Chapter 2
A Still More Glorious Dawn Awaits
Chapter 2
By CDRW
Applejack
Comprehension ~ Day 1
The mid-morning sun beat down on Applejack as she flung another shovelful of dirt out of the knee-high trench she was standing in. The new irrigation system was coming along nicely, but the heat wasn't helping any.
It was a difficult job, but it had to be done. Ponyville was short on their budget this year and they'd made a last-minute decision not to expand the weather staff. They were predicting a rainfall shortage and she wasn't going to lose the apple crop if she had anything to say about it.
Applejack put down her shovel and took off her hat to wipe the sweat from her forehead. A little ways in front of her, Applebloom was trying to break up the ground with a pick that was longer than she was tall. She glared at the dirt like it had been making fun of her and swung the tool with everything she had. Of course, what with Applebloom being a little filly and all, it didn't do hardly anything. There was probably more force in the weight of the falling pick than in her swing.
It didn't matter that she wasn't being much help though. What was important was that she was out there working. With Big Mac away and Granny not able to help with the heavy stuff, Applejack was the only pony left on Sweet Apple Acres who could put in a full day's labor, and it was her job to teach Applebloom the value of good honest work while she was still young. Plus, Applejack wasn't just going to dig the whole thing while her little sister moped around doing nothing at all.
Applebloom had been in a bad mood all week, but whenever she'd asked if something was going on she just dodged the question. It was annoying as all get-out. She loved her sister, but sometimes Applebloom was a real hooffull. Hopefully a little hard labor would help her break out of her funk. It's hard to keep a good sulk going when you've been working all day. Takes too much energy.
"How ya doin' there Applebloom?" She asked while she fanned herself with her hat.
Applebloom just grunted around her tool and gave the dirt a dirty look. She reared back on her hind legs, raised the pick high, and swung it at the ground with all her might. When it bounced off a rock, she dropped it in a right hurry. She started hopping around in a circle with her hoof to her mouth. Applejack winced in sympathy, but then the filly started yelling at the rock.
"Hey now!" Applejack stepped up out of the ditch to give Applebloom a thump upside the head. "That rock wasn't doing nothing but bein' a rock. 'Tain't no point in yelling at it and it just makes you look the fool."
"Ow." Applebloom rubbed the back of her head. "What'd you do that for you jerk?"
A little hoof of guilt poked Applejack in the ribs. She shouldn't have thumped her. It wasn't setting a good example for Applebloom if her first resort was physical. She couldn't back down now though. Then Applebloom would start thinking she could get away with mouthing off every time she had to discipline her.
She leaned in real close and gave her sister a hard glare. "You were behavin' inappropriately missy. What would Big Macintosh say if he saw you acting like this?"
She watched Applebloom for a minute, waiting for a reaction, but her sister just stood there and stared back at her. Honestly, it was getting kinda creepy the way she was acting. Compared to her usual cheerful self, she was a completely different pony. Applejack was starting to wonder if there might really be something wrong with her.
Finally Applejack just picked up her shovel and turned to step back down into the ditch. "Well let's get back to work. This ditch ain't gonna dig itself."
Applebloom said something under her breath, just low enough so she couldn't hear. Whatever it was though, it sure as hay wasn't anything resembling contrition.
"What did you say?" Applejack turned around and asked dangerously.
Applebloom raised her head defiantly and said "Who cares what Big Mac would say? He's never gonna come back anyways! So who cares what he thinks?"
Applejack pulled back like Applebloom had just bucked her in the face. In all honesty, what it really felt like was a buck to the stomach.
"He keeps sayin' he's comin' home, but then he never does, and this time ain't no different! He doesn't care about us anymore!"
Applejack's throat pulled tight and she suddenly knew what it felt like to be lassoed around the neck. That was what was eating Applebloom? How in Equestria was she supposed to respond to that? "I..."
Think of something!
Applejack reached out and pulled her little sister into a hug.
It wasn't fair, not fair at all. Macintosh wasn't even a proper soldier. He was in the reserves and when he'd been called into active duty it was only supposed to be for six months, but then they'd gone and extended his tour twice. He'd been gone a year and a half now, and that was no small time for anypony, let alone a filly.
"I'm sorry Applebloom. I know it's been hard havin' him gone, but you only have to wait one more week." He would be home this time. Both of the other times they'd told him he'd have to stay a month in advance. It was too late for them to change his orders now. Heck, his station was so far out he might already be on his way back! "He's coming back this time, and If I know anything at all, it's that we're family and he loves us more than anything else in the whole world."
And if the Goddess makes a liar outta me I'll march right into Canterlot and buck her in the face!
Applebloom sniffed against her chest. "Really?"
Applejack unwrapped her legs from around her sister and held her at hoof's length to look her in the eyes. "I promise." She studied Applebloom anxiously and heaved a sigh of relief when a tiny, waverying smile appeared. "Now why don't you go on inside? We're almost done and I can finish up the rest by myself. If I reckon right, Granny should be pulling a pie out of the oven right now."
"Pie!"
At the mention of delicious apple-based desserts, Applebloom pulled herself back together faster than a zap-apple could set a pony's mane on end. She disentangled herself from her sister's hooves and bolted for home. Applejack chuckled to herself. Sometimes a good apple pie could do more for a pony than any amount of talking.
Applejack watched the filly run out of sight and then turned her attention back to the ditch she was digging. She hadn't lied, not exactly. They really were almost done, there was only about ten feet to go, but that didn't mean it was going to be easy. Those ten feet crossed the main road coming into Sweet Apple Acres and it was packed as hard as stone. The plan was to dig up the road and lay a culvert underneath to bring water from the river to the apple orchards.
"Well, no sense in wasting time," she said to herself. "I better get this done real quick or there won't be any pie left for me."
She picked up the fallen pick and started where Applebloom had left off, breaking up the ground. The first swing left her teeth feeling like they'd decided to take up new careers as crushed gravel.
"Son of a-" She dropped the pick and stuffed her hoof in her mouth. She couldn't go off right after she'd gotten on Applebloom's case about it! Had the filly even hit a rock at all? The darn road was so hard there couldn't have been much difference!
Applejack picked up the pick again and set about tearing up the road. Carefully. Teeth were a valuable commodity and she wasn't about to go losing any just to get the job done a few minutes quicker.
Rhythmically, she lifted the pick up and swung it down, over and over again. The work was tiresome and monotonous. It didn't take much brain power to dig a ditch, and so she soon found her mind wandering.
Why didn't she catch on to what was eating Applebloom? She should be kicking herself for not figuring it out earlier. What else was it going to be when Applebloom got all quiet right before Macintosh was supposed to come home? And after all this had happened before?
Why on earth would the army extend his tour of duty again? There wasn't even a war going on! Everypony had been surprised when his orders to ship out had come, but Applebloom had taken it especially badly. She didn't think even Fluttershy had been as upset as her, and Fluttershy had been real upset.
She didn't make a scene or anything. That simply wasn't the sort of thing she did, but Applejack knew for a fact that Big Mac had spent the better part of a week convincing her that everything was going to be all right when he headed out. She'd been terrified that something was going to happen to him. And rightly so. Why Big Mac had felt he needed to join up in the first place was beyond Applejack.
Fortunately, nothing had happened. In spite of it all, he was coming home this time. She could tell. He was an Apple and Apples don't leave their family behind.
Applejack put down the pickaxe and grabbed her shovel. Now that the hard part was done, she just had to actually dig the ditch. She looked up to the sun and was startled to see that it had already moved a fair ways across the sky. "Amazing how time flies when a pony's working. Ah sure do hope Applebloom left me some pie."
Applejack bit down tighter on the shovel's handle and was about to step down into the trench when she saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. Surprised, she turned her head and saw Fluttershy coming down the road.
It looked like she was having a hard time seeing where she was going. She was weaving back and forth as she ran down the road and every few steps she would flap her wings frantically like she was trying to fly but couldn't. Applejack dropped her shovel and bolted towards her. As she approached, Fluttershy tripped and fell in the dirt and instead of getting back up, she curled into a ball and just lay there in the middle of the road shaking. Applejack was on her in an instant.
"What's wrong Fluttershy! Are you hurt?"
Fluttershy raised her head and looked at her. Her face was streaked with tears and dirt from the road and she dropped an envelope from her mouth when she tried to speak.
"He's not coming home." Her voice was no louder than a whisper, but there was so much despair in her words it felt like the whole world was crumbling around them.
"Wh-what do ya mean sugarcube?" She reached out and gingerly put her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. She was trembling badly. "Macintosh got extended again?"
Fluttershy closed her eyes and shrunk away from her touch, shaking her head. She gulped once and tried to talk, but her voice broke and she started sobbing.
"Fluttershy, I need you to talk to me. What's goin' on?"
Fluttershy pointed to the envelope on the ground and curled up into a ball again.
Applejack picked it up, unfolded it and started reading.
Rainbow Dash
Comprehension ~ Day 1
It was almost three o'clock and the mailmare was late.
Rainbow Dash peeked out from behind her curtains. There still wasn't anypony there so she dropped the curtain and flew a few laps around the room to try and distract her stomach from its grumbling.
"This is not cool!"
What did it take to get decent mail service around here? It wasn't like there was a shortage of mail pegasi in Cloudsdale!
"Please Celestia," She looked up to the ceiling. "Let it come today. I need this job! Help a pegasus out would you?"
She really needed this job in Ponyville and she needed it now! She'd been strapped for cash for months now and things were at the breaking point. She had bills piling up and the ponies behind them weren't going to be patient much longer. At least they couldn't turn off her water. One of the perks of living in a house made out of clouds.
Even food was a problem. She'd been living on raw grass for the last month, sneaking down to the ground at night and grabbing a few mouthfuls from parks and ponies' yards. If anypony ever found out, she'd never live it down.
"It's not like I want the job!" She landed by the window again. She just needed something to keep her in food and board while practicing for the Wonderbolts, and working weather would let her get some training done while on the job too.
It wasn't fair. Ponyville was the last town in a hundred miles that hadn't turned her down yet. So her resume wasn't that great, what of it? She was still a better flyer than the average weather pony by miles, and that was the most important thing in a job like that. All she needed was a hoof in the door. Just a letter, something asking her to come in for a demonstration or interview.
She drew back the curtain and peeked outside. Her mailbox was just sitting there, out in the open, smug, like it was proud that it didn't have anything for her. Like it was laughing at her. Like hunger was making her light-headed and she was starting to think her mailbox actually hated her.
Wait, was that a pony?
She froze, one hoof holding the curtain. Outside, a brown pegasus stallion landed on the vast expanse of cloud that made up her front yard. He was wearing a bright red flightsuit and carrying a satchel with the flying pegasus emblem of the Pony Express. He looked around with a confused look on his face as if he wasn't sure this was the right place. Or like he wasn't sure he was even allowed on the property. Her house sort of had that effect on ponies.
Pony Express! Mail!
Rainbow Dash's body quickthawed and she was flying out the door before her brain even registered that she'd left the window. The Express pony didn't even see her coming before she swept him away like a gnat caught in a hurricane.
"Heh heh heh," Dash picked herself up off the stallion. "Uh, excuse me? My bad." She reached out a hoof and helped the Express pony to his hooves.
Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! They used the Pony Express! Nopony uses the Pony Express to send a rejection letter!
The stallion groaned and held one hoof to his neck. "Wow, you've got quite the set of wings on you."
"Yeah I'm fast. It's kind of my thing." She started to fidget because he was taking too long to hand her whatever it was he'd brought. "So...do you have mail for me?" she tried to ask non-nonchalantly.
He gave her a look and pulled a tube out of the satchel he was carrying. "I take it you're Rainbow Dash?"
"The one and only!" she said proudly. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this letter!"
He opened his satchel and pulled out a scroll which he handed over to her.
"Thanks." She took it and looked at the label.
It wasn't from Ponyville.
For one terrifying moment, Rainbow Dash though she was going to cry in front of the mailpony. Just play it cool Dash. He's still here. Why is he still here? She blinked a few times to make sure nothing was coming out, and she made herself look at the scroll again.
It had a Canterlot return address, and it was from..."Gilda? What's she doing in Canterlot?"
"Dunno miss, I'm just an Express pony." He glanced up at her house a little uncertainly and said. "Um, I'm sure you're doing pretty well for yourself, but if you ever need a job you should apply for the Pony Express. We always need fast pegasi and I think you'd fit in real well. The main office is in Canterlot. You should stop by if you go there to visit your friend."
She was about to break the seal on the scroll and open it when what he'd said registered. She slowly looked up and stared at him.
He fidgeted under her gaze and scratched his mane. "Yeah, that was stupid. Dunno why I said that." He spread his wings and took off, calling back over his shoulder. "Have a nice day!"
"Yeah, you too," she said quietly after he'd already flown out of sight. "Thanks."
Dash stared at the scroll in her hoof for a long moment. She hadn't heard from Gilda in a long time, not since Junior Speedster flight camp. What had she been up to since then? Had she gone back home? Gotten a job? Maybe she worked weather.
"Nah. She'd never do anything as lame as weather." Not Gilda. She was just like her. Cool. She was probably...
"Huh." She couldn't think of a single thing. Gilda just wasn't the get-a-job type.
It was only after a stray cloud floating over head cast its shadow over her house that she stirred and looked up. A pegasus darted in and started pulling the cloud back towards a group that several other ponies were driving east, probably exporting them to Hoofington.
It suddenly struck her that she'd been standing out on her front porch for several minutes staring at a scroll and talking to herself like an idiot. Embarrased, she looked around to see if anypony had seen her and ducked inside.
Dash flew upstairs to her bedroom and flung herself across the bed, ignoring another rumbling complaint from her stomach. She broke the seal on the scroll and unrolled it. A loose piece of paper fell out of it's curls and onto her blanket. It was a newspaper clipping. She picked it up and read the headline.
First ever Griffon accepted into Wonderbolt training program.
"No. Freaking. Way." She read the article, then re-read it just to make sure. Then she picked up the scroll and read it. It was short and simple.
You better get your rear in gear or I'm going to beat you.
Gilda
P.S. What's new with you?
"That turkey!"
She got up and started rummaging through her closet for a suitcase. Ponyville could go to the moon. She was going to Canterlot.
Applejack
Comprehension ~ Day 1
"I..."
She didn't know what to do.
"He's...not comin' back?"
But she'd promised Applebloom!
Fluttershy shakily pulled herself to her hooves and nodded.
"But..." Something wasn't right. Her legs were shaking, and she couldn't breathe. "But I promised."
What was she supposed to do?
She startled when she felt something touch her. It was Fluttershy.
"Are you all right?"
Applejack looked at Fluttershy. She was a right mess still. Her mane was tangled and there was a smudge of dirt below her left eye. Her wings were still twitching, and there were muddy tear tracks on her cheeks. But her face was filled with concern. For her.
She shook her head, trying to make her thoughts settle back into place.
This ain't right.
Fluttershy and Big Mac hadn't even been married for a month when the government made him leave. She'd had to endure all that time without him being there by her side, and now everything had been taken from her at the cruelest possible moment. And she was worrying about Applejack.
Pull yourself together Applejack. She needs your help. You have work to do.
"Yeah sugarcube, I'm fine." She reached out and tried to clean some of the dirt off of Fluttershy's face with her hoof. "I'm so sorry." Fluttershy burst into tears again and Applejack pulled her in and held her tight.
Minutes passed. When Fluttershy had calmed down a little, Applejack pulled away. "Come on, let's go inside and get you all taken care of." She nudged her towards the farmhouse and they started walking.
There was so many things to take care of, and to be truthful, she was a bit grateful. It was always better to have stuff to do. She needed to be strong right now, for the family. She'd have to tell Granny and Aplebloom, make sure Fluttershy was taken care of, write all their relatives.
And then.
Was she supposed to plan a funeral? Yeah. There needed to be a funeral. And she'd have to get the property sorted out. Macintosh had moved into Fluttershy's house, but the farm still technically belonged to him.
And then... She blinked away a tear.
She needed to find out if he'd ever made a will.
And then... She shook her head. Why was it so hard to think straight? Now wasn't the time to fall apart. She needed to be strong if she was going to get her family through this.
And then...
And then...
There were lots of things to do.
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I will admit that I don't usually read Dark fics, but I've got to just for that title... Look forward to the morning filled with 400 billion suns... The rising of the milky way...
Totally want to make a Sagan OC now...
Good choice of title, it interests me enough to read this. Let's hope it can live up to the scope of the title you've given it:
"We on earth marvel, and rightfully so, at the daily return of our single sun. But from a planet orbiting a star in a distant globular cluster, a still more glorious dawn awaits. Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise. A morning filled with 400 billion suns, the rising of the milky way. An enormous spiral form with collapsing gas clouds condensing planetary systems, luminous super giants, stable middle aged stars, red giants, white dwarfs, planetary nebulas, super novas, neutron stars, pulsars, black holes, and, there is every reason to think, other exotic objects that we have not yet discovered."
More. Of. This.
Compliance is mandatory, citizen. Your Empress commands it.dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/lolface_Celestia.png
Caaaaaaaarl Saaaaaagan!
Saved for Kindle conversion.
It's been so long that I forgot the story and had to go back and reread it.
img-cache.cdn.gaiaonline.com/e6c130925743a31307a9b7cfbc8fe520/http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/Boned256/8562131170022014.png
aaaww, yeaaaa!
692427 Sorry,
I'm trying to make sure that doesn't happen again.
I like it.
Have a good one.
I'm beginning to figure out what's going. My brain is slowly recovering from the mass of confusion that hit it at the onset of this story, but it is recovering. Anywho, this is very good so far. I am pleased.
This 100% deserves to be featured NOW!
Aplebloom
ooo, so close w/o errors.