Applejack leaned against one of the fence posts that separated the Apple family Orchard from the rest of Ponyville, letting the mechanical sinews of her replacement legs rest. The exhaust pipe slowly vented steam from the overworked motors, and she could hear it quietly ticking as it slowly cooled down. She stretched her back, the metal spine that helped her support her legs made light scraping noises as she did so. With that she was ready to get back to work, though the persistent tick tick tick coming from her hindquarters told her that her legs weren't. The day was shockingly warm for autumn, especially since the weather brigade had just given the town its last storm for the season. It was on days like these that Applejack frequently regarded her replacement legs as a mixed blessing. During these all too frequent breaks that she often found herself daydreaming of her old flesh and blood kickers, or at least a better model of mechanical kickers. Perhaps a pair that didn't overheat every fifteen minutes, or didn't drink down more oil than she did water, or even a pair that didn't chaff after the first two bucks.
She sighed and lightly chastised herself for thinking that way. After all she lucky to have a pair of legs that could buck at all, and while they might be a bit cumbersome at times, they still got the job done. She sighed again and as she began to settle in on her fence post to wait out the ticking, she heard something else from down the road. It was the steady cantering of at least four different ponies, that much she could tell, but just who would be walking along some muddy dirt path on a day like today? Big Mac and Applebloom were already out in the fields, Granny Smith would be cooking lunch for the lot of them, and she didn't remember nopony saying they were going to drop by for a quick howdy-do.
As the group of ponies came around the bend and into view and once Applejack realized just who it was her eyes grew wide, and she quickly adverted her gaze, stealing only fleeting glances at the mare and her entourage. The mare was Lady Rarity, one of the daughters of Hondo Flanks, owner of Marechanical Marvels Unlimited, and the wealthiest business pony in central Equestria. While MMU was mainly a manufacturing company it has several other undertakings, from building homes to selling produce. In fact they were Sweet Apple Acre’s biggest buyer, buying over half of their crop every year for the last decade. Every now and again Applejack would catch a glimpse of Lady Rarity when Big Mac brought Applejack along to the negotiations with Mr. Hondo. While her brother and the business stallion haggled, she would only be half listening to them, the rest of her attention would be on trying to catch another glimpse of mare that she had become rather smitten with.
Now as she walked down the dirt path that passed by the Apple family orchards, Applejack had to wonder what she was doing so far away from the hustle and bustle of Ponyville proper. 'Maybe she's out enjoying the day, it is a beautiful day after all,' Applejack thought to herself. 'Beautiful, just like her,' a small voice in the back of her mind added. It was at that moment that Lady Rarity turned her gaze on the farmer, who was now openly staring at the mare. Applejack quickly adverted her gaze and began blushing like a school filly.
She took to staring at a cloud as it slowly began to drift across sky, her gaze only briefly turning back to Lady Rarity to see if she and her entourage had passed by yet. Once they had passed out of sight, Applejack let out a breath that she hadn't noticed she had been holding, and she realized that her legs had finally stopped ticking. “Alright, enough of that Applejack, if Ma and Pa knew that that you were staring at pretty mares instead of finishing your chores, why they would give you two earfuls,” Applejack chastised herself.
“And if your brother knew,” she started saying, as she turned to go back to work and found found herself muzzle to muzzle with Big Macintosh. “Big Mac!” she said startled and nearly fell back onto the fence, her expression for all the world like a foal's with their hoof caught in the cookie jar. “Ah was just letting my legs cool down,” she said, her voice loud and full of bluster as if by being louder her words would sound truer. "And well, just how long have you been standing there?”
Big Mac just gave her a knowing look.
Applejack sighed, “Alright, alright, Ah'll get back to work.”
He shook his head, “Eenope.”
Now she was confused, “Well why the hay not? Ah wanted to finish the east orchard before supper tonight.”
“We have company,” and with that Big Mac started making his way back to the house.
“Well why didn'cha say that in the first place?” Applejack asked trotting along behind him. Sometimes she felt like her brother said a whole lot of nothing before he would get to the something.
Lady Rarity sat in what she had been told was the parlor, although she wasn't quite sure it deserved that name. It was hardly large enough to fit her and her entire entourage, let alone seat them all, and everything was covered in a thin layer of dirt. Not to mention that she had been kept waiting for far too long, it had been almost ten minutes since she had been left in this room by the elderly mare. She had been hoping that she could conduct her business with these farm ponies and be on her way. She was in the middle of a dress design for the fall season that would take Canterlot by storm.
She was in the middle of daydreaming about said dress, when she was interrupted by the opening of a door, and in trotted a large red stallion, and a slightly shorter orange mare with two mechanical hind legs. Both of them were wearing very simple brown vests, and the mare was wearing a white undershirt, tied up at the sleeves. 'Finally, it took them long enough', Rarity thought to herself, though she didn't let the thought show on her face. “Good day, you must be Macintosh Apple, is that correct?” she asked, simply being polite. She knew full well that he was, as she had seen him talking with her father often enough about apple prices to recognize him.
“Eeyup,” was his simple reply.
“Well then, I assume you got the letter from my father, about me visiting this afternoon?” she inquired.
“Eeyup.”
“Splendid, then let us get down to business, and... and...” it was at that moment that Rarity realized that she was quite sure as to what her business here exactly was. She has simply been told by her father to come down to this farm today, saying that he had already sent a letter ahead of her and nothing more. “Excuse me,” she said after a moment of silence, “but may I see the letter that my father sent to you?”
Big Mac nodded, and reached into his coat pocket with his mouth, pulled out a letter, and offered it to Lady Rarity. She daintily removed the parchment from his mouth with her magic, and read it aloud. “Dear Macintosh, I hope this letter finds you, your family, and your farm in good health. I have sent this missive to you in the hope that I might be able to humbly indulge in your generosity and ask of you a favor. Not as business partners, but as friends. Over the years of our partnership I have gotten to know you and your family quite well, I have seen that you are some of the hardest working ponies in all of Equestria, and I would like for you to try to impact some of that Earth pony down-to-earth attitude unto my daughter, Rarity. I would like to ask that you have her work along side you and your family as an extra farm hoof for the next three weeks.” At that point Rarity's calm mask slipped, and her mouth turned into a severe frown.
The letter continued on, but Rarity couldn't bring herself to continue to reading it. She was trying to wrap her mind around the idea of working in the dirt and the mud and the filth of a farm for the next three weeks.
While Rarity processed this predicament, Applejack's smile grew wider and wider. Lady Rarity would be working along side her and her family for three whole weeks. Three glorious weeks during which she would get to work side by side with the mare she had admired from afar for years.
“Well then,” Rarity finally said after recomposing herself. “It would seem that I came here rather, under-prepared. Why, I'm not even dressed properly, I mean who ever hear of a mare, ehh, bucking apples, in a gown and frock?” Then as if to demonstrate how absurd a notion it was she gave a few half-hearted bucks, and in doing so nearly tripping on said gown. “You see? It just wouldn't be practical for me to do any farm work in these cloths.” 'In fact a lady like myself shouldn't even have to consider such a preposterous ideas as doing farm work at all,' Rarity thought to herself.
“Uh huh, I reckon it would be much easier if y'all just weren't wearing anything,” Applejack said, still daydreaming about working with Rarity for the next three weeks. Then a few seconds later she realized that she had said that out loud, and her face burned a deep shade of red that put Big Mac's coat to shame.
“Yyyyyeeess,” Rarity said, eyebrow raised. “Why that's exactly my point, I simply can't work in this outfit. So I'll say au revoir for today, and if I, erm I mean when I come back tomorrow, I shall be much more appropriately attired. Come come,” gathering herself and her entourage, Rarity gave the Apples a small nod and was on her way.
Applejack took a moment to recompose herself and then as she was just about to wave and say good-bye, the door had slammed closed. She took a second, sighed, and then rounded on Big Mac, “Why didn't y'all tell me that Rarity was coming to visit the farm, and work here for three whole weeks?”
Big Mac just shrugged his head, and flashed a look that was somewhere between a knowing smirk and genuine amusement. “Well Ah just felt that y'all were due for a bit of sunshine. Ya haven't quite been yourself lately sugar cube.”
“Aww, hush you, Ah'm fine,” Applejack said, lightly slugging him in the shoulder. “And if'n y’all don't mind, there is an orchard that needs bucking,” and with that Applejack left with a small spring in her step, in anticipation of a whole three weeks working alongside Lady Rarity.
The first day on the farm
Lady Rarity was not happy, though she would never say so out loud, a lady was never so forward with her emotions. She might display it in a more subtle manner, such as in the way she carried herself, or perhaps the intonation of her voice, but never so bluntly as simply saying it. Her father had been immovable on the topic of this ridiculous idea that she needed to work on a farm. It didn't matter what concessions she offered or what promises she tried to make, he just couldn't be made to see reason.
It wasn't helping that she had to work along side this farm mare, Applejack. She was inordinately bubbly this morning, in a way that she believed only ruffians such as her could be at this hour. She also had somehow gotten splotches of oil all over her, from the top of her head to the tips of hooves, before the workday had even begun. “Erm, beg pardon Lady Rarity, but Ah though you said you were going to wear something a mite less... fancy?” Applejack asked, smile still plastered all over her face.
Rarity rolled her eyes, “This is Scarlet Scarf's Seasonal Show Stopper from last Fall, nopony in their right mind would consider this fancy.”
“Oh, well then,” Applejack looked the dress over, taking in the brownish-red layers of cotton, held in place with a purple midsection embroidered with gems and small brass gears, and the netting underneath that clung to the curves of her figure. Then she realized that she was staring at the mare rather openly. Blushing, she quickly hid her face by reaching down for her hat while talking rapidly, “Ah I thought that since ya might not be used to getting up this early,” one of her hooves waving at the newly risen sun, “and wasn't sure if'n you wouldn't like a bit of breakfast, or an extra breakfast if'n ya already had one.” Her spine made light scraping sounds as she bowed, offering her hat to Lady Rarity. Inside were five large, shiny Red Delicious apples.
In spite of the rather grubby nature of the hat that the apples were being totted around in, Lady Rarity levitated one of the apples out, knowing that one must never reject a gift, not matter how small. “Why thank you Apple-” she stopped mid sentence when she spotted a large oil splotch on the apple. “Err, there seems to be a bit of oil on this one.”
“Oh, well, y'all can just wipe if off on your dress, won't hurt the apple none,” Applejack replied.
Rarity's expression set into a heavy frown, “Excuse me? Wipe it on my dress?”
“Well ya, yer going to get it covered in all kinds of other things, a little oil won't hurt it none,” Applejack said, her smile fading a bit, now with a hint of confusion mixed into the expression. “Ya did say that that it wasn't all that fancy anyhow didn't cha?”
Rarity was opened her mouth to lecture her on how oil, especially cog oil, absolutely ruined the dasiycotton weave of the dress if much as a drop got on it. Then she decided against it, knowing there was no point it explaining something to somepony who just wouldn't understand. So she instead put the apple back in the hat, and rifled though the other apples until she found one that was devoid of oil.
Applejack waited patiently for her to finish her apple, watching as she dabbed at her lips with a hoofkerchief to remove any apple juice between bites. When she was done she looked for a place to put the core down, and lacking option she gently placed it by the base of an apple tree. “Ready to get started?” Applejack asked.
Lady Rarity sighed, “Yes I suppose we must. So what laborious duty are we to undertake?”
“Well we have to have these three acres bucked by sundown tonight. Don't worry about setting up the buckets to catch the apples, Ah already took care of that before y’all arrived,” Applejack swept her foreleg out across three acres of apple trees.
Rarity took in the numerous trees across the landscape, all of which had two large wooden pails underneath them. She felt a bit faint, there must have been over a thousand trees on all of that land. Rarity regained her composure and asked Applejack, “When you say, bucking, do you mean with just our hooves, or perhaps you have some kind of machine?”
“Well, I’ll have a bit of machine assistance,” she stomped her with her back legs and chuckled. “But it should be easy enough for y'all to do it. Here Ah’ll show you how it’s done.” With that Applejack walked up to one of the trees, and lined herself up with it. Next she crouched down on her front hooves, coiling herself up like a spring. Then with a sudden motion she lifted her entire body up on the front legs and with the force of a steam piston, straitened out. Lady Rarity looked away thinking that Applejack was going to split the tree in half, or that she would get hurt in some way. Then came the THUNK of metal on wood, followed by a steady stream of small thuds as apples fell into the buckets.
It wasn’t until the last apple had fallen into the bucket that Lady Rarity looked back at Applejack. She saw that neither the mare nor the tree had been harmed in the slightest, in fact it looked like not a single leaf on the tree had been disturbed, only the apples. “Ya ready to give it a try yerself?” Applejack motioned to the next tree in the line.
Rarity was most certainly did not want to give it a try, but she didn’t see any other option. So she trotted up to the tree, crouched down, and sprang into the air. However, instead of hitting the apple tree, she leapt into the air and landed flat on the ground. Applejack rushed over to the mare and offered a hoof, “Are you okay Lady Rarity?” Rarity nodded from the ground, having only damaged her pride. “Do you want to give it another go?”
Lady Rarity’s eye twitched, she didn’t want to even begin to think about ‘giving it another go’, and she most certain didn’t want to think about all of the dirt and grass stains that must have covered her dress after that fall. Ignoring Applejack’s proffered hoof, Lady Rarity got up off the ground, and daintily dusted herself off with her magic. “Thank you, Ms. Applejack, but I don’t think I will be trying that again anytime soon. Isn’t there something I could do that is less… strenuous?”
Applejack thought about that for a moment, “Well, I suppose you could haul the filled baskets back to the barn in the wagon. Heck, half of the job is just hauling all the apples back so we can start storing them.”
Lady Rarity almost grimaced at the thought of being strapped into some worn down, splintery cart, but it did sound better then falling in the dirt repeatably throughout the day. “Ah, yes, I suppose I could give that a whirl. So where is this wagon?”
The day was almost at it’s end, and Rarity’s horn felt like it was going to crack in two. What Applejack had referred to as ‘the wagon’ was an older model of a ground crawler, still in relatively good repair. It wasn’t the classiest thing on four wheels, but for Rarity it was far better then ruining her hooves in the country dirt. The problem, she soon learned, was that the Apples had next to no coal or sparking cells to fuel the boiler for the engine.
What they did have was some spent rechargeable lightening cell, the kind that were hooked up to a lightening rod, and would catch some of the power from the wild storms that came out of the Everfree. Even though it was spent, Rarity could recharge it manually with her own magic. Unfortunately each charge would only last two or three trips to the barn and back out to the orchard again, so she would have to stop and recharge the cell every couple of trips. Not to mention that the baskets of apples were heavy, far too heavy for Lady Rarity to pick up with her hooves or head, so she had to levitate them into the back of the crawler.
Then came the fact that the Applejack never seemed to take a break, or if she did then it had to always be in the ten or fifteen minutes that it took for her to haul the baskets back to the barn. Every time that Rarity took a break, she would find that Applejack was a good seven or eight trees ahead of her, making it next to impossible to keep up with the earth pony.
The only time she was able to catch a break was during lunch and dinner. For both meals Granny Smith had made so many apple based dishes that it caused the table in the kitchen to groan under the weight of the meals. Both of the meals went relatively quickly as Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom all wolfed down their food, speaking to each other around and through mouthfuls of various apple based dishes. Once they finished they went right back out, either to their farm chores, or in the case of Apple Bloom, back to the school house.
By the time that Celestia had begun to lower the sun on this day, Lady Rarity’s legs felt like they were made of custard, and the headache from her horn was almost blinding in it’s intensity. By this time Rarity had fallen so far behind Applejack that she had finished bucking all the trees and was now hauling the hefty baskets of apples back to barn alongside Rarity. While she was recharging the lightening cell, Rarity would sometimes watch as that orange earth pony lifted one of baskets onto her head, and then somehow let it slide gracefully down right onto her back. She couldn’t even begin to imagine doing that herself, and chalked the ease of motion up to some kind of earth pony magic.
Once the last basket had been secured in the barn, Lady Rarity parked the ground crawler back where she had found it, and slowly climbed down off it for the last time, so ending her first day on this dreadful farm. Applejack had wandered into the barn and went right on over to Lady Rarity, “Whew, well Ah don’t know abou’chu but I am bushed, that was a mighty fine job you did hauling all of them baskets back here.” She then cast her gaze over the small mountain of apple baskets that took up just about three quarters of the barn. “Well, Ah guess Ah’ll start loading up this hear haul into the silo. Shouldn’t take me too long.”
“Then,” Rarity interjected in case the mare asked her to help with that task, “I suppose I shall bid you Au due, and be off. Ta ta darling,” and with one last smile that was bordering on a grimace, Lady Rarity trotted off for home as fast as her aching legs would carry her.
“Ah, Lady Rarity welcome back. How was you day on the farm?” Black Tie the family butler was waiting for Rarity at the front door of the family manor. A tray with a large glass of water was levitating in front of him.
She gave him a weak smile as she pulled the glass of water towards herself and took a sip, “To be frank with you Mr. Tie, it was absolutely dreadful.”
“My condolences,” he said, as he opened the large oaken door for her. “Before you retreat to your rooms for the evening, there is a letter that I believe you would be most interested in.”
“Can it wait until later? I am going to need a long and thorough bubble bath to clean off all of the grime and road dust from today. And perhaps a nice glass of that 967 white we had at dinner last night to help with this headache,” Rarity muttered, slowly making her way to the central staircase.
“If I may Lady Rarity, I do believe you would want to attend to this matter immediately, as it is addressed from the Canterlot Royal Outfitters Committee,” he said as he levitated the letter out of the breast pocket on his vest.
Lady Rarity stopped mid-stride eyes wide. She then spun around to face Black Tie, and practically ripped the letter out of his telekinetic grasp. Giving the note a quick examination, paying particular attention to the wax seal on the back of it, she declared it authentic and read the contents of the letter. Minutes passed while Rarity read and re-read the letter, and Black Tie cleaned up the shattered glass of water.
Finally Rarity floated the letter back to Black Tie, and let out a high pitched squeal of excitement and started prancing in place, “The C.R.O.C wants me to design a dress for Princess Celestia’s Winter Collection this year!” she then gave another squeal that rang throughout the manor’s foyer. “Why, I have to get started on this immediately! I have so many sketches to make, and fabrics to pick out, not to mention gems to find!” She started up the stairs, taking them two at a time. “Mr. Tie, would you be a dear and send some dinner up to my room, I’m afraid I will be up there all night and won’t have time to come down.”
“Of course, Lady Rarity,” Black Tie said with a bow. “Also, what time would you care to be woken up for your next day on the farm?”
Rarity froze three quarters of the way up the marble step. The thought that she would have to go back to the Apple Family Farm tomorrow, let alone for the next twenty days, had competently slipped her mind. She couldn’t anger her father, but this request from the Canterlot Royal Outfitters Committee was far more important than a little farm work. She stood there and pondered this predicament, then an idea came to her. “Wake me up at the same time as this morning, and have a set of saddle bags packed with my sketching supplies,” she called down to Black Tie, and continued up the stairs. Silly farm work could wait, she had a masterpiece to design.
Bucking trees never hurt so much
“Oh Applejack, I can’t believe I never noticed what a strong, and reliable mare you were before,” Lady Rarity was standing close enough to Applejack that she didn’t have to speak above a whisper. Her eyes were half lidded, and she smile was soft.
“Ah'm just glad that you finally did,” Applejack whispered back, as she took a small step forward so that their muzzles were almost touching.
“Applejack, I want to tell you something. It’s something that has been on my mind ever since I started working with you, here on the farm. A feeling that has been growing steadily over the last few weeks we’ve been together,” Rarity whispered to her, her voice as soft as silk.
Applejack’s heart started to race, and her front legs began to shiver, “Why, you can tell me anything Lady Rarity.”
Rarity’s smile grew a bit wider, and a bit more playful. She opened her mouth to tell Applejack just what that feeling was, but what passed through her lips wasn’t words. In fact the sound that came out of her mouth was even equine. It was a harsh, irritating, and constant ringing.
Applejack’s eyes shot open and she turned over in bed to face her alarm clock. Applejack glared daggers at the tiny device, and instead of swatting the offending gizmo across the room, she settled for simply turning it off.
With a sign she flung off the bed sheets and started her morning routine. She pivoted her body so that she could put her legs on. She reached for the left leg first, hauling it up onto the mattress so she could lock it onto the socket that was connected to the stub of her former left leg. She was extra careful with the leg this morning so as not to aggravate the light burns around the connection socket she had gotten from yesterday. Once she had it secured and in place she took the cover and secured it to the top of the leg, so that the connection point was nice and hidden. She gave the strap one last tug and then started on the right leg. Once they were on she grabbed a can of gas and a kettle of water and filled the respective chambers with the appropriate fluids. After all of that Applejack hit the ignition button, put on her signature stetson, and with that she was fully operational and ready to face the day. Or she would be, as her rumbling stomach reminder her, once she was her stomach was all fueled up.
Applejack made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Granny Smith was surrounded by various bags of grains and heaps of apple. She had already begun making breakfast for the morning, and was currently concentrating on a large pot of oatmeal. “Good Morn’ng Granny,” Applejack yawned out.
“What’s that deary?” Granny asked, straightening up from the pot of apple cinnamon oatmeal she was stirring. Forgetting that she had a spoon in her mouth, Granny Smith took it with her as she straightened up and got drops of oatmeal all over the stove top. “Ah fiddlesticks, now look what ya made me do.”
“Sorry granny,” Applejack quickly grabbed a hoof towel from the rack and started cleaning up the splatters of oatmeal, being careful to avoid the heat coils.
“No no, clean it up after Ah’ve finished making breakfast,” Granny Smith said, scooting Applejack out of the way. “That way if’n something else gets split you only have one mess to clean! Now dice up those there apples, your brother is fetching me an extra bag of flower,” having given Applejack her marching orders Granny Smith turned her attention back to the oatmeal.
Applejack put the rag back where she found it, rubbed some of the sleep out of her eyes, then grabbed one of the knives from the drawers, grabbed one of the apples from the small mountain next to Granny, and went to work. It wasn’t long before Big Mac showed up, and after he dropped the bag off on the counter next to Granny Smith he when to work alongside her and Applejack, mixing, cutting, and baking various grain and apple dishes. By the time that Apple Bloom made her way into the kitchen the only thing that hadn't been finished was the last batch of hay bacon being fried up by Big Mac.
“Morn’ng,” Apple Bloom muttered, still half asleep.
“Morning sugar cube,” Applejack said, and then tussled her hair, making her sister’s bedhead slightly worse, on her way to her seat at the kitchen table. “What do ya want?”
Apple Bloom took her seat at the table, and looked over the massive spread of apple based foods that covered almost every inch of the table, “A stack of the pancakes, and some of the apple syrup.”
“Coming right up,” Applejack nudged a full stack of flapjacks onto the filly’s plate, and poured a healthy dose of syrup on the stack. After everypony had food on their plate they all dug in. “So Apple Bloom,” Applejack said between bites of food. “Anything interesting going on in school.”
Apple Bloom shook her head, “Nope nuthin special.” After a moment or two Apple Bloom asked, “Is Lady Rarity comin’ back over today so you can make goo-goo eyes at her.”
Applejack nearly choked on some apple cobbler. Once she got the rebellious food stuff to go down she replied, “Ah have not been making ‘goo-goo eyes’ at Lady Rarity.”
Granny Smith started laughing and thumping the table with her utensils, “Oh yes you were deary! All throughout lunch and dinner. Why, Ah haven’t seen it this bad since Ah hired yer mother, and yer father started making those same eyes at her.”
In a last ditch hope Applejack turned to Big Mac, “Ah wasn’t making ‘goo-goo eyes’ at Lady Rarity, was Ah Big Mac?” Big Mac looked at her, tried to hide a smile, and went back to his hay bacon and apple sauce. “Well pony-feathers to you all, Ah was not, and will not be making ‘goo-goo eyes’ at Lady Rarity. Now if you will excuse me, Ah am going to get ready for the day,” and with that Applejack got up from the table and made her way back up to her room.
She started looking through her dresser, trying to find her second best vest and shirt, since she had already worn her very best one yesterday. She finally found it, a vest shirt that was nearly identical to the one she had worn the other day, only this had a few small holes in the sleeves. Next she gave her mane and tail a quick brushing before putting both into a ponytail. When she was finished she strapped her shoes on, and headed out to start her day.
The sun had only just begun to peak over the nearby foot hills, so that it lit only the very tops of the trees in the orchard and the nearby Everfree Forest. The only tree with more than the top few branches basking in the early morning rays was the great Everfree Tree. Applejack looked up at the tree and admired how the early morning light made the old Mare In the Tree look as if it was glowing.
Applejack stood their and basked in the calm of the early day, listening to the sounds of the birds and breeze and watching the morning mist move gently through the orchard. After a minute she headed off to the barn to start laying out the baskets under today’s section of trees.
The sun had made it’s way over the foothills, and was shining brightly down on the farm as Applejack nudged the last basket into place. Wiping her brow, she made her way over to the entrance to the farm to wait for Lady Rarity. As the appointed time for her arrival came and went Applejack tried to peer down the road for the regal dressmaker, but she didn’t see horn nor hair of her. So she waited for another minute, and that minute turned into five, then ten. At fifteen minutes Apple Bloom left for school and wished her big sister a good day. Applejack returned the pleasantry, and then returned to waiting.
It wasn’t until a half hour had gone by that Lady Rarity had finally shown up. She was wearing a dress that was colored in various greens, browns, and an orange or two. It had tassels that all along the train that ended in little fuzzy green pompoms, and had three overlapping layers of fabric. She was also carrying a saddle bag that seemed to be bulging with various art supplies.
“Howdy, Lady Rarity,” Applejack said once she had reached the fence. Once Applejack was able to get a proper look at Rarity she realized that she looked plumb tuckered out. “Are you alright?”
“Hmm? Why, yes of course I am darling. I feel right as rain,” Rarity replied.
“Well you are a mite late, and ya look like you have one wheel down and the axle draggin’.”
Rarity paused for a second, “I’m sorry, I look like what?”
“I mean ya look tuckered out. Ya’ll have them bag under yer eyes, and yer walking slower than Granny Smith on a rainy day,” Applejack explained.
“Yes, well I may have been a bit… preoccupied last night, and didn’t get much sleep.”
It was Applejack’s turn to pause and consider what she might mean by “preoccupied”, thought about it for a moment and then decided she didn’t need to know, an it was probably none of her business. “Ah suppose yer here now. Come on let’s get’er started, were burning daylight,” and with that Applejack trotted out into the orchard, while Lady Rarity quietly sighed and trudged off towards the barn to start charging the lightening cell.
Applejack got down to the first tree of the day, lined herself up with it, gave it a good solid buck, and yelped out in pain. She turned around and looked at the burns around connection sockets for her legs. She knew that she had been testing the limits of what her mechanical appendages could safely handle yesterday, pushing them to work twice as hard with half as many breaks, all to show off in front of Lady Rarity. Applejack looked out at the acres of trees she had put buckets under just a short while ago, thinking of the small pain and discomfort each buck was going to bring.
‘Well ya’ll wanted to play the show pony, and now yer gonna have to live with the consequences,’ Applejack thought as she took in a small sharp breath, steadied her resolve, and moved on to the next tree.
And so the morning dragged on with Lady Rarity sluggishly loading the crawler with buckets of apples as Applejack bucked the trees, just like the previous day. The only difference was that Applejack had to stop and rest frequently, to both prevent her legs from overheating and so that she could let all of the little aches from her burns subside. While both of the mares moved slowly across the orchard, Lady Rarity was still the slower of the two, and it wouldn’t be long before Applejack lost sight of her and the cart.
As she bucked her way down an adjacent row of apple trees Applejack took note of just how far behind her Lady Rarity was in the previous row and sighed to herself, noting that it would be another long day, even with Rarity’s help. When Applejack made her way down the next row she looked back and saw that none of the baskets had been picked up in the previous row, or the row before that. With a frown Applejack continued bucking her trees, albeit at a much slower pace than before. When she looked back again Applejack began to worry as when she looked back at the other rows again none of the baskets had been picked up.
Instead of continuing on down the row, Applejack tore herself from her trees and went looking for the missing mare. She checked among the nearby rows of trees, in case Lady Rarity had gotten lost on one of her trips back from the barn, as it was hard to tell one row of apple trees from the next without a set of trained eyes. Applejack searched through the rows for a few minutes without finding hide nor hair of her. Next, the farm mare went and checked with both Big Mac and Granny Smith to see if they had seen Lady Rarity, but both gave her a negative. Finally she went to check out in the barn, and there she saw the crawler parked inside, with a few baskets of apples still in back. “Lady Rarity? Are ya here?” Applejack called into the barn. A small squeak and the sound of ruffling paper answered her.
Lady Rarity pop her head up over the other side of the crawler, “Oh! Applejack! Why, I wasn’t expecting you, did you need something?” Applejack made her way around the crawler and saw that Rarity was surrounded by various papers and drawing implements, ranging from charcoal pencils to oil paints. The papers were either crumpled into balls or had half finished designs for dresses, many of which had notes next to the designs.
“Well, Ah hadn’t seen ya for a good few while out there,” Applejack went over to one of the drawing and made to pick it up, but before she could set a hoof on it, it zipped out of reach, pulled by Lady Rarity’s magic. Applejack continued what she was saying, unfazed by the sudden action, “and Ah wasn’t sure where ya’ll went, or if’n you were alright.”
Lady Rarity brushed off some of the dirt that had gotten on the design as she had pulled it away, “Ah yes, I suppose I did just wander away on you. I do apologize for that Ms. Applejack, but my horn just hasn’t been right, and every time I go to charge the cell it feel like it is going to crack in two. So while I was letting it rest I was struck with inspiration, and simply had to act on it, and the time must have simply gotten away from me. You understand don’t you?” Lady Rarity said, voice sprinkled with remorse, her lower lip began to pout, and her eyes seemed to grow just a hint wider.
Those little touches were enough to cause Applejack to start to blush a bit. She pulled the brim of her hat down and turned her gaze to the side to try and hide it, “Ah suppose Ah do, and anyway it’s getting mighty close to lunch time. Why don’t we head on back to the house and help Granny Smith finish up with the lunch.”
“A capital idea,” now that the moment had passed Rarity bounced back to her prim and assured self, the small hints of vulnerability gone from her. “I’ll join you there in just a minute, I simply need to pack all of this back up.”
Applejack nodded, and started to make her way over to the house, her heart still beating a bit fast. When she entered the kitchen Granny Smith stopped what she was doing and looked at her granddaughter with a healthy dose of bewilderment. “Applejack? Now just what are ya doing back in here? Lunch isn’t going to ready fer another while, and Ah told ya before Ah haven’t seen that unicorn anywhere around these parts.”
“Ah know Granny, Ah already found her. She was out in the barn, said that her horn felt like it was gonna’ split in two, what with all the charging and lifting she was doing. So Ah figured that we could take a small break an’ just help you finish up lunch.”
Granny Smith watched as Applejack reached up for one of the large metal bowls used for mixing on a high shelf, and noticed how she winced when she put extra weight on her back legs. “Mmm-hmmm. Yeh sure that that she’s the only one that needed a break?”
“Of course Ah’m sure. Ah could buck trees all day long, you know that Granny,” Applejack’s voice was flat and hard at the accusation.
“Hmmm.”Granny Smith wasn’t convinced that was the case, but she decided to let it go. A minute or two passed with Granny Smith chopping apples, and Applejack mashing up applesauce, when Granny spoke again, “Sounds to me like Miss City Hooves is just a mite lazy. Even if’n you have to charge the cart, it sure beats hauling those apple by hoof.”
“Ah don’t think that’s fair Granny. Sure that cart is better than hauling all those apples back to the silo by hoof, but Ah figure that having to charge those lightening cells is just as hard fer a horn as hauling is fer your legs,” Applejack replied, not looking up from the apples she was mashing.
“Still seems lazy to me,” Granny Smith said.
Applejack chuckled, “Granny, you’d call a boiler with no coal lazy fer not making steam.”
It was then that Lady Rarity entered the kitchen, the discussion was dropped. For the next half hour both mares were given tasks by Granny Smith, and as soon as they were finished with one she would have something else ready for them to do. All the while Lady Rarity was under Granny Smith’s constant scrutiny, with the older mare constantly looking over her shoulder and pointing out mistakes she was making.
“Nope, if yer gunna peel an apple then ya need to get it off in one go, like this.
“Ya gotta stir along the rim of the pot. If ya keep stirring around the center, yer not going to get all the spices mixed in evenly.
“No no, that’s to many cuts. Give that knife here. Ya go one, two, three, four, turn! One, two, three, four, done. Then ya just push it off the board and into the bowl.”
After a grueling half hour of his work all of the food had been prepared, and Lady Rarity was lightly trembling where she stood, ready to go back to the nice simple task of hauling apples. Applejack looked over at her and chuckled, “Ah know that feeling. Ah remember when Ah was a filly, and Ah had to help Granny prepare all the food for the Apple Family Reunion. Had to find a good place to set and cry for a while after a good few hours.” Rarity just nodded in response.
“Applejack, go get yer brother, just hafta wait on Apple Bloom and then we’ll be ready,” Granny Smith said.
“Sure thing Granny,” and with that Applejack headed right on out to the fields to hunt her brother down.
Lady Rarity found a chair at the table and slumped into it, thoroughly worn out from the gauntlet of tasks she had undertaken this morning. Granny Smith didn’t waste a second, and began to wash the pots and pans that had been used in the previous cooking frenzy. “So,” Granny Smith started, making Rarity jump a bit in her seat, “your Hondo’s oldest ain’cha?”
“Erm, yes, I am,” Lady Rarity answered, wondering where this line of inquiry had come from, and where it might be going.
“How’s that dogged old colt holding up these days? He still chewin’ off more than he’s got any right to swallow?”
“Oh, well, I suppose he is keeping busy, yes. Mother had to practically drag him from his desk to go on a vacation with the rest of the family a few months back,” Lady Rarity smirked at the memory.
Granny Smith smiled, “Sounds like ol’Flanks hasn’t changed a bit. Back when he used to stop by the farm, if he got some cockamamie idea in his head, why there wasn’t nothing that was going stop him from carrying it out. Ah still remember the time when he got the idea that we should have a big ol’ boiler that could power just about everything on the farm. Only problem was that we didn’t have all that much in the way of steam machines at the time, so Ah had put my hoof down and told him that we were fine the way we were. Two nights later Ah hear some kinda’ banging and take a look outside and you know what Ah see?”
“I haven’t the slightest clue,” Rarity smiled to herself, knowing exactly where this was going.
“It was mah son and yer father digging the biggest hole Ah ever done seen out by the barn. Well Ah start hollering about how Ah was going to tan their hides, and yer father calls up and says to me ‘But Miss Smith, Bright Mac here thought that it was a good idea’. Well if he thought that mah son was going to overrule me on how to run the farm, before Bright Mac had even gotten his cutie mark no less, he had another thing coming! Next thing they know Ah’m chasing them all over the fields with a riding crop!” Granny Smith started cackling. “If anyone else had been awake then it woulda been quite the sight, me shouting mah head off and those two colts running it terror.” Lady Rarity was also chuckling at this point, imaging her father running around in the middle of the night being chased by this little old mare armed with naught but a riding crop.
It was then that Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom walked in on the two mares cackling and giggling, “Now what is so dang funny you two?” Applejack smiled quizzically at the two mares.
Once Granny Smith got her cackling under control she replied, “Oh just tellin’ Ms. Rarity a story or two about her Pa. Now hurry up and get yer flanks in these chairs! Lunch is gunna get cold,” and with that the rest of the Apple clan took their seats and tucked in.
All throughout lunch Applejack made a point of keeping her eyes on her food, so that none of her kin would get the idea that she was somehow mooning over Lady Rarity. ‘Ah mean ye’are,’ said a small corner of her mind. ‘Especially every time she turns around to get into that cart and-’
‘Aw hush you! Ah am not mooning over her,’ Applejack thought back at the small corner of her mind.
“Applejack?” Lady Rarity said interrupting Applejack’s short internal dispute. “Would you be a dear and pass me that plate of apple cinnamon scones?”
“Why sure thing,” Applejack looked up at her food and was practically beaming at the mare as she passed the plate to her. The rest of the Apples all tried to hide a grin or a snicker at this. “Ah hush you lot,” and with a sour look on her face, Applejack went back to staring at her plate of hay bacon and apple crisp.
Once lunch was finished and the table cleared of dishes, everypony went their separate ways to get back to their tasks. The afternoon dragged on much like the morning had, with both of the of the mares working at a slower clip than they had the day prior. Before long dinner had come and gone and soon enough the moon would be rising. Three rows of trees were left with buckets under them, but as Applejack looked back she knew that their wouldn’t be time to finish bucking them, since Lady Rarity was a full five rows behind where she was. Applejack trotted over to the pale unicorn who was levitating baskets into the crawler in an almost lackadaisical manner, most likely due to how tired she was. “Alright Lady Rarity, Ah can haul the rest of these here apple right out to the silo. Y’all can head on home now.”
Rarity immediately dropped the basket that she had been lifting into the cart, a few of the apple bounced out onto the ground. “If you say so, I shall be seeing you in the morning Applejack dear,” Lady Rarity replied cheerfully and speedily.
Applejack nodded, “Just make sure that y’all get here a mite earlier than ya did this morning, all right?”
“Oh but of course darling, I was just so dreadfully tired this morning, I’ll make sure that it won’t happen again. Now then ta ta!” Lady Rarity gathered up her saddle bags, double checked their contents, and all but galloped for the front gate of the farm.
Applejack watched as she hurried off, then looked back at the remaining rows of trees, each with a few buckets under them. She cracked her neck a few times, and set to work gathering up the baskets.
By the time Applejack had finished hauling all the apple from both the field and the barn out back to the silo, the full moon had reached its peak for the evening. Earlier Big Mac had came out and offered to help his sister with the task, but she waved him of saying that she could handle it on her own. Now there was a small twinge of regret at having turned her brother down, but in the end she had handled it, even if it meant that she was going to be a right wreck in the morning.
As she made her way sluggishly up the stairs of the farm house to her room two thoughts helped to ease the wariness in her bones. The first thought was that the silo was just about full, meaning that tomorrow was a sorting day. That would give her around about a day or so to let the burns on her legs heal up a bit. The second thought was of her and Lady Rarity working close together, side by side, sorting apple all throughout tomorrow. It was that thought that brought a smile to her face as she drifted off to sleep.
