“I said you should get some rest!”
“And I said no!”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes stayed resolutely fixed on Applejack’s for almost a full minute before she threw a pair of cyan hooves up and groaned in defeat. Applejack sniffled in defiance, wiping a dribble of mucus from her snout with the back of her hoof, which earned a grunt from the hovering Pegasus.
“At least stop that and get yourself some proper tissues!” Rainbow Dash’s face contorted in disgust. “Seriously, that’s gross!”
“I would have tissues on hoof if you hadn’t made me go around the whole of Sweet Apple Acres just to avoid you.”
“Avoid me?! I was just trying to drag your stubborn flank to bed so you could get better!”
“And I said no!”
“You’re sick!”
“And I said NO!”
Applejack sniffled and glared at Rainbow Dash. Land’s sake, she loved that mare, but she could be so stubborn sometimes. Why couldn't she understand that she didn’t need rest? Earth Ponies were made strong, and the Apple family doubly so. Her father had weathered worse than a little bout of cold and still found the strength to plow the fields and tend to the animals, so why couldn’t she?
“This is not just a little cold, AJ, you have the flu and you know it.” Rainbow landed smoothly with a concerto of hoofsteps, and Applejack rolled her eyes. She knew Rainbow’s habits well enough to nope out of a conversation when she dropped to the ground. It’d be only hoof pointing and “serious talk” from now on.
“Remember that time when you thought you could handle the entire orchard by yourself and ended up causing a bunny stampede and a mass food poisoning? Remember how you promised you would ask for help if you needed it?”
Applejack could feel her face turning red. “Now hold on there sugarcube, that ain’t the same and you know it. I don’t have an entire orchard to buck, I just have a few chores to take care of.”
“A few chores?”
“Eeyup.”
“You’ve been at it for three days.”
Applejack nodded. Of course, Rainbow Dash having grown up in a cushy Pegasus city house, she probably thought of ‘chores’ as basic cleaning and maintenance, but those things were a little bit more extensive in the country, and were nothing more than routine. Besides, at no time did said chores matter more than at that very moment. Winter was coming early, and the farm needed to be ready for it yesterday, and not a day more. Every second wasted meant a second more the precious crops and livestock could be exposed to deadly cold, and that would not do.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow in that annoying ‘let me be as sarcastic as possible’ way. “And when do you expect to be done exactly?”
“I’d say maybe for the weekend.”
“So in five days.”
“Eeyup.”
“And you don’t see anything wrong with that.”
“Eenope.”
“Then maybe the flu screwed your head up, because that’s ridiculous.”
A bout of anger made Applejack snort, and she winced as the air was expelled from her inflamed sinuses with a burning sting. Damn that Rainbow, if she’d just let her be, she would have been fine, but now she was in pain because of her. She refused to let it show, and instead glared harder.
“I’ve got business contracts to take care of.” Applejack gestured to the orchard. The trees, barren by the coming and going of autumn, had speckles of hoarfrost. “If these trees aren’t well-prepared for winter, the entire farm will be in deep trouble.”
Rainbow sighed, and Applejack knew she’d won that one.
“Please, AJ, at least just take care of the chores around the house, and let me handle the rest, alright? You showed me how to do these kinda things, I can do it just fine.”
Applejack considered it. On one hoof, although she hated to admit it to herself, she was feeling a bit under the weather. But on the other, she had chores to do, and she couldn’t trust Rainbow to do them properly. Despite her best intentions, she just wasn’t a farmer. If only the rest of her family were here, but Big Mac and Apple Bloom were away so what other choice did she have?
Then again, nothing stopped her from checking up on the tasks she could give her and ironing out the mistakes…
“Deal.” Applejack nodded and extended a hoof to Rainbow.
Rainbow’s nose wrinkled. “Yeaaaaah… not touching that.”
Applejack forced herself to believe that sweeping the floor of the house did not, in fact, make her want to curl up in her bed and sleep. Rainbow had probably put that silly idea in her mind with all her fretting. But she was fine. So fine, in fact, that she even found — had — the strength to make herself a nice, warm cup of tea in between cleaning two rooms.
Hard work was nothing without breaks. She wasn’t stubborn enough to think she couldn’t allow herself a few minutes to breathe — as hard as breathing may be in her state.
The steady tick-tock of the kitchen’s clock pulled her attention away from her cup and to the time. Land’s sake! Had it already been half an hour she had been sitting on a chair, sipping away at her tea? She rose from her chair — too fast — and blinked away the momentary dizziness that overtook her, before stumbling to the sink and dumping the rest of her tea inside, and filling the sink with hot soapy water to wash the dishes. Her ears twitched at the clock’s incessant ticking. How far did Rainbow get with the chores? Knowing her, she could either have rushed foolishly through all of them without caring to do them properly, or been so anxious about making her proud that she’d still be covering the carrot plants — the first task on her list.
“I guess it’s about time I go check on her,” she thought out loud, noting the raspy quality of her voice and wincing at the feeling of needles rubbing against her sore throat as she spoke.
With a cough, she stepped out of the warmth of the kitchen, and pulling a scarf and coat from a hanger next to the door, made her way into the chilly winter air. The temperature had dropped even lower than it previously was, and the frost nipped at her like a pack of hungry timberwolf pups getting their first taste of meat. Fortunately, an overcast protected her from the harsh glare of the sun — her head hurt enough already without bright light making things worse.
She didn’t remember the walk to the carrot field being so long, nor the slope leading up to it so steep. When the white sheets covering the vegetables finally came into view, she let out a sigh of relief at finally being able to take a breather.
She didn’t urge along to check on Rainbow’s work. The mare had obviously moved on to another task, and she wouldn’t be there to push her in the flank while Applejack made sure everything looked properly done and ready for the freezing winter temperatures. She stumbled along the rows of thick covers, noting how Rainbow had taken care to pack dead leaves and hay over the plants to keep them insulated, and secured the sheets to the ground with heavy rocks just like she’d instructed.
Of course, Rainbow’s amateur hoof tainted the care she’d put into the work. Most of the sheets had loosened and hung limply over the insulation instead of offering a taut cover, some of the packing was uneven, and Applejack had to add some weight to many of the covers lest they fly off with a strong gust of wind. Of course, it would have taken a particularly strong gust of wind, and the fact that the packing and sheets weren’t perfectly set would probably not matter in the long run, but a farmer’s life dictated one steel their crops and cattle against any possible issue that could arise.
Evening found her with a rasping cough, still pulling and tugging at the sheets, repacking them correctly. She blinked at the sudden shade that stretched over her. Rainbow would probably head back to the farm soon, and if she saw that Applejack had spent the better part of the afternoon fixing the tiny mistakes in the carrot field…
She hurried back as fast as her aching legs allowed. Maybe Rainbow had been right, and she didn’t simply have a cold. But still, flu or not, the farm needed to be tended to. Granny Smith couldn’t do it anymore, Apple Bloom had gone on a field trip with her friends, and Big Mac was busy travelling with the last bushels of sellable apples. She could let Rainbow start the job, and simply pass after her to fix whatever mistakes she’d made. That way, she wouldn’t exhaust herself, and Rainbow would be none the wiser.
Yes, that was a flawless idea.
She stepped into the warmth of the farmhouse, and replaced her scarf and coat on the hangers. Without losing a moment, she made her way into the bathroom and drew herself a warm bath. If Rainbow caught her sweaty and covered in dust and dirt, she would put two and two together.
Somewhere between getting in the bath and the front door clicking shut, she’d fallen asleep, and she hurriedly made sure she was clean and proper before towelling herself dry and stepping down to the living room with a still-damp mane. Rainbow Dash poked her head out of the kitchen, a look of relief flashing over her face.
“Applejack! Where were—” She paused, and gave Applejack a once-over with a deepening frown of confusion. “Were you in the bath?”
“Eeyup.” Applejack coughed — an ugly, raspy cough — and swallowed back the foul-tasting mucus she’d usually have spat out were Rainbow not there. She forced herself to smile, and her muscles strained against the sudden lead-like quality of her skin. “I was getting a bit sweaty from — er — the sweeping and all, and I decided to take your advice and relax a little.”
Rainbow considered her with suspicion, her wings fluttering almost imperceptibly on her back, but Applejack had learnt to recognize a Pegasus’ stress signals, and Rainbow never could hide them well anyway.
“Right.” Rainbow nodded. “Good. I’ll make supper — don’t even.” She raised a hoof as Applejack opened her mouth to protest, and the farm mare didn’t even find the necessary energy to object to Rainbow’s objection. “I know how to cook. Stay on the couch.”
Applejack let Rainbow lead her to the couch and sit her down. Blue hooves pulled a woven blanket over her, and a nose nuzzled her ear briefly, and suddenly, she couldn’t find it in herself to do anything but obey and sit still.
“I won’t be long,” Rainbow called from the kitchen.
A gentle fire burned in the fireplace. She couldn’t remember starting it. She couldn’t help but stare at the dancing flames either, their flickering and crackling pulling her deeper into the couch and the blanket, until only a small, sick filly remained on the couch, huddled against her mother’s side on a cold winter night.
How long did she spend in that feverish haze? When she came to — to Rainbow placing a steaming bowl of soup in front of her, on top of a folding table, like she was handling a fragile bird — she felt as if she’d slept a dreamless sleep for months. Her every muscle ached, yet she found herself oddly rested.
“Ah, sorry, I didn’t want to wake you up.” Rainbow hesitated in front of her, looking torn between taking off and staying close to Applejack. But she didn’t hesitate when Applejack patted next to herself on the couch, and she settled in awkwardly.
The soup nearly seared Applejack’s lips when she tried to drink from the bowl, and so she set it back on the table to let it cool. They stayed in silence, a thick silence occasionally broken by Applejack’s bouts of coughing and Rainbow’s squirming on the couch, trying to find a comfortable position.
“Did I ever tell you of the time I injured my wing?”
Applejack raised a puzzled gaze at Rainbow, who offered her a smile. “Remember when you all came to visit me at the Wonderbolts Academy, and a giant tornado almost… well…”
That did ring a bell. Applejack had a faint recollection of a scuffle between Rainbow and another recruit, who ended up with the latter leaving the Academy.
“Well, before that whole thing happened, I injured my wing during an exercise. It wasn’t anything big… at first. The Academy’s doctor told me to stay put for a few days and I would be all right again.”
“Good luck with that.” Applejack snickered. “I think the only time I saw you take a break from flying was that time you broke your wing.”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t exactly stay put. I continued with my usual exercise routine for a few days and then… I couldn’t anymore. My flight muscles were swollen, and I had to stay grounded for a whole month because there were tears in them. Had I pushed myself further, I would probably have never been able to fly as well as I could.”
She ended the story on a grave tone, staring into the fire, like the flames were curtains drawn over the past, and the flickering allowed her to peer around them and see some old, painful memories.
“I was so scared. I promised myself I would never push myself when I wasn’t physically able to.”
She stayed silent for a moment, then chuckled. “Oh, sorry, seeing you like this made me remember this story. But I’m glad you’re not making the same mistake that I did, and that you’re taking care of yourself.” She nuzzled Applejack and rose from the couch. “I’ll be in my room. Just knock if you need me.”
She left the living room, leaving Applejack to the dim glow of the fireplace.
Darn it, when did Rainbow get this manipulative?
Applejack woke up to a bout of coughing that made her throat feel like it had been torn open. She massaged her throat and looked out the window.
The sun had started to crest the horizon, casting a warm glow over the speckled-white grass surrounding the farm. The house was almost silent, the only sound that of her own shuffling as she got off the couch and dragged herself to the kitchen. Fever-sweat drenched her coat, and her mane hung in clumps around her neck. No amount of brushing would do her well without at least a good, long bath to clean the stickiness out of it.
The clock ticked on the wall. It was a little past six. She’d way overslept.
She barely found the strength to get a toast and an apple down. Every chew sent a pounding in her skull. The crunching of the apple sounded like a thunderclap. She downed everything with half a glass of tepid water, and at that moment, she felt as if she had never been more miserable in her life.
She cast a forlorn gaze out of the frosted kitchen window. Had Rainbow even taken the time to mulch the apple trees properly? The orchard was so vast, even with her speed, she couldn’t possibly have had the time to take care of every tree. She would come back today to finish the job, of course, but what if she missed some trees? Moreover, what if she missed those few trees that had lasted for generations, who always bore plentiful fruits, who alone ensured the continued reputation of Sweet Apple Acres? How long would it take the family to make up for them if they were to die?
Worry nipped at Applejack like the cold leaking from outside. A fit of coughing brought her back to reality, reminding her that she was in no shape to venture outside. She would have to trust Rainbow’s word that she took care of everything properly.
She closed her eyes and breathed, sniffling. Her legs ached to run outside, to go the lengths of the orchard as they did so very often, and she had to consciously stop herself from giving in.
“...and I made sure to double-check that I covered every tree with hardwood mulch.” Rainbow nodded, her gaze unfocused. “...also, I finished insulating the barn. So everything should be fine, and I even have some time before my first class.”
“Both unfinished walls and the roof?”
Rainbow nodded again. “I started by the roof.”
“Figures. The well?”
“Wrapped and covered. Your pipes shouldn’t freeze.”
“Shouldn’t or won’t?”
“Won’t.” Rainbow glared at Applejack. “Trust me, AJ. Everything is fine.”
Applejack almost mentioned how the carrot field hadn’t been properly done to her standards, but that would have revealed that she’d gone and snooped around when she had promised to get some rest. So she kept her mouth shut and nodded. Surprisingly, Rainbow had made — had Twilight do — a checklist and had diligently gone over everything twice. She’d even made sure to get every detail she’d need to make sure everything would be well-prepared for winter, like mulching the trees with hardwood instead of a rapidly-decaying mulch, which would have done more harm than good.
Still, the itch to go out and check if everything was done properly bothered Applejack as strongly as ever. Rainbow was well-meaning, but she wasn’t a farmer. She didn’t have the experience, and one mistake could cost the farm big.
“All right.” She let out at last. “Thanks, Rainbow.”
Rainbow smirked in satisfaction. “Heh, don’t mention it. You should let me do that more often, it was fun, made me work out some unexpected muscles.”
“Maybe I will.”
Rainbow frowned at the shortness of her answers, but Applejack didn’t have the strength to push herself to speak any more than that.
“You’re gonna stay put, right? And in a few days, you’ll be feeling all better and you can fret over your trees as much as you want.”
Applejack nodded and smiled weakly at Rainbow. “Yeah, I think I’m going to call it a day for now. Inside’s chores are almost done at least. You worked fast.”
Too fast.
Rainbow chuckled. “Well, duh. If I’d been slow I would have disappointed myself. I’ll double-check everything tomorrow just to make sure. And you’re going to stay home and take care of yourself, all right?”
She could see it already. The poor saplings strangled under too much mulch, the great trees starving to death, the barn filling with a sickly cold from unfilled cracks in the walls…
“All right?”
Applejack started. “Oh. Right. Sorry Rainbow, I kinda dozed off there.”
Soon, Rainbow departed for her classes at the School of Friendship, making sure that Applejack promised not to push herself too hard, to which Applejack conceded with a Pinkie promise.
She stood on the doorstep and watched Rainbow disappear in the greying sky, until the blue speck that was her friend disappeared behind the clouds. As soon as the sky swallowed her friend, Applejack turned and grabbed her coat and scarf. A walk would do her well. A long, nice walk through the orchard. She might even pick up on some mistakes Rainbow did to fix.
It wasn’t pushing herself too hard, not at all. That was nothing short of routine for her. She set out for the orchard, coughing in her scarf, and blew her nose on tissues she’d remembered to bring along this time. She fumbled with them, and grumbled a swear as some fell to the ground due to her clumsiness. She’d pick them back up when she got back, right now, she was too tired to bother.
Her tiredness didn’t go away with her walk. Rather, it only seemed to get worse, fueled by the biting cold that started to descend on Equestria. Good thing she’d taken the care to make sure everything was in order, as they would freeze over soon enough. She pulled her scarf tighter to conserve the heat of her breaths.
Along the way, she got used to the cold, and loosened her scarf a little. The walk had warmed her up, and after evening and redoing the mulching of some trees, she’d worked up a bit of sweat. The only thing that slowed down her walk was her frequent stopping to pull out some tissues to blow her nose.
When she reached the orchard’s halfway point, a headache had started pounding at her, and her ears rang with a high-pitched noise she desperately tried to pinpoint around her, before realizing it came from her own head. Annoyed, she focused her attention on her task. A particularly annoying patch of mulch kept shifting around, and no matter how she evened it, it always seemed to shift back to an uneven mess. She gave up quickly on it and moved to another one, but even that one snaked and swam under her hooves.
“Consarn it, just stay put…” She grumbled and pounded the base of the tree in irritation, sending a shockwave up her front legs that made her fall on her knees.
It was only then that she took notice of how much she was burning up. She ought to rest a little, to let herself cool down. Just a bit. She slumped at the base of the tree and curled on herself, shivers suddenly overtaking her. How could she be hot and cold? By all accounts, it didn’t make any sense.
Her eyelids fluttered. She might have overslept, but her nights lately had been everything but restful.
She just needed to rest a short while. It was cold, but she was hot enough that it didn’t bother her. She just needed to close her eyes…
“I knew it!”
Applejack opened her eyes groggily at the shout. An angry multicoloured blur charged at her, stopping just a few hooflengths from her, and she didn’t even flinch she was so tired.
“I knew you wouldn’t just sit down and sleep.” A heavy sigh escaped Rainbow Dash, and Applejack felt herself get lifted up into the air. “Stars, you’re heavy!”
“Ain’t that heavy…”
“Shut up and let me carry you.”
So she did. Applejack stayed limp as the orchard streamed under her like a river of trees. Rather, she floated over it, it didn’t stream under her. Or something. She closed her eyes, too tired to think.
She was vaguely aware that Rainbow helped her land on the ground and helped her to the house. She found herself on the couch, holding a cup of warm tea.
They sat in silence by the fireplace, now lit up more for warmth than for light, as the sun still shone brightly outside.
Had she put herself in danger out there? One thing for sure, if she’d fallen asleep in that cold, she wouldn’t have helped her illness at all.
“How’d you find me?” It was all she managed to ask.
“You left bits of tissues behind you.”
“Ah.”
The silence returned, only inhabited by the occasional shuffling sound and small sips from either mare’s cup of tea.
“What were you thinking?”
Applejack’s ears went flat on her head. Rainbow’s voice had that light, whinny quality that only manifested in times of great upset. Her cyan hooves clutched her teacup so hard Applejack could swear she felt the ceramic groan and complain, on the verge of breaking.
“I don’t know…”
“I told you to stay home.”
“I know, but—”
“But what?”
Applejack couldn’t bring herself to look at Rainbow. “But… I just wanted to make sure everything was done properly.”
“So you didn’t trust me after all.”
Applejack coughed, her anger painfully pushing through her sore throat. “Listen here, Rainbow, don’t you go trying to guilt me with talks of trust! You’re not a farmer, you don’t understand how important it is that everything be done just right!”
“I might not be a farmer,” Rainbow replied with as much vitriol, “and I might not understand what it takes to run a farm, but I know one thing for certain: you’re my friend, and I don’t want you to get hurt, and you’re so stubborn you’d let your duties put you in danger.”
“I wasn’t in danger! I was just a bit away from the house!”
“Listen to yourself!” Rainbow had risen from the couch, her wings splayed low in defiance. “You fainted in the middle of the orchard, completely exposed to the cold and the wind! What would have happened if I hadn't gone after you? Big Mac and Apple Bloom are gone, and Granny Smith is in no shape to go wandering the orchard looking for you!"
Applejack stayed in stoic silence, a blush deepening on her cheeks. "I'd have picked myself up and walked home."
"You barely have the strength to hold together at all, how would you have picked yourself up?"
"Are you calling me weak?" Applejack coughed an ugly, painful cough, and glared at Rainbow.
"I'm saying you're sick." Rainbow jabbed a hoof at Applejack, who winced at the touch. "See? You need rest. You're fragile, and the more you force yourself to do things you can't do in your condition, the worse you'll be getting. You're a hardy pony, Applejack, I know you'll be better in no time, but for now, you're doing all of us a disservice by wearing yourself out like that."
"The only pony I'm doing a disservice to is myself, thank you very much." She batted Rainbow's hoof away. "And if I have to feel bad to make sure the farm is in order for winter, then I won't selfishly stay on my couch with hot chocolate while the crops die and the barn collapses."
"No," Rainbow corrected her dryly. "You're being selfish by not staying put."
Applejack snorted. "I'd like to hear that explanation."
"Twilight made me promise to keep you safe," Rainbow started. "I haven't told any of the others because I didn't want them to worry, so I made excuses for why you couldn't attend your own classes in your place. Yona is especially worried, and she suspects something is wrong. I caught her telling Smolder how worried she was. And think of Big Mac and Apple Bloom, when they come back and find you on the verge of pneumonia because of some misplaced selflessness. And-" Rainbow cut her off as Applejack was about to speak. "What about me? I've been trying as hard as I can not to have you end up in the hospital, and you can't even trust me to do a decent patch-up job until your brother and sister come back to fix things properly. Your health doesn't just affect you alone, Applejack. You're always making us so worried when you get stubborn like that, and I only spared the others this time because I know how much they have to deal with right now, and they couldn't afford the energy or time they'd be using fretting about you."
Applejack looked down sullenly. "I—"
"What would have felt if it were Big Mac you found collapsed on the ground in the middle of the field, because he needed to plow them properly and didn't want to rest?"
Applejack tightened the blanket around herself. "I would have told him he'd been foolish and irresponsible, and what would have happened if he'd gotten hurt or if he'd gotten worse?"
Rainbow stayed silent, and Applejack joined her in muteness. The point had been made and understood, and now she felt like a silly filly who got caught with a swollen and tender hoof because she tried mending a broken fence despite her parents' warnings, and bashed herself with a hammer too heavy for her. Harm from good intentions.
“Listen,” Rainbow said, breaking the tension. “If you really want to make sure everything is alright for winter, I’ll accompany you. But don’t just—”
“No.”
Rainbow frowned. “What was that?”
“I said no.” Applejack shook her head. “I… I should have listened to you. If you promise me you did everything as well as you could, then I’ll stay home.” She looked up at Rainbow and sniffled. "I'll trust you, honest."
Rainbow took the longest, deepest breath Applejack had ever seen her take, and smiled. “Of course, I promise.”
Applejack smiled back, closed her eyes, and for the first time in days, found restful sleep at last.
