Chapter One-Visions of Gold
The purple unicorn sighed happily as she gazed out into the purple and pink sunset, underlined by the sea of gold and red. Autumn was always a lovely season in Ponyville, and she always liked to admire the sunsets before retiring to her studies once more. "Twilight?" asked an unmistakably tomboyish voice. "It's me, alright. What brings you up here, Rainbow?" she asked the blue pegasus, who seemed oddly distracted. Shrugging it off as her being tired, Twilight listened intently to her friend's reply. "Oh, just...watching. The sunset" she said, rather unconvincingly. Twilight didn't beleive her in the least, but kept quiet out of politeness. Rainbow Dash sat down next to her...almost uncomfortably close. Oddly enough, Twilight found she had no objections against it. After an uncomfortably long silence, she cleared her throat and tried friendly chit-chat. "So....um...how's your day been?" she asked, brushing a stray purple hair back into place. Rainbow Dash shifted a little, still not looking at her. "It was fun. Flying, had some candy at Sugar Cube Corner" her voice was hesitant as she spoke. "Surely there was more than...never mind" Twilight Sparkle paused as she noticed her friend...shiver? It looked like shivering. "Are you cold? You can come over for hot coco, if you want" said the unicorn, getting up. "Sounds great" replied the pegasus in the same unusually quiet voice she'd been using the entire encounter.
Meanwhile, a golden pegasus drifted above Everfree Forest, a small flock of various birds following in her wake. She giggled as a small one, just beginning to fly, landed on her pink mane. Her blue eyes scanned the ground for Ponyville, and slowly descended. Landing square in front of Sweet Apple Acres, she mummered a shy and quiet bye to the birds, who chirped and sang as they fluttered off the way they came. Gazing around at the tall apple trees, still bearing one of their last good buschels of apples, dotted with the luscious red orbs. As the quiet pony's thoughts wandered, a loud country drawl interrupted her. "Fluttershy! What in tarnation are ya' doin' in here?" Applejack asked as she neared, a large pair of baskets over her back. "Oh, hi Applejack. I was just flying with some birds, and landed here" mummered the shy pegasus, aptly named Fluttershy. "Well, now that ye're here, why don't you make yerself useful an' help me in some apple buckin'" the orange earth pony said. "But I don't thnk I can kick that hard...". "Now don' go holdin' back on me. I saw what you did to that bear" joked Applejack lightheartedly. The yellow pegasus only half-grimaced in reply. "Comon', just kick some trees. Unless you wanna carry the baskets...". "Oh, no thank you, I'll get started" said Futtershy, not much wanting to carry a twenty pound basket of apples on her back.
Big Mac had not seen nor heard the quiet pegasus' arival, as he'd been busy with applebucking in another area of Sweet Apple Acres. However, after spotting the pink-maned pony, he'd had her stuck in his thoughts. They'd of course wander from time to time to Granny Smith's apple pies. Or Pinkie's. They were both delicious now that he thought about it. Lugging back a heavy load of the sweet, juicy fruits, he saw the object of his mind's eye, kicking trees rather well for a rookie at the task. If some still hung, she's pluck them gently and set them down in Applejack's baskets. Looking away, she gnawed a bit of straw and set down the baskets. If his thoughts had to be summed up into a string of words, it would go something like this; Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy, apples, apples, apple pie, Fluttershy rhymes with that, Flutter, Flutter, Flutter, Applejack, harvest, Granny Smith, pies, Fluttershy..... It continued in much the same fashion untill he realized he should set out to harvest some more. Retrieving a fresh strand of the golden straw, he picked up the now empty backest and once more headed out, the soft yellow pegasus lingering his mind.
