Jetpack Harmony

The two sisters cruised casually through the skies of ponyville on their way to carousel boutique, catching the gawking eye of everypony that saw them. Applebloom had tagged along to see what Sweetie Belle was up to. The two stopped suddenly as they heard a piercing call that froze their blood. "APPLEJACK!!!" Instantly the captain of the wonderbolts darted in front of the orange pony, a panicked haggard look on her face, a half eaten waffle dangling from one corner of her mouth. She was fighting to stuff herself into her flight jacket over the large bulky jetpack. "Why didn't you wake me up?!" She whined petulantly.

Applejack couldn't help but smile at her hassled mare. "Aw Shug, ah kept ya all naght. Couldn't stand ta wake ya."

"But I'm late!" Rainbow snapped back, her voice cracking with the stress. "This stupid!" With a mighty tug she tore her flight jacket straight up the back. She screamed in frustration, causing her waffle to drop from her mouth. Applejack dove to snatch it out of the air and caught it a split second before it could hit the ground.

She flew back up to her mare and her face became lovingly chiding. "Now Hun, just calm down. It ain't no thang." She gently took the torn flight jacket and handed the cranky pegasus the remainder of the waffle. "We're on our way to Rarity's n she'll patch this up lickety split. The wonderbolts'll still be there when ya git there, so take a minute n eat'cher breakfast." The lion's share of Rainbow's annoyance dropped off under her mare's affection, and she bashfully took a moment to savor the delicious waffle. She was almost back to emotional neutral but then her mare said. "N y'all ain't late yet. Just put cher thrusters to full blast n y'all'll just make it!"

Instantly the pegasus' anger roiled afresh as she swallowed the last bite of waffle, the delicious treat turning to ash in her mouth. "No!" She growled low. "First Twilight gets these stupid things stuck to our backs, then they keep me up all night and make me late to report! Ooh I'm gonna give that egghead such a piece of my mind when I get off duty!" She was about to speed away but she was stopped by a gentle touch from an orange hoof.

Applejack stared sternly, but lovingly at the angry pegasus. She knew that she should rebuke her erring mare, but Apple family wisdom knew it was better to extinguish anger rather than try to overpower it. She gave a small smile and cooed, "Ah luv you Thunder Butt."

Rainbow's cheeks grew as red as her eyes and instantly her crankiness was replaced by embarrassment. "Babe!" She whined bashfully, dropping to an annoyed whisper. "Not in public!"

Applejack, seeing that her job was done, gave the blushing pegasus a firm slap on the flank with her hoof. "Now go on! Git! Yer gonna be late." Rainbow squeaked with surprise at the contact and then growled at her mare's teasing. She vanished in a streak across the sky, the pegasus still stubbornly using her wings, refusing utterly to use the jetpack. The orange pony watched her go the whole way until she disappeared from her view, sighing amorously.

"Y'all need ta git a room!" The younger sister quipped with a smirk.

Applejack blushed, having forgotten her sister's presence. She cleared her throat to refocus herself and fumbled for a distraction. "Oh look! There's Sweetie Belle! Less go." She dashed down and landed next to the young filly, noticing only after landing that the white pony seemed terribly harassed.

Applebloom failed to notice her friend's body language as she landed and cheerily greeted the unicorn. "Howdy Sweetie Belle! We got done with are chores a sahght early so Ah'm free the rest of the day! Wanna go fahnd Scootaloo n have a race?"

Instantly the small unicorn rose slowly into the air, seemingly overwhelmed with relief at the invitation. "Yes! Gah! Let's go!"

Applejack arrested the fleeing filly with an orange hoof. "Ev'rythin okay sugar cube?" She asked in concern.

Sweetie Belle gave a concerned look towards carousel boutique and thought about her answer. She sighed heavily. "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just. . ." She visibly cringed at some memory. "It's just Rarity's gonna a little. . . Uhmm. . . Pinkie Pie, since we got these. It was a long night."

The orange earth pony gave a long look and warily decided to drop the inquiry as she reached for the door handle. "Alraght. . . Well y'all two run along n fahnd Scoots. Ah'ma."

"No!" Sweetie Belle snapped as She slapped the orange hoof away from the door. Applejack reflexatorily boosted slightly away in shock at the unexpected blow. The cotton candy maned pony smiled apologetically. "Sorry AJ, but TRUST ME, you do NOT wanna go in there with Rarity being the way she is right now." The unicorn turned to her friend, wanting desperately to escape the uncomfortable situation. "Come on Applebloom. Let's get outta here." She boosted quickly away, leaving a befuddled pair of sisters behind her.

The two earth ponies gave each other a confused look before Applebloom boosted away to catch up with her retreating friend. Applejack took a long moment to prepare herself before cautiously opening the door. She was NOT ready for what was on the other side. The stalwart farm pony had to stop in the doorway and gawk at the interior of the boutique. From wall to wall hung half finished scraps of outfits, rough sketches of accessory ideas, and mannequins contorted into all sorts of different poses with mock ups of jet packs strapped to their backs.

That however was not what froze the blood in the earth pony's veins. What made her blood run cold was the sight of her friend, usually so poised and calm, hunched over her sewing machine, a manic haggard expression on her face. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates, the red veins standing out distinctly against the glassy white. Her mane, usually a shining violet bouncy mobius strip, now more reassembled a recently ravaged rats nest than its normal shape.

What struck Applejack most however was the movements of her friend. She seemed to throw her whole soul into a project, then some new inspiration would strike less than a moment later and she would instantly throw her entire soul into a new project. In the few seconds she stood in the doorway gawking, the farm pony observed this concerning transition three times. Unfortunately for our orange friend, that's when the quietly gibbering unicorn happened to catch sight of her. "Applejack! Finally! You know better than to keep a girl waiting!" Rarity shrieked, her voice cracking.

Applejack reflexatorily attempted to flee from the charging unicorn, but the fashionista was instantly on her, tackling her out of the air and dragging her over to her runway stage. "Uhm Rares, not to argue, but Ah'm a saght earlier n we expected." She said as she was dragged along, as if the conversation would dispel the extreme discomfort of the situation. "So uhh, y'all seem to have been busy." The farm pony breathed as she gawked at the cluttered piles of cast off inspiration. She flinched as two white hooves dug into her face.

"Not just busy!" Rarity shrieked in her cracked manic voice. "Obsessed!" She held the orange head in a headlock with one foreleg as she gestured to the enormous fire hazard surrounding them both with the other. "Don't you see Applejack?! These jetpacks aren't just a new revolution in transportation! They're a revolution in fashion!" Rarity flipped an elephant sized pile of cloth upside down to fish out a large bulky cloak. "Last night I was more concerned with just covering it up, concealing it from view, but then it hit me! It's a whole new dimension with which to accessorize!"

"So first I thought to decorate it like a piece of fine furniture, but it's more than that! It's a whole new limb! It's a completely novel dimension to the equine body that requires an entirely new profile, a new aesthetic, a new chic! That's when I realized, Twilight intends to mass produce these for everypony that wants one, and I'M THE ONLY DESIGNER THAT KNOWS THAT!!!" The babbling fashionista shoved her face against the farm pony's, her bloodshot eyes a millimeter away from Applejack's. "I'm way ahead of the curve!"

"I'm the only designer making accessories for all the ponies that will want to be glamorous while mobile! Big ponies, small ponies, fillies, colts, young, old, and the only one with products on the market ready to go will be ME!!!" Rarity gave a gasping, snickering, greedy cackle at the thought. She magically wrapped a large brown faux leather ensemble around Applejack's jetpack. "Now, for you, I was thinking we'd stick with your country western aesthetic! And look!" She used her magic to make the long tassels flutter. "See! See how it carves the eye as you move dahling?!" She gave another one of the snorting mischievous chuckles that froze Applejack's blood.

The farm pony eased herself away from the manically giggling fashionista. "Uh, yeah. . . That's uh. . . Real swell." Her eyes darted around the room, desperately searching for anything to divert the twitching bloodshot blue eyes from her. She noticed the bisected flight jacket, still clutched protectively under one foreleg, and thanked Celestia for the distraction. "Oh! Uh, fore ah forgit, would y'all mahnd suturin this here back together?" She held out the torn coat like a shield to guard herself against the unstable mare. "Ya see, RD done tore it when."

The explanation was cut off by a shriek that forced Applejack to have to fold her ears back in pain. Rarity snatched the flight jacket off of the hoof and clutched it in a crushing embrace. "I didn't even THINK about all the applications the MILITARY would have for jetpacks!!!" Her concerning cackle grew into a genuine evil laugh of triumph. "Those hacks at Lockheed Maretin won't have a leg up on me THIS TIME! Oh, so much to do! SO MUCH TO DO!!!" She boosted across the short distance to her cloth rack and snatched several bolts of her rather depleted supply off of the wall.

Applejack, seeing her opportunity, sidled quickly towards the door, muttering in an undertone, "Uhm, alraght, y'all have fun with that. See ya!" Rarity didn't even notice her departure as the farm pony slammed the door behind Her and pressed her jetpack against it. The earth pony inhaled deeply with relief. "Jeez, Louise! Hope everypony else is gettin along better."