Applejack glanced up at the darkening sky, and let out a tired sigh. It had been yet another long day at Sweet Apple Acres. She had been working her hide off in the scorching and dry air of the bright and sunny day. Now all her chores were done for the day and she could finally relax.
Applejack sat down on top of a hill, under a tree in the fields. She had a mug of cold, fresh cider in her hooves as she looked at the setting sun. It was a very beautiful sight to see after all. No matter how long Applejack worked or how tired she was, a moment like this at the end of the day relaxed her plenty.
The country pony took a sip of refreshing cider and almost moaned in delight at its sweet taste as it slid down her parched throat. Applejack leaned back against the tree trunk and lowered her hat over her eyes slightly so she could only peek out from under the brim at the setting sun.
“Another productive day.” She said, to no one in particular, as she smiled slightly and took another sip of the cool nectar in her hooves. Then a though hit her. This weather on the farm had been really horrible for the past whole week. First day of the week was pretty fine. Then second day there was an unannounced rain storm for the whole day. A whole bucking day. Her trees were so over-watered she could practically hear them gargling.
Normally she was given the weather schedule a week or two ahead of time but no, not this time. It was just unannounced rain for a whole day and then no rain whatsoever for the rest of the week. Instead she got scorching heat and five continuous days of full sun. It was already dang hard to work in that burning warm weather but her trees were also dried to the trunk.
She’d heard just about 2 weeks ago from now that Ponyville was going to get a new weather pony. Their old weather pony, Sunny Dew, was great, she wasn’t perfect but she always got the job done in time. She also made sure every pony was satisfied with her work on a regular basis. But she just got promoted and had moved to Canterlot.
Now the weather team had sent some new pony, name Rainbow Dash, to Ponyville. So far Applejack had been really unimpressed with this new weather pony. She hasn’t seen this pony once since she got assigned the job about a week ago, according to the weather team.
Applejack hadn’t received any schedule for this irregular weather, or any weather for that matter. And neither did she receive any form of explanation, apology or compensation for this unprofessional behavior.
Now there was a frown on Applejack’s face, all this thinking about the bad weather has made her mood go sour. She decided then and there that she would be going to the weather office tomorrow morning, first thing in the morning, and talk to this Rainbow Dash pony herself and ask her what her deal is.
After all it was not Applejack’s fault that this pony was too darned lazy to do their job. Applejack could no longer work in this heat, not to mention her trees were drier than a bone.
Applejack swallowed down the rest of her cider in one big gulp. The concoction not tasting as cool or sweet anymore. She got up and started trotting back to the farmhouse. She had to find those shoes that let her walk on clouds, the ones she got last Apple Family Reunion from her Aunt and Uncle Orange.
She stowed them shoes away in the back of her attic, thinking when would she even use them. A down to earth pony like herself, what would she have to do up in the clouds anyway? How could she of known that some crazy Pegasus would give her this hard a time that she’d have to go up to the weather office to sort something out that she should have already been provided with, without having to go through all the trouble she has to go through.
She went in to the barn and went straight up to the attic. It was really dusty and there were so many boxes to look through but she really had to find those shoes. Tomorrow she had a lot to do after all and she really needed her rest. So, the sooner she found those shoes the better.
Applejack looked around, she took in a deep breath but immediately scrunched up her nose, her eyes watering. She let out a loud sneeze, all the dust collected on a box in front of her muzzle flying straight in to her eyes.
“Ah! Buck, darn lazy pegasi!” She yelled. It was going to be a long night for her.
The next morning Applejack got up at the crack of dawn. She was up and about, as she cleaned up, took a shower. She looked at herself in the mirror as she brushed her long, still moist mane from the shower. She pulled the brush through her mane a couple of times until it flowed through smoothly and there were no knots left. She grabbed the little red ribbon from her dresser and tied her mane in her usual fashion.
She did the same to her tail. After brushing her coat a single time, smiled at herself. Though many believed her to be way too simple and a country pony who didn’t like fashion, which by the way was true, but still she liked to make herself look presentable. That’s what her ma taught her.
She grabbed her hat and a bag of bits. She put the bag of bits in her hat and put it on her head. She made sure she had on her special boots that let her walk on clouds. She took one last look at herself in the mirror as she left her room. Walking downstairs she went in to the kitchen, preparing some breakfast for herself.
Soon she was out of the farmhouse, on her way to Ponyville. She walked through her orchard, a light breeze blowing by as Celestia’s sun rose over the horizon in to the early morning sky. The wind gently rustled her mane, as she heard birds chirping from the trees. She smiled, she loved early mornings, when most of the ponies were still in dream land and it was so quiet, peaceful and beautiful. It was one of the main reasons why she woke up so early every morning. To look at the beautiful hues made by the rising sun, and the still present calm that seemed to have settled over the farm during the night. She also loved it because when she was young her pa and her would come out and look at the rising sun over the orchard together, as he told her stories about brave and legendary ponies, that defended Equestria and she’d listen closely with stars in her eyes. And her ma would be busy in the kitchen, making breakfast for the household as Mac would still be in bed as granny snoozed away in her rocking chair like usual.
The thought brought moisture to her eyes but her smile was ever present. Also, she had a little baby sister to take care of now anyway. As well as a big lug of a brother, who sometimes acted like he was Apple Bloom’s age rather than older than AJ.
She chuckled lightly as she remembered when she once caught him eating chocolate from the fridge in the middle of the night and when she trotted in to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water he had looked at her with these big guilty eyes and chocolate all around his mouth. He looked as if he was seven again, and Granny Smith had just caught him with his hoof in the cookie jar before dinner. Applejack had just laughed at him then, proceeded to get her water and leave.
She remembered once when Apple Bloom had pulled one of her crazy stunts with her crazy friends, something about sky diving, or something crazy like that. And she had gotten her keens her from the fall, not bad but it had worried Applejack a lot and she had yelled at Apple bloom, making the little pony look very guilty and tear up. Applejack had just went up to her bedroom to cool off, and about an hour later she’d heard a knock on her bedroom door, when she opened it, there was a dark brown round thing in a pan, that looked way too burned to be edible. And a little note next to it. She’d picked the note up and it said, “From a pony who really loves you and is very sorry she worried you. She promises to never stress you ever again, best sister. With a lot of love, I made this pie for you.” She looked up and saw a single hazel eye peeking from around the corner. Applejack just smiled at her and gestured her over, she gave her little sister a tight hug and told her that she wasn’t angry anymore. And that the pie Apple Bloom made was a very sweet gesture but it wasn’t edible. The little one just shrugged and hugged her elder sister again.
Applejack then sighed and grinned big. She had the best siblings in the world and the most amazing grandmother a pony could ask for.
While she was lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t realized that the sun had completely risen by now and she had reached the place she was going. About twenty feet away was the pony that was going to lend her the hot air balloon for the day.
Applejack walked up to the pink mare with a bright yellow mane and smiled at her. “Well hello, miss.” Applejack greeted.
The other pony turned to her and smiled. “Oh hey, Applejack. How can I help you today?” The other pony asked politely.
“I was wondering if I could borrow your balloon for today? I have a little business to do up in Cloudsdale.” Applejack asked the pink mare, gesturing with her hoof towards the balloon tie to a wooden pole next to the mare.
“Oh certainly,” Said the mare, “That will be twenty bits.”
Applejack pulled out the bag of bits from her hat and took out twenty bits as she passed them to the other mare, “There, I’ll be back before noon most probably but just in case, I want to have it for the whole day.”
The other pony thanked her and put the bits away in her saddle bags, as she explained the basics on how to move and direct the hot air balloon. Applejack listened and nodded along as she got it to the balloon.
When Applejack was all done, she thanked the mare one last time and she was off in to the sky. She directed her balloon towards Cloudsdale. And luckily for her, Cloudsdale was by Ponyville this time of the year and she only had to be in the balloon for about 15 minutes before she was as the weather office.
She lowered her balloon and as it landed on the fluffy but firm surface of the clouds, she tied it to one of the columned pillars of the weather office. She hopped off the balloon and looked around, quite surprised and truthfully amazed at the beautiful sights before her eyes.
She didn’t know that clouds designed in to such fancy looking buildings. And honestly, it looked quite detailed and as if a lot of time and hard work went in to building it all. She wanted to see more but she didn’t really have time right now, she had a purpose here and she had work to do. So, she best get to it.
She walked to the front door of the building. She pushed the door open and trotted inside. It wasn’t a big building, just a small hallway and a couple of doors on either side. She read the names on the doors as she went along, until she reached “Supervisor’s office”.
Applejack turned and knocked on the wooden name plate hanging on the door. The door opened and a young looking stallion opened the door, he looked at Applejack with a puzzled smile and opened the door further as he asked, “What can I help you with?”
Applejack cleared her throat and said, “I need to meet with Rainbow Dash.”
“Huh?” The stallion replied with, confused.
Applejack motioned towards the inside of the room, trying to convey that he let her in to the office. The young stallion blinked at her once then stumbled to the side, holding the door open for Applejack to step in.
Applejack stepped inside and looked around the office, it was an average to big sized office. But there was nothing specific that said that it was the office of the weather team or that it was made out of clouds. The room was completely carpeted with three of four walls covered with shelves stacked high with files and paper work and one big glass wall behind the desk.
She walked up to the desk and turned around to look at the stallion who was stand by the now closed door of the office, looking puzzled as ever. “You are the weather team’s supervisor?” She questioned him.
The stallion quickly shook his head, “Oh no, no. I am just the assistant here. This is actually my uncle’s office, he’s the weather team supervisor.”
Applejack tilted her head to the side, “Well, at least you are an assistant here. So, I need your help. I need to meet with this pony named Rainbow Dash. She just got assigned as Ponyville’s new weather pony ‘bout a week ago.” She told him.
“But ma’am, no other ponies will be here for at least another two hours.” He told her, as he got back to fixing some files on the left wall of the office.
Applejack just looked at him for a second, the blinked and shook her head. “Well then what are you doing here?”
The stallion turned back towards her, “I am just here to organize some files and papers before the day starts. Now, is there anything else I can help you with?”
She was about to say no when she stopped for a second and the said instead, “Actually, yeah. I didn’t come all the way here and did all that just to go home empty hoofed. I need ya to tell me where this pony, Rainbow Dash, lives. Where can I find her? I need her address.”
The young stallion, who looked more like a colt right now, with his eyes wide and moving back with hesitation. “I am sorry, ma’am but I can’t give you that information. That is confidential.” He told her with a shake of his head.
Applejack frowned at him then said with conviction, “Listen here, kid, I ain’t just came all the way here for you to tell me no and to waste my time. You see I have some unsettled business with this darn pegasus. And unless you want to be on the receiving end of my lecture, and anger, you better tell me where she lives.”
He tried to object again, “But miss-,” he was saying but cut himself off with the glare Applejack was giving him. “Alright…” He sighed, clearly reluctant but too scared to say no to Applejack. He took out a file from a shelf on the right wall and flipped a few pages. Then he wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed that paper to Applejack. “Here, this is her address. She just moved to Ponyville a week ago, lives on the outskirts of town and has this recently made cloud house. It’s all pretty new, will stand out a bit. You will easily be able to see it.” He explained with sad frown, like he was a foal and someone took his toy away.
Applejack smiled. “Thanks a bunch. Ya were a great help, I mean it. Oh, and don’t ya worry, no one will know you helped me get this information.” She nodded towards the paper in her hoof.
The stallion looked at her with suddenly bright eyes, “Really?” Applejack just chuckled and nodded. “Oh thank you so much. I don’t regret giving you the information as much now.” He exclaimed happily, as he closed the file and hopped over to put it back in its place.
Applejack shook her head and started to trot back towards the door of the office. “Thanks for the help. I’ll be outta here now.” She said moving out of the office. She heard a ‘see you’ behind her but kept going.
Outside Applejack hopped back in her balloon and untied it from the pillar. “Now to find this lazy pony.” She muttered, as the balloon begun to lift.
Another fifteen minutes of floating around she eventually found this cloud house, no, this cloud mansion, with rainbow fountains all around it, on the outskirts of Ponyville, not too far from Sweet Apple Acres.
She landed the hot air balloon on the front porch of this house and tied it to the mail box. After getting off and making sure it wasn’t going anywhere, she turned around and walked up to the front door of the mansion.
This door was completely made out of clouds, no wooden name plate or anything. She looked around for a bell of some sort but her search proved fruitless. She looked back at the cloud door and raised a hoof to try knocking but her hoof jut made a dull thump with the door, barely loud enough for anyone to hear when they were awake, let alone when they were asleep.
Frustrated she stomped her still boot covered hoof on the cloud floor and let out of a long sigh. She looked around for something that could make enough noise to let the pony inside know that there was somepony at her front door.
She found nothing. Rolling her eyes, she thought for a moment what she could do now. When she was thinking, she heard a slight noise. Flicking her ear, she tried to hear closer. For a few seconds, there was nothing then after a while there was a slight snoring sound. Applejack just blinked twice and tried to hear closer to make sure she heard right.
And it turned out she was hearing everything right and looking around she found out the source was an open window on the second floor of the cloud mansion. Then an idea struck her.
Applejack took out the little bag of bits from her hat and took a bit in her hoof. She moved a few steps back, reached her hoof up and threw the bit in through the open window. She waited for a few second, there was no reaction. She took another bit in her hoof and tried a second time. Again, there was no reaction what so ever.
Applejack sighed and tried once again. Three strikes and no reaction at all. She frowned, this wasn’t working. And she was wasting perfectly good bits on this darn Pegasus, who got her only bad things in return.
She sucked in a deep breath, moved another two steps back and threw in deep. For a second or two there was no reaction, but then she heard a groggy voice cracked through the silent morning air. Carrying with it words that said, “Ow! My head, what the hay was that?!”
Applejack blinked for a second and then smiled wide, ‘nailed it’ she thought to herself. She turned her muzzle upwards and cupped a hoof around it, “Hey! Ya darn lazy pagasus, if you have any ounce of self-respect you better get down here.”
For a couple seconds, it was quiet then a voice said, which sounded like it hadn’t moved from its last spot whatsoever, “No, I don’t have any self-respect. This mare is shameless. So if you can please let me sleep, I was having the most awesome dream about impressing the Wonderbolts.”
Applejack just stared at the window. Then shaking her head, she yelled up, “Ya better get down here this instant, ya crazy pony! Or it won’t be good for ya. You hear?”
She heard grumbling from above and then some crashing sounds and at the end she heard a loud thump from inside. Probably this pony falling down the stairs. Applejack chuckled, well this was going interesting so far.
After hearing a groan and some shuffling from inside, the door finally opened. A pony with a messy head of rainbow hair was standing in the doorway. Her wings were hanging limply at her sides as if she was too tired to fold them up to her body. And she was yawning loudly, still not looking at Applejack, as she said, “Yeah, what the hay is so important that you had to disturb me this early in the morning? I bet even Celestia ha went back to bed already, after raising the sun.”
Applejack just stared at the other pony. The pony looked to be her age and at the same time somehow looked like a young filly who was way too lazy and lost to do her darn duties properly on time.
Applejack cleared her throat and said with force behind her words, “Hey you listen here, ya featherbrain. My trees have been drying to the bone due to the heat in the last few days and my apples are all going bad. And guess what? It’s all yer darn fault! You haven’t been performing your job at all at Sweet Apple Acres. Where have ya been this whole week if you haven’t been working for the weather over the farm? I also didn’t get no schedule this week, what was that all about?” Applejack narrowed her eyes at the other pony and raised her muzzle up in the air a bit.
Rainbow Dash took a step back and blinked her still sleep hazy eyes at this angry farm pony at her doorstep. Her awesome dream ended so she could come down here and get yelled at? That was so unfair! “Hey Ponyville is a big town, okay? And I still have practice to do for the Wonderbolts as well as take naps. I don’t have time for weather duty all day long.” She said to the other pony, letting out a huff.
“Oh Ponyville is big alright. Where did ya come from that Ponyville is big for ya? Also, if ya gonna be a lazy pony about yer duties, then the Wonderbolts ain’t gonna take ya.” Applejack said to the rainbow maned pegasus, her eyes still narrowed as she took a step closer to the pony in a challenging manner.
Rainbow Dash gasped at this pony at her front door telling her all these things, like she knew her. “Hey you better take that back!” She yelled at the orange pony. “Don’t you tell me I am lazy, I watered your trees 6 days ago! And I watered them for the whole day, that would be enough to keep them going for two weeks.” She told her defiantly.
Applejack just looked at Rainbow Dash for a few seconds, her eyes wide, she opened her mouth, “Ya really are a feather-brain.” Applejack then shook her head, “Listen, I donno how much ya know about earth, but the water doesn’t just sit around in the soil for the plants to use when they want, it seeps further down in to the ground with gravity. And with such hot and sunny summer days, with no clouds whatsoever to provide any shade,” She narrowed her eyes again at this, “They dry up right quick and this makes my apples quite tasteless and less sweet. And I can’t sell nothing but the best to my customers. So you better get to your job, girl. And water my trees on a regular basis, as well as provide me with a weather schedule ahead of time. Ya got all that?” She asked the other pony, who was just looking at her now with a slight frown.
Rainbow Dash sighed, “Alright, fine, I am sorry. I will get you a schedule for next week and also try to leave some clouds for shade every day.” She then straightened up, put her snout in the air and said, “But you better take back what you said about the Wonderbolts not taking me! I am the best flier that there is.”
Applejack just grinned, now this was fun. She didn’t know that convincing this lazy pegasus was going to be so easy, she though she’d be here a while. “Well if ya are the best flier and all, why don’t ya prove it for me?”
Rainbow Dash gave a smirk of her own, “A challenge, huh? What do you want me to do?”
Applejack lowered her eyelids and said with a smirk, “Well ya could start by getting to work and bringing some rain for my trees. And then after you are done fixing up the rest of the weather around Ponyville, you can come help me buck apples at the farm. We’ll see if you really are all that great as ya claim to be.”
Rainbow Dash was about to agree when she turned to the farmer with her jaw hanging. “That is not fair! I said I am the best flier, not the best farmer. What kind of challenge is that?” She yelled, stomping her hoof like a little filly who didn’t get her way.
Applejack just chuckled at the sight in front of her, “Is that so? Well then I challenge you to see if you can beat me in bucking more apple trees or not. Now it’s a challenge.”
Rainbow Dash just opened and closed her mouth like a fish. This was so not fair. She knew she would definitely lose. She had never even seen a pony buck a tree, let alone do it herself. But she also knew she couldn’t back down from a challenge either. She had a reputation to keep after all, and she wasn’t going down without a fight. “Fine then. It’ll be a breeze for me. So you better be prepared to lose to a “darn lazy weather pony”, cowgirl.” She told the other mare, flicking at her hat, her words full of self-confidence. Then she just stopped and stared at the other pony, realizing she’d never seen or met her before. “Hey, how the hay did you know where I lived?” She questioned, with a suspicious expression and an eyebrow raised.
Applejack laughed at the pegasus, fixed her hat and started walking back to her hot air balloon. “I have my ways.” She told her with a smirk, getting in the basket of the balloon. She started untying the rope from around the mailbox as she said, “See ya later today. It was nice meeting ya, Rainbow Dash. Name’s Applejack.” She said with a big smile and a wave, and then she was off, the top of her balloon disappearing below Rainbow Dash’s house.
Rainbow Dash stared at the space where the balloon had been just seconds ago. She didn’t know what the deal of this strange pony was, one second she was yelling at Rainbow Dash and the other she was all smiles and laughter.
Oh well, Rainbow Dash had seen stranger things. And also, it’d be fun to have a friend here in Ponyville other than Fluttershy. And no matter, she liked the pony’s – Applejack she’d told Rainbow just before leaving – attitude, it was a bit like Rainbow’s; strong, competitive and not afraid to say what they want. Which reminded Rainbow that she best get to her job and get some rain to the farm before that crazy pony was back at her door to yell at her some more.
Rainbow let out a long sigh as she shut her front door and turned around to walk back upstairs and take a shower, get ready for the day. “This is going to be a long one…”
Author's Note
I hope you can enjoy it.
Do tell me my mistakes and how I can improve, thanks. ^^
