Lightning Blossom

Chapter 9: The Harvest

Early in the morning Rainbow was woken from her sleep by Big Mac so she could prepare for the zap apple harvest. Over the past few days they had gone through the four signs of the harvest approaching, and today was the last one, which also meant they would be harvesting the apples. After having a morning coffee Rainbow headed outside, running into Applejack at the edge of the orchard.

"You're going to help with the harvest?" Applejack asked, giving Rainbow a suspicious look.

"Of course" Rainbow said, as though it should have been obvious, "I helped with every other step along the way, why wouldn't I help now?" Rainbow's faced turned a bit red as she remembered having to wear a bunny suit while she helped Granny prepare for the making of the jam. Big Mac had quite enjoyed watching her bounce around while she wore the suit, which he was given hell for later, but it had also managed to impress Applejack. When Rainbow had moved into the Apple home she completely avoided her, but after watching her work hard to ensure a successful harvest Applejack had begun to let up on her.

"Well, it wouldn't have surprised me if you'd chickened out" Applejack said, still feeling bitter about Rainbow and Mac keeping their relationship a secret from her, "You may be loyalty, but you're also pretty lazy"

"Hey, as you are so kind to remind me, Mac is my coltfriend" Rainbow said, pushing a hoof up against Applejack's chest, "I'm doing this for him, out of loyalty" What Rainbow had said wasn't a total lie, she was doing this to help Big Mac, but not because the harvest was difficult. Ever since Applejack had found out about them his relationship with her had been deteriorating, their only conversations being them shouting at each other.

"Hey, you two, get over here, it's about to begin!" Big Mac shouted from inside the orchard, getting both mares' attention. The two of them quickly trotted inside and stood next to him on either side just as the final sign began. The storm came over quickly and as soon as it passed a brilliant rainbow came across the orchard, signalling the start of the zap apple harvest.

"Let's split up, we'll get done faster that way" Big Mac said as he turned to face the two mares, "Applejack you take the section of the orchard that's behind you, and Rainbow, you do the one behind you. I'll do the one behind me. Understand?" Big Mac looked at the two of them to make sure they understood and when they nodded they broke off, heading into their sections to begin the harvest.

"Where to begin, where to begin..." Rainbow said out loud as she looked at the mass of trees ahead of her, hoping to find one that would be easy to start with. Finding a rather feeble tree around the middle of the orchard Rainbow began to buck, easily knocking every apple from the first tree with ease. Moving to the tree beside it Rainbow bucked again, clearing the second tree with ease, like she had done the first.

"This isn't that hard" Rainbow said as she bucked a third tree, once again clearing it out, "This is actually kinda fun" Rainbow quickly moved over to the next tree, bucking it with a smile on her face, and when all the apples fell out she hopped over to the next one. She was having more fun than she thought she would, seeing as all she was doing was bucking trees, but for some reason, she liked it. Rainbow paused for a moment when she realized her enjoying bucking apples could be a dirty joke, but once the thought had passed she was right back to it, bucking at least fifteen trees in just a few minutes.

"I'll be done in no time!" Rainbow said happily, not noticing how close she had gotten to Applejack's section.

"Not if you don't shut up!" Applejack shouted from somewhere in her section of trees, making Rainbow flinch. She wasn't expecting to hear Applejack at all during the harvest, so her suddenly shouting back at her caught Rainbow off guard. After recovering from the shock Rainbow went back to bucking the trees, and after a few hours of work she was done, now all she had to do was carrying the baskets the apples fell into back to the barn. When she left the orchard Rainbow didn't see any baskets at the barn, which meant that either she was the fastest, or the slowest, of the three of them. Quickly deciding that it didn't matter Rainbow went back into the orchard and began to haul the rest of the barrels over, eventually running into Big Mac and Applejack after they had finished.

"So, how was it?" Big Mac asked as he walked up next to Rainbow, giving her a quick kiss.

"Not bad, did you guys just finish?" Rainbow asked, and when they both nodded she smiled happily, "This is my last trip, all my apples are already there" The two siblings shared a surprised look before they were interrupted by the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who had come to see Rainbow.

"Rainbow, Rainbow!" Scootaloo said as she hopped up to Rainbow, giving her a hug on her foreleg, "Have you decided to join o-" Everypony was silent for a moment after Scootaloo cut herself off, now focusing on something else. When Applebloom and Sweetie Belle went to go check out what made her stop they froze.

"Rainbow, you got your cutie mark..." Applebloom eventually said slowly, making the three grown ups quickly look, seeing a bright zap apple looking cutie mark on Rainbow's flank. There was an awkward silence until Applejack stepped forwards, extending a hoof to Rainbow without any hesitation.

"Looks like you're meant to be an Apple after all" Applejack said with a smile, moving her hoof to try and get Rainbow to shake it.

"So, you're not mad at me or your brother anymore?" Rainbow asked, being confused by Applejack's offering of a hoofshake.

"I still am, but there's nothing I can do now" Applejack said, again moving her hoof to get Rainbow to shake it. Giving up on trying to make Applejack talk Rainbow shook the outstretched hoof, Applejack's grip showing that she was still a bit angry. After they ended the shake Rainbow turned to Big Mac, who without saying anything pulled her into a big hug. When they broke apart Big Mac picked up Rainbow's hoof in his, and asked her the most important question in her life.

"Rainbow Danger Dash, will you marry me?"