memorize and account for. She never went anywhere, she had 'outings,' and that meant outfits and agendas and 'oh I'm simply too swamped to stop and chat, daaarling!'
Rarity thought she knew everything about fancy living, but she was just playing. She didn't know a thing!
Applejack snorted: the hot air over her lip washing away thoughts of reel. The dim realization that she and Rarity were now literally butting heads barely even registering, only that Rarity had taken a step forward and that meant that Applejack had to, too.
Rarity growled, and Applejack growled back. Rarity pushed forward, and Applejack pushed back.
Boy howdy was she asking for it.
Then, as Applejack had only just begun to wonder just how hard was too hard to punch somepony in mostly polite company, something popped up between the two of them. An uneven little weight pushed at Applejack's chest, failing to budge her an inch as she bemusedly blinked red away.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not go crazy, here, alright? Don't we have a bigger problem?"
The unfamiliar, boyish voice that sure as heck wasn't Rarity's was a draw out of her raging trance, and they both looked down in surprise at the dragon that had unexpectedly interjected itself between them. Two big green eyes full of wary concern swayed from one pony to the other, as their owner tried again to weakly push the two of them away from each other.
"Aren't you... we supposed to be figuring out what's wrong with Light? If you guys start fighting, who's gonna be around to help him?" The dragon's impassioned voice trailed off as it brought its claws off their chests, and stared down at them as they fiddled nervously together. "Aren't we... y''know... his friends?"
The two big green eyes rose up to Applejack again, and she was taken aback by just how sad they looked. Like somepony'd given the little thing a great big balloon, and then somepony meaner had come along and just popped it right in front of 'em.
Aw heck. That might've been her.
Applejack blew out a huffing sigh as she took a long step back, and swept her hoof to scratch along the back of her neck as a deep sense of muggy shame washed over her. Her eyes searched the floor as she heard Rarity haltingly clear her throat; the prissy mare was probably thinking about the same thing she was right now.
She could already hear what Granny'd say.
How plum foolish they'd both been.
Well, they could both think all they liked and more 'bout how they'd screwed up, but something like this needed to be said.
She forced herself to look back up, as much as she really didn't want to. Rarity- that self-conscious pony- was brushing back odd hairs that had fallen out of her perfect mane; sitting and looking off to the side with an odd, but obviously guilty expression. Figured. Was surprising in the first place that Rarity'd get so riled; she was usually cooler than that.
Must've been a tough day all around.
Applejack thought for a moment about waiting to let Rarity come out first, but she swallowed it down, and put on a brave face. She was a big filly, and she could take responsibility when she needed to. Even if that medicine was bitter.
She took a deep breath as she looked at the dragon, and its eyes caught hers. Green starin' back at green.
Light's friend, huh?
Applejack coughed, and sniffed. Here went... a whole lot. "Well. I don't reckon I've ever been so rightly ashamed." Her speaking broke a tense silence in the air, and then all eyes were on her. The weight of it pressed down hard on her shoulders, but she pressed on: spreading her mouth into a thin, determined line.
She stepped past the watching dragon and towards Rarity: her antagonistic friend's blue eyes staring back into Applejack's resolute green with wary reluctance. A beautifully complimentary pair, she'd once heard Light say.
She'd never much liked blue.
Applejack chewed on the bitter words for a moment, but she knew there was no avoiding the truth, and she swelled her chest up on a breath. "I acted real awful to ya, Rarity, and ah shoulda known better." In one motion, she took her hat from her head and laid it to her stern chest: her frown growing as honestly repentant as she could make it, because she felt it.
"I ain't got any excuses but my own sorry hide, if'n that don't mean squat." Applejack sighed, and shook her head: making sure to meet Rarity's eyes again. "...But I ain't tryin' to give excuses. This here's my true-to-heart apology, an' not just 'cause you deserve it."
She turned halfway, to shoot a glance at the dragon twiddling his claws behind them. He almost jumped as Applejack smiled thankfully at him before turning back to Rarity: whose guarded expression was beginning to soften. "Reckon the little dragon feller's got it right: we're all Light's friends, an' now's no time to be getting distracted screamin' nonsense at each other. We all care 'bout that freaky colt, one way or another."
Applejack bit her lip, as her gaze fell for a moment. "Even... you. Light talks 'bout you often enough that I know there ain't no doubt, and..."
'Rarity? Stars, she's awful. The nosiest, most shallow pony I've ever met. Sometimes I think she exists just to nag me.'
She blinked a blur of memory away, and forced herself to raise her eyes back to Rarity. She grit her teeth, and took one, strong breath. "...ah don't think ah've been... givin' that to you."
The bitter struggle with herself to choke the words out yielded a moment of surprised silence, before a small, genuine smile grew on Rarity's face: one that Applejack returned with far more gusto as a tangible feeling of relief washed over her. Easier than she'd expected to say it, but still hard on its own. She'd take bull-riding any day.
She nodded, putting her hat back on her head. "Ah know you've been lookin' after Light when I can't, and that means a lot. He deserves the trouble, but y'all ain't got nothin' in it 'fer ya. There's not much more deservin' I can do to say thanks 'cept... say thanks."
She put her hoof out: the widely accepted gesture for a hoofbump. She wouldn't even spit on it. "So, thanks."
The gesture held for an awkward moment as Rarity just stared down at the hoof with a quiet smile. Long enough that Applejack started fidgeting; though she eventually shook her head with a tired, bright sigh, and clopped their hooves together.
Applejack's head finally felt clear again as Rarity continued to shake her head; the unicorn standing up and brushing her hoof against the inward curl of her mane as she stared to the side. "Oh, Applejack. There was simply no need for all of that," she murmured lowly, as her smile fell slightly.
Applejack tilted her head, though she kept her smile as she leaned in towards where Rarity was staring. "Reckon' there was a need, actually." Rarity's eyes flicked up to hers, and she chuckled and scratched her hoof across her grinning face. "I was bein' rude as a bent river, an' there's nothin' to tolerate 'fer rudeness 'cept what's deserved."
She nodded, and let a smug little tone sneak into her voice as her hoof fell, just because it really felt like she deserved it. "A'course, it's only what's polite."
Now that set Rarity's smile right. Turning up all pretty-like as she chuckled freely: her hoof trying to cover what she probably thought was an 'indecent' expression. Applejack joined her, a little less reservedly, and she could even hear the dragon behind them raising their voice to the happy little round of laughter.
It was real nice. Even got her mind off for a moment.
Rarity was the first to stop her barely expressed laughter, though her smile was still plain as her hoof moved to rest on her cheek; mirth sparkling in the depths of her eyes as she eyed Applejack directly. "Oh, you're just so adorable, Applejack."
Some kind of embarrassment caught her smile halfway, and her chuckle turned nervous as Rarity tilted her head. "You needn't take all the blame, dear." Rarity tutted, shaking her head side to side as her hoof fell under her chin. "I daresay I was far from polite, myself."
Some of the humor dropped from the moment as Rarity's smile fell slightly, and her voice dipped as her eyes fell to the floor. "...It wasn't very ladylike of me at all. Not to needle you as I did, nor make play of your feelings. Certainly not in such an strained time..."
Rarity sighed, and now she didn't smile at all as she looked up again at Applejack: her hoof falling to the wood floor with a clack. "I do apologize, Applejack... truly."
Something surprisingly genuine glimmered in Rarity's eye, and... Applejack found herself slightly stunned. Rarity's hoof rose then to lay on her chest, emphasizing that last word deeply, and she wasn't sure she'd ever seen the fashion focused pony of masks and gowns look so... sincere.
Something hot twinged in her chest as she stared into Rarity's glimmering eyes, and Applejack swallowed as her throat ran dry. It was suddenly very difficult to find the words to respond, as much as she knew they were there- they just wouldn't come.
She tried anyway.
"Well... Rarity, I..." Applejack babbled for a moment as Rarity leaned back, hoof still on her chest, though her expression was softening with fondness the longer she took. She was sure her own expression was doing something too, though less softening and more reddening.
What in Equus' name was Rarity doin' to her?!
Finally, whatever had got her goat swallowed itself back down, and Applejack could look away as her face was definitely very red with some kind of awful mortification.
"That's very big of y'all be admittin'..." she muttered, as she tried to swipe the red off her cheeks with a hoof. Books in an inlaid shelf met her gaze where she let it rest, and she felt comfortable for a moment pretending to read their titles.
Wasn't so often she got all bashful like this...
Rarity was a hooffull, alright... Complimentin' and connivin' the way she did... It was enough to make a pony quit talkin' altogether. Coulda used that kinda wit way back when Big Macintosh didn't know how to pipe down. Would've saved them all a few dozen scares and a grounding.
She just didn't play nice with flattery and such- and she sure as heck never expected it from Rarity of all ponies. Caught her all off guard, it did. Was much easier just to yell at each other- an' now she was half-wishing they'd never stopped.
Rarity's quiet tinkle of a laugh that might've just been fake drew her eye back over, to where she was simply staring her way with some kind of daring look over a half-hidden, knowing smile.
Applejack coughed, and averted her gaze again. "It- It ain't doin' any use to be standing around sayin' sorry over an' over. Nice enough 'fer the feels 'an such, but we ain't gettin' nowhere."
She cleared her throat, and tried to stand up a little taller as she forced herself to look at Rarity. She knit her brows close together, and tried to sound more grave than how all the niceties were making her feel. "The point, well-"
She shot a look over her shoulder at the dragon, who was almost creepily standing to attention with sharply focused eyes. She turned back to Rarity: whose own face was losing its smile for something still very knowing, yet far sadder.
Now they all looked serious again, and Applejack sighed: eyeing Rarity meaningfully as something nervous tried to block up her throat. "...Y'all seen Light, ain't ya?"
It seemed a mighty grim thing just to bring them back around to the reason they were all standing there talking. Applejack felt more than her share of the tension pressing down on her withers, though Rarity's deep frown was worsening by the second.
It wasn't as if any of them had forgotten, but...
...it just seemed easier to ignore.
The white mare eventually sighed after staring down at the floor for a long time, and put her hoof to her chin: her eyes raising to Applejack. There was something about that stare that just dropped her heart. "Yes... And I think it would be an understatement in the least to say he doesn't seem too well."
Applejack sighed too, and shook her head. That weight was pressing down hard, now... "Yeah, y'can say that again..."
She let her eye wander to the side, as the recent past came again to mind. "I barely even saw him 'fer a bit, but he may as well've been flashin' a big red warnin' sign for as obvious as the problem was. I ain't ever seen him so..."
She trailed off.
Sitting there, not even near the middle of the party, with a brown unicorn opposite. She knew he'd like it like away from the crowd. He always did.
She didn't think it was anything special, inviting him to dinner with the family. It was Granny's idea in the first place, and he'd probably be spending most of his time making trouble with her cousins and aunts. It wouldn't have been any different from the last time family had come to town: disaster that'd been.
Maybe she'd let something slip in her voice as she'd asked. Maybe she'd been a little too genuine for her own good.
Or maybe he'd just... known.
He shut down. His mouth gaped. He didn't blink. He barely breathed.
She'd tried to touch him: let him know that it wasn't any big thing. She did it all the time; he liked those kinds of little grazes, even if he'd pretend otherwise. He'd never say thanks, no matter how much he'd inch closer. That was just the way he was.
Whatever he might say, he still liked the contact.
He'd jerked away.
The way he'd stared...
...like he didn't even recognize her.
"-jack? Applejack?"
And suddenly, she knew she'd spaced out.
"...empty."
The final word to a sentence she'd forgotten to end came out without her thinking, and she shook her head as the memory faded away.
She blinked, and turned to Rarity, who had a sad little look of her own on her face. Melancholy, but very knowing. "Yes, that's... certainly one of the words I would use," she murmured quietly, not seeming fazed at all by Applejack's lapse. For her own part: she seemed lost in her own kind of memory; her eyes roaming around the floor as her hoof tapped softly against her cheek.
Applejack swallowed the heavy feeling of what she'd left behind down, and cleared her throat, drawing Rarity's wandering eye back up to her. "Y'all got... any idea what's wrong with him? You saw him earlier, right? And you thought he was actin' weird?" She tried not to come off as too pleading, but a tense edge of quiet desperation still crept into her voice.
Her questioning drew a slight hum from Rarity's contemplating frown, and she nodded slightly. While she didn't immediately say anything: her head began to gradually tilt until she was staring more at the ceiling than at her. Lookin' off into space: literally, if they were counting the drawing of the night's sky up there.
Applejack almost felt compelled to tilt her head to stare up too, but that'd be a little silly. She didn't need to stare off to think: 'parently, her mind did it on its own.
"Well..." she started, then trailed off for a moment that made Applejack's ears itch. She started again after a moment, though her voice was strangely... airy, and it only took a few words to see why.
"It was around when I was finishing up with the décor for Town Hall- I was commissioned to beautify the space for the ceremony in the morning, you see. And that entire building is just so awfully dreary with those horrible earthen tones and the constant beige atmosphere. It's no place at all for somepony so refined as the Princess to give an address- not without some serious compliments."
Applejack already felt tired: her eyes slightly unfocusing as her withers sagged on their own. And Rarity just kept on goin': completely oblivious to how useless everything she was goin' on about was. Boy... if this wasn't leading to something important...
"...And yes, If I do recall: I had been quite engrossed in deciding the best way to utilize the colors of the floral arrangements when he and Spikey-Wikey walked in."
Spikey... wikey?
Rarity's face shifted from deep thought to realization, and she looked down from the ceiling to something behind Applejack. "Spike, dear, you remember, don't you? Wasn't it about then that you came in with Light? When I was working with one of the ferns?"
The dragon, whose name she was guessing was Spike, stood to attention with a quiet exclamation as he was called out. She focused in and turned on time to nearly catch her nose on his swinging arm as he brushed past her. She couldn't stop herself from frowning after him as he blindly ran to Rarity's side. "Yes, Rarity!"
Suck-up.
She scowled at the brown pack slung onto his back and his short, swaying tail as Rarity smiled down at his face: raising a hoof to pat aside the large, upright green scales on his head. "Yes, it was just then," she... cooed.
Her attention turned to Applejack, then, as her hoof stayed on Spike's head; both of them apparently just fine with... whatever was going on there. "He'd come in then, and nothing seemed immediately out of the ordinary at all." Rarity's eyes rolled, and she scoffed lightly: clearly exasperated at the memory. "He was as unkept as ever in stature and personality, and so I'd thought nothing of having just a tiny bit of... fun with him."
The breezy way she'd hummed before she'd said 'fun' immediately took Applejack's mind on an uncomfortable journey, though she'd barely began to think about socking Rarity for the trouble before she spoke again: still idly patting Spike's head lightly. "Oh, but when I'd made sure to make light of him in a way that I know should've just incensed him, he merely..."
She trailed off again, and she frowned down at Spike's face for a moment; her brow wobbling with consideration for that long moment before she set her eyes back on Applejack: her frown askew. "Well, he just... nodded."
The downcast tone in Rarity's voice was the least of her thoughts, as what she'd said took a moment to sink in. Eventually, she shook the fog away, and finally found herself able to speak. "Lemme get this straight..." she said, slowly, because she really wanted to get this absolutely straight.. "Y'all made fun 'a Light... and he was just... fine with it? He didn't yell or anything?"
Her incredulous tone and raised eyebrow may have made it seem like she didn't believe what she was saying- and she didn't think she did- but then Rarity shook her head fiercely back. "No, he didn't! And it didn't even seem as though he even muttered anything crass under his breath!"
Applejack sucked in a seethe through her teeth: laying a hoof on her hat and pressing it down. "That don't bode well."
Rarity's shaking head slowed at that; her tone growing all the more dire. "And that was only the start of it. Not even to speak of how he acted when I asked him to use his magic."
Her head tilted down, to look questioningly at the dragon under her hoof. "Spikey, you recall how he just froze up, don't you?"
Spike perked to attention, but he'd barely had a second to respond before Rarity was looking back up again. "He was acting so subdued, and I'd long since begun to suspect something may have been wrong, so I'd thought to check his head. It's a rather easy thing for unicorns, really."
Her hoof came up to tap against her horn, and Applejack's brow jumped. "Simply looking for oddities in their magical ability is usually good enough to see a concussion, and just so, Light looked at me as though I'd asked him to fly or some such thing!
"Can you imagine it? And I'd only asked him to hold this absolutely lovely swatch of bedazzled chiffon I keep on hoof for inspiration purposes, because it is just so enchanting that it simply sends me into the most wonderful creative fits whensoever I-"
Rarity continued in an increasingly numbing tone, but Applejack's mind was thankfully someplace else.
Wasn't touchin' the horn supposed to hurt or something? Light always seemed to make a big ol' fuss whenever his took a knock. He treated that darn thing on his head like it was sacred, when Applejack wasn't sure if it was anything more than a big magical bump. Er- was that offensive?
Ponyville just didn't really have too many unicorns around, and askin' something 'bout their horns was a mite out of her comfort zone. Seemed mighty presumptuous. Like askin' the pegasi how the heck they had the brains to flap their wings- she still remembered the talkin' to Granny'd given her...
Even for as long as it'd been since the town built up around them, it was still mostly earth ponies living here. Didn't help that their only real draw was the soil; stuff like that didn't really speak too much to most, much as she disagreed.
Good to know 'bout checking magic for the future, though. Lots 'a times Light had seemed medically wronged.
She shook the thoughts of immigration theory and magic off, and refocused on her friend's sometime-finished and waiting face instead, because- wait, what had she said?!. "Y'all thought he might've had a concussion? And here's where you brought him?"
Her questioning grew more insistent as she took an insistent step forward, and Rarity's nonchalant face took a dive into uncertainty; the moony dragon even turning around with a worried expression as she advanced persistently.
Her eyes narrowed, and her tone took a dive to accusatory as she took another step forward. "Rarity, a party ain't no place 'fer a colt in Light's condition! We gotta get him to a hospital for Princess' sake!"
Reckon Rarity didn't even think of Light's wellbeing. Probably just thinking of the party, and gettin' gussied up took front and center compared to her friend. How could she?
Applejack hadn't even begun to turn around in a huff to promptly rush her ailing friend to the emergency room where he belonged- before Spike was waving his claws around appeasingly: the little dragon stammering out in a panic. "W-Wait! That's not how it was at all! Of course we'd get Light help if we thought he was sick! We're not-"
Her half-turn ended and reversed: her heady glare landing on the small form of the dragon in way over his head, and making him jump in fear. He fidgeted under her gaze, while she, in every second of eye-to-eyes that desperately wouldn't make contact, exuded her best, most towering aura of 'y'all got somethin' to say?'
Awfully small lizard there. Be a darn shame. Darn shame, indeed.
But thankfully for Spike's wellbeing and her conscience, Rarity literally jumped in to save him. Pushing the shifty-faced dragon around behind her as she took a quick step forward, and brushing Applejack's glare off with a flutter of her long eyelashes and a beatific tone.
"Yes dear, of course Light's wellbeing was the first and foremost concern on my mind. He is a very dear friend and a loyal customer; I would be absolutely beside myself if anything untoward were to occur while I stood so idly by."
Applejack's glare lessened as Rarity let out a tinkling giggle, tipping her head and waving the hoof that wasn't shielding the form of Spike behind her. "Honestly, to imply anything else is nothing less than an insult, Applejack!"
Yeah, she said that: all the while laughin' her head off.
But it was obvious to hear the sincerity under the syrup, and Applejack knew it well: that's why she felt safe to let out the deep breath she'd held in to puff out her chest. She turned away: dipping her hat over her face with a hoof to hide her face as she closed her eyes. Slowly letting the cardboard anger she'd forced over herself fade away.
It was the right thing to do to get up in arms over whether they'd done Light wrong, she was fairly sure of that, but boy did it make her feel just a little cruddy. It plain didn't fit her mood, and she was more'n a little relieved Rarity had given her an easy out.
Light was worth the dander, though. Even if she had to make it up.
"Alright, so... what, then?" She didn't open her eyes or lean her hat up as she spoke, but she could imagine Rarity's face as she hummed noisily. Hummed... and sighed. Yeesh. That wasn't a good sigh.
"Well, as much as we've fussed- and he was acting very strange- but he didn't seem to show any sign of a concussion at all. He didn't present himself as overly sluggish or labored, and it was less that he seemed forgetful and more that he seemed entirely absent."
Applejack turned and peeked out from under her hat just in time to see Rarity blink thoughtfully. "Oh, but I am speaking merely of my second-hoof interpretation... as told to me by somepony who is much more qualified to speak on Light's condition."
She turned slightly, revealing the wide-eyed, slightly cowering form of Spike, who tried to inch back behind Rarity's side even as she waved her hoof around him. "Spike here actually spent the whole day with him, if I'm to understand what he's told me- and he has been just the most toward little drake, haven't you Spikey?"
Applejack felt... leery, watching Rarity babble gross amounts of nonsense pleasantries at Spike as she rubbed a hoof over his slightly glossy, scaly head. All the while he just smiled absently and twiddled his claws together as a... green blush spread over most of his face.
Well lookit that. Seemed to be her lucky day. If Spike was Light's friend, then it looked like she had some real dirt to shovel about him. Rarity, too- she hadn't thought she was that type. Figured; it was always the real pompous ones with something smelly to hide.
Eventually, Rarity's endless baby-blathering and coddling of the dragon ended- which was great because Applejack could only pretend to look at other things for so long- and he was pushed suddenly forward by a white hoof on his back.
He was still a little... blinky as he stumbled forward, but he seemed mostly there as he quickly regained his balance from the push. He met her exasperated face for a second before his eyes flicked nervously away, and he chuckled self-consciously as he rubbed a claw over the back of his neck. She couldn't really blame him.
Had Rarity wanted her to leave the room or what? She wouldn't have, either way, but she was beginning to get a sore feeling in the center of her shoulders, and she wasn't sure if it was from the heavy, awkward air, or the beginning of something long-suffering.
Dragon boy had a real mountain of a hill to climb to get that treasure. Well... 'treasure.' Dunno if she'd call it that...
Still, she did her best to look him top-to-bottom, and take stock of him regardless of the beginning of a heckuva headache. "...Y'all been with Light all day?" she questioned; the dragon's nervous green eyes slowly meeting hers before he nodded jerkily.
She continued to stare seriously into his eyes for a long, fidgeting second. Longer than she probably needed to, as he seemed more and more like he'd bolt any second. He kept glancing at the stairs, for one; kept shuffling on his claws, for another.
She'd've figured dragons would be made of sterner stuff.
She kept her stare, though, and just as he seemed about to burst with jerky, anticipatory energy, she finally let her mouth rise in a hard smile. "And you didn't end up killin' him?"
He stared blankly for a moment as she bravely kept her creased brow and lined smile, but then the corner of his open mouth ticked up, and a snort broke the still air. She chuckled good-naturedly alongside him as he reservedly coughed out laughs, like he wasn't sure if he was really supposed to be laughing.
Her Granny gave out sayings like she was selling 'em, and one of her personal favorites had been something she'd said about making a pony laugh. She'd said: 'Applejack, filly: the best way to learn darn near everything you need to know about a pony in just a moment is to make 'em laugh.'
It let their guard down; chipped down walls; showed their stock. It bared their heart for what they valued. 'A laughin' pony ain't got nothin' to hide,' was what Granny'd said, as she'd let out a long, wheezing laugh of her own. Applejack believed in that moral whole-heartedly.
And Spike was alright. A bit skittish, but she was kind of a magnet for that type. She was used to it by now. Sorta wished Rarity wasn't staring at her all disapprovingly, though.
It was a good joke, darnit.
But then, slowly, his shaky laugh petered off, and his smile dipped down by a half. Literally by a half- his mouth was a strange little slant of a line- and she finally noticed that he hadn't ever stopped playing with his claws. Clenching them in and out together and picking at their discolored, pointed ends. He was restless.
She met his eyes. His still-nervous, still-sad eyes. "Um... You're... You are Applejack, aren't you?"
She'd been so distracted by something vaguely familiar that it took a moment for the quiet question to register. But then, it did, and the first thing she did was smack herself on the head. "Shucks, a'course! I ain't even introduced myself properly."
What kinda friend was she fixing to be if'n she plum forgot everything she knew 'bout manners? They might've not been friends just yet, but they had Light in common, and that was probably enough that they'd be seein' more of each other.
She stepped forward, and roughly grasped at one of those restlessly moving claws, as its owner gasped in surprise. "It's a bit late, but it's a pleasure to make 'yer acquaintance all the same, Spike! Ah'm Applejack, an' me and my folks run Sweet Apple Acres," she supplied earnestly, shaking the claw and the dragon up and down.
She was about to go on about where the farm was and what they did before a second claw suddenly grasped at her shaking hoof. She blinked owlishly down at the limb that kept shaking on its own, before her eye rose up to catch Spike's suddenly intense stare. "You are! And- And you're Light's best friend too, aren't you?!"
"Uh..." was the first thing out of her mouth, and the second place her eyes went was Rarity sitting just behind him: who had a strangely sad look on her face.
Her fish-eyed stare dipped to Spike's wide, unblinking eyes, and she was suddenly aware that she could sort of feel how hard he was gripping her hoof with both claws. "Yeah..? I- I guess that's what I'd call it. Didn't Rarity..?"
Her thought and half-glance at Rarity went unfinished as Spike suddenly groaned loudly and jerked his claws away from her all at once. He smacked one to his head and over his eyes as the other grasped and made strange, grabby shapes at the air. "That's what Rarity told me too, but I was really hoping it wasn't true!"
She pressed her freed hoof close to her chest as Spike slapped his other claw over his face: moaning and wailing and rocking his head up and down as he screamed his apparent frustration into the air.
All the while she just couldn't stop thinking about how uncomfortable those claws were over her hoof.
Gave her the willies.
Whatever was getting to him wasn't as surprising to Rarity, weirdly enough. It... kind of seemed like she was expecting it or something: stepping forward and making shushing noises as she put her hooves on either of Spike's shoulders.
She pat one side a couple times, meeting Applejack's eyes with a serious look in the meanwhile that she blinked bemusedly at, before speaking gently to him in a soft tone. "Now, now, Spike. It's as I told you: there's absolutely nothing to get upset-"
And then, surprising everypony in the room and making Applejack herself take a step back, Spike roughly shrugged Rarity off. Rounding around to her taken-aback expression, and stomping his claw. "But there is! I knew something was wrong with Light the whole day, and I didn't do anything about it! Even when I thought- when I asked- I still..!"
Rarity- bless her soul- still tried to take control of the situation as Spike began to heave increasingly deep breaths to the floor: his claws bunched in balls at his sides. She placed her hooves on his shoulders again, and then resigned for one on his cheek as he shook them off again. "Spike, you have nothing to feel guilty for. You've only known Light for the day: that's no precedence to expect you to understand when he's acting odd. You couldn't have known."
She'd have thought Rarity's soothing tone would've worked, and Rarity must've too, because she gasped again and jerked back as Spike swatted her hoof away, and fiercely raised his head to hers. "You're wrong! I would've noticed if something was wrong with Twilight, and I should've noticed that Light had amnesia!"
What?
The impassioned cry left her mouth gaping; the edges of her vision blurring and nearly blocking the sight of Spike turning and dashing across the room. Rarity called after him as he disappeared into the darkened stairwell, but whatever words coming out of her mouth might as well've been Abyssinian for as much sense they made.
Light had amnesia?
A familiar face frozen in shock.
Well... that just...
A brown hoof jerking away.
couldn't be...
Like he didn't even know her.
...couldn't be right...
Glassy brown eyes barely focused.
Dull. Uncomprehending.
Unrecognizable.
Her legs gave out; her rear hit the floor. She was vaguely aware of Rarity stepping toward her- and she was only sure of that at all because it couldn't be anyone but Rarity- but every time she blinked she could only see Light. Her best friend, and her worst fears coming alive.
"Light's got amnesia..." she breathed, and his hoof was jerking away from hers again. So outright frightened of something so familiar like holding hooves, but not to him. He didn't remember her. He'd forgotten her.
This was it: her worst fear. She'd always been afraid of this. Their entire lives: it was always in the back of her mind, every time she saw him- was today the day he'd finally break? It was wrong of her, she knew that. It was an honestly horrible thing to assume about somepony- Granny'd whip her if she could see inside her head.
She couldn't help it; Light was at risk in the best of times. She'd known it since they were kids, and she'd kept it especially close to her heart since his mom had died. He was an isolated, introspective, extremely disconcerted, extremely intelligent colt, and he'd been that way since they were kids, and he'd taught her all those fancy words!
He had creepy amounts of fascination with dead things: way more than a cutie mark in archeology would need- and she knew he was lying about that. He kept secrets; he lived alone; he spent crazy amounts of time in that crazy forest.
Not even gonna mention that whole 'villain' thing he'd had as a kid. Didn't know if that was a 'phase' or what.
He had everything a pony needed to go right off the deep end, and she knew that, again, because that was the kinda thing he'd tell her! He loved talkin' 'bout ponies and their quirks and whether they had the mental salt to handle them! Seemed to honestly delight in the thought- marveled at the concept of insanity!
Just... sometimes... over the years... it felt like she was... biding her time 'til Light finally flew off the deep end. She'd never known how- she'd only ever thought about it when she didn't know any better late at night- but she'd always known. Everypony who knew him did. Only took a few seconds of lookin' at him to think of it.
And now it had finally happened. After all these years of waiting for tomorrow, Light had forgotten yesterday.
He'd broken.
She blinked again, and Rarity was there: concerned face only about a hoof-length away. She'd actually totally forgotten she even was there. Her face felt hot.
Oh shoot, her face felt hot!
Thank Her Highness for her hat- it was her only saving grace, and she used it as cover without another second of hesitation: her eyes turning down to the floor with it. Rarity's concerned face was peering right at her from spittin' distance, and she wasn't sure if... if she'd...
Aw hell.
A hoof laid on her shoulder, and she sucked in a painful breath behind her hat. Bit her lip, just hard enough to hurt. "Applejack? Are you alright?" Her body tensed on its own at Rarity's soft murmur, and her first thought was to nod- though she was pretty sure she didn't manage it.
...A'course. 'Course she was alright.
Never been better.
Green eyes rose to show themselves as a sliver from under a hat still held in place by an orange hoof. Her face hurt and her throat was painfully dry, but so were her eyes, and she considered that a damn fine accomplishment. She half-met Rarity's careful gaze with pinching cheeks and shaky resolve, but she was resolved.
Crying never solved anything. She'd learned that a long time ago, and she wasn't about to forget how it felt.
To cry over what she'd lost. What she might've lost. What was gone. The weakness of not knowing how to stand back up.
It hurt. The thought of Light hurting was... just awful. She was supposed to protect him from stuff like this. From himself. Whatever had happened, happened when she wasn't there: that meant it was her fault.
And she was gonna be the one to fix that. Light was her best friend- her responsibility, and she was gonna help him.
She'd bet the farm on it.
She grit her teeth, and it was easier in the next second to imagine herself tipping her hat up, and looking Rarity right in her too-sparkly eyes. To believe that she had the strength to face what came next with a strong heart and dry eyes. To raise herself up, and do what needed to be done to help Light.
It was never as easy to follow through, but nothing worth doing was easy, and backin' out wasn't an option when it came to the things you loved.
Not something Granny'd taught her, but someone just as important.
When she bared her dry face to Rarity and her searching gaze, she wasn't sure what the first thing to come out of her mouth should've been. She had all sorts of ideas, alright, but none of them seemed right to just come out with, and gnawing on her lip the way she was wasn't helping make her mind.
'Is Light okay?' 'How did this happen?' 'What should we do?' 'Why did you bring him here, again?'
She wanted every answer all at once, but coming out swinging would just find her flat on her face. Like throwin' hooves at shadows.
Light'd love that analogy.
So, she took another deep breath as Rarity's waiting stare grew dimmer, and set her jaw. Her throat was already starting some kinda rebellion with her shaky chest, but she would just swallow it down and come out with it anyway. Screw what she was feeling: she had a mess of a unicorn to put back together.
"Fill me in." Her dry monotone was more for the sake of not breaking down than for being snide, and she half-hoped Rarity wouldn't take it too personal.
If the slight quirk of her eyebrow was any indication, she might've- but then again she could just stow it. She was gonna be takin' any course she could just to get out of these waters until Light was alright, and Rarity was just gonna have to deal.
Rarity did hold her raised eyebrow for one affronted second, but then she shook her head, and sighed, and let it down. "What a... brusque thing to ask, Applejack." Her head turned slightly to the stairs: her eyes lingering for a long moment before they flicked back to Applejack in a slight turn. "...I suppose I can't begrudge you that."
Whatever she was thinking under that fancy mane must've finished up quick, 'cause her next move was to take a short step backwards, and clear her throat. She guessed she didn't really like being so close, though it was nice that she'd come up to try to comfort her.
Even if she thought she was too dirty to stand near. Pretty-prancin' priss. Good-will for nothin'.
Apparently satisfied with their distance: Rarity swept a hoof up under her mane: bouncing the long curl of it idly as her eyes searched the ceiling. "Well, to fully 'fill you in,' as you so thoughtfully asked," Rarity smiled beautifully down at her, and Applejack got the funny feeling that she didn't really mean it. "-I think would be a bit much for the occasion. How about I simply cut straight to what I believe may be the point?"
Applejack loosened her tight shoulders with a sigh, and rolled her eyes. "Fine, Rarity, just get on with it. I need to know how to go about helpin' Light." she stressed, making sure to keep her eyes locked on Rarity's slightly wandering gaze.
Bad habit from talking too much to Light: keeping constant eye contact helped to keep him focused. Otherwise, ponies tended to shy away from the intense stare.
She realized it well enough, but it was kinda hard to stop at this point.
If Rarity was creeped out by her wide eyes, she brushed it off incredibly well. She hummed and tilted her head to the side: closing her eyes that Applejack felt a little lost for not being able to look into. "Well, you already know how it started, of course: Light and Spike coming in to find me in the town hall and how I assessed his condition."
She hummed again and tilted her head the other way. Applejack unconsciously tilted her head slightly that way herself. "Oh, but there was also the business of what came before. Apparently," Her eyes opened and she leaned suddenly in: her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, and her eyes sparkling with intrigue. "-the two of them came from nowhere else but Sweet Apple Acres."
Applejack blinked, and she leaned in as well. "The farm? Light dropped by?" Her own voice had oddly dropped as well, though she realized it as Rarity nodded seriously. She shook her head roughly and leaned back out, checking slightly over her shoulder to make sure Spike was really gone and not conveniently standing by the stairwell to see her slip.
Seemed a right karmic thing to embarrass herself after Rarity had doted on him. Thank the Princess he'd freaked out and run off. Least something good had come out of Light's amnesia.
...Where'd dragon boy run off to, anyhow?
She turned back to Rarity and coughed behind a hoof: her face slightly flushed. "W-What were they doin' at the farm?" She tried to scrunch her face as seriously as she could make it after having just acted shamefully like Rarity. "Did he come by lookin' for me? Did Spike tell y'all what happened when they got there?"
A thought occurred, and she stepped forward: Rarity leaning back with a placid look on her face. "Did he say anythin' 'bout how Light was lookin' 'round there? Y'all know that if he's really got amnesia then figurin' out what he still remembers should be the first thing-"
Her impassioned tumble was cut off with a literal flick of Rarity's pastern, and then a hoof was pressing against her lips. She stared down at the white limb for a physically quiet moment before she flicked her eyes back up to Rarity's unimpressed face, where she could almost kinda see a bit of a bulging vein on her forehead.
"Yes... yes... Applejack, thank you for the..." She inhaled sharply as her head rose, and she nodded once as their eyes made contact again. "-many questions. I will do my utmost to address your... concerns."
Applejack nodded with Rarity and her slight seethe: switching often between staring down at the hoof still on her lips and Rarity's expressively tired face, because there wasn't much else to do as Rarity had her eyes closed and seemed to be just... thinking. Or resting. Or wasting Applejack's precious time.
Nodding every once in a while and murmuring things too softly to hear- did Rarity know she still had her hoof on Applejack's face? Why was she so bent outta shape? Well- that was kinda Rarity's thing, but didn't she realize they had a crisis on their hooves? What was the word... didn't Rarity have any urgency?
She eyed the stairway. Her hooves felt itchy.
She didn't like sitting around thinkin' so much. She wasn't Light; she liked action. Doing things. Solutions. If Rarity didn't... get over herself soon, then she was gonna find herself leanin' on air.
Rarity's eyes opened, and Applejack perked to attention. Finally.
One deep breath, and- Rarity's hoof didn't move. "I'm sure you realize that Spike was the one who identified Light's condition and that I merely suspected it, and that was only because the two of them went to Sweet Apple Acres-" Applejack made a grab at Rarity's hoof, but Rarity surprisingly swatted it away. "-and they went there because they were looking for one Ms Twilight Sparkle, not you, darling. No offense."
Rarity's eyebrow raised and her mouth pursed, as if she was waiting for an objection. Applejack just stared blankly back for a long moment, before they eventually both seemingly realized that Rarity's hoof wasn't going anywhere. She continued, with a dangerous look that said something weak about objections.
If Applejack really wanted the hoof off her face, then it wouldn't be there. She was just... humoring Rarity, was all. Didn't mean a thing.
"Now, I believe while they were there they had a run-in with your darling young sister-" Rarity gasped: her voice surprisingly delightful for what they'd been discussing. "-who I must say sounds the most charming young filly in all of Ponyville. We simply must look into setting her and Sweetie Belle up for a meeting; I do think they would get along so well."
This time, Applejack did swat Rarity's hoof away, and kept it at bay as she stared at her slightly surprised face seriously. "Now hold on there. I thought we'd been through this a while back, and we both agreed that puttin' them together was like to jes' goin' right ahead and settin' the town on fire."
She loved Apple Bloom, with all her heart. Sweetie Belle- from what she'd seen- was a perfectly fine little filly. Apart, she knew very well that they got into more than their fair shares of messes. Together...
She liked Ponyville: her family and the Rich had just about built the darn place. She didn't want it to fall apart.
They stared at each other for a long moment as Applejack's eyebrow climbed up her face. One pair of eyes slowly calculating the odds of pushing back against a much stronger and more violent force, and the other filled with visions of screaming ponies burning to a horrible death at the hooves of two very energetic fillies.
White flashed in at the edge of her vision, and Rarity's other hoof was suddenly over her mouth. "Hush dear, I'm trying to speak."
She let what should've been Rarity's aggressing hoof down as she silently cursed Light for ever introducing her to Rarity four years ago, while the proven hypocrite continued to speak relentlessly: not even looking at her. "Anyhow, the crux of the matter is that, well- Light apparently remembered Apple Bloom quite well! Or, well enough to know her name, at least."
Applejack's eyebrows jumped again, and she hummed a muffled exclamation. Was about all she could do short of getting another 'hush dear.'
Rarity nodded, and smiled slightly: the expression bleeding heavily into her conversational tone, despite the thick vibe in the air. "Yes, it came as quite the shock to me as well, and that was actually after Spike told me something even more interesting about how he realized Light had amnesia at all. He said that- oh..." She trailed off, and her free hoof came to rest under her chin as her smile fell. "Ah..."
Her expression became contemplative; she softly jerked her head back to looking at Applejack, who raised her brow questioningly. In response: Rarity jerked her eyes back away, and Applejack rolled her own exasperatedly. Now what?
Rarity, chewing her lip, eventually met her eyes again with a slightly nervous, slightly cautious stare. "Now, darling, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, so if you would just keep in mind that... this problem is a work in progress, and there's nothing to get upset about prematurely."
She took a deep breath, and her stare somehow became even more glimmering. "And... with that in mind, it's worth noting just how well you've been taking this so far- and I really am so, truly in astonishing admiration of your inner strength. It really is very commendable-"
Her impatience boiled over at the third compliment, and Applejack finally pulled Rarity's hoof down roughly. "Would 'ya jes' get on with it!?" she barked, and Rarity recoiled back as much as she could with Applejack holding her hoof: surprise clear in her eyes. "I ain't no porcelain doll what you'd find in a china shop! I'm a big filly, and I can handle it, Rarity, alright?"
Rarity met her shout by- what else- screwing her face up in indignance and turning as far away as she could while Applejack still held her hoof. That was why she kept a hold, actually: Rarity wouldn't be able to escape into some haughty dismissal if she couldn't escape.
She continued to stare expectantly at the side of Rarity's admonished face as she pointedly kept her eyes off Applejack: occasionally taking small peeks at her only to shy away as she kept her intense stare firm. She could only hope it was beginning to burn.
The silence didn't last forever, thankfully. Eventually, after she seemed to run the entire gambit of possible emotions: Rarity sniffled softly and nodded with a small frown on her face, though she still wasn't looking at her.
"Alright, Applejack." she murmured, quietly enough that she had to perk her ears to hear. Rarity slid her gaze sideways until it was resting on her out of the corner of her eye. "...I won't coddle you."
Applejack didn't say anything. She only nodded once: letting Rarity's hoof fall away to her side as its owner took another deep breath, and looked slightly up to the ceiling.
She'd like to believe it was a bombshell, but Rarity had a big flair for the dramatics. Could be as small as anything, really.
She was a bit nervous... not like she was made a' steel or nothin'.
Finally, haltingly, Rarity turned to stare at her again. Something about her stare felt... different, and there was suddenly a soft pounding in her ears, growing louder with every second. The near-silence of muffled voices bouncing up through a wooden tunnel sucked itself away as the world grew dim, and there was nothing left of the library at all except sad blue eyes staring into her shocked green.
"...Light didn't seem to know who you were... at all."
And there it was.
Applejack was quiet, then, as Rarity went on: her demeanor genuinely regretful and her tone surprisingly considerate, for what it was worth. "Apparently, while they were there, Light asked Spike several times if he knew who it was that owned Sweet Apple Acres. Not for nothing, either: he didn't show any sign of recognition of the farm at all."
She was having a little trouble focusing at the moment, but even she could feel the hoof laying gently onto her shoulder, and the soft voice was a match to the big, blue eyes. "He didn't even know the way there. Spike said that it... seemed as though Light simply picked a direction and 'got lucky.'"
She chuckled quietly- but Applejack didn't see the humor. "I can't say that part seemed all bad. I admit: I wouldn't fall to pieces if Light forgot where I lived as well."
She tried to smile- she really did, but she couldn't quite manage it. Just a little quirk on the edge of her mouth that turned back down in a second, and Rarity coughed quietly. Met the floor with her gaze for a moment, before it came back up to her sadly. "I'm sorry. That was in poor taste."
Applejack swallowed, and nodded. "...'s fine." Her voice came out dry, and her throat clenched painfully around the words. Her hoof came up to rub at her suddenly sore throat, though she continued to stare mostly into space.
Rarity, at least, seemed to jump at the chance: stepping back from Applejack and smiling slightly. "Why don't I get you a glass of water, darling? Or punch?" The words clicked, and Applejack's eyes flew to the suddenly moving fashion expert that was going somewhere she shouldn't be. "Why don't I pop into the party downstairs for just a moment and quickly just check up on-"
"No!" The shout tore at her already torn throat, and her hooves felt surprisingly sore as she jumped to a standing position- like she'd been sitting for longer than she had. Rarity, well on her way to the stairs, started back from the sudden exclamation: her hoof caught halfway between one step, and her mouth open in surprise.
They both stared at each other for a long second as Applejack realized that, yes- she had just been the one to say that. Once it became fully clear that Rarity, staring expectantly, was waiting for a follow-up: Applejack swallowed again, and tried to clear her throat. "No, Rarity- please don't go see Light," she stammered, then cringed at the gravelly sound of her own voice.
Just look at her. She was fallin' apart.
Rarity turned to her: her brow wobbling in confusion as she worked her jaw for something to say. Couldn't blame her; Applejack wasn't sure she'd know what to say if it was her standing there. Outright beggin' for her to not to do something as simple as just seeing him...
She shook her head, and sighed in frustration: turning half away from Rarity to stare up at the window. It was well into the night now, and it was only then that she wondered how long they'd been talking. Felt like forever; felt like a minute.
Something about staring into the sparkling night unnerved her, so she dropped her hat over her face, and simmered in the quiet darkness for the moment she'd have before Rarity'd find some words.
Light didn't remember her. He hadn't just forgotten everything or nothing: he'd forgotten her. He remembered his name, his manners, and how to sit down, but he'd forgotten Applejack. He could even remember Apple Bloom, for Princess' sake.
But not her.
It felt like a blow in the gut. It felt like a kick in the teeth. She knew she shouldn't've been, but she was takin' it mighty personal. It hurt- what else was she supposed to feel?!
After all they'd been through... All they'd said... All they hadn't... How could it be her..?
..!
It clicked.
She gasped; whirled around; galloped right up to Rarity all at once until they were nose-to-nose and startled blue was pressed right up to wide green.
"Ah got it! Ah got it!" she shouted right at Rarity, spittle and all; smacking the hurried motion of a hoof looking to shush away, and grabbing the frightened fashionista by the lower shoulders. "Rarity, ah know how ah can get Light's memory back!"
Rarity's head was shaking: she was already trying to peddle some hogwash about calming down and thinking clearly, but Applejack didn't care. She was too busy shaking Rarity back and forth! Everything made sense and she felt so smart!
She slowed her shaking just long enough to yell more words at the growingly dizzied face, only marginally slowing her pace. "Rarity, are y'all absolutely sure that Light don't remember me even a smidgen?!"
She was pretty sure Rarity nodded aside how much she was being shook, so she nodded right along as her mouth buzzed. "Then- Then that's it! That's it, Rarity!" She threw her hooves around Rarity's withers, and something audibly popped as she squeezed her tightly. "That's it! That's it! That's it!"
She could kinda hear Rarity trying to wheeze something through the hug, but her blood was pumping and her heart was pounding and there were stars in her eyes- too many to count!
She knew how to get Light's memory back, and it was so darn simple.
Light didn't remember her- who cared? Well, she did, but she was gonna use that.
She could just make him remember her. If they just talked, then she just knew she could find something of her in that empty head of his.
And if Light remembered her, then he'd remember everything.
Because they were best friends.
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Thanks for the chapter, have to say this is probably my most favourite story on this site, so I am exited to see it updated again.
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...
D'aw, I'm blushin'. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside like you have no idea.
And, I really am sorry for leaving you and those of your neglected ilk hanging. I tried, many times to continue writing at many different points. For instance: before I migrated this chapter to a fresh page, the views on it from me coming in and either editing or trying to write were... I think 221? Some large, ridiculous number.
I'm glad you stuck around, and I hope you continue sticking around as I undoubtedly make more mistakes along the way!
What are the odds? I started reading this story last week and caught up to the latest chapter a few hours ago. And just now, for the first time in six months, it updated? I had to double-check to make sure I hadn't simply missed a chapter.
I really like the backstory and character progression for Light Flow. The 'overly-edgy nine year old who wants to be a villain when he grows up'-shtick was cute. His mother dying was a bit cliché, but his reaction to her death (especially reading the letter she left behind) more than made up for it.
If there's anything to criticize, I'd say there's perhaps a bit too much exposition. Which is impressive in itself; I don't think I've ever seen that in a story before. Usually the more descriptive the writing, the better. But here it's almost to the point of stalling; it's a little hard to follow a conversation when there are paragraphs worth of thoughts, recollections, feelings, acts and observations between each spoken sentence. (Not to mention the three chapters it took Light Flow to open a freaking box, but I'm pretty sure that was intentional teasing.)
So, Light Flow is finally learning how to do actual necromancy (yay!), or at least 'gathering the ingredients' for it, so to speak. I can't wait to see what will become of Zecora's corpse since it was so well-preserved in his basement. I hope Light will be able to bring her back with her soul and memories intact. The poor mare really didn't deserve to go out the way she did.
Ma heart
I like the drama in this story, but would love if in the future when/if things calm down we get more Light and AJ.
Lights got a lot of issues but Applejack got that grit to stick it out and be that rock he needs, if they don't end up together romantically would still love to see them interact more as friends.
Our boy Light needs it
11402400
Ah, how sweet the call of a new voice added to the masses'. 'Jinx, you're too descriptive!'
I hear the anguished cries, and I smile a rueful smile, for they know not of my curse. How it feels to fill the world around thee unbidden: without reprieve, of tales yet spoken, of things too young, and of that which is to come.
They just don't know what it's like to be a neurotic mess of a writer.
Hi! I'm glad you've read my story and enjoyed it, somehow! I can still hardly believe it sometimes- to make it through the beginning's cliché pandering, and be heartened by the middle's rise above mediocrity, to eventually fall as the narrative slowed to a crawl too slow to sustain? It seems impossible! But I'm glad you made it, and now you can wait for something to happen like the rest of us!
...If you can't make out my stupid attempt at prose, I'm trying to say that- well extreme exposition is my huge problem! And don't feel bad about calling it out, because everyone does. As do I, to myself. Just look up at the bio I wrote specifically to mock myself.
But you've come at a good time, because I'm really gonna try hard to change the way I construct the narrative from here on out. And- I've said that before, but now I really mean it! After the next chapter which is still slow cause half of it's from five months ago I'll be desperately reigning myself and my logorrheic tendencies in.
Thanks very much for commenting! It gives me life! I promise Zecora will play a huge role when it comes around to her!
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Hey! It's that guy, Jayce! I remember him! I love it when you comment!
Yeah, I tried my best to remind people to be invested in Lightjack with this intermission, because I plan on making it a large feature of post-chapter 40 TSN. The question of their relationship has been around for... the entire story, and I think I'm finally ready to answer it outside of a dubiously canon side story.
One of the things I learned in the unofficial hiatus was that you can't just give people the stick forever. I thought I had learned that before, but now I've learned it again, and it's coming time that the carrot will finally snap its string, and we'll all bask in the wonder of orange goodness. sfw innuendo
So... look out! Glad you're still here! Nice to see you!
11402424
You know it baby
Love this story, fucking dipped on da boys to read this when I saw this had updated
11402442
The boys are temporary. The narrative is forever.
11402424
Now this is the incentive I have been waiting all those tens of thousands of words ago. Probably hundred thousands of words ago, if I remember correctly.
The slow burn have never felt so slow. But I am glad to see something from this relationship! Now... I wonder about Zecora's end though...
11411814
An answer's coming~
Well, hello again.
What a weird logic, AJ. I'm sure it will totally apply. Yep.
Damn, I remember why I left. Every chapter is like an emotional rollercoaster, except you are the one who is pushing the cart.
Also, way to much descriptions. There is more book from inside the character's head, than outside of it.
11429580
I know this is coming way too late- just like everything i do, amirite- but hey! It's you!
When you first left this comment two weeks ago, I'll admit that my first response was overwhelmingly, nauseatingly happy! I had missed you and your constant disapproval of my dithering antics; it was always something I'd look forward to whensoever I uploaded chapters! In the oddest way, knowing that whatever I'd happened to do with that piece would surely receive your most mixed response always brought a smile to my face. I'm not even being facetious: I really do enjoy receiving your criticism.
I was worried I'd lost you over the time I'd spent away, and here's hoping you're still around after this time in which I once again became unable to write- which seemingly happens on some dark god's whim!
Good work Spike. And my those two...