That´s what friends are for
Author's Note
Short and sweet little bit of my thoughts while looking at the based on picture!
Apparently the link to the source in the Cover ist broken, have it Here instead
That´s what friends are for
Written, translated, edited and post corrected by me: Nova Star Sparkle
*1*
All in all, the day had been quite successful and pleasant for Applejack so far. The orange earth pony mare was on her way home from the new farmland she had acquired just two years earlier. Sweet Apple Acres Farm had been quite successful with their crops over the past ten years, and this year was the second best they had ever had, with the best nine years in the past. Like the last years none of the inhabitants of Ponyville would have any problems with food in the winter season. Sweet Apple Acres had far enough for everyone and maybe they could even celebrate another feast of leftover apple products once the snow had melted again. The only thing that wasn't as good as the apple crop harvest and stability of living coming with it, was the wind. It was blowing harder and harder, and the rain was pouring down, soaking her and the surrounding area.
The harvest had been so prolific that it had taken longer than planned. Fortunately, Ponyville's Pegasus weather team had been persuaded to push back the first heavy autumn rain of the year by two days, giving them more time to bring in the harvest. Or at least that had been the plan, as the hot late summer sun had been shining today once again so hot that the risk of a ground fire would have been just too big a risk to wait until tomorrow. Applejack kind of understood that if there had been a fire, it would have been the weather team's blame - still, she was very frustrated by the rain.
The soil of the path was increasingly turning into viscous, sticky mud that stuck to her hooves all over, making it difficult to advance. AJ minded relatively little, though, as she was able to move forward quite effortlessly thanks to her earth pony strength. After the long and tiring day of apple harvest, however, even she began to feel the fatigue slowly rising in her system. Oh, how she looked forward to finally reaching the farmhouse, taking a hot shower and then being able to lie down in bed. That damned mud...frustrated, Applejack lowered her head and pulled her hat lower as a very wet and strong gust of wind slapped her muzzle almost in spot. When the next gust also brought some large leaves with it into her face, she almost lost her composure. Nevertheless, she held back, as there was no one around to hear her anger anyway.
Dragging herself ever further along the path, Applejack tried to turn her thoughts away from the heavy downpour that was pelting from the sky and had by now soaked her fur to the bone. She winced a little in shock when a bright flash of lightning, accompanied by a loud thunder not a second later, cracked across the sky and she tugged her hat even lower down her face. If only she had headed back home from the apple farm half an hour earlier...she could have spared herself the rain shower completely and would have been in her warm farmhouse long ago. Well, it didn't help, she had desperately wanted to harvest the last few trees and now had to resign herself to being drenched, exhausted and annoyed by the rain.
Still lost in her own thoughts, she was almost unaware of the soft thump to her right. It was only when a large shadow of the evening sun, still shining between some gaps in the cloud cover, fell over her that she was pulled out of her thoughts. As AJ also noticed how the rain that had been pelting her so far stopped soaking her fur, Applejack began to smile knowingly and halted on her way home.
Applejack tugged her completely soaked hat off her blonde mane and held it to her chest with her left front hoof as she bowed her body a little closer to the ground with a shiver of chill. She then looked up with a grateful tired smile at the impressive alicorn who now held her left enormous wing protectively over her. The tranquil and gentle smile her alicorn friend gave to her warmed the earth pony mare's heart, but also gave her a feeling of deep respect for the other pony. She couldn't help but act the same while standing next to the mighty and gorgeous alicorn, whether she wanted to or not. The almost infinite kindness and affection in Twilight's eyes simply made her forget every bad feeling she had ever had.
Twilight had always shown herself to be very eager and willing to help them all, but since the lavender mare had ascended to alicorn status, her willingness to assist had once again increased massively. Twilight now always seemed to be precisely aware of when she could help her friends with their needs and no matter when or where they were, Twilight was always available.
Her eyes wandered slowly over Twilight's entire frame for a few moments and she surveyed once more the individual aspects of her larger friend that changed as she transformed - even though she had seen them a hundred times already.
Twilight's fur at her hooves, legs, chest, belly, neck and up her muzzle had undergone several changes in color and now displayed a gradient of different levels of her lavender fur. From light lavender at the ends of her hooves to almost dark purple at the tip of her muzzle. Some parts were even so light that they appeared almost entirely white. The mare's long mane had also changed during her alicorn transformation and now had a golden strand next to the pink one on the other side of her long horn. Likewise, the golden streak continued in her tail and as AJ's gaze slid down to Twilight's hooves, she smirked at one of the two characteristics of the pegasus genes and those of the earth ponies which Twilight now also united in her body. Her legs were quite a bit stockier than the average pony's and lavender-gold feathers grew from the ends of them. The same feathers were also visible on the edges of Twilight's ears, if one were to look into her face. In a single sentence, Twilight was gorgeous and quite possibly one of the most striking mares to live.
With one last look, all the while searching for the right words, Applejack lifted her gaze overhead. There she was greeted by the alicorn's gigantic wing still shielding her from the rain alongside her. The wing itself outstretched was as long as Twilight herself was tall and tipped with a thick plumage of deep lavender feathers that ended in a bright pink, golden gradient at the very ends. The thick feathering allowed Twilight to fly much more efficiently and faster than most pegasi, despite her taller size and not quite as aerodynamic a body shape as a 100% pegasus would possess. She was, after all, only one-third pegasus as an alicorn, with the rest evenly divided between the other two species of pony. Only Dash could still outpace Twilight in pure flying, but even that gap was narrowing, annoying the prismatic pegasus mare - even if she didn't verbally admit it, of course. However, even she could not really be angry with their shared friend Twilight, for it was widely known that alicorns simply represented the pinnacle of a pony's perfection.
Another practical aspect of Twilight's thicker layers of feathers was that not a single drop of the autumn thunderstorm that was by now heavily pouring down on the two mares could reach Applejack's fur. Even the wind that had previously plagued her from the front was gone and it seemed that even the elements were too frightened to interact directly with the alicorn. Then again, Twilight constantly radiated an almost divine aura from her entire body and alicorn's were worshipped as such by some of their subjects also, so the possibility was there and not even that small.
“Howdy Princess!”, greeted AJ the lavender alicorn and set up her biggest smile she could muster for the moment in her tired state. Twilight herself frowned for a second but then set up her own ever-kind smile. As Twilight began to speak, her voice was lovely and serene. Applejack could recognize some aspects of Luna and Celestia in it, that her friend had adopted from them after her transformation into an alicorn.
“Oh AJ, you know too well that I don't like it if my friends address me as royalty. It still feels just wrong even after nine years of being an alicorn and I'm asking you to call me by my real name instead.”
Applejack chuckled inside her mind, she liked to tease Twilight about her acquired royalty status in good nature and both knew she would likely never stop doing so. At least not as long as Twilight became all red and flustered each time AJ tried. So the smaller earth pony mare simply bowed her head a little lower and snuggled it deeper into the warm and fluffy underside of the alicorn´s belly. That was all that needed to be said so far between the two mares and Twilight slowly began to walk forward while AJ pressed close to the warm fur of her stomach.
Allowing her taller friend to guide her, Applejack closed her eyes fully and trusted Twilight to bring her home in safety. A few seconds later, she felt the ground beneath her hooves begin to become firmer and less muddy. Apparently, Twilight's presence was even able to influence the immediate environment around her sufficiently to make even the overflowed path bend to her will, drying in spite of the heavy rain and making it easier for her to move forward.
A warm aura slowly began to flow through her entire body and Applejack felt the magic of her blessed friend Twilight begin to heat her fur. The smaller farm mare also gained a new surge of vigor as Twilight infused her body with some of her magic. She truly couldn't imagine a better friend than Twilight, the other four were great too but Twilight...was Twilight. Plain as that.
Applejack didn't know exactly how much time had passed during which she had simply let herself be guided by Twilight pressed to her fur. Soon, however, she noticed how the earth beneath her hooves gave way to stony ground and she was once again inside the enclosure of her farm.
AJ looked up a last time to Twilight, the alicorn mare was as young, gorgeous and enchanting as she always had been since her transformation and would also remain for eternity to come. Yet that wasn´t of any concern for Applejack today and she simply let herself be guided further along the stony path back to her farm by Twilight. Sheltered from cold, wind and rain by the kind and reliable alicorn princess´s strong and huge wing. Warmthed and strengthened by the powerful alicorn-magic that Twilight possessed. Her mind fully eased by Twilight simply being there beside her.
There was always tomorrow to deal with the rising problems of the future.
Just –
Not –
Today!
*End of the Chapter*
