Applejack Gets Tied in Knots

“Sold out!?” Rarity wailed. “I could hardly have imagined this day could possibly get any worse.”

“Well, sorry ladies. You’re missing out on some real stiff competition,” the ticket clerk said unhelpfully.

Twi didn’t seem real upset about it. “Don’t worry Rarity, there are other things we can do.”

“Hey, what do ya’ll reckon Spike is doing over there?” Applejack asked.

Rarity and Twi glanced over to where Spike was pacing back and forth near the stadium entrance. The stallion who had been ahead of them in line—the one who had been even more melodramatic than Rarity when he saw the sold out sign go up—went over to talk with Spike when the little dragon motioned to him. They exchanged something between them, and, instead of leaving, the stallion headed to the stadium entrance, looking all too pleased with himself.

Twi looked puzzled. “Well, that was weird. Spike is usually still asleep on a Saturday morning like this. What could have motivated him to get up so early?”

“Money,” Applejack said as chewed her lower lip. “I reckon he’s scalpin’ tickets.”

“Oh, Spike-ee-wai-kee is quite the little businessdragon. We should buy some tickets from him. That way we’ll be able to see the horseraces after all.”

Twi gave Rarity a stern look. “We’re not going to buy tickets illegally. We’ve got to stop Spike before he gets in trouble.”

“Please, Twilight,” Rarity pleaded. “I’ve been having such a stressful week. I have this ridiculous order I need to fill for a very important client, and, no matter how hard I try, I’m just not pulling it off. All I need is something to take my mind off of it for a little while.”

“Okay fine,” Twi sighed, “we’ll buy tickets illegally.”

Spike quickly tucked something into his coat when he saw them approaching. “Oh, hey Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, uh, fancy meeting you here. I’m just . . . getting some exercise. You know, good Saturday morning exercise.”

“We know, Spike,” Twi said.

Spike hung his head. “I guess you’ll want me to stop then.”

“No, we actually wanted ta buy some of them tickets ya got there.”

Spike’s eyes lit up. “I’ve only four left. That will be fifty bits each.”

Twi rolled her eyes. “Fifty bits? You’ve got to be kidding me, Spike. They were only ten bits at the window.”

“Hey, I don’t set the prices. It’s a supply and demand thing,” he protested.

“Okay fine, fifty bits then, but you’re not ripping off any other pony with that last ticket.”

“That’s alright,” Spike said as he collected their coins, “the last ticket is for me.”

“Since when are ya inta horse racin’?”

Spike scratched his chin with his last ticket. “I’ve been into it since Pinkie let me co-announce The Running of the Leaves.”

“Do you announce these races too?” Rarity asked as they neared the entrance.

“Nah, I’m really more of a bookie.”

“Spike!” Twi rounded on him. “Placing bets on these races isn’t any more legal than scalping tickets.”

“I think it’s actually a lot less legal,” Spike mumbled.

Applejack chuckled. “Ah think we need ta keep better track of this little guy.”

***

The announcer’s voice boomed over the intercom. “AND NOW FOR OUR FINAL RACE OF THE DAY: THE ONE HUNDRED METER SPRINT.”

“Are you absolutely, positively certain that we can’t place a bet with Spike on this one?” Rarity pleaded with Twi. She had more or less become the group’s chaperon despite the fact that she had been unable to cajole Spike into not being a bookie.

Twi shook her head. “I don’t see what’s so fun about gambling anyway? I’ve done the math and it seems to me that the house always screws you in the end.”

“And the house being Spike,” Applejack joked.

“Why don’t you just try to enjoy the races?” Twi said in an exasperated tone. She had not been enjoying the races herself, but had instead been poring over some of Spike’s betting charts with keen fascination. She seemed to be really impressed with his work in spite of being morally opposed to it.

Applejack turned to Rarity. “How ‘bout this, since we can’t bet money legally, let’s bet each other a favor on the outcome of this last race.”

“What sort of favor?” Rarity asked suspiciously.

“Any sort whatsoever. Ah’m plannin’ on havin’ ya help me transplant an apple tree.”

“Pray tell me, what makes you so certain that you would win our bet?”

“Ah know more about running than you do,” Applejack said confidently.

“I will concede that you are more knowledgeable about running than I am, but I know much more about stallions than you do.”

Yeah, I’ll bet you do, Applejack thought. “Okay, fair enough. Who’s your pick for this here race then?”

Rarity surveyed the eye candy on the track. “I will have to go with Thunderlane.”

Applejack knew she had already won. “Alrighty then, Ah pick Snowflake.”

“Oh you can’t be serious, dear. He’s weighed down with too much muscle. I mean, there’s hunky and then there’s too hunky.”

“You just watch. You picked the stallion with the best body, Ah’ll grant ya that much, but Thunderlane isn’t built for this event. This is a sprint. Ya need some muscle ta win it.”

The gun went off.

“OH! AND IT LOOKS LIKE A BAD START FOR CAPPUCCINO, HE WASN’T QUITE IN POSITION AND IT’S ALL OVER FOLKS. IT’S SNOWFLAKE FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY JACK HAMMER AND THEN EVERYPONY ELSE AND THAT’S A WRAP. THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING OUT.”

Rarity hung her head, and a tired defeated look came over her face. Applejack realized that winning the bet had made neither of them happy. “Aw, don’t feel so bad, Rarity. I’ll still pay you a favor if ya want and ya don’t even have to help me replant the tree either. I know how much ya dislike that sort of work anyway.”

Rarity immediately brightened up and gave Applejack an unexpected, but admittedly well-deserved hug. “Oh thank you so much, Applejack. I wouldn’t have normally asked this of any of my friends, but if you want to owe me a favor I would love it if you helped me with the order I’ve been struggling with. You might be just the perfect fit.”

Applejack immediately wondered what sort of fate Rarity had in store for her. Terrifying visions of herself in some sort of embarrassingly poufy party dress flowed in her mind. She imagined endless hours of posing in froufrou outfits while Rarity fussed around, measured her with those sewing tape measures, which had no rigidity.

A pair of purple hooves clopped together loudly in front of her face. “AJ, snap out of it.”

“Yeah, you kind of spaced out there,” Spike said, hunching under the weight of a large sack, which looked to be full of coins.

Rarity was positively bursting with smiles. “Oh, why didn’t I think of it before? Applejack, you have the absolutely perfect body for the outfit I’m designing. This is going to be so wonderful. Applejack, I could just kiss you!”

Applejack chuckled. “Whoa, slow down there, Rarity.”

As they filed their way out of the stadium amid the throng of ponies, Applejack felt awkward about how her heart had jumped when Rarity mentioned kissing her. Ah must just be worked up from ogling all them hot track stallions during the races.

Applejack hoped her friends would not look back and see how much she was blushing. She pulled her hat down over her face, so its brim might hide her flushed cheeks, but as she plotted along, only able to see the ground immediately in front of her, she bumped in to Rarity’s surprisingly firm haunches.

Rarity wheeled about to face her. “Applejack, do watch where you’re going!”

“Uh, sorry.” There was no hiding her embarrassment now. “Tell ya what, I gotta head back to Sweet Apple Acres and finish up some, uh . . . chores. I’ll see ya’ll later.”

“Just stop by my boutique whenever you’re ready to help me,” Rarity called after her.

This too made Applejack’s heart jump. Gosh, Ah gotta get ahold of myself.