The Farm Girl and the Drake

One day, Applejack’s parents came home with a surprise for her. Her father handed her a large white box with a shiny pink ribbon. Then he stepped back, a smile painted on his face.

It was not often that Applejack received gifts except for Hearth’s Warming and her birthday, so this must have been something extra special. She untied the ribbon and opened the lid.

It was a brand-new brown Stetson hat.

She placed it on her head and looked herself in the mirror.

“It fits,” thought Applejack with a grin. “Wait till the others see me.”

And she hugged her parents before rushing out the door.

“I’ll be back before supper!” she called back to them.

Then she was free to visit around. Applejack had two close friends, who lived in homes not very far from hers. One was a tomboyish athlete known as Rainbow Dash. The other was a cute shrinking violet, Fluttershy by name.

Applejack spotted Rainbow Dash a few yards away, walking through the orchard, quietly humming to herself and pausing every few paces to make sure that nobody was following her.

“Four steps straight and then to the left, and right to the place where I marked it,” she sang. “With a brand-new, Daring Do that I’ll save for later, in my private, secret stash in the orchard.”

Dash reached into a hole in the side of one of the apple trees and removed a pile of twigs from the hole, revealing a small stack of books hidden inside.

“Ah, a beautiful sight,” she thought, admiring her collection.

At first, Dash abhorred reading. So much in fact that she considered it an “egghead hobby.” It wasn’t until after she landed in the hospital with a broken arm that she discovered the joy of reading.

With nothing else to do to pass the time, she picked up the very first Daring Do book and slowly became entranced. And as much as she hated to admit it, to herself or to anyone, she loved to read. But she kept it hidden from her friends.

Perish the thought if they knew she liked to read.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking, if Dash wanted to keep her love for reading a secret from her friends, why didn’t she just keep the books in her own house?

Well, Dash had spent many days napping in the trees at Sweet Apple Acres and, remembering how comfortable they were, thought they would be the perfect place to curl up and read.

Suddenly, Dash was shaken from her thoughts by Applejack calling her name.

“Dash!” she called out. “Rainbow Dash!”

Thinking fast, Dash quickly leaned against the hole in the tree to hide her private stash.

“Hello, Dash,” Applejack said as she walked proudly up to her friend.

“Oh! Oh, it’s you, AJ,” Rainbow Dash chuckled in relief.

“Notice anything different?”

“Uh, you’ve had a bath?”

“No,”

“Haircut?”

“Mm-mmm. Guess again,”

“Well, I don’t... The hat!”

“You like it?”

“It must’ve been pretty expensive. Have you shown it to Fluttershy, yet?”

“No,”

“Well, you should. You know how she is about stuff like this,”

And they walked down the lane to a little cottage, surrounded by a multitude of burrows and birdhouses, secluded on the edge of the forest.

They found Fluttershy lying on the porch swing by her front door. They noticed the prickled brush by her hand and assumed that she must have been brushing her hair and fell asleep.

Now, I could try to go on and on about how cute Fluttershy can be, but words barely even begin to describe her. But in this particular instant, suffice it to say that even her snores were adorable.

“She’s dreaming,” Applejack whispered to Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah. Dreaming of the days when she was helping Dr. Fauna at the animal clinic. That was before...” Dash’s voice trailed off.

“Before what?”

“I think it’s time you knew the truth,” Dash said. “It shouldn’t’ve happened to her. But Fluttershy just lost her ability to stare. In fact, she lost The Stare. But we can’t let on that we know. It would break her heart.”

Fluttershy loved animals and she had once been an excellent caregiver. She just had a knack for it. Being kind to others came naturally to her. Almost as natural as Applejack’s honesty. But somehow, she had just lost her ability to keep animals from acting up via her famous “Stare.” Well, it wasn’t what it used to be.

Suddenly, Fluttershy’s eyes popped open and she bolted upright.

“Which way did he go?” she asked. “Which way did he go?”

“Go?” Dash repeated.

“Yeah. A raccoon, about eighteen inches long. No, twenty. Had a dark gray and black striped coat,” She stopped and stared. “Applejack,” she said. “Your hat.”

“Do ya like it?”

“Yes. My, how times flies,” Fluttershy said as she thought back on their childhood.

“Yeah,” Dash agreed. “It seems like only yesterday the three of us were passing notes in Cheerilee’s classroom. And now, we’re three young women on the cusp of adulthood.”

“That’s right,” said Fluttershy. “As Dr. Fauna used to say... I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned Dr. Fauna before...”

“Yeah, you have,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “Frequently.”

“Oh, yeah...”

“Pa and Big Mac will be home soon,” Applejack said as she waved goodbye to her friends and ran for Sweet Apple Acres. “I’ll see ya’ll later.”

Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy spent many happy days playing together. But the best part of the day came toward the evening, when Applejack’s father and brother came home from running errands in town. Applejack would run to meet them at the gate, and race Big Macintosh home. It took only a moment to reach the homestead, and then the family was together again, just the four of them—Bright Mac, Pear Butter, Big Macintosh and Applejack.

After dinner, Bright Mac helped Pear Butter wash the dishes as Applejack and Big Macintosh went up to bed.

“You know, Buttercup,” Bright Mac said, “since we had Applejack, I’d say life is pretty complete.”

“Yes,” Pear Butter replied. “I can’t imagine anything could take her place in our hearts.”

Later that night, as Applejack lay in her bed, she couldn’t help but think about how lucky she was.

She had it all. She had a roof over her head, plenty of food, a warm and soft bed to sleep in, a loving family, and good friends. All this added up to making Applejack the happiest girl in the world.

But her happy life was about to change.