Only A Matter of Time

“Now where in Celestia’s name is that Rainbow Dash! She said she’d be here with those rain clouds I ordered from the weather factory half an hour ago!” Applejack, Ponyville’s mighty working farm pony, grunted as she lifted a basket of freshly bucked apples and placed them next to ten other baskets, piled high, with all the other apples she had bucked earlier this morning. She stood by the baskets, scanning the horizon with her hoof to her forehead looking for the cyan weather Pegasus.  As she looked out for Rainbow dash, she took the moment to enjoy the wind flowing through her blond mane and tail, providing her some coolness from the scorching rays of Celestia’s sun.

“Hey Applejack, Wasn't Rainbow Dash supposed to be here with the clouds you ordered by now? Do you think she might have forgotten about it?” a male voice called out as Applejack looked back towards the sound of the voice.

“Nah, I don’t think she forgot. I think that she is just being her lazy self again and is off sleeping on some cloud somewhere. I sure do hope she learns to stop being lazy and actually complete her job on time. Anyways, how are you holding up?” she asked the figure as she saw him approach her with a basket filled with apples, and place them with the rest of the baskets.

“I just finished picking some apples off of that tree over there, filled my final basket and now, I’m just waiting for them to get washed. Other than that, I’d say I’m doing fine.” The tall figure responded back.

“Great, well at least now we can take a break, this hot weather is starting to burn my alive!” He added as he sat down under one of the millions of apple tree’s spread out across Apple Family Farm, resting his back against the trunk and cooling off under the shade.  Applejack sat on a tree stump and looked at her partner, as if she were a scientist studying a new discovered species. He was about six feet in height, barely tall enough to be at eye level with the mighty princesses of Equestria, yet tall enough to stand above the other ponies of the land. He had bare skin, instead of a fur coat like all the other ponies, and his skin color was absolutely one of a kind. It was a light tan color that got slightly darker on his arms and legs and he wore a blue and black button shirt with blue jeans. He had black short hair, and these handsome dark brown eyes. He had hands and two feet, rather than hooves or claws, and he also didn’t have a tail. Unlike every pony else, he wasn't a stallion, griffon, dragon, or animal. He was a human, the only one that Equestria had ever seen. He spoke like every pony else, making it easy for him to fit in, yet at times when Applejack would take him to the market to sell apples, he would have his moments where things would get weird. His name was Aaron, and Applejack was very thankful for having his help on the apple farm.

“I think I see Rainbow over there.”  Aaron yawned as he noticed a blue figure moving a cloud in the sky.

“Finally, I thought she would never show up!” Applejack sighed as she looked over at the direction Aaron was looking at and saw the Cyan weather Pegasus.

“Sorry AJ, there were some technical difficulties over at the weather factory, some worker mixed up the wrong rain cloud.” Rainbow Dash apologized, as she brought over the grey rain cloud to the farm pony.

“It’s alright, just be a little more on schedule next time. Anyways, I need you to place that cloud over them apple baskets so that they can get washed and placed in the cellar.” Applejack told her and she nodded in return.

“Watch out guys, don’t want you guys to get shocked by lighting!” Rainbow Dash warned her friends as she began to pound the rain out of the cloud. The sound of soft pattering could be heard as the rain droplets landed on top of the baskets of apple. Once the rain cloud stopped pouring rain, the weather pony bucked the rain cloud out of existence and landed in between of Aaron and Applejack.

“Thanks Sugercube, its much appreciated.” Applejack thanked as she began to walk over to the wet baskets.

“No problem, AJ. Hey when do you guys finish working?” Rainbow asked curiously.

“Well, we have to take these baskets over to the cellar and after that; I guess we would be done for the day, why?” AJ responded.

“Oh it’s just that I was wondering if we could go get some lunch together, I don’t have anything else to do anyways.” Rainbow sighed, her boredom clearly showing her need for an activity.

“Well I don’t know about you, Applejack, but I’m down for some grub after work.” Aaron said, as he got up on his feet and brushed the sides of his jeans with his hands.

“How many baskets are there?” Rainbow asked him.

“Eleven baskets, we should be able to get most of them on the first trip.”  He grunted as he stretched out his back and cracked his neck.

“Well then what are we waiting for! Baskets don’t move themselves, you know!” Applejack laughed as she ran over to two baskets and placed them on her back.

“Alright I’ll help out too, seems like you guys got a lot of weight to carry.” Rainbow said as she followed behind Aaron, who had grabbed a sturdy stick and placed two baskets on each end of the stick.

“You sure you can pick that up, I mean these baskets weigh a lot, on their own.” She questioned Aaron as she saw him walk to the center of the stick and grab a hold of it.

“I’m positive, don’t you worry your little pretty head about me, and I’ll be fine.” He responded back, as he lifted the stick, carrying four baskets at one time and jogging towards the cellar. Rainbow paid no attention to Aaron, as she picked up two baskets and followed after him.

Once they finished the first trip to the cellar, Aaron and Rainbow Dash walked over to the other three baskets while Applejack stayed at the cellar and organized it to make room for the new baskets.

“I call holding two baskets!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she ran over to the last three baskets remaining. She was about to pick up two of the baskets when Aaron placed himself in her way.

“Umm Aaron, What are you doing?” she asked him.

“I can’t let you do that, Dash.” He said to her as he picked up the two baskets instead.

“Hey wait a minute now, that’s not fair!” she complained as Aaron started walking to Applejack.  He shrugged his shoulders at her and continued walking, while Rainbow Dash argued behind him.

“Come back with that basket, I called it fair and square!”

“Hey how about this, if you let me carry these baskets over to the cellar, I’ll pay for your lunch after we get done, deal?”  He responded back to her, as he stopped walking and turned to face her.  Rainbow thought hard on the offer, she was kind of tight on bits at the moment, and this was Aaron’s job after all, it would suck for him if some pony came and did it for him.

“Oh, Alright. But only because you offered to pay my bill.” Rainbow answered as she walked with only one basket on her back instead of the two she called. Once they had arrived to the cellar, Applejack placed the baskets in their new spaces and walked out of the heavy apple scented cellar.

“Alright, we’re done! Great job, you did Aaron. Now, Rainbow Dash, where exactly do you plan to eat for lunch?” Apple jack asked her as she locked the bolt door of the cellar.

“Let’s go to that diner in Ponyville just across your apple stand. I heard from a few of my friends that the food there is amazing.” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“Okay, so to Ponyville it is then?” Aaron asked the other two mares.

“Yes sir!” they responded as the group of friends started making their way into town.