Chapters Chapter One
Rarity quickly toweled down her wet mane, not conscious of the fact that it was dripping all over the floor. She shook it out one more time and trotted to the boutique door. Throwing it open, she realized that it was not, in fact, a fashionable customer but rather Applejack, her hat crooked on her yellow mane.
"Oh, hello, Applejack," Rarity said. Why was Applejack here? She looked rather impatient.
"Hey there, Rarity," Applejack said in her usual drawl. "Ah was, uh, wonderin'. Ya doin' anythin' for, oh, the next two weeks?"
"Why?" asked Rarity, eyeing Applejack. "I've got a contract making costumes for the Ponyville Playhouse, if you don't count that, and they're doing My Fair Filly in a week."
"Yeah, well, me and Granny Smith are goin' to go visit my great-aunt Fuji Apple, for a couple of weeks in Appleloosa. She's gotten mighty sick, and we wanted to visit her before, y'know, she passes on. I was wonderin' if maybe ya could help out at Sweet Apple Acres for a week or two," Applejack finished breathlessly.
"Oh, darling," Rarity said, her brow furrowing. "You know I'm your friend, but I'm not really one for... farmwork . Couldn't you ask someone like Pinkie Pie or Rainbow? Or even Twilight?"
"Twilight does farmwork only when I tell her exactly what ta do," Applejack said with furrowed eyebrows. "Same with Rainbow Dash. I'm sorry ta say that Fluttershy might be good with chickens, but not with apples. And I would ask Pinkie Pie, but she's gone ta visit Cheese Sandwich in Fillydelphia. Ah came to ya 'cause you've got some experience, what with that little stunt ya pulled when Trenderhoof came to visit. Ya might know the farm better."
"Ah, yes." Rarity blushed slightly. "That is.... true. Well, I guess I could come for a couple of weeks, as long as you don't mind me making costumes in your barn. I'll get Twilight to manage the boutique for me."
Trenderhoof. My biggest embarrassment. Why does she have to bring that up?
Applejack grinned. "Ah knew it! Ah sent Big Mac to come down and take your things up to the farmhouse in our wagon. Mah room's all nice and ready for ya, and Big Mac and Apple Bloom'll show ya around the farm. I've gotta run, mah train's comin' soon!" She turned and started to trot back down the lane.
"Wait!" Rarity yelled. "What about Sweetie Belle?"
"Bring 'er along too!" Applejack shouted back, not stopping.
Rarity closed the door and turned back to the boutique. "Sweetie Belle?" she called. "We've got some packing to do!"
Three hours later, after much bustling and hustling and convincing Twilight that, yes, she could bring her books to the boutique, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were settled into the farmhouse.
Apple Bloom beamed. "Who wants dinner?" she asked.
"This early?" Rarity groaned.
Apple Bloom began to pout. "Well, we've usually got work ta do after dinner.." She didn't specify the details.
Rarity sighed. "Fine, fine. What is dinner going to be, if I may ask?"
"Well, we can make apple fritters, apple turnover, or apple pancakes, and if you're a good cook you could make things like apple-stuffed apples, apple polenta, or even"--Apple Bloom's mouth watered--"apple-cheese fondue!"
"I'm going to have to get used to this," Rarity sighed, going over to turn on the stove.
Sweetie Belle grabbed an apple from the bag by the door with her magic and tossed it to Apple Bloom. "Catch!"
Apple Bloom whizzed it back, nearly hitting Big Mac in the face.
"Careful, girls!" Rarity said sternly. "Why don't you take that outside?"
The two fillies tossed the apple out the door, and chased after it, laughing. Rarity sighed and turned her attention to slicing some Gala apples.
"I'm sorry," she said to Big Mac. "We're going to have to put up with two, maybe three, hyperactive young fillies for two weeks, aren't we?"
"Eeyup," said Big Mac nonchalantly.
"Can you give me that cookbook over there, Big Macintosh?" Rarity pointed to a low shelf.
"Eeyup," said Big Mac, taking the book and passing it to her. "And ya don't have ta call me Big Macintosh, Miss Rarity. Big Mac is fine."
Rarity started. "Big Macin...Big Mac! You're talking!" She immediately realized what she had said and hurried to amend it. "I mean, you haven't talked much before."
"Ah generally don't like ta," Big Mac admitted. "But Ah'm goin' ta be workin' with ya for a couple of weeks, so Ah guess Ah better talk ta ya, Miss Rarity."
"Oh, you can just call me Rarity," she said, smiling. "Now, come help me with these fritters."
Dinner passed with avid stories told by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle of their adventures, and Rarity was surprised to see Big Mac nodded his head and listened silently. Applejack's room was quite comfortable, and after only two hours on the farm Rarity was exhausted. She hadn't even done any work! That was going to set a great start for tomorrow.
The next day Big Mac insisted on taking Rarity out for a tour of the farm. When Apple Bloom heard, she begged to come along, and of course Sweetie Belle had to come too. Big Mac took out a small wagon, harnessed himself to it, and invited the fillies to hop in.
Rarity trotted alongside him as he showed her the orchards and the barn. Apple Bloom gave her own tour, in the back, so Rarity had to strain her ears a bit to hear Big Mac. She was so focused on that that she didn't see the rock until she was plummeting forward.
Suddenly a red hoof appeared in front of her and scooped her up. Rarity looked up to see Big Mac, one arm around her waist, carefully setting her down.
"Thanks, Big Mac," said Rarity.
"Uh, no problem," he said. Was he...blushing? It was hard to tell. They looped back around the south orchard in silence. They had only just arrived at the barn when Apple Bloom hopped out.
"Meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" she announced.
"All right!" Sweetie Belle said. The two fillies scampered off, and Rarity thought she detected Sweetie Belle giving her a smirk over her shoulder. What was that all about?
Big Mac abruptly turned and began to walk back to the farmhouse. Rarity trotted to keep up with him. His strides were so long. Her mind began to wander, and she focused on Big Mac. From years in the Pony Tones working with him, she had always thought he was rather handsome..but farm boys really weren't her type, were they?
"Um...Big Mac..." Rarity began. She had wanted to ask this question for a long time, but it was so...personal. And she'd only just gotten there.
"Yup?" Big Mac replied.
"If I may ask....." Rarity couldn't. She decided to go with something a little less deep. "What kinds of farm work will I be doing?"
Big Mac visibly relaxed. Rarity hadn't known he was tense. "Well, ya'll be doin' some applebuckin', probably helpin' feed the chickens' and collectin' their eggs, and helpin' with the sales of the apples. That last part'll be mostly your job."
"That's a lot," Rarity mumbled. She detected Big Mac glowering at her slightly. "We better get started!" she said, plastering a smile on her face.
Of course it's not a lot to him. He does it every day, and then some.
"Come on, why don't ya help me with the applebucking?" Big Mac said. "We could do the east orchard. Can you grab some buckets from the barn?"
Rarity nodded and skipped back to the barn, wondering why she felt all weird. It was like she was...tingling. Yes, that was it. Was it from...Big Mac? No, don't be silly, she chided herself. You're not in love with Big Mac.
Or are you?
And Here Comes The Plot Twist
Rarity tossed feed to the chickens using her horn. She felt the teensiest bit guilty about using magic for such an undirty task when Big Mac was out plowing fields.
Actually, not so much.
Well, maybe a little.
"Rarity! Rarity! Rarity!"
Rarity was so glad she had only one filly to take care of. Normally. Now, she had two extremely hyper ones. She gritted her teeth and smiled down at Sweetie Belle. "Yes, dear?"
"Can we use the wagon from the barn?" Sweetie Belle asked. Well, more like squealed. She was bouncing around on her hooves.
"Well, you'll have to ask Big--"
"It's reeeeeeeeally important!" Apple Bloom said.
"Yeah, we need it to get our cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle added.
"Take it!" Rarity said, trying to keep the frustration out of her voice. She was glad to have the fillies off her hooves while she moved on to her next task: the north orchard. Big Mac had said he would help out, but he was so busy plowing.....Rarity decided she would just do it herself.
It was an extremely difficult task. Well, at least for Rarity. She had to get the baskets, then place them under the trees, then make sure they were in EXACTLY the right spot, and finally the apples. She wished she hadn't promised to not use her magic while apple-bucking.
Well, here goes. Rarity squeezed her eyes shut, turned her back to the tree, and kicked out her back legs. They collided with the tree with a barely audible thunk and a couple of apples fell out of the tree. She attempted it again. Another couple. With twelve kicks, she got most of the apples out of the tree.
One tree. And she was already sore.
You're doing this for Applejack, Rarity told herself. If it weren't for her, you would have walked out already. But you're still here. She still found her mind wandering, wanting to get away from apple-bucking. Her eyes settled on Big Mac, muscles straining as he pulled the plow another stretch. How was one stallion that muscular? Must be from all his years working on the farm. Never mind. How was one stallion that...handsome? She hadn't noticed it a whole lot during her years on the Pony Tones. She was mostly preoccupied with his non-punctuality.
She was so focused on Big Mac that she didn't see the wagon, loaded with three fillies, speeding through the orchard towards her. She was vaguely aware of "Sweetie Belle, stop the wagon!" and "I-I'm trying!" and then, just before it hit her, "Rarity! Look out!"
Blinding pain up her back leg. It crumpled beneath her and she hit her head on the side of the crashed wagon. Hard. Through her flittering eyelids, Rarity saw...six faces? No, that...can't be right. Sweetie Belle doesn't have a twin...sister...
Rarity woke up, dazed, in a hospital bed. She was extremely surprised to see Applejack, Big Mac, and the whole CMC standing over her.
"A-Applejack?" she stammered. "Why are you here? How long have I been out?"
"I jumped on the train back to Ponyville as soon as I heard. Twilight sent a letter. As for how long you've been out...well..." Applejack looked questioningly at Big Mac.
"Eighteen hours," said Nurse Redheart bluntly. Rarity jumped and felt a searing pain in her head. She hadn't even known the nurse was there.
"E-e-eighteen?" Rarity asked weakly.
"Well, seven for the concussion you got. We waited for you to wake up from that before we started the operation. That was maybe four hours, give or take a few, and then about another seven for the painkillers to wear off."
Rarity's head seemed to be buzzing. "What...happened to me?"
"Your leg and hip were pretty well damaged. That's what you get for a cart, or whatever it was, smashing into them. We could have used magic to fix it, but I can guarantee that if we used only that something would go wrong, and we wanted to keep you safe. So we did it the more traditional way, but we still used some magic. You'll have to stay off that leg for four weeks. Oh, and you also got a pretty bad concussion. You're lucky you didn't have any brain damage. You may have some trouble with your horn for the next couple days," the nurse finished.
"B-but-but I need to help out at the farm! I promised Applejack!" Rarity wailed. She couldn't go back on her promise, not now.
"Sorry," Nurse Redheart said. "Four weeks. Wait a month, then you can go back to the farm. Oh yeah, one more thing. We had some kinks we still need to work through on your leg, so we need to keep you here for another week." She disappeared before Rarity could ask any more questions.
Applejack sighed. "Ah'm real sorry, Rarity. Ah came back ta help Big Mac with the farm, as you couldn't do it. Granny's stayin' with Fuji Apple, and she said Ah could come back. Big Mac's also volunteered t' keep ya company, seein' Pinkie's away."
Rarity sighed. "Okay. Where's Sweetie Belle?"
Big Mac took a deep breath. "Hiding. The CMC were really worried that you might not wake up, and then they were worried that you would be mad at them when the nurse told them you would wake up." Rarity was impressed with all his talking.
"Can I see her?"
"Sure," Applejack said. "The nurse just said no more than three visitors."
"Send them all in, them," Rarity said. Gosh, her head hurt. Why did it hurt so much?
The two Apples nodded and left. A minute later, the whole CMC rushed in.
"Rarity!" said Sweetie Belle.
"We're really, really sorry," gasped Scootaloo.
"The nurse said we couldn't all visit you while Mac and Applejack were in there," Apple Bloom squeaked.
"And we were afraid you wouldn't be okay--"
"So we didn't want to see you at first--"
"And then we felt guilty--"
"But we were worried you would be mad at us--"
"So here we are!"
"Are you mad at us?"
Rarity blinked. For a second the fillies stared at her while it all sunk in. Then Rarity leaned back and smiled. "I'm not mad at you," she said weakly.
"Really?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"No," Rarity said. "I know it was an accident, and I know you're all really, really sorry. It's okay."
They all smiled. "Can we hug you?" asked Apple Bloom.
"Yeah, the nurse said we couldn't move or touch you without you being aware of it," said Scootaloo.
"Okay, okay, but lightly," warned Rarity. Each filly stood on a small stool and squeezed Rarity lightly. Even though they were gentle, Rarity still let out a small gasp of pain at each one of them.
"Thank you, girls," she got out. "Now I'd like to...rest...." The world swirled and blackness overtook.
When Rarity woke up, she was greeted by a small white filly in the face.
"Rarity! You're up!" shrieked Sweetie Belle. She hopped down from the stool which she had been standing on, and stood grinning at Rarity. "You're up!"
Rarity winced. "Sweetie Belle...not so loud."
"Oh, sorry ," said Sweetie Belle in a very loud stage whisper. "Is this better ?"
Rolling her eyes, Rarity scooted up on her pillow. Her head throbbed, and her leg screamed at her to not move, but she managed to wiggle into what resembled a sitting position. "Sweetie Belle, what are you doing here?"
"I came to visit you! Duh!"
"No," Rarity said patiently, "shouldn't you be at school?"
"Oh, that ," Sweetie Belle said, rolling her eyes dramatically. "Miss Cheerilee said I could take a couple days of because of a--" she made air quotes "--'family emergency'. Oh, and I tried to work on that dress for you, but it didn't turn out so good."
At least I finished the theater costumes. "Are you referring to the dress I'm working on for Photo Finish?"
"Yup! I thought maybe some sequins would be good, but then the glue exploded, and the sleeve wouldn't come undone from the skirt. So I got some scissors, and while I was at it I thought, 'Hey, maybe some fringe at the bottom?' and that turned out cool, but then I had to re-do the embroidery, and I couldn't find a needle--"
"Stop. Just stop right there. Sweetie Belle, maybe you should--" Rarity tried to say it politely "--refrain from working on my dresses. Why don't you instead spend your time doing Crusaders escapades? Maybe....not in my shop?"
Sweetie Belle got it. "Oh, right....OK."
At that moment, Applejack stuck her head in the door. "Hey, sugarcube, maybe ya should let Rarity rest."
"No need, Applejack, I'm feeling much better." Rarity plastered a sweet smile on her face.
Applejack raised her eyebrow. "Really."
Rarity grumbled and let her facade fall. It was time to admit it. She felt like she'd been trampled by a herd of yaks. "Okay, no, no, I'm not." She stopped Applejack, who was about to say I told you so. "But I'm going to go crazy in this place without anyone to talk to, my head isn't good enough for me to read, and I'm not tiiiiired!"
"Ya sound like a filly who doesn't wanna go ta bed," Applejack sighed. "But fine. Big Mac can come in, since he's not much of a talker. BUT ya need ta rest, ya hear me?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I hear you." Big Mac! Now, Rarity, you're sounding like a little filly with a schoolyard crush. Get it together.
Rarity was collecting herself as Big Mac loped into the room. He sat down clumsily on the chair next to her bed. It was too small for him. She giggled.
"Uh...hi, Miss Rarity," Mac said awkwardly. "Uh...Ah'm sorry about your...acc-si-dent."
Rarity immediately felt bad. He wasn't used to being places where he had to be delicate, or talk.
"Thank you, Big Mac. You don't have to be so formal, so please, call me Rarity." They sat in silence for a few minutes, each waiting for the other to strike up a conversation.
"Rarity...have Ah ever told ya what happened ta mah parents?"
Rarity was taken aback. She'd wanted to ask; but the subject had seemed so personal she hadn't brought it up. Surprised by the fact that he was choosing to tell her, she gave her head the tiniest shake and motioned for him to go on, flinching as her horn pounded.
"Well, AJ was about ten, eleven when she got her mark, same age as Bloom is now. But this happened about a year earlier. Ah was twelve, and Bloom wasn't even born yet. Ah'd just gotten mah cutie mark haulin' an entire load of apples down ta the market."
It seemed like a happy time for them. So...no prolonged illnesses or anything like that.
"We were all together as a family one day, makin' Zap Apple pie together. Ma went upstairs ta rest, 'cause she was jus' a month away from havin' her third foal. The rest of us all went outside ta get some fresh air."
But.....?
"But somepony, nopony knows who, left one o' the stoves on. The towels hangin' above it caught on fire, and then the rack they were hangin' on, and then the roof. Our backs were turned ta the house, and Ah know that's a pretty poor excuse for not realizin' it, but none o' us did until we heard somethin' collapse -- probably a table. Pa freaked out, 'cause Ma was in there, and he ran inside ta get her." Big Mac's voice wavers. "Ma barely got out the door before the roof collapsed. Pa was still inside. "
I can imagine the scene. The Apples' mother, in shock. Little Applejack, bawling and in denial too, with her brother and granny trying to console her, but there's nothing they can say to help. The house is probably up in flames, and the grown-ups know there's nothing they can do. The only question is what eventually happened to the mom.
"We all stayed in the barn for a few days. Nothin' around the house burned, and three days afterward we got a team ta cart out the junk and bury Pa's body. Then we got another team ta help construct a new one.
Granny was helpin' Ma out the best she could with sales and stuff, but Ma was panicked about how the farm was goin' ta keep itself goin' without its star apple bucker. She was under so much stress that the foal decided ta come early."
Despite the depressing story, I smile to myself. Apple Bloom is never patient.
"We rushed her ta the hospital, but all her stress and panic had taken its toll, and no one could save her. She got ta name her little filly, though, and Apple Bloom survived. By now, the news had spread about Pa's death, and the rest of the town came ta help us out. They got us through until Granny and Ah figured out how ta keep the farm steadily goin'." He lets out a breath, and I realize he's finished.
"Thank you, Big Mac...for telling me."
He nods. "Thanks, Miss Rarity, for listening. Ah'll leave ya ta your rest now, ok?" I nod, and he stands up and leaves with a backwards glance. "See ya later, Miss Rarity."
I want to tell him, "Call me Rarity," but my tiredness catches up to me and I flop back onto my pillows, staring at the ceiling.
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. 