Out on the road, a common event happened. Every so often, a particular pony would be sighted on that long stretch of dirt. Spanning from the edge of town, any being that passed by would give a glance in that direction. Some came by often just to see the relatively new spectacle. Scandalous rumors began to spread among the town's inhabitants.
The well known and loved bucking mare would be seen towards the end of the path, a few paces in from its edge. Over time a shadowed spot grew in a fixed place where she stationed herself like a sentinel. Each week, she would arrive there before the break of dawn, staying until the sun set. Complaints slowly arrived as customers and consumers bickered about the shorter supply of apples. Orders were being filled more slowly because Ponyville's best apple bucking mare took that one day off each week.
Applejack sat there in the hollowed spot. Dirt and dust had been long removed to create an impression. Her shimmering emerald eyes lay fixed upon the horizon, past the houses that spotted and blocked her vision. At first, her friends and neighbors thought that she was just reminiscing about old times. Many knew that it wasn’t like her at all. A few asked the orange mare why she proceeded to sit there all day. Applejack would always flash them a smile and answer, “There's no reason.”
In the first days of her weekly routine, she simply stayed there, doing nothing but staring out as if daydreaming. After a year passed, many fellows were surprised of what came next. An instrument. On her outages, Applejack began to take a stringed instrument - a guitar. Nopony knows when she even learned how to play such a thing, but did they love it. The average passerby would stop what they were doing to watch the blonde maned being weave her hooves along the strings. Tunes would fill their hearts for a short while until they had to move on and continue their day.
Applejack shifted her position a little to relieve the pressure on one of her hooves. With a couple clicks she pulled the beautiful wooden instrument from its case. Resting it on herself and taking a few delicate plucks at the strings, she cleared her throat. A tune began to flow, softly at first, then progressively growing louder. The chilly air that remained full of insect noises became overrun by notes. Quickly, all of the crickets hushed their volume and birds cawing in the distance followed suit. Nothing dared to disturb the music that swarmed in the early morning.
Applejack heard the clacking of hooves against the ground, but she kept her head down, critically watching her own movements. She didn’t need to look up to know who had come to see her. A lavender unicorn trotted up to her, scrutinizing the guitarist. This was not the first time Twilight had come to visit. No matter how many times she came to watch her dear friend sit while surrounded by music, she never tired of it. There was just no explanation as to why the orange mare would act this way.
Could it have been emotional? Twilight discounted that early on. Applejack was the one who kept on bucking and living her days, even when the most devastating event happened to her. Nothing could stop the farmer. A quick conversation with Big Macintosh discontinued the notion that it was a tradition. She wasn’t sure why this was happening, or why she didn’t know why. Being the pupil of the Princess, Twilight had gained knowledge that almost rivaled her teacher's. The sheer amount of intelligence the unicorn swiftly gained was simply unmatched by any mortal.
Then why couldn’t she solve this problem?!
Over time, it had slowly driven her mad, like a puzzle that you could never figure out but see constantly. It was always there, taunting her mind. As of a few years ago, she gave up. No longer trying to solve the unsolvable, Twilight began to revel in the joy of these early morning occasions.
Twilight sat down in front of Applejack, who continued to play the melody undaunted. As usual, a basket of a few small foods and apple cider was placed by her side. This was always given to her silent friend. At the end of the day it would be empty, and ready to be used for the next time. She never found out what made the basket so special, but she did hear from Rarity that it was made by a certain pony. A certain, azure pegasus.
Maybe that was it? But, Applejack never let anything touch her. She could keep on rolling, no matter what hit.
Rarity had explained how their technicolor friend came up one day and asked about making things. It took her a while, but eventually she embraced the idea of their friend thinking of style and craftsmanship. What struck her odd though was not her consciousness of design or hate of frilly clothes. No, what was outlandish was the fact that she asked about baskets. Baskets! Of all things to ask a fashion designer who makes clothes! Nonetheless, Rarity still obliged her friend and helped out as best as she could - and was rather successful. Within a couple of tries the pony had gotten the whole process down to memory and made a nice wicker basket woven with many vivid colors.
This basket beside Twilight was that basket.
Her eyes shifted over to Applejack’s right. There, close enough that the pony could grasp it in a flash, sat her hat. Her beloved tan Stetson had been taken off. This act was truly odd. She would never take the hat off, even if it meant saving her life. If it did somehow fall off of her, Applejack made it a quest to find that hat. Of course, she’d never put it before her friends.
Time had passed while the unicorn thought back. The sun began to peek over the horizon with long, soft yellow arms. Applejack faced the light while Twilight looked away, focused on the music played only a foot ahead. She recognized these few notes. It was the end.
Applejack bowed her head a little further and closed her eyes. Her hooves solemnly ran across the strings to create each voice that echoed in the air. Time slowed down as her playing did. It drew out each and every sound as if through gratitude. All of the woodland creatures waited with bated breath as their excitement reached critical. Twilight focused intensely on her friend’s down turned face.
The song ended with a last, remaining note. After a few tense moments of which the lingering note occupied, the insects started back up. Twilight observed her unmoving companion. Golden streams shined on her coat and the light brown guitar. The purple hued unicorn quietly got up to her hooves and, giving a last backwards glance at Applejack, began walking from where she came along the road.
She was stopped after two steps.
“Twilight?” Applejack weakly called without budging an inch from her position. The librarian turned in surprise. She hadn’t talked at all in years whenever she sat there in that spot. The wildlife hushed down to silence once more; even they recognized what just happened.
“Yes, Applejack?” Twilight took a step closer and heard a faint sigh.
The orange mare looked up to meet Twilight’s gaze. Her luminous green eyes sparkled in the sunlight. Never, have they lost that feature. Silence stood for three seconds before the farmer finally responded.
With her plain old country voice, Applejack said three words.
“I miss Rainbow.”
Twilight stepped closer and placed a reassuring hoof on the orange mare’s shoulder. She looked into those emerald eyes once more and tried to force a kind smile. But, she couldn't.
“We all do, Applejack.”
A/N: I have to give a big thank you to SanityLost, who helped review and edit the story as well as provide the name and synopsis! I wrote this story in a short while (less than an hour) while extremely sleepy, so if anyone finds problems with it be sure to let me know. Thank you for your time and I hope that you enjoyed this piece.
