Balance within Harmony

The six ponies were due to have their weekly Sunday afternoon pet play-date, but Applejack arrived late and without Winona.

“I’m sorry guys, but I aint going to be able to make today’s date, nor much else for a few weeks.”

“Why not?” Rarity asked, keeping away from Opals delightful scratching of everything within claw-reach.

“Big Macs had to go and help out in Appleloosa in an emergency, leaving me to look after the farm. Granny’s gone with him so I don’t have to look after her at least, but there’s still a lot to do. Of course Applebloom can help out a little, when not in school, but its going to be tough!”

Twilight thought back to the first lesson he had learnt having moved to Ponyville “We’ll all help out, you can’t do all this on your own”

“That’ll be mighty kind of ya, and I’ll take what help you can give, but I know you all have your own cares. I mean, it’s not just a single harvest, it’ll be weeks of farm work, market days, looking after ma sis…”

“Well, I’ll help as often as I can” Fluttershy started “especially looking after the animals”

“And, I’m sure I can fit some time with the heavy stuff and still do all my training” Rainbow boasted

Pinkie then proudly stood up in the middle of everypony, attracting all the attention “It’s simple really, I’ll come and stay with you for a while. I can work hard and be just as dependable as anypony!”

“Ya can’t do that Pinkie” Applejacked slightly panicked “I mean I’m sure the cakes need you…”

Pinkie was quiet adamant “No problem AJ. I mean, us Earth ponies have to stick together you know. I might have to babysit a little, but the Cakes have ponies lining up to help out at Sugarcube corner.”

Applejack looked over to Twilight, who was frantically nodded his head I think Pinkie needs this as much as you Applejack the unicorn was thinking to himself.

“Alright then Pinkie, I’ll be grateful for any help you can give”

Pinkie was delighted, and she went bouncing off tell the cakes, saying she'll meet Applejack back at the farm. Applejack waved goodbye to his friends so he could get back to work, his concerns not entirely gone.

“Pinkie, working at Sweet Apple Acres? Now this I have to see” Rainbow laughed as soon as they had both left.

“Now Now, Dashie, be nice” Fluttershy half scolded, and almost as if on cue Tank whizzed past Rainbow, causing him to duck.

“Dashie?” Twilight mocked slightly, looking at the colt

“Yep, that’s what my Flutters calls me” he grinned back

“Oh my Twilight, I don’t have a pet name for you. You call me Rares afterall, but I just call you Twilight”

“Egghead” Rainbow took the opportunity to tease back

“Twiley?” Fluttershy helpfully suggested

“My brother calls me that, now that would be weird” Twilight answered

“Sparky might sound too much like Spikey” Rarity mused “Now this will take a lot of creative thinking…”

***

About an hour after returning to the farm, Applejack and Applebloom saw Pinkie came bouncing down the main path at Sweet Apple Acres, carrying just a small bag “A few essentials” Pinkie called out as she hopped past and into the barn. She soon returned to where the brother and sister were apple bucking, and started helping out.

Applebloom was still too small to buck properly, so Pinkie spent some time bucking the trees, and some time helping the foal carry all the Apples around. With an extra set of hooves of the job, plus Pinkies amazing ability to sometimes move very quickly between places, the three earth ponies kept up a good pace during the afternoon, and were ahead of schedule.

Applejack was surprised how little Pinkie was talking, expecting the frivolous pony to quickly grow bored and start yammering on about Cherries or something. He suspected that she was in fact getting bored already, and wondered how long she would remain helping out at the farm. Not that he expected her to give up all her time, but he needed to plan each day properly if he was going to keep the farm ticking over.

***

Meanwhile, across town, the pet playdate had gone off without a hitch. It was Rainbows first time with Tank, and all the ponies had found it very amusing to watch Tank fly around with Opal in his legs being chased by Owlowiscious carrying Gummy, who Fluttershy was going to watch for Pinkie. Angel just started blankly at everypet and pony, wondering if he was the only sane one left.

After the date, Rainbow followed Fluttershy back to their cottage. He hadn’t stayed there since the Temple adventure, and they hadn't actually spent much time alone together, but he knew it was about time they talked.

Rainbow helped Fluttershy take care of the evening meals for her animal friends, and insisted on preparing dinner. Fluttershy tried to say no as apart from anything else, Rainbow wasn’t known for being the best of cooks. But the colt seemed eager to please so Fluttershy accidently left out a few cookbooks.

A short while later Rainbow emerged with a prepared meal of vegetable pie, mashed potatoes and extra veg. Rainbow blew out half of the lights in the cottage, and the pair shared a romantically lit meal. They chatted about random stuff for a while, before the subject matter turned to the adventure the week before.

“It was some crazy stuff at the end, hey?” Rainbow started to steer the conversation after a while.

“Yeah…” Fluttershy muttered, sinking into her chair

“I mean, I never knew we had so much in common with Applejack, Applebloom and Scootaloo”

“Rainbow…what happened to your parents? I'm sorry to ask, but all I know is you came to the orphanage after I was there, but you never said why”

“My parents? I never knew I hadn’t told you" Rainbow looked at his friend lovingly "They were part of the weather team for Manehattan. One day a large hurricane was brewing, and all the pegasi tried to disperse it  before it destroyed the whole city. It was a losing battle, but some of most loyal ponies kept trying. The eventually weakened it enough to save the city, and tens of thousand of lifes were saved…but twenty seven brave pegasi lost their lives.”

“Oh my!” Fluttershy was welling up

“Yep, both my parents died… as heroes. They and the other were honoured by the city and there is a statue to them at the city square. I guess that’s why I try so hard to be a hero around here, to make them proud”

Fluttershy had tears pouring from her eyes “Oh Dashie, I never knew. That’s soo sad. Loyal Pegasi indeed, no wonder you are the element of Loyalty!"

Dashie gave his special somepony a big hug “They were heroes, and whilst it was hard on me, I know they saved hundreds of lifes. Its not as sad as you. I can’t believe you were just abandoned by your parents!”

Fluttershy wiped away a tear “I know, just like Scootaloo was. I mean it seems that poor flyers are just abandoned by some parents!”

“I just can’t see how any-pony-parent could do that”

Fluttershy then looked at the colt, sadness filling her eyes “I guess well never know” she gently whispered, trying to separate herself but Rainbow wouldn’t let the filly go

“Fluttershy, what you said back in the temple…I don’t care, honest. I love you, I always have, I always will”

“But, are you certain you don’t want foals someday?”

Rainbow looked awkwardly at his hoofs, before returning his gaze to the filly “Well, all I know is I would want to be with you no matter what that means”

Fluttershy and Rainbow fell into a deeper hug, along with lots of nuzzling and butterfly kisses. Rainbow then made some tea, and upon returning he started explaining a plan he had to Fluttershy, who’s face slowly lit up from sadness to joy as the colt continued.

”Oh my, that sounds perfect” she gushed “Who knew you were such a big softy that wants to please everypony?”

Dashie looked shyly at the filly and then flew over, scooped up the filly before flying them both upstairs to Fluttershy’s bedroom “It’s not just Pinkie who knows how to make ponies happy”

***

As Luna’s evening started drawing in over the orchard, Pinkie suddenly disappeared leaving Applejack and Applebloom in the diminishing light So much for being reliable and helping out kinda pony Applejack thought to himself Saying that she did do a lot of work today so I can’t be too disappointed, and I do have a lot of Apples to sell at market tomorrow.

About an hour later, when it was too dark to carry on, Applejack and his sister walked back towards the barn, when they noticed that the lights were on and there was cooking smells emanating from within. The two ponies sped up a little at the thought of warmth and light, and upon entering home Applejack couldn’t believe his eyes

Pinkie was dashing around the kitchen, in a frilly Apron, putting the final touches to a nearly prepared dinner, and as Applejack later found out had already cleaned Applebloom’s room and fed the animals. Applebloom didn’t really pay too much attention and went to wash her hoofs before sitting down to the table.

Pinkie served up dinner, having to push Applejack to the table as the colt stood stunned in the doorway, and watched gleeful as the pair tucked into the delicious food in front of them. Given how hard they had worked they would have eaten anything, but they enjoyed Pinkies wonderful cooking all the same.

As soon as Applebloom had finished her dinner, Pinkie trotted over to the ribbon headed filly and gave her a rub on the head “Now little Applebloom, have you finished all your homework for school tomorrow?” she said with the most serious voice she could muster.

“Oh no, I haven’t” the tired looking filly responded

Before Applejack had a chance to respond saying he would make sure Cheerlie excused her, pinkie responded “That’s okay, lets go and make a start on it now...together”

The two fillies left the room and headed upstairs, and Applejack listened in carefully as Pinkie helped Applebloom with the math homework. He closed his eyes a little and just listened in as Pinkie played the perfect big sister, or perhaps even mother?

A short while later Applebloom returned downstairs finding her brother sitting in the main room “Well, time for me to hit the hay middle brother”

“Thanks for ya help today sis, couldn’t have done it without you” Applejack smiled “Want me to read you a bedtime story?”

“That’s okay, Pinkie said she would do it so you could rest up” and with that the little filly gave her brother a big hug and slowly crept back up the stairs.

A short while later Pinkie came down the stairs, a big grin on her face “Sound asleep” she nodded to Applejack. Pinkie then noticed a couple of glasses of special reserve cider were laid out on the table.

“I think we deserve this” Applejack raised his glass, and clinked it against Pinkies”

The two earth ponies sat in silence for a while, just looking at the nights sky out of the large window.

“Sooooo…” Pinkie started “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is the main market day so I’ll be busy in town the whole day”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Ya plan on being here again tomorrow?

“Of course, silly. I said I would help out and I’ll stay until Big Mac and Granny returns. If nothing else I can help Applebloom not seem to miss them so much”

Applejack started to well up a little. “Oh ma, pinkie I had ya all wrong. I thought that you had abandoned us earlier but here you were all along, working hard. I’m sorry that I’m so surprised”

“Well dur, I do have a farming background remember. And responsibility is my middle name, Pinkamena Diane Responsibility Pie. Besides, I would never abandon you and Applebloom like I abandoned…”

“Ya family?” Applejack asked, looking at the happy pony who had frozen mid sentence.

Pinkie took a big long look at the colt “Yeah, my family...AJ, can I ask…what happened to your parents. I mean, you never talk about them…” Pinkie grew softer as she spoke

Applejack looked out of a window just as two shooting stars whizzed past, something that he always noticed at times like this It’s time to start the healing, you have to someday He turned back to his friend who seemed to be looking the most genuinely concerned of any pony he had ever seen.

“It all happened during Appleblooms birth, so I’m too young to know much of the detail. They were travelling back from town when mother went into labour early. Some of the other ponies came from town to help out, as the birth was being difficult. The countryside was a lot tougher back then, and Timberwolves took that opportunity to attack the group that had gathered”

Applejack paused for a few moments, took a gulp of cider and cleared his throat. Pinkie took Applejacks hoof and led him outside, and they sat on the porch swing together, looking at the stars. Pinkie knew enough about Applejack that this would be relaxing to the farmer.

Applejack looked at the night’s sky and sighed “Mother was in no state to be moved, so they all had to stay in the open and without weapons. They fought off the wolves, but papa and another couple of ponies took some serious injuries. Applebloom was born in the middle of all this, but mother sadly passed away. Papa then died a few hours later from a rather vicious bite, having just held Applebloom for a few moments. The ponies brought ma new sister to me and Big Mac back at the farm, but explained that ma parents…”

Applejack had burst into tears, and Pinkie was giving him a bug hug “Oh, Applejack, let it all out”

Applejack hugged pinkie deeply “After that, all the townsfolk banded together and hunted the Timberwolves to near extinction – it was the last straw for all the families in town. Granny raised Big Mac, me and Applebloom and we all took over as we grew up. And the whole incident bound all the ponies in the town together like nothing else ever had, helping it make it into the town it is today”

Applejack extracted himself from Pinkies hug, and finished his cider before pouring himself another glass. “Now, I don’t remember much of ma parents, but I know they would be proud of how Applebloom is turning out…”

Pinkie put a hoof up to silence the colt “Now Applejack, they would be much more than that. I can’t imagine any parents being prouder of what you and Big Mac have done. You’ve made the farm one of the most successful in Equestria, you’ve raised yourselves and Applebloom into mighty respectable ponies, and hay, you’ve not only helped everypony in town, you’ve saved the whole world…twice!”

Applejack took pinkies hoof in his and gave it a rub “Oh Pinkie, you are smarter than anypony gives you credit for”

“I know, I’m awesome” Pinkie joked, always quick to lighten the mood.

After a few moments of reflection looking at the stars, Applejack looked over at Pinkie “So, what happened with your parents?”

“Well, I think you know the story that I told Applebloom and her friends. That is basically the truth, except that whilst Inkie and Blinkie enjoyed the party, my parents did not approve. We had a massive argument…and I’ve not been welcomed back since. The mining community has pretty much disowned me”

Pinkie had kept a smile on her face whilst talking, and Applejack gave her hoof a rub “That’s a awful story Pinkie, but you must know that we wouldn’t have you any other way. You are perfect!”

The two earth pony finished their ciders in silence, and with the evening setting in the two ponies made their way to their respective bedrooms, both having plenty to think about.

***

Over at Golden Oaks Library, two unicorns and a dragon were out on the balcony watching the stars. Rarity enjoyed the night sky for it’s beauty, and whilst Twilight could do the same he did enjoy the science of mapping Luna’s changes each night. And Spike just enjoyed snuggling up to either Twilight or Rarity. Spike let out a big sigh.

“Whats up Spike” Rarity asked, as both unicorns turned their attention to the dragon nestled between the pair.

“I just feel so silly about last week”

“There’s nothing to feel silly about” Twilight gave the dragon a playful rub on his head “Change can often be unsettling, and perhaps I’ve not been as affectionate to you as I used to be. But you’re growing up Spike, I thought you didn’t want to be treated the same”

“I guess that’s true” the Dragon mulled “Afterall you don’t need to bathe me or anything anymore”

“Twilight, you used to bathe little baby spikey wikey, that must have been so cute!” Rarity gushed, whilst Spike blushed.

“Yeah, I used to really mother him, but he’s grown up so fast”

“I know what you mean” Rarity added “It’s the same with Sweetie Belle, I probably should spend more time with her then I do, but she’s growing up as well and it’s hard to know how much to let them go”

Twilight noticed the same look appear on Spikes face when Sweetie Belle was mentioned as he used to get whenever Rarity was mentioned Way to get back on the cart Spike! Twilight thought to himself.

“Now Spike, you must know whatever happens you will always be welcome with me and Rarity. So…how do you feel about the three of us moving in together?”

“Really?” Spike looked at both of the unicorns

“Yes, there is plenty of rooms at Carousel Boutique for the three of us to stay, which give more privacy then the open library”

Spike put an arm around both the ponies with a big smile on his face, and then shrank back a little “Actually, I think it’s great if you guys move in together…and I can have the library all to myself!”

“Really?” Twilight asked

“Well, yeah” spike started looking at his oldest friend “You two need a little privacy, and I mean, I would love to spend some nights with you, so perhaps me spending time in both is best for all of us. Besides, somebody has to keep this place in order!”

“Oh, you are so grown up sometimes Spike. We did discuss something like that, so perhaps we’ll just take one step at a time?”

With that Spike let out a long yawn “Well, time for me to hit the hay. Don’t worry you guys, I’ll take my crib down to he kitchen for tonight” he gave a wink as he left

“What did he mean by that?” Rarity asked, giving her fiancé a sultry look before slowly getting up and walking in with an extra swish of her tail.

I really must give Spike extra gems tomorrow Twilight thought.

***

It was midday on Monday market, and Applejack was busy selling the apples bucked from the day before. He had left Pinkie back a Sweet Apple Acres to continue with the harvest for a big shipment due to Canterlot.

Rainbow dash came sweeping from the sky, looking around the market “Hey AJ, seen Twilight?”

“Nope” The farmer responded whilst serving a customer “But he or Spike usual pop past around now”

“Good, I need to speak to you as well, do you mind if I wait here?”

“Not at all Partner, if you don’t mind rearranging some of these bushels around for me?”

Rainbow helped reorganise the stall, and the colts chatted generally whilst they waiting. After a few minutes, Twilight trotted towards the stall, carrying empty saddle bags. As Twilight brought his apples for the week, Rainbow dash started explaining his plan to his friends.

“So, Twilight, do you think you could help with this?”

“I don’t see why not, but I might have to check with the Princess first, I don’t want to abuse my position”

“That’s fair” Rainbow nodded “And what about the actual building work?”

“No problem…I’ll need some time to prepare, and of course the materials need to be provided”

“I’ve got ya covered for wood partner, me and Pinkie can help you there”

“Thanks Applejack, that’ll mean so much to Flutters and me…wait, you and Pinkie?”

Rainbow eyed the earth colt mischievously, and Twilight joined in.

“Na, not like that. She’s been great around the farm, and she’s really bonded quickly with Applebloom”

“I knew she would” Twilight smiled “She is from a hardworking family, and I guessed she needed to get a bit back to her roots a ibit”

The colts then turned their attention to the plan, and quickly organised everything they need.

Rainbow gave his friends a hoof-bump “Okay, it’s all set then.  I’ll wait to hear from you Twilight, but here's hoping it’ll all work out. But keep it from the foals for now…”

***

That evening, Spike took down a letter from Twilight to the Princess, asking if she could help Rainbow as he wanted. Twilight had expected a quick reply, but none came for a few days. This surprised the colt, and on the verge of panicking that he had overstep his royal privilege, Spike finally burped up a response. Twilight read through the letter, and started prancing round library singing "Yes yes yes yes..."

"What is it Twi?" Rarity asked, peering down from the bedroom she was having a afternoon nap in

"Twi? Sorry Rares, that doesn't work for me, particulalry with all the 'whos' around here!"

"Regardless darling, I take it was good news?"

"Indeed...Princess Celestia thought it would be inappropriate for me to try to use my connections to overcome the bureaucracy"

"That doesn't sound very good news" Rarity eyed her lover.

"Except Celestia and Luna thought it would be such a good idea, that they personally contacted the authorities, and everything is sorted! I can't wait to tell Rainbow and Fluttershy!"

"I'm coming with you, I can wait to see their faces..."