"Much obliged, madam."
"No problem a-tall, Mister. We Apples always keep an eye out for fellas down on their luck. Just show up bright and early tomorrow morning down on the farm, and we'll find somethin' for you to do, okay?"
With a smile, Applejack turned from the unshaven stallion and resumed her gait, with bouncing baskets on her back. Apple Bloom, who had been struck dumb during the conversation, finally found words as the two of them trotted out of earshot of the stranger.
"Applejack, why'd you hire that fella to work for us at the farm? He didn't seem like he could stand up straight long enough to buck an apple tree. Didn't you smell the salt on his breath?"
At this, Applejack's ears perked up. "Now, Apple Bloom—"
"And did you get a load of those flashy city clothes he had on? I doubt if he's ever been on a farm in his life. He probably wouldn't know a rooster from a rattlesnake."
Applejack remained silent.
"Well?"
Wind rustled the trees of the forest which was their destination, but Ponyville had not yet faded into the distance. The day had been warm, but the night was fast approaching, and the twilight brought with it a stillness that gave the impression of clarity. There was no chill in the air. As Applejack turned to her sister to speak, the two of them were trotting at a fine pace: it was a fine day for a trot, and would have been so even if they had not been out on business.
"Sugar, it's... it's about trust. There's a certain amount of trust that ponies owe one another, and that's not depending on whether someone's dressed up in fine fancy clothes or salted up down in the gutter. I reckon that fella was in the shape he was in because no one trusted him with anything worth having, so... I'm just giving him what he needs and deserves." Applejack said this with a certain naive finality, and returned her eyes to the horizon.
It was not to be.
"But... what? Applejack, that doesn't make any sense. How can somepony owe somepony else their trust? If you want trust, you have to earn it, that's what Granny Smith always says. And he's not trustworthy, and you know that. What'll you do when he shows up and can't do any work? Or if he doesn't show up at all?"
"If he doesn't show up, he won't get paid—"
"And what makes you think that once you pay him for not doing any work, he won't go running straight back to the saloon with it, instead of finding a place to sleep and get a bath?"
Applejack stopped trotting and gave a frown. The wind gave a sudden gust. "You're awful hard-boiled for somepony so little."
"I ain't little! I..." Apple Bloom paused, being interrupted by the gust of wind, which snatched her red hair-bow off her head. In a startled, reflexive act, she dropped her baskets and scrambled after it, but the gust proved too strong, and before long the hair-bow was gone for good.
A silent moment passed. Above, the night's first stars night began unveiling themselves opposite the blood-orange, blackberry-stained sunset. Below, bees were tending to the flowers and to the weeds which look like flowers. Apple Bloom turned her eyes down to the dirt, with her mane in her face and an indistinct sense of unease in her heart, before her sister began to speak again.
"Listen here. What a pony needs more than anything is to be able to do a good turn for his fellow. That's what makes his life full up, don't you see? That makes it all worth his while. But he has to have some kind of power first. When you trust someone, you're giving 'em a kind of power over you, and that's power to do you right and it's power to do you wrong."
Applejack paused until she saw that she had her sister's full attention. She smiled, exhaled, and continued:
"When you trust someone to do right by you, you're giving them a chance to do right, and that means giving them a chance to get what's most valuable to them. And it's true that maybe they'll do you wrong instead of right, and you'll lose something for it, or maybe they just won't gain anything. But you won't lose what's most important, because by giving 'em your trust, you did right by them, and that means your own life will be full up."
At this, Apple Bloom fell into thoughtful silence, and the two of them resumed their trot, carrying their baskets towards the wild Everfree. Applejack evidently mistook her sister's silence for something other than thoughtfulness, for she added:
"And don't you worry about that hair-bow none. You've got plenty of those back at the farm—it won't hurt you to go out this once without one."
Apple Bloom laughed. "I'm not worried about that, sis. Though I do look a mess."
"Good. We're almost there, now. Be sure to keep those baskets balanced."
"Yes, sis."
The sound of their trotting hooves soon filled the air in the conversation. The wind died down and the crickets began to sing as nighttime fell over the forest. It might have been the occasion of some fear, but each of them had made the trip many times before, and this time they were planning to pass the night comfortably together at their destination before returning home. It was a business trip, but it was also a vacation.
"So... Applejack. These leaves we're taking to Zecora's. You said they had special healing powers?"
