Mares on a Moonlit Night

by Sheendough

Chapter 7: Wanna Bet?

Chapter 7: Wanna bet?

Applejack woke up to a rooster singing to announce the morning. She had finally gone to sleep and woken up early, despite having again the same dream that took her sleep. She rose slowly from her bed and cleared her groggy eyes as she peeked through her window and smelled the fresh air. She looked upon her landscape and saw that the morning sun was barely peeking over, the dusk starting to grow a beautiful orange tone as it rose.
Applejack got out of her bedroom and into the kitchen. She prepared herself some eggs and pancakes just like last time and ate up fast. She stepped out into the farm careful not to step into the mud puddles that extended themselves for yards in the ground.

‘Should I head into the orchard this early? Big Macintosh surely hasn’t woken up yet. Maybe later. Yes, by then the mud puddles would’ve dried themselves and I can buck without getting any dirtier’ —thought Applejack.
This sounded like a pretty good plan. She’d go away for a few minutes (two hours at much) and return to her duties. She walked along the long path that led to Ponyville and got to the town square. The morning sun was starting to bath the entire town in its golden rays and Applejack couldn’t help to stop and watch the lovely landscape again. It was like her mind was in a dream-like sequence. What had sparked all of that, she didn’t know, but she wished it could stay like that forever.

She turned the path and went into the other side of town into the Everfree Forest. As she strolled along the cobbled streets into the outskirts of town, she began to realize how quiet the town was. It relaxed her and seemed to relieve her off the stress of her dream, making her forget about it.
She approached Fluttershy’s cottage and realized how charming the stream’s water sounded as she got closer and closer. Her senses became sharpened and took in the beautiful scene in front of her. The green meadow lit in golden sunlight was barely making any noise outside the occasional bird chirp and water stream. Fluttershy wouldn’t take long to wake up. But she continued her path into the Everfree Forest. Her senses had sharpened earlier to relax her. Now they had sharpened out of instinct: the Everfree’s monsters could be on the hunt and she certainly didn’t want to be any part of their menu.

She passed along the patch of poison joke ivy and walked around it, careful not to touch any of the flowers. She had had the unpleasantness of being “cursed” by the mysterious plants before and she wasn’t intending to repeat that same mistake, not now that she already had a curse to worry about.
Applejack came to a stop in front of a rustic-looking hut. She knocked softly as to not startle the pony living inside. She heard small hoof-steps and stepped aside.

“Hiya Zecora” —greeted the orange farm pony to a zebra with short mane and golden attires on her body.

“Greetings to you my friend” —answered the zebra. “What brings you here on these woods for you alone to attend?”

—“Well, Ah’ve been havin’ some issues an’ ah hoped you could help me with them.”

—“Council is what you seek, but beware for many troubles are quite unique” —said Zecora in her usual rhyme scheme.

—“Yyyyyeeeaah…” —said slowly Applejack as she tried to process the zebra’s verse. “Anyway, ah’ve been havin’ these weird dreams an’ ah thought maybe you could help me figure them out.”

—“Come in. Come in. Your secrets are no sin.”

Applejack stepped inside Zecora´s hut and sat on the floor. The zebra turned around and gazed her with inquisitive eyes.
“Tell me now kind kin, when did you nightmares full begin?”

—“Uh… ‘bout a month ago or so. Ah can’t exactly remember the day.”

—“You seem to be full of doubt. Tell me what this nightmare is about.”

—“Well, ah’m not sure where ah am. Ah can only see darkness. Then this blur in front of me appears an’ it gets smaller an’ smaller. Ah scream as ah feel mahself pulled back an’ ah gasp for air when ah noticed ah’m not breathin’” —finished Applejack.

—“Your tale is dark all the same, but this dream I’ve encountered has no name. Tis the first time I’ve heard of a dream where you yelp, I’m sorry I couldn’t be of much help.”

Applejack let out a sigh as she tried to process the zebra’s rhythmic drones.

— “Thank ya Zecora.”

The orange earth pony turned around and walked back to the trail where she came from.

___
Applejack approached the town square deep in thought. She was so sure Zecora would help her with her problem. She had been disappointed for a second time. She kept walking until she slammed herself into a haystack.

“Huh?” —she snapped back. “What the hay? Oh. It’s just you Pinkie.”

The haystack turned around and spoke.

—“Awww. Why can you always tell who I am? Why does everypony always tell me apart?”

—“Sugarcube, yer the only pony who disguises herself as a trench coat, joke glasses-wearing haystack.”

—“Hmm… Maybe I need a better disguise.”

—“Ya think?” —asked a sarcastic AJ.

—“Well, yeah. I mean, I always get discovered when I’m like this. Duuh.”

Applejack just stared at Pinkie for a few silent seconds before the pink mare spoke again.

“You were being sarcastic, right?”

—“Of course! Jeez, Pinkie. Do ah need ta put on a sign that says ‘sarcasm’ every time ah open mah mouth?”

—“You have a sarcasm sign?!” —asked the party pony excitedly.

Applejack facehoofed and let silence creep in for a small lapse.

—“No, ah do not have a sarcasm sign” —concluded AJ in a defeated tone. She sometimes couldn’t tell if Pinkie was just oblivious to sarcasm or was just pretending to be dumb.

“Anyway, what’re ya doin’ out here at such an early hour?” —asked AJ trying to change the subject.

—“Oh! I’m waiting for Rainbow Dash.”

—“Why?”

—“Why not?”

—“Well, isn’t she supposed ta work today?”

—“I guess so.”

—“Well, are ya goin’ ta meet her afterwards or what?”

—“Nope, she and I don’t have any plans for today.”

—“Then what’re ya waitin’ her for?”

—“Nothing.”

—“Huh? So, she doesn’t know yer followin’ her?”

Pinkie stared into Applejack’s eyes seemingly thinking about an entirely different subject.

—“Doughnuts!”

—“What? Doughnuts?”

—“Yeah, I just made some.”

Pinkie had trailed off again.

“Oh there she is!” —exclaimed Pinkie. AJ was sure she hadn’t seen Rainbow’s streak anywhere near. Maybe Pinkie just wanted to get out of the situation. Whatever the case, she got out of her poor haystack disguise and bounced off into the distance.

Applejack headed on towards her farm with a lowered head. She continued on her path and reached Sweet Apple Acres entering from one of the alternate entrances of the farm. She didn’t see well with so many things and nothing on her mind (‘am I just nuts?’) so it didn’t surprise her much when she slammed herself again against a soft surface.
“Ow! Ah’m sorry. Ah wasn’t seeing an— Rainbow?”

The cyan pegasus turned around and righted herself.

—“Hey AJ.”

—“What’re ya doin’ here? Pinkie was lookin’ for you.”

—“She’s always looking for me. She follows me everywhere every once in a while.”

—“OK, but why are ya here? Ah mean, shouldn’t you be nappin’?”

—“Well, yeah, but I remembered what you said the other night and thought I might watch the sunrise and Ponyville from here.”

—“Yeah, it’s a beautiful day. What happened? Shouldn’t it be raining for the Summer Sun Celebration?”

—“Yeah, we kinda overdid it yesterday. Somepony screwed up. We still don’t know exactly what happened. I think it might’ve been a problem with the clouds. I always tell them the newbies shouldn’t be keeping an eye on the clouds. Maybe one of them couldn’t control them and they got carried away. Either way, we now need to make a sunny day to make up for this screw up.”

—“Oh. Well, good luck with that.”

—“You OK Applejack?”

—“Yeah, ah’m OK… Ah think ah’m OK. Thanks Rainbow.”

—“You sure? You don’t seem OK AJ. You look like you’ve just fin—”

—“Ah’m fine” —AJ cut off Rainbow coldly.

Rainbow glanced at her friend before she turned her gaze to her other side. An awkward silence crept in on the two friends before the rainbow-mane mare spoke again and broke the quietness.

—“So, got any plans for today?”

—“Ah need ta finish mah business.”

—“Oh… Right” —said sheepishly Rainbow.

—“Ah need ta get goin’. Or else they’d think ah’m foolin’ around.”

—“OK AJ. See ya around.”

—“Bye.”

Rainbow just stood there with her look on the horizon while AJ kept walking towards her house.
Upon her arrival, AJ didn’t want anything but sleep, but her train of thought got cut off when she saw Granny Smith sitting in her rocking chair by the fireplace.

“Hey Granny Smith. Sorry fer not bein’ here since dawn. Ah had some businesses ta handle.”

—“It’s OK dear.”

Suddenly an idea perked up on Applejack.

—“Um… Granny? How do you take off a curse?”

—“Well, you need to dance naked in the moonlight at full moon on a barrel full of Apple juice. That’ll solve the problem”

—came the old mare’s archaic reply. Applejack knew her grandmother couldn’t help her but she was desperate. “Oh, and Big McIntosh wants to speak to you, dear.”

—“Big Mac? What does he want?”

Applejack walked away into the orchard where Big McIntosh was plowing the fields. As soon as he saw her his face turned into a stern look.

“Wanted ta see me, bro?”

—“Yeah. We’ve got a problem, AJ.”

—“Tell me about it” —muttered the orange mare to herself.

—“What?”

—“Nothin’” —said AJ as she snapped back.

—“Look, AJ. Ah know ya have yer friends to visit, but yer business on tha farm’s been getting’ slow. Ya’ve gotten behind yer chores.”

—“Yeah?”

—“An’ even though ya’ve been tryin’ ta catch up, yer lazy attitude has gotten me on me.”

—“Lazy attitude?”

—“Ya don’t finish yer work an’ it’s always up ta me ta finish them off.”

—“Well, sorry if that was tha case, bu—”

—“Yeah, but apologizing will not solve tha issue.”

—“Ah’m sorry McIntosh, but yer not tha only one who’s havin’ problems in this house.”

—“Says you. Ya don’t have ta work on double.”

—“Ah worked mah flank off yesterday ta buck as many trees as ah could!”

—“And ya still have at least 40 acres ta cover up.”

—“40 acr—?!” AJ cut herself off as she realized her mistake. She had completely forgotten about the other acres that needed to be bucked. By this time of the season she’d be the one bucking them already, but her lag on her work made that impossible.

—“Ya see? Ah’ve been overworkin’ mahself ta finish yer work. An’ that’s still not enough.”

—“Well, ah’m sorry, but ah really have been workin’ hard lately.”

—“Well, it doesn’t show.”

—“Like you could do any better.”

—“Actually, yeah.”

—“Wanna bet?”

—“How ‘bout we change chores? Ah buck the trees an’ you make my duties ‘til the week after the Summer Sun Celebration.”

—“Deal!”

AJ raised her hoof and sealed the deal. As quiet and calm as her brother was, he was also stubborn like a true Apple family member, so AJ had no second guesses about making a deal that could hurt his pride —even though this wasn’t even a real deal. For such a small argument, AJ sure felt angry and wanted to just explode at that moment. She went to her room and wanted to shield herself from the world around her. She closed her eyes and three seconds later —or so it seemed for her— it became night. She had calmed down by this point and was starting to regret her decisions earlier that morning. But there was no turning back now. She hadn’t eaten anything but a rough breakfast so she felt weak. The next morning she was going to eat like a pig. Even though she was not angry, she was still frustrated, and Applejack just wanted to let the emotions go.

“Oh Rainbow” —she said as she spoke to the sky, thinking about the cyan pegasus that was probably snoozing in her cloud house at this moment judging by the time of day. “Ah really could use your presence right ‘bout now.”
Knowing she wouldn’t come, AJ turned back to her bed and slept until the rooster crowed.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Applejack you could have just told Big Mac about your sleeping issues, I'm sure he knows you'd never lie to him.