That Which Lies in Snow

It wasn’t a particularly difficult mission, they’d visited the reindeer of the Everfree forest before. But did it really have to be now of all times? And with her specifically?

Applejack felt the crunch of snow beneath her hooves, her tail flicking in annoyance as the pegasus swooped and swerved carelessly through the sky above her. “Can ya get back down here, Dash?”, Applejack demanded. “Yer gonna hurt yerself flyin’ around in this dense of a forest”.

“Pff, you know I’m a better flier than that”, Rainbow said, shrugging mid air and slowly fluttering backwards above the country mare to prove her point. Applejack shot her a dour look. Rainbow sighed and landed, starting to trot at a steady pace beside the country mare.

It wasn’t so bad, she supposed. The snow covered forest was beautiful at least. Applejack enjoyed most of the seasons for different reasons. And though being a farmer gave her a bias for fall, her close second was winter. Beyond the fun of sledding and making snow cream with her little sister, she also loved Hearthswarming, getting together with family, and opening presents by the fire, it was coming up soon. But thinking about it caused a pit of sadness to begin forming in her gut, which only gave way to more anger and distrust towards the mare that walked beside her. She had been so excited for it this year, her first Hearthswarming with her marefriend. But she wasn’t even in the mood to be around her right now.

"Something wrong?”, Rainbow Dash slowed her already restrained pace to let Applejack catch up beside her.

After a long pause, Applejack answered, “Y'all could say that, yea”.

“Uh-huh…”, came Rainbow’s response, followed by more awkward silence, only broken by the sound of hooves trotting through snow. Eventually, Rainbow breathed an exasperated sigh, “are you still upset about Apple Bloom?”.

Applejack’s stoic demeanor almost cracked to reveal the scowl underneath, giving a huff in response, “Nope, but Apple Bloom ain’t the one that gave me a reason to be upset“. Applejack paused, huffing out another snort, “Let’s just get to this darn village”.

The two entered the small Reindeer tribe’s village. Fawns, playing in the snow, paused from their games to look at the unusual guests. An old reindeer greeted them. He was dressed in a robe, with bells down the sides of the expertly sewn fabric, and his antlers were adorned with feathers of all different colors. Bowing his head to them as he greeted, “Applejack The Honest, and Rainbow Dash The Loyal, I welcome thee to our humble village.”

The two ponies looked a bit puzzled. “Y'all know us?”, asked the country mare.

The deer chuckled, "Oh, thou dost jest with me, illustrious one! What manner of poor unlettered lorekeeper deemst thou me, that I should know naught of the deeds ye have writ upon not only our realm, but all realms in this vast world? Nay, thy names are as whispers on the wind, tales spun by firelight, too grand to escape the ear of even the most witless wanderer. Yet as we stand unacquainted, I shall forgive ye this slight—forsooth, 'tis not every day that legends find themselves unaware of their own song."

Applejack, even more confused by the old deer than before she had asked, stayed silent. Meanwhile, the pegasus stifled a laugh. “You’re nutty, old timer, I like it”.

Applejack was about to hoof the pegasus in the shoulder for her blatant disregard for basic etiquette. But before she could, the reindeer smiled warmly, “I know not of thy youthful vernacular, but regardless, praise from one such as yourself is high praise indeed!”.

“Right, well, let's not forget we have a job to do here”, Applejack interjected, shooting the notoriously praise-loving pegasus a glance, before turning her attention to the old buck before her, “Ah assume since y’all know us, Y’all also know what we do, y'all had any problems ‘round here lately?”.

“Ah, yes! Tis’ a terrible thing, our prince and his bride-to-be hath been having a terrible time. The two who seemed so deeply in love hath not been acting as such, and so close to their coronation...”. The shaman paused to take a breath, “I know of thy map and its portents, perhaps this is what thou hath been sent here to a remedy?”

“Thank ya, sir, we’ll talk to em’”, Applejack responded with a nod.

The two mares made their way to the large house that clearly served as a royal palace for the village. The house was fairly modest compared to most palaces, it had a rustic feel that Applejack respected. The leaders of the tribes lived in a house that was simply a larger version of what their subjects lived in, no more, no less.

In a room off to the side was the doe they were looking for, her status made obvious by the golden tiara she wore, and the ceremonial wedding dress that a few others were working on nearby. Applejack and Rainbow Dash greeted her with a formal bow. “Apologies fer the interruption, yer highness”, the orange mare began, “we’re here on behalf of the Princess of Friendship, we heard y’all had a friendship problem needin’ solvin’” .

The conversation was much more brief than either of the Elements of Harmony expected. And it revealed a simple problem with a fairly simple solution.

“He’s been acting like I don’t even exist lately”, the doe lamented, “I… wonder if he even loves me anymore…”

“Woah, woah, woah”, Dash cut in, “just because he’s been distant you think he doesn’t love you?”. The reindeer sniffled, and Rainbow breathed a sigh and patted her on the back, before continuing, “You can’t just give up on him like that! What if he’s just going through a rough patch right now? I mean, he’s about to become the ruler of your tribe! That can’t be easy. He probably needs you more than ever right now!”

“Ah don’t get this, Dash”, Applejack blurted as they made their way to the prince’s quarters, “Why would the map send us? This ‘friendship' problem is about as deep as a kiddy pool. And fer it to call us now of all times… after what happened...”. Applejack trailed off, saying that last bit under her breath.

Rainbow just shrugged. “Maybe this is just the map telling you to get over it”.

Applejack’s glare quickly snapped to fix on her. “That ain’t funny, Dash!”

Dash grumbled, trying to suppress a venomous response, and failing. “Well, what if it wasn’t a joke? You keep holding this over my head, she’s fine, Applejack, you kn-”

She was cut off by the earth pony pressing a hoof to her chest, “And you know darn well that ain’t what I’m upset about!”. The earth pony paused as two reindeer, puzzled expressions on their faces, awkwardly walked past them. Applejack sighed, realizing her volume was getting a bit out of control “You lied to me, Dash…”, she continued quietly, before turning to continue their walk, her hat covering her eyes, “and it just feels like… oh, consarn it! This ain’t the right time nor place fer this kind o’ talk, we’ve got a job to do”.

The two found themselves in the main throne room next. Sitting upon a throne carved from a huge tree trunk, was the prince, he wore a gold necklace with a red jewel in the center, a long cloak made of leaves ran from his shoulders down over his flanks and rested on the ground around where he sat. They greeted the large, regal looking buck with another bow.

The deer ordered his subjects with authority befitting a king, the preparations for regal festivities getting on like clockwork at his command. But as the two ponies approached him, he ordered the other deer to halt and leave him to discuss matters with their unexpected guests.

The prince’s stoic demeanor quickly turned to one of frustration when his fiancée was mentioned, and then dropped all together, revealing a softer, more timid creature beneath all that regality he’d been taught to embrace.

“She keeps getting annoyed that I don’t spend as much time with her anymore”, the reindeer prince said with a sigh, “I’ve been so busy, ever since my dad stepped down from the throne, he thinks I’m ready, but I just don’t know, I wish I could tell her how hard it’s been… but, I have to be strong for her…”.

Applejack laid a hoof on his shoulder. “Sugarcube, ya gotta be honest with her. Ya ain’t her parent, she’s a full grown doe. If something’s buggin’ ya, she wants to stand by ya through it, she wants to be yer support. But she can’t do that if ya keep her guessin’”.

“I just don’t want to worry her”, he said with a sigh, “but, yea, I guess you’re right”.

The task was complete, the cervine pair reunited. “Well, that was easy!”, Rainbow Dash said, flying while in a stretched out lounging position, “Are we awesome or what?”.

No response, despite the comment pulling Applejack’s focus back from the job they’d done, the one that had managed to get her mind off her personal life for a mere few hours. Though one thing was off. No doubt the map had called them here, blinking cutie marks and all, but after solving the problem, the blinking would normally return to herald their success—but not this time.

Applejack just shrugged it off. She was exhausted, emotionally more than physically, she just wanted to go home, drink probably one too many ciders, and go to bed.

The reindeer shaman was there to meet the two mares as they were making their way out of the village. "My gratitude to thee, most discerning heroes, your tongues as deft in counsel as a gryphon's talons in battle.”

“Yea, we’re-”, Rainbow attempted to interject with her own self gratifying praise, but was cut off. Apparently the old deer had more to say.

“This venture, fraught with doubtful reckonings lay as a clouded mirror before your coming, yet upon your arrival, ye have woven harmony where none did hope it might be spun.”

“Yea, we’re awe-”, the rainbow mare’s interruption was once again interrupted by the old buck.

“Verily my thanks run deeper than words might tell.", he finally finished, giving the two a courteous bow.

“Yea…”, the pegasus paused, half expecting another interruption, “…saving the coronation of a new ruler for an entire village and all that, all in a day's work for us!”, Rainbow continued to gloat, causing Applejack to roll her eyes. For once, she wished the rainbow pegasus could just shut up and take praise with a little bit of grace!

Applejack paused, sighing heavily. That wasn’t true. Her spunky attitude was something she loved about her marefriend; it brought so much excitement to her life. Every time she came around with a new stunt or flying trick, every time she challenged AJ to a crazy test of skill to prove once and for all who was the best athlete in Ponyville—these moments were a spice in her life she hadn’t even known she needed. Rainbow pushed her buttons in a way no pony ever had before. That stupid cyan pegasus made Applejack feel like a foolish pubescent colt courting his first highschool crush.

But it didn’t matter, she didn’t care. No, that was wrong too. She didn’t want to care, she didn’t want to feel such disappointment, such anger, such emptiness. In truth her heart ached so much she wished she could tear it out of her chest and just leave it behind. She swore to herself she’d never do this again, stallion, mare, or Celestia-darned gelding, she had learned her lesson with Rainbow… Her heart should be with her family, with her farm, this sappy game called love just weren’t meant for mares like her.

Applejack sat down far ahead in the road leading out of the village. It took a lot to make Applejack wear her feelings on the outside. She was a lot like her father in that regard, her and Big Mac both, ever since their parents died. The orange mare shuddered as she sucked in a ragged gasp of air, holding back a sob. She shook her head, blinking back her tears and slapping at her cheeks. “Pull it together now”, she whispered to herself, “no need for Rainbow to see ya like this. She… she wouldn’t understand anyways…”

Applejack breathed a sigh and stood back up as she heard Rainbow approaching behind her, finally done tooting her own horn. “Ready to go?”, Rainbow asked as she stepped a few paces ahead. Applejack nodded, giving a small, “uh huh”, as a verbal response.

There was a chill in the air as they exited the village. Naturally, the temperature had dropped since the sun had started to set, but there was also an unexpected biting wind. A wind that seemed to permeate straight through your core. “Blizzard’s a brewin…”, Applejack shivered under her breath, peering ahead at the rainbow mare who’d taken the lead, “guess there ain’t no avoidin’ that now…”.

Applejack breathed a sigh. “Hey, Rainbow”. There was a moment of hesitation, but she had gotten Rainbow’s attention, so, unable to back out, she spoke, “We need to talk…”.