Applejack slammed her hind legs against the trunk of the tree with precise aim, causing it to shake violently and drop all its apples into the carefully placed baskets below. The bounty harvested, she turned and whistled loudly. A few seconds later, a blue blur sped towards her, stopping just a foot away from her.
"Got another coupla baskets for yer ta take, Rainbow," Applejack said, nodding over to them.
"I'm on it!" Rainbow exclaimed, grinning and giving her a salute. "Be there and back in ten seconds flat!"
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Just make sure yer stackin' them all nice an' tidy, okay?" she said with a smile.
Flying over to one of the baskets and lifting it up by the handle with her teeth, Rainbow Dash raced off with the precious cargo of Sweet Apple Acres over to the barn, putting the basket down next to several others before zipping back over to collect another one, while Applejack trotted over to a small cart she brought along.
Harvest time had come once again to Sweet Apple Acres. Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom were tending to the trees on one side of the orchard, while Applejack and Rainbow Dash worked on the other side.
Out of guilt for technically stealing what wasn't hers, and as a way of compensating for it, the pegasus had sheepishly offered a helping hoof when she was caught red-handed lazying around in one of the trees, helping herself to a few apples. Now she flew baskets of apples from the orchard to the farm and back.
Applejack took off her hat and fanned herself with it. The sun brought with it a beautiful morning, but also quite warm and only getting warmer. With the heat and a hard day's work ahead of them, she knew they would all have dry throats and sweaty foreheads by sundown.
"Hey Applejack, you okay?" said a voice behind her. Applejack turned her head and saw Rainbow Dash flying above her, holding another basket of apples in her hooves.
"Yeah, ah'm fine." Applejack replied, smiling warily and nodding her head toward the sun. "Just a lil' sweaty, from all this here heat an' all."
Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Well, maybe if you didn't wear that hat, you wouldn't get so hot." She fluttered closer to the ground to put the basket down and hovered over to Applejack. "In fact, why are you wearing that thing in this weather?"
Applejack blinked. "Uh, pardon?"
Rainbow Dash pointed at the hat. "Why are you wearing that hat if it's making you feel hot? You can just take it off, you know."
Applejack looked a little uneasy at Rainbow's suggestion, pawing at the earth with her hoof as she tried to give an answer. "W-well, uh, ah didn't mean that it was, ya know, that hot, RD. Sides', it makes a mighty good fan if ah get a lil' too warm an' all." The farm pony gave Rainbow Dash a weak smile, and turned and walked away over to the next apple tree. "Ah'll be fine, trust me."
Rainbow Dash felt something seemed a little off about what Applejack had said, but deciding not to push the issue any further, she picked up the basket and flew back to the barn to drop it off with the rest. Applejack glanced over her shoulder as Rainbow flew away, letting out a sigh of relief when the pegasus was gone before continuing with her task.
Applejack pulled the small cart with all her empty baskets near the next tree, and removed a few. Taking them over to the next apple tree, she eyed the apples hanging above her, noting where they were and placing a basket where they would likely fall. When she was happy with her decision, she positioned herself next to the base of the tree, readying her hind legs o deliver the kick.
Just as she raised her hind legs to buck the wood, a sudden gust of wind threw her off balance, taking her by surprise.
"Woah, nelly!" Applejack tried to regain her footing, but it was too late. She fell over on her side, landing on the ground with a thud. Shaking her head, the earth pony sat up and looked around for whatever caused her fall, her answer coming a second later in the form of the cyan mare looking down at her, trying hard not to express a smirk.
Applejack glared at the pegasus as a laugh finally escaped the pegasus. "Rainbow!" the farm pony scolded.
"He he he, sorry about that," Rainbow apologized, rubbing the back of her head. "I thought you had this tree done by now, so I came over to get some baskets off you. Still, scaring the hay outta you made the trip worthwhile" She chuckled and moved closer to her friend, extending a hoof out to help her up off the ground. Applejack frowned, but took the offer and was pulled back up onto her hooves.
"Jus' watch what yer doin' next time, okay?" Applejack said, brushing off dirt from her coat. She raised her hoof up to adjust her hat, only feel the hairs of her mane. She looked down on the ground where she had fallen, but she didn't see it there either.
Applejack's face suddenly dropped, her frown replaced with a look of distraught
"Where's mah hat?" she yelled, as she began running over to the other trees nearby, looking up into the branches and leaves and behind them, becoming ever more frantic by the second. "Where in the hay did mah hat git to?"
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Er, AJ? You okay there?" she asked, a little worried. She dropped to the ground and folded her wings.
Applejack spun around and got up close to Rainbow's face, a look of worry present on her own. "No, ah'm not! Mah hat's missin'! Ah gotta find it!" She turned away and resumed her search, mumbling to herself. "It can't have gone far, it's gotta be round' ere' somewheres..."
"It's just a hat, AJ," Rainbow said, raising a hoof. "Unless you keep all your money in it I don't get why you're getting so worked up over it." Applejack stopped and turned her head to Rainbow Dash, and stared at the pegasus with an angry scowl, seeming to have taken more offense than was intended.
Rainbow blinked. "What?" she asked. A moment passed and a thought came to her. "Wait, do you keep your money in that hat?" she questioned.
Applejack stomped towards her, each thudding sound her hooves made against the ground made Rainbow more and more uncomfortable, until she was close to the pegasus. "Don't you dare make a joke bout' this, Rainbow," she said slowly, her country voice suddenly sound much darker. Her glaring emerald eyes gazed into Rainbow's nervous own. "Ya don't know what that hat means ta me, what makes it special ta me. That hat's the only thing besides mah family that Ah hold dearer than all the apples of this here orchard, so ya'll better not make fun of this if ya know what's good fer ya!"
Rainbow's eyes shrank, and she gulped loudly. She had never seen the orange earth mare this cross before, and all for an old cowboy hat too! But rather than risk making things worse, Rainbow brought her hooves up defensively and slunk away from the farm pony. "Okay, AJ, I'm sorry. No funny business, I promise," Rainbow said hoping it would calm her friend down.
It seemed to do the trick as Applejack leaned away from her, the anger in her eyes waning a little. "Jus' help me find it, okay?" Her voice wasn't as vicious now, but it still had a growl to it. Applejack turned and stormed off into the trees to continue her search, leaving Rainbow to look on in awe as she tried to make sense of what had happened just now.
"Oh, come on AJ!" Rainbow whined, poking her head from out of the green foliage of the tree she was in. "We've been looking for ages, and we've found nothing. And there's still trees with apples that need bucking, aren't there?"
The earth mare grumbled. "It's only been ten minutes, RD. And ah already told ya - Ah ain't leaving till' ah find mah hat!" And with that, she began to poke her head around in one of the nearby bushes.
Rainbow groaned in frustration. Applejack was a persistent pony when she wanted to be, and her persistence could be as strong as her stubbornness at times. In all the time they had both spent in trying to find the darn hat they could have probably cleared at least a couple ten more trees by now.
Rainbow spread her wings and hovered out of the tree, towards the ground and to where Applejack was. "Look, AJ, the apples aren't gonna buck themselves. You said that yourself this morning right?" Rainbow began.
The farm pony stopped for a moment, then continued. Rainbow Dash felt her frustration building up, but held it back and tried to reason with the farm mare one more time. "C'mon AJ, why don't we just go back and buck a few more trees, huh? Let's fill a few more baskets with apples, and then we can come back and have another look for your hat, okay?" Rainbow reached out and gently placed her hoof on Applejack's shoulder.
But Applejack shoved her hoof away. "I told ya already, Rainbow. Ah'm not givin' up till' ah find mah hat," she stated.
Now Rainbow Dash was starting to get a little more annoyed. "Applejack, it's just a hat!" she exclaimed throwing her forelegs up in the air.
Applejack spun around and gave her an angry stare. "It's more than jus' a hat, Rainbow!" she shouted at her. "Ya got no idea what that hat is worth ta me!"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Oh right, like that dusty old thing is worth any more than my Wonderbolt memorabilia collection," she retorted, sticking her tongue out at the orange mare.
Applejack felt her frustration converting into anger, and her anger boiling up inside of herself. "Ya better watch what ya say," the farm pony warned. "Ya trespassing into mighty personal territory, Dashie. Stuff ya know nothin' about."
"Then why don't you tell me about it?" Rainbow pleaded. "What's so important about that hat that you'll stop bucking apples for it? It's just not like you, Applejack."
Applejack's anger waned a little, and she turned her gaze away from the pegasus. "Ah...ah don't...wanna talk bout' it, okay?" she answered quietly, a tone of sadness to her voice as her ears drooped down.
Rainbow Dash walked over and sat beside her. "Come on AJ. You were and still are the element of Honesty. Everypony knows when you're lying." She gave Applejack a smirk. "Let's face it - you're pretty bad at it," she chuckled.
That seemed to make Applejack smile, if only a small one. "Y-yeah, ah guess ah am, huh?" She sighed and looked down at the ground. She felt something on her shoulder, and her eyes trailed over to see Rainbow's hoof.
"So you gonna tell me what's the deal with the hat, or am I gonna have to -" Rainbow stretched out her wing and clamped her mouth on one of her feathers, plucking it out and holding it between her teeth as she returned her attention back to Applejack, smiling. "-do this the hard way?" she finished. She leaned slightly towards Applejack's hind hoof.
Applejack shuffled away, throwing her hooves up in submission. "Nah, please! Anythin' but that, Rainbow! Ah'll talk, ah'll talk!" she squeaked.
Rainbow smiled at the otherwise tough farm mare's childish display, and spat out the feather. She crossed her forelegs and waited for the farm pony to start talking.
Applejack took a deep breath and turned to face Rainbow Dash. Her expression was all the pegasus needed to see to tell that whatever her friend had to say for herself, it was something rather uneasy.
"Rainbow, do ya know what happened ta mah parents?"
Rainbow shook her head.
"Well, seven years ago, mah Ma was pregnant wit' lil' Apple Bloom. Ah still remember the night she had us all gather by the fireplace an' told us the news." Applejack let out a quiet chuckle as she reminisced. "Ah also remember arguing wit' Big Mac over whether we were gonna get another brother or sister, until mah Pa stepped in ta break up our arguing."
"But Ma was carryin' Apple Bloom in her belly at a pretty bad time in the history of the Apples. We were fightin' through a bad season of snow an' frost, an' mah family faced a lot'a trouble tryin' ta keep warm an' all. We had some pretty rough nights where the winds damaged parts o' our home an' we couldn't move far from our own farm cause' of how deep the snow was, so gettin' firewood proved hard without resorting ta our own apple trees, which we eventually had ta do. It was hard, but it had ta be done."
"But the weather already took its toll on mah Ma when the time came. She weren't well enough when she went into labor, an' the snow was so thick we had no chance of getting her ta hospital in time. But she kept screaming at us ta forget her, ta just save the baby. Pa stayed by Ma's side, holdin' her hoof an' reassuring her, telling her everythin' was gonna be okay, an' Granny had me an' Big Mac fetchin' hot water an' towels an' pillows an' everythin' ta help Ma."
"Granny was amazing, but she weren't amazing enough. She got Apple Bloom out of Ma, an' we all made a huge ruckus over her. But then Pa turned back ta Ma an'...an'..."
Rainbow Dash put a wing over Applejack's back as the farm pony wiped away a tear. She understand the rest.
"But, and no offense AJ, I don't get what it's got to do with your hat," Rainbow Dash said.
Applejack sniffed. "IAh'm getting to it, Rainbow Dash. After Ma's..." Applejack paused for a few seconds, thinking. "Afterwards, Pa wasn't the same stallion he used ta be. He became distant, he was less cheerful and he rarely went out bucking the apple trees, or ta go anywhere for that matter. Granny pretty much became the carer for me an' Big Mac in his absence, though we sometimes heard them fightin' at night over his responsibilities ta his kids, and how he had ta think bout' us. An' then one day, he walked inta mah room, an' he sat on mah bed, an' he calls me over."
"He starts tellin' me how sorry he was for not being wit' us, an' for leaving all the burden on Granny. He then begins tellin' me how he found a way to see Mommy again. Ah was young, so Ah didn't know what he meant by that at the time. I jus' remember wanting ta see Ma again too. But he says ta me that Ah can't see her wit' him, that he had ta leave on his own. An' Ah cried in his chest, Rainbow." Applejack turned to look at her friend, straight in the eyes. Rainbow Dash could see the tears threatening to break through any moment.
"Ah asked him why he had ta go, why only he could go an' see Ma, but he didn't say anythin'. He jus' kisses me on mah head an' he apologizes. He looks me right in the ye, an' he tells me that a part of him will still be wit' me, just like Ma was always wit' me. And he turned and left mah room, an' Ah tried ta follow him, but he shuts mah door an' locks me in."
"Ah bucked an' banged on the door for probably hours, callin' for my Pa, then for mah brother and for Granny, anypony, ta let me out cause' Ah'm scared of what's happening. Ah can hear Apple Bloom cryin' in the room down the hall, so Ah know Pa's not wit' her tryin' ta calm her."
"It felt like hours had passed fore' mah brother comes an' lets me out. But by then...he already gone an' done it," Applejack finished, a few teardrops leaking and falling to the earth. "It was a while before Ah could go in that barn again."
Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack, confused at what she was implying. A moment of thought later, and Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as realization hit her. She shuddered. She didn't know what her friend's parents had to do with the importance surrounding her hat, but now that she did she felt terrible inside over making a joke out of it earlier.
She tried to imagine being Applejack, looking for her father and finding no trace of him, and then entering the barn and stumbling upon that terrible sight. Hanging from the rafters, limp and quiet, swaying gently side to side with a sad look on his face. Then Rainbow Dash imagined it was her own father in place of Applejack's, and she very quickly shook the thought out of her head as a sick feeling entered her gut. She had a clearer idea how her friend must have felt in that moment in her childhood.
"So ya see now why Ah need that hat? It's all Ah got to remember him by. It keeps a part of mah Pa wit' me." Applejack sniffed again, wiping away another tear. "Ah lose that hat, Ah lose a part of him."
Rainbow Dash patted her with her wing, still draped around the mare. "Gee. I, I'm sorry Applejack. I didn't realize."
"Nah, it's alright. Ah shouldn't have snapped at ya like that before," Applejack said apologetically. "An' Ah'm sorry bout' that."
Rainbow Dash shook her head and raised a hoof. "It's cool, AJ. Really." She removed her wing from Applejack and got up from her haunches. "C'mon, let's head back to your farm. Big Mac and Apple Bloom are probably wondering why you stopped bucking apples," she said.
AppleJack shook her head. "But...but...mah hat..."
Rainbow Dash sighed. "Look, Applejack. I understand now why you love that hat so much, but getting this worked up over it won't help you. Let's walk back to your house and maybe we'll find it on our way."
Applejack hesitated for a few moments, then got up off her haunches and onto her hooves. "O-okay Rainbow. Maybe ya're right. Ah hope so anyway," she muttered. She slowly walked over to Rainbow Dash, and the both of them began to make their way back towards the farm, occasionally looking around in case the farm mare's hat did turn up.
Sadly, by the time they reached the barn, no trace of it had been found. Applejack seemed utterly devoid of hope as she walked over to the stacked baskets of apples. Rainbow Dash watched as her friend collapsed onto a nearby hay bale, covering her face with her hooves.
"It's hopeless," she groaned dejectedly. "That hat's nowhere around the place. It coulda blown all the way inta Ponyville this whole time, an' be anywhere by now." She sank lower into the hay bale. "Ah'm never gonna see mah Pa's hat again." Her form trembled slightly as she began to sob into her hooves.
Rainbow Dash wasn't sure what she could say to lift her friend's spirits. She felt nothing but guilt and sympathy. If she hadn't messed about earlier then Applejack wouldn't have lost that which she held dearly close to her. Rainbow Dash stood there, head sadly hanging, unsure of what to do.
Something bright shone onto Rainbow Dash's face, causing her to raise her hoof up to shield her eyes from the light. Wondering what was causing it, she noticed the weather vane on top of the barn roof, the light of the sun reflecting from the rooster figure and down onto her.
She also noticed something else, hanging from the point of the arrow. Something that caused her sad expression to suddenly be replaced with a look of excitement and joy.
"Applejack!" Rainbow Dash yelled happily. "I've found your hat!"
Applejack immediately sat up straight. "What was that?"
Rainbow Dash shot up into the air to the weather vane, and whistled to the farm mare below, getting her to look up. Rainbow Dash took the hat off the arrow of the weather vane and waved it at her friend. "Your hat was stuck on the weather thingie! It must have got blown all the way up here!"
Applejack's eyes widened with glee as tears of joy built up, her mouth an open smile. "Mah hat! Oh, Rainbow thank you! Quick, give it ere'!"
Rainbow didn't need to be told twice. She zipped back down to the ground, and, brushing the dust from the hat, returned it back to its owner. Applejack took it back and held it close to her chest like a mother would her child, her eyes closed. "Ah thought Ah lost ya again, Pa," she whispered. She held it there for a few seconds more, before bringing it above her head, back where it belonged. Applejack turned her attention to the pegasus before her, and threw her hooves around her as she pulled her into a hug.
"Thanks, Rainbow," she said. "Not jus' for findin' mah hat, but for listenin' earlier."
Rainbow Dash patted her on the back. "It was nothing, AJ. Sorry for making you lose it earlier, too."
"All's forgiven, ya feather-brained pest," Applejack joked, sharing a chuckle between the both of them. "Jus' promise ya'll keep that story tween' us, okay?" She gave Rainbow Dash a serious look. "Ah don't like talkin' bout' that an' Ah'd appreciate ya not spreading it about wit' our friends, okay?"
Rainbow Dash smiled and nodded. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she replied, reciting the Pinkie Pie promise.
Applejack nodded satisfied, believing her friend. "Come on. Let's get them last trees bucked an' Ah'll whip up some of mah apple fritters, whaddya say?"
Her response was an excited gasped and a cloud of dust as Rainbow Dash suddenly raced ahead to where they were working before, eliciting a chuckle out of Applejack as she trotted after her friend.
The sun shone brightly upon the earth pony as she with hat in tow returned to her work, feeling whole once again and ready to continue the work that was her family, and most of all, her parents, legacy.
Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed this story. I apologize for not being a superb writer, but I hope it amuses you nonetheless.
Until next time, readers!
