The Weight of Responsibility

by Calm Wind

Rating: teen
Tags: Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Braeburn, Big Macintosh, Slice of Life, Thunderlane, Granny Smith
Length: 52177

Responsibility can be heavy, and accepting it can be tough. But even those used to it are not free of fault.

Sweet Apple Acres has finished a long expensive building project and a bright future is ahead. Too bad Thunderlane was careless and crashed into it, toppling it completely. Now he has to work to pay off the damages, but will he even survive two minutes in the Apple family work environment? Better yet, can the rest of the Apple Family keep Applejack from working him too hard? A story of accepting and carrying responsibility, and of knowing when to share the load. Stress can drive one to not act like themselves, and a little extra help can make all the difference.

Featuring fan art by: Angel Blossom, shad0w-wo1f!, and PhonicBoom

This story has not been fully edited yet, i apologize for anything sloppy.

Published 2014-01-29 05:40:03 UTC
Last updated 2014-05-02 23:41:42 UTC

Chapter 2

MLP: FiM
The Weight of Responsibility
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 2:

Thunderlane was sweating so much he felt like he was swimming. He was pulling a load roughly three times as heavy as his initial trip from the barn to the field, but he refused to stop. He didn’t know how he got apple filled cart to start moving, but he had the momentum going now and was NOT going to risk stopping and getting stuck halfway back to the barn.

He found he was able to keep his mind off how exhausted he was by cursing himself. Why couldn’t he do it? Why couldn’t he just give the Apples a piece of his mind? There were obvious reasons as to why he didn’t want to challenge Big Mac. Liking where all his body parts and organs were was pretty high on that list of reasons. But why did he always lock up when facing Applejack? It’s not like she towered over him like Mac. Hell, he was slightly taller than her. Yet every time she got in his face and started belting at him, he fell back with little retort.

How much more of this was he just going to take? He never had a problem standing up for himself with anypony else. Was he really afraid of her? Or was something else keeping him from it?

The thoughts were definitely keeping him from paying attention. He looked up and yelped before trying to instantly stop. Big Mac’s cart train was halted a few feet from him. Despite his best efforts, the momentum of Thunderlane’s cart pushed him forward, hooves skidding, and drove his face directly into Mac’s end cart.

The whole train jostled slightly, causing a few apples to fall out. Mac, who was in the process of unhooking himself, blinked and looked over his shoulder to see what caused the slight shift. Applebloom hopped down from the cart, dropping a pile of apples into a basket before trotting back and getting a look herself.

“Uh oh, Mac, I think he’s out.”

“He” was the only word Mac had to hear before flattening his ears sighing in frustration. Dash flew ahead of him as he made his way down the train. He watched her fly overhead, and then she burst out laughing as he neared. Mac peered around the corner of his last cart, Thunderlane was there alright. His face had gone right through one of the back boards and was sticking through into the cart. His legs hung limply and he was out cold. Mac lifted an eyebrow in confusion as Rainbow Dash fell to the ground on her back, clutching her sides and laughing hysterically.

Mac wondered how hard Thunderlane had to hit the cart to have his face put through it. He looked the back cart up and down as Dash began to roll back and forth while kicking her back hooves in the air. Mac reached up a hoof and gave another board on the cart a controlled whack. To his surprise, the board splintered and split. He liked to keep his farm equipment in good shape, and this cart was clearly in need to some repairs.

“Oh.” He perked up, realizing he should probably help Thunderlane. He reached up, grabbing him by the shoulders, and yanked him free. A few apples fell out of the cart from the new head-sized hole, which were quickly whisked up by Applebloom. Mac frowned as he examined Thunderlane.

Out. Again. This time it wasn’t even because of the work. It was a clumsy accident. Mac was already behind schedule, but he found himself constantly having to look out this “helper” of theirs.

Dash’s laughter finally died down,

“Ooooh, oh man, that was the best laugh I’ve had in a while.” She hovered at eye level of Thunderlane, whom Mac still had hoisted up. “So now what? It’s not like we can keep waiting for him.” She looked Thunderlane over, wincing when she saw quite a large bump on his forehead. “But it looks like we can’t leave him either.”

Mac glanced up into the sky, observing the position of the sun. He glanced back down at Thunderlane, then out into a certain direction. He passed the string of wheat around his mouth a few times before nodding.

“Run along t’school Applebloom,” He set Thunderlane down and scooted his little sister along, “But on the way, can ya stop somewhere for me?”

Thunderlane groaned as he woke, instantly slapped with a major throbbing sensation in his forehead. Somepony was talking, but his head hurt too much to make out what was being said. He opened his eyes slowly, expecting to meet the glare of the sun, but to his surprise it was dim. His vision slowly corrected itself and he blinked and glanced around. He seemed to be in the barn, the dim light was the sun poking through the small cracks between the barn wall boards. He was lying on the ground, on what felt like a thin pile of hay, and something cold was balanced on his head.

The talking finally became understandable. It wasn’t a voice he was hoping to hear.

“This ain’t the time to be all soft ya’hear? I need ‘im back up and workin’ as quickly as possible. Not like it’s gonna help at all.” It was clearly Applejack. The same tone and harsh words she had used from the start. His body curled up a little more on instinct. How much more of this would he have to take? He asked himself yet AGAIN. It was becoming a recurring question in his head. He heard someone else reply to her, but the voice was so quiet he couldn’t make out a single word. Applejack answered with a grunt.

“No buts or ifs about it. He owes us work, and he ain’t gonna pay it off sittin’ around, passed out. If he knows what’s good for him he’ll shape up and get to work!” Applejack belted before the sound of stomping hooves and the barn door slamming indicated she had stormed out.

Thunderlane shook his head, feeling something shift on it. He remembered something was balanced on it and reached up, feeling a cold pack. He blinked a couple times and glanced at his surroundings. There was a small box of medical supplies sitting near him, a picnic basket next to it, and a red and yellow picnic blanket.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm.” The sound of quiet cheerful humming came around the corner and drew closer. Thunderlane watched as a familiar yellow Pegasus with a long pink mane came around the corner, completely oblivious to him being awake.

“Fluttershy?”

“EEP!” To the surprise of nopony, his voice startled her and she zipped behind the picnic basket. How she managed to hide her entire body behind it was beyond him. She peeked out behind and sighed in relief.

“Oh goodness, I wasn’t expecting you to wake up so soon.” She instantly calmed down upon seeing it was only Thunderlane.

“What are you doing here?” He asked as the cold pack fell off his head. Fluttershy quickly fluttered over to him, picked up the pack, and replaced it on his head.

“Well, I don’t all the details, but Macintosh said you hit your head really hard. He had to get back to work, so he had me come over to look after you.” She explained while whisking her right hoof along the ground and not quiet looking at him. “You have a nasty bump on your forehead, but the swelling is already going down. Just rest a little and it should be fine soon.”

“Huh.” Thunderlane responded unenthusiastically. The last thing he recalled was trying to stop his cart and running headlong into another cart. Absolutely NOTHING was going his way. But then he realized something. He smirked and glanced at Fluttershy as she fumbled around with her picnic basket. He didn’t know Fluttershy that well, but he DID know that she was overly kind. Which made her easy to dupe.

Forget the consequences, he didn’t care, he just wanted this nightmare to end. This was a chance he wasn’t going to pass up. Applejack just left and was probably going back to work and Big Mac was most likely still pulling carts. This was the perfect chance.

“Say Fluttershy,” he added a fake tone of discomfort to his voice, “could you help me with something?”

“Oh, sure, what can I do for you?” She asked sweetly, completely oblivious to his intentions as he predicted. He leaned to the side, showing her where the knot was tied on the rope that bound his wings.

“They tied this thing a little too tight. It’s been really digging into me. Could you loosen it just a tad for me? It’s really uncomfortable.” He also wore an expression of false discomfort. As he had hoped, she didn’t suspect a thing.

“Oh, of course, we can’t have that.” Kindness was in her nature and very blood. This was her shining quality, and at times her biggest downfall. Thunderlane kept up the act and kept one ear up to listen for the door, just in case. Fluttershy reached for the knot and gave it a small tug with her teeth.

Thunderlane smiled as he felt the rope loosen. That was all he needed. His wings were very stiff, but he thrust them out past the rope, pushing it up on his body past where it could bind him. He stood up and broke into a sprint, running into and knocking over Fluttershy, who squeaked in surprise as he practically mowed her down. He turned the corner and spotted the door, it was closed, but it was all that stood before him and his freedom. He flew towards the door, landing only to slide it open. The sunlight blared in his face, but he ignored it and readied his wings for flight after a few steps.

A few steps that sent him careening right into somepony else. He couldn’t tell who, because the two of them began tumbling as soon as he struck them. Then the two ran into something much larger. The tumbling stopped, and Thunderlane found himself looking directly up at Big Mac. The glare Thunderlane was receiving could have crushed a rock it was so fierce. Then he realized he was also on top of somepony.

“Ya have exactly three seconds t’get offa me before I tie a rope around your neck too!” Applejack’s voice came from below him.

Oh he was in deep shit now. Unless he flew away. He quickly spread his wings, but Mac already had him in a strong headlock. He wasn’t crushing Tunderlane’s neck, but he most certainly couldn’t fly out of it. He gulped and quickly moved the non-held part of his body off of Applejack, who got to her hooves, retrieved her had from the ground, and roughly slammed it back onto her head, she grabbed the rope and retied it around him, this time it felt even tighter.

Before they could start berating him, a slight whimper came from inside the barn. Big Mac’s Ears shot up and he instantly dropped Thunderlane from his hold before galloping into the barn. Applejack’s jaw dropped and she looked towards Thunderlane with a furious gaze.

“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me.” She could barely find the words to describe just how angry Thunderlane had just made her. If he had hurt Fluttershy in any way shape or form, she was going to clock him across the jaw, she didn’t care what Granny thought.

“What?” He asked as if nothing was wrong. Applejack shoved her face against him, the anger in her expression nearly double what it was moments prior. He nearly turned pure white and gulped. “I’ll shut up now.” He said, his voice squeaking.

A moment later, Big Mac walked out of the barn with one front leg gently draped over the back of Fluttershy. There were bits of hay stuck in her fur and mane and her eyes were slightly misty. That was all Applejack needed to see. She threw off her hat, gritted her teeth and grabbed Thunderlane around the neck. He yelped in surprise as she actually hoisted him up into the air. She pulled back her other hoof, and thrust it towards his face. Thunderlane braced himself and closed his eyes. Big Mac, alarmed, ran towards them to stop his sister, but he didn’t get there in time.

Big Mac and Fluttershy both winced as Applejack’s hoof connected to Thunderlane’s face. Pain seared through his cheek as the force tore him from her grip and he tumbled to the ground. Fluttershy gasped and Mac just stared incredulously at his sister. She was breathing heavily, nearly hissing as she glared at the heap of Thunderlane on the ground. Her eyes were filled with rage and she moved towards him again. Mac was about to move in and stop her, but Rainbow Dash, who saw from afar, zipped in and placed her hooves against Applejack’s shoulders.

“Whoa whoa WHOA!!!! Applejack what the hell is wrong with you?!” She pushed against her, but Applejack showed little sign of simmering.

“Rainbow Dash. Git. The. HELL. Outta mah way!” She belted right in Dash’s face. Even Dash found herself at a loss. She had never seen Applejack act this way before. She wasn’t sure what to do, but a large hoof fell on her shoulder. She looked at it, and followed it to Big Mac, who was eyeing his sister calmly and seriously.

“Dash, help Fluttershy with Thunderlane. I gotta have a talk with mah sister.” Said Mac as Applejack’s glare shifted instantly to him. Rainbow Dash was not about to get caught between that, and left to help Thunderlane, who was twitching on the ground.

“Don’t ya start with me Mac!” Applejack struck preemptively. Mac instantly turned and butted heads with her. She glared back at him hard, but he didn’t even flinch, pushing her backwards a few feet, her hooves skidding along the dirt.

“What the hay has gotten into ya!? Getting all violent and such?!” He held firm as she tried to push back against him. As strong as she was, Big Mac was the pony equivalent of an oncoming train.

“How many more of ya are gonna sympathize with this low life, huh?! First Granny, then Braeburn, an’ now you ‘n Rainbow Dash. We gonna have Applebloom jumpin’ on the bandwagon soon too?!” She yelled right back. Mac stopped pushing against her and shook his head.

“Who the hell am I even talkin’ to here?! Ya sound nuthin’ like mah sister!”

“I could ask you the same damn thing ya big ass softy! He hurt Fluttershy and you just sat there? Ya nearly killed Rapidfire for just flirtin’ with her.” She flinched as he thrust a hoof towards her, but loosened up when all he did was press it against her chest.

“Did he trick her? Eeyup. Did he take advantage of her kindness? Eeyup. But she told me all he did was knock her down while tryin’ git free.” He explained. Applejack’s eyes widened slightly. “I don’t care if he tried to escape, ya just cold cocked ‘im for NO REASON. I suggest ya go cool off and think about what ya done!” He pointed a hoof towards their house.

Applejack wanted to fight back. She wanted to yell in his face and tell him why he was wrong. That was just the problem. Mac was completely right. She glanced over at Fluttershy. She was covered in hay and twigs and her mane was messy, but other than that, she showed no signs of being harmed in any way. Not even a tiny scratch on her delicate body.

Then she looked at Thunderlane. Unlike Fluttershy, he looked terrible. He already had the bruise on his head from before and now he had a swollen cheek plus a bloody nose. He was curled up on the ground, shivering as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy tried to help him.

Applejack bit her lip and slammed her hoof against the ground, looking away from Mac. She retrieved her hat, placed it on her head, tipping it over her eyes, and walked towards the house. Mac shook his head and turned to help with Thunderlane.

Celestia alive, what the hell did she just do? Applejack couldn’t believe it herself. She just punched another pony directly in the face, purely out of anger. How did she lose her cool so easily and so quickly to the point of violence?

She glanced up at the house approaching. She knew she’d have to face Granny Smith about this. She’d be surprised if Granny didn’t already see the whole thing, they were within eyeshot of the house after all. Seeing the house made her think even more about what she had just done, bringing things into perspective for her. This wasn’t the first time she had gotten in a fight, she scrapped all the time with her siblings, but it was always in good fun or just a small scuffle.

She just punched another pony AS HARD AS SHE COULD. A Pegasus no less, they weren’t as sturdy as earth ponies. Thunderlane was probably in a lot of pain. It wasn’t like a while back when Mac beat the tar out of Rapidfire. Mac was protecting Fluttershy, and honestly, Rapidfire deserved it. Thunderlane wasn’t the most likable pony, but he did NOTHING to deserve such a painful consequence.

She approached the house and stopped outside the front door. What was wrong with her? Mac was right, she wasn’t acting like herself at all. She was super stressed out, but it’s not like that was new. She was used to that. Could it be a mix of the situation Thunderlane put them in and how he wasn’t helping them recover? Possibly. Perhaps she had taken too much responsibility. She barely had time to see her friends nowadays. She saw Rainbow Dash nearly daily due to her help and occasionally Fluttershy when she visited Mac, but Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity only saw her from time to time. And if they did, it was because they paid a visit.

She sighed as she walked through the door. That had to be it. She was used to being overworked, but not with so many other things to be aware of. She had recently taken over many chores Granny smith used to take care of. Apple Bloom was moving up in school, having to spend more time on homework. Farm business had escalated, even with the addition of Dash and Braeburn it was hard to get everything done on time without sacrificing quality. To make things worse, she knew Dash would eventually complete her training and pursue the Wonderbolts and who knows if Braeburn would stay forever. He was a natural born leader, and she was sure he’d branch off on his own way again eventually. Those thoughts only made things seem even worse. She had way too much to think about and way too much work. Was it all taking more of a toll on her than she was willing to admit?

Applejack got two steps into the house before coming face to face with Granny Smith. Braeburn was behind her with a basket of laundry, but when he saw them lock eyes he quickly left the room. They had clearly both seen the commotion outside, and Braeburn knew well not to get in the way of a stern Granny Smith.

Applejack looked straight down. This time no one had to tell her she was in the wrong. She knew she had done something bad and Granny Smith could tell.

“Well? Was it worth it?” Granny Smith spoke up.

“No Granny.” Applejack’s voice was tight and squeaky.

“How do you feel?” Granny continued.

“Terrible.” Applejack felt her whole body tensing. The true gravity of what she had done was sinking in.

“Well good, and I hope I don’t have ta tell ya what you should do now, dear.”

“No.” Applejack barely got out while shaking her head.

“Good.” Granny Smith finished, turning back into the kitchen. Applejack sniffled and gritted her teeth, refusing to break down in front of family. She moved quickly up the stairs and to her room, passing Braeburn as she met the stairs. Braeburn was about to say something, but stopped when he eyed small circular water stains on the floor every few inches along Applejack’s path. His ears sank down and he held in his urge to talk to her. Deciding it would be for the best to let her be. Instead he turned and followed Granny Smith.

“Granny, she’s a real mess right now, shouldn’t we do somethin’?” He asked, remembering the way his family all came to him when he lost his way. Granny Smith shook her head as she removed some apple fritters from the oven.

“You’re a kind soul to think of her Braeburn, dear. But she needs t’come to terms with herself before we c’n do anything.” Granny spoke while automatically going through her baking motions like she had for the past multiple decades.

“There has to be somethin’ we can do beside though. She’s taking on so much work nowadays. I don’t want to see her break under pressure.” Braeburn set the laundry down and glanced back towards the stairs.

“The weight of responsibility is heavier than anything. It doesn’t matter how strong ya are in the body or mind, no one is ever ready for it. Yes, she has taken on much more than she c’n chew, and did so at the same time as a huge setback, but as long as she c’n see what it’s doin’ to her she’ll come around. Give it time.”

Braeburn would never be able to argue with a single wise word from Granny Smith. While the old bones sometimes were a bit strange, they had seen and know more than he could at least seven times over.

Applejack had to figure this out on her own. It was all part of what she lived for.

What a day it had been. Thunderlane was now completely convinced he wasn’t dreaming and that he was truly living in a nightmare. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had helped him back to the house, before tending to him. He now lay in his bed, staring directly up at the ceiling. His forehead didn’t hurt anymore, but he still had a headache from when he ran into the cart, which was made even worse by the pain from his nose. His nose had a tissue stuffed in one nostril to stop it from bleeding, and even though nothing was broken, it was in enough pain to make him think it was.

The sun had gone down and there wasn’t much light in his room. He didn’t care. He didn’t give a damn about anypony or anything at the moment. All he did was accidentally run into a building. He understood he had to pay off the damages, but how did it turn him into a beaten wreck? He didn’t deserve such abuse, at least his definition of it, which included the farm work along with the punching. He was beginning to realize just how awful this was going to be. If one day brought all of this hell, and only accomplished what looked like a fraction of what needed to be done, this was going to be an experience he would loathe for the rest of his life.

The sound of the door creaking open broke him from his daydream, but it ended there. He made no effort to look. He had had enough of other ponies for the day. There was nothing that they could say or do that would make him acknowledge them or make him feel better.

“Hey…” Unless it was THE LAST pony he expected to hear. He blinked and shifted his head to see Applejack standing in the doorway without her hat, the light from the hallway illuminating her against the darkness in his room. His body instantly tensed, but relaxed when he saw that she looked troubled. Applejack remained silent for a few moments looking at the corner of the door frame and rubbing her right hoof against her left leg.

She wasn’t good at this. She was an honest pony. It was a trait that at times worked against her. She didn’t like Thunderlane or the situation he put them in, and she would stand by that. She stood by many of her decisions and actions adamantly, which in effect, led to her not being good at admitting when she was wrong. Apologies always seemed like a surrender to her, but this was one of the few times in her life she had to do it, no questions asked. Punching him was completely uncalled for.

“S—” she started, but paused as she continued to internally fight herself. She took a deep breath and sighed. “Sorry.” She continued to look away from him.

Thunderlane blinked. Of all the things words he expected her to say, THAT was the very last. An awkward silence filled the room as neither spoke nor moved. After a lot of hoof shuffling and wishing she had her hat to hide her eyes, Applejack spoke again.

“I shouldn’ta hit ya, I let my anger git the better of me.” She walked in and up beside the bed, still not looking at him, and sat down. “You’ve gotta work for us, and we’re behind, but I shouldn’t be so hard on ya. I got a lot of apples on my plate right now and its gettin’ to me.” She glanced at him. He was just staring wide eyed at her, probably worried she would abuse him again in some way. She didn’t blame him. She had more or less taken all her anger out on him. She refused to do so on her siblings, making him an easy and only target. She had to try and fix that. He wouldn’t do good work if he was terrified of them.

“You go ahead and take a day or two to rest. I’m not gonna force you right back out after what I’ve put you through. I’m gonna try my best to keep my cool, but ya gotta promise me you’ll help us out.” She finally looked at him for a response.

Thunderlane realized she was looking for an answer. He quickly gathered his jumped thoughts.

“Uh—” he slurred. Then cleared his throat quickly and nodded. “Okay.” He didn’t really think much about it. He was so confused and still admittedly scared of her.

She accepted the response for all it was worth, knowing he would still be a hassle.

“Oh,” She got up and walked towards the door. “Here.” She reached out into the hallways and lifted a bed tray of food into the room. It was a full cooked dinner complete with a salad, mashed potatoes, a few slices of turkey breast, and a small pitcher filled with turkey gravy. Flanking the main course was a large mug of fresh apple cider and a slice of apple pie. Thunderlane’s eyes widened at both the sight and the delicious smell as she set it down on the bed. “Sorry ain’t enough for what I did to ya. So, I made dinner for ya too.” She continued to not look at him directly. Thunderlane was speechless. After all the crap he had gone through, to have this happen, now he had to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. He kept glancing between her and the dinner. She, in turn, kept glancing at him for some sort of response or thank you.

“Er—” again he gave not much of a coherent response. Applejack gritted her teeth.

“Damn it just take it an—!” She exploded briefly and quickly threw a hoof over her mouth. Thunderlane flinched so hard that the tray rattled. Applejack looked straight down. “Sorry, like I said, I gotta keep mah cool. Enjoy dinner.” She turned and walked towards the door at a quickened pace, embarrassed that she let the small outburst happen.

“Thanks.” Thunderlane suddenly said right before she left. She stopped and glanced back. He wasn’t looking at her, but she smiled and closed the door behind her.

Maybe Thunderlane had looked at it all the wrong way. There seemed to be more going on than just his suffering. He tended to think mostly for himself, but his current situation proved to him that he wasn’t just being dealt cruel and unusual punishment. From the start he could only see Applejack as a crazy farm mare or “she-devil” who was both intimidating and stronger than him, likely to beat him to a pulp if he lashed out just one more time.

But then there was the apology. He never expected to hear something like that from her. Especially after how stubborn she appeared to be, mostly from viewing her interactions with her siblings. Maybe there was a reason she was being so harsh. Maybe there was a reason he had to work, despite his desire for there not to be. He felt the answers would become clear the longer he worked. That was the one thing that was unclear though. Just how long was he going to work?

Thunderlane rested for the next two days. Granny Smith did an excellent job at making him feel comfortable, and he received regular visits from random Apple Family members to drop off a meal or to just plain check on him. It was quite a shift from how it all began and how he expected everything to go.

The third day after being socked in the face, he honestly admitted to feeling better and got up for work like he had a few days ago. But to his surprise,

“What?” Thunderlane blinked as he stood in the doorway. Applejack nodded and pointed back into the house.

“I want ya to help out Granny this mornin’. We’re haulin’ lots of apples into town today. And, well—” Applejack didn’t know how to put it without sounding even slightly demeaning.

“I can help pull the—” Thunderlane stopped as Applejack stared at him with her ears and eyebrows flat, “Okay, fine, I know, I know.” He sighed and stepped back inside. He didn’t know WHY he found it embarrassing. They were Earth Ponies after all. By default they were bigger and stronger than pegasi. If it wasn’t for Rainbow Dash pulling carts along with them maybe he wouldn’t feel like his manliness was being questioned.

He watched the Apples head out before Granny Smith beckoned him into the kitchen. He didn’t know how to feel. He was happy he didn’t have to do strenuous work, but the reason was just pathetic.

Thunderlane spent the morning assisting Granny Smith with the household chores, which he found he was a bit of a klutz with as well. He had done things like laundry and dishes before, but he was never so thorough or efficient about it. He actually found it hard to keep up with her.

On the bright side though Granny Smith was very patient with him, and any time he messed something up, she stopped him and showed him how to do it step by step. It was refreshing. Everything seemed to be different. Maybe being punched in the face wasn’t so bad, if such a thought could ever be reasonable.

In town, Applejack, Big Mac, Braeburn, and Rainbow Dash all pulled into the market square of Ponyville each pulling two carts full of apples, except for Mac who had six. They all unhooked for a rest as Applejack pulled out a list from her small saddlebag.

“Alright, we have twenty-er-so deliveries to make,” she carefully tore the list into three pieces, handing one to Braeburn and another to Rainbow Dash, “y’all know the drill. Let’s make this quick so we can git home and keep at it.” She explained as Braeburn and Dash fastened saddlebags to themselves. Mac trotted back to his end cart, and pulled out three mini carts, filling them all with apples. Applejack, Braeburn, and Rainbow Dash, hooked themselves up.

“A.J.” Braeburn spoke up as they prepared for deliveries, “You doin’ okay?” He asked. Applejack stared blankly at him.

“Course I am. Why?” She lifted an eyebrow.

“Oh, just curious.” Brabeurn turned away, but she reached over, and turned his head back towards her.

“WHY.” She asked flatly. Braeburn blinked and avoided eye contact.

“No real reason, I was just—” he stumbled over his response. Rainbow Dash leaned over from Applejack’s other side.

“Cause you punched somepony in the face recently.” She finished for him with a slight smirk. Applejack furrowed her brow and glared at Dash.

“What the hay is that supposed t—” Applejack stopped herself and took a deep breath. Dash and Braeburn stared in surprise. “I know, but I’m fine. Okay?” Rainbow Dash shrugged, let it be, and began pulling her cart away. Braeburn just wanted to be polite, but it backfired,

“You sure?” He continued.

“I’M FINE!!!!” She yelled out loud. There was a hush in the market place and almost every pair of eyes present was staring at her. She blinked and quickly pulled her hat down to hide her eyes. “Sorry.” She said quickly to her cousin before pulling her cart away. When Braeburn’s ears stopped ringing he shook his head and got to work, leaving Mac behind to keep an eye on the large carts.

Thunderlane sat down and sighed in relief as soon as Granny Smith indicated they were done for the time being. The whole thing was a lot more taxing than he thought. He was more than certain that he had just done more chores in the past four hours than he had done his entire life. How did Granny Smith do this every day? The old Pony was much tougher than he gave her credit for.

He perked up when he heard voices and carts outside. He made his way over to the window to see the ponies returning. Again he felt slightly inadequate, doing household chores while the others were out doing heavy lifting. Not that he WANTED to do heavy lifting.

The whole situation he found himself in was so twisted and skewed around itself he had a hard time figuring out exactly how he felt. Did he want to be there? No. Did he want to work? No. But when he was told he couldn’t do something, he suddenly wanted to do it. This was just like how he got in this whole mess to begin with. When Cloud Chaser taunted him about not being able to do a sonic boom, he did it anyway despite being unable to. Here, he was told he wasn’t strong enough to pull a cart, and despite knowing he couldn’t he wanted to anyway.

He groaned and stepped away from the window, walking back through the house. What was wrong with him? He couldn’t focus on anything.

He jumped slightly when a steady knocking came from the front door. He blinked and stared through the living room towards it. It clearly wasn’t any of the Apple family or Rainbow Dash, they wouldn’t have bothered knocking.

“Thunderlane, be a dear and answer the door for me?” Granny Smith poked her head around the corner with a dish towel in her hooves. Thunderlane nodded and made his way over to the door.

He had only been on the farm for a few days and it was already shaping into a very interesting experience. Interesting was the only way he could put it because as sure as he was that he wanted out asap, he found himself wanting to prove himself to them? Why? He didn’t owe them anything, at least from his standpoint. Then there were all the weird things, like buff Rainbow Dash out of nowhere making him look weak, Fluttershy almost giving him an escape, and being punched in the face for doing nothing. It really couldn’t get any stranger than it had been. He was more likely to get front row seat tickets at a Wonderbolt show than to believe things could get any crazier.

Thunderlane opened the door. His jaw dropped, his eyes widened, and his pupils shrank as he saw the three pegasi standing outside the front door.

“Hey there! Is Rainbow Dash here?”

---To Be Continued---

Chapter 3

MLP: FiM
The Weight of Responsibility
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 3:

Thunderlane slammed the door shut and blinked furiously. Now on top of everything he was seeing things. He would open the door again and he wouldn’t be looking at three celebrities. He slowly opened the door again, eyes re-widening. He attempted to close the door again, but this time a yellow hoof blocked it. Thunderlane was ten feet back from the door as soon as it opened again.

He was looking directly at Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot of the Wonderbolt elite ace squad. He tried to say something, but all that came out of his mouth was something that sounded like a duck’s voice cracking.

“Hello to you too…” Fleetfoot chuckled at how visibly flustered Thunderlane was.

“Wait a minute, you look familiar.” Spitfire looked him over, but was interrupted as Granny Smith entered the room and slowly moved towards the door.

“Well! Look what the cat dragged in! If it isn’t Spitflyer, Swearin, an’ Fleetfarm. How are y’all doin’?” Granny Smith absolutely butchered their names as she advanced to the doorway. The three smiled and shared a laugh, knowing full well from past experience that correcting her was fruitless.

Thunderlane had frozen completely solid, not even blinking throughout the whole scene. He was wrong, things were going to get weirder and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

“Doing fine Granny and you’re looking just as young as we left you.” Soarin joked as Granny Smith finally made it out onto the porch.

“Oh you flatter this old mare. So what brings ya inta Ponyville today?” She questioned them. Spitfire answered.

“Fleet and I are on our way to Manehattan for a few weeks, Business, appearances, some photo shoots, etc. Thought we’d stop in and say hello.” She motioned to Fleetfoot who took over.

“While we’re gone, the lead squad isn’t performing, so Soarin is tagging along this far to see his little rainbow.” She leaned over and nudged Soarin in the side. He perked up, not paying attention because he was looking around for signs of Rainbow Dash.

“Oh that’s wonderful! They just got back from deliveries, so she’ll be over by the barn. Need a place t’stay again?” She asked Soarin.

“Nah, I figured Dash will—” He began, but was cut off.

“Uh oh, incoming Soarin.” Fleetfoot said with a chuckle. Something that sounded like “ohmygosh” was coming repeatedly from the direction of the barn, and drew closer and closer. Soarin smiled at Granny Smith.

“Hold that thought.” He said and was tackled at full speed by Rainbow Dash as she yelled “OHMYGOSH” over and over. Soarin was instantly gone from his spot, Spitfire and Fleetfoot didn’t even flinch as a gust of wind blew past them. Soarin extended his wings, forcing them to a stop in the air, but Dash clung to him, wings flapping furiously, tears of joy squeaking out of her eyes.

“You jerk!” She yelled as she removed her head from his chest and looked him in the eyes. “You gotta tell me when you’re visiting!”

“This was sort of last minute.” Soarin shrugged, “like I was gonna pass it up though.” He winked and the two embraced tightly again.

“Aww, they are too cute!” Fleetfoot sarcastically swooned, putting her hooves together and resting the side of her head against them. Spitfire rolled her eyes.

Thunderlane saw the whole exchange through the window to the right of the door. Rainbow Dash was on a first name basis with the Wonderbolts too? Scratch that, she and the famous Soarin were an ITEM?! How many more ways could he be jealous of Rainbow Dash? Not so much about Soarin, more about having personal relationships with celebrities. What the hell made HER so special? The last time he encountered the Wonderbolts it was at the summer flight camp and the whole time he was there he was scared to death of—

“LINEUP!”

Thunderlane flinched and in an instant found his body moving again, he moved slightly to the right and turned attention. He blinked, remembered where he was, and wondered why he just did that. Fleetfoot was nearly on the ground laughing and Spitfire was just smirking.

“See?” Spitfire motioned towards Thunderlane.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding!” Fleetfoot said between laughs.

“I thought I recognized you. Thunderlane right?” Spitfire walked in towards him. “You were at our last flight camp.” She waited for him to say something, but he stood perfectly still. “Oh for heaven’s sake, RELAX. I’m off duty. I just wanted to see if you still flinched super hard when I called for line up.” She admitted, recalling Thunderlane being probably the most intimidated flyer she ever coached. When he didn’t respond again, she gave up and eyed the rope around his wings, lifting an eyebrow. She left him where he was and went back to the porch, “so why’s he here?” She asked Granny Smith

“Broke a new buildin’ of ours, payin’ off the dept with work.” She put it simply. Spitfire glanced back at him and shook her head.

“Smooth.” She moved back towards Fleetfoot, as Soarin and Dash finally finished attacking each other with affection. “Good to actually see you Rainbow Dash.” Spitfire smirked as Dash and Soarin’ smiled embarrassedly.

“Heh, sorry, got a LIIIIITTLE excited.” Dash explained while shifting closer to Soarin.

“Do tell.” Spitfire looked over Dash briefly, “Wish I could stay and see what that new bod of yours can do, you look like you’ve been hitting the gym.”

“Just pulling apple carts actually.” Dash proudly stated while flexing an arm.

“Cause it’s been that easy.” Applejack suddenly spoke as she entered the scene with Mac and Braeburn in tow.

“Okay so I had a little bit of trouble at first.” Dash shrugged.

Fleetfoot smiled, blushed slightly, and bit her lip upon eyeing Big Mac and this other new handsome farmer pony beside him. Spitfire nudged her in the side and whispered.

“Careful Fleet, you remember what happened last time.”

“I know big red is taken, but what about the OTHER dream boat? Heeeee! They sure now how to grow ‘em in this family!” She whispered back.

Thunderlane continued to mostly hear and not see what was going on as the same explanation was given to Applejack. This was too much. He had literally no idea what to do. The more he stood there the more he felt like a complete idiot. He had met Spitfire in person before, even if it was with her barking commands in his ears, but to have Soarin and Fleetfoot just show up too? His body just plain LOCKED. Great first impression. Thunderlane: Occupation, straight up dumbass.

“Well it was good to see you all, but Fleet and I better fly. We have to get To Manehatten and check in to our hotel before tonight. We’ll stop on our way back in a couple weeks,” Spitfire cracked her neck and spread her wings, “have fun.”

“Yeah, have LOTS of fun.” Fleetfoot winked at Soarin before Spitfire put her in a wing lock.

“C’mon instigator.” She pulled Fleetfoot along as she laughed. They waved goodbye and took off into the sky, displaying their awesome speed by being out of sight in less than a minute.

“Well you’re just in time for Lunch Soarin, c’mon in and we’ll get ya something too!” Applejack invited him in.

“Oh thanks! I’ve missed the home cooking here!” Soarin followed them all in, still glued side by side to Rainbow Dash. He stopped as they passed Thunderlane, Dash and Applejack stopping with him.

Just as he was about to break his nervous stiffness, he was staring right into the eyes of Soarin, the famous Power Flier of the Wonderbolts. He felt himself lock up again. Just when he thought he couldn’t feel like any more of a dolt.

“Nice new living room addition you have here.” Soarin chuckled. Applejack rolled her eyes. “What’s with the rope?” He asked as he continued to walk circles around Frozenlane.

“Keep him from flyin’ off. He broke a new unit of ours right after Mac finished buildin’ it. He’s workin’ here till he pays it off.” Applejack explained. Soarin perked up.

“Wait, as in the expensive storage unit you’ve been mentioning in your letters?” He asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yup,” she nodded, “crash dummy here fell right out of the sky at full speed into it.”

“Ooo—,” Soarin winced.

“Seriously Thunderlane?” Dash got in his face to try and dispel his anxiety. She expected this from Fluttershy, but NOT a pony like him. When she got no response Applejack beckoned them into the kitchen.

“Forget it, if he wants to be stuck like that forever, let ‘em.”

“No, no, wait,” Soarin smirked like a little colt. He grabbed a book from a nearby shelf and hovered slightly above Thunderlane’s head, placing the book carefully on it. He let go and it balanced perfectly. He chuckled and grabbed another.

“Soarin!” Dash snickered. “Stop, they’re gonna fall!”

“You kidding me? See how stiff he is? I bet I’m gonna get five at least!” He said with gusto. Applejack found her lips quivering, trying not to laugh herself. The shenanigans continued until Soarin balanced six books on Thunderlane’s head and three more on his flank. Dash had fallen on her flank and was rocking back and forth, laughing hard. Applejack had lost her composure and was chuckling as well.

“Mac! Braeburn! You gotta see this!” Applejack called to them from the kitchen. Braeburn emerged first.

“What’s goin’ on in WHA?!HAHAHA!!” His eyes widened as he stared incredulously at the sight before him, Soarin bowing and Thunderlane balancing all the books, still stiff from earlier. “Ya gotta be kiddin’ me, Mac check it out!” Big Mac turned the corner.

“EeyuppPPPFFFFF—” He nearly sucked the string of wheat all the way into his mouth, before laughing heartily as well.

shad0w-wo1f!

“Oh man,” Dash sighed and wiped tears from her eyes before hugging Soarin tightly. “Dammit I’ve missed you so much!” They all calmed down and went on to the kitchen, leaving Thunderlane in the living room with all the books still on him.

He was mortified. The internal screaming was bound to last for a few days.

After the sudden arrival of Soarin and a quick lunch, the ponies were back out to work. Thunderlane was led out to the wreckage of the storage unit to help Braeburn and Mac start putting it back together. Rainbow Dash and Applejack stayed behind to help out Granny Smith with a few more things before they would eventually join them.

Soarin, after hearing the situation, swore that he would do what he could to help them out as well, that way he could be there with Dash and lend a hoof instead of taking her away and slowing their progress.

Thunderlane was glad that Soarin stayed with Dash and Applejack for the time being, his brain still had to register that THE Soarin was here at Sweet Apple Acres. He may have been an acquaintance of the Apple family and obviously a little more to Rainbow Dash. But to him, there was a celebrity right there. It would take some getting used to.

“Come help me with this.” Braeburn snapped Thunderlane out of his day dream. He did as he was told and helped Braeburn move a large wooden board off a pile of broken machinery. Their first task in repairing the storage unit was to clear away the mess. Big Mac was already tinkering with the machinery associated. He was the only one who knew how to fix it. He put it together after all. While he did that, Braeburn and Thunderlane were salvaging bits and pieces that could be used again.

Thunderlane looked around at the piles of broken boards and beams that were all strewn about as Mac dragged the last bit of machinery over to his self-designated work area.

“Somethin’ on yer mind?” Braeburn asked, picking up on the curiosity in Thunderlane’s eyes. Thunderlane was surprised. He hadn’t really interacted with Braeburn much. In fact they had yet to even exchange words. After the way he was “introduced” to Applejack and Big Mac, friendliness was never expected.

“Oh, well, nothing.” He dodged the question while glancing at Big Mac. He hoped Braeburn would leave it at that, but he didn’t know Braeburn well.

“Aw, c’mon that look screams curiosity.” He prodded. Thunderlane glanced back at Mac, then at Braeburn again.

“I don’t want to make him or you angry. I’ve had enough Apple rage.” Thunderlane stated while rubbing his cheek. Braeburn chuckled.

“Look partner, you did us wrong, but you’re workin’ to pay it off. That’s where it ends for me. I ain’t gonna hold any grudges or pummel you in the face, got it? From the looks of things, you could use a pal to confide in while yer here. You can talk to me if ya ever need to. It ain’t in my blood to be a stranger.”

Thunderlane was definitely surprised. Thinking back to his past couple of days, it really did seem like there was more to the way they were all acting. At least with Applejack. Everypony else seemed to be treating him fairly.

“Well,” He looked back at Mac, “Promise you won’t punch me in the face?” He made sure. Braeburn chuckled.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” He made several comical motions ending with a hoof over his eye. Thunderlane just stared blankly.

“What?”

“Sorry. I learned that one from a friend of mine in town. Anyway, no punching.” Braeburn nodded. Thunderlane edged towards Braeburn to whisper.

“I heard something about him being a good builder. If this thing was so well put together, how did it just fall apart when I ran into it?” Thunderlane asked, gritting his teeth as Braeburn lifted an eyebrow. Braeburn's face suddenly scrunched and he burst out laughing, falling over on his back. “What’s so funny?” Thunderlane wasn’t sure how to feel about this response.

“Ha ha hooo haaaaaa, do you have any idea how hard ya hit it?” Braeburn managed to say between chuckles. He spread out his front legs. “You came outta th’sky like a shootin’ star!” He smacked one hoof against the other. “Right through the outer wall, I’m surprised the hole wasn’t Pegasus shaped. And—,” Braeburn rolled over, got to his hooves, looked around, and kicked a pile of split wood to reveal a metal pipe that was bent in the center, “—you were goin’ fast enough to dent this. Not to mention a lot of the wooden support beams we’re pullin’ up don’t look like this cause they fell down.” He motioned towards some of the wood they piled up. A few stood out that looked as if they had been struck, not collapsed.

It may not have been the answer Thunderlane wanted to hear, but he couldn’t argue with it. At least Braeburn laughed about it instead of strangling him. The whole short exchange was heart lifting for Thunderlane though. Braeburn was friendly from the start. He was shoved around by Big Mac, glared at by Apple Bloom, and verbally berated more times than he could count by Applejack. Granny smith was nice from the beginning as well, but it was more refreshing to have it come from someone around his age.

Feeling better, he continued to help Braeburn organize the bits and pieces into a pile of reusable and a pile of unusable. They continued for another hour, suddenly pausing as Braeburn spoke up.

“Hey, looks like somethin’s goin’ on back at the house.” He pointed towards the front porch where it looked like two grey pegasi were arguing with Applejack out front. Big Mac glanced over the machinery to get a look.

“Eeyup.” He acknowledged while squinting. Then whoever was talking to Applejack must have put her off because soon her yelling could be heard. Thunderlane finally took a look himself, admittedly curious.

“Ah!” He blinked to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, but quickly covered his mouth. Mac and Braeburn glanced at him.

“Friends of yours?” Braeburn asked, making a head motion towards the house. Thunderlane’s eyes darted between the two of them. He sighed, seeing no way of avoiding it.

“Yes. Those are my friends.” He admitted. As soon as he did the shouting got louder. Braeburn scratched his head.

“Mac, I think we better to somethin’ before A.J. starts fightin’ them.” He suggested. Mac dropped his tools and nodded.

“Eeyup.” He stepped out from his workspace and the two began walking towards the commotion. Thunderlane followed behind, reluctantly.

“Yeah I saw you hit him! And what’s with all this heavy pulling and slavery stuff?! You’re gonna hurt him! Sheesh you already have!” Flitter yelled right into the face of Applejack, who stood her ground and was doing her best to not get her hooves involved in her replies.

“Look I already told ya I’m sorry about the punch, it was a weird day, but he’s workin’ for us cause he damaged our property. I don’t see how hard it is to understand that!” Applejack’s temper was rising and she couldn’t hold it back for long. She didn’t need this right now, especially with how she was already trying to deal with things.

Cloudchaser leaned against the wooden fence of the porch. She didn’t want to be there, but her sister dragged her along, insisting they had to get Thunderlane out. As far as Cloud Chaser was concerned, Flitter was just being her girly, over protective-self, and this was a mess Thunderlane had to get himself out of.

“Not if you’re gonna make him do earth pony work! I’m not gonna let you break him like that!” Flitter continued.

“It ain’t yer decision, it ain’t yer problem, and it ain’t none of yer business!” Applejack pressed a hoof against Flitter’s chest, making her recline.

“God! You are such a c—”

“Hey now what’s all goin’ on here?” They were cut off by Braeburn as he, Big Mac, and Thunderlane approached. Flitter turned sharply to see who interrupted her, ready to give them what for as well, but she never got the chance. Her jaw dropped, and her pupils widened.

“Oh… hi…” her eyes shifted between Big Mac and Braeburn. The feathers in her wings all puffed out and her face made an entire pigment change to red. “Uh…” She failed to speak. Applejack raised an eyebrow at her, Mac took no notice, but Braeburn could tell what was happening and sighed. This wasn’t the first time he and Mac received this kind of attention from a mare they didn’t know. They had to stop being in the same place if this kept happening.

Cloudchaser, much more resilient to hunky stallions than her sister, smacked herself in the forehead and shook her head, moving up and draping her hoof over her sister’s shoulders.

“Look farm filly,” She addressed Applejack, “I think what my sister is trying to say is you should stop being a bitch and cut Thunderlane some slack.” She put bluntly. Applejack narrowed her eyes at her, Braeburn and Mac giving disapproving looks as well. “I mean, he’s a lazy slacker.”

“Hey! I’m right—”

“I know you’re there Thunderlane,” She continued, “he got himself in this shit, I’m not gonna deny that, but seriously, what with the 24/7 PMS you have going here?” Cloudchaser continued her very blunt and indecent way of putting things. Applejack had nearly grinded a hoof shaped hole into the floor below her. She was on the verge of throwing another punch, but she refused to let anger control her. Her resolve on that matter was weakening though.

“I don’t know who ya think ya are, but I’ve had it with you and yer swoonin’ sister, git off our property before I think twice about not rearranging yer face!”

“Whoa there!” Cloudchaser threw her hoofs up, “hate to break it to you sweetheart, but you don’t scare me, also nice move bringing the farm hunks over to silence my sister, but that doesn’t work on me. It takes more than that to—”

“What the hell is going on over here?!” Soarin came down the stairs into the living room with Rainbow Dash beside him, a hoof draped over her back. Cloudchaser stopped dead. Her voice stuck on the “E” of the word me. Her left eyelid twitched.

“AHHH!!!!” She flung herself backwards, pulling her sister with her, the two tumbling down the stairs of the front porch. “That, that, that, that,” She stuttered while blushing furiously. Soarin and Dash stepped out, Dash looking at the sisters quizzically.

“Flitter? Cloud Chaser?”

“What—?” Cloud Chaser took note of Soarin’s arm around her. “I can’t take this. Flitter, we’re leaving!” Cloud Chaser grabbed her still flustered sister and forced her up into the air, flying off.

“What just happened?” Soarin asked, looking back at the Apple family and Thunderlane, who had hidden slightly behind Mac, still intimidated by Soarin’s sheer presence. They all jumped as Applejack slammed a hoof so hard against the floor the board splintered. She was gritting her teeth and breathing heavily.

“Hey!” Mac approached her and tried to put a hoof on her shoulder but she batted it away.

“I’m fine!” She belted before stomping up the stairs. They all let her go, knowing she was already trying to sort a lot of things out. This little incident probably didn’t do much to help her with it.

“I’m so confused.” Said Soarin.

After the commotion was over, they all spent the rest of the day working on the storage unit. All of them but Applejack, who hadn’t emerged from her room since the surprise visit from Thunderlane’s friends.

Thunderlane himself was embarrassed. That little scene certainly wasn’t going to help the Apple Family’s view of him. Those were his friends after all, and while they were only doing it for him, they sure botched the first impression. He also found he felt bad. He didn’t know why, but after the nice gesture Applejack did for him with the dinner and her confession to having some troubling things on her mind, he felt he owed her now. Maybe this was another case of not wanting to be shown up. She was nice to him after she did something bad, now he felt the need to do the same. He didn’t directly do anything bad to her, but he felt responsible for his friends.

Why the hell was he like this? Even when it wasn’t a competition he made it one. While a small part of him wanted to apologize out of courtesy, most of him wanted to because he didn’t want to seem like the worse pony. Maybe he had some things he had to sort out as well. The more things happened around here the more he felt like he and Applejack had a lot in common. Honestly, that really scared him.

“Whoa! Careful there!” Thunderlane blinked and internally freaked out as he almost hit Soarin in the face with a pile of wooden boards.

“S—SORRY!” Thunderlane quickly and loudly apologized. Soarin winced and shook his head out.

“At ease soldier, no need to be so tense.” Soarin chuckled before taking the boards from him. Thunderlane stood still for a moment as Soarin flew the boards over to a nearby pile. He was suddenly elbowed in the side by Dash as she walked by,

“Seriously Thunderlane, RELAX.” She said. Thunderlane blinked and glared at her.

“Easy for you to say, you and he are fu—OW” He yelped as she elbowed him again.

“I’ll let that one slide, but seriously, listen. Soarin hates it when other ponies put him on a pedestal. Treat him normally, for his sake.” She left it at that and hovered over to Soarin’s side.

“Again, easy for you to say.” Thunderlane mumbled as he turned to do more “heavy lifting”.

After many hours, which all seemed like a year to Thunderlane, the sun was setting and Granny called for dinner. The ponies all finished their current task and prepared to turn in for the night. Thunderlane slid a pile of wood off his back and plopped down on the ground for a moment. Once again the day had left him a physical wreck. He wanted desperately to stretch out his wings. The rope was really starting to irritate him. There was no way he was getting it off though, especially after his first escape attempt. Something else this experience was teaching him was just how much he relied on flight.

Hunger pangs in his stomach were enough to motivate him to get up. All the work had built up an appetite, and he wasn’t going to miss dinner. Being well fed was one of the few “perks” of being on the farm, if you could call it that. As he trotted a good few yards behind the rest,

“Oh? You think so? Then let’s see it.” Soarin’s voice caught his attention. He turned to see him and Dash face to face, both with smirks on their faces.

“Prepare to be amazed flycolt, this body isn’t just for show you know.” She taunted. Soarin bounced his eyebrows,

“Not that I’d complain.” He flirted while looking her all over. She tipped his chin back up,

“Pay attention.” She winked and hovered a few feet away. Thunderlane rolled his eyes at all the sly sweet talking, but he decided to watch to see just what they were going on about.

Dash set her hooves on the ground and spread her wings. She proceeded quickly through motions that were too fast for Thunderlane to break down from his distance, but what it looked like was a small hope and a jump, followed by her thrusting her wings back, followed by something he just could not put into words.

Rainbow Dash fired from the spot, a loud sonic boom echoing through the air. Big Mac and Braeburn turned to see her whisk by so fast it looked like an actual rainbow flew right beside them. She angled up into a loop, straining herself against the g-forces, doing her best to loop all the way back around. She was clearly struggling to change her trajectory, but eventually had looped all the way back down and passed by Soarin close to the ground. However she lost control as she tried to slow down, and was struck by a pocket of air, flinging her slightly upward while flailing and yelling, “WhooooaAAAooooAAAAAAAHHHH.”

Snapped from his awe at the extreme display of speed, Thunderlane gasped as he watched her lose control. There was nothing he could do, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried she would get hurt.

But then a second sonic boom resonated through the air, and a light blue streak rocketed towards her. It intercepted Dash, before two wings extended to slow them down. Thunderlane glanced back to where Soarin was standing to find that Soarin was in fact, no longer there. He turned back towards Dash to see Soarin had caught her in his arms, and was slowing them both down.

Thunderlane’s eyes darted between them, and where Soarin had previously stood, his jaw nearly unhinged by how hard it had dropped. Rainbow Dash’s display was impressive, but Soarin did it even faster and with so much control and precision. It was unheard of, but then again he was part of the Wonderbolts’ ace squad.

Soarin eventually brought them to a halt and Dash opened her eyes, looking directly into his.

“Well I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed, but you have to work on the control. I won’t always be able to catch you.” He said with a wink. Dash scoffed and crossed her hooves.

“Darn, I was hoping I had it.” She looked visibly distraught.

“How about a thank you?” Soarin asked while comically edging the side of his face closer to her. She smiled, grabbed his head, and turned it towards her,

“I was getting to that,” She said before closing the gap between them.

“THAT’S where we exit,” Braeburn suddenly appeared beside Thunderlane and edged him along. Thunderlane glanced briefly at Soarin and Dash, but quickly turned away as they proceeded to pretty much make out in the middle of the path.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” He agreed with Braeburn and they continued on to get dinner.

Yet he couldn’t get his mind off of the amazing abilities he just witnessed. A lot of things were really being put into perspective for him during his time here. Here specifically, it was the reason he was in this mess to begin with. He was just as good as Rainbow Dash? Forget it. After seeing her nearly perfectly copy an ace Wonderbolt’s signature move, there was no contest.

Biting off more than he could chew. Pure recklessness. He knew from the start he couldn’t pull off a sonic boom yet he tried anyway. He knew escaping was pointless, but he tried anyway. Why did he keep doing this to himself? Maybe all this hard work was the Apple family’s way of showing him he shouldn’t take such risks. Applejack did say something about him understanding what he had done to them. Was this what she meant? Part of him thought so, but part of him didn’t.

Applejack. There was something he had nearly forgotten about in all the commotion. She had not appeared since Flitter and Cloudchaser barged their way in. He had no idea where she had gone, but he remembered he wanted to apologize.

He just couldn’t make up his damn mind. He wanted so badly to rebel, to tell them off, and to argue his freedom from all this work. However, the Apple Family had treated him so well after a few initial incidents, and there was also evidence that there was more to their troubles than just him.

Above all else, he was tired of being confused.

Dinner was nice and lively, especially once Soarin and Rainbow Dash finally joined them all. While Thunderlane remained quiet, he was very interested in Soarin. Hell, what Pegasus wouldn’t be? He was a genuine Wonderbolt. He let the rest do the talking and listened in on all the stories and info he had to share.

Above all he was left in awe when Braeburn brought up the tornado incident in Ponyville a little while back. Thunderlane was on weather duty when the strange tornado appeared, and under Rainbow Dash’s command, tried to counter it with the rest of the team. The last things he remembered from the incident was that their anti-twister didn’t work and something struck him really hard right in the center of the back, knocking him out.

Soarin admitted he wasn’t able to give all the details, but he did mention that the tornado was being conjured by a force of pegasi criminals, and with the help of Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolts were able to repel them. Rainbow Dash had elbowed him repeatedly during his recount, making him change the course of his explanation each time. There were clearly parts being left out, but what Thunderlane heard was enough to wow him immensely.

Talk about his situation being beyond explainable. Here he was, eating dinner with a family he wasn’t part of, wings tied, in work custody, and listening to a Wonderbolt tell stories. Things couldn't get much weirder.

“IS THAT A CHALLENGE?”

Pinkie Pie, OUT. This isn’t your story.

“Aww… fine, fine.

Despite all the fun he was having listening to Soarin’s stories, Thunderlane still had Applejack on his mind. She was still not around. Not even for dinner. Had she been upstairs the whole time? Her dinner was even on the table, and she hadn’t come down.

Why? Why did he care about apologizing so much? Why couldn’t he keep his competitive side down? She apologized to him, so he had to apologize to her, he didn’t want to look like the worse pony. IT MADE NO SENSE. You apologize to somepony because you feel the need to. NOT because you want to look better for it.

Or was it really that at all? He felt no need to apologize to the rest of them who were present. Mac and Braeburn seemed a little put off by it too, but he felt no need to apologize to them. Applejack was different than the rest of them. The others seemed to let him be aside from putting work on him. Applejack was always the one to tell him where to go, what to do, how to do it, and how much he was doing it wrong. He STILL felt a bit miffed about how she turned him away from pulling carts into town. He knew he couldn’t, and he didn’t want to, but she preemptively made the choice. Something was different about not being able to whine his way out of it. If he didn’t want to do it, why did he even care?

“RGH!” He suddenly grunted and shook his head, internally gasping a moment after. He looked up and all eyes were on him. His eyes widened and he forced a fake smile onto his face. “Uhhh… haha, um,” He looked down to avoid eye contact and pushed away from the table, “sorry, I have to do something.” He left the kitchen and made his way to the stairs.

The rest all looked between each other before dismissing their wonder and continuing with dinner. Granny Smith however, kept her eyes towards the stairs and smiled. She had an idea of what Thunderlane left for and she had a good feeling about it.

Thunderlane stood outside the door to Applejack’s room, his hoof hovering in front of it, ready to knock. He was having second thoughts about disturbing her. He had been unsure about a lot of things lately. Each time he was he had gone for it regardless and each time it ended up biting him in the ass.

He put his hoof down and turned away, taking three steps towards the stairs before stopping, shaking his head, and turning back around. He reached his hoof up again to the door, but again hesitated. Was this a good idea? Was he knocking on the door to his own death? He was sure the last pony Applejack wanted to see right now was him, especially after the way his friends treated her.

Again he stopped and turned away. This time he got five steps down the hallways before he stopped and shook his head. Turning back, he went up to her door again. This time he was going to knock. This time he would do it.

He stopped again. Come to think of it, why wasn’t her family, or Rainbow Dash, one of her closest friends, going to her to see if she was alright? Maybe there was a reason. Maybe Applejack preferred to be left alone in this kind of situation. Maybe he was thinking too hard. Maybe he should just let it be.

Once again he turned away. He decided he would just have to let her be. He got to the top of the stairs and stopped. He felt like a broken record.

STALLION UP. STOP HESITATING.

He grunted in disgust at his own lack of confidence and stepped right up to Applejack’s door. He raised his hoof—”

Applejack had been lying on her bed since she confronted Flitter and Cloudchaser. She tossed and turned over and over again while trying to sort out her thoughts. She couldn’t keep getting angry like this. It wasn’t like her. Big Mac had made it clear: it was like she wasn’t even herself. If her own family thought so, what would her friends say? What would happen if she had an outburst in public? It would ruin the reputation of both her and her family.

All she wanted was for everything to go right. She just wanted her family to succeed and prosper. With this in mind, she wanted to have control of as much as possible to ensure it all went according to plan. But could she handle it? How much responsibility can one pony hold on their shoulders? She thought she’d have learned after the Apple bucking season incident when Big Mac was out of commission. A lesson that she learned so long ago should be written in her heart by now.

But what was she supposed to do? Big Mac had responsibilities. Apple bloom had a few, Braeburn took his share of the work, and Granny was now limited to upkeep of the house. Sure Dash helped out, but beyond that she didn’t want to burden them with more than they needed.

Was it a matter of trust?

Applejack was ambitious. She had big plans for Sweet Apple Acres. She wanted it to grow and prosper unlike any farm in her family had ever before. She wanted everything to go just as she planned it. Was she afraid to hand out extra responsibilities to her siblings? Was she afraid they would put a wrench in things? This probably explained why she was so iffy about Big Mac working the deal with Filthy Rich in order to build the new storage unit. Mac just up and did it all himself. It made her nervous beyond belief how quickly he spent the large amount of bits earned.

It all would have been fine if not for Thunderlane crashing into it and knocking it down. She partly felt like Mac should’ve considered a worst case scenario, but now she was thinking too far. There was no way he could have. The only problem was now they were beyond far behind without the added boon of what the storage unit would be used for.

This was it. This is why strange things were happening to her. She had so much on her shoulders already, and as suddenly as a star falling out of the sky, her burdens were doubled, tripled, quadrupled. Her responsible nature went into overdrive and her whole body was moving and acting on instinct. Emotions and self-control were being overshadowed and blocked out and it was making her a horrific sight to those around her.

She groaned and rubbed her eyes. She didn’t care if she wasted half a day contemplating all of it. If not for Soarin repelling the pegasi sisters with his celebrity charm, she was seconds away from losing it again and becoming violent. She had to fix it, but how?

Then the sound of knocking broke her out of her internal struggle. She blinked and looked towards the door. The shadow of hooves shown from below the door within the small glow from the hallway. She didn’t expect anypony to come to her. Nopony ever did. She made it clear a long time ago to her family that if she ever went to her room when upset, that meant she wanted to be alone and sort it out herself. Somepony either forgot or she had had fallen so hard that they felt the need to go to her anyway.

She rolled out of bed, slightly grumbling. She may have been a wreck, but she still wished to sort it out alone. Even with the way things were she felt her family should still respect her way of dealing with it. She reached for the door and opened it. Never expecting what she saw.

She stared right into the eyes of Thunderlane, who for a moment looked resolved before flinching so hard the floor creaked below him. They both just stared.

Thunderlane hadn’t thought this far into his plan. Nice going dipshit, you don’t even know what to say. He took the moment to look her over. She looked like hell. She wasn’t wearing her hat, her mane was all messy, and her eyes were all red. Had she been—, crying?

Applejack didn’t know what to say either, but when he just stood there she began to wonder why the hell he was there and why he thought disturbing her was a good idea. She lost her patience quickly, and to avoid any more fits of anger, began to close her door.

“Wait!” Thunderlane snapped out of it and shoved his arm in the door. Applejack stopped and sighed, letting him push it back open. She stood firm and glared at him as he entered her room.

“WHAT?!” She asked coldly and devoid of any brightness what so ever. Thunderlane flinched again, but this time held his ground. Applejack was waiting for it. Waiting to hear more whining and more idiotic reasons as to why he was being “mistreated”. She did not need this right now. He picked a horrible time for it and she was prepared to make him regret it.

He let his head hang slightly and looked away from her.

“Look,” he started in a serious tone, “I’m sorry.”

“Huh?” Applejack’s expression lightened and her ears twitched a few times. She wasn’t quite sure if she had heard him correctly. Did he just apologize? “Fer what?” She asked. He looked back at her.

“My friends this afternoon. Flitter and Cloud Chaser.” He clarified. Applejack scoffed and turned away.

“Nice choice of friends.” She put bluntly. Thunderlane was shocked. He quickly retorted.

“Hey! I know they’re not your kind of ponies, but they ARE good friends of mine.”

“Did ya come in here for anythin’ else? I don’t care what you think o’them. It ain’t gonna change how I think of them.”

“Sheesh!” Thunderlane rolled his eyes. “Why are you being such a hypocrite?” He instantly regretted saying that. He knew she wasn’t going to take kindly to it.

“That’s it! OUT!” She moved to push him towards the door but he moved around her.

“Just listen! I feel responsible for my friends okay? You came and apologized to me after you did something bad. Am I not allowed to do the same? My friends were complete jerks to you. To me that’s no different than if I did something bad.”

Applejack’s eyes widened in surprise. A friendly gesture and taking up responsibility for something? Was this really Thunderlane? She jumped slightly as he stomped a hoof down.

“I just wanted to apologize! What’s your problem with that? You aren’t the only one who’s allowed to feel bad about things!” He glared daggers at her for a moment before realizing her demeanor had changed. She didn’t look so angry any more. She turned away and looked down, her ears drooping.

“N—no. There ain’t nuthin’ wrong with that.” She walked back towards her bed. “Sorry I misunderstood. That’s mighty kind of ya.” She flopped back onto her bed and faced away from him.

Thunderlane stood still and just looked at her for a few seconds. He did what he came to do. Why did it feel so unsatisfying? Again, why did he care so much? He was frustrating himself now. Screw it, he wanted to know.

“So what’s going on? There’s clearly something wrong here.” He asked out of the blue. Applejack contemplated twisting around and yelling at him, but she couldn’t find the will or the energy.

“Nothin’.” She answered.

“That’s a load of shit.”

“Dammit!” She sharply turned towards him, “It ain’t none of yer business!” She retorted, but he just gave her a “yeah right” look.

“I think when I get punched in the face, it becomes my business.” Thunderlane said bluntly. Applejack bit her lip, digging for a response, but instead she just sighed and turned back over.

She wasn’t used to this. Her family usually left her alone. The only pony who ever confronted her was Big Mac, and if/when he did, it almost always turned into butting heads. For once Thunderlane had a valid argument. Her inner demons led to her physically harming him. He deserved some explanation. Didn’t mean she wanted to though. And this was definitely not the time.

“Look Thunderlane, I’m sorry I hit ya and that I’ve been a bit harsh on ya, but I can’t talk about it right now.” She said. Thunderlane was disappointed, but she followed up. “You’re right, there’s a lot of stuff goin’ on. But I don’t wanna talk about it now.” She finished sincerely. Thunderlane frowned, but at least he got some sort of answer. He turned towards the door.

“Fine.” He began his way out.

“Thunderlane.” She called to him before he could leave. He glanced over his shoulder. She didn’t turn towards him. “Thanks for wonderin’ at least. It felt good to get a little off my chest.” She kept facing the wall. Thunderlane wasn’t sure if he was being complemented.

“Sure.” He said flatly before continuing and nearly tripping over a tray of food right outside her door. He was about to verbally question it, but he stopped when he saw a note by it. It read: “give this to her, say you brought it.” –Granny Smith

Thunderlane blinked and looked between the food and Applejack. Why hadn’t he thought of that? Granny Smith was one step ahead of him. He wished it was his doing, but if Granny thought it was right he wasn’t going to question her. He had learned not to pretty quick. He shrugged and went along with it.

“Here, I brought your dinner up too.” He grabbed the tray and carried it over. Applejack turned and looked at the food, then at Thunderlane as he set it down on the bed. She didn’t answer, but Thunderlane had already felt like he overstayed his welcome. He quickly left the room and closed the door on his way out. She found herself feeling the need to thank him again. That was three times she felt he had been nice despite her view on him. Applejack tried to speak right as he left, but it didn’t come quick enough.

“T—thanks…again…” the delayed words squeaked out into the lonely room.

---To be continued---

Chapter 4

MLP: FiM
The Weight of Responsibility
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 4:

How long had he been there working? It felt like months at this point. He’d be done soon right?

Thunderlane rolled out of bed after his door had slammed open. His eyes adjusted just in time to see Big Mac’s shadow continue down the hallway. After looking at the calendar on the wall, he realized it had only been a week. Time sure flew when he was being forced to work.

He was still not used to the crack of dawn morning schedule these crazy farmers lived on, but at least he was getting used to Big Mac’s mannerisms. At first Thunderlane thought Mac was just being cold and not speaking to him at all, using force instead of words for everything. After a few days it was clear he just wasn’t the speaking type in general. He rarely heard a full sentence from the big farm stallion unless it was directed at a family member, in which case he spoke freely. With him, Dash, and Soarin it was a simple Eeyup or Nnope or maybe a few syllables at the MOST. The morning door swinging open was just Mac’s way of waking him up. Thunderlane preferred that over his bed being hoisted up and dumped.

Thunderlane shook his body out and stretched, joints cracking and popping in multiple spots. His body felt horrible. He hoped today would be a chore day, because he could use a day without heavy lifting.

“C’mon.” Big Mac’s voice came from the door. Thunderlane looked up to see Mac beckoning him. “Lots t’do. Cart pullin’ today.” He left before Thunderlane could groan in response.

So much for that. Back to square one. Instead of getting off easy today it was time for the heaviest job. Maybe they’d go easy on him after what happened last time. Whatever, it didn’t matter to him at the moment because if he didn’t hurry down he wouldn’t get any breakfast.

The first thing Thunderlane noticed as he ate breakfast was Applejack being present. She was out of her room and looked like nothing had happened at all. He wasn’t sure whether or not this meant she was all better. He doubted it. She was clearly in a troubled state the night before. He only hoped that he would get some sort of explanation soon because he hated being left in the dark about things that affected him.

He kept his mouth shut, eating his breakfast quickly knowing lunch was far off. He followed the Apples outside and back to the barn, extremely unenthusiastic about having to pull a heavy cart again. He looked up into the sky briefly as Rainbow Dash glided down to join them.

He really missed flying. His legs had never felt sorer in his life. He couldn’t believe Rainbow Dash went through with this willingly. For some reason though, he felt that she made him want to do it and prove he could too. Boy that sounded familiar. His own competitive bark had little bite. It was going to be the death of him if he kept it up.

He looked down as the sound of carts being pulled from the barn caught his attention, but his eyes widened as he looked DOWN again at what was put before him.

“WHAT?!” He yelled out incredulously. Rainbow Dash failed to hold back a couple of snickers and held her breath. Thunderlane was looking at a cart roughly a third the size of the one he pulled on his first day. Applejack, who had pushed it out to him, leaned against the opposite side of it,

“Is there a problem?” She asked in all seriousness.

“What the hell is this?!” He thrusted a hoof towards it. Applejack glanced down ant the mini cart, then back at him.

“This is your cart.” She put plainly without her expression wavering in the slightest. Dash leaned over to Thunderlane’s ear,

“Baby’s first cart.” She whispered while having giggle fits.

“RGH! Shut up!” He yelled back.

“Actually this IS Applebloom’s cart.” Applejack continued as if it meant nothing at all. Thunderlane turned his head to her and stared with disbelief.

“Is this some kind of joke?!” He was raging. He had taken multiple blows to the manhood during his experience here and this one was the last straw. Applejack just lifted and eyebrow and shifted her weight from one side to the other.

“So you’d rather pull a full size one and pass out after half a trip again?”

“But…!” Thunderlane froze with a hoof extended and his mouth hanging open. He had no comeback for that one. He just grunted in dismay, “Fine.” He stomped over and hooked himself into the little cart, grumbling to himself.

Applejack smiled as she moved past Big Mac and Rainbow Dash to her train of three carts. She felt like she was beginning to understand Thunderlane a little. Despite his lazy appearance, he was honest with himself and clearly very competitive. Tell him he couldn’t do something, he’d do it. Do something for him, he wouldn’t be outdone and most likely return the favor. If she could tap into that side of him, maybe he’d become more useful.

She let a few chuckles slip as she hooked herself up to her carts. She admittedly had a hard time keeping a straight face when he began fuming. Big Mac was the one who suggested Applebloom’s cart, and while she knew it was all meant well she was eager to see Thunderlane’s reaction. He did not disappoint.

Mac had taken no notice to Thunderlane’s complaining. Just like Applejack knew him, it was all for efficiency. Mac felt he’d help more pulling little bits at a time instead of straining himself over one large cart. He didn’t care how Thunderlane felt about it. He just wanted the work to get done.

Somepony who was proving to be a MUCH more useful addition to the farm was Soarin. With him helping Braeburn in the orchard, Applejack could help with the transporting. She didn’t want to admit it straight forward, but Soarin could speed around the trees and collect apples at nearly five times the rate she could thanks to the gift of wings and being a Wonderbolt. If Dash wasn’t focusing on strength training, she’d ask her to help gather too. It was only for a few weeks, but they needed all the help they could get.

She pulled her carts along, following behind Big Mac and Rainbow Dash. She knew Dash liked to “race” Mac, which pretty much was her way of motivating herself to keep up with Mac’s casual pace. She kept up behind them, pulling her three carts with ease, having done so before. Three was her reasonable limit. The most she had ever pulled at once was five fully loaded carts. She did it when they were rushing to get a harvest to the barn with a short notice thunderstorm on the way. She had managed the single trip, but definitely couldn’t have gone more than that.

She didn’t want Rainbow Dash of all ponies to outdo her. If she fell behind a pegasi she’d feel ashamed. Or at least that’s how she would put it into words. She really just didn’t want to lose to Dash in their silent ongoing competition with each other.

Forget matching Big Mac. None of them knew just how strong he really was. Normally he’d keep it simple with three or four carts. He doubled the number to increase efficiency in the wake of their extra work, but it didn’t even faze him. Plus if the StrongStallion competition a while back was any indication, he could pull a few locomotives if the job called for it. Plus there was whole crisis in the mountains when their train car derailed. Applejack was out for most of that experience. She had heard from Fluttershy that Mac threw together a makeshift cart and carried all six of them through a brutally rugged mountain range. Apparently it was hours before his strength gave out. Long story short, Mac was a titan among ponies. A quiet, soft spoken titan that was gentler than a breezie, but as strong as a dragon. Unless you made him mad. Then it was just strong as a dragon.

If she felt this positively about her older brother why did she constantly feel like hoarding all the responsibilities? He was strong yes, but he was also smarter than most would think. He had everything he needed to handle four times the responsibilities he already had. This had to be all part of the inner struggles Applejack was dealing with. She was so lost in her personal goals it was making her forget about what was right in front of her. She was overthinking it again. She shook her head and kept up her pace.

Thunderlane’s grunting caught her attention. She glanced to her right to see him pull up alongside her with his small cart. She eyed him curiously as he passed by her slowly and looked like he was trying to find a space to pass by Mac and Dash.

Now if it were him instead of Mac with them during that awful accident in the blizzard, they most certainly would all be dead. It was a harsh thing to think, but was he seriously struggling with Applebloom’s small cart? No he couldn’t be that weak. As she watched him go it wasn’t that he was having trouble, he was trying too hard. He kept changing his pace while trying to find ways to pass. The trick to pulling carts was momentum: get the cart moving steadily with you and it will keep moving with little effort. Thunderlane was almost stopping and going every few seconds. He was making it harder for himself.

But this didn’t come off as being inept to Applejack. He looked determined. He was determined to show them he wasn’t as frail as they were treating him. If it got him to work more than he complained, she didn’t mind. It was about time they got some efficiency out of him.

The more she thought negatively about Thunderlane however, the more she felt… bad? That was new. Sure she felt bad about initially treating him like a prisoner and punching him in the face, but it was different this time. She found herself worried that he would hurt himself if he kept his poor cart pulling form up. She felt compelled to help him. Before she could think twice, she already was,

“Thunderlane!” She called forward. He didn’t stop or look back. He just kept shifting back and forth behind Dash and Big Mac. “Thunder~lane!” She enunciated, but he again didn’t stop. She sighed and slightly quickened her pace. She approached him from behind, and as soon as she got within reach, hooked a hoof into the small cart.

Thunderlane grunted as his cart suddenly lurched and stopped, whiplashing him forward to the point where his harness slid so far down his neck he could barely breathe. He gasped and coughed, quickly shoving his hooves against the harness to wrench it free from his neck and consequently unhook himself from the cart as well. He caught his breath and turned sharply to Applejack.

“What the hell?! Are you trying to kill me?!” He fumed, as red in the face as he could get beneath black fur. Applejack looked at him seriously.

“If ya didn’t ignore me that wouldn’ta happened.” She removed her hoof from the cart and pulled up alongside him. “I stopped ya cause you were doin’ it all wrong.” She began. Thunderlane did NOT take kindly to it.

“I think you’ve done enough already. I can handle one dinky little cart thank you very much.”

“Just shut up, and listen to me.” Applejack pressed her hoof against his chest. “If you keep pullin’ it like that, it doesn’t matter how big the cart is, yer gonna be outta breath before one full trip,” she explained, “ya gotta get a pace going and keep it. The cart will move with you. Okay?”

“Fine.” Thunderlane didn’t look at her. He was too angry. He let her give her advice and he was going to take it, but that didn’t change the fact that he was still angry about the cart itself.

“I just don’t want ya to get hurt again alright? C’mon now.” She finished in a tone he had yet to hear from her. Caring?

Thunderlane watched her for a moment as she continued on, curious about what exactly had just happened. It would have to wait. He didn’t want to fall behind again.

Even with the small cart, Thunderlane found himself panting and wheezing after four round trips. How the rest of them could keep going for so long with such heavy loads on top of it was beyond him. It wasn’t helping his ego, or what was left of it at this point. All he had left was proving that he could at least handle the small cart.

As they made their fifth stop into the orchard, Thunderlane fell to his knees as the carts were loaded by Braeburn and Soarin. He glanced up and saw Soarin zipping to and fro, loading up the apple carts ridiculously fast. He missed flying. He really missed flying. If this was his reward for recklessness he would never do anything brash ever again.

From nearby Rainbow Dash was parked next to Applejack. She glanced back at her fellow pegasi on his knees and rolled her eyes.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. I knew he was lazy, but this is ridiculous. He can’t even handle the mini cart?” Her words caught Applejack’s attention. She followed Dash’s eyes to Thunderlane, who looked absolutely spent. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, but reverted as she glanced back forward down the path, then to her cart as Soarin dropped the last basket of apples into it.

“Let’s take a short break.” She said while unhooking herself.

“Good one, Applejack.” Dash rolled her eyes and chuckled. Then she turned her head and saw Applejack unhooked. “Wait, WHAT?!” Dash jumped at the sight, her apple carts jostling with her sudden movement. Applejack had just suggested that they stop working for a moment? Who was this mare and what had they done with Applejack?

Big Mac had clearly heard her as well from a few paces ahead of them. His head had snapped around and his eyes were darting about in confusion. Dash calmed herself and questioned,

“Didn’t you say you wanted to get at least eight trips in before lunch? It’s almost noon already!” Dash pointed to the position of the sun. Applejack nodded.

“Ah know, but I doubt he’ll make it back to the barn one more time if we don’t give’im a minute.” She pointed towards Thunderlane. Dash groaned and shrugged, unhooking herself from the cart and proceeding to do wing ups.

Big Mac smiled to himself as Applejack went to converse with Braeburn. It may have been extremely out of character of Applejack to take a break from working, but at least she was thinking of their “helper” now and not treating him solely like a liability. THAT was the Applejack he knew: the one that cared about the wellbeing of others like she would for her own family.

Thunderlane wasn’t sure what had happened, but he could see clearly that their work had come to a halt for a moment, a moment he would definitely not question. He sat up to take a load off of his hooves and looked skyward.

“HEY! Thunderlane was your name right?” Thunderlane’s eyes widened as a famous face blocked out the sun and stared directly at him from above.

“AHH!!” He fell backwards, getting jabbed in the side by his own harness, grunting and falling forward flat on his face. Soarin blinked as Thunderlane scrambled to his feet.

“Gee, I’m not THAT scary am I?” Soarin looked slightly distraught. Thunderlane gritted his teeth and steeled himself. He had to get a hold of himself. Dash said that Soarin hated it when treated like such a high end pony. The last thing he wanted to do was make THE Soarin dislike him because he couldn’t keep calm around him. He took a deep breath and in a slightly squeaky voice, finally spoke to Soarin.

“S-Sorry! I’m, just getting used to, you know, YOU.” His words made him feel even dumber. Soarin rolled his eyes, but he didn’t look angry, which relieved Thunderlane.

“Look buddy, I ain’t gonna cook you and eat you,” he landed next to Thunderlane, “I wouldn’t put it past Spitfire, but you really don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m not the drill instructor type.” He explained which seemed to make Thunderlane calm down, but only a little. “So I’ve heard different stories I was curious to hear your perspective. What exactly happened to get you wings-tied and doing farm work?”

Thunderlane wasn’t sure how to feel. Part of him was giddy because a Wonderbolt wanted to know something about him, not every Pegasus gets an opportunity like this. Part of him was irritated because he had to think about how he got in this whole mess again. Part of him was embarrassed, because he had to explain a blunder to a wonder…… bolt.

However he found himself at an interesting internal crossroads. He was prepared to give his typical speech about how it was clearly an accident and he was being mistreated, but something in his head acted against it. Was he beginning to view the situation differently? He was well aware that his actions leading to the storage unit’s demise were reckless and stupid. Was he starting to believe that he had made a glorious mistake and had to pay for it? What was happening to him?

“Well,” his brain made the decision for him as his internal contemplation ran overtime, “I was trying to prove to a friend I could make a sonic boom. I ended up failing miserably and ran into their new building full speed, apparently knocking out support structures and breaking machinery in the process. So here I am.” He had no idea what he just said, after all the complaining and protesting he had spouted, THAT was his answer? Was all this work changing him? Applejack said he would see and feel what he had put them through. Was it happening without him even noticing?

Soarin blinked and rubbed his chin.

“Ouch, that’s rough. Pretty much no different than I’ve heard.” He thought out loud. Thunderlane felt slightly jabbed. “Now I’m more curious. How did you go about trying to execute a sonic boom?”

THAT, was definitely unexpected. Nonetheless, Thunderlane answered quickly.

“Uh, I was at about the second cloud layer in the sky and I dove to pick up speed. I lost control about halfway between the clouds and the ground.” He explained, wondering what Soarin’s intentions were.

“Hmm.” Soarin glanced up into the sky. “What was your angle?” He kept up the questions.

“I’d say diagonal.”

“45 degrees?”

“Um, I guess.”

“There’s problem number one.” Soarin nodded. Thunderlane realized that Soarin was trying to correct his tactics. His eyes lit up and he readied himself to answer any further questions. He was well aware this could be a once in a life time opportunity. “How about your body position?” Soarin continued.

“Uh, I was flat, with my front legs at my sides and…”

“Problem number two.” Soarin interrupted, but kept looking at Thunderlane, cuing him to continue.

“I tried to shift when things got tight.”

“Problem number three.” Soaring crossed his hooves and nodded. “You pretty much guaranteed a crash.” He said before standing up and pacing around Thunderlane. “Here are a couple pointers if you ever try again.”

Now Thunderlane was beyond excited. Professional advice of the highest kind. Maybe he could show off to his friends yet. At least this time in a safer place.

“First, if you are gonna dive at an angle, you better have the wing strength to match your bravery because the resistance when you reach the air pocket is going to be at LEAST twice as much. Second, having your front legs at your side is asking to get your face ripped off. You want to make yourself into an arrow,” he reached out a hoof towards Thunderlane, “an arrow is large at the base and small at the end point. You do this by extending one hoof or two depending on your preference. Since you didn’t, you had no chance of breaking through the air cone. An arrow with a large round tip, a.k.a. your head, will have a hard time penetrating anything compared to a small pointed tip, a.k.a. your extended hooves.”

Thunderlane sat and listened wide eyed. So much more went into flying like an ace than he had ever initially imagined. He nearly forgot how tired he was because of how mind blowing this conversation was to him.

“Third, you didn’t have much of a choice, but should you ever try it again, BE CERTAIN before you attempt it,” he made this point harshly, making Thunderlane flinch, “letting up near the breaking point of the air cone can lead to serious injury. I know technically you wouldn’t be much better off if you slammed into something, but this is assuming you have plenty of room to maneuver after breaking the cone. Trying to break off near the cone’s breaking point can cause full whiplash, and if that somehow doesn’t knock you out, I guarantee you that you’ll be unable to control yourself, and the awkward impact following most certainly will knock you out or worse. In my opinion you’re pretty lucky you didn’t sustain a major injury when you ran into the storage building.”

Thunderlane gulped, realizing from the explanation that he was probably lucky to be alive. He hadn’t put much thought into the danger of the move. How did Soarin and Rainbow Dash do it on a regular basis? Were they just that good at flying? He really was out of their league by miles. He snapped out of his thoughts as Soarin draped a hoof over his shoulder with a smirk.

“Fourth, I suggest being higher at the start and not doing it over areas with stuff you can break.” He said with a chuckle before Dash waved at him, “The mare is calling, gotta fly.” He winked and was gone as suddenly as he came, leaving Thunderlane with even MORE to think about as Applejack called for them to start up again.

The break helped, but Thunderlane only made one more round trip before he was down for the count again. Applejack told him to just unhook and wait for them to come back for lunch.

Thunderlane wasn’t sure what to think now. Applejack seemed to be treating him better, but it didn’t change the fact that he still felt a little overworked. On top of that he was still miffed about the baby cart. Here he was sitting in a pool of his own sweat like he had just run a marathon. If this was the state he was currently in he’d rather it was at the hooves of a full size cart and two hard trips instead of having this small weenie cart gradually get the better of him. It may have been a joke to them, but it was not funny in the slightest to him. Plus they were giving more fuel for Rainbow Dash to berate him.

He forced himself to his hooves as they all returned from the fields. He was tired of being treated like a burden, so he refused to look like one.

It was no mystery to the rest that he was miffed as they made their way to the house for lunch. Applejack let it be, not wanting to stir any anger within herself after the progress she had made in both being more mindful of him and keeping her emotions in check. They had work to do, important work. She couldn’t keep letting her inner feelings cause setbacks.

Thunderlane was sure he’d feel better after lunch, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. He was given the simple task of helping Big Mac, Soarin, and Braeburn organize the apple stores in the barn. They had to separate a large portion to be made into cider, a portion to be taken into town, and a portion to be kept on site for baking needs. Easy right? Not after spending all morning pulling apple carts.

“Take these over to Soarin.” Braeburn lifted a basket onto Thunderlane’s back. He barely kept his hooves as the weight of the basket pressed down on his weary body. Braeburn did the same for Big Mac, but unlike Thunderlane, Mac simply turned and went on his way as if he wasn’t carrying a thing.

Of course Big Mac was just fine after pulling carts all morning, he was twice Thunderlane’s size and probably had three times the muscle. This morning was like a walk in the park for him.

Thunderlane staggered and wobbled as he followed Big Mac through the barn. How many times could he feel lucky about being punched in the face? This is what he avoided with the whole event of Applejack slugging him the week before. If this is how every week was going to start going forward he contemplated fearing for his life. The basket on his back tipped really far to one side and he found himself stumbling.

“Whoaaaaoooaaa!!!” He yelped as he began to teeter. Mac glanced back and made a move to help, but Thunderlane was already mid fall. Soarin zipped down and caught the basket before any apples could spill out, leaving Mac to help Thunderlane up from the ground.

“You okay?” Soarin asked as he set the basket down.

“I’m fine!” He shrugged off Mac’s arm and went to get another basket. Mac glanced at Soarin, who only shrugged in response.

Thunderlane retrieved another basket, and made it the exact same distance before his balance gave out again.

“Shit!” He yelled as he tried to steady the basket. He slammed into a wall, bouncing off, dropping the basket, and spilling the apples everywhere. He shook his head to get the dust out of his eyes, and found himself looking up at Soarin, Mac, and Braeburn.

“You talk a tough game, but do you have the energy to back it up?” Soarin commented as Mac picked up the basked and began putting the apples back in.

“I think ya oughtta just rest and let us handle it.” Braeburn suggested, earning a nod from Big Mac. Thunderlane felt like he was going to burst. Then he lost control.

“What do you want from me?!” He belted out of nowhere. Mac stood his ground, but Braeburn stepped back and Soarin lifted off slightly into the air. “I can’t get anything straight from your family! Do you want me to work or not?!”

“That’s not—,” Braeburn tried to calm him down, but he barely got the chance to speak.

“Applejack tells me to get off my ass and move it one day, and then tells me to be careful the next!” He pointed at Braeburn, “you keep telling me to take it easy!” then he pointed at Mac, “You keep making me work harder and don’t give me a damn word on if I’m doing things right or not!” He pointed at Soarin. “And you! I…” He stopped realizing he was just plain ranting. He was so angry he nearly yelled at a Wonderbolt. “DAMMIT!” He pounded his front hooves to the dirt and stomped out of the barn.

The three other stallions just stood and stare at the door as Thunderlane made his exit.

“Well! That’s was unexpected.” Soarin rubbed the back of his head as he hovered down beside Mac, “I’m assuming there’s more to this than I’ve seen.”

“Eeyup.” Mac nodded as he hoisted the basket onto his back.

“At least he’s got some passion built up in there.” Soarin added as Braeburn contemplated what should be done.

“We should talk t’him.” He concluded out loud and made moves towards the door.

“Nnope, leave’im,” said Mac, freezing Braeburn in place, “let’im be.” He said again before going back to business.

Braeburn felt bad about just letting Thunderlane storm off, especially after how he offered up himself as somepony to confide in man to man if need be, but if Mac felt it would be better to give Thunderlane space he wasn’t going to argue. Despite not showing many, Mac was quite good at reading the emotions of others.

It was more than Braeburn thought though. Mac was actually happy that they received that kind of response, even if it was a bit loud and sudden. Thunderlane had just exhibited a willingness to work. He complained about not knowing what to think, but he didn’t complain about working. It was a start. A sloppy one, but a start nonetheless.

Thunderlane spent the rest of the day a brooding mess. He was just waiting, JUST WAITING for somepony to confront him. When they did he was going to give ‘em hell. But that was just the thing, none of them did. After organizing apples, Dash and Applejack joined them as they worked a little bit on the storage unit project. It was dinner time soon after they began, Rainbow Dash and Soarin took off for the night, leaving Thunderlane alone with the Apple family.

All throughout Dinner, Thunderlane kept up the demeanor, but again no one seemed to care or take notice. As far as they were concerned he was just angry and they weren’t going to get instigate. Applejack glanced at him a few times and rolled her eyes, but beyond that he got no attention.

And even THAT bothered him. He was like a bomb with a non-existent fuse. One slight jolt would set him off, but even with no jolt he would blow up eventually. Weren’t any of them curious? Was he just some random work pony to them? Now he was making up reasons to be angry. Built up with his belief he had too much work alongside how he felt they didn’t trust him with the work. He was angry for so many different reasons that some of them were conflicting. It was like there was a war going on in his head and nopony could tell friend from foe.

When he finished with dinner, Thunderlane pushed off from the table and stormed upstairs. He paced about in his room in contemplation. Anger fueled contemplation. He had had enough. He didn’t know what caused it exactly, but in that confusion, that’s exactly all he could think about: confusion. He couldn’t make heads or tails of anything. He was overworked, and belittled. Forget Applejack’s little acts of random kindness today, he owed her a good shouting for everything else and he was finally going to give it to her.

He trudged out of his room and towards the stairs,

“WHAT?!” Applejack’s voice made him stop dead at the top. “Granny, ya can’t be serious!”

“Applejack, I’m afraid that’s how things stand right now.” He heard Granny Smith’s creaky voice as well.

“Ya gotta check it again! That can’t be right!” Applejack sounded desperate. Thunderlane’s anger subsided for the moment and he decided to listen in.

“I checked it over too.” Thunderlane perked up as he realized he was hearing full speech from Big Mac. “I did up the numbers this mornin’ an’ checked over Granny’s math just now.” He said. Thunderlane leaned down and peeked in to see the whole family in a circle.

“But, that means…” Braeburn stuttered, “That means…” Granny nodded.

“We won’t have enough to pay our expenses throughout the winter.” She said in a sad, serious tone. Thunderlane’s eyes widened. Applejack stomped her hooves.

“But we can’t just give up! I can make more deliveries! I can take our cider to other cities! I can—” She frantically spoke, but Granny cut her off.

“It still won’t be enough dear, because of our losses with the broken storage unit, we will barely have enough to get by and definitely not enough to buy what we need to grow more apples come spring. It’ll turn inta a spiral till we ain’t got nothin’ left. We might have to sell the farm.” A silence forced its way into the room. Thunderlane felt a lump in his throat.

“We—, we’re gonna lose our home?!” Applebloom had tears welling up in her eyes. Just hearing the choked up words of the little filly made Thunderlane feel sick. Applejack quickly put a hoof around Applebloom and pulled her close.

“WE AIN’T LOSIN’ NUTHIN’” She yelled while glaring at Granny Smith, “We’ve pulled outta things like this before! We’ll just do it again! Right Big Mac!?”

“I hate t’say it—,” Big Mac spoke up, “this here’s much worse than any hole we’ve ever worked our way outta.” Applejack’s eyes darted between Mac and Granny. She let go of Applebloom and got in Mac’s face.

“Ya shoulda NEVER built that stupid expensive doodad! Look where it got us!” She yelled with tears of her own starting to form. Mac was taken aback and butted heads with her, knocking her hat off.

“How was I supposed to know it was gonna get knocked down!? Ya can’t blame me for that!” He retorted.

“Hey! Hey!” Braeburn got between them as Applebloom just sat and began to sniffle and sob as her big brother and sister hopelessly fought before her. Granny shook her head.

“Ya can’t blame yer brother for somethin’ he ain’t got control over. This is a matter of bad luck, nuthin’ else.” Applejack pulled away from her brother, retrieved her hat and quickly tipped it over her eyes to hide the traces of tears. “Unless we get a miracle there’s no way around it. We’ll have to pack up and start over.”

It was him. It was his fault. It was all. His. Fault. Thunderlane stepped back from the stairs, his insides nearly churning at what he had just heard. He had become well aware of the Apple family, their traditions, and their pride during his time with them. It all meant the world to them. Sweet Apple Acres was known far and wide, the pride and joy of their family. It was their life. Did he just…?

The only thing he could hear from downstairs was Applebloom crying. He couldn’t stand hearing that. He turned and made his way to his room. He didn’t close the door all the way, but he turned left upon entering and sat down with his back against the wall beside the door. He put his hooves on his head, trying to comprehend his sudden realization:

A whole family was about to lose their home, their tradition, and their entire way of life. Why? Because of him.

Him.

Him.

Him.

Him.

Him.

Him.

Him.

Him.

Him.

Him.

Him.

Him.

They wouldn’t be in danger of losing everything if it wasn’t for HIM.

He had spent the whole time whining, complaining, and fighting back. Not only had he not considered the consequences of recklessly breaking what belonged to someone else, he also hadn’t considered the consequences for THEM. Had this been going on since he was brought in? On top of that, all he had done was give them a hard time? He had never, EVER felt more awful and inconsiderate his entire life.

He jumped as he heard the sound of hooves and crying. He stayed completely still, he didn’t know if he could even look at any of them after what he had just put together.

“C’mon Applebloom,” He picked out Applejack’s voice. It sounded like it was trying to stay strong, but bits of weakness were squeaking through. Applebloom’s room was near Thunderlane’s, he put together that Applejack was taking her to bed. He didn’t dare move or give them any indication he was there. He wanted to disappear. After how much trouble he caused for them he almost succumbed to the feeling that things would be better off if he just wasn’t there at all. At least they wouldn’t be dealing with him and putting up with him.

Applejack carried Applebloom over to the bed and laid her gently in it. Applebloom refused to release her hold around Applejack’s neck. Applejack hugged her sister back tightly.

“Applejack…?” She said between sniffles, “We… we ain’t really gonna lose our home are we?” The question made Applejack cringe. Applebloom was too young to understand the situation they were in, but possibly losing the home she cherished her whole life was already more than enough for her to feel crushed.

Applejack still didn’t want to believe it could happen.

Could happen? COULD. That’s right, it COULD happen. As in there’s a possibility it won’t right? It wasn’t like they were going to be leaving Sweet Apple Acres behind tomorrow. They had until the winter to set things right. She knew Mac and Braeburn were still going to work as hard as they could, maybe even harder now. Soarin would help while he was here. She could talk to Dash, maybe some of her friends to help too. And then she could… yes, she could do extra work. She didn’t care what Granny Smith said, she would find ways to get extra sales and extra work. It was her duty as a member of the Apple Family. She could do it. She WOULD do it. For herself, for the next generation crying in her arms, and most importantly, for her family. She would never let the farm fall.

“Applebloom,” Applejack gently pulled away from her little sister, “don’t you worry your little head. I promise you, as the element of honesty, that we will not lose our home. I will work as hard as I can and I will prove them all wrong. I never break a promise.” Applebloom smiled through her tears and hugged her sister tightly again.

“I know. I believe in ya sis.” She squeezed Applejack as tightly as she could.

“Now sleep tight, and don’t have a single worry.” Applejack backed towards the door and closed it slowly. She let out a heavy sigh outside the room and barely picked up her hooves as she made her way down the hall.

Thunderlane had heard the whole thing. Something inside him changed right then and there. He had never come face to face with something like this before and he would never forget the first time he felt this way. He did owe them. He owed them more than he could imagine. He had to fix this. He had to make this right. No more whining, no more complaining, and no more sulking. He refused to let a family suffer for his mistakes.

He was going to work. He was going to work hard. He didn’t care if it hurt. He had to do it. He had to make amends. He had to do it for them.

---To be continued---

Chapter 5

MLP: FiM
The Weight of Responsibility
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 5:

Thunderlane was quick to decide on what to do. They had stopped locking his door at night, so it would be easy, at least he hoped. The Apple Family had a very precise schedule that they followed almost every day of the week. In bed at 8:00 pm, rise at 4:00 am. He could use this to his advantage. It was the middle of summer, so the sun was up longer, and the twilight between day and night kept enough glow for him to see.

He could go out and pull a few apple loads from the orchard for two hours then sneak back and sleep for six hours. He was sacrificing a little bit of sleep, but he had to do SOMETHING to help them fix this mess. He felt inclined to. Even though it was mostly an accident, he was still responsible for their current situation.

He waited until 8:20, confident that they’d all be in bed by then. He slid out of bed and slowly made his way over to the door. He put his ear to it to make sure he wasn’t going deaf, and once silence registered, he quietly opened the door. He peered out and looked left and right in the hallway. Not a single light was on. Perfect.

He took one step and the floorboards released an ungodly creak. He froze in place and his eyes darted to all the doors. Thankfully, there was no reaction to the noise. Just how old was this house anyway? He never noticed the creaking before, but that was probably because more often than not, he was pissed when he rushed up here. This house was a burglar’s nightmare.

He took another step, trying to make it as soft as possible. Even with the lighter steps it still made noise. If only he could use his wings, this would be a breeze.

Because of his super soft walking, it almost took him a whole ten minutes to get to the stairs. He was surprised when the stairs made no noise at all. Perfect, now he could get going.

Applejack rolled over in bed and looked at the clock. It read 8:30. She sighed, grabbing her pillow and pushing it down over her face before releasing a muffled yell. After her rage was released, she flipped the pillow aside and lay with her head on the mattress, facing straight up. She would never get to sleep, not until she could figure this whole thing out. She sat up straight and stared at her hat hanging on the bedpost. The sight of her hat and the thoughts about her family made a decision for her quickly.

She felt a wave of determination rush over her and she hopped out of bed. Why wait to figure it out? The answer was simple. She had to do more work. Maybe two more hours wouldn’t kill her, it would cut back on sleep a little, but she could manage. She grabbed her hat and made her way to the door.

After a quick peek, there was no other pony in sight. Perfect. She lightly balanced herself on the floorboards closest to the right hand side of the wall. The floor upstairs was known for being creaky, but years of shenanigans as a filly taught her that she could sneak quietly on the right side.

She got to the top of the stairs and looked back. She wasn’t sure if she was mistaken, but she thought she saw the door to Thunderlane’s room slightly ajar. She was too far to see it now though, so she let the thought go and made her way down.

Thunderlane felt home free as soon as left the house. He trotted at a steady pace for the barn through the moonlit night. He knew there was little he could do on his own, but he could easily get a few loads of apples from the orchards by himself.

He was relieved to see there was no lock on the barn door as he approached. That alone would have completely thwarted his efforts. He forced the heavy door to slide open and let himself in. The carts were all parked in lines. He examined them as walked through, his eyes landing on the small cart meant for Applebloom. He stopped and stared at it for a moment, then looked between it and the larger carts.

“Screw it.” He mumbled and approached the small cart. No more whining. He knew he couldn’t manage the larger carts on his own. This whole plan of his was about helping them, and he’d be more helpful if he actually made it to and from the fields more than once. He went to the other side of the barn and opened the back sliding door before hooking himself up to the small cart and heading out.

Time to work. He wouldn’t let them lose their home without putting up a fight.

“What the hay?” Applejack blinked as she approached the barn. The front AND back sliding doors were left open? They hadn’t had a thief in years, but Big Mac would get a good talking to for leaving them ajar. She casually trotted inside and pulled two apple carts out from the lines, connecting them together. This was going to be about efficiency. She was faster with two carts and didn’t want to tire herself out too quickly.

As she pulled the clattering carts out toward the back exit, she completely missed the fact that Applebloom’s cart was nowhere to be seen.

“Time’s a-wastin’!” She cracked her neck and forced the carts moving, inadvertently following a very faint trail of cart tracks that were freshly pressed into the dirt path.

Thunderlane came to a halt near the section of the orchard they had been recently working on. Determination? Check. Resolve? Check. Motivation? Check. Still tired and stiff from his work already earlier that day? Checkmate.

He shook his head out between panting and smacked his hooves against his head. Power through it, don’t give up so easily. He had to do this no matter what. He unhooked himself and wandered slightly into the orchard. Each one had a basket nearby meant for loading apples. Some of the trees had been bucked clean, but there were still plenty to be worked on. Now a new challenged approached.

Was he strong enough to knock these apples out of the trees? He had seen Braeburn and Applejack do it. It looked like it took a lot of leg strength and a particular form. Again, if he had use of his wings he’d just fly up and pluck them, but he still suffered the rope tied around him.

“Come on Thunderlane!” He snorted and coached himself. “Stop doubting! Start kicking!” He firmly turned his flank towards one of the trees and gave it a hard, but sloppy double kick. The vibration shuddered through him. “Ow.” He said simply as he staggered forward and turned around. Not a single apple had fallen from the tree.

This was going to be rough.

Applejack kept a steady pace along the path while contemplating a few things. This was going to be a huge undertaking. She almost wondered if it was the best idea, seeing as how her workload and responsibilities were already running her ragged and making her act differently.

Maybe she could ask Mac to help her out. No, he has enough to do already, trying to put the storage unit back together. Braeburn? Maybe, but he wasn’t quiet as resilient as her. The lack of sleep was sure to catch up to him quick. Applebloom, out of the question. Growing ponies need their sleep.

Thunderlane? Yeah, that’ll be the day. Despite her view on him steadily improving, she wasn’t about to rely on him for extra work. He’d probably start whining again or get moody. She didn’t know why the hell he was so angry at dinner earlier, but she didn’t need that attitude out here.

This was just something she’d have to do herself. The realization weighed heavy upon her, as if she wasn’t being weighed down enough as is. There was so much at stake and so very little she could do about it. Her only thin ray of hope was to forget an important lesson she learned a long time ago and take on more work than she could probably handle. It was likely to have negative effects on her, but she would throw herself to the Timberwolves if it were the only way to pick her family up from the ashes.

“Huh?!” She came to a sudden halt near the area of the orchard they’d recently begun picking. Applebloom’s cart was parked on the side of the path. “Who?” She looked back down the path, then back at the cart. Only two ponies used the small cart: Applebloom and Thunderlane.

There was NO WAY Thunderlane was out here doing extra work. Hell would freeze over first. Did Applebloom sneak out and try to do some extra work? Applejack knew Applebloom was worried sick after hearing all the arguing after dinner. Knowing her little sister well, Applejack quickly assumed Applebloom snuck out, wanting nothing more than to make things better for the family she loved. It was cute and endearing, but she was still just a filly.

Applejack’s ears picked up the sound of light, clumsy, tree bucking noises. It was definitely Applebloom. Applejack unhooked herself from her carts with a heavy sigh, and made her way out into the orchard. She put on her best smile and readied herself to comfort her little sister before bringing her back to the house.

She approached the tree that the noise was coming from. It was shaking slightly, but not nearly hard enough to make any of the apples fall. Applebloom was definitely behind it.

“Applebloom what are y—” Applejack froze as she came around the trunk. She stared directly into the eyes of Thunderlane, whose pupils shrank as he heard her voice and stared up at her. He was panting and covered in sweat, and the tree had multiple spots with chipped bark, suggesting he had been at it for a while.

“Uh—” Thunderlane’s mouth hung slightly ajar. So much for his secret idea. He was going to be locked up tight every night for this. Applejack’s initial shock finally faded, the blinked a couple times before her eyes turned down into a glare.

“THUNDERLANE?!” Her booming voice blew his mane back, “WHAT’R YOU DOIN’ OUT HERE?!” She yelled furiously.

“I—I was…” He stammered while looking back and forth, his ears completely folded back.

“Are you stealin’ apples? How long have you been at it?” She stuck a hoof into his chest. He quickly shook his head.

“NO! Nonononono! I was just—” He kept hesitating.

“You’ve got three seconds to tell me before I consider beltin’ ya again!” She threatened. Thunderlane crouched down and covered his head.

“NO! PLEASE DON’T! I WAS—, I was doing—extra work.” He said quietly. Applejack’s eyes widened and her ears flattened outward.

“Pardon?” She said, narrowing one eye and lifting the eyebrow above it. She didn’t hear that correctly did she?

“I was trying to do more work.” Thunderlane repeated, shivering beneath her gaze.

A very long, strange silence extended between them. Thunderlane was worried she was about to berate him, but in reality, Applejack was at a loss for words. Her first thought was that Thunderlane was lying through his teeth, but he brought the cart out, and had a few baskets gathered. It gave every indication he was trying to gather up more than just a few apples.

“Really?” Applejack was still skeptical.

“Really.” Thunderlane answered while slowly standing. Applejack looked slightly up at him as he looked away.

“Why?” She asked simply. Thunderlane kept looking away. How would he explain this? It was a family matter, and he knew she’d say that to him. But he had to help. He HAD to convince her he was being sincere.

“I—,” he swallowed and looked her directly in the eyes, “I heard the conversation with your family after dinner.” He admitted. He watched as Applejack’s expression changed from skeptical to alarm. She backed up a step and looked about a two or three different spots on the ground as the info hit her. “And I felt—”

“It ain’t none of yer business!” She suddenly snapped. Thunderlane winced, expecting some sort of physical retort, but when he got nothing, he slowly opened his eyes to see her turned to the side. She had her hat pulled down slightly more and her bottom lip was slightly quivering. She quickly turned the rest of the way, facing her back to him. “Sorry.” She choked out, “I appreciate the concern, but it ain’t nuthin’ you should worry about. Go back and git some sleep.” She started walking, but didn’t get far.

“WAIT!!!” Thunderlane ran up and got in front of her, “You came out here to do more work too right?!” He guessed. She didn’t look at him and walked around. He stepped with her and got in front of her again. “Let me help you!”

“No.” She said simply, tipping her head down so her hat blocked her eyes. She tried getting around him again.

“Applejack!” He pleaded. She just turned aside again. He put himself in front of her one last time, dropped down on his legs and grabbed one of her front hooves, “PLEASE!” He yelled while clutching her hoof. She stopped with her hoof being held in place. Thunderlane had his head down in submission, he had to convince her. But then he felt something small and wet land on his face. He blinked and looked up slowly. Applejack had her eyes shut and tears were slowly falling down her face. “Applejack?” He quickly stood up as she let her flank fall into a sit. Thunderlane was not expecting that at all, not from a pony as tough as her.

“What am I doin’?” Applejack yanked her hat down over her face. Thunderlane tried to bend down to see her eyes, but she had them completely covered. “I came out here to do extra work, but it ain’t gonna mean nuthin’.” She sniffled and shook her head. “Even a random pony we got helpin’ us can see how bad things are. It’s over, mah family is screwed.” She sobbed lightly into her hat.

“Applejack…” Thunderlane suddenly felt an extreme wave of sympathy rush over him. He must’ve set a new record for how quickly one’s perception and approach to things can change. He was dragged in here kicking and screaming a week ago, now here he was looking to solve everything in any way he could. He sat down beside her.

“I’mma failure!” Applejack yelled, muffled by her hat. She felt like her life was in shambles. She had put way too much on her shoulders. The work was overwhelming her, she never saw her friends anymore, she was bitter and quick to snap at her own family, and now it all came crashing down on top of her. “I take on all these new jobs on the farm, one thing goes sour and it’s all GONE!” She shook her head back and forth, spraying droplets of tears about. “I’m a DAMN FAILURE!”

“No. You’re not!” Thunderlane sat down beside her. She heard him, but she didn’t answer. “Applejack, the farm isn’t gone yet.” He began, and continued regardless of if she was listening or not. “You came out here tonight to do extra work right? To help save the farm right?” Again no answer. He put a hoof on her shoulder. “Applejack PLEASE let me help you.”

“There ain’t no point.” She answered abruptly.

“YES THERE IS!” Thunderlane stomped his free hoof down. Applejack flinched and finally shifted her hat down just enough to expose her eyes. They were completely red and still very wet. “Yeah alone maybe it wouldn’t make much of a difference, but if you let me help we can get a lot done!” He said vigorously. “I beg you, Applejack. Your family is in a bind because of ME!” He pounded his hoof to his chest.

“Huh?” Applejack couldn’t believe it. Thunderlane just admitted he had done wrong. He claimed total innocence up to this point. He got up and stood in front of her, grasping one of her hoofs by her hat with his.

“Please, Applejack. I need to make up for what I’ve done. Don’t deny me this chance!”

“Thunderlane…” She glanced down at his hooves holding hers. His grip was firm, his voice sincere, and his eyes determined. He really truly wanted to help her. He wanted to help them all. He acknowledged his blunders and was vowing to pay them back. She looked away briefly, finally removing the hat from her face entirely with her free hoof and putting it back on her head. “I don’t know what t’say.” She flashed him a weak, tear stained smile. She wiped her tears and stood up. “I guess you leave me no choice. I ain’t gonna turn down such a generous offer.”

“So yes?” Thunderlane smiled hopefully. Applejack nodded.

“Yeah, you c’n help me. Two extra hours every night after everypony else goes to bed. C’n ya manage that and still work during the day?” She suddenly felt a wave of hope wash over her. She was taking on extra work despite how much she already had. But now that she had somepony to share the load with, she felt much lighter. Maybe this was her problem from the start. It just took somepony from outside her family for her to truly see the difference a little extra help could make. The weight of responsibility is incredibly heavy, she should never have been afraid to share the load.

“I will. I promise. I won’t let your farm close.” He said sincerely. Seeing somepony care so much about her work and family made her feel warm on the inside. Maybe this would all work out after all. Applejack looked to the rope around Thunderlane’s body.

This was it. Time to see if he really meant it.

“C’mere.” She approached him and reached for the rope binding his wings. “If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna need all of our strengths. We’re gonna need clockwork to git everything done, and these wings o’yours will help us git it.”

Thunderlane watched with anticipation as she tugged on the knot and the rope came loose. The rope slowly slid off his body and he exhaled while slowly extending his wings out. A few cracks and pops sounded from them as the stiff joints loosened. He straightened and bent them a couple times to work out all the kinks before flapping them twice and refolding them.

“Thanks.” He said while smiling happily.

He didn’t fly off. He was still standing in front of her. He meant it. He meant every word. Applejack looked down and grinned briefly, before getting into professional mode.

“Alright! We still have a good hour an’ a half before we should git back.” She pointed at the trees, “You fly up and get as many apples out’o the trees as you can and load up my cart. I’ll take Applebloom’s cart back to the barn first.”

“Alright.” Thunderlane nodded and gently flapped his wings until he rose to tree height.

“And Thunderlane?” She called up to him.

“Yeah?” He asked, looking back down.

“Thanks… for caring so much.” She said while looking away slightly embarrassed. Thunderlane smiled back down and gave a salute.

“It’s the least I can do.” He said, before they turned and began their first secret night of work.

Boy it felt great to fly again. Thunderlane never felt a stronger natural high in his life. Even if he was working, the freedom of flight made him feel fantastic. He zipped around the trees, plucking apples from the branches quickly as he went, dropping them in the baskets below and moving them to the path.

Applejack couldn’t help but be amazed at how efficiently Thunderlane was getting the apples down. Sure he wasn’t doing it the traditional way, but tradition didn’t matter in the face of a crisis. He had a full set of apple baskets waiting to fill both of her carts each time she came back. She was almost breaking a sweat trying to keep up with him.

When their two hours had been used up, they managed to bring almost as many apples they had brought in the five hours that morning. If they could get this efficiency around the clock, they might just have what it takes to save the farm.

The trick behind all of this was the short term apple storage in the barn. They took inventory every morning, and if they had a certain amount, that day was dedicated to pulling carts into town or elsewhere to make sales. If they could make it mostly full every night, then they would have more chances to make bits.

“Alright, we should git back.” Applejack waved to Thunderlane as he loaded up more apples. He nodded and hovered beside her as she began pulling the cart. She smirked and chuckled as he flew beside her. “Missed your wings that much huh?” She joked.

“More than you can imagine,” Thunderlane replied, “I don’t think I’m gonna walk for a few days.

“Keep up that quick work you just showed me and I guarantee we won’t make you do much walkin’. With you AND Soarin helpin’, we’ll be harvestin’ a record crop this year, and we’re gonna need it bad.”

“I’ll do whatever I can.” He assured her. She liked this new Thunderlane that suddenly appeared on their farm. Just this morning it was the same Thunderlane that wasn’t sure what to do with himself, whining every second, and occasionally being nice. Now Applejack had a partner that could help turn the tables. If they made it through this little crisis, SHE would owe HIM big time. It was almost as if the whole scenario had turned on itself. Talk about irony.

“So you heard our little scuffle huh?” She suddenly asked, looking down slightly. Thunderlane blinked and looked at her.

“Yeah, I was actually about to come down the stairs to complain.” He confessed. This gave Applejack a good laugh.

“Wow, that would’a been HORRIBLE timin’” She chuckled.

“I know right, but I’m glad I listened in. I had no idea I had made things so bad for you guys. When I realized what it meant for you and your family, everything just changed.”

“Ya can’t blame yerself for it all.” Said Applejack, “it was an accident, I’m not gonna accuse you of lookin’ down from the sky an’ sayin’ ‘hey! I’m gonna break that!’”

“I’m still a part of it though.” He nodded, “and I just couldn’t bear it when I heard your little sister crying, I think that was the real part that kicked my ass into gear.”

“Applebloom…” Applejack glanced at Thunderlane. He had been a nuisance, but he was slowly proving to Applejack right now that when things got serious, his maturity finally showed through. Sometimes it takes a something major for a pony to realize what’s important and what they have to do. It was becoming clear that Thunderlane had a good heart after all. Applejack was glad he did, and she was glad he understood them.

They reached the barn and unloaded the carts one last time. Applejack and Thunderlane headed for the front door of the barn.

“We should go back separately.” Suggested Applejack as she slid the barn door shut behind them, “we’ll make less noise, and they won’t be likely to think somethin’s up if just one of us is caught sneakin’ around.”

“Why all the secrecy anyway?” Thunderlane asked. “I know I was trying to do it too, but what are your reasons?”

“I don’t want anypony else in mah family t’be more burdened than they already are.” Applejack quickly responded as she walked up beside him.

“How am I different?” He questioned. Applejack tipped her hat to him.

“You ain’t family, for some reason, I feel fine having you help. Besides, by not flyin’ away on me, you proved you really wanna help.” She suddenly came up and hugged him tightly. Thunderlane flinched and his eyes widened. “Look, I really, truly am happy ya wanna help me out so bad. It means more to me than you’d think.” She released him and gave him a wink. “Thanks.” She turned and left the barn.

Thunderlane watched her go. As she slowly moved out of sight, his face heated up slightly and his wings ruffled. He was used to a much more casual type of affection from the pegasus sisters. That was much different, and it felt pretty good. Maybe it was a mix of feeling good about helping and that she was so thankful for him. It was giving him a new sense of satisfaction.

Or was it…?

---To be Continued---

Chapter 6

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Chapter 7

MLP: FiM
The Weight of Responsibility
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 7:

“Fell and hit the porch swing?” Thunderlane blinked and stared dumbly at Applejack as they followed the rest of the ponies. “That was the best you could come up with?”

“Seemed valid to me.” Applejack shrugged.

“And they bought it?” Thunderlane snickered.

“Maybe? I hope.” Applejack wasn’t so sure.

The air was cool for summer day. It felt like a cold front was coming in. Applejack wasn’t very aware of the weather schedule so hopefully it just meant gentle rain at some point. She made a mental note to ask Rainbow Dash, but she doubted Dash paid attention in her last weather meeting.

“I should change that bandage when we get to the barn.” Thunderlane suggested. Applejack perked up and quickly shook her head.

“No! We can’t let the rest see… uh…” She blurted out before thinking it through. Thunderlane just tipped his head to the side.

“See what?” Here she goes again. Keeping him confused about everything that’s on her mind. She bit her lip and looked down.

“Sorry. You’re right. You can change it for me.” She agreed while hiding her face with her hat. Thunderlane was beginning to despise that hat. It was a never ending shield that kept him from reading her facial expressions.

“What are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” Thunderlane scrunched his face.

“No! Not at all, I just…”

“What the heck are you two going on about back here anyway?” Rainbow Dash’s voice suddenly came from behind them. Thunderlane slightly jumped in surprise, but Applejack screamed right into Thunderlane’s ear.

“YEOW!” He shivered, fell down, and covered his ears with his wings. Dash keeled over laughing. She and Soarin had flown in behind them all. “Applejack, I think I’m partially deaf now, thanks.” Thunderlane said sarcastically. He glanced up and could actually see below her hat. She had a raging blush across her face.

“I think you broke her.” Soarin joked while ruffling Dash’s mane with his wing.

“What have I told you about doing that?!” Dash growled and pounced on Soarin. He kept walking casually as Dash clung to his back and bit his ear. Before Thunderlane could say anything else, Applejack started trotting away at a much quicker pace.

“Great.” Thunderlane said to himself. “Nice to know I embarrass her.” He continued. He was still gonna help her change the bandage though, whether she liked it or not.

When they reached the barn, Applejack and Thunderlane went over to the first aid kit to get some new bandages. As Thunderlane rummaged through the small box, Applejack seemed to very slowly and subtly move behind the carts out of sight of the others. At least she thought it was subtle. Thunderlane saw it clear as day. He purposely didn’t say anything at first.

Applejack stayed silent as he carefully unwrapped her arm and examined it. It looked like it was already healing pretty well. He tossed the old bandages aside and unrolled some new ones. Now she was stuck. She couldn’t run away while he was wrapping up her arm.

“So why do I embarrass you?” He asked. He felt her flinch as he kept wrapping up his arm.

“W—What gave ya that idea?” As he expected, she reached up and pulled her hat down with her free hoof.

Time for the advantage of wings.

He reached a wing around and used it to push her hat back up, revealing her face for a second before she pulled her head back and pushed her hat back down. She was blushing again.

“I dunno, because you keep doing things like that? And you keep trying to avoid the others when you’re near me.” He pointed out as he purposely slowed down the wrapping process to extend the moment.

“It—It ain’t you.” She stuttered. He looked up at her (more specifically at her hat in front of her face) and lifted an eyebrow.

“So now it’s not me? I don’t get it.”

“Uh—I…” Applejack fought for answers. Thunderlane thought through everything, and suddenly, something dawned upon him.

“You don’t want them to see you vulnerable?” He used his wing again and pushed up her hat. She had a look of surprise on her face this time, with faint traces of a blush still there.

“Wow, am I that transparent?” Applejack couldn’t believe he put that together. After a brief thought, it was part of it. He hit the nail on the head.

“C’mon Applejack, you radiate it.” He chuckled as he let her hat fall back down. This time she pushed it up herself and stared at him. “You’re a tough talking, tough working pony,” he kept talking as he tied off the bandage, “and you try to do everything on your own. I mean hell, you’re not letting any of your family in on our secret work.” He lightly patted her arm to signal he was finished. “You’re the kind of pony that doesn’t like to show any weakness, I’ve known a few like you throughout my life.”

“Gosh.” Applejack glanced down at her arm. Now on top of it all he understood her? What was happening to her? She glanced back at him briefly, then back at her arm. Quick! Complement him! He’s helping you and you just sit there? “Ya know yer pretty good with this first aid stuff.” She commented.

“Oh? Thanks. My little bro is a living hazard. He’s always doing something and getting himself hurt. I’ve had a lot of practice.” Thunderlane laughed as he recalled Rumble’s many accidents. Applejack smiled, a wave of satisfaction running through her when she made him laugh. This was not like her at all. This wasn’t right, what was Thunderlane DOING to her?

Thunderlane felt better. Applejack dropped her guard, even if it was for only a moment. Even after accepting his help, he still felt like there was this barrier she kept between them. It prevented him from plain interacting with her. If he was gonna spend so much time with her he at least wanted to be able to speak freely. The brief moment just now felt like a solid first step.

Although they were off to the side, Big Mac had watched the last bit from around the corner. He passed the string of wheat around his mouth a couple times before snorting and turning to hook up into his carts.

The day proceeded normally. Since they “somehow” had enough apples to sell yesterday, they went right back to harvesting. Only now with the addition of Thunderlane among the picking squad, everything was moving along a LOT faster.

“More incoming!” Thunderlane swooped over to where Braeburn was trying to keep up with both him and Soarin. The two pegasi were over-efficiently loaded up the baskets.

“Yikes! Slow down! Slow down!” Braeburn called out as he barely kept up. Thunderlane gave in and perched on top of an apple tree while Braeburn set more baskets out.

“Hey! Good to see a fellow pegasi back in the air!” Soarin suddenly hovered in next to him. Thunderlane stiffened slightly as A WONDERBOLT drew near him, but he forced himself to mostly “relax.”

“Uh, yeah haha.” His eyes darted around. He flinched as Soarin put an arm over his shoulder.

“How about we see what you’ve got. A little competition breeds hard work eh?” He suggested. Thunderlane gave him a flat look.

“Me against YOU?! Are you joking?”

“C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Soarin leaned back into a relaxed pose as he hovered.

“All set fella’s!” Braeburn called up to them.

“Here.” Soarin beckoned Thunderlane to follow as Braeburn left to help load up the incoming carts. “I’ll fill these.” He separated four baskets from the eight. “And you fill up the rest.”

“Uh, okay, I guess.” Thunderlane still didn’t know what Soarin was thinking. Him? Competition for an ace Wonderbolt? Well, Dash did say he preferred to be treated normally, so why not. He could humor Soarin at least. “Let’s do it.” He nodded.

“There we go!” Soarin grinned. “On three.” He set his hooves into the ground. Thunderlane did the same. “One, two, FOUR!” Soarin yelled. Thunderlane took a step, but stopped and fell face first. He picked his head up and glanced back at Soarin.

“That was…” Thunderlane glared.

“An asshole move, sorry.” Soarin chuckled. “For real this time, I promise.”

“Alright.” Thunderlane found himself smirking. He just got played, but by Wonderbolt. For some reason he found that more cool than annoying.

“One, two, THREE!” They fired in different directions and began gathering up the apples.

Applejack glanced over from the path as Braeburn loaded up her carts. Thunderlane and Soarin had just started up some sort of competition. Thunderlane didn’t stand a chance, but she was happy to see them having some fun with it.

“So how about a little wager?” Dash suddenly asked as she pulled up beside Applejack. This ought to be good.

“On what?” She asked.

“My stallion against yours, who will win?” Dash sneered at Applejack. Applejack hopped in her spot and her face was wrought with a mixture of confusion and alarm.

“What d’ya mean MY STALLION?!” She growled butted heads with Dash. Dash snickered,

“What, you’ll just let anypony get close to you and tend to you like that? You two weren’t hiding very well in the barn you know.” She bounced her eyebrows.

Red alert. Rainbow Dash saw Applejack in a moment of weakness. The two of them were always competing, and the biggest part of it was NEVER showing cracks in the armor.

“He was just—,” Applejack scowled, puffed out her cheeks, and turned away from Dash, “he was helpin’ me.”

“And you were hiding your face from him.” Dash poked her in the side and snickered, “First he falls and breaks a lot of shit, and then he makes YOU fall for—”

“SHUT UP!” Applejack snapped at her, blushing, but glaring. “I ain’t fallin’ fer this! Yer just tryin’ to git under mah skin again!”

“Oh, too late, my stallion already won.” Dash disregarded what Applejack said as she looked over and saw Soarin cheering and Thunderlane shrugging. With her carts full, Dash pulled away while laughing to herself.

“Dammit.” Applejack sighed and glanced towards Thunderlane. She shook her head and started up back towards the barn.

So Rainbow Dash saw them? Applejack didn’t know why she was so surprised. She tried to hide them while Thunderlane helped her with the bandages, but they were all in the barn. It’s not like they had lots of space to conceal it. Now she had Dash sneering and poking fun at her as if she was in love with that idiot or something. Okay maybe he wasn’t an idiot anymore. Okay maybe she liked him a little now. He clearly cared about her family. Maybe a little about her too. Maybe a…

“ARGH!” Applejack yelled out. She glanced to her left and saw Big Mac pulling his carts alongside her. He was looking at her wide eyed and surprised. She quickly tipped her hat down. “Sorry, just thinkin’ about… stuff.” She quickened her pace.

“Is it just me? Or is it a little chilly today?” Soarin suddenly commented as he sat down with Braeburn and Thunderlane for a quick break. They had overfilled the baskets AGAIN and were waiting for the others to return with the carts. It would probably be the last load. Lunch time was approaching. Braeburn glanced up.

“Now that ya mention it, those clouds comin’ near don’t look to friendly.” Braeburn pointed to the sky. A few weather team pegasi were flying about pushing dark clouds around.

“Is there a storm scheduled for today?” Soarin glanced at Thunderlane. Thunderlane shrugged.

“Don’t look at me. I’ve been here for two weeks.” He said as the carts all pulled up again.

Applejack looked up into the sky and rubbed her chin.

“Dash, what did the weather team have posted for today?” She finally asked as Thunderlane, Soarin, and Braeburn trotted over.

“Uhhhhh, haha.” Dash looked about. “I kinda slept through our last meeting.”

“Hello everypony.” A sudden quiet voice caught their attention. Fluttershy flew in holding a picnic basket. “Am I too early?” She asked as she went RIGHT to Big Mac’s side and gave him a nuzzle.

“For what?” Applejack asked her while lifting an eyebrow at the public display of affection.

“Oh, Macintosh invited me to have lunch with you all today.” She gave a weak smile. “He didn’t tell you?” They looked at Big Mac.

“Nnope.” He answered.

“He barely talks as is Fluttershy.” Braeburn chuckled. “But I think ya may need to delay that picnic.” As soon as he finished a small clap of thunder echoed throughout the farm. Fluttershy let out a high pitched squeak and rushed against Mac so fast he grunted at the quick but soft impact. The sky was darkening. “Scratch that, yer gonna have to delay it.”

“Well, c’mon then everypony, let’s get these apples back and get some shelter!” Applejack quickly spun her hoof in the air and they all worked quickly to beat the storm.

It was beginning to drizzle lightly when they reached the barn. Braeburn went ahead to the house to make sure Granny Smith was inside.

“That’s all of them.” Applejack nodded as Rainbow Dash and Soarin flew out the door. Thunderlane glanced outside. It looked like it was about to start pouring.

“Should we try and make a break for it?” He turned to Applejack.

“Well, we could stay in here, but…” She glanced across the barn.

Big Mac and Fluttershy had curled up together on a pile of hay. Fluttershy was known for being terrified of storms. She had her tiny body almost completely contorted into a yellow and pink ball. Mac encircled her with his large body and kept nuzzling her for comfort.

Applejack flattened her ears as she watched. Another boom of thunder rattled the barn. Fluttershy squeaked again, but Mac rest his chin on the top of her head to comfort her. She glanced up at him with watery eyes, but blushed as she stared into his. The two began closing the distance between them gently.

“No. We ain’t stayin’. Ain’t puttin’ up with this shit.” Applejack quickly turned towards the door. Thunderlane rolled his eyes and chuckled.

“Alright, alright.”

They shut the barn door behind them to give the two quiet love birds privacy. The rain was still light, but they weren’t gonna wait for it. The house was a long shot. It was a good hundred meters away. They had other options along the path though. There was a smaller barn not too far off that was more for extra storage space, and a smaller tool shed about halfway between the main barn and the house.

“Quick, let’s get to the storage barn!” Applejack pointed. Thunderlane took off for it as Applejack ran behind. The rain was picking up, and soon the storm would be right on top of them. Thunderlane didn’t want to fly too long. Wet wings were a pain to get dry. He landed out front, the door already open. He looked back and beckoned Applejack towards it. They managed to get in right before the rain picked up.

Close one. It really started coming down. Now they’d just have to wait it out and—,

“Ooo, during a thunderstorm? I dunno why, but that sounds real sexy.”

Dash’s voice.

They both froze and slowly glanced up into the loft of the barn. Apparently Soarin and Dash had NOT gone back to the house. They stopped here.

“I like to think I can be a bit of a storm myself, if you catch my drift.” Soarin said back to her. Applejack and Thunderlane both furrowed their brows. They could just see them over the edge of the loft from below. They weren’t gonna—,

“You talk big,” Dash bit her lip, “come here and back it up!”

They were.

Dash leapt on Soarin and the two started kissing each other sloppily while moaning loudly.

Applejack grabbed Thunderlane and yanked him along with her out the door. Fluttershy and Big Mac being cute was one thing. Applejack WAS NOT gonna stick around and listen to sex.

Thunderlane didn’t resist at all, but now they had a problem. It was POURING outside.

“The tool shed!” Applejack yelled while tipping her hat forward to shield her eyes from the deluge. Thunderlane nodded and squinted as he ran. He stayed grounded and kept his wings folded to avoid them getting saturated, but he was being pelted by the heavy droplets. The two ran as fast as they could through the heavy downpour, a couple flashes of lightning lighting up the sky as they went. They made it to the shed, but not before being thoroughly soaked.

Applejack yanked the door open and the two dove inside. They both panted and wheezed from the sudden workout, Applejack finding time between breaths to close the door.

The tool shed was very small. It was eight by eight feet in dimensions and was mostly filled to the point where there was barely any room to move. Some of the tools hadn’t been used for years and most weren’t put away in the right place as if they had just been tossed in.

Despite the cramped quarters though, there was plenty of space for the two of them. They finally found shelter without any bonus activities off to the side. It was just the two of them and the loud pattering of heavy rain drops on the roof. Bright, but brief flashes of light shined in through the single small foggy window of the shed from time to time. Each one accompanied by a roll of thunder shortly after.

Applejack found a small oil lamp hanging on the wall near the door. She placed it on the ground in the middle of their small space and lit it, creating a soft glow that just barely reached the corners of the shed.

The two both exhaled and sat down on opposite sides of the lamp. They tried to shake themselves off, but it only did so much. It was like they had been drenched with full buckets of water.

“Well, we didn’t get out dry, but at least we can wait it out in here.” Thunderlane said as he unfolded his wings and shook them out. Applejack only nodded and stared at the lamp. Great, now she was stuck with him. Hopefully nothing would come up.

She looked up and watched Thunderlane as he began to preen his wings and shake small droplets off each feather. While he was working on one wing, the other had wrapped around his body. Applejack presumed this was a reflex most pegasi had for warmth. She had never actually been in a situation like this with Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy before. Maybe it was just his way. At least she wasn’t—,

A slight tingle ran down her spine. She WAS cold. It was already a little chilly from the cold front being pushed in. Combined with the facts that she was completely soaked and the tool shed had no means of heat, she was starting to shiver a little. She took a deep breath and refused to show it.

Enough weakness. She had already shown more than she ever would this day alone. Especially after the way Dash so easily got her angry. No more. None.

Who was she kidding? She was freezing. She groaned softly and wrapped her hooves around her body, rubbing herself for warmth that refused to come. There was nothing in the shed that would help. There were no blankets or anything. Then she saw Thunderlane staring at her. Oh no, no, no, no.

“I’m fine.” She said before he even spoke or moved. He tipped his head to the side and sighed.

“Didn’t even have to ask.” He chuckled and stood up. He looked around just like she had. “Are there any blankets in here?”

“No. Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.” She quickly lied. THAT was a full out lie. Element of honesty be damned. Thunderlane looked her over as she kept staring at the lamp. He shook his head and moved beside her, sitting down. Applejack’s eyes widened as she saw a wing extend past her shoulder opposite to him. It wrapped around her. It was warm, but…

“Hey!” She quickly leaned away from him and glared while blushing. “What the hell are ya doin’?!” She snapped. He quickly pulled his wing back.

“Sorry, I just… thought I’d help you stay warm.” He looked at her in frustration. She huffed and sat back down, gluing her eyes to the lamp again. He gave up and went to sit on the other side of the lamp.

As he moved, Applejack shivered again. She growled to herself and sighed.

“Actually…” Her voice made Thunderlane halt mid step. He turned back to her and saw her, of course, pulling her hat down. She was forcing herself. Why? Because she was stubborn.

He was just trying to help. He was just being kind again. Just being a gentlestallion. Why was it that every time he did something she liked she had to shove him away?

“Go ahead, that felt good, I don’t mind.”

Thunderlane blinked and kept still for a moment, making sure he had actually heard her correctly.

“Alright.” He said with a smile before walking back around to her, sitting down and draping his wing over her. She slowly stopped shivering and sighed.

Art by: Angel Blossom

She noticed that her hat was poking him in the face, so she removed it and set it down beside them. The only problem now was she was without her “hiding place” her hat provided her.

Thunderlane smiled as he gently rubbed his wing up and down her back to give warmth. She flinched as he did, but quickly relaxed and let him.

“This is a onetime thing, y’hear?” She suddenly said with her face completely red. Thunderlane rolled his eyes, but kept a smile on.

“I understand.” He said light heartedly. She picked up on his tone.

“I mean it, ain’t no other pony hears about this, got it?” She made clear. Thunderlane chuckled.

“I know, I know.” He replied, amused at her trying to keep tough.

“Thanks though.” She added quietly.

Applejack refused to look at him. She felt completely vulnerable and at his mercy. So why did she feel so comfortable? That was NOT how she was supposed to feel when her defenses had been completely brought down. Was it him? What else could it be, he was the only other THING in the tool shed.

Thunderlane was happy. Applejack was different from the pegasus sisters he always hung with. Yeah they were hot and he felt rather awesome always having two good looking mares hanging around him, but it ended there. There was nothing to care about with the sisters, they were just THERE. His whole experience on the farm had changed him. Not only did he find himself caring about the Apple family. He found himself caring about Applejack.

If this situation was him with the pegasus sisters, he would have given a sly smirk, opened his wings, and most likely said something like, “c’mere ladies,” followed by lots of antics. It was so much different with Applejack. Helping her felt different. It felt GOOD. Like he was actually accomplishing something. He felt content as they sat and listened to the pattering rain drops on the roof and rolls of thunder resonating with the walls.

Thunderlane jumped slightly when he felt something against him. Applejack was nestling herself into his body? A light blush crept onto his face as he looked down at her. She briefly glared up at him.

“Not. One. Word.” She repeated before getting herself comfortable.

“I get it, Applejack.” He tightened his grip on her. “You can rely on me.” He added instinctively.

Those words. They hit her deeply. Is that why she was drawn to him? There was no trait Applejack preferred more in a pony than dependability. His first week showed nothing of the sort, but the way his better traits came rushing out when the crisis hit had grabbed hold of her interest. He showcased it the past two days. He was dependable. And he cared, and was kind, and was now keeping her warm.

Applejack felt warm tingles in her body, just the opposite of the shivers from before.

“I’m glad I can.” She said while taking a deep breath.

Thunderlane was thinking on it himself. Why the sudden uncharacteristic affection? Could all the little incidents before hand, the avoiding and the running away, could they all be because she… liked him and was afraid to admit it? While he found the prospect to be slightly ridiculous, he also found himself liking the idea.

He HAD changed. He thought she was a straight up bitch by default at first. Now here he was contemplating possible feelings. He supposed that stranger things had happened.

“But, seriously,” Applejack chimed in, AGAIN “if you tell ONE pony…”

“Applejack,” he cut her off while chuckling, “Shut up.”

---To Be Continued---

Author's Note

I'm having more fun than i should torturing these two with what's CLEARLY RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM haha ;)

Chapter 8

MLP: FiM
The Weight of Responsibility
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 8:

As he promised, Thunderlane kept tight lip about the encounter in the tool shed. For two reasons: One, he didn’t want Applejack to rip his head off. Two, he felt he had gained a certain amount of trust with her and he wanted to honor it.

The moment they shared marked another step for Thunderlane. Not only did he get her to accept him, he also got a brief insight into what she was thinking. Sure she kept up the stubborn wall and threatened him multiple times about telling anypony, but she still went through with it. She was clearly comfortable enough with him to let him get close and keep her warm, but she was still very reserved about anything related to him.

They both learned something about themselves that afternoon. But were either of them willing to take the dive off the cliff? Neither of them was quite sure what to do next. Was the tool shed scene a moment of trust or moment of affection? Was there REALLY a difference? Or were they just both thinking too hard.

Whatever it was, at least it seemed to dispel Applejack’s random nervousness around him. As the weeks went on, she had mostly warmed up to him and spoke freely. They had continued their night work successfully, never a question rising from the rest of the Apple family.

Although as the days counted up, the lack of a full night’s sleep was starting to take its toll. The two of them felt more and more tired by the day, but at the same time the bits were coming in twice as fast. They couldn’t stop now. They were both determined to save the farm and would support each other till the end.

Neither of them spoke about the tool shed. It was both on their minds, but they let it be for the sake of focusing on work. It didn’t mean however, that they had forgotten about it. You don’t share a tender moment with another pony you only got to know recently and call it a coincidence.

Thunderlane looked at Applejack with concern as the two made their way out to the barn for another “night shift”. It was his fourth week on the farm now and the effects of their smaller sleep schedule were beginning to show. He felt alright, but she didn’t look quite as good. She was pulling carts during their night work after all. He was just flying and picking apples. The stress on her body was probably three times his. Her steps were wobbly and uneven, but as usual she didn’t show any discomfort in her expression. Keeping up the illusion of toughness even when physically taxed, that was Applejack through and through.

“Hey, how are you doing?” He finally asked her. She blinked and turned her head towards him, giving a smile.

“I’m fine,” she stumbled, “Whoa, heheh, don’t worry, ain’t the first time I’ve worked tired.” She grinned sheepishly at him. At least she stopped hiding her face from him with her hat.

“Still, don’t overdo it okay?” He repeated. Applejack found herself very “smiley” around him lately. She had gotten used to him showing concern. For a while she kept retorting, claiming to be alright in a snapping tone. It was typical of her. She never liked a pony thinking she was incapable. But as time went on, she picked up on his tone and manner. He was just looking out for her.

Thunderlane had always looked out for ponies in the past. He may have been lazy before, but if there was one thing he always made sure of it was to watch out for Rumble, Flitter, and Cloud Chaser. They never ACTUALLY needed to be watched out for, but he always did it regardless. He just felt like it was the manly thing to do with them, but as with everything else, it was different with Applejack. It had less of a family or posse feel like it did with his friends. It was more for well-being with Applejack. He wanted to make sure she didn’t hurt herself above all else.

They made it to the barn and before Thunderlane took off he checked one last time.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” He asked while putting a hoof on her shoulder. She barely walked straight the whole way from the house.

“It’s mighty sweet of ya to keep askin’ Thunderlane, but trust me, I’m fine.” She said with a smile, bending the truth slightly. She was EXHAUSTED, but the farm was in jeopardy. No way she was gonna rest until it was all seen through.

“Alright, just let me know if you want to take a break okay?” He said as he flew off.

Applejack sighed as she watched him fly off. What a sweet stallion. Always looking out for her. How long had she pushed away ponies who were just trying to help? Most let her be after one retort from her. After he kept at it again and again, she saw it for what it really was. If they made through this and saved the farm, she made mental note to do something for him. He was giving a leg and a wing to help them out. He deserved some special thanks.

Applejack shuddered as she pulled two carts out, feeling a little dizzy and stumbling a few steps. No. She was fine. She had to fight through it. She could do this. She hooked herself up and heaved the carts out of the barn.

Thunderlane was much more worried than he showed. Applejack didn’t look fit to work at all. He could tell she was fighting to not show it, but her inability to just WALK without almost tripping over herself was a clear indication that her body was stressed.

As he began picking apples he contemplated suggesting taking a break for a day or two. She would undoubtedly fight him on it, but he would hold firm. Her well being was just as important. What was the point of saving the farm if she killed herself in the process?

“Load ‘em up!” Applejack called as she approached the path. Thunderlane broke from his thoughts and quickly flew over to the baskets, loading the apples into the cart. After he dumped the last one in, instead of tapping the carts to signal them being full, he glided down to her. She didn’t even look at him at first, noticing him a moment or two later. “Huh? What?” She shook her head and asked.

“Applejack,” he said sternly with a serious expression and flattening his ears, “you’re tired.” He pointed out. She looked away and bit her lip. She wasn’t doing a good job of concealing it. She sighed.

“Yes Thunderlane, I’m tired. But we need to work.” She argued. She took one step before Thunderlane stepped around and stopped her with a hoof.

“Not if you’re on the verge of collapsing.” He gave her his best glare, but it’s not like HE could stop her if she tried to out muscle him. “I just don’t want you to hurt yourself.” He added. Applejack looked down and shook her head.

“Again, it’s sweet of you t’care Thunderlane.” But she was tired. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was overdoing it. “Tell ya what,” she looked back up, “I’ll take this load around the loop back to the barn, and then we’ll do one more and call it for the night. Maybe we’ll take a day or two off.”

“Did I really just hear you say that without me arguing it?” Thunderlane lifted an eyebrow. He was expecting a long battle with her on it, but she brought it up before he did.

“This ain’t the first time I’ve overworked myself.” She admitted shamefully, “I ain’t gonna make the same mistake.” She smiled.

“Alright.” Thunderlane agreed. “One more load, then we get some sleep.” He got out of her way and she started down the path loop back to the barn.

The sooner he got the baskets filled, the quicker he’d be able to load them up when Applejack came back. Thunderlane was ready and waiting soon after she had left initially. He was glad he didn’t have to fight her on resting. Maybe his kindness towards her had finally led her to trust him and know what was on his mind just through his simple concerns.

Applejack had taught him a lot. He learned what it meant to work for something. He knew what it felt like to care about something. Those were both very valuable lessons he was sure he would never forget, nor would he forget who taught them to him: a pony he had come to care for as well.

But suddenly he began to worry. It NEVER took Applejack this long to get around the loop. After a good five minutes went by after her usual pace, Thunderlane stood from his spot and trotted out onto the path to get a good look down it. She was nowhere in sight.

Don’t worry, he told himself. She’s a strong pony. She probably just took a quick break. He was confident in her toughness, but he couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. He instinctively took to the air and flew down the path the direction the carts usually rolled in from. He kept his eyes peeled and searching. The moon was full that night, so he wouldn’t fly over her by accident.

Nothing. No sign of her along the entire trail, at least from the barn to the orchard. Maybe she was in the barn. He touched down and trotted inside. The carts were still out of their spot, and Applejack was nowhere to be seen. Upon close inspection, the apple pile looked exactly the same as it did before they started.

Which meant…

“She never made it back!” Thunderlane exclaimed out loud. He quickly leapt out the back door of the barn and fired down the path that looped around from the orchard.

Why did he let her keep going? He should have stopped her right THEN and THERE! He flew as fast as he could, glancing back and forth for signs of her until,

“Applejack!” He yelled out as he saw the apple filled carts sitting motionless. Applejack was still hooked up to them, but her body had slumped into the harness, hanging limply with her front legs flat against the ground. Her head hung upside down and her hat had fallen off. “Dammit!” Thunderlane dove down, slamming his hooves down roughly to the dirt and skidding to a stop in front of her.

“Uhh?” Applejack weakly opened her eyes and tried to look at him, but she could barely move. She was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Thunderlane quickly reached for the harness to let her down from it. He unhooked it and caught her as she fell out of it.

“Oh shit...” Thunderlane cursed. Applejack’s body was incredibly warm. Upon putting a hoof to her forehead he nearly had to pull it away. She was burning up with a fever. He had to get her help.

Now there was a dilemma. If he took her back to the house, game over, they were found out. But even if he took her into town and tried to find a doctor, the fact that they most likely would not be home the next morning also meant game over. The problem was quickly answered for him though when he tried to pick her up.

“Whoa!” His eyes widened as he slowly hoisted her up. She was heavy. He had never lifted up an earth pony before. He had picked up Flitter and Cloud Chaser plenty of times but they weighed almost a fraction of Applejack! Earth ponies were built bigger and sturdier than pegasi, the extra body mass really made a huge difference in weight. By nature pegasi were lighter for flight capabilities.

There was NO WAY he could fly her all the way into town. He could get her up in his arms and fly, but he definitely wouldn’t manage for very long. That meant the house was his only option. He picked her up in his arms and pumped his wings hard to force them into flight. He was tired from work, but Applejack needed him. She depended on him and he wasn’t going to let her down now.

Pushing his wings harder than he ever had before in his life, he flew her as fast as he could back towards the house.

Thunderlane landed roughly on the front porch, nearly dropping Applejack as he stumbled to a halt. That flight wasn’t easy. He gently set her down and shook his arms out while panting. But there was no time to lose, he had to get her in the house and get help. He quickly scooped her back up despite his tired limbs and used a wing to smack the door open.

Slowly lifting off once again, he sped through the house and angled up the stairs. After nearly hitting the ceiling with his extra momentum from Applejack’s weight, he set down in front of her room and shoved the door open with his head. It made a loud thump as it hit the wall beside, but he wasn’t worrying about sneaking.

Thunderlane made his way through her room and over to her bed, laying her down in it and propping her head with a pillow. Now what? He had to get help. Big Macintosh. He had to get Big Mac.

“I’ll be right back!” He said to Applejack before turning and galloping towards the door. But right before he reached it, something large stepped around the corner and he ran RIGHT into it. Whatever it was, it didn’t budge and Thunderlane fell back on his flank. He looked up to see Big Mac looking down at him with sleepy eyes and wearing a white and blue striped night cap.

Mac’s expression quickly became one of confusion as he wondered what the hell Thunderlane was doing in his sister’s room making so much noise. He glanced over to Applejack and his eyes widened. His sister was sprawled on her back… in bed… panting and sweating?!

“Big Mac! Thank Celestia! Applejack isHURK!!!” Thunderlane choked on his words as Big Mac suddenly thrust a hoof to his throat and smashed him against the wall. The force rattled the house, knocking a picture frame off the wall beside them. Mac was glaring at him fiercely and applying so much force to Thunderlane’s neck that he could barely breathe.

“WHAT DID YA DO T’MY SISTER?!” He roared into Thunderlane’s face, blowing his mane back. Thunderlane was instantly terrified. He fought to respond, but Mac was in such a fit of rage that his grip prevented Thunderlane from speaking. This went south FAST. Thunderlane wanted to help Applejack, and now he was on the verge of being choked to death.

“What the hell’s goin’ on in here!?” Braeburn turned into the room from the hallway. His mane was everywhere, severely messy from his pillow. He quickly glanced between Applejack and Mac. Thunderlane was struggling, and looked like he was trying to say something. Braeburn had no clue what was going on, but he knew for certain that if Mac didn’t let up soon, Thunderlane would suffocate. “Mac! Let ‘im go!” Braeburn grabbed Mac’s extended arm, but Mac shook him off with a quick shift of his body. Braeburn tumbled off of Mac, but landed at the green hooves of a pony that WOULD get through to him.

“MACINTOSH!” Granny Smith’s voice boomed to the corners of the room. Mac’s eyes widened and he instantly dropped Thunderlane, but he kept glaring at him.

“Haaaack gaaaahhh!!!” Thunderlane grunted and coughed as he grabbed his throat. “Ahhhhpplejack!” He managed to sputter out. Braeburn got to his hooves and galloped over to Applejack. He quickly noticed something was wrong.

“What happened?” Braeburn put a hoof to her forehead, “she’s burnin’ up over here!”

“She… collapsed… while… pulling… carts…” Thunderlane gasped in between each word. Braeburn snapped his head around, looking at Thunderlane with confusion. Mac perked up as well. The two looked towards Granny Smith as Applebloom appeared behind her holding a teddy bear by the arm in her mouth.

“Wait, pullin’ carts? As in… just now?” Granny Smith questioned. Thunderlane nodded, finally catching his breath.

“I’ll explain everything later! Help her! Please!” He leaned over and grabbed Mac by the hoof that had him pinned a moment ago, shaking it in desperation. Mac reclined slightly, but glanced at his sister again. He sighed and snorted before turning back to Thunderlane. Braeburn approached both of them and put a hoof on Thunderlane’s shoulder.

“We’ll do what we can, but somepony should go fetch a doctor.” He suggested as Granny Smith tried to nudge Applebloom back along to bed. Thunderlane was on his hooves in an instant.

“I’ll fly into town and get one!” He readied to leave, but Mac still barred his path. Thunderlane took a step back as Mac’s glare was set upon him once again. Thunderlane swallowed, stood his ground and looked directly into Mac’s eyes. “Please! I can get to town and back quickly!” He pleaded.

“Macintosh, let’em go.” Granny Smith ordered. Mac sighed and stepped aside. Thunderlane’s eyes lit up and he started out the door, but Granny Smith extended a hoof to stop him. “But once she’s checked out, you have some splainin’ t’do young man.” She said sternly. Thunderlane blinked and nodded in compliance. “Now git out there!” She pointed down the hall.

Thunderlane was down the stairs and out the door instantly. He knew exactly where to go and flew as fast as he could, but in the back of his mind he now hopelessly wondered how he was going to explain everything to the Apple Family without Applejack there to back him up.

He pumped his wings even harder than he had before. They were tired from doing extra work, much like Applejack was tired from the extra cart pulling, but he completely ignored the stiffness and soreness. His mind was set and he was blazing a trail into Ponyville. He hadn’t been in town for almost a whole month. Glancing around from above, he located Nurse Redheart’s house. She lived near the edge of town and was by far the closest option. He dove down and landed outside her front door.

Ponyville was mostly clear of activity. The time was going on 9:30 PM and most were at home for the night. Thunderlane hoped that Nurse Redheart was still up and about. Her lights were on, but she could be heading to bed. He reached up to knock on the door,

“Hey!” A voice pierced through his ears before he could knock. He looked to his left and Flitter had landed beside him. He was surprised at first, but then remembered he and his friends used to always stay up way past midnight. She looked overly excited to see him and was almost bouncing up and down. “Did they finally let you off the farm? Yay!” She leapt at him and hugged him.

“Uh.” He did not envision this scenario at all. If Flitter was there that also meant,

“Well it’s about damn time.” Cloud Chaser landed beside him. She let out sly whistle as she looked him up and down. “I don’t wanna sound like it was good those freaks had you tied down, but that farm work sure did some good for you,” she approached and slid a hoof over his chest.

“Er…” Thunderlane blinked, his thoughts swirling and trying to get back on track.

“C’mon, big colt, let’s go flying, we’ve missed you.” Cloud Chaser said seductively into his ear. Thunderlane grunted and shook his head as only ONE thing came to mind upon hearing that.

Applejack.

“No!” He thrust his wings out and pushed them both off. He quickly reached up and knocked on the door. “Nurse Redheart! Nurse Redheart!” He called. Flitter and Cloud Chaser glanced at each other in confusion. “NURSE REDHEART!” He yelled louder, the door opening soon after.

“WHAT?!?!” Nurse Redheart belted as she glared out the door. As Thunderlane feared, she looked like she was just about to get in bed, wearing a robe and holding a cup of what smelled like chamomile tea. Thunderlane didn’t waver.

“It’s an emergency! I was helping Applejack in the orchard at Sweet Apple Acres and she suddenly collapsed with a fever! The Apple Family sent me!” He quickly relayed the situation, Flitter and Cloud Chaser staring at him in disbelief. Nurse Redheart lifted an eyebrow at him, and then looked at Flitter and Cloud Chaser behind him.

Shit. Thunderlane hadn’t thought of this. He and the pegasus sisters were well known around town for being pranksters and punks. He didn’t think he’d have to CONVINCE Nurse Redheart.

“Is this another one of your practical jokes?” She asked with a stern look in her eyes. Thunderlane panicked, quickly crouching down to beg.

“PLEASE! It’s REALLY an emergency! I’ll fly you there myself! Just please hurry!” He pleaded. Cloudchaser scowled and approached Thunderlane.

“Oh cut the crap Thunderlane, what do you care about that farm bitch anyway?” She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him up. Thunderlane never thought he’d do this to Cloud Chaser, but he swung his arm out to throw her off of him.

“Dammit! BUZZ OFF! Applejack needs help!” He snapped at her, Flitter gasped, throwing her hooves over her mouth. Cloud Chaser’s jaw dropped. This however, seemed to convince Nurse Redheart.

“Let me get my things,” she said before heading back inside. Flitter shuffled up beside her sister, who was still frozen.

“Thunderlane… what are you doing?!” She asked. Thunderlane shook his head.

“I’m NOT done working at Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple family ponies are NOT freaks, and Applejack is NOT a bitch!” He yelled in their faces, making Flitter recline with each statement. “So lay off!” He finished as Flitter fell back and Cloud Chaser looked at him as if she didn’t even know who he was. Nurse Redheart emerged carrying a medical bag.

“Ready.” She nodded. Thunderlane quickly crouched down so she could get on his back. She was also an Earth pony, but unlike Applejack, he didn’t have to hold her in his arms. Having nurse Redheart on his back wouldn’t be as bad. She was also lighter due to not having a body built up from farm work. It didn’t matter how heavy she was though, Thunderlane was on a mission and he would carry four doctors on his back if he needed to.

Applejack needed him. That’s all he could focus on.

Flitter and Cloud Chaser watched as Thunderlane took off with Nurse Redheart. Flitter turned and looked at her sister, mortified. Cloud Chaser just shrugged, unable to explain anything she just saw either.

“How is she?” Braeburn asked as Nurse Redheart worked.

“I just got here, give me a minute.” She replied. Braeburn sighed and walked back over to where Big Mac and Granny Smith were sitting off to the side. Thunderlane was sprawled out on the floor beside them, on his back and gasping for air. He was convinced he had never flown harder or faster in his life and on top of that, he did it with another pony on his back.

Nurse Redheart went through her motions. She checked Applejack’s temperature, her heart rate, and looked for any symptoms. She seemed unsatisfied. She then took her hooves and carefully felt around Applejack’s arms, shoulders, chest, and legs. After a few minutes she nodded her head and turned to the rest of them.

“There are no symptoms of any sickness. But this isn’t the first time I’ve come across this with a farm pony.” She glanced back. “After checking her body I felt multiple swollen joints and muscle knots. It’s safe to say her fever is stress related. Her body just rebelled on her.”

They all looked between each other, except for Mac who just looked at Thunderlane as he continued to lie on the floor.

“Sorry to drag you out here then.” Braeburn apologized, but Nurse Redheart waved her hoof back and forth.

“No, it’s a good thing you played it safe. Just keep a cold towel on her forehead and make sure she gets plenty of water and rest. I’d say keep her out of the fields for a week.” She explained.

“That’s easier said than done.” Braeburn commented while rolling his eyes. Nurse Redheart chuckled.

“I know how she is, but tie her down if you have to. She needs the rest or else she may seriously hurt herself.” Nurse Redheart packed her things. Thunderlane saw her leaving and forced his head up. She quickly stopped him. “Don’t worry, I can walk home. We don’t need two stress fever cases.” Thunderlane fell back down and Nurse Redheart left.

Thunderlane lay still for a few seconds before remembering what was to come. He opened his eyes and flinched when he saw Mac, Braeburn, and Granny Smith all leaning over him.

“Oh…right…” He forced himself up. Thunderlane didn’t quite know how this was going to go, but it was unavoidable.

“What’s all this about pullin’ carts and collapsin’ in the fields after the rest of us have gone to bed?” Granny Smith chimed in. Despite being under Mac’s glare, Thunderlane felt more pressured by Granny Smith. She mostly took care of them after all, he felt like he owed her an explanation the most.

“Well, it’s like this…”

Thunderlane explained everything. How he heard the conversation about losing the farm, how he decided to do extra work while sacrificing sleep, how he ran into Applejack trying to do the same thing, and how they agreed to work together. His story was met with a mixture of expressions, ranging from confused, to surprised, to deep thought. He wasn’t quite sure what kind of response he was gonna get.

“Well,” Braeburn spoke up while turning to Granny Smith, “his heart’s in the right place.” Granny Smith shook her head.

“It’s all mighty kind of ya son, but getting’ enough rest t’work just as hard the next day is important,” she pointed at Applejack, “otherwise this’ll happen.”

“But that explains why we’ve had a mysteriously high amount of apples t’sell lately.” Braeburn said to Mac.

“Eeyup.”

“And our funds have been climbing faster than expected…”

“Eeyup.”

“But was it still wrong?”

“Eeyup.” Mac finished, still trying to figure out how he should feel. Thunderlane looked down. He was both ashamed and embarrassed. To him, it felt like it was his fault Applejack overworked herself. “That is,” Mac suddenly continued, “if ya keep doin’ it alone.”

“Huh?” Thunderlane and Braeburn looked to him. Mac’s expression hadn’t budged, but he was nodding.

“Yer, little secret work has been getting us closer to the bits we need to pay our expenses for the time being. I reckon if it keeps up, and we get the storage unit fixed, we could be right back where we were before this whole money problem started.” He smiled at the end.

Thunderlane was surprised for two reasons. First: Mac just said more than one sentence at a time. Second: did he suggest continuing?

“What’s on yer mind sonny, I ain’t gonna let ya end up like that.” Granny Smith looked at him sternly and pointed at Applejack. Mac shook his head.

“If we take turns in pairs, we can keep up the extra work and get a day of rest from it in intervals. Trust me Granny, I got it figured.” He explained.

“If ya say so Mac.” She sighed. “I hope yer right about this.” Mac looked back at Thunderlane.

“Sorry about bein’ rough.” He looked away and scratched his head. “Thanks for carin’ about the family so much, I don’t know what t’say.”

“You’ve already said more than I’ve ever heard you speak.” Thunderlane chuckled. “I’m sorry about the secrecy, but you know how Applejack is, always taking things into her own hooves.”

“Trust me, we know.” Braeburn smiled.

“Well we’re all not getting’ enough sleep tonight already.” Granny Smith complained while looking at the clock. It read 10:30. “We’ll figure it all out tomorrow. For now, get some rest and let Applejack sleep.”

They all agreed and left Applejack’s room to let her get some rest. Thunderlane was beyond relieved. He never thought it would turn out like that. He was sure Mac was going to straight up kill him, but instead he agreed and now they were all in on the extra work. Why they didn’t do this in the first place, Thunderlane couldn’t say, but Applejack was stubborn like that.

Applejack.

Thunderlane stopped in the doorway to his room, glancing back over his shoulder at Applejack’s door. He thought for a moment, not quite sure why he had stopped, but he soon found himself floating back over quietly. He entered her room silently, so as not to disturb her, and walked over to her bedside. It was dark, but the full moon outside was filling the room with a soft twilight glow.

Applejack lay quietly in her bed, but was still breathing a little hard and sweating. The cold towel still rested on her head, but she looked like she was shivering. Thunderlane grabbed the blanket from the foot of her bed and carefully draped it over her, never taking his eyes off her face as he did. He realized her hat was still out in the fields.

She was never seen without her hat. He was more than certain it was special to her in some way. He didn’t know exactly why, but he was confident she would be happier if she woke up the next morning with it. He slowly crept over to the window and pushed it open, looking out towards the barn, after glancing at her one last time, he took off.

His wings were sore, but he managed. His mind wandered as he glided down the path to the loop where the carts of apples still sat.

Small gestures.

Little things to make another happy.

He really did care about her a lot. And caring about somepony else in a special way made him feel good. He had never had this before in his life and now he felt like he’d be hollow without it.

He set down by the carts and found the hat lying right where it fell off Applejack’s head. He scooped it up with his hooves and flew back towards the house.

Here it was: that warmth that he felt on the inside whenever it came to Applejack. Just the thought of her being happy when her hat was on her bedpost the next morning made him feel tingly. There was no mistaking it. She was special to him.

He glided carefully back through her window, landing gently on the wooden floor. He noticed that the towel had fallen off her head as he placed the hat on her bedpost. He grabbed it, feeling that it wasn’t so cold anymore. There was a basin with cold water on her nightstand. It had been brought in while she was being checked. Thunderlane dipped the towel in the water and squeezed it out before folding it neatly and placing it back on her head. She sighed comfortably and clutched the blanket with her hooves as he placed it.

He was worried he woke her at first, but relaxed when she continued to breathe steadily. His brain told him his task was done and he should head to bed, but his body didn’t move. He kept staring at her face. His arm moved on its own as he reached a hoof up and gently stroked her cheek with it.

What was he doing? He shouldn’t do this, but he was doing it anyway. She meant more to him than he could comprehend. How does a pony just work their way into another’s life like this. It felt unnatural, but at the same time felt so right. He found himself leaning his head down towards her. He stopped and held his place three times for a few moments as he edged his head closer and closer.

Who was he kidding? He had completely fallen for her.

He planted a very light, very gentle kiss on her cheek.

He reclined quickly, internally freaking out, and blushing. He really did that, HE REALLY JUST DID THAT. What was the big deal? He’d made out with BOTH of the pegasus sisters before… once at the SAME TIME! Why was this so… weird?! Why did it feel so… right?

He shook his head, face completely red. He quickly turned and headed for the door, but stopped in the door way. He glanced back at her one more time. Before he left for his room,

He smiled.

---To Be Concluded---

Author's Note

Aw, somepony's in love ^_^

And as you may have noticed at the end... there is only one more chapter to go.

It's unfortunate because im having fun with this one too, but the outline for this story is set in stone. I'm not gonna just freely add to it like Flying Sky High xD That story was... different.

Anyway,

Thanks for reading! :)

Chapter 9

MLP: FiM
The Weight of Responsibility
By: Calm Wind

Chapter 9:

There are numerous better ways to wake up than having a splitting headache. Unfortunately these all evaded Applejack like old friends who owed her bits.

“Ughhhh.” She groaned as she reached up and touched her head, coming into contact with the wet towel. “I did it again, didn’t I?” She berated herself, realizing she had overworked and now she was paying for it. This time she even had a pony telling her straight forward not to do too much, and she still did it. Thunderlane was being so nice by looking after her too. She probably worried him sick.

She quickly found it amusing, alarming, and hilarious that she worried about how Thunderlane felt before how her family did. She glanced around slowly. She was in her room and the shade was pulled on the window, blocking the sunlight but creating a dim square light that softly streamed into the room. How did she get back here anyway? Did Thunderlane carry her? Was he strong enough to? It’s not like she was very light. She was an earth pony and a well built one at that. He must’ve gotten Mac or somepony else.

Her hat.

She reached for her head and it, of course, wasn’t there. She looked around quickly and sighed in relief when she saw it on her bedpost. Disaster averted.

The next thing that came to mind was obviously the farm. She had to do work. She was aware of why she was in her current situation, but if she could get up…

She tried to sit up, but the slight movement sent a pang of achiness through her head and her body tensed up. Her head fell right back onto the pillow and she groaned again. She must’ve really overdone it this time.

“Nice try, but we ain’t lettin’ you work for a bit anyway.” Braeburn’s voice suddenly came from the door to her room. She glanced over the best she could as he trotted up to her bed.

“Braeburn?” She said with a scratchy voice and coughed right after.

“Whoa there cousin, take it easy, and I mean real easy.” He put a hoof on her shoulder. “You really overdid it this time. I reckon if you want your body to work at all ya better give it a few days.” Applejack sighed in defeat. Her very poor attempt to move just now was a clear indication that Braeburn was right.

Even so, Braeburn offered her a chance to find out what happened when she was out. With Braeburn she’d get the full story, if it were Mac she’d get it in little, confusing pieces.

“Braeburn, how did I git back here? Did Mac carry me?” She asked. Braeburn blinked, smiled, and shook his head.

“Actually, I think Thunderlane carried ya all the way in from the loop path.” He explained. Applejack’s eyes widened.

“Naw, that can’t be. He c’n barely pull Applebloom’s cart.” She quickly dismissed it. Braeburn shrugged.

“None of us brought ya in. We didn’t see you like this till he had you up here and in your bed.” He added. Applejack thought about it, he really heaved her all the way from the field?

“Golly…” Applejack put a hoof over her face. She already felt warm from her fever, but she knew why her face was feeling slightly warmer.

“Then right after he flew into Ponyville and carried Nurse Redheart on his back all the way here.” Braeburn continued with a smile.

“Really?” Applejack removed her hoof for a moment to see the sincerity on Braeburn’s face. “You ain’t pullin’ my leg?” She questioned. Braeburn chuckled and eyed her hat on her bed post.

“Lookit this! He went back out after all of it and got yer hat too? Face it cousin, somepony helped you. I know you don’t like it, but he ran himself ragged for YOU.” He pointed at her. “He clearly cares, wouldn’t ya say?” Braeburn winked. Applejack scrunched her face.

“Come off it Braeburn, I ain’t like that and you know it.” She turned her head away from him on the pillow.

“It’s alright to be vulnerable at times A.J.. Even fer you. Now rest up, I gotta get back out.” He nodded before turning and leaving.

As soon as he was gone Applejack exhaled as if she was holding her breath and her face turned completely red. Thunderlane did all that? Thunderlane did it all for her? Why? It’s not the first time another pony had gone out of their way for her, why did she feel so touched? Why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?

Don’t fall for him Applejack. She thought to herself. You’ve got too many responsibilities. You have no time for it. Don’t do it, dear god, please don’t do it.

She grabbed a free pillow and pressed it against her face while groaning.

“Heads up!” Soarin called as he tossed another board to Thunderlane. Thunderlane was ready for it, catching it and handing it to Mac before it was nailed firmly into the floor. The exterior of the storage unit was all rebuilt, and Mac had finally fixed the machinery. Now all they had to do was rebuild the interior and it would be completely finished. Even Mac was surprised how fast it was being put back together. The added help of Thunderlane and Soarin was making it go like clockwork.

They all stopped for a quick break while Mac went to go fetch more nails from the tool shed. Thunderlane wiped sweat from his brow before perching on an overhead beam.

“So…” Soarin’s voice came from behind him. Thunderlane had gotten used to Soarin being around, but it didn’t mean he was still slightly nervous. “I heard about last night.” He hovered over and sat beside Thunderlane, facing the other direction.

“Uh, what about it?” Thunderlane was curious. Soarin elbowed him lightly and smirked.

“Oh come on, don’t be modest. I heard about your heroic rescue of Applejack.” He chuckled. Thunderlane’s eyes widened and he looked away.

“Oh that? I dunno if I’d call it heroic…”

“You picked a nice mare you know, Applejack is—”

“WHOA HOLD ON!” Thunderlane pushed off and floated around in front of Soarin. “I was just… looking out for her, I mean, it wasn’t,” he fumbled for a response. Soarin burst out laughing.

“Now I know there’s something or else you wouldn’t be all flustered.” He grinned.

“I just wanted to help her.” Thunderlane crossed his hooves.

“Look buddy, you don’t just do things like completely exhaust yourself for the well being of another pony unless they are very important to you.” Soarin pushed off and draped his arm over Thunderlane’s back and pointed to Rainbow Dash down below. “I woulda done exactly the same for her. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Well,” Thunderlane hung his head, “fine, Applejack IS important to me.” He admitted. Soarin just read him like a book twice, memorized every word, and recited the whole story back to him.

“Didn’t I just say don’t be ashamed?” Soarin lightly tapped him upside the head.

“It’s not like she has time for me though.” Thunderlane swung his head around slowly, “she’s a hard working farmer. We’d never get any time to—”

“Whoa, hold it right there.” Soarin looked at him sternly and put a hoof over Thunderlane’s mouth. “DON’T. EVER. SAY THAT.”

Thunderlane quickly shut up. Soarin was giving him a fierce glare. What did he say?

“Let me tell you a little story Thunderlane.” Soarin removed his hoof from Thunderlane’s mouth and hovered slightly away. “There once was this pegasus stallion who worked his tail off to earn his career.” He turned around and crossed his hooves. “It was the achievement all pegasi dream of. No matter what, he vowed to never let anything come between him and what he earned. However,” He turned back around and faced Thunderlane, “this led him to be overprotective of himself. He never let any other pony get close to him besides his close friends, and because of that, he was lonely.” He threw his hooves out. “Then a certain mare came along and told him to shove it and that he was being an idiot. He tried to push her away, but she never gave up. This was unreal to him, hell it was sexy to him, and he realized he wanted this mare more than anything.” He winked and pointed at Thunderlane. “He learned that if somepony is extremely important to you, that you will compromise. Don’t give in, make the time.” He nodded in satisfaction. “And THAT, is how Rainbow Dash and I got together.”

Thunderlane just blinked as Soarin finished. He was right. Soarin was completely right. If an ace Wonderbolt could make the time to be with a special somepony, that meant he and a farm mare in the same town definitely could.

“So don’t shy away dude!” Soarin jabbed him in the chest. “If you like her that much, make the time for her. You won’t regret it.”

Mac finally returned, carrying at least five more tool boxes on his back.

“Ah, back to work.” Said Soarin. He turned back to Thunderlane briefly. “Don’t just let it go. Trust me.” He said before gliding back down.

Thunderlane had a lot to think about, and now he had a sudden urge to visit Applejack and check on her. Urge his ass. He was going to go check on her. Why? Because he cared. Because it was her.

Thunderlane hesitated slightly as he raised his hoof to knock on her door. Should he knock? He didn’t want to wake her up, but he also didn’t want to just barge in. Knowing her, she’d probably yell at him. He was determined to check on her though so he went for the option that had less possible pain involved.

He knocked softly three times, flinching each time in worry that she was asleep.

“Come in.” Her voice came through the door. It didn’t sound very enthusiastic, but it’s not like he expected her to be happy. If he knew Applejack, she was probably miffed that she had to rest. She was also probably the only pony in Equestria that would have such a thought process. He slowly opened the door.

Applejack was still in bed, the sheet pulled all the way up to her chin, and a cold towel still resting on her head. Her eyes widened for a moment when she saw Thunderlane enter. She quickly looked away.

“Oh, hey…” She said with a strange tone of voice he just couldn’t place.

“Hey.” He said back sheepishly as he approached her bed.

“What are ya doin’ here?” She flatly asked. Thunderlane rolled his eyes.

“Is it okay if I wanted to check on you?” He said sarcastically.

Applejack still wasn’t looking at him, but it wasn’t because she didn’t want to look at him. She had been thinking about what Braeburn told her earlier. She was touched that Thunderlane did so much for her, but she wasn’t sure how to thank him. She was a pony that never was in dept to somepony else, she had to repay him.

“I guess that’s fine.” She said as she glanced at him briefly, but went right back to looking away.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, ignoring her previous comment.

“I feel like hell.” She answered flatly. Thunderlane saw a trend going. Applejack didn’t like to show weakness. Here she was, bedridden. “Um…” She suddenly chimed in again, catching his attention. “Braeburn told me everythin’ ya did.” She turned and flashed a weak smile before turning back to conceal a blush. “Thanks, I guess.” She said while scrunching her face.

“Heh, no problem.” He answered, getting a kick out of her mannerisms.

“I supposed I owe you now, I’ll make up for it someday.” She suddenly added on the end. Thunderlane looked at her, confused.

“What? Why?” He came around the side of her bed so he could look at her. She quickly turned her head to avoid his eyes.

“You helped me out, I gotta pay you back.” She said plainly, doing everything she could to hold the blood from her face. Thunderlane burst out laughing. Applejack blinked and glanced at him as he fell back on his flank. “What?” She asked quizzically. He gave her a stern look and she turned her head away yet again.

“Applejack, look at me.” He demanded. She, of course, didn’t. He sighed and made his way around the bed again. He grabbed her hat off her bedpost as he passed and pressed it down on top of her head to hold her in place. He bent down to look her in the eyes. “You don’t have to repay me.” He said. Applejack blinked and averted her eyes.

“Yes I do, I can’t just—,”

“No, you don’t.” He cut her off. “Applejack I helped you because I care about you, not because I expected something in return.” He said very casually without thinking much about it first. Applejack’s eyes widened and her face lost the battle against her blushing. Thunderlane saw her reaction and thought about what he just said.

He just straight up told her he cared about her. Applejack had been getting that vibe from him for a while, but it just came right out of his mouth. He cared about her.

“Y—you care? About me?” She stuttered. Thunderlane bit his lip and glanced about.

“Uh… crap.” He turned his head to the side, his black fur failing to conceal a blush of his own as he glanced between her and the floor. “Um…”

Applejack quickly removed her hat and hid most of her face with it, the first time she had in a while with him. She didn’t conceal her whole face though. Her eyes were peeking over the top of it at him. She was completely at a loss for words. No stallion had ever said anything like that to her before.

Thunderlane felt like an idiot. He had to follow up, but he stupidly admitted it so suddenly that nothing came to him.

“I…” He squinted and shook his head. “Applejack,” He made up his mind and looked right into her eyes. “It’s no mystery to anyone here that I’ve learned and changed a lot during my time working. I used to not give a damn about anything. While working here I learned a lot. Like what it means to have goals, what it means to put effort into something, how heavy responsibility can be, but most importantly, how to care about something.” He smiled. “And all of those lessons would not have been learned if you weren’t a hardass and drilled them into me.” He said with a wink. “You’ve been a very key part in me realizing more important aspects of life. And…” He paused and his eyes wandered away, “You’re important to me… because of that… so yeah, I care about you.” He was so embarrassed. That felt so sappy, but he meant every word.

“Wow, I… I don’t know what t’say.” Applejack answered, slightly muffled by her hat.

“HEY THERE BOY! What’cha doin’ in here!?” Granny Smith’s voice startled both of them. Thunderlane turned to see Granny in the doorway, tapping her hoof on the floor. “Applejack needs rest ya’hear? Don’t you be botherin’ her. Mac’s lookin for ya. It’s apple pickin’ time.” She explained, and then stood firm in the doorway.

Her timing couldn’t have been worse and she showed no intention of leaving. Neither Thunderlane or Applejack knew where to go from where the conversation ended up though, so this was kind of a blessing in disguise. Thunderlane turned to her briefly and flashed a grin.

“Feel better, alright? Leave the farm to us.” He quickly assured her.

He turned as she tried to say something, but nothing came. She quietly watched as Thunderlane left the room, receiving a couple extra scolding’s from Granny Smith as the door closed behind them.

As soon as she was alone, her entire face to the tip of her ears blushed bright red. She placed her hat on her head and pulled the edges hard to bring the hat almost all the way down over her face.

What the hell, why now? Why him? She couldn’t understand it. She was just being herself and apparently she changed his life. He was now so grateful, so kind, and so caring. Completely the opposite of everything he was when he first arrived on the farm. She couldn’t have hated him more in those first days, and now that he was the opposite, her feelings were the opposite as well.

How in Equestria could she fall so hard for a random pony like him? This was so unlike her, but she wanted it just so badly. Applejack the hard worker, Applejack the disciplined. Applejack in love? Love was so far back in her mind because of her work.

How had he teased it out? It was the best and worst thing that had ever happened to her.

Although to most it seemed like nothing changed on the farm that day. A lot had changed in the hearts of two specific ponies. Applejack and Thunderlane had shared something special without really knowing or realizing it, but even once Applejack returned to work a week later, neither spoke about it. Applejack focused on her work, because no more farm meant no time for Thunderlane either way. Thunderlane, being wary of the lessons he learned from Applejack, did just the same. He focused on the farm, knowing that only once their task was completed, could they take another step towards each other.

With only two more weeks to go until they had to pay their expenses, the hard working group put the finishing touches on rebuilding the storage unit. Putting the pieces back together that crumbled to start the whole mess.

Mac stepped back after putting the last nail in the front door of the storage unit. He looked the whole structure over in the glow of the sunset behind it. He smiled in satisfaction and turned to the rest. He cleared his throat and puffed his chest out pridefully.

“EEYUP!” He said triumphantly.

“YAHOOOOO!!!!!” Braeburn was the first to yell out as they all cheered. Everypony had gathered to celebrate the finish. The Apple family, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, and of course, Thunderlane.

Thunderlane simply sat down and breathed a sigh of relief. While the farm funds were important, seeing what he initially broke now fixed sent a wave of relief through him. He glanced around at how happy the Apple family looked and only hoped the rest of the process would be successful too.

Then he noticed Applejack looking at him. She smiled brightly, knowing full well how Thunderlane felt at the moment. It was also a very cute happy smile, which he hadn’t seen from her very often. He would be lying if he claimed it didn’t make him tingle a little.

He had little time to think on it though because Braeburn had slung his arm over Thunderlane’s shoulder and dragged him over before doing the same to Big Mac, minus the dragging part.

“We did it!” He cheered out again. Applejack chuckled.

“Sheesh Braeburn it ain’t like we’re out o’ trouble yet.” She rolled her eyes while referencing their money.

“Actually we’re on the verge of makin’ what we need.” Granny cut her off with a smile. “I reckon in a day or two we’ll be outta home losin’ way!” She yelled out happily.

“Really now!?” Applejack beamed. Then turned back to Braeburn. “Never mind cousin, hoot an’ holler all ya want.”

Applejack was happy. Thunderlane loved seeing her like that. He cared so much about her, but she had had little to smile about over the past month. Seeing her happy here was a special moment for him.

“So how about we go celebrate tonight, eh gentlemen?” Braeburn suggested referring to the two hooked under his armpits as well as Soarin. “The Cattle Prod should be jumpin’ tonight! I ain’t got me a drink in a long time!”

“Hey!” Dash reached over and grabbed Soarin by the arm. “No drinking for him, he’s got a regiment to follow.” She glared at Braeburn. Soarin chuckled and patted Dash on the head.

“Hey don’t worry, I’ll just go along. I’ll make sure they don’t get into trouble.” He assured his mare as she glared up at him.

“Soarin… head patting.” She reminded him.

“Why not? You’re cute WHOA!” He chuckled as she leapt on his back and playfully nommed his ears again. Applejack rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Stallion night huh?” She shrugged, “Go ahead I guess if Granny says all’s well…” She yawned. “I’m go get maybe fifteen hours of sleep.” She joked. “Don’t stay out too late though. We still gotta work a little more in the morning.”

Thunderlane was torn. He wanted to possibly spend time with Applejack, but Braeburn had just invited him to come out with the rest of the stallions. He was flattered that he was even included. It was a sign of how much they trusted him now. It’s not like he’d never see Applejack again. Why not, maybe it’ll be fun. He hadn’t been to a bar since a week before this whole thing began. The Cattle Prod? He didn’t know Ponyville had a bar named that.

“Oh man…” Thunderlane said as he looked the tavern up and down. There was a reason he had never heard of or been to it. It was on the very edge of Ponyville, much like Sweet Apple Acres, but on the other side where a lot of the other farms were located like the carrot farm and cabbage farm to name a couple.

The tavern itself, “The Cattle Prod”, spoke for itself. It was a small two story building that looked a bit run-down. It had a small front porch leading up to an old west style swinging door entrance. The sign hanging down from the awning was slightly bent to one side, but the name “The Cattle Prod” was perfectly straight as if it was purposely painted crooked to correct the sign. Judging from the hooting and hollering coming from the inside, Thunderlane quickly could tell it was a farmer tavern. This was definitely going to be interesting. He glanced at Soarin to see if his worry was shared, but Soarin was busy joking with Mac and Braeburn, having a good time.

Maybe he was just over thinking it. How bad could it really be?

Thunderlane was glad Mac and Braeburn walked in first, because as soon as they pushed the doors open a few fellow farmers, most likely inebriated, came up while yelling their names and slinging hooves over their shoulders. It was definitely a farmer tavern. The occupants were all gruff looking earth ponies of all shapes and sizes, and mostly stallions, very few mares.

The interior was much different from outside. It looked very well kept despite the shoddy exterior. A few steps from the door, the ceiling extended upward, giving the bar a very open air feel. There were circular tables strewn about on the floor that was covered with a light carpet of hay. Along the walls were a few booths and in the back was an open bar that lined the entire back wall. There were three large barrels behind it with a single bartender cleaning mugs as he filled them and passed them around. On the wall right beside the entrance were several hooks that had both hats and yokes hanging off of them. Mac removed his yoke and hung it up as they entered.

Thunderlane flinched as one of the random stallions slung a hoof over him, but asked Mac who he was instead of asking Thunderlane himself. Mac simply replied,

“Friend.”

“Well, friend o’ yours is a friend o’ ours!” The pony yelled before ruffling Thunderlane’s mane and heading back to his mug.

Definitely an interesting place, but Thunderlane was happy that Mac referred to him as a friend. Soarin was receiving similar attention, only including some from the few mares in the bar too. He simply kindly turned down their advances while letting them know he was already taken.

Thunderlane and Soarin followed Mac and Braeburn all the way back to the bar and sat down in four vacant seats in the center. Thunderlane was still a little iffy, so to avoid any awkward conversations with ponies he didn’t know he sat between Soarin and Mac.

The bar tender turned around and smiled upon seeing the two Apple ponies. Thunderlane was surprised to see it was a unicorn. He was light brown with a neatly combed black mane and a thick mustache that hung down the sides of his mouth. He was well dressed: wearing what looked like a cheap tuxedo vest and a red bowtie.

Thunderlane wouldn’t have been so interested if not for the fact that he was a unicorn. Talk about the last place you’d think to find one. The bar tender seemed to use the strengths of his race to his advantage though, he was cleaning mugs with his hooves and pouring drinks with his magic at the exact same time.

“Well howdy you two! Been a long time since I’ve seen yer apple asses out here!” The bartender addressed Mac and Braeburn in a strange mix of a fine upper class accent and country accent.

“How ya been, Magic Mug?” Braeburn smiled and gave a single wave. Magic Mug. How fitting.

“Been wonderin’ where my suppliers have been! I was worried you two got lost in your own apple orchard.” He joked as he grabbed two mugs with his magic then eyed Soarin and Thunderlane. “Well now, these friends o’ yours? Don’t get many pegasi here.” He asked while looking at Mac.

“Eeyup.” Mac nodded.

“Magic Mug.” The bar tender introduced himself while extending a hoof to Thunderlane first.

“Thunderlane.” He quickly accepted the hoof shake.

“Soarin.” Soarin did the same.

“First round’s on the house, as always!” He said as he grabbed two more mugs in his magic and turned to fill them with hard cider before Soarin could say anything. The mugs landed in front of all four of them.

“Sorry Mug.” Soarin politely declined. “I don’t drink.” He grinned sheepishly.

“Why the hell ya hear then?” Mug joked.

“He’s a Wonderbolt.” Mac said simply. Mug’s eyes widened.

“WHOA THERE! I knew you looked familiar!” He slid over to Soarin and looked him up and down carefully. “You look a lot different out of uniform.”

“I’ll just have a mug of water.” Soarin asked.

“Fifty seven bits.” Mug said seriously while slapping his bar towel on the bar.

“What?!” Soarin stared in disbelief. A mug of water slid over to him.

“Just kiddin’” Mug chuckled. He reached for the mug of cider in front of Soarin, but Braeburn reached over from Soarin’s right and whisked the mug away.

“I’ll just take his! Goin’ hard tonight!” He cheered.

“Braeburn…” Mac watched him and rolled his eyes, but let it be.

Thunderlane looked into the mug at the golden brown liquid. It looked like apple cider, but it smelled like alcohol. When Magic Mug said his “suppliers”, Thunderlane figured he meant the Apple family provides the cider to make this.

He took a sip. It wasn’t too bad. The alcohol bitterness touched the back of his tongue, but the sweet apple taste remained near the front. Not bad at all. He took another sip, wondering if Applejack ever came here with them. Upon looking around he figured probably not. She was way too responsible and judging from the mare to stallion ration in the tavern, probably didn’t feel comfortable here. He glanced around the tavern as he took a larger swig. It looked like a friendly place. Everypony was having a good time and the owner was a good pony himself.

“Whoa.” Thunderlane blinked as he felt a slight buzz. That was quick. He hadn’t had a drink in a long time, but how much alcohol was in this stuff? He looked over at Mac. His mug was empty, but he looked completely fine. He was huge after all it probably took a lot to make him feel anything. Soarin of course was fine because he only had water, but Braeburn,

“YEHAWWW!” He yelled after finishing the second mug. He was already a bit gone. “Next round’s on me!” He yelled, dumping twenty bits on the table. Mug chuckled and pushed eight of them back to Braeburn.

“Keep the change,” he said while filling three more mugs and handing them out to Mac, Braeburn and Thunderlane.

“God bless,” Braeburn nodded and scooped the eight bits back into his vest pockets. Thunderlane really felt the buzz now, but he had another mug in front of him. Oh well, might as well let loose for the night. He grabbed the mug, but sat for a moment, thinking.

Boy he wished Applejack was there with them. Eh, maybe the alcohol was talking a little bit, but now he suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about Applejack.

At some point over at a table, a hoof wrestling competition had started. Soarin had left the bar to join in.

Thunderlane took a sip of his second mug. Applejack sure was cute. He hung out with two good looking pegasus mares, but Applejack was… different. Man this was good cider. Maybe he should’ve spent time with Applejack tonight instead. Was he getting drunk? Nah.

Soarin had won a few hoof wrestling matches, but was soundly beaten by a large yellow stallion with a brown mane. He flew back over while shaking out his arm.

“Damn, he’s strong!” He commented as he sat back down. Braeburn glanced (wobbled) over at the hoof wrestling table, then tapped Mac on the shoulder.

“Hey Macky! Caramel brought his older brother again!” He pointed over to the table. Caramel was standing and grinning next to the large pony of same colors beside him. “Wha wuz his name again?” Braeburn tipped his stool back but quickly rebalanced.

“Chance-a-lot.” Mac replied. Still completely sober.

“They’re takin’ challengers again, Mac go kick his ass!” Braeburn nudged him. Mac just shook his head.

“HEY MAC!” Caramel called over while holding up a mug. “Come on ya big baby! Ya ever gonna take on my brother?” He stumbled slightly as he yelled.

“I c’n smell the ego’s Mac! Go shut’em down!” Braeburn kept prodding.

“Nnope.” He said flatly.

“Give him a rest Caramel.” Chance-a-lot sat back smugly while downing a mug in one large gulp. “He doesn’t wanna get hurt fer that little filly he’s inta, what’s that tiny thang’s name? Futterfry?”

Braeburn lurched away as Mac turned his head sharply towards Chance-a-lot.

“Scuse me.” Mac said flatly as he finished his mug and got up. All the ponies surrounding Chance-a-lot’s table began to whoop and cheer as Mac walked towards them.

Thunderlane shrugged and went back to his thoughts. He still had a full mug. Wait, no it was empty. No, no, no, never mind it still was about half. Oh well. He took a sip. It would be nice to lie back in Applejack’s lap right now. She’d probably punch him. Whatever it would be nice. The lap or the punch? Both sounded fine. Did they serve food here? Applejack makes nice pie. Hey the mug is full again!

A loud SMASH followed by Chance-a-lot grunting and lots of “ooooooh’s” caught Thunderlane’s attention. He turned to see Mac casually getting up as Chance-a-lot tried to dislodge his hoof from the table.

“Her name is FLUTTERSHY.” Mac said sternly before returning to his seat at the bar beside Thunderlane.

“Sheesh Braeburn, slow down.” Soarin suddenly said. Thunderlane looked over to see Braeburn with five empty mugs.

“Hey! Heyheyheyhey!” Braeburn pointed to the left of Soarin, “you shhhhould get off the bar before you get hurrrrt!” He slurred. He belched loudly in Soarin’s face and rubbed his eyes. He looked at Soarin, and then grinned. “Whoa,” he blinked, “yer the besht lookin’ mare I’ve ever sheen!" He said as he leaned over and put an arm around Soarin.

“Braeburn. You’re drunk.” Soarin said flatly.

“But YOU don’t know that… do ya?” He bounced his eyebrows before slamming back another sip of cider. “Sho, you come here often darlin’?”

“Mac. Help.” Soarin pleaded as Braeburn tried to hug him. Mac casually got up and walked around Thunderlane and Soarin. He grabbed Braeburn by the vest and pulled him away.

“Leave the pretty pegasus mare alone Brae.” Mac said with a completely straight face.

“Pishhh off cuz, I shaw her first!” He protested.

“Gee thanks Mac.” Soarin rolled his eyes while snickering.

“Get him another.” Mac said to Magic Mug before whispering. “give’im water, tell’im it’s more cider.”

“Braeburn, have another on the house!” Magic Mug chuckled while slamming a mug of water down. Braeburn smiled.

“Ish mah birthday!” He grabbed the water and started chugging. Mac casually walked back to his seat and sat back down.

Thunderlane was having a good time. How many had he had? Didn’t know. Where’s Applejack? Oh right, she didn’t come along. MORE CIDER! Was somepony making tacos? This would be more fun with Applejack. Why did he have two mugs? Wait he had two right arms? Awesome! Applejack. Yikes Big Mac was a big pony. There were too many stallions here, and not enough Applejacks.

“Say Mac.” Thunderlane turned towards Mac, almost falling off his stool. Mac looked towards him while raising an eyebrow. Thunderlane had clearly had a bit much. “Yer sister… she’s real nice.” He said without hesitation. Mac lifted his eyebrow higher. “I, like, really like, ya know, like her man.” He poked Mac in the side. Mac’s expression flattened; both eyes and ears. Thunderlane chuckled. “She’s a cutie, really, I bet she gets that a lot. Does she get that a lot?”

“Uh…” Mac wasn’t sure what Thunderlane was getting at, but he didn’t like it.

“WHOA! Buddy not all at once! You’re a quick talker! Haha.” Thunderlane cut Mac off, despite him not saying anything. “I’m just curious brother-man-of-hers, Applejack’s a real looker! I dunno what my standards were before I laid eyes on THAT fine mare.”

“Hey!” Mac stood up, but Soarin quickly shifted between them.

“Whoa Mac, simmer. He’s had a few.”

“He’s sayin’ stuff about mah sister I don’t like!” Mac argued. Soarin shook his head.

“Don’t worry, that’s the alcohol talking.” He glanced at Thunderlane as he sighed and said Applejack’s name. “Trust me. I talked to him about her. He really respects her and cares about her. Don’t tell me you never think things like that about Fluttershy.” Soarin winked at him. Mac snorted and sat back down. Thunderlane suddenly turned back over and put a hoof on one of Soarin’s shoulder and put his chin on the other to look at Mac.

“You’re sister is awesome man! She made me somepony! I had nothing before I had Applejack! Or before I had… uh… hey is there a fast food joint nearby?” He said before falling off his stool and passing out.

“Ah jeez…” Soarin shook his head.

Needless to say, the next morning was a little rough for Thunderlane and Braeburn. However, after some careful calculating, Mac figured out that if they sold all the apples they had in their “to sell” pile that day, they would officially be out of deep water and could spend the next two weeks making extra funds.

Applejack and Mac went into town to sell the apples while Braeburn and Thunderlane helped Granny Smith while dealing with unfortunate cases of being hung over. Dash and Soarin assisted as well, Dash constantly poking fun at Thunderlane about wearing an ice pack on his head all morning.

Upon returning, Mac and Applejack played up as if they didn’t make enough bits, only to drop two large bags of money in the front door. The farm had finally, truly been saved. Thunderlane was ecstatic when the news came, but then mixed feelings set in.

This meant…

He didn’t have to work anymore.

For some reason he couldn’t get happy. Granny Smith prepared a nice big celebration dinner for all of them, but he couldn’t get into it. The whole Apple family laughed, joked, and cheered, but all he could muster was a fake smile.

All he could think of now was how he wouldn’t have an excuse to be near Applejack. Even the issue of the farm expenses flew right passed him. He felt bad, but it didn’t seem as important to him as Applejack. Sure he was happy they were all saved from leaving town. But… But… Applejack.

Applejack noticed Thunderlane’s demeanor as the dinner went on. He was smiling, but she knew fake smiles when she saw them. He couldn’t mask the look in his eyes. He was sad.

But then again, so was she. She had gotten so used to Thunderlane being there. She had gotten so used to having somepony who didn’t back away and give up when she snapped at them. She was so used to his constant kindness that apparently she helped emerge. He claimed that she had an important role in realizing a few things about himself, but he had done the same for her.

She had come to care for him too, and she really, truly, didn’t want him to leave.

“Well sonny,” Granny Smith smacked Thunderlane on the back, making him cough slightly as he was drinking water. “Looks like ya finally paid back what ya owe us.” She chuckled.

“He did a while ago granny,” Applejack quickly added while smiling. “But he stayed to help finish the job.”

“Either way I reckon you can go on home now. Of course you’re welcome t’stay one more night if ya’d like. Our home is your home.” She offered.

Thunderlane was touched Granny Smith would consider him always welcome. But he had been away from home for a long time. He wondered how Rumble was doing, he also felt like he owed the pegasus sisters an apology. They were being annoying that night, but he probably shouldn’t have yelled at them. He glanced at Applejack, but she looked away. She was however, smiling. As much as Thunderlane wanted to stay, his little brother was a responsibility, and he knew Applejack appreciated a responsible pony.

“It’s kind of you to offer, but I probably should check in at home.” He nodded to Granny Smith then to Mac and Braeburn. “You’ve all taught me a lot. I guess the best way to put it is, I’ve learned my lesson.” He chuckled. “I promise I won’t do it again.” They all laughed. Thunderlane really felt like he was part of the family. An honest family. It felt nice, but he had to go.

“Careful where you fly.” Soarin put a hoof on Thunderlane’s shoulder and gave him a light jab. “I hope I see you at our next Wonderbolt camp.” He chuckled. Thunderlane shrugged.

“I gotta stop running into things first.” He joked back. He glanced around as they all looked at him with warm smiles. It had been a fun time with a fun crew. Very different than how it was when he first arrived.

A healthy dose of reality and an honest pile of hard work had changed him into a new pony: One that looked back on his previous self and wondered how he ever lived like that.

“I guess I’ll take off then.” He gave a wave, looking at Applejack a little longer than the rest. He turned and walked towards the door.

Nice. You could’ve given her a hug or something. Have you forgotten everything you’ve thought about? Thunderlane berated himself. What was the point of all the inner searching, both related and unrelated to Applejack? What did it matter anyway? He listened to Soarin’s story and it was definitely not as bad as how he and Dash had it. But Soarin was a resourceful pony. Thunderlane was, well, normal. How could he find time to be with a workaholic like Applejack? Maybe it was all just a phase.

Applejack’s ears drooped as she watched Thunderlane head to the door. He didn’t even give her a personal goodbye? Normally she would’ve seen this as a dick move, but it was different. Maybe it was because of Thunderlane’s sad demeanor at dinner. Maybe it was because she just didn’t know what to say to him. She had set aside her thoughts and feelings specifically until the farm was saved. Now here she was, and she couldn’t find a single word.

Wait. She had one last moment. She had right now. Right before he flew off. She had to take it. If she didn’t do something right now, who knows when she’d get another chance. She checked to make sure no pony was watching her and quietly trotted after Thunderlane.

Responsibility his ass. Thunderlane cursed as he stood on the front porch of the Apple Family property. Why did he just leave? It’s not what he REALLY wanted to do. But now he couldn’t turn around either.

He had to just face it. He and Applejack would never work out. Their lives were too different. Even if they made the time, it just wouldn’t click. He was better off with the pegasus sisters. They weren’t quite like Applejack, but he could relate to them. But could he really? He wasn’t how he used to be. Would things just go back to how they were beforehand?

Honestly? He hoped not. He had a different perspective on life now. He didn’t know if he could just pack up and go on his way. Not like he had a choice right now though. This was just another life lesson, ironically also taught to him by Applejack. Not everything can work out.

“Hey…”

Or can it?

Thunderlane’s ears shot up at the voice. She… followed him? He slowly turned around to see Applejack standing in the doorway.

“Still here?” She asked as she walked towards him. Thunderlane sighed and looked up into the night sky. It had just gotten dark enough to see the stars as they slowly began to twinkle.

“Yeah, just taking it all in I guess.” He spoke freely. His nerves felt surprisingly calm. Normally he’d be feeling a little nervous. His liking to Applejack had made it hard to stay focused when she was around. Here though, it was as if his body knew it would be his last chance to truly talk or say anything to her.

“It’s been a long month huh.” Applejack stood beside him, subtly glancing at him and looking over his face with a slight blush. Her heart was beating faster than normal. What could she do? She wanted to be near him, but if she didn’t say anything on her mind she’d regret it.

“It’s had its ups and downs.” Thunderlane nodded and glanced at her. She didn’t look away this time. She let his eyes meet hers. “Thankfully there have been a lot more ups.”

“Heh, I agree with ya there.” They both looked back up into the sky. Applejack bit her lip and blushed. Do it now. He said it to you. You say it back to him. No regrets, no turning back. JUST DO IT.

“Well, I better fly,” Thunderlane didn’t know what else to say or do. The conversation was nice and he enjoyed her company, but he just didn’t know where to go. He had already slightly spilled his guts to her that one night a few weeks back. She had yet to do anything similar. He was clinging to false hopes. He smiled and nodded to her before slightly lifting off.

“NO! I mean, wait, hold on!” Applejack reached up and grabbed his hoof, startling him. “Please wait, before you go.” She looked away while blushing. Thunderlane set back down and turned to her.

“Yes?” he asked, as he wondered what else she wanted to say.

“Thunderlane—, I—, you—, we—,” She stuttered, looking in every direction except at him. She took a deep breath and looked straight at him with determination. “I never… really thanked ya for when you told me, ya know, all that stuff about carin’ about me.” She forced out.

Wow, had she read his mind? Thunderlane could barely believe it.

“Look,” she continued, “I know this is gonna sound weird, hell cause I think it’s weird, but,” she gulped and looked straight down. “I’ve really enjoyed havin’ ya here. I… I’ve never known a pony like you before, I just… I dunno, I care about you too.” She winced as she said it and tipped her hat down.

“Applejack…” Thunderlane smiled and tipped her hat back up with his hoof.

“Don’t go tellin’ anypony I said that okay? That’s for you only, cause I… I kinda like you alright? I know it’s weird.” She kept going and kept acting like he wouldn’t like what she was saying, but he was loving every word.

“Applejack shut up.” He snickered. She glared at him, but then saw him smiling. “I like you too. You don’t have to be embarrassed about it.” He kept smiling at her as her face turned redder than her brother’s fur.

Thunderlane couldn’t believe it, just like how he had turned around in his time here. The last moment had turned completely around from anti-climactic, to Applejack saying exactly what he wanted to hear.

Applejack suddenly looked towards the door, she had left it open, but no pony was in eyeshot. She still didn’t want to risk anypony seeing them. This came to her mind as soon as Thunderlane said he liked her too. She had no control over it. She just knew she wanted it.

She slowly removed her hat and looked directly into Thunderlane’s eyes. He looked right back, wondering what she was doing. She held her hat up beside their heads and quickly leaned forward.

Before Thunderlane could register what was happening,

Her lips connected softly with his.

She kissed him.

He did not flinch. He did not freak out. He did not care. He went right along with it. They closed their eyes and Thunderlane brought his hoof up to cradle her cheek as they shared the sweet, soft, and gentle kiss.

Art by: PhonicBoom

Applejack pulled away quickly, blushing so hard it was a miracle that smoke wasn’t coming out of her ears. Thunderlane smiled in surprise as they parted.

“Wow.” Was all he could say. Applejack grinned sheepishly and placed her hat back on her head.

“Please,” she began, “Don’t be a stranger. Visit whenever you like.” She offered.

Thunderlane felt so. Damn. Happy. It wasn’t just all in his head after all. Applejack was special to him. And he planned for it to remain that way.

“I promise I will,” he nodded, “you can count on me.” He spread his wings and gently lifted into the air while keeping his eyes on her.

“I know I can.” She waved as he slowly floated upward before turning and flying off.

Applejack sighed contently as she watched him leave. She had no word to really describe how she felt. The best word she could think of was “fluffy.” Whatever it was, it felt really good. Maybe Rarity was onto something with this silly romance thing she was always so dramatic about.

Thunderlane disappeared quickly into the night sky, blending in with the cloak of darkness. Satisfied she’d see him again, Applejack turned back towards the door.

“What the—” She flinched and froze. Big Mac, Braeburn, Granny Smith, Applebloom, Rainbow Dash, and Soarin were all standing right inside the door, looking out at her with disbelief.

PhonicBoom

Applejack instantly pulled her hat down while muttering, “shit…”

So life goes on right?

Right?

If only.

A week passed, and two ponies were left without what they really wanted.

Thunderlane reclined on a cloud and stared directly up into the sky. It was early afternoon and he had already finished his weather team work for the day. Upon leaving Sweet Apple Acres, he was quick to ask Cloud Kicker for extra work. She was skeptical, but after he did the jobs of four pegasi in half the time, she let him go with it. It still wasn’t enough though.

Here he was, lounging like he used to, but feeling like he should be doing something. His old life and new self weren’t mixing well at all and it was really beginning to frustrate him. He felt like he had little to no responsibilities despite all the “work” he just finished.

“Hey big Stallion.” Flitter’s head popped up from the cloud beside him. “All done working?”

It took Thunderlane a moment to notice her. He was deep in thought after all.

“Oh hey, yeah I’m done.” He said nonchalantly.

At least Flitter was quick to forgive him. He apologized to the pegasus sisters first thing when he returned from Sweet Apple Acres. Flitter accepted it and gave him a hug, but Cloud Chaser was still a bit miffed at him. She was stubborn, but she would forgive him too eventually.

“So what’s up?” Flitter popped up from inside the cloud and reclined next to him in a slightly sultry pose. He gave her a glance. He recognized this. This was her typical approach if she wanted to have some “fun” with him. A while back he would’ve caught on and rolled over quickly, but the effect just wasn’t there. He looked back up into the sky.

“Meh, nothing much. Just chilling.” He replied. She blinked and looked at him in confusion.

“You’ve been weird since you came back you know.” She poked him in the side. He didn’t look at her. “They didn’t do anything bad to you did they?” She pouted.

“No!” He quickly looked at her before settling down, “No, they didn’t. I’m just… thinking that’s all.” About Applejack. It was almost like Flitter wasn’t even there. She rolled onto her stomach and scooted her body against his. He flinched slightly as her wings brushed against him.

“Well, how about we have some fun? I’m sure I can help you relax.” She said, wiggling her flank slightly. Thunderlane didn’t answer. He just glanced at her motions and acted like he hadn’t noticed.

“Uh…” He didn’t know what to say or do. He wanted to turn her down obviously, but it was never that easy with her or her sister. She suddenly shifted over and laid herself on top of him, staring seductively into his eyes.

“C’mon… I know you’ve missed me.” She said slyly. He just lay still as she inched her lips near his. He let it happen. He had so many times in the past. But the closer she got, the more he felt an extreme sense of dread? A painful shock slammed through his body as her lips touched his.

“NO!” He shoved her off and quickly got up. Flitter yelped as she fell back onto the cloud. She looked back up at him with a mix of confusion and disbelief. Thunderlane grunted in frustration and shook his head.

“Sorry, I…” He only wanted one mare to kiss him. This little incident proved it. The old Thunderlane was long gone. He quickly moved to Flitter and helped her up. “Flitter, I can’t. I’m, well, stuff has changed. I still want to be friends with you and your sister, but…” He struggled to explain. But why? He didn’t want to explain anything to them. “I gotta go.” He cut it off before taking to the air. Flitter just watched him go.

“But…” She didn’t know what to say.

“Told ya he’s different.” Cloudchaser’s voice came from inside the cloud. She rose up from it beside Flitter and shook her head. “I dunno what the hell happened on that stupid farm…” She growled.

Thunderlane just flew. He had no destination in mind. He just had to get away from Flitter. Where would he go?

He found himself turning and guiding himself without thinking. His brain was guiding him to where he really wanted to be? It had to be, because if he kept going in this direction, he would be at Sweet Apple Acres.

He had been thinking about Applejack since he left. Since the night she kissed him. The kiss sealed their interest, but then it all just went POOF. As he feared, Applejack was never around Ponyville, and if she was she was busy. Thunderlane thought he could go on and just have fun with the Pegasus sisters again. But Flitter just proved to him he couldn’t do that at all. When Flitter kissed him, he could only think of Applejack.

Forget it. His brain was already on the right course. He was going to Sweet Apple Acres right now. RIGHT NOW.

Applejack went about her day. Every day was the same, but she enjoyed what she did. Sometimes it was good to be out by herself in the fields. She could take in the silence accompanied by the smell of fresh apples and let the soft breeze gently blow in her mane.

As much as she loved times like this. She found herself wishing she could share it with somepony. Applejack wanting to share something personally with another? The world was ending. Of all the ponies she could think of to spend it with… Thunderlane? The world was definitely ending.

She turned to buck an apple tree, but as she set her hooves and began to kick, the kick lost all of its strength halfway and ended as a tiny tap on the bark.

He was gone.

Thunderlane wasn’t there anymore. She never knew it would feel so different without him.

He had brought a new kind of companionship to her, one that she had never experienced before. She missed it. She missed him. One week gone and she just couldn’t stop thinking of him. She sat down beneath the apple tree and removed the saddle baskets of apples from her back.

What kind of relationship did she discover with him? She cared about other ponies before. It wasn’t the first time one of them was a stallion either. But it was just different all around with him. With Thunderlane there were times where she wanted to punch him across the face. Yet there were times when she felt so happy beside him.

He made her feel… complete. What was it called when you put up with a pony regardless of their flaws because you just couldn’t be without them?

Oh.

That’s right.

Love.

She was in love.

Applejack flinched as the thought came to mind. No way. Not her. She had better things to worry about. She began to quiver slightly.

Then why was it so hard without him?

“Dammit.” She cursed as a tear fell down her cheek. “DAMMIT!” She yelled out.

She may have helped changed Thunderlane, but Thunderlane also changed her. How did this happen to her? Love doesn’t just fall from the sky. Love doesn’t just happen randomly.

Or maybe it does? How else do you explain it? You don’t find love, love finds YOU.

“HEY!” A voice came from above. Applejack’s eyes widened. That voice. It was Thunderlane! Completely forgetting that her eyes were somewhat tear-stained, Applejack sprung up from beneath the tree and looked up into the sky. “Applejack!” Thunderlane waved as he descended towards her.

“Th—Thunderlane…” She said quietly to herself as he landed.

“I forgot how big this place is, I couldn’t find you,” He chuckled as he looked back at his wings while folding them.

Applejack broke into a sprint towards him, her hat flying off as she galloped.

“I thought I'd just fly over andMRPH!!!” He was muffled as Applejack threw herself at him, draped her arms around his neck and kissed him as hard as she could. Thunderlane’s eyes widened so much his whole face looked white. She had come at him full sprint, knocking them both over and putting Thunderlane on his back. She was now on top of him, kissing him passionately. Thunderlane’s eyes slowly closed as he blushed and let her do it.

It wasn’t what he expected, but hey, he wanted it.

Applejack finally eased back and stared into his eyes. She suddenly blushed hard, grabbed her mane from behind her head and used it to cover her face minus her eyes.

“Uh… that was a bit…much… sorry…” She mumbled.

“Don’t be!” Thunderlane chuckled as he looked up at her and grinned. She quickly got off of him and stood beside him as he stood up.

“I uh… kinda missed ya. A lot.” She confessed.

“You don’t say?” He chuckled again as she continued to hide her face. “Applejack. Stop it. You don’t have to be embarrassed around me.”

“I know, I just…” She let her mane fall back to her side. “I don’t usually do stuff like that.”

“I guess that makes me special then?” Thunderlane turned his head and winked.

“Maybe a little.” She chuckled, slowly regaining her cool.

“I can live with that.” He came up to her and gave her a hug. She blushed for a moment, but smiled and returned it. “I know it was only a week, but I missed you Applejack.”

“I missed you too, ya oaf.” She squeezed him. He grunted at her strength, but at least he knew she meant it. You don’t give tight hugs like that to just anypony.

“So,” he put her at arm’s length. “I’ll be honest. I don’t have enough work. Do you want some help?” He asked with a smile.

“Huh? This stuff?” Applejack scoffed. This was the easiest thing she did. “Nah, I don’t need—” she froze and blinked. She almost did it again.

Funny how one pony can help another become so aware of their small faults. Sometimes you act like you know everything. Sometimes you act like you don’t need anypony else. It’s up to every pony, as they go through life, to find both their strengths and weaknesses. Refine the strengths. Work to fix the weaknesses. A little nudge from somepony else can make all the difference in realizing your faults and taking steps toward bettering yourself. Thunderlane and Applejack had both learned more from each other than they ever could have alone.

“Actually,” she smiled, “Sure, come over here.”

“Music to my ears.” Thunderlane smiled.

---The End---

Author's Note

Finishing a longer story is always sad. :(

Putting a lot of effort into something may be more rewarding, but i's also harder to let go of.

I hope you all enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 1

Author's Note

IT SHOULD BE NOTED. THIS STORY, UNLIKE THE OTHERS, DOES NOT STAND ALONE SO WELL. There are lots of things in this story that need context from my previous ones.

I realized this as i was writing and rereading, I should have been more clear about that.

Anyway,

Yep, i got tired of doing one long chapter stories. I decided to do this one in chapters, plus there was a lot more i wanted to do with it like with Head in the Clouds.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Hopefully i'll have the next chapter up soon. :)

And again because i want to make sure readers enjoy it fully,

IT SHOULD BE NOTED. THIS STORY, UNLIKE THE OTHERS, DOES NOT STAND ALONE SO WELL. There are lots of things in this story that need context from my previous ones.

Chapter 1

(Timeline Position: 3 Months after the events of Flying Sky High)

(For timeline info, please visit my homepage)

Big Mac wiped the sweat from his brow and stepped back, holding a hammer in mouth. He observed his work closely, eyeing the details and comparing them to a blueprint he had laid out on a table beside him.

The new building was a large wooden barn shape, but unlike a barn it had some extra machinery attached to the sides that clearly went inside as well. To be specific it had a large tank on one end, and a few cube shaped generators along the sides. There were vents above the generators, and one or two pipes jutting out and around. The front however was clear with a large barn door that could easily fit a cart or two for easy access.

“Hooo Wee! Look’s mighty fine Mac!” Applejack approached from behind. Mac didn’t answer and kept glancing between the plans and the building.

“Is it actually done this time?” Braeburn approached as well with a smirk, making Applejack roll her eyes. This was the fourth time she believed their new farm addition was done. She didn’t know much about the new storage unit. It looked finished to her three other times, but each time her assumption was met with a casual nnnnope. It had become a running joke between Braeburn and Applebloom much to Applejack’s dismay. Big Mac finally dropped the hammer on the table and puffed out his chest with pride.

“Eeyup! All finished.” He stated. Applejack had a laughing Braeburn by the vest and was about to give him a face-full of hoof, but stopped upon hearing Mac.

“Well I’ll be!” she yanked Braeburn down instead and sat on top of him, “just in time for our final harvest before winter too!”

“It’d be easier t’get started on that if I wasn’t stuck beneath your apple bucking plot.” Braeburn joked while being pinned.

“Quiet you. So Mac, how does this thing work?”

Big Mac grabbed the blueprints and moved towards them as Applebloom and Granny Smith made their way over to their new bit saving farm equipment as well.

Elsewhere, Thunderlane yawned and stretched while reclining in a cloud he had snatched from the day’s scheduled cloud cover and turned into personal cushion. He had just finished his “excruciating” assignment of putting a whole bunch of clouds in the sky. He figured he did the work, so he could grab a bit for himself and take a “well-earned” nap.

“Hey sleepy head.” A seductive toned voice caught his ear. He opened one eye to see Cloud Chaser with her front legs crossed and resting on the cloud. She smiled as he yawned and stretched again.

“What’s up babe?” He replied casually while shifting towards her.

“All done already? Jeez, they really run you ragged don’t they?” she joked about his workload.

“Still a waste of my time.” He sighed while crossing his hooves.

“Why waste time sleeping then, c’mon lets have some fun!” She moved above and stood over him on the cloud. Thunderlane smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Kinda early for that?”

“Psh, you wish, I just wanted to get your attention.”

“Okay, you win, let me get my brother.” He made ready to move, but Cloudchaser stopped him.

“I got ya covered.” She winked. Thunderlane thought she was making another reference to the suggestive stance she had above him, but then he heard a familiar yelling.

“Lemme go!”

“Why? You are way too cute!”

“I’m not cute! I’m manly!”

“See? Cute!”

Flitter came flying in while holding on to Thunderlane’s little brother Rumble. She was hugging him tightly and teasing him, which was a regular occurrence. He was clearly not amused. Thunderlane couldn’t help but laugh.

“Little dude better hope his luck continues when he grows up.”

“I’d say he has a good role model.” Cloud Chaser cooed while ruffling his mane. “Now c’mon, nap time’s over.

“I enjoy this view just fine.” He smirked. Cloudchaser pushed him into the cloud and flew towards Flitter and the ever flustered Rumble while laughing.

“Oh no you don’t!” Thunderlane fell through the bottom of the cloud and gave chase.

“So you're sayin’ all this mumbo jumbo put t’gether will let us store apples to sell durin’ the winter?” Applejack asked while eyeing the blueprints and scratching beneath her hat.

“Eeyup.” Mac nodded.

“Well that’s perfect! We can make some extra bits without waitin’ for spring now!” Granny Smith chimed in. “I’m proud of ya Macintosh, handlin’ the deal with Filthy, buildin’ this thing all by yourself, yer the spttin’ image of yer grandpappy Celestia rest his soul.” She slightly rambled on.

“I don’t get half of it, but if this does what you say, we can kiss all our expense troubles away!” Applejack cheered and jumped for joy.

Applebloom glanced up into the sky as a few pegasi that caught her eye overhead, but quickly looked back down to join in the fun.

“I bet I could!” Thunderlane fought back as Flitter and Cloud Chaser giggled. “How hard could it be?”

“Relax, Thunderlane we’re messing with you. So what if you can’t make a sonic boom, Rainbow Dash is unnaturally fast, and it’s not like you’re a Wonderbolt.” Said Flitter. But the damage had been done, Thunderlane’s manhood felt challenged. He had never really gotten over Rainbow Dash completely showing him up during the water lift to Cloudsdale. It wasn’t any better when they attended the Wonderbolt camp either.

“Hey! My brother could do it! He’s way cooler than Rainbow Dash!” Rumble fumed at the mares to defend his older brother. Cloud Chaser ruffled the little colt’s mane.

“Sure he his kid, but let’s face it, he doesn’t have half the speed Dash does—”

“That’s it!” Thunderlane turned down and dove, shooting through the clouds.

“Cloud! Great now he’s gonna do something reckless!” Flitter scolded her sister and lowered herself below the clouds to watch with Rumble in tow. Cloud Chaser shrugged again and followed behind.

Thunderlane picked up speed as he dove towards the earth. He was over Sweet Apple Acres, so he had plenty of room and nothing to get in his way. He’d show them, he’d prove doing a sonic boom was no big deal. He squinted as he began to feel the air pressure tighten around him. This was nothing! He’d pull this off no sweat! Then the pressure became heavier, and heavier. He didn’t care. He had to prove them wrong. It was hard to see because his eyes were nearly forced all the way shut. He didn’t realize how close to the ground he was getting.

Then suddenly, he found he couldn’t control his trajectory and the air pressure forced his body out of a straight line. It felt like a ton of bricks had just been dumped on his back as the force of all his momentum failed to break through the pressure, he began to tumble while falling, the speed he had built not dissipating. This was not going to end well.

“Well let's not just stand outside now, I wanna see all the fancy things this doodad is made of!” Braeburn beckoned the rest of the family as Mac rolled up the blueprints. Applejack watched him, then looked at the rest of her family and the new unit. She was glad, they were all happy. This investment put them back, but the rewards would be worth the bits and more. Money had always been an issue, running a farm was not easy nor was it cheap. They never had much to spend, so past the essentials, they never could buy much or spend any money on pleasure. This would be nice for Granny Smith above all else, after how long she’s lived and worked, she deserved a little more reward.

With nothing but nice thoughts, Applejack glanced up in the sky to take in the moment, but something careening through the air caught her attention. She blinked and looked down to see where it was heading. It was falling right towards the storage unit. Her eyes widened.

“LOOK OUT Y’ALL!!!” Applejack yelled just in time to warn her family. Mac’s eyes shot up and he instantly grabbed Granny Smith, Applebloom and Braeburn, pulling them back from the door.

Thunderlane tensed his body right before impact. He ran back first into a large wooden building, the shock resonating from head to hoof. The wood splintered and split around him and he broke right through to the inside. He was too disoriented to see what was around him, but he spun and his gut struck something hard. Something REALLY hard. Something metal. His momentum caused his legs neck and head to whiplashed past it, he grunted painfully and exhaled, falling back and smashing into a wooden support beam. He collapsed in a heap on the ground, groaning as he turned himself over. His ears were ringing, but the monotone slowly died down and was replaced with what sounded like wood creaking and crackling. After contemplating it for a moment his eyes shot open in time to see the beam he hit split and the entire structure collapsing over him. He curled into a ball and covered his head as heavy debris fell on top of him.

Wow that was bad. That was incredibly bad. Thunderlane felt like an idiot. Not only did he attempt something he KNEW he couldn’t pull off, he caused some damage and was lucky he didn’t kill himself. He was surprised he was still conscious, but it seemed the building collapsed in a favorable manner, if such a thing was possible. A few heavy pieces lay atop him, but nothing that was crushing him. He was more focused on his back and stomach that both throbbed continuously from the two rough impacts. He was also more than certain one of his wings took a hit, that or something was on top of one of them.

He had two options he could make out. He could either ignore the pain and try to dig himself out, or he could hope someone saw him and came to help him out. The first seemed like too much work to him, and the second added the benefit of someone sympathizing with him and taking care of him. At least that’s how he saw the situation.

The debris began to move suddenly. Thunderlane felt confident that his second scenario was about to play out and felt relieved. The feeling lasted until the last large portion of fallen wood was thrown off of him rather roughly. He looked up, expecting to see a helping hoof extended, but instead he flinched and gritted his teeth. He didn’t look into the eyes of a savior. He looked directly into the enraged glare of a very, VERY large pony. Big Macintosh to be exact.

“Uh—” Thunderlane’s mind raced. He didn’t really take into account the possibility that he broke something important. As he tried to find words Applejack, Braeburn, and Granny Smith all joined Mac, glaring down at Thunderlane. “Um… oops? YIPE!” The next thing he knew he was being hoisted off the ground while struggling to get free.

Overhead, Rumble tried to fly down, but Cloud Chaser grabbed him.

“Lemme go! My brother’s in trouble!” He squirmed and fidgeted, but Cloud held on tight.

“Sorry kid, it looks like your brother’s gotten himself into trouble.” She started flying off. Flitter wasn’t so ready to abandon him.

“But, Cloud, shouldn’t we—” She glanced between her sister and the scene below.

“Flit, you know how crazy those apple ponies are, Thunderlane got himself in that mess, and you know you don’t want to get involved, c’mon.” She motioned for her sister to follow and flew on with the ever struggling Rumble. Flitter sighed and followed, leaving Thunderlane behind.

MLP: FiM
The Weight of Responsibility
By: Calm Wind

“All of the arguments are solid, I’m sorry Thunderlane, but I have to agree with them.” Decided the Mayor of Ponyville behind her desk. Her office was packed full with a few police ponies, Cloud Kicker, the Apple Family, and Thunderlane still being held by Big Macintosh.

“WHAT!? But you haven’t even heard MY side of the story!” Thunderlane desperately tried to defend himself.

“At this point it doesn’t really matter. You’ve caused property damage and put a snag in business plans for multiple Ponyville establishments that rely on Sweet Apple Acres apples for their own trade. I’m placing you in their custody to do labor. You will work for them and help them recover what they can for this season.”

“But—”

“No buts buster!” Applejack got in his face. “Yer makin’ up for all the trouble you’ve caused and don’t think I’m gonna make it easy for ya!” Thunderlane retracted slightly with every word she spoke. The Mayor turned to Cloud Kicker.

“This won’t be a problem at all?” She asked the head of the weather team. Cloud Kicker shook her head.

“We have plenty of pegasi who can fill in his small time slot. Besides, he’s sloppy and a slacker, this will be good for him.” Cloud Kicker didn’t hold back at all. Thunderlane couldn’t believe this. It was an accident, it’s not like he meant to knock down one stupid barn, and now they were gonna make him work? No way. At first chance all he would do is just fly away and—

“Let’s just take care of this now.” Braeburn suddenly slung a rope around Thunderlane’s body and pinned his wings to it. Thunderlane looked back at his wings with his mouth agape. He was stuck. This was gonna be hell for him and he knew it. The meeting began to dissipate, but he just stood still. That is until he was given a rough push by Big Mac.

“Okay, okay! Geez I’m going.”

Thunderlane was dragged all the way back to Sweet Apple Acres, complaining the whole way to no pony who was interested to hear him whine. It was now late and the sun had gone down. They pushed him into the house, into a shoddily prepared guest room, and all of them left except for Applejack, who was prepared to give him a rundown of what he would be going through.

“Now pay attention deadbeat, tomorrow morning bright an’ early you are gonna help Big Mac with his morning work, you’ll be passed off between each of us all day, haulin’, collectin’, and rebuildin’. Don’t expect much rest.” She put it plainly and harshly. She was ready to leave, but Thunderlane suddenly felt empowered to defend himself.

“Oh come on. Please tell me at least one of you thinks this is too much!” He barked, and was silenced in an instant when Applejack slammed her hoof to the floor and spun back to him.

“You are in no position to complain about a DAMN thing you piece of shit!” She shoved a hoof against him and pushed him back up against the wall. “You clearly ain’t got a damn clue what kind of position you’ve put me an’ my family in do you?!” He tried to struggle briefly, but she was way stronger than him. Another mental blow to add to all of it. “You are gonna work, and you better bet it’s gonna be a lot! Not like a lazy ass light shift weather team pegasi like yerself has ever done any!” She pushed him down and he fell roughly to the floor. He had no words to fire back, she scared him. And he thought Big Mac was scary, at least he didn’t speak much.

Applebloom appeared in the doorway briefly carrying a food tray that had some bread, an apple, some alfalfa, and a mug of water. She set it down, scowled in at Thunderlane, and left. Applejack turned her back to him.

“You’ve got a lot of debt to pay off. The more you whine, complain, and lollygag, the longer it’ll take ya.” She stomped towards the door, grabbing the apple off the tray of food before kick sliding it the rest of the way in the door, causing the mug to tip over and half the water to spill out onto the bread. Thunderlane winced as the door slammed. He sat completely still. He was shocked that he was getting treated so poorly. This was just not right. At least to him it wasn’t. It was an accident. You’d think he’d committed murder with this kind of hospitality.

He got to his hooves, and grumbled to himself. He tried to stretch out his wings, but the rope around him was tied so tight they couldn’t even budge. The knot was just out of his reach too. He looked around and eyed the door. He walked over and tried to open it, but it was locked. How did they lock a door from the outside? On closer inspection, the lock handle had been removed from the inside, meaning they locked it with a key from the hallway. He shook his head and eyed the windows next. He could tell even before he reached them, the locks had been removed and they even appeared to be nailed shut. It was like he was in jail. There was one more door in the room that wasn’t clearly a closet. Upon looking in, it was a very small bathroom, alleviating a very reasonable fear that struck him when he realized he was locked in.

Finally accepting his fate, he turned to the food. Bread, veggies, and water. Well, soaked bread, veggies, and half a mug of water. This sucked.

He thought over Applejack’s words. She was harsh and spoke of unbearable farm work. The more he thought about it, the more he felt it wouldn’t be TOO bad. All he had to do was work until they were satisfied and he’d be let go. A couple days wouldn’t be so bad right? Sure he was a Pegasus, but a day or two of ground work would be easy. Right?

Applejack trudged down the hallway towards the stairs. She was fuming mad. She may not have been too informed about the storage unit, but they spent a lot of money on it and Mac spent months putting it together. Not to mention everyone had to work extra to give him time to do so. Then BAM. Some stupid pegasus dives out of the sky, flying recklessly and dangerously close, and smashes it to pieces.

What this meant for her family going forward was HUGE. This threw a massive wrench into all of their plans. They would be lucky if they had enough harvest to sell through the winter. Also, they got lucky. Had Thunderlane hit a second later, she and the rest would have been inside during the collapse. She, Big Mac, and Braeburn would have been fine, but little Applebloom and Granny Smith could have been seriously hurt. As far as she was concerned, Thunderlane was getting off easy. She would have beaten him senseless had harm come to any of her family members. In fact he was lucky Mac got to him first, because she felt like clocking him across the face as soon as they uncovered him. She prepared to take a bite out of the apple she swiped off the food tray.

“Applejack.” A creaky voice froze her in place. The apple fell off her hoof and rolled towards a side door, stopping at the front hooves of two creaky old legs. It was Granny Smith of course. Applejack’s lack of response was actually not because of her mood. Even under normal circumstances she would have stopped stiff. Whenever Granny Smith spoke to her, she would always turn and smile, happy to do her grandmother a favor or listen to a story.

The one thing to note here was the lack of “dear”. “Applebloom, dear”, “Macintosh, dear”, “Braeburn, dear”, Applejack, dear.” It was how she addressed all of them. If that was ever absent, there was a problem. Granny Smith may have been long into her declining years, but she was the largest part of building Sweet Apple Acres into the biggest and most successful establishment of the entire Apple family. Applejack respected her greatly for this, as did her brother, sister, cousin, and every other younger Apple.

“Yes Granny?” Applejack slowly turned towards Granny Smith. She caught a very brief glimpse of disapproval in Granny Smith’s eyes before averting her own and slightly shading her face with her hat.

“You should be ashamed of yerself honey, treatin’ him like that.” She began harshly.

“But Granny, he—,” Applejack tried to interject.

“I know what he did. But I also know I didn’t raise you to be so cold hearted.” Her words stabbed Applejack. “I’m not happy about the damage he caused either, but it stops right there. He is bein’ punished, not tortured. You give him the same workload as everypony else ‘round here. No more. And don’t think I won’t notice it if ya do.”

“Yes Granny.” Applejack reluctantly complied.

“Good, now come along, we have a lot of plannin’ to do with the rest.” Granny Smith finished and began slowly making her way down the stairs. Applejack followed close behind her, ready to help if need be. An old force of habit.

Apparently being overly harsh had become a habit of hers lately as well. This wasn’t the first time she had been scolded for it in the recent past. Hell, it was actually the fifth or sixth in the past few months. Her responsibility to the farm seemed to be increasing by the day, and it seemed her intolerance for any kind of mishap was increasing as well. She was overly harsh to Braeburn when he messed up and came to Ponyville, she kept over reacting to Mac having his little relationship with Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash seemed to get under her skin without even trying lately.

This wasn’t going to change her opinion or stance on Thunderlane. He was going to work, and work hard or else he would get a mouthful from her. But as Granny Smith said, she would have to control herself. Thunderlane will do nothing beyond what’s required of him.

But she still hated him. She hated his guts.

Thunderlane turned over in bed as he slept. Having a lot on his mind caused him to toss and turn for a while the night before, and the rope tied around his wings made it a little uncomfortable, but he eventually fell asleep. The bed was comfier than he expected after all the harsh treatment he had gotten. More importantly he was hoping he’d wake up back in his own bed, preferably with Flitter and/or Cloud Chaser in bed with him, and this was all just some really bad dream.

The door to his room swung open and a hoof stomped on the floor so hard the whole house shook. Thunderlane woke instantly with a yelp and tumbled out of bed.

“Get up, time’s a wastin’” Big Mac’s voice came from the doorway. Thunderlane groggily pulled himself up onto the bed and looked for the clock, only he couldn’t see it because it was still pitch black save for the light from the hallway.

“What time is it?” He sleepily asked while yawning.

“Time to get to work,” Mac stated plainly. Thunderlane shuffled around and found the clock on his night stand. He turned it towards the hallway light and it read 4:00 AM.

“What?! It’s four in the morning, lemme sleep.” He plopped his head back down on the pillow. There was no reply from Mac, so Thunderlane foolishly assumed Mac just let him be. That was, until he felt the whole bed move. His eyes creaked open again as the bed was lifted into the air and turned sideways. Through reflex he tried to open his wings, but they were painfully prevented by the rope. He fell flat on the wood floor with a loud thud, the mattress, pillow and sheets landing beside him. Mac put the bed frame down and hoisted him off the floor.

“That means now!” He gruffly belted at Thunderlane before pushing him towards the door.

“Okay! I’m going!” He stumbled towards the doorway, extremely tired, and not sure if he even got more than a couple hours of sleep.

Thunderlane moved quickly down the stairs as if there was some kind of monster chasing him. Big Mac was hardly that, but Thunderlane was already more than intimidated by him. An intense smell caught his attention. He peeked around the corner into the kitchen and saw Granny Smith working the stove. There were two plates of scrambled eggs and three pancakes set on the kitchen table complete with a mug of homemade apple juice. Big Mac walked right past him and immediately took a huge bite out of one of the pancake stacks. He washed it down with some juice before turning to Thunderlane and making a head motion towards the other plate. Thunderlane blinked in confusion. Clearly Mac didn’t mean…

“Well, don’t let yer breakfast get cold now. It’s all yer gonna get till noon.” Granny Smith turned and pointed towards the plate. Thunderlane was surprised. After the horrible food he received last night he wasn’t expecting to get a home cooked meal.

“T-thanks.” He sheepishly said and made his way into the kitchen. Mac had already finished his pancakes and was destroying his eggs.

“Better hurry sonny, soon as Macintosh’s done yer getting’ to work.” Granny Smith added. Thunderlane knew there was a catch. Farm work and comfort didn’t go hand in hand. You didn’t have to be a farmer to understand that. He was hungry after his unsatisfying meal last night. He attacked the pancakes quickly. He had to admit, they were absolutely delicious, but he didn’t have time to savor it. Knowing how things were going, he’d be dragged away before finishing if Big Mac was ready to go. The eggs were just as good. Granny Smith was definitely an experienced cook. It was to be expected if she was running a farm her whole life. He barely got through half his eggs before Mac was up and ready to get going.

“C’mon.” He motioned towards the front door. Thunderlane was about to protest, but then he was worried Mac would flip the table. All it took was one encounter. Thunderlane had quickly developed a fear of putting off Mac, worried that it would lead to something being flipped over. He stuffed as many eggs as he could into his mouth and chugged what he could of the apple juice.

It was a horrible idea. Something didn’t go down clean. Thunderlane started coughing like crazy, pounding a hoof to his chest, trying to dislodge whatever got stuck. Mac rolled his eyes, walked over, and gave Thunderlane a good, strong pat on the back, maybe a little too strong. Thunderlane fell flat on the floor, but his coughing stopped. Mac winced, forgetting to ease up a little more than how hard he would have done it for Braeburn or Applejack. Thunderlane was definitely not as sturdy as an earth pony, and clearly not as strong legged as Rainbow Dash. He could see this was going to be a long day with this new “helper” and he wasn’t going to be very helpful.

“Sorry.” Big Mac apologized as Thunderlane shakily rose to his hooves, feeling like an anvil was dropped on his back. “Let’s go, we’re already behind.” Mac gave him little time to recuperate and headed for the door. Thunderlane regained his senses and sighed as he followed.

He was not going to enjoy this one bit, and it certainly wasn’t going to be easy.

Despite being tired as hell and having a now somewhat aching back, Thunderlane kept up with Big Mac out to the farm as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Mac seemed to be trotting along at a quickened pace. Thunderlane had to nearly run to keep up, Mac was almost twice his size, and each of his strides was equal to about two for Thunderlane. This didn’t help his stomach. Thunderlane was cramping up by the time they reached the barn.

“Mornin’ Big Mac!” A voice came from atop the barn. Thunderlane looked up while clutching his stomach to see Rainbow Dash glide down to join them. At least he thought it was Rainbow Dash. The last time he saw her she didn’t look so buff. She almost looked like an earth pony with wings.

“Mornin’ Dash.” Mac answered while unlocking the barn and pulling the large door aside. Dash stole a glance at Thunderlane who was still eying her quizzically.

“So we get the slacker today?” She rolled her eyes as she asked Mac.

“Eeyup.”

“I guarantee you he’s gonna whine the whole time.”

“Eeyup.” He answered simply again before the two went into the barn and began pulling out multiple farm carts.

As they talked about him right in front of him, Thunderlane put it all together. When his initial wondering about Rainbow Dash subsided he was curious as to why she was up so early and at the farm. Then they came together. She was here to do farm work. She was helping Big Macintosh, therefore, after seeing the large carts, he deduced that she had been doing some heavy lifting just like him. That explained the muscles at least.

Then his thoughts shifted to why. Why in the Equestria was Rainbow Dash strength training? Why did it have to be here? All she ever did was chastise him for being lazy.

“Hey lazy ass, are you gonna sit there all day or grab a cart?” It sure didn’t take her long to do so. Thunderlane sighed and approached the carts. Mac emerged from the barn with a long train of seven carts. Thunderlane paused briefly to stare wide eyed as Mac went by before looking at the spare cart they brought out for him. The harness was metal and didn’t look the slightest bit comfortable. He slowly stuck his body beneath it, eventually figuring out how to latch it on. It wasn’t going to be that heavy, if Mac could pull seven no problem how heavy could they be?

“Whoa!” He took one step and if not for the harness catching him, he would have fallen face first. The cart was extremely heavy. As he replanted his hooves, Rainbow Dash pulled up beside Mac with three carts. Thunderlane gawked at the ease of which she pulled them. Mac glanced back at her train.

“You sure you c’n handle three?” He asked. She nodded confidently.

“Gotta step it up eventually, two was starting to get way too easy.” She explained proudly.

“If ya say so.” Mac looked over his other shoulder. “C’mon over there, we ain’t got all mornin’!”

Thunderlane felt like screaming. As if it wasn’t already a sore spot that Dash was faster than him, now she was stronger than him too? The humiliation just wouldn’t end. He gritted his teeth and forced the cart to star moving. Each step was rough, but he refused to be showed up any more than he already was. After a few steps, he got the cart to move at what seemed like a steady pace. He realized there was some momentum involved. The hard part was just getting it moving. Proud of himself, he looked up to see that Mac and Dash were pulling away from him quickly. His pride snuffed once again, he dug his hooves harder into the dirt and forced it to move faster.

Forget hell, this was WORSE. He was being forced to do work not meant for pegasi. At least not normal pegasi. If he tried to leave he’d be found and forced back. To rub it in he was working alongside a mare that kept making him look bad, and he was working for a crazy family of work junkie farmers. There was nothing to like about this situation, he understood this was meant to be a punishment, but he just knocked down one building by accident, this kept looking like more and more like a cruel and unusual way to give him a slow and painful death sentence, what was the big deal?

Thunderlane felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest, and he wasn’t sure if he had legs anymore. He slowed to a stop and dropped down to take a breather. It felt like he had run a mile and it had only been a few seconds. He didn’t use his legs often, besides landing on things and occasionally walking. He was a flyer, and if he could fly this would probably be easier. He hoped he didn’t have much farther to pull the stupid cart, but then he looked up. Mac and Dash were almost out of sight. The path stretched for what looked like miles to him on foot. Defeated, but with nowhere else to go or turn, Thunderlane forced himself back up and continued to strain himself.

“Phew!" Applejack wiped sweat from her brow as a tree she just kicked dropped all its apples towards the baskets below. It wasn’t very hot due to scheduled winter approaching, but she always worked hard enough to break a sweat. In her opinion, she wasn’t working hard enough if she didn’t. She walked around the tree, picking up any apples that fell to the ground and placed them in the baskets as Braeburn gave a whistle from nearby. It was the signal that Mac and Rainbow Dash were drawing near. She quickly propped two baskets on her back and brought them over to the main path, repeating the process a few times to bring all her baskets over. Braeburn did the same thing from the other side of the path.

Applejack waved at Mac as he came up the path with Rainbow Dash right beside him. She rolled her eyes and shook her head when Thunderlane was nowhere to be seen.

“Mornin’” Applejack greeted as she began dumping the apples into Mac’s carts. She didn’t even bother asking about Thunderlane. Braeburn saved her the trouble of wondering.

“Where’s the expert flier?” He joked as he loaded apples into Dash’s carts. Dash snickered as she removed her harness, got down, and started doing wing ups as she waited.

“He’s comin’” Mac put plainly, passing the string of wheat back and forth in his mouth. Applejack shook her head.

“He’s gonna mess up our rhythm.” She complained while walking up between the trains to get more apples.

“You’re the one that put him with us this morning, please tell me you saw this coming.” Said Dash as she shifted her weight to one wing and started doing single wing ups. Applejack glanced at her motions.

“Careful there sugarcube, you’re already takin’ on three carts, don’t tire yerself out.” She spoke out of concern, and admittedly with a little smirk on her face to get at Dash. Dash only scoffed.

“Oh please, entirely different body function. Can’t neglect strengthening the wings. Don’t want to lose the speed with all these new muscles.” She casually explained while pushing off her wing and landing on the other and doing more wing ups.

“You tried that fancy move of Soarin’s lately?” Braeburn asked as he hopped down from the cart behind her. Dash beamed with pride.

“It’s not as perfect or as fast as his, but I got it to work the other day. I’ll show you guys later.”

They all turned as the sound of a single cart accompanied by the sound of heavy wheezing slowly drew closer.

“Better late than never,” Applejack muttered to herself as Thunderlane came into view. He had a good pace going, but he looked like he had just run a marathon. He pulled up along the other side of Mac and tried to stop, but as he did the cart didn’t agree with him. It kept going and knocked him forward, pushing his face down into and through the dirt, making them all wince. He didn’t say anything, just sat there panting and wheezing. They all looked between one another. Braeburn finally spoke up.

“Golly, all he did was pull one empty cart from the barn to here?”

“Well,” Dash began regardless of Thunderlane being within direct earshot of her, “He’s a Pegasus, he’s not built for this, I can tell you, and it wasn’t easy for me at first either. But here’s the catch, he’s a LAZY Pegasus. I at least tried to stay in shape before starting this.” Her explanation earned chuckles from Braeburn.

“Damn Dash, not holding back huh?”

“What?” She shrugged, “It’s true. I already told Mac not to expect too much help.” Applejack stood over the heap of Thunderlane and shook her head.

“Well he’s still gotta pay off what he owes us whether he likes it or not. I’m NOT gonna have him mess up our process out here, so he’s stuck with you for now.”

“Water…” Thunderlane suddenly rasped from the ground.

“Well he aint gonna help at all if we kill him,” Braeburn went over to a saddle bag he had dropped on the edge of the path and pulled out a water skin, bringing it over and helping Thunderlane drink. Mac glanced at Thunderlane, then back along the path, sighing.

“Just let ‘im rest. He’ll never make the loop back to the barn with a heavier load. We’ll be fine for now,” he said, “just hook his cart up to the end of my train, he c’n take it back when he’s ready.”

“You sure Mac?” Applejack asked, eyeing his already long train of carts.

“Eeyup.” There was no arguing with him. Applejack and Braeburn unhooked Thunderlane and carried him over to the side of the path before hooking his cart up to Mac’s train and filling it with apples.

“All set?” Dash asked. Mac only nodded in response. “Okay!” She tried to get a head start. “Oh yeah,” She grinned to mask the slight struggle. “This is definitely gonna be heavier. Bring it on!” She encouraged herself as Mac easily heaved the extra weight of his train along as if it weren’t even there.

Braeburn went right back to work, but Applejack paused for a moment over Thunderlane. This was going to be hopeless, but there was nothing she could do about it. Granny Smith told her to give him an honest workload, but it was too much for him from the word go. She could have him help Applebloom with the unloading before she went to school, but that was such an easy job. Applebloom didn’t even have to do it. She just wanted to be helpful.

He was pathetic from head to tail. She would never doubt Rainbow Dash again if this was a typical Pegasus. Or was he just the worst his kind had to offer? He had clearly never done a stich of real work in his life, but she didn’t care. He would pay them back, and if it took him years to do so, then he’d work for them for years, plain and simple.

Thunderlane was so light headed he didn’t know if he was even conscious or not. All he knew was that he was laying on the ground somewhere and that the pain had stopped. At some point somepony gave him water. Beyond that his head was spinning so hard he couldn’t perceive anything around him. He pleaded and pleaded his brain to just stop and for him to wake up from a horrible experience that he still hoped was just the worst nightmare ever.

Eventually one part of his jumbled thoughts came true. The dizziness finally faded, and his wheezing ceased. He opened his eyes slowly, wincing due to the sunlight blaring right into them. He let out a groan, realizing that he was still on the farm.

“You finally up?” Applejack’s sharp tone shot through his ears painfully like a spear. His head was still slightly throbbing. He groggily turned his head to see her drop two large apple baskets down on the side on the path before glaring at him. Just the opposite of what he wanted to see.

Applejack approached him, blocking the sun from his eyes, but in doing so made her seem like a tower over him. He didn’t stand up, just sat there in her shadow, tired and fed up with absolutely everything.

“Why are you doing this to me?” He whined. “All I did was knock down one lousy building by accident!” His headache clawed at him as he forced the words out. “What’s the big deal?!” He immediately regretted opening his trap. Applejack’s expression turned furious in an instant. She reached down and roughly jabbed her hoof against his chest.

“Let’s get somethin’ straight right here, right now. That ‘lousy’ buildin’ you knocked down was a special new addition to our farm,” she pressed harder, “it cost us a lot of money and took a long time to put together,” again she pressed her hoof harder, “we earned most of that money through our daily grind of hard work and sweat,” she was pressing her hoof so hard against him he was actually forced down slightly, “so you will make up for breakin’ it by workin’,” Thunderlane began to skid back slightly from the force, “and you’re gonna work for it the same way we did, so you’ll understand just how much damage you’ve really caused!”

Thunderlane just sat and took her verbal onslaught, eyes wide, body stiff. He didn’t know which member of the Apple family he was more afraid of. The silent beast that could crush his skull with a cough or the roaring blaze of passion that kept belting at him. Applejack bent down and shoved her face into his, tipping her hat slightly against his forehead.

“Do. I. Make. Mah. Self. Clear?” She said each word roughly with a small pause in between. Thunderlane nodded without a single retort. “Good. Now get up. You’re takin a cart from Mac on his next pass.”

Big Mac and Rainbow Dash soon made their way back around for their fourth pass by Applejack and Braeburn. Mac eyed Thunderlane as he approached, observing that he was both up and waiting. He grunted in disapproval. He understood that they needed extra work done, but Thunderlane wasn’t being very helpful, in fact he had done nothing but slow them down since dawn. He almost didn’t want to give up the eighth cart and just keep going himself. He knew Applejack would give him an earful about it though, so he pulled up and gave a whistle to Braeburn and a head motion towards his carts. Understanding instantly, Braeburn trotted down and unhook the last cart for Thunderlane.

Despite his excruciating experience with his first attempt, Thunderlane obediently hooked himself to the cart and waited for it to be filled. He didn’t want to incur any more wraths for the time being. He wasn’t through protesting, but he knew who NOT to protest to. He glanced back at his cart, now filled to the brim with apples. It was going to be even heavier now, and he had no idea how long the loop back to the barn was, but he was clearly getting no sympathy so he had no choice but to work.

Big Mac and Dash started down the loop as soon as they had full trains. Thunderlane took a deep breath and heaved his body forward, pushing his hooves hard into the dirt. The cart didn’t even budge. He heaved and grunted, but not a single effort produced movement, his hooves sliding against the ground as he tried to take steps.

Braeburn sighed and dropped his water skin, taking a few steps towards Thunderlane.

“Braeburn, leave him.” Applejack said sternly. He glanced over his shoulder and saw her looking directly at him while shaking her head. Braeburn sighed and turned back to her.

“Look A.J. I know you’re angry about what he did. Hell, I’m angry too, but now he’s working for us to pay us back.” He pointed towards Thunderlane. “He’s obviously not cut out for this work. So until he can do it himself, we should lend him a hoof. Lettin’ his spirit break with endless strugglin’ won’t do anything for anypony.” He turned and continued towards the cart. He came up behind and lowered his head, placing it against the cart. With a few strong steps, the cart began to move, Braeburn kept up behind until the cart had a steady pace and he let up. Thunderlane had no idea how the cart got moving, but he went along with it, following the others down the path to the loop the best he could.

Applejack watched Braeburn assist Thunderlane and thought over her cousin’s words. She was getting so wrapped up in how much she despised Thunderlane that she hadn’t even considered his morale. There was none to consider as is, but some would be needed if he were to do any work at all. Maybe Granny Smith was right. She was being too harsh. But at the same time she felt that if she was any less, she’d be letting him off easy. She had to find the right balance. Braeburn made a very good point. Thunderlane needed positive encouragement to do any sort of good work, but she didn’t want to be nice to him at all. He didn’t deserve a bit of kindness from her. That was Fluttershy’s thing. Applejack was honest, and honestly? She wanted to wring Thunderlane’s neck.

And there she went again. She had to focus, she had to stay on task, and she had to figure out how to make him miserable and useful at the same time. Okay, maybe just useful. But he wasn’t off the hook. He was in the dog house as long as he worked here and she was NOT going to change her mind on that.

--To be continued--