Jetpack Harmony

Applejack started awake for the umpteenth time that morning and shifted in annoyance. She'd been having nightmares about being a filly again and her baby sister refusing to get down from her piggy back no matter how badly Applejack needed to go to the bathroom. Yet as always, she awoke to find that she was an adult, her baby sister was, in fact, not clinging to her back, and it was just, of course, the jetpack that she'd been so excited about once upon a time.

Applejack groaned groggily and rubbed a tired eye with a hoof. "Mornin Shug." She mumbled sleepily. The farm pony looked about but her mare was nowhere to be found. "Hun?" She slid sideways in the bed to find the pegasus, laying on the floor, directing a red eyed thousand yard stare at the ceiling. "Dashie? Y'all okay?" She cooed in concern. She flinched back slightly as her mare slowly turned her head with an audible rusty grinding sound effect.

The orange pony winced to see just how bloodshot her mare's eyes were as her glassy gaze bored into her soul. "Forty five minutes." She whispered in simmering rage. Her voice slowly rose to a hysterical scream. "Your jets would shoot out and punch me in the ribs. Every FORTY FIVE MINUTES!!!"

Applejack sighed hard and once again rubbed her tired eyes. "Oh, Ahm sorry Shug! This here devahce was givin me nahghtmares all nahght long. It was lahke Applebloom was."

"Piggyback! Wouldn't let go! I know!" Rainbow interrupted in a surly tone, slowly rising to her hooves. "You wouldn't shut up all night!"

The farm pony repressed the urge to be cranky towards the mare she loved and decided to try to make her feel better. "Well, hah 'bout Ah make ya yer fav'rite waffles then? Haven't had em in over a. Eep!"

She was interrupted by the pegasus getting nose to nose with her, her bloodshot eyes glowing with a manic gleam. "Waffles!" Rainbow hissed, all crankiness forgotten. She dashed into the dining room and sat at the kitchen bar, bashing her knife and fork on the counter impatiently. Applejack smirked tiredly and shuffled to the kitchen. She stumbled slightly as one of her jets caught the door frame. She inhaled deeply through her nose so as not to say something inappropriate and awkwardly tilted her way in sideways to the small kitchen. "Come on! COME ON!!!" Rainbow called out impatiently.

"Cool yer jets pony girl." Applejack said with more annoyance than she'd meant to. She sighed hard and calmed herself. "Ya rush Great Granny Gala's waffles ya git charcoal." She attempted to call into her well practiced rhythm of snatching the various ingredients and cast iron waffle iron, but with every other movement she would bump into a cabinet or knock something off of the counter due to the extra bulk sticking out of her back. She grit her teeth and fought to keep her calm. After a valiant struggle to prepare her work station, finally she had everything ready, except for the large cast iron waffle iron itself.

She looked up to the hook high up on the wall and her sour mood soured even more. "Whah the hay do ah even keep it there!" She snapped to herself in an undertone. She knew exactly why she kept it there, she kept it there so that it would be accessible, but out of the way. Not to mention as a genuine Apple clan heirloom she felt it was a point of familial pride to keep it in an honored position in the kitchen, but it did make it a damnable nuisance to use it when her mare wanted waffles.

An idea suddenly struck the farm pony and a smile split the orange face. The jets on her back gently boosted into life and lifted her off of the floor. She carefully lifted herself up and snatched the waffle iron off of the hook. She looked down at her workstation and her mind began to work. Soon she was hovering in the air just above the ground as she worked, and found to her pleasant surprise that everything was now within easy reach. Instead of having to stop what she was doing, take a step away, grab what she needed, and take a step back, she could now just glide and lean for whatever she needed.

Soon a steaming stack of waffles stood on a plate and Applejack's hooves finally touched the ground again. "Alraght hun! Dig. . ." She stopped suddenly when she noticed her mare passed out, her head limp on the counter, a small puddle of drool forming from her loudly snoring muzzle. Her heart swelled with love at the adorable sight and she silently placed her mare's portion under the cake dish to keep it warm for her. She seized a throw blanket off of the couch and draped it over the sleepy pegasus. She ate her portion in silence and gave Rainbow the tiniest peck on the cheek before slipping out the front door. Applejack couldn't be certain, but she thought she saw a tiny little smile peek out of her mare's face when she did so.

Applejack sighed, refocusing her mind on the tasks for that day. She had to make the trek from her mountain side house, elevated so that Rainbow could still use cloud architecture when She felt the need, to Sweet Apple Acres, then have a late lunch with Rarity, then finish her days work and make time to stop in at the old castle to see if Twilight had made any progress in freeing them all from their predicament.

She inhaled deeply to prepare Herself for the half walk, half scramble that descending the mountain was every morning. She always dreaded the trudge back up the mountain in the evenings, wondering how she would ever make it when she was as old and as broken down as Granny. Though it did give Rainbow the perfect opportunity to be sweet on her when she caught her in the evenings making the long trudge up the mountain side, sweeping her off of her hooves and carrying her the rest of the way.

Once again an idea struck Applejack and she grinned. She scoffed with triumph as her hooves lifted off of the ground. She dashed over the side of the mountain, skipping entirely the long winding path that it took, and landed at Sweet Apple Acres in less than five minutes. "Ha ha!" She cheered. "This thang may be a bit bulky, but it sure does gitcha where ya need to go!" She saw the yellow streak of her younger sister, already busily zipping around the orchard doing her daily tasks.

"Hah sis!" Applebloom called out cheerily, zooming over to meet her.

The orange pony couldn't help but grin. "Howdy A.B.! How's the new contraption workin out fer ya?"

The yellow pony's eyes lit up with excitement. "It's great! Ah'm already half way done with mah work!" The two darted over to the barn and saw that indeed, that two of the four bags of fertilizer that the youngest Apple was supposed to spread in the north orchard were already empty.

"Well Sheeoot!" Applejack called out in pleased astonishment. "Ah better git started just so y'all don't make me look bad!" She dashed over to where the large baskets and ladder already lay waiting for her. Today it was the orange pony's tedious duty to go through the south orchard and identify which branches hadn't survived the winter. She then would have to set up the rickety old ladder, scramble up, laboriously saw off the dead limbs, paint the exposed ends with the horrible smelling sealant, scramble back down, and repeat the process to the other thousand limbs.

She attempted to slip into the harness to pull the wagon, but the jetpack stuck to her back prevented her from being able to put her shoulders against it. Then she got an idea. She set her hooves against the brace and again slowly, gently, lifted off of the ground. She couldn't help but smirk as the heavy cart slowly began to creak forward. Applejack had seen Scootaloo propel herself on her scooter with her wings for years, so she understood the basic concept of the action.

She hit a spot of bother when it came time to actually stop. She had to dart in front of the runaway wagon and scramble to stop it before it could smash against the trees. She reflexatorily seized the ladder, but stopped with a blank expression. For the umpteenth time that day she found yet another use for the large bulky obstruction strapped to her back. She smirked as she seized the saw in her mouth and gently rose to begin sawing the first dead limb.

She found that she was able to brace herself higher than she normally could on the branch and put her weight to her advantage in the task of sawing the limb. Soon it crackled down the trunk of the tree and into the basket. Applejack was about to put the saw down and seize the foul smelling paint brush, but she realized that she could reach the next branch without having to move a ladder. She glided gently over to the next limb, and then the next, and then the next.

Within just a few minutes she'd sawn through every dead branch in that quarter of the orchard. She wiped her forehead with a foreleg and exhaled hard, grinning at her newfound increase in productivity. She flinched in the air when she heard her brother loudly exclaim, "Rassafrassin!" Then devolve into angry muttering. Applejack chuckled in embarrassment to herself and landed gently beside the scowling red pony.

"Heh heh. . . Sorry there big brother. Guess ah got uh lil ahead uh mahself." She said, helping to yank a stick out of the spokes of the wagon wheel. Big Mac glanced at her, clearly deciding against saying what he was thinking. He merely resumed scooping the sticks out of the way of his cart. The orange pony was taken aback by his brother's foul attitude. "What's got a stick in yer wagon wheel?"

Their yellow sister floated down smirking beside the pouting pony. "Aw he's just sore cuz his sisters got new toys and he cain't play."

"No Ah Ain't!" He shouted with more volume than he'd meant to. He cleared His throat and attempted to save face. "It's just y'all've been buzzin around on them thangs all mornin gettin in mah way is all!" He looked up and away. "It's not lahke ah have dreams about flyin around as a pretty princess or nuthin." The red pony realized he said the quiet part out loud and his face went pink. Both of his sisters flopped out of the air to the ground howling with laughter.

Applejack had to fight to get back onto her hooves. "Okay brother o mine. Just hold yer horses fer a minute." She hoisted her still snickering sister into the air. "AB since we're so rude as to not include are big brother in our games, let's help him with his bit uh the work. Cummon!" The two jetpack ponies flew, hooves trailing just above the ground, scooping up the discarded limbs and dumping them into the cart Big Mac was pulling. In no time they had all of the branches loaded.

The red pony slowly turned the cumbersome wagon back towards the barn and began the long march back. The two flying ponies saw his strain under the heavy burden and again an idea struck. Both sisters braced their front hooves against the harness and Applejack called out, "Hang on there big brother!" Before he could ask what they were going to do the two shoved the heavy cart forward, pulling him completely off of his hooves with a yelp. Within seconds the cart had made it back to the barn, and the orange pony called out, "Brakes!"

Big Mac slammed his hooves down and the cart came to an awkward screeching halt. He couldn't help but laugh in relief at the end of the wild ride. "Hoowee! Ah reckon y'all'r bout halfway paid up fer this Mornin."

The two sisters smirked at each other. Applejack turned up her hat. "Well, we got them branches all picked up n that's all y'all had to do today." She nodded at the small farmhouse where Big Mac and his wife had moved into after their honeymoon. "How bout us take the rest uh the day off?"

Leaning out of the farmhouse window, Sugar Belle could be seen waving a polka dotted handkerchief teasingly. Her airy voice could be heard echoing through the orchard as she called, "Yoohoo!"

The red pony's face went blank. He snatched both of his sisters out of the air in a crushing hug. "Applejack, y'all'r good people." He darted off at a full gallop towards the farmhouse, clicking his back hooves together with a loud, "Yeehaw!" The young couple disappeared into the house and the two sisters snickered at the implication. After an incredibly short time, made all the more thankful for reducing the time that either sister had to smell the foul stench of the branch sealant, the two had finished a long hard day's work in just two hours.