Author's Note

A bit short, but I hope yall like it. Like/dislike and comment, Thanks!

Walking and Talking

With his hands in his jean pockets, Tim silently walked down the cobblestone street that was the main thoroughfare of the town of Ponyville. He held his head down, staring and the worn stones just ahead of his feet, not caring where he was or where he ended up. Everything he had said to the group of women was running through his mind and was eating at him. In all the years since he had left his home, he had not breathed a word of his past to anyone. He was angry at himself for letting the rainbow haired woman get under his skin as easily as she did. He had closed his eyes and was gritting his teeth as he continued down the street, at least until he slammed into someone head-on in his path.

“Geeze, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there!” was all he heard as he opened his eyes and seen envelopes and small packages flying everywhere. He immediately dropped to one knee and began picking up the scattered mail, collecting it under one arm just to drop it all to the ground as he was head-butted and knocked back on his rear. He rubbed his head and looked ahead of him, seeing a grey-clad mailwoman with blonde hair and drastically crossed eyes. “Ow! Sorry, my bad! Are you o.k. mister?” The blonde appeared to be staring at him while she rubbed her own head with one hand and leaning back on the other. Tim simply nodded and resumed picking up the mail, handing it to the woman as she placed it back in her satchel. He stood up and reached down, helping the clumsy woman up to her feet.

“Again, I’m so sorry, mister! I was in a rush and just didn’t see you!” She secured the strap of her mailbag over her shoulder and fixed the front of her shirt, straightening it back out. “I really got to get going, I’m running behind again!” She grabbed Tim’s hand and shook it firmly, just before stepping away from him and producing a large pair of silvery wings out of her back. “Bye, have a good day!” was all Tim heard as the woman shot off into the sky like a rocket, a stray letter or two flying out of her bag. He watched as she flew up and over the rooftops, heading across town. Tim watched until she disappeared from view, noticing a few other people soaring across the sky in the distance. He then turned his gaze down to his clothes and brushed the dirt from his pants before continuing on down the road.

When the road turned into a dirt path, Tim looked up and noticed he was now standing at the edge of what looked like a park. He scanned his surrounding and saw a small pond in the distance. He then turned off the main path and made his way across the sparsely wooded countryside heading for the water’s edge. Making it to the pond, he took a seat on a large fallen log just a few feet from the bank. He sat with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped before him, taking in the serenity of the pond’s glass-smooth surface. He finally was able to let his mind go blank, being in the woods and near the water having a great calming effect on him. He didn’t know how long he had sat there, just staring at the water and enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature when he heard footsteps coming up behind him. Tim never moved or showed any sign of doing so as the footsteps came right up to his back and stopped.

“Mind if Ah take a seat?” the sweet, southern voice called to him, waiting for a response. Tim simply waved a hand to his right, offering the woman a seat. Applejack stepped over the log and sat down next to Tim, sitting in the same stance as him and just stared out over the lake, not saying a word. They sat there for a few moments, enjoying the silence and even enjoying each other’s company, though neither party said as much.

“So, what ya know good?” Tim said to his blonde companion, not taking his eyes off the pond. He bent down and picked up a small stone, gently tossing it into the water, disrupting the pond’s smooth surface, sending ripples all across the water. He heard the woman to his right sigh softly before she started to speak.

“Ya know, Ah know a few things good, but more importantly, Ah know yer good. Ya seem to have come a long way from who ya was to who ya are today, and Ah admire that greatly. What ya told us back there, about yer family,… that’s damn rough, and Ah aint gonna say Ah know what ya went through, but Ah lost my folks years ago… Not long after mah lil sis was born.” Applejack looked down to the ground and dug around in the dirt with the tip of her boot, pushing a small clump of dirt into the edge of the water. “It still hurts, a lot. Ah think about my ma an’ pa a lot, especially when I look at lil ‘Bloom an see how she’s getting so big as the time goes on…” She sighed again as she turned to face Tim. “They was on a picnic one afternoon not long after ma had Applebloom. Me, Bloom an’ Mac was at the house with Granny, and we never knew nothing was wrong till they didn’t show up fer dinner. Me an’ my brother went to find em. I can still remember seein em layin in that meadow- pa was coverin ma with his body like a shield, they was both gone from this world… they was attacked by a manticore out of the Everfree Forest… they never stood a chance.” Her voice was trembling and Tim looked up to the blonde next to him to find her still staring at him with her emerald green eyes, now wet from her painful memories. Tim reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder.

“Stop, please… You don’t have to go on,… Please don’t cry, Miss Apple…” This caused the woman to crack a small smile as she pushed into his hand with her shoulder, shrugging his hand from her. “C’mon, now Tim, none of that there ‘Miss’ stuff,… Applejack is just fine, or AJ,…” She looked into Tim’s still reddened eyes with her own teary emerald ones, both now softly smiling at one another. Tim nodded to Applejack and smiled a little bit bigger at her words, still gazing into her eyes. He saw something very familiar in them, something he couldn’t quite place but comforted him none the less.

“Aight, Applejack…” Tim began with a grin as he slowly stood up from his seat on the log. He offered his hand to Applejack who promptly took it and rose from her seat as well, not letting go of Tim’s hand as she stood there close to him. Tim glanced down at her hand in his, then back to her eyes, watching a blush spreading across her lightly freckled cheeks. Even then, the cowgirl didn’t release her gentle grip as she turned from his gaze slightly, lowing the brim of her Stetson over her eyes.

“Well, then,” Tim said, taking a step away from the pond still holding the hand that remained in his, causing Applejack to follow in his footsteps. “I think I’ve enough air for now,… How about we head on back to the library, huh?” Applejack quickened her step and got beside Tim, now matching her stride to his. “Sure thing, Tim, let’s get goin… I recon ol’ Dash has got over ya threatenin’ to shove that ball cap of yer’s down her throat.” She gave a short laugh, thinking back to the look on the rainbow-haired athlete’s face when Tim leaned across the table to put her in her place. The pair made their way back to the path leading back through the small town and back to the library, Applejack only letting Tim’s hand slowly slip from hers as they entered into town.

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“So, here is what I’ve been thinking,” Twilight began as she stood before the group at the head of the large table with the map laid upon it, “We need to go to the last place we had contact with the princesses, which is here.” She pointed to a spot on the map along a road heading to the circled city of Las Pegasus. “Appleoosa. It’s a small town just a couple hours by train from Las Pegasus. We could travel there and possible reside with Applejack’s family while we talk to the townsfolk and see if anyone can provide us with some answers…”

“Negative, Twilight,” Tim spoke, who had been sitting quietly in his chair, starring holes through Rainbow Dash with his arms crossed all the while, “while I think that we do need to check out the town for any information we can get, I think we need to check out a few of those other crossed off locations and see if there’s anything yall might have missed. I aint doubtin’ yalls investigation skills, but I would like to set my own eyes and ears on some of them places to get my own feel on all of this.” He then stood and traced his finger along the map down the road from Appleoosa across a few of the circled and crossed off towns along the way. “And we might want to avoid the train. If the caravan yall’s princesses was in went down that road, we need to take that same road and see if we can find anything along the way. Yeah, it will take some time, but we need to be as thorough as we can here.” His finger continued down the road which led directly to Canterlot, where he tapped his index and middle fingers a few times on the circled city.

“Here; this is where we start. If ya think that these crime waves out west was just a trap to lure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna away from the protection of the Capitol, I’d be willin to bet someone, or a group of someones, was watchin them and waitin to see when they mobilized and moved out.” He looked around the group of women sitting at the table, noticing a few nods of approval and hearing “hmms” as his idea was thought about. “I mean, I don’t know how folks operate in this world of yours, but I know how things went down where I’m from and frankly, if I was wantin to plan on jumpin someone like them with a plan of drawin em out of their comfort zone, I’d have someone watchin their every move and keepin me posted.” He sat back down on his chair and looked to Twilight, seeing her rub her chin in thought and nodding while staring at the map.

She pointed a finger at Tim as she snapped her fingers and smiled. “That’s great thinking, Tim,… I can’t believe I didn’t think of that, I guess I was so caught up about what had happened to the princesses that I didn’t fully look at the possibility of a more intricate plan at play. Seems to me that we most definitely need your assistance after all.” Twilight looked back at the map at the city of Canterlot and thought once more, going over what Tim had said in her mind. “Oh, and another thing,” Tim began, getting Twilight’s attention again, “we should get a list together of people in those towns, as well as the Capitol, who the princesses have regular contact with who may have seen something that they might not realize may be of importance to us. Guards, their personal staff, councilmen, mayors- anybody you can think of. Any schedules the princesses might have had could be of use, too…” The mention of lists and schedules brought a gleam of excitement to Twilight’s eyes and Tim realized he must have triggered the woman’s “nerdy, talkative side” again.

“Oh, yes! I can most certainly compose a list of individuals of high importance to the princesses as well as study their schedules and see if any discrepancies stand out and make note of any particular occurrences out of the ordinary! I get started on that right away!” With that, Twilight seemed to forget the company she currently had in the library and started to walk off into another room before catching herself and stopping in her tracks. “Uh, hehehe, sorry…” she said, rubbing the back of her head as she walked back to the group, half of which was looking at her with a raised brow as the other half was shaking their heads and rolling their eyes. “I guess we all need to begin preparations so as that we can set out for Canterlot soon. I’m sure you all have things to attend to before we can set out, so I will be in touch with you all in the next couple of days to see where we stand.”

“Well, Twilight my dear,” Rarity began as she rose from her seat and smoothed her dress out with her hands, “I must make sure I get a few orders taken care of and assure I have someone to keep an eye over Sweetie Belle.”

“She could stay over at tha acres, Rares, I’m sure Applebloom would love the comp’ny.” Applejack stated. “Ah got a few things that needs doin around tha farm that might take a few days,…” she then turned to Tim, looking him in the eyes, “’course, with yer help, Tim, Ah’m sure it won’t be too much of a burden.” She smiled a bit at the man beside her, who nodded in agreement. “Sure thing, Applejack… I’m actually feeling a whole lot better already thanks to that spell Twilight used on me when we got here.” He rubbed his side where Twilight had laid her hand earlier, turning to the woman. “Thanks again for that, by the way.”

“Think nothing of it, Tim.” She politely waved off, turning to the remaining woman in the room. “Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash,… I’m sure you will need some time to get things caught up as well, be sure to keep in touch with me, ok?

“Okie-dokie-lokie! I got to let the Cakes know that I won’t be able to watch the twins for a while and I’ll help Fluttershy make sure all her animals are taken care of! Won’t that be great, Fluttershy?” the overly energetic girl shouted as she hugged her shy friend who was nodding her head in response. All eyes then turned to the athlete who was still sitting low in her chair. Noticing the attention of the room now centered on her, she shrugged her shoulders and looked off in the distance. “Yeah, I got a few things I need to get done… No problem. See ya.” Rainbow Dash then stood and gave a short two-finger salute as she stood and walked out the door, glaring a bit at Tim as she turned to close the door behind her.

“Well then,…” Applejack began, readjusting her Stetson atop her head, “Ah guess we best be headed back home.” She rested her hand on Tim’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes again. “We got a few chores ta take care of before supper and Ah gotta let Mac an’ Granny know we might be gone awhile.” Walking across the room to Twilight and the rest of the girls, she tipped her hat to them. Tim followed her and gave a small wave goodbye to the group. “I guess I’ll be seeing yall around. Yall have a good day.” He said as he then set of out the door ahead of Applejack. As he exited the room, Applejack watched him leave before turning to her friends to say farewell, only to notice Rarity had approached her and stood directly in front of her, smirking in Applejacks face.

“I saw that, you know,… How you looked at him just then… Soooo adorable!” Rarity beamed, now grinning at her tall, blonde friend. Applejack simply rolled her eyes as she pushed the purple-haired fashionista away from her, taking a step towards the door. “Ah don’t know what yer gabbin’ about, Rares… We gotta get back to the farm and get a few things done, Ah aint got time fer yer nonsense.” She continued out the door, hearing her friend softly snicker as she stepped out of the giant tree library and went to catch up with Tim. He had already hitched the wagon back to the horse and was sitting on the bench seat, reins in hand.

“Come on up, I’ll drive us on back to the farm, if you don’t mind, that is.” Tim said to Applejack as she climbed up onto the hard wooden seat and sat next to him. She only smiled as she motioned her hand outwards, gesturing for him to proceed. “Be mah guest.” She said as she got as comfortable as she could, propping her boots up on the front rail of the wagon and tilting her hat down over eyes. Tim then snapped the reins and got the horse to move in a slow walk, guiding the wagon back toward the direction of Sweet Apple Acres as Applejack smiled under her hat and enjoyed the slightly bumpy ride home.