Applejack looked out her window, admiring the sun’s rays as they first came through the window. A small smile crossed her lips, before a spasm of pain ran through her stiff forehooves. She shut her eyes tight, a tear creeping to the edge of them as she tried to stretch the tired muscles. “C’mon you, we have work to do.” Soon the legs did indeed agree with her, even if it was still awkward to walk. Just like any other morning.
She made her way down the stairs, stumbling on her way down, shaking her head as she went. She immediately rushed to the table, her sinuses riling up further as she grabbed a napkin. “Stupid pollen.” She blew hard, trying to clear it out, just before lurching forward, slamming her throat shut before she made a mess of the dining room. She had barely made it to the bathroom before her stomach demanded the snot from last night be gotten rid of.
“Are you okay sis?”
Applejack shook her head hard, clearing the forced tears away as her body settled. “Feeling perfect now that the gunks out.”
She could hear a small peal of laughter from the hallway. “Just like any other morning, right?”
A smile forced itself to her muzzle, but Applejack never looked at Applebloom as she made her way back into the kitchen. “So, what do you want today? Some oatmeal, cereal,-”
“Pancakes?”
A sigh escaped Applejack before she shook her head. “You know better than to ask that. We had those three days ago, and we can’t just gorge ourselves on sugar. We Apples didn’t get to be as great as we are through spending money on everything.” She glanced back at Apple Bloom and sighed internally at the downtrodden face. “Though I suppose you can put sugar on your oatmeal.”
A small yell of jubilation escaped the small filly, and Applejack just rolled her eyes. She was too kind to her. She was soon going to start high school, and shortly after that, the real world. The thoughts of her little sister’s flank, still as bare as the day she was born, and all the coddling Applejack gave her flashed into her mind, chilling the older mare to her core. Just like any other morning.
The bell on the front door rang, snapping Applejack out of her thoughts. The farm mare carefully put the oats and water to boil, letting Apple Bloom take care of the rest as she slowly trotted to the front. The door swung easily on oiled hinges, and she gave the messenger pony outside a large smile. “Howdy there sir. How can I help you?”
The brown stallion nodded, beads of sweat running down his neck. “Well, you see, I’m going to need a bit more than just you. You see, by article eighteen-sixteen, any-”
“Receiver of a royal correspondence that is not royal themselves must show three pieces of identity, one of which must be royally approved. Tell me though, did Twilight take your rulebook before you came?”
The messenger furrowed his brow. “Why yes, she did. Why would that matter?”
Applejack tapped his saddle bag. “Check the rule real quick, sugarcube.”
Soon, the messenger managed to pull out a small cube. Once it hit the ground though, it began to unfold and expand, until it was almost as large as Apple Bloom. A sigh escaped him as he was about to open it, only to find Applejack’s experience hoof slamming into its side, and the book immediately opened to the rule. “You-you’ve done this before, haven’t you?”
“A time or two.”
The stallion lowered his muzzle to the book, straining to read the tiny text until he reached odd, purple ink. Back away from the book, he noted the massive stamp that was on the page, and wondered how he had missed it. The stamp itself decreed that element bearers were to be treated as royalty, and in smaller print, especially Applejack. “Huh. How did I never notice that? Sorry for the trouble miss.”
Applejack put the letter on the stand beside the door, already knowing what it would be about, especially with the small burns on the paper around the seal. “If you really want to make it up to me, please stay with her for more than a week. I know she sends lots of letters, but you guys are trained to do this.”
The messenger stood tall and straight, his nose almost pointed straight to the sky. “I am a proud, royal courier. I would never leave my post simply because of the workload, and am insulted at the very notion. Now, good day!” And just like all of the messengers, he turned, and broke into a brisk trot away from the farm.
The farm mare merely shook her head at the spectacle, coming back into the kitchen where Apple Bloom was eagerly starting to pour sugar onto her oatmeal. “You know, if you keep using so much of that stuff, I’ll be calling you Sugarcube for more reason than one.”
Apple Bloom giggled at the joke, but it didn’t stop her from adding another spoonful of sugar on it. For a moment, Applejack considered simply skipping the meal. She had left the bar early last night, and had no idea how Rarity had ended the night, so she would need to check on her marefriend before Twilight. A small rumble from her stomach forced a moment’s reconsideration, and soon she was chewing on the mush herself, skipping the sugar this morning, and so many others like it.
Once she was done though, she made swift work of her dishes, and headed out. Even with the sun’s bright rays, the fall winds brought a chill to her bothersome muscles. A chill she would ignore this morning, as it was not quite scarf weather yet. It did bring the question of whether or not Rarity would end up wearing the sweater she knitted for her birthday, shortly before realizing that she wouldn’t even wear it most likely, if given the option. This thought kept her happy all the way to the boutique, even if she wished she could just go to Joe’s.
Opening the door to the fashionista’s home, she immediately knew what awaited her couldn’t be good. Then again, most would consider a mare’s screams and wails to be a bad sign. Applejack kicked a bottle to the side, sighing as no wine spilled from it. “Rarity, are you home?”
“Not for long if I can have my way!”
Applejack shook her head as she started to make her way upstairs, following the words. The wails echoed too much to do the same with, especially if you wanted to keep your hearing. “I see you’ve been enjoying your ice cream stash. Is something wrong?”
“Everything is wrong! I mean, I ate five tubs of ice cream in three hours. That can’t be healthy, and only makes me fatter!”
Applejack rolled her eyes as she carefully made her way over fallen clothes. If she had to guess, she would put her money on Rarity assuming she couldn’t fit them. She shook her head and took a deep breath before opening the door to the design room. Within sat white mare. While normally beautiful, today dried bits of ice cream caused tufts of her fur to be discolored, and stick out from the usually silky smooth coat. Her mane had a large chunk missing from it, and she had just been positioning the scissors towards the base of her tail. “D-don’t look at me!”
Applejack slowly trotted over, knocking the shaking scissors away. “Why wouldn’t I want to look at my pretty jewel?”
Rarity shook her head, slamming her hooves into her head. “No! I… I’m ugly, and I… I don’t deserve your love!”
The farm mare gave her a small nuzzle against her belly. “You’re drunk, and even then, you’re graceful.” Applejack rolled her eyes at the shaking head, before starting to try to nuzzle underneath the silly mare. “Come on honey. You need some sleep, no matter how adorable you are right now.”
“I… I’m not adorable.” Rarity went limp, finally allowing Applejack to put the fashionista on her back. her voice followed, the harsh pitch being dropped for a low whisper. “I just think I’m pretty when I’m hideous. A monster trying to use gems to make them appealing that deserves to die.”
Applejack shook her head as she made her way into the hallway, being very careful of the doorway. “I like your white coat personally. I think dying it would be a shame.”
Rarity pouted, tensing again on the firm back below her. “I meant die! Like dee, ai, ee. As in a request for you to throw me off the largest cliff you can find, so I can drop in slow motion over a bed of spikes while cherry blossom petals fall down.”
Applejack almost stopped for a moment. Almost let the joke slip from her face and her sadness be revealed. Her pain at her beloved’s words. Almost. “Wow, overdramatic, even when like this. Impressive. However, I have no cliffs, and this is the best bed I could find.”
Rarity let out a small gasp of air as she was thrown against the bed. She pressed her hooves into it before scowling. “There are no ugly spikes to match me. Why would you-”
She was promptly cut off by Applejack flopping on top of her, before wrapping her hooves around the smaller mare. “Shh. You just need some sleep, and you’ll see how pretty you are.”
Rarity squirmed beneath her. “I don’t want sleep, I want to die!”
Applejack grit her teeth, thankful for being behind the other mare as tears came down her face. She didn’t let it affect her tone though. “Just consider this practice then. How about that? When you’ve mastered sleeping, I’ll let you pass on to death.”
Rarity’s struggling was becoming weaker by the second, and by the time she responded, had almost stopped entirely. “I… I always hated these tiered classes.”
Applejack slipped her hooves away once Rarity’s eyes were closed, and breathed out a sigh of relief, happy that the booze made her not smart enough to see through her bullshit. For a few minutes though, she couldn’t manage to leave, but instead stared at her marefriend. Just like so many other days, and just like those days, it almost broke her heart to have to walk out, knowing she couldn’t help further. Not then at least.
Once she was outside, having managed to compose her tears back, accepting this as just another part of protecting her, she continued to walk through Ponyville. Each pony she passed got the smallest of smiles, to let them know she was okay. To let them know today was just like any other day. Even walking into the crystal castle didn’t change this, at least, not for Applejack. She opened her mouth to call, but a letter stopped her, floating in the air. She opened it, and nodded. Upstairs, like usual.
The sound of echoing hooves followed her as she made her way up the stairs. She had told Twilight multiple times that if she accepted the princesses’ offer for servants, there would be more life to the place. Twilight had always refused, but had been waning recently. “Maybe I should have read the letter, and Twilight wants my help to pick out some sturdy stallions.”
“I wish I could say that too. Perhaps next week?”
Applejack almost leapt backwards at the sudden appearance of Twilight. She never came out of her room normally when it came to her visits. The farm mare glanced at the alicorn’s barrel and frowned. “You should be eating more. Exposed ribs are a little hard to hide, and it’s going to make it harder to get one of your guards to hit on you.”
Twilight smiled slightly before trotting down and nuzzling against the orange neck she had seeked so many times before. “Applejack, I’m scared. I’m scared you’ll leave me.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow as she back away slightly. “I’ll need to go sometime today, but I’ll always come back. You know that.”
Twilight looked to the side. She had been doing better recently, but to see her like this troubled Applejack. “Yes… you will. Of course, royal orders are royal orders.”
A sigh escaped Applejack’s muzzle as she sidled closer, wrapping a hoof around Twilight, trying not to lose her balance because of the shaky mare. “Is this about you worrying about your job again? Because that is another great reason why you need assistants, just like I did when Big Mac was out of commission.”
The smile on the purple mare widened. “If only it were so simple. If only back then I hadn’t forced myself into all of yours lives. Maybe… maybe then I wouldn’t have to think you only liked me because I was a princess.”
Applejack stopped in her tracks and slid the hoof off of her friend. Twilight had barely turned to her when the other mare slammed her hoof into her head. “Ow!”
“That’s for being stupid!” Applejack wrapped her hoof back around Twilight, but this time around her neck and pulled the mare closer, no matter how dangerous it might be on the stairs. “I knew you for almost a year as just some studious bookworm that I was glad to have in my life. You added another side to it, just like everypony else. And do you know what you are now?”
Twilight looked down. “A princess and leader. Somepony who barely has time for her friends, let alone-” Her eyes bulged as Applejack slammed the hoof back down. “Stop it!”
“I will when you realize you’re still the smart mare we all adored, and some silly pair of wings doesn’t mean any of that changed. I mean, isn’t that why you won’t get servants in the first place?”
The purple mare stopped thrashing on the stairs, rolling the words over in her mind. She bit into her cheek and turned away. “Is it really that stupid?”
Applejack shook her head. “It is to me, but if it’s important to you, I have more hoof waiting to hear stupid again.”
Twilight smiled slightly at Applejack, before it widened, letting Applejack know the cracked mask was back in place. “Thank you. I promise, I’ll think on this.”
She hugged Twilight back. “No problem. I’m just happy you opened up all those months ago.”
Twilight stepped away. “Only with you AJ. I… I really need your honesty sometimes.”
Applejack tipped her hat to the princess. “Always, Twilight. It’s what friends do.”
Twilight mouthed the word friends, before yawning. “I… I think I need some more sleep.”
One hoof shoo’ed her away. “Sleep well then, and I’ll see you at Pinkie’s party tonight.” The two nodded, and then walked away, safe in the knowledge that the other cared. Just like every other time.
It was harder now to smile at everypony. While repairing Twilight’s mask had become almost second nature to her, it always made it harder to keep her own. “I’ll be at Joe’s soon. Then I can relax. Just keep it together AJ.” And keep it together she did, all the way to the bar. Just like always.
Walking in, the light amber stallion turned to Applejack and smiled at her. “Hey, how is my favorite customer doing?”
She considered her response for a moment, glancing around to make sure they were alone. “I’m fine, just tired. Today has been rough, and with the plow breaking yesterday…”
Joe put a glass of hard cider in front of her, as well as two glazed donuts. Her usually. “Wow. And with Rarity needing more of your time, the farm really didn’t need that, did it?”
“Eenope.” She grinned at Joe for a moment from the small joke as she sipped her cider. “Of course, it’s still nothing compared to poor Rarity when I came in on her today. My issues never are, are they?”
Donut Joe let out a huff, puffing out his chest. “Applejack, you know that isn’t true. That’s why I’m here to listen, right?”
Applejack smiled and bit into one of the donuts beside her. Joe no longer charged her for the meal. Said the interesting conversation was already more than worth it. She wanted to feel like it was pity, but looking into that dumb smile of his made those thoughts vanish. “Just like every other day, right?”
“Just like any other day.”
