6. For the Want of Laughter
Jackie jerked her head up as she heard the cell door roll open.
A police pony stepped in with a clipboard in the crook of his hoof, “Jacqueline Apple, the fine’s been paid and your guardian is here to pick you up.”
The orange filly grimaced and stood, not looking forward to the earful she’d no doubt get for her latest stunt.
“Jacqueline.” Her uncle stood in the station lobby, stoic faced. “We are going to have a talk.”
Jackie pinned her ears behind her head, thinking back to how she got into this mess.
~~~ A Few Months Earlier ~~~
The orange filly weaved her way through the throng of ponies, this must have been what she was destined for. Not the socialite parties of her aunt—certainly not the quiet orchards of the farm—it was in the bustling crowds she felt the most at home. The feeling of adventure and freedom was unmatched.
Jackie daydreaming was interrupted by her stomach growling as she realized she’d skipped breakfast today. The filly wasn’t worried, knowing she’d find someplace to bum a meal somewhere in the city. She smiled as she was proved right, finding a hole-in-the-wall diner she hadn’t been to before and wouldn’t recognize her face.
She trotted in and nicked a menu from the front pedestal, pulling the newsboy cap that used to belong to her uncle down to block her face. Jackie thought she was in the clear and smiled when she felt a heavy hoof on her shoulder.
Jackie turned to see a scowling waitress had stopped her, “Looking for your party kid?”
Before she could muster an excuse, a smarmy voice spoke up, “Ah, there you are friend! We’ve been waiting for you to show up!”
The waitress snorted, but let go of her. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Jackie smiled and stiffly trotted over to where the voice came from. She was greeted by smiling twins, the only way she could tell the two candy cane maned foals apart was the barest whiskers of a mustache on one of their lips. And it looked a bit drawn on.
“Almost wondered if you got lost!” the whiskered one said.
Jackie whipped her head around to see if any of the staff were close enough to overhear before answering the twins, “Alright you two can cut the act now… Who are you and why’d you bail me out like that?”
“The Flim—” the barefaced one started.
“—and Flam brothers at your service,” the whiskered one finished as the both of them gave a mock bow, “and you looked lost, we couldn’t have just left you to be accosted by the staff for no reason!”
Jackie was still suspicious, but she was also still hungry.
She smiled, deciding to play along as she grabbed a menu from one of the twins, “Well, let’s figure out who’s stiffing who out of the bill after we get food then, hm? I’m starvin’...”
The brothers froze as she hid a smirk behind the menu, “Looks like I hit the nail on the head. I’m no fool y’know, I recognize a setup when I see one.”
“You cottoned on quick,” Flim said with a hint of admiration.
Flam shrugged, “We saw an easy mark to be fair.”
Jackie snorted, slipping into her Manehattenite accent, “I shall choose not to be insulted by that.”
“Ohoh she chooses to not be insulted,” Flim said with a chuckle.
“Would m’lady be looking to order something for her refined palate?” Flam said, putting on a faux fancy accent.
Jackie rolled her eyes, “More looking too see how much stuff they’ll let me shovel on my hay hash, I get enough of fancy shmancy taster dishes when my aunt throws a salon or whatever.”
The twins seemed stunned into silence, thrown off by the several verbal curveballs Jackie had just thrown the two back to back.
Jackie pulled down her menu to cock an eyebrow and a smug grin at the pair, “Was I an ‘easy mark’ because you thought I was some prissy rich filly that didn’t know her way around the city? If it’s any consolation, you were a bit right on the second thing.”
“... You’re just rubbing it in at this point,” Flim said with a grin as Flam burst out laughing at the absurdity.
Jackie couldn’t help herself as she joined in with the laughter, “Name’s Jackie by the way. Jackie… Orange.”
Neither of the twins commented on the pause in her name, which Jackie was grateful for. Despite having just met, the three eased into a comfortable back and forth as if they had been friends for years.
Also coming to the understanding none of them would be paying the bill.
~~~ 2 Months Earlier ~~~
“You break the lock yet?” Jackie whispered as she glanced over at Flim keeping the watchpony to the junkyard occupied.
“Working on it, considering I’m the one of us that knows how to lockpick I’d suggest—” Flam said as he fiddled with the padlock.
Jackie growled as her patience ran out and she bucked the gate open, “There! Now let's go and get those parts you wanted.”
“I almost had it,” Flam grumbled as he slung his saddlebag over his back again.
~~~ 2 Weeks Earlier ~~~
“Look kid, you can’t have a carriage parked ‘ere, you’re blocking traffic,” the officer said as he pulled out a ticketbook.
“C’mon… Hurry up and get packed you two,” Jackie thought to herself as she glanced back at the wagon.
She cleared her throat and put on her best upper crust accent, “I’m sorry do you not know who I am?”
The officer jerked back like he’d been bucked in the jaw, before he squinted at the filly trying to either connect her face to somepony important or just dumbfounded by her sheer gall. All that mattered to Jackie was that the moment of confusion was just long enough for her to start backing away.
“... I shall see you,” Jackie paused and dropped the accent, “Never!”
Jackie deftly hooked herself up to the cart with the twins’ help, quicker than the meter maid could react. The three laughed as the officer gave chase, as they knew that they’d get away scott free.
~~~ The Day Before ~~~
“Thank you kindly miss! And I do hope you enjoy that little taste of Manehatten!” Jackie said as she handed off the forged saddlebag to the unsuspecting tourist.
Clink!
Jackie grinned as the clatter of bits into her hoofs chimed.
“This is going way better than I expected,” Jackie whispered to Flim.
The brother grinned conspiratorially back at her, “Well it was your bright idea of getting these gift shop uniforms.”
“Oh please, the hardest part was the hat and the rest could be stitched up from any gray jacket,” Jackie said with a grin.
Seeing another customer walk up to the trio, Jackie put on her customer service smile again, “And what are you interested in ma’am?”
“I’m interested in seeing some license for this enterprise,” the mare said in a no-nonsense tone.
The trio froze.
“While you look affiliated with the Stable Island Ferry company, you three look way too young to be hawkers, so tell me. Who are you?”
The three looked at each other, they knew this would happen eventually, that their luck would run out. The twins looked genuinely nervous as the two fiddled with the cuffs of their jackets. Jackie tried to read their expressions to see what the plan was, when she suddenly was face down on the pier, bowled over by the brothers as they both ran off.
Jackie sat frozen in disbelief, not resisting as cuffs were thrown over her hooves and she was ushered to a squad carriage. She was completely blindsided by the betrayal, hanging her head the whole ride to the station and trying to piece together what had happened. A small part of her mind wandered to her first meeting with the twins, wondering maybe if they had been right about her not knowing the city as well as she thought.
~~~ Present ~~~
Jackie felt her uncle bore holes into her as the two sat in silence in the carriage.
“So care to explain?” Her uncle said.
“How I got caught, or?” Jackie said, looking at the passing buildings.
“Don’t get smart with me Jacqueline, you know very well what I mean.” Her uncle said harshly before he sighed and massaged his brow with a hoof; anger bleeding away. “I’m disappointed Jacqueline… You know better than to get tangled up with… Ruffians like this.”
“Well I didn’t know!” Jackie said, her accent slipping as her temper flared. “Those two jackasses said it was just a simple gig selling saddlebags to dumb tourists! I didn’t know they’d up’n run the second the fuzz came askin’ questions!”
“Please save the excuses dear niece… Believe me when I say that I am equally ashamed of myself for not being able to properly teach you the right way to go about your wandering.” Jackie shut her mouth with a click as Uncle Orange continued. “You may think you have everything figured out, but you’re still a filly. Less… Scrupulous ponies will take advantage of what you don’t know. What matters is learning from this, do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Uncle Orange…”
“Glad you still know when to listen at the very least…” Her uncle said with a sigh, “You may have gotten off the hook with me but there’s still your Auntie you need to talk to.”
Jacqueline’s eyes went wide. “Wait Uncle Orange please! You have to talk to her down!”
“Oh no, you were the one that got arrested. She almost had a heart attack when she heard the news!”
“But—”
“Oh, looks like we’ve arrived. Let’s go greet her,” Uncle Orange said as he stepped off the carriage. Jackie gulped with fear as she followed her uncle out.
~~~ 2 Weeks Later ~~~
Jackie idly blew a strand of hair from her face as she stared out the window. Auntie Orange gave her an earful of course but, as far as her Auntie knew, this was the first time Jackie had done something like this. Being stuck inside the apartment was a slap on the wrist compared to the alternative at least.
She turned to the letter on her desk, her mother’s hoofwriting stared back. It had apparently been delivered the day she got arrested, but she couldn’t bring herself to open the thing while she had been stuck inside.
So it sat there taunting her the whole week.
She finally worked the courage to bite the wax seal open but froze as she pulled it out of the envelope. Her hooves trembled, what was she waiting for?
It was just her mother’s hoofwriting, she had seen it a thousand times before. Why was it filling her with such dread now? Biting her tongue, she ripped the letter out from the envelope like the bandage off an old scrape.
“Dear sugarcube…” Jackie began to read, her mother’s voice echoing in her head. “We miss you… Big harvest… Bookkeeper?”
Jackie stumbled over that, “Granny’s way too stubborn to ever hire a- Was it Mac? Did he use one of my ideas?”
She furrowed her brows and continued to read, “Uncle Orange has been saying you’ve… Been slipping away.”
Jackie gulped with embarrassment.
“Adventurous… As always—”
Jackie froze as she read over the end of the letter again.
“As always, you’re welcome to come back home if you need Sugarcube. Nopony’ll make you feel unwanted, you’re still my daughter. I love you, and stay safe.”
Jackie slumped into her chair, the last sentence taking the wind out of her. Conflicting emotions churned in her mind as she stared out the window.
“Maybe reading this was a mistake…” She thought as her stomach tied itself in knots.
~~~ The Next Day ~~~
Jackie trudged around the block, the fire and excitement of the city gone. Her mother’s offer echoing in her voice in Jackie’s mind. No matter what her mother said, it wouldn’t be a ‘welcome’ home. If she went back to Sweet Apple Acres now, her whole time in the city would have been for nothing. Everything the family had done to get her here would have been for nothing. She would be—
She shook her head clear, no thinking like that. As she waited for the light to change, she noticed something leaning against a dumpster. An old, beaten guitar case. Any other day she wouldn’t have paid it attention but, right now she felt an odd fascination as she trotted up to it.
She dragged it away from the garbage before popping open the clasps to have a look. Jackie was pleasantly surprised to find the guitar perfectly usable, just some small scratches and dings.
A bout of homesickness flashed through Jackie’s mind as the thought of her mom plucking the strings of her guitar on a quiet night came to the front of her mind.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Jackie quickly tossed the case onto her back and continued her walk to the apartment, set on what she wanted to do.
~~~
Jackie sat on the front steps of the building as she tuned up her new guitar. The strings felt a bit crusty but she could always buy new ones later.
Giving the guitar a strum she’d start humming the love song her mom sang when she was younger, her hooves stumbled around the chords until muscle memory kicked in and she smiled with satisfaction.
“Still got it,” Jackie thought to herself as she lost herself in her playing.
Clink!
Jackie looked up to see that somepony had tossed a bit into the open case. She’d seen buskers before when she was running around the city, so Jackie quickly put two and two together that somepony thought she was one. She shrugged to herself and went back to practicing, bits were bits after all so she couldn’t complain.
By the time Jackie found herself tired of playing, she was 3 bits richer and had a smile on her face for the first time in… Well she didn’t know how long now.
“Maybe I should play more than one song though,” Jackie thought, giggling to herself as she packed up her guitar and slung it over her shoulder.
~~~ … ~~~
“For a fool's gold, a beggar's bargain”
“It's too much time, space to get lost in”
“It's one for the road, two if you can let it go-”
Jackie smiled and tipped her newsboy cap to the stranger that dropped a bit before getting back to the country blues song she sang.
~~~
Ding!
The bell rang as Jackie pushed the door to the music shop open, a teal pony glanced up at the noise and she set down the magazine she was reading.
“Oh, welcome,” she said as Jackie fiddled with her saddlebag.
The filly gave a small wave, “Hello…”
As Jackie slipped off to find the guitar strings the clerk spoke up, “You look familiar… Oh, wait, you’re that kid who’s been busking at 48 and 10th. I hear you on my way here sometimes.”
Jackie perked up, “Wait… Really?”
“I have’ta hand it t’ya. You sound pretty good for a kid your age.”
Jackie’s face lit up with a smile, “Oh well thank y’kindly! I’m actually here for some new strings, been meaning to replace ‘em for a while.”
“Oh yeah, I’ll show you where we keep them,” the clerk said as she stepped out from behind the counter, “You got an… Interesting set list for a filly your age, sounds more like the set list some drawling stallion would have.”
Jackie laughed awkwardly, “Oh well uh, yknow… Just playing songs by heart so I guess that’s what I picked up…”
“Not saying that as a dig kid, they’re good songs. Just wondering if you ever wanted to branch out to more modern stuff.”
“I… Would like to try, yeah.”
“Well after you pick out your strings, I might have some records for you to have a peek at.”
About half an hour later, Jackie strolled out with the strings she wanted and a new record for her to listen to at home.
~~~
“I still miss the pain…”
“It's never felt the same,”
“You took more than my dog when you ran off with my dog! Did’ya know that, did’ya know that?”
Jackie heard the clink of bits echo through the subway station as she gave a nod of thanks to the ponies.
~~~
“Jacqueline! Come back here, I'm not done talking to you!” Uncle Orange said as he followed the filly up the stairs.
“Well I am!” Jackie said as she turned to her room, “Like you or Auntie care about what I get up to so long as I go to your house parties and play nice!”
Jackie slammed the door but was blocked by a hoof stopping it as Uncle Orange trotted into her room, “Young lady I don’t know where this attitude has come from but I’m at the end of my rope!”
Jackie stepped back as her Uncle sat her down on the bed and he pulled up a chair with a sigh. He was still angry but clearly not at her anymore, “I just want to know where you’ve been getting your bits from. And don’t tell me your job at the docks, I’m not a fool Jacqueline, I know you quit a month ago.”
Jackie shut her mouth with a click before turning her gaze away from Uncle Orange.
“Jacqueline… I’m simply just worried about you, I don’t want some ruffian to take advantage of you again—”
“Well nopony is! I’m making the money myself. No partners, or schemes or nothin’. There, answered, you don’t need to worry,” Jackie pushed herself up but was stopped by Uncle Orange putting a gentle hoof on her shoulder.
“That doesn’t answer my question and you know it… Jacqueline, be honest with me.”
“No! I won’t let you stop me again!” Jackie cried out, “I- I’ve finally found something that makes me feel like I belong here… But- You or Auntie’s gonna stop me because I’m just… Some filly who doesn’t know better in your eyes… And I don’t want to lose this…”
The two sat in silence for a beat. Jackie held back tears while her Uncle kept hold on his niece.
“Alright. I’ll make you a promise then ok?” Uncle Orange said softly, “I swear I won’t stop you with whatever it is you’re doing… I just want to make sure you’re safe while you do it.”
Jackie looked up, “You really, really swear?”
“On our family’s name,” He said solemnly.
Jackie sighed, “Ok… Ok fine, I’ve been busking around the city… The first time I didn’t mean it, I was just practicin’ in front of the apartment and someponies started throwin’ bits in. And at first I just did it for the spendin’ money but… I started liking makin’ ponies smile… I finally felt like… I found a place for m’self.”
Jackie braced herself for her uncle to say how irresponsible she was before she felt a tousle of her hair. Looking up she saw Uncle Orange beaming down on her with pride in his eyes.
“I can see this really makes you happy Jacqueline, I’m glad you’ve come into your own.”
Jackie gave her Uncle a hug, “Thank you for not taking this from me…”
“Is that why I’ve been seeing you buy so many records recently?” Uncle Orange said as he fixed Jackie’s newsboy cap.
“Oh yeah… Been learning the chords and stuff by ear,” Jackie said as she pulled away, “I mean it started as just the one but… I’ve been going back when I have the bits.”
Her Uncle chuckled as he got to his hooves again, “Well so long as you don’t mind this old stallion’s taste in music, I might have some for you to listen to.”
Jackie’s eyes lit up at the prospect of hearing some new music, “Really?”
~~~
“If ya can't contain it, when the record plays—”
“You're just my kind of misfit!”
“You're living just to let it go…”
Jackie grinned as she got into the peppy number, hearing the clatter of bits fall into her bag.
“Enjoy the show!”
~~~ … ~~~
Clink!
“Thank you!” Jackie gave a wave to the last tipper as she muffled the strings on her guitar. Most of the ponies had cleared off so she took that as a sign to finish up for the day.
“Ten… Fifteen… Twenty… Twenty-two bits,” Jackie counted in her head as she sucked in a breath. “Dammit… Still not enough for that Dawnclaw Ferdinand record I wanted to get.”
She packed up her guitar with a click of her tongue and started the walk back to the apartment.
“I really don’t want to have to ask Uncle for cash… Because no doubt Auntie would hear and I’ll get an earful about how it ain’t ‘proper’ or something.”
Jackie rolled her eyes as she passed by a bakery owned by a family friend that she frequented. The thought of some fresh pastries made her stomach growl and, against her better judgment, she turned to look through the windows.
Before she could drool over pastries she couldn’t afford something else caught her eye, a ‘Help Wanted’ sign pasted on the window. Jackie hesitated. On the one hoof, she was officially a juvenile delinquent and she hadn’t worked a legitimate job since the orchard. On the other hoof, she did know how to bake with half remembered lessons from her mother and she really wanted that record before somepony else snatched it up.
Besides, a good word from her uncle could sweep her record under the rug for a family friend.
She mulled it over for a moment before the promise of extra bits outweighed her hesitation and she pushed open the door and trotted in.
~~~ The Next Day ~~~
“I didn’t think this would be your speed Jacqueline,” Dutchess Pear said as the filly in question tied her hair back.
She gave a noncommittal hum, “Well… Normally not but, I kinda need the bits. And besides, you’re a family friend so who am I to not help?”
“A half truth, but an easy one to believe,” Jackie mused to herself.
The mare didn’t question her reasoning and chuckled, “Well you certainly are your Uncle’s niece then, reliable as rocks and sharp as a whip the both of you!”
Dutchess Pear showed Jackie how to ring up orders as the filly slipped an apron on.
“Seems straight forward enough,” Jackie said as the mare finished her explanation.
“I knew you’d catch on quick! I’ll show you to the kitchen so you can meet your fellow baker, Skylane Sprint.”
“This doesn’t seem the worst place to work, this’ll be a piece of cake,” Jackie snorted at her own pun as she followed her new boss.
~~~
“Celestia’s horn, this hairnet is itchy,” Jackie said as she fiddled with the thing.
“Well you can’t have your braids brushing the dough kid,” the golden coated mare said.
“Yes I know Ms. Pear,” Jackie said as she rolled her eyes, “I’m just saying it itches.”
“Well good to know then,” Skylane, a teenaged colt a few years older than her, said as he adjusted his baker’s cap, “damn ponce...”
“Ponce?” Jackie snorted with incredulity, “What are you from, the 60s?”
The colt growled and got up in Jackie’s face while she grinned smugly.
“Alright knock it off, I’ll be back in a few minutes with lunch, don’t kill each other or burn the kitchen down. Am I understood?”
“Yes ma’am,” both foals said before Dutchess Pear nodded.
“Maybe you two can try baking something together? You’ll get the hang of things faster that way,” the mare said before she trotted out the back door.
“Spoiled brat,” Skylane said the moment Dutchess Pear left.
Jackie stuck her tongue out at him, “Candy-flank.”
The two stalked off to different tabletops and started working on their own pastries, both set on one upping the other.
~~~
Ding!
The oven sounded as Skylane and Jackie stopped glowering at each other and trotted to their ovens with mirrored smug expressions. Both of their smiles deflated as they opened their oven doors and pulled out what they had made.
“How in Celestia’s mane did you cock up cinnamon buns?” Skylane said as he looked at the deformed swirls Jackie had made.
“Well clearly you ain’t perfect either, you overworked the puff pastry and the butter melted into the dough,” Jackie retorted as she picked up one of his deflated apple turnovers.
The two glared at each other for a beat before Jackie snorted a barely restrained snicker. Then the floodgates opened and the pair laughed at their own botched pastries. Dutchess Pear came back to the pleasant surprise of her young employees actually getting along. And at least one sellable batch of apple turnovers.
~~~ … ~~~
Jackie was mixing chocolate ganache when she heard a crash and shouts of expletives. Turning from her double boiler she saw Skylane trapped under one of the rolling racks, sheets strewn across the tile.
“Ow… Oi, Jackie can you grab the boss so you two ca—” before the colt could finish his sentence as Jackie pushed the cart off him with practiced ease.
“Why would I need to call Ms. Pear?” She asked, confused, as Skylane pulled himself out from under the cart.
“Uh,” Skylane fumbled with his words a moment, “Damn mate, you’re stronger than y’look.”
“I mean this thing’s honestly light in comparison to the carts I pulled back home,” Jackie said as she righted the roller and knelt down to help the colt pick up the trays.
“Back home?” Skylane said with a tilted head
“Oh, yeah… I don’t like talkin’ ‘bout it much ‘cus it gets me looks but, I came to the city ‘bout… A year ago I think, but I used to live down in Ponyville.”
“No shot… You? The posh city filly?”
Jackie barked out a bitter laugh, “That’s what you thought I was like? ‘Lestia I’m almost hurt by that Skylane! Auntie likes to keep it under wraps, ‘cus the rumors would hurt her but yeah, not Manehatten born and raised.”
Skylane snorted, “Alright, you’re takin’ the piss.”
“No really!” Jackie showed off her hind hooves, “From buckin’ trees back home, had one I grew and named n’ everything!”
“Huh, guess I pinned y’wrong mate.”
“I’m full a’ surprises, a regular old Jackie-in-the-box!”
Skylane snorted at her awful joke before trotting off to wash off the frosting off himself and grab a mop. Jackie smiled, like a weight off her chest had been lifted as she trotted back to finish whisking the ganache.
~~~ … ~~~
“And here’s your fritters! Come again!” Jackie said as she waved off the last customer of the morning.
She sighed and let herself relax as she trotted to the front door and hung the ‘Out for Lunch’ sign on the glass. Her smile slipped from her over-enthusiastic customer service one, to a more natural one.
“Kid,” Dutchess Pear said as she poked her head out the kitchen door, “Closed up for lunch?”
“Eyep,” She said lazily.
“Great,” the baker said with a relieved sigh, “Cinnamon rolls are almost ready, you can handle getting them cut and into the oven right?”
Jackie gave a mock salute and skipped to the kitchen, “You got it Ma’am.”
She laughed at the antics, “Attagirl.”
The filly grabbed a bench scraper and started chopping off rolls from the pastry log while singing a tune under her breath.
“Y’know, I didn’t think you’d be staying so long Jacqueline,” the mare said with a smile, “you seemed pretty hellbent on leaving after a few weeks, what happened to that?”
Jackie gave a non-committal hum, “Well, I guess this place just grew on me. Besides, I can still do what I want, not like this job is my whole life.”
“Haha! You got it figured out early kid, the rat race isn’t worth it.”
Jackie smiled as she finished setting the cinnamon rolls in a baking dish and covered them with plastic wrap. She heard the clack of the back door and saw Skylane trot in with hayburger bags.
“Celestia’s mane I’m starving, gimme gimmie gimmie!” Jackie said as she dusted her hooves off and tried to grab a bag.
“Slow down there mate,” Skylane said with a chuckle, lifting the bags out of the filly’s reach with his wings.
Jackie mock pouted but cantered off to properly wash her hooves as Skylane made his way to the dining area.
The filly wasn’t kidding about being starving as she tore through her hayburger before Skylane or Dutchess were even halfway done. There was still plenty of time until they had to reopen so Jackie decided to squeeze some practice in as she dashed off to the break room.
“What you playin’ mate?” Skylane said through a mouthful of burger as Jackie trotted back in with her guitar in hoof.
“Ah, was probably just gonna noodle for a bit,” Jackie said as she pulled up a stool, “Hope you two don’t mind me.”
“Oh, no bother, feel free kid,” Dutchess said with a wave of her hoof.
Skylane gave a wing up, so Jackie started strumming away. After running through her warm up, she found herself playing the chords to one of her street tunes anyway, as she half-hummed the lyrics under her breath.
“La-la-la-nah, nah… La-nah-nah-nah-nah-la… La-la-la-nah, nah… La-nah-nah-nah-nah-la…”
“Well I got your letter, just in time… For a rockin’ revolution! Sir Apple let me alter your mi-i-ind…”
Jackie kicked her hooves to the beat in her head as Skylane and Ms. Dutchess nodded along to her song. Jackie felt herself leaning into the performance when she hit the second chorus as she grinned and finished with a flourish.
Jackie gave a mock bow, “Thank you, thank you, you’ve been a lovely audience.”
Jackie set her guitar down when she noticed a flash of light on her flank. Whipping her head down she’d see two clubs, one red and the other orange.
“Whoa… Grats mate!” Skylane said as she trotted up to slap Jackie on the back, Ms. Pear clapping politely.
“I- I don’t understand… Why did I get my cutie mark now?” Jackie asked confused, “I mean… I’ve played my guitar before, in front of other ponies too, why today?”
“What’d you do differently today?” Skylane asked with a question of his own as he also stared at her new mark.
“I don’t know? I- I helped deliver that donut order this morning… I finally baked those croissants without burning them… Before I came to work I helped some lost filly find her mom? I don’t know, I did a lot of different things today!”
“Maybe it’s that?”
“What’d you mean?” Jackie asked as her confusion came back.
“Maybe that’s your special talent,” Skylane said, “that you’re a Jack of All Trades.”
“He has a point kid, you pick things up incredibly quickly,” Ms. Pear interjected.
“Huh,” Jackie hummed, “Y’know… I do like the ring of a Jackie of All Trades!”
Skylane groaned at Jackie’s pun as the filly laughed at her friend’s pain over her wordplay. Jackie knew deep in her heart that, no matter where she went, she’d have someplace to be.
~~~
The filly fiddled with the map in her wing’s grasp, a luggage bag clattering behind her. Trotting past a bakery, she’d pull up a chair from the outside seating and try to get her bearings, tucking her cane under her wings.
“‘Ello!” An orange filly in an apron and hairnet trotted up to greet her. “Need some help finding your way around?”
“Yeah… I'm a little lost,” the pegasus said as she laid the map down on the table in front of her, “That obvious I’m not from around here?”
“Trust me, even without your bag you’d stick out like a sore hoof, I’ve been where you are now. So! Where are you headin'?”
“Uh… Trying to find the Stablehoof Convention Center,” she said pointing to the circled part on her map.
“Well, the easiest way would be grabbing a trolley at 56th until 7th ave. Straight line when you get off, still a bit of a walk… How about something to eat first?”
The pegasus filly was about to object before a rumble in her stomach interrupted her, “I- Alright yeah, do you have blueberry muffins?”
“Indeed we do! So, who’s ordering?”
The pegasus pulled a pencil from behind her ear to mark down the directions she was just given before answering, “Rainbow Dash.”
Heyyyyy everyone I have returned from my whaling trip! Unfortunately, the white whale continues to elude me.
In all seriousness, I wasn't expecting writer's block to hit me so hard for this chapter, taking me from Fall semester finals to Spring semester finals. Who would have guessed that making it so that Jackie's cutiemark representing her being a Jack-of-All-Trades would have meant that it would difficult to create a backstory for her? 
Despite it taking so long I am happy with how this chapter ended up and I hope you all enjoyed as well! (After some catch up from the previous chapters maybe. Again I am so sorry it's taken so long, I can't promise that I'll get the next chapter out sooner rather than later what with finals week and moving out of my dorm, but I can promise it won't take almost 6 months again 
)
Anyway, enough of talking about me, the author, let's talk about Jackie for a bit!
So, for Jackie it was kind of a question of "Taking the core traits of Applejack out because most of her core characterization is tied to Sweet Apple Acres, what's left?" and the answer was. Not a pleasant personality lol. A stubborn and quick to anger pony, who doesn't feel like she has a place in the world. I tried to convey her bouncing from place to place until I hit it over her head that, it's perfectly fine for her to be like that (Perhaps that will come up again with Rainbow Dash, wink wink). Off topic fun fact, the lyrics that Jackie sings throughout the chapter are from 3 different actual songs, someone might be able to pick up which songs lol.
Well, that's 5 out of 6 characters with their cutiemarks and paths to future elements! Time to close out with the one who, in another life, was suppose to kick everypony else off on their journeys of self-discovery. Time to loop back around to the beginning! 
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I love her. SO much ;;
Okay, that's great and I get the feeling that the will be spending more then just a bit of time togetehr while growing up.
11792669
Yeah, and Pinkie/Discord was another popular ship for a while anyway (before Fluttershy became the main one for Discord and Cheese Sandwich became the main one for Pinkie).
Applejack's cutie mark is great! Next is Rainbow Dash
Hello there. Again, you did a really good job on the dialogue, characterizations, general wrap-up and future chapter set-up. It took a while, but it was quite well worth it. Yeah, the bits with Applejack's struggles to adapt to Manehattan life make a great deal of sense including her first encounter with the Flim-Flam Brothers (and a rather good reason for her to strongly dislike them later on), her Aunt and Uncle (and other Manehattan family) providing helpful advice as well as her learning assorted odd jobs while being a street performer. And the lead-off to Rainbow's chapter before they all come together was also well done.
VERY MUCH looking forward to more of this.
And Happy Easter.
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Thank you and I'm glad you enjoyed! I was a bit afraid of coming back after my accidental hiatus and having a chapter that wasn't worth the wait but this was a big weight off my chest
Happy Easter to you too
It’s back!
Loving how each character’s story feels natural, incorporating both the events of this timeline and the traits of the ponies in the canon timeline.
Plus it’s just well written overall!
And I do love how Flim and Flam are portrayed here
This was definitely worth the wait! Everytime I'm on the outlook for hints for future plot points or possible shipping and how everything is going to work out.
Right now I can't decide whether or not you're trying to go for an Appledash ship or AJ x Skylane. If it IS Appledash I'm pretty sure that is a cannon pairing (although we only got like 3 of those in the finale. Fluttercord, Appledash, and Cheesepie.) And that makes me wonder if you are planning to somehow make the cannon ships work while giving the other 3 new ships or if it's all up in the air and nothing is going to make sense.
In summary time for a reread and see if any new theories arise! This was definitely worth the wait!
11864949
Oh thanks! Yeah I'm trying my best to work in some canon aspects but very clearly colored by their different experiences in this altered timeline, changing how expressed certain personalities and skills are in each character. And if Jackie seemed like a 180 from her canon self, wait till you see what I'm gonna inflict on Rainbow Dash
Also, what better place to foreshadow the twins than in Jackie's introductory chapter lol
Having read the author's note, I can see you tried hard to work out AJ's personality absent the farm. A few other things you didn't mention that feel core to her character: hard work and family. While the hard work aspect eventually showed up, the family part feels lacking. There might have bern opportunity to have her engage more deeply with her Orange family other than be antagonists. I also feel like "well she's a baker now" is too much of a direct pull from Pinkie Pie's character in order to make a replacement.
Now, despite this chapter title having 'laughter' in it, I very much didn't feel any sort of vibes of "element of laughter" from AJ's new character. You were able to accomplish that with the othef characters, so this is the first time I think you really missed the mark. This is by far the weakest character re-invention we've seen.
You have to bring everyone back to Ponyville at some point. Which is a shame, because "Jacqueline Apple, Manehattan con-mare and her frienemies the Flim Flam Brothers" is a much better stand-alone story I'd like to see.
11865077
Yeah, like I said it was tough. I tried to get across her mending fences with her uncle with her getting some music from him but I do agree I could have done more. Was just hard also coming up with something that didn't break up the flow of the story too badly. Something that I forgot to mention in that author's note was that this chapter had three complete "tear it out and start again" rewrites, where the rest of the chapters had only minor changes between the initial idea and final draft. I would have made it four if I wasn't already 6 months past and people thinking I had abandoned the story. I would also agree with you this is probably my weakest character change, even though I am happy with this version of it, but I do hope that as I go along I'll be able to strengthen things with her characterization that I wasn't able to in this introduction (Namely, through getting her back to Ponyville, as much as I do also enjoy those stories where she carves a place for herself away from home).
Jackie is... Weird, and I had a hard time grappling with her, but it fits her. She's that "Jackie-of-all-trades", after the camera is off her she'll eventually move on from the bakery and keep doing odd jobs until the call of destiny brings her back home.
I'm definitely not done with the Flim Flam Brothers and it'll be fun doing an reverse of canon Applejack's "City Mouse/Country Mouse" from her backstory, but now with her grown up and coming back home (also some fun conflict with Twilight but that's for when the pilot rewrite comes around. I still got one more member of the Nail Six to do, and even though she'll be along the lines of Jackie with being a departure from her canon characterization, I do have a more solid plan with what to do with her.)
Anyway thanks for bearing with me and reading this, have a picture of grown up Jackie as a thanks for your time!
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The best chapter thus far.
Can't wait for the next one.
Sneaky EaW reference is sneaky.
Good thing, that this guy do something else here, than there.
Another great chapter. Well done.:D
Wonderful to see this update 🙂
Makes sense that AJ was difficult, out of all the Main 6 she is the most mono-focused. It is hard to change anything without changing everything.
After the day I've been havin', this is a wonderful little surprise.
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Did you consider a different element for AJ at any point? I feel like Kindness and Generosity have intruguing possibilities as relates to her character.
Jacqueline Apple of Manehattan, shocked by poverty and homelessness, starts a soup kitchen. It becomes wildly successful, but also brings her ire from the political establishment who are embarassed by her highlighting city inequality they have failed to fix. Under threat of being shut down, she turns the soup kitchen over to trusted family (the young Sweet Orange, the best of his family) and slips off to Ponyville until the heat dies down.
11866224
While I do very much like that idea, and with the last remaining element and Mane Six pair being Rainbow Dash and Generosity. I have a rule for myself that, if I have a chapter out, aside from minor grammatical fixes I won't go back and completely overhaul it. Because if all I did was rewrite chapters, I wouldn't get anywhere past chapter 3
This chapter was... Kind of a compromise between "telling the best story to highlight Jackie's character" and "telling the best narrative" which, aggravatingly enough were not the same. If I had leaned harder into "telling the best story to characterize Jackie" it would have been an even longer stretch of montages as Jackie bounced around the city from odd job to odd job.
And that kinda clashed with the unsaid premise I made for myself for these origins: take the character after they failed, put them into situation different from canon to build them back up in a different way with a 'mentor'/guiding figure to help them along, give them a final apotheosis moment where they mix traits from their canon selves with the new circumstances they found themselves in.
So, I showed a little bit of Jackie bouncing from place to place, but tried to tie it together into a story of figuring herself out.
I might not have shown it in the best way, but I at least hope that I showed it in a satisfying way. Her talent is being a jack of all trades, if there's something to do, Jackie either has done it before or will learn fast. I'll be able to portray that better once Rarity goes back to Ponyville and kicks off the main plot, with the potential for her having done more in the intervening time when the camera was off her, and as such being able to draw on more. This is an origin, Jackie is not done bouncing around. She won't stay at the bakery forever, but she will take what she learned from her time there with her to her next venture.
tl;dr
I do have more solid plans to better show Jackie's characterization down the line once she comes into her own, with references to her doing things when the metaphorical camera was off her. Maybe I didn't show it off the best with the past chapters, but while the Nail Six have hit "figure yourself out", they still have a decade of life to hit "do it on purpose" before we catch up to them in the main plot.
11866279
I understand the "jack of all trades" idea, and it isn't a bad one. What I'm struggling to see is how it will develop into a character that also embodies the element of laughter. Pinkie as a party planner was an easy and obvious choice for the show writers; you'll have a lot of heavy lifting to do in order to get AJ in that same space.
Other changes you tried have worked well. Fluttershy as loyalty was supported through a compelling story and believeble transformation. Rarity was less dramatic of a story (some irony there) but her big-city desires pointing instead to Canterlot fit well into her established character. Pinkie Pie was a harder bridge to cross but you leaned into her family and the faux-Amish culture and worked well enough. Not sure about the Disco Elysium-style internal monologging, but Pinkie comes with oddity so we can get past that.
It seems like you're coming full circle with RD as generosity, and I hope you can keep one of the most iconic canon characters in one piece. RD isn't really RD unless she has a big ego, and is the loudest (or proudest) in the room. That's a real challenge for generosity, which is adjacent to "lift someone else up"!
Ok... I think I can see how Dash is STILL going to connect all 6 of them together. Since she's going to be getting Generosity, unless you decide to throw the ultimate curveball and have it be a background pony, I'm thinking that she would likely go into aerospace engineering, likely to help other ponies connect over longer distances... Which would lead her to bring Jackie back to the farm... Which would lead her to crash... Which leads Dauntless to bring her to Mena... While Sparkles is there with Winona... And Rares is back home getting a check up due to an unexpected magic surge before the Summer Sun celebration.
11866428
Don't forget, in this timeline Dash's ego wasn't simply bruised... It was DISINTEGRATED during that race. The one that might have an ego now would, imo, be either Jackie or Rares. Jackie because of the fact that she can do literally anything with even the smallest amount of effort. Rares because she managed to go to, and survive in, the most prestigious school for unicorns and magical study. Though once she meets Sparkles and notices how distraught she becomes over it, I doubt Rares would bring it up... Much. Dauntless, having come the lowest point in her life, would likely have an ego, but would absolutely know how to temper it with modesty. And Mena is just... We don't question how she solves half the ailments she does... Calling it now, Mena cures that damnable tree infection from Jackie's parents.
11868218
Oh yeah, the most damning thing actually wasn't that she gave the ground a kiss at terminal velocity, it's that in the heat of the moment (in her eyes) she would have almost let her friend fall to her death.
Not to say she'll be subdued or anything (Canon Rarity was far from a subdued character as well, so it wouldn't be far fetched to let this future bearer of Generosity keep being loud and proud, just in a different way
)
11868856
On the one hand, I wanna argue...
On the other hoof, you're not wrong about the cannon...
These chapter is great and good work.
And i read the end,your just planning to make RD the new Gen 3 rainbow
Really good start so far
11868209
Funny thing, there has actually been a connection between the bearers, just a bit less obvious than one big event y'know? Some connections are bigger than others but, connections nonetheless
11882208
Tease... xD