Bluegrass

by Rainbooms Inc

Chapter III: "Slug salt and spit it out"

Applejack set her hooves carefully, planting them in the soft earth. There wasn't an art to this, not quite. Art was what Rarity did. It wasn't quite a science, either. Science was what Twilight did. No, this was a craft. There was craft in knowing each tree, from the depth of its roots to the strength of its limbs to the ripeness of its fruit. There was craft in knowing exactly how hard and fast to strike the trunk, to shake free only the fruit ready to fall. It was Applejack's craft, and she knew it well. She kicked out at the tree, savoring the silence of the one frozen moment, before her hooves connected and she felt the shock run up her legs. Grinning, she cocked her head, listening for the gentle thud of falling apples.

“AJ! There's somepony here to see you!”

Applejack sighed as her sister's voice cut through the morning stillness. As she shouldered the newly filled basket onto her back, she wondered what sort of visitor was important enough to demand her attention, but not familiar enough to simply be directed up the hills to meet her. Her suspense didn't last long: her visitor was waiting at the gate to Sweet Apple Acres, wearing a familiar set of round sunglasses and an irritating smile.

Applejack slowed her pace as she approached, not bothering to hide her glare at the unicorn who watched her with that same carefully-disguised sneer. Dropping the basket from her back unceremoniously, Applejack nudged it towards her sister.

“Applebloom, take these to Granny Smith.” When Applebloom remained, looking in confusion from her sister's scowling face to the visitor's smiling one, Applejack sighed. “Run along now, little filly.”

As Applebloom (reluctantly) departed, Applejack turned towards Vinyl Scratch, unconsciously placing herself between the sister and the unicorn she was thinking of as an intruder.

“What do you want?”

If Vinyl Scratch was offended at her flat and unfriendly tone, it didn't show.

“I'm looking for a job. You wouldn't happen to be looking for a farmhoof would you?”

Applejack stared at the pale unicorn. “A job? Why in tarnation would you need a job?”

Vinyl Scratch shrugged. “Well, you know. I'm new in town, and I have to keep myself fed somehow.”

Now thoroughly certain she was the subject of some kind of joke, Applejack opened her mouth, prepared to shout the DJ off of her property. However, she paused, as a small, uncharitable little thought made itself heard. She's just doing this to get to you. She needs money like you need a spoiled unicorn getting in the way around here. So why not call her bluff? Don't just offer a job, offer her a hard, dirty and unpleasant one. Just to turn the tables. Just to watch her squirm.

“Well,” she said thoughtfully, “there's the always the western hill. It's part of the farm, technic'ly, but it's too full of rocks too plant on. Ah don't suppose you'd be interested in clearin' some of them boulders out?” She smirked, eager to hear what sort of excuse the unicorn would scramble to find.

“Sure. What's the pay?”

Applejack blinked. “What?”

“I said, the job sounds good. What's the pay?” Vinyl repeated patiently.

“Uh...” Applejack rummaged through her memories, trying to remember what Big Macintosh had offered the farmhooves when she was down with the flu one harvest season. “Eight bits a day.”

Vinyl Scratch nodded thoughtfully. “Benefits?”

“Not'nless you count the right to sleep in the barn.”

“I'll take it.” The unicorn thrust a hoof towards Applejack.

The earth pony stared at the extended hoof. “You sure you want this kinda work?”

“Why not?” Vinyl Scratch shrugged. “It's been a while since I got to stretch my muscles—or my magic.”

“Your funeral.” Applejack muttered to herself as she shook the unicorn's hoof. As she turned away, she called over her shoulder, “West hill's this way.”

As the unicorn followed her through the gate and across the hills of Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack wondered just what she had agreed to.

-x-

The hill that Applejack lead Vinyl Scratch too was much like the rest of the farm: low and with a gentle slope, covered in thick grass that was kept short by the regular attention of the family's cows and sheep. But where the other hills were covered in neat rows of apple trees, the western-most hill held only piles and outcroppings of grey stone. The largest of the rocks stood about as tall as a pony, at least above ground, but they were few and far between. Most were smaller, half-buried, and Applejack knew from experience how difficult they could be to prise from the earth.

“Well, here y'are.” Applejack said, waving a hoof to take in the hilltop.

“Looks like I have my work cut out for me,” Vinyl Scratch observed. She gave the nearest stone an experimental prod with a hoof. “This might take me more than a day or two.”

The earth pony shrugged as the possibility that the DJ would back down when faced with what exactly she had signed on for quietly slipped away. “That's fine, ah guess. Just so long as the work gets done. Come see me at the end of the day for your pay.” She hesitated, then said “an' if you come down to the farmhouse around noon, I'll make sure Granny has lunch waitin' for you.”

Vinyl Scratch nodded absently. “That'd be great. Thanks, boss.”

Applejack opened her mouth to tell the unicorn that her name would be fine, but settled for turning away, shaking her head. She might not like Vinyl Scratch, but the mare was her employee—apparently—and there was no need to go looking for an argument.

The earth pony trotted away, leaving the newest farmhoof alone on the hill, and headed for the orchard. The business of hiring Vinyl Scratch had set her behind on her work for the day, and she needed to catch up—especially considering she'd need to pay the unicorn's wages as well. As she crested the first hill, however, she was brought up short by a familiar stallion waiting for her.

“Hey, Big Mac. You lookin' for me?”

“Yup. Applebloom said you came up here with some strange pony.” Applejack's brother nodded across at the rocky hill, where a head-sized boulder was rising into the air, wrapped in a white aura. “That her?”

“Yeah. She came lookin' for a job. Ah told her she could clear the rocks off the hill for eight bits a day.”

Big Macintosh nodded thoughtfully. “We could move the saplings we got comin' in down south out there. Good thinkin'.”

Applejack nodded distractedly as she and her brother set off down the hill.

“But, just who is she?”

The orange earth pony sighed. “Her name's Vinyl Scratch. Accordin' to Rainbow, she's some kinda rock star.”

Macintosh blinked. “Then what's she doin' workin' for us?”

“Honestly, Mac? I got no idea.”

Whatever her reasons for working on the Apple family's farm, Applejack couldn't accuse Vinyl Scratch of not taking her job seriously. By the time the unicorn came down from the hills for lunch, her mane was drooping and matted with sweat. But she was still smiling, the tight little grin that made Applejack's skin crawl. There was something so false, so dishonest about the expression that the earth pony could barely stand looking at it. If Vinyl Scratch picked up on her hostility, though, it didn't show: the only time it dropped off the unicorn's face was when she was wolfing down the sandwich that Granny Smith had set out for her. Then, with a “thanks” mumbled around the last mouthful, she trotted off west to resume her work.

And that was it, really. For most of the day, Applejack could almost forget that the unicorn was working on the farm. She was reminded, however, in the late afternoon, when a sky-blue pegasus dropped from on high.

“Alright, AJ, what the hay did you do?”

The earth pony rolled her eyes. “Nice to see you too, Rainbow.”

“Was it blackmail? Did she lose some kind of bet?” Rainbow Dash continued, ignoring Applejack's greeting. She gasped. “It was drugs, wasn't it? You poisoned her at Pinkie's party, and this is the only way you'll give her the antidote! Applejack, how could you?!”

The farmer frowned. “Just what in the world are you talkin' about, sugarcube? I ain't done nothing to nopony.”

“Oh, yeah? Then why is Vinyl Scratch—as in, Vinyl Scratch, the most awesome musician in all of Equestria—breaking rocks on your farm?”

Applejack sighed. For all her speed, Rainbow Dash had yet to learn to look before she leapt. “She's on my farm 'cuz she asked for a job, sugarcube. Nothin' more to it than that.”

The pegasus hesitated. On the one hoof, the idea that Vinyl Scratch would look for a menial job was crazy. On the other, that's what Applejack said had happened, and the earth pony could no more tell a barefaced lie than she could fly. So Rainbow Dash settled for asking

“Why?”

“Y'know, you could ask her yourself,” Applejack pointed out, annoyed at hearing the same question she had asked herself all morning.

“Uh...” Rainbow Dash looked sheepish. “I did. I saw her working when I flew over and dropped down to ask what she was doing.”

“And she said...?”

“Working for you. And when I asked why, she just said it was private.”

Applejack tapped an impatient hoof. “Then why'd you think I would know?”

The pegasus shrugged. “I dunno. I figured it had something to do with why she chose your farm. I mean, if she just needed a quick bit, she could offer to endorse Rarity's dresses. It'd pay a lot better than busting rocks.”

“She's movin' rocks, not bustin' em. She's a farmhoof, not a miner.”

“She's a DJ. So what's she doing out here?”

Applejack just shook her head, turning back to the tree she was trimming of dead branches. She wished ponies would stop asking her that question. She wished she could stop asking it herself.

-x-

But when Celestia's sun was low in the sky, and the unicorn made her way down from the hills, Applejack resisted the urge to ask the question of the one pony who could answer it. Vinyl Scratch's reasons were her own, and Applejack wouldn't press her to reveal them—no matter how curious she felt. But as she accepted the small pouch containing her wages, it was the unicorn who spoke.

“I hope your friend didn't give you too much trouble. She seemed pretty agitated when she left.”

“Rainbow Dash can get riled up, but she's got a good heart,” Applejack replied. “And meetin' your idols can get anypony excited.”

“Er, yeah. About that...” Vinyl Scratch began, but Applejack was too busy staring to listen to the rest of her sentence. For the first time, the unicorn had lost the smile that got under her skin so effectively, and the lack of it seemed to change her whole face. Her lips lost their sneer; her round glasses became playful, rather than unfriendly; and on the whole her face seemed more real, less like a mask.

Applejack slowly became aware of an uncomfortable silence where her reply should have been. Blushing slightly, she said “Sorry, ah didn't quite catch that.”

Vinyl gave her an odd look. Applejack found that she didn't mind—it was sincere confusion, after all.

“I asked if you could not mention that I was working here. I mean... I'm kinda well known, and if many ponies like your pegasus friend stop by, it'll get in the way of the farm work.”

“Her name's Rainbow Dash,” Applejack responded automatically, before she pulled herself together. “But sure. Ah'll make sure nopony bothers you.”

“Great, thanks!” Vinyl Scratch grinned at her.

It was like a door slamming shut. All at once, the unicorn's defenses were back up, her smile back in place, her glasses once more like armor. But as the unicorn disappeared down the road to town, Applejack felt oddly cheerful. There was something genuine in Vinyl Scratch, even if the disc jockey kept it hidden most of the time. And that, the earth pony decided, did something that neither celebrity nor Rainbow's bluster had accomplished before: it made her worthwhile.

Comments

[Discord Kantus]

Romance really is coming, isn't it? For a bit I thought it would be more like the whole "brotherly/sisterly love" thing that is technically romance, but nopony ever refers to it as such.

[Jackie]

Oh, I'm liking this so far

[TheAzureAzoth]

I hope this is still in the works, this is one version of Scratch I have not seen yet

[Sea_Swirl]

Are you still working on this?