The sun came up early, as it always did, shining through the window of one of the household’s plain rooms. As the first light streamed through, it settled upon a sleeping form, that of an orange mare, her straw-colored mane and tail untied and filling the bed.
After a few moments, the mare yawned, stretching. It was only obvious she was quite wide awake once she opened her eyes, few traces of the slumber that had held her a moment earlier left in her eyes.
She turned, letting her eyes fixate on the ceiling for a second as she ran through her daily list of chores in her head, finally nodding and rolling out of the bed, her hooves thumping on the wooden planks as she grinned, trotting over to a nearby dresser, which held the few clothes she owned.
After a brief struggle to retie her hair back into ponytails, always difficult with hooves, she reached to the top of the dresser, hooking her trademark Strotsen hat on a hoof, flipping it onto her head as she trotted out of the room.
Heading downstairs, she looked around the familiar surroundings, emerald eyes quickly flicking over the various things to see. A collection of trophies received an approving glance from the mare, along with a small photo, a young earth pony with braided hair standing proudly next to an apple the size of her head contained within. A smile tugged at the lips of both the pictured mare and the one trotting into the main room.
As she moved to the kitchen, she frowned, smelling a peculiar, thick scent coming from the room she sought. After a moment of contemplation and a glimpse of black in the air, her eyes blazed. “Applebloom!”
A short squeaking sound came from the kitchen, confirming that the young filly was the culprit. This fact was further reinforced as the older mare dashed in, Strotsen held down on her head by one hoof as she spun to face the main area of the kitchen.
To put it simply, it was a mess. Splats of what seemed to be batter not only covered the floors and walls, but the ceiling as well. The oven was belching smoke, the source of which could hardly be seen through the black haze, let alone identified. In the center of all this, the cause of it all, was Applebloom, fallen over on her back and a tray of charred remnants held in her mouth.
Both ponies remained still for a long moment, until a shrill beeping sound cut through the air; the timer of the oven was going off. At this note, Applebloom dropped the tray, letting it clunk on the ground and add bits of black to the battery mess. Finally, the filly gulped, and gave a small, nervous smile.
“Uh… Ah’m sorry, Applejack?” After speaking, the filly’s already lackluster smile fell into a frown as Applejack continued to glare at her. “…Ah’m grounded, aren’t Ah?”
After the mess in the kitchen had been sorted out, ample amounts done by Applebloom in an attempt to lessen her punishment, Applejack finally managed to create something of a breakfast from what was left.
Applebloom sat across from her, staring dejectedly at her barely-touched morning salad, her ears twitching every so often as Applejack’s food gave a particularly loud crunch when she bit into it.
“…Applejack? Is there anythin’ else Ah can do to help?” The filly said it while looking up, casting a slightly hopeful glance at Applejack, bringing her hooves up to the table at the thought of redemption, and possible detraction from her grounding.
After a while of mulling it over, Applejack chuckled, and shook her head. “Sorry, sugarcube. You’ll just have to live with not seein’ your friends for a while.” The older of the two siblings shook her head once more, cutting Applebloom off before she could explain. “I already took a week off of it, Applebloom. You ain’t gonna get any more time off.”
That finally settled the filly, who gave a sigh and eventually turned to her food, beginning to pick at it slowly. Soon, both salads were gone, the older mare satisfied and leaning back in her chair to rest for a moment, the younger simply sitting in contemplation.
“Welp, I’m off to start applebuckin’. Gotta get started early this year, with the trees doin’ so well and all,” the orange mare drawled, pushing the chair away from the table to give her room to set all four hooves on the ground. She gave a quick goodbye to her sister, reminding her when she had to go upstairs to her room before leaving, ignoring the sounds of protest the younger pony gave.
A short trot took her across the farm, Applejack smiling as she once more began the all-day task of applebucking, the sun giving a healthy glow to both pony and plant alike as the orange mare found her first tree, and kicked.
Noon had come and gone, just as lunch had, and Applejack had soon returned to her work, beginning to sweat now in the heat of the afternoon sun. She had finished a quarter of the easternmost fields, and had finally been able to move on to another portion of land, the apples stacked in baskets to be carried in by Big Macintosh.
“What’s up?”
She lashed out her first kick, the unexpected voice of a certain cyan pegasus throwing her aim off, causing the earth pony to topple to the ground, her hooves giving a weak thunk as they hit the base of the tree.
“Applejack, I said what’s up?” If the other pony had taken any notice to Applejack’s sigh of annoyance, she gave no notice as she landed, wings folding in once her hooves touched the ground. “You gonna tell me, or are ya just going to lie there all day?”
“Ah was workin’, before you showed up and threw me off.” The retort came gruffly, Applejack giving no more breath than needed to respond as she got up and glared at the pegasus.
The glare quickly turned into a soft smile, along with a chuckle as the earth pony relaxed slightly, noticing Dash’s snickering. “Just workin’ the fields, Rainbow. Was a good harvest this year, and me and Big Mac gotta start early if we wanna finish up ‘fore winter rolls around.”
“Thought it’d be something like that.” Finding herself bored with keeping her hooves planted on the ground, Dash flitted back up into the air, floating upwards to a comfortable height where Applejack wouldn’t have to try too hard if she wanted to look back at Dash. “You work waaaaaay too slowly, AJ. I could have this field cleared in about a minute or two.” She gave her trademark smirk, bravado shining in her eyes as she looped through the air to emphasize her agility.
“Sure, ya said that last time too, Dash. If ya wanna help, that’s great, but don’t go bragging about yourself when you do, ya hear?” Applejack shot Dash a brief grin as she got back in position, this time successfully bucking the tree and getting the apples to fall out into the well-placed baskets.
The pegasus rolled her eyes, chuckling and waving a hoof casually at her friend. “Sure, whatever. Like I even need to tell you how awesome I am.” After Applejack sighed, Dash joined her on the ground, finally helping to clear out the fields of apple-filled trees, replacing them with baskets and empty branches.
“Next time, remind me to eat before I start helping you out.” The pegasus had gotten the comment out between breaths, needing the air to help cool her down from the amount of work she had done to help Applejack out.
“Not my fault you woke up ten minutes ‘fore you came over.” Applejack could only chuckle at Dash’s responding groan, nudging the pegasus as they trotted back to the house of the earth pony, both in need of a well-deserved dinner.
“Well, it’s not my fault Tank decided I was a good place to sleep on!” That got a laugh from the orange mare, the simple image enough to set her off. Dash would respond with a simple snort of annoyance, flapping her wings and getting into the air.
“Winona’s the same, ya know. At least Ah’m smart enough to get her to move when Ah wake up.” She smirked at Dash, opening the door to her home for the both of them, Dash zipping through first and landing shortly afterwards, looking around.
“Where’s that food you promised me? I’m starved!” Applejack moved into the house, shutting the door and rolling her eyes at Dash’s eagerness.
“We gotta cook it first, Rainbow.” With a discontented sigh given in return, Applejack chuckled and made her way to the kitchen, smiling at Granny Smith, who despite her age still made most of the meals in the household.
With that brief check-up taken care of, Applejack turned back to Dash, joining her family and friend at the table and waiting for the food to arrive.
Dinner was served soon afterwards, all of those present taking their fill of both food and chatter, idle conversation filling the room for the duration of the meal, until it fell into a content silence as they all let their food sit.
After a suppressed burp, Dash rolled her neck and stretched her wings, pushing back from the table and smiling at the other ponies gathered there. “Thanks, Granny Smith, but I’d better be going now. It’s getting kinda late.”
The goodbyes were brief, and Dash left a few minutes after her statement, leaving the family to pick up. Soon, all were heading to their respective rooms, all but Applebloom cheerful for the prospect of rest after a long day’s work.
Applejack in particular took relish in the few moments of rest; despite Dash’s contributions, the work had been relatively arduous, as it usually was with applebucking. The mare took out the bands that held her hair in its traditional fashion, and the Strotsen hat was placed once more on her dresser.
The orange mare gave a final yawn before moving into the bed, looking out the window and reflecting over the day, smiling at the fact she was far ahead of schedule at this point. She rolled away from the receding daylight, shutting her eyes on the last few moments of the day as she fell to slumber.
Author's Notes
This is just a quickwrite that I'm doing in preparation for a longer, more involved story. In this particular one, I was practicing Applejack's speech and personality, as I feel I need a lot more work with her. Any and all constructive criticism or tips that you can give me would be highly appreciated.