Applejack may be a filly, but she has work ethic. She wakes up with the rooster’s crows and heads downstairs to watch her Granny fix up breakfast. Her big brother, Big Macintosh, is right there with her, with his yoke ‘round his neck and a straw hanging out the corner of his mouth.
“Mornin’, Big Mac!” she says, knowing his response will be little more than an acknowledging nod. Sometimes, she misses her brother talkativeness.
Big Mac plods behind her chair and braids her mane into pigtails. He’s gotten mighty good at mane styles as of late. Before, there was no need for him to play stylist. But Applejack can’t rightly say she minds how he gently folds each strand, how he never rushes or gets sloppy.
She thanks him just as Granny calls out to set the table. Baby Bloom snoozes in her bassinet while Applejack and her big brother tear into their meals like possessed.
Once they’re done, they wash up and Applejack flanks Big Mac out the front door. “Tasted great, Granny!”
“Eeyup,”
“Y’all stay safe out there!”
Big Mac goes to plough the fields, while Applejack sets her sights on bucking trees on the east acres.
•
With the rim of her hat pulled over her eyes, the filly rears up her hind legs and kicks back hard enough to get the tree trembling. The apples come flying out every which way. “Aw, patooie,” she rounds em up and plops them in their rightful picking basket. “Too much power that time,”
She goes a little easier on the next tree in line, and gets all of one underripe apple for her efforts. She pouts. “C’mon now,”
Can’t be too hard, can’t be too soft…gee, these trees are picky! She knows she oughta respect them and all that, but boy do they make it hard!
Alright, she’ll definitely get it this time. The filly marches up to the next tree, raises her legs, and kicks with a little less speed but all lot more oomph than earlier.
“Oww…”
Applejack stumbles back, gaping. “….tree?”
On second thought— this here tree looks off. It’s got a huge gap in its leaves that reminds AJ of the bald spot in her schoolteacher’s mane, and one of its apples is sliced clean down the middle and drizzling juice. She doesn’t remember anyone mentioning busted up trees like this one before. The filly trots closer, propping herself up on her hind legs to take a closer look.
That’s when she sees a light blue feather tangled in the tree’s roughed up leaves.
Applejack knew that pained cry from earlier sounded familiar! “Rainbow Dash, s’at you up there! Dint I tell y’all to stay outta the—”
A pair of rheumy magenta eyes gaze back at her. “AJ?” Rainbow rasps out, voice so strained Applejack’s own throat hurts just hearing it.
“Woah Nelly! Rainbow, what’s the matter with you?!”
Rainbow tries to respond, but her voice catches in her throat. She coughs weakly and winces, holding a hoof to her chest.
“Don’t you worry none, Rainbow,” The earth pony filly calls out, jaw clenched tight. “I’ll getcha down!” Her heart knocks against her chest as she frantically presses a forehoof to the tree’s mottled trunk, searching for purchase.
“Applejack, chill—” Rainbow cuts herself off with a nasty, dry cough. “I’ve got wings, ‘member?”
Applejack stills, pupils returning to their regular size. She tempers her breathing. “…right,” she takes a step back. “But why in Celestia d’ya look so roughed up?”
Rainbow averts her eyes for a moment before finding the earthbound filly’s gaze again. “Maybe ‘cos you kicked the tree I’m in like a mad pony!”
Guilt brushes Applejack, but she soon narrows her eyes. “Wait jus’ a second, Rainbow. What was that coughin’ just now?”
Rainbow lifts her muzzle all sophisticated like. “I had something in my throat,”
That isn’t right, Applejack’s sure of it! Rainbow fibs whenever she feels like, though, and she’s also regrettably gotten a mite good at it. If Applejack can’t get her to tell the truth, then she’ll just tell it for her! "You’re sick, ain’t it?”
Rainbow wilts. “How did’ja know?”
Applejack grins. “Ya just told me,”
“UGGH!” Rainbow drops her head with a throaty groan. “That’s playing dirty!”
“It’s playin’ smart,” in all honesty, Applejack was in Rainbow’s very same position just a few days back when Big Mac used the very same trick on her. She’s still sore about that. “Now, what’re y’all doin’ all the way out here if you’re sick? Where’re your parents?”
Rainbow glares at an undeserving tree branch. “At home,”
Applejack lowers a brow. “An’ do they know you up ‘n left?”
“….no…”
“Rainbow Dash! They’re prolly worried sick!”
“Oh, they are!” She flails a hoof in emphasis. “That’s why I hadta leave!”
Applejack knows she’s making the ‘mean’ face that Granny threatens to tan her hide for, but she can’t help it after her friend said something so, well, foolish! “That doesn’t make a lick of sense!”
Rainbow still avoids her eyes, expression pinched. “Yeah, well, whatever.” She shifts on her perch. “If you just came here to shout at me, you can stop now,”
“Rainbow, you…” Applejack shakes her head clear. “Ya can’t stay up there if you’re sick!”
“Who’s stopping me?”
Applejack fumes. “Ah am!” She rears her hind legs up and gives the tree what for—
Then gets laid flat by a falling Pegasus.
Both fillies lie on the turned earth, stunned.
Rainbow recovers first with yet another groan. “What’d you go and do that for, doofus?”
Applejack‘s face flushes. “It seemed like a good idea, all right?!” She wobbly returns to all fours with Rainbow still on her back. The filly quivers under the extra weight, but trumps on irregardless.
“Wait, you’re carrying me?” Rainbow’s voice gets pitchy. “No way! That is so uncool!”
“Ya reckon bein’ sick and stuck up a tree is cooler?” Applejack scoffs, adjusting Rainbow’s weight on her back. “Just hush and let me get ya home,”
Rainbow relents, sniffling in distaste.
Applejack can feel her shivering against her back, despite the warm sun on their fur. It’s gonna be a long walk home.
She gets about a third of the way through before they run into Big Mac, who stares incredulously for a moment before scooping Rainbow off of Applejack’s back and onto his own.
Rainbow’s complaining stopped a few minutes back, and she doesn’t acknowledge the transfer besides a little wordless mumble.
“Big Mac, we gotta getter back home,” Applejack’s voice is shrill, “she’s real sick and she’s not even talkin’ no more!”
Big Mac nods, eyes flitting from his sister’s flushed face to the filly on his back, and they make their way towards the house at once.
They burst inside, panting. Granny looks up from where she’s rocking Baby Bloom in her bassinet and gasps. “Good Lordy, is she—?”
“Granny, mah friend Rainbow’s real sick we gotta getter medicine ‘cuz she’s not talkin’ no more and Rainbow *never* stops talkin’!”
“Calm down now, dearie. Bring ‘er here,”
Granny plods on over and they meet her halfway by the couch. Big Mac sets the little Pegasus down like he’s handling explosives, then takes a step back to let Granny do her work.
Granny presses a hoof to Rainbow’s forehead and takes a look at her eyes, all the while muttering under her breath. “Seems like any old fever ta me,”
Rainbow speaks up then, soft and strained. “F-feather flu,” she manages, squinting. “That’s what Mom ‘n Dad said,”
Granny bobs her head. “Mmm, so it’s a pegasi thing,” She shrugs and steps back. “Ain’t nothing we can do, then.”
“WHAT?!” Applejack cries out. “But Granny, y—“
“But Granny nothin’, filly. Your friend here needs a doctor who knows how t’help pegasi. Ah’ll call up her folks and they’ll take it from here,”
Applejack shrinks, eyes downcast. “But Rainbow…”
Big Mac places a hoof on her withers. “How ‘bout I take her on up to your room so she can get some rest?”
Applejack swallows down a retort, dipping her head in a half-hearted nod. “…Okay,”
He scoops Rainbow up again and makes his way up the stairs to Applejack’s room, and the farmfilly follows close behind.
Soon Rainbow’s all cozy and tucked in, having finally drifted off to sleep. AJ sits at her bedside, wincing with every cough or sharp breath, wishing she could do more, help more, see her friend grin and hear her fib and feel the down on her wings while they roughhouse in the fields.
“AJ?” Comes her voice, and Applejack hates how weak it sounds. How Un-Rainbow Dash it sounds.
“Hey there, RD,”
Sleepy magenta meets teary green. Both fillies just stare at each other for a little longer than polite.
“Sorry for lying,”
“What?”
Rainbow shifts in the sheets. “Earlier. When I said I wasn’t sick.”
“Rainbow, Ah don’t rightly care about that anymore,” Applejack tries very hard not to sniffle. “Ah jus’ want ya to get better.”
Rainbow isn’t so good at hiding her sniffling, but Applejack lets it slide on account of her being sick. “Okay,” her voice cracks. “You, uh…can you…” the Pegasus points to the space beside her on the bed.
“Oh!” Applejack smiles for the first time in a good little while, joining her friend on the bed in a heartbeat.
Rainbow stays stiff and unmoving for a little before shimmying a smidge closer. Applejack giggles and closes the distance. The two fillies cuddle, with Rainbow’s little wings wrapping ‘round AJ as much as they can, and Applejack’s hooves holding her friend close.
Sometime later, Rainbow’s parents walk in, flanked by Granny Smith. They come upon the scene of the two snoozing fillies, one sniffling and coughing and the other holding her so tight you’d need a crowbar to tear them apart.
