Chapter One - I didn't choose the farm life
*BAM*
The front door slammed open, banging against the outer wall of the house. In its place, a grumbling teenager stepped outside, carrying a stack of boxes in her arms. Slowly, she began her march out to the moving truck parked outside her former home.
Why the hell do we have to move? I’m a year off from graduating High School, for Christ’s sake. She thought to herself, slamming the boxes down in the cargo container of the truck. Running a hand through her short, rainbow hued hair, she sat down on the sidewalk, both relieved and mortified that she finished loading the last of her things. Soon enough, she’d be on the road, probably never to see her friends or hometown again.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a phone, checking it once again to see if her friend was going to see her off. Her expression lightened up upon seeing she had a new message, only to sour as she began to read.
From: Gilda
Message: Sorry, Dash, I’m busy today. Besides, I’m crappy at goodbyes anyways.
Sighing, Dash tapped out a quick response.
From: RD
Message: No, yeah, dude. I understand.
“Whatcha doin’?” A voice asked from behind, causing Dash to jump in surprise. Spinning around, she was greeted with her little sister, Scootaloo, clutching a folded up scooter in her arms.
“Oh, hey, Scoots.” Dash muttered, “Need any help with that?”
“Nope, Mom said I could bring it in the car!” The purple haired child replied, grinning cheekily.
“Oh COME ON!” Dash shouted, “She told me to pack away all my things!” Muttering darkly, she hopped back into the truck, digging through the boxes before finding the one that said “Dash’s Games.” She quickly opened the box, grabbing her laptop and DS before climbing back out. Suddenly, a thought came to her.
“Hey, Scootaloo?” She asked, “Why exactly are you bringing that into the car?”
Scootaloo opened her mouth to respond, only to pause for a moment. After a moment, she looked down at the scooter before giving her answer. “I dunno.” She shrugged, causing Dash to facepalm.
“Dash, Scootaloo!” Their mom called, snapping both of them to attention, “Come on, get in the car!”
The pair scurried across the sidewalk to the car parked in front of the moving truck. Opening the back door, Dash let her little sister jump into the car before climbing in herself. Her mother gave a disapproving glance towards Dash’s electronics, before locking eyes with her.
Dash groaned, “Mom, I looked at the route we’re taking. Most of it’s gonna be driving through farmland and fields. I’m not gonna be missing much.”
“If you’re still mad about moving, just look on the bright side,” Her mom replied. “We’ll have a much bigger house, and I’m sure you’ll find some new friends.”
“I didn’t realize there was anything wrong with our current house, or my current friends…” She grumbled.
Her mom sighed, turning forward, “Well like it or not, we’ve already talked about this. Your father is doing this for you two. If it wasn’t for the best, he wouldn’t have taken his new job offer.” With that said, she started the car, pulling away from the curb and starting the trip. Dash gave a last glance back at the house before she put her earphones on and began to tune out the rest of the ride.
Eleven hours had passed since they started driving, and Dash had long since given into the insanity driven by her restlessness in the cramped vehicle. Despite her mom’s assurances that they were “almost there” the past two hours, she was close to jumping out the window and walking the rest of the way on foot just to ease the monotony. However, a glance out the window showed a drastically different scene than the boring, empty plains she had gotten used to. To her right, there was a huge field with rows upon rows of trees. These trees were dotted with hundreds of apples in dozens of shades and hues, and seemed to go on as far as the eye could see.
“Dash, Scootaloo, we’re here.” Her mom announced, pulling a left turn down another road. Dash spared another glance at the orchard before looking forward to see where they were going. The gravel road they were driving along slowly began transitioning into pavement as they drew closer to their new house. While she was still sore about moving, Dash couldn’t help but admit to herself that the house was pretty damn fancy. Judging by the size of it, it had to be three stories, and looked to have dozens of rooms inside.
Credit where it's due, this is a pretty nice house… Dash thought to herself, before snapping her attention to the moving truck already parked out front. Sure enough, her dad was already there, but he was talking to another man, with shoulder-length orange hair and a typical farmer attire of red flannel and jeans. If she were to wager a guess, she would place the man in his mid-20’s.
Once the car stopped, Dash stepped out, walking over to her dad. Her dad patted her on the head, “This is my daughter, Rainbow Dash.” He said, before looking her way, “Dash, this is Big Mac. He runs the orchard across from us.”
Dash held out her hand, “Nice to meet ya.” She said, wincing slightly as the giant of a man grasped her hand, squeezing it tightly as he shook it.
“Likewise.” He replied, releasing his grip after a moment.
“You see, Big Mac has a sister your age. We were talking about seeing if she could help show you around town, and see if you could get a summer job at the orchard.” Her dad explained, “It’d be the best way for you to get adjusted.”
Dash’s eyes widened in horror, “WHAT?!” She exclaimed, “I’ve never done farm work before! How did you think that’d be a good idea!”
Big Mac smirked, “Don’t worry, Ah’m sure we can find somethin’ fer a scrawny little city girl like you.”
Okay, now it’s personal… Dash thought darkly, her eyes narrowing. “Oh yeah? I bet you I’ll be able to do the same work as your sister by the end of the month!”
Big Mac raised an eyebrow, “Issat so?” He asked, before chuckling, “You were right, Blaze. She’s a feisty one. Ah’ll stop by tomorrow mornin’ with AJ. We’ll see if she can put her money where her mouth is.” Giving a final nod to Dash, the giant began walking back down the road, whistling a tune.
“Alright, Dash, start moving your things inside. Pick a room, and get some sleep. You’ll be getting up before dawn tomorrow.” Her dad told her.
“Oh come on!” Dash whined, “We just got here! Can’t I get a day to relax before I start working?”
“No,” Her dad replied, his face growing into a scowl. “We got your report card for the end of the school year. You almost flunked two of your classes. We were originally going to lock away your computer and video games, but Big Mac offered us a better solution. Unless you want to go until Christmas without your computer, you’re going to learn the value of a hard day’s work.”
“Fine!” Dash barked back, storming her way to the back of the truck to grab her boxes. Fuck this. You've gotta be kidding me! She fumed silently, rushing inside the house.
That night sleep eluded Dash. Finding out that she would have to work off her bad grades to stay in good graces was going to be rough. The fact that she had never set foot on a farm, let alone worked on one was only making things worse. The creeping worry was beginning to take its toll, and she found it hard to get comfortable enough to rest.
Of course, it could also be due to her spending the night curled up in a sleeping bag in a dark room covered with peeling wallpaper and creaky floorboards. The fact that the house had been foreclosed for over a decade wasn’t helping ward away the haunted house feel.
After dipping in and out of sleep several times over the night, Dash snapped to attention when her phone began buzzing across the room. Crawling over to its spot, she slid her thumb across the screen, lifting the phone up to her ear.
“Hello?” She asked groggily, stifling a yawn.
Whatever she was expecting, it wasn’t the familiar baritone of the farmer the night before, “Hey there, Rainbow, it’s Big Mac. Start getting ready, me n’ AJ are on our way over.”
Dash raised an eyebrow, pulling the phone back to check the time. 5:30… Fuck… “Alright, got it.” She grunted.
“We’ll be there in 15.” Big Mac replied, ending the call.
Dash sighed, picking herself off the ground and making her way over to the pile of boxes. Games… CDs… Magazines… Ah, clothes! She thought triumphantly, pulling one of the boxes out from near the bottom of the piles, trying carefully to not knock the others over. After ripping the box open and rummaging through her things, Dash settled on a pair of jeans and a tank top, considering it to be more practical for farm work.
After getting dressed and quickly combing down her hair, Dash started running to the hall, not wanting to be late for her new employers. As luck would have it, she reached the foyer of the house right as a resounding knock filled the air. Rushing to the door, Dash wrenched it open, already walking outside, only to bump into a girl standing on the porch, her hand still hovering over the space the door once occupied.
Blinking a bit, Dash took a closer look at the girl. She was a fair bit taller than herself, and bore a light tan and had her blonde hair tied in a long ponytail. Similar to Big Mac, this girl had what Dash imagined to be typical farmer attire of an orange flannel shirt, jeans, and to top it all off, a brown Stetson.
Big Mac stepped up beside the girl, waving a hand over to her, “Rainbow Dash, this is my sister, Applejack. She’ll be the one training ya.”
Dash held out her hand, “Nice to meet you.” She said, once again wincing as the country girl tightly gripped her hand.
“Likewise.” Applejack replied, releasing the deathgrip, “Looks like Ah’ve got mah work cut out with you, but Ah bet we can turn you into a good farm hand by the end of the summer.”
“Oh COME ON!” Dash shouted incredulously, “I’m in shape! I’ve been doing swimming and track for a few years!”
Applejack poked Dash’s side, “Hun, Ah don’t think a line counts as a shape. Ya look like ya can’t weigh more than 100 pounds.”
“AJ, play nicely.” Big Mac chided, “Now let’s get a move on. Y’all got a long day ahead of ya.”
Well, here goes nothing... Dash mused, catching up to the pair as they began making their way off the porch.
Author's Note
So yeah, when I said I was rewriting the story from the ground up, I meant it 
This chapter is relatively short, but I wanted to get the first chapter of the rewrite out there so I can get your guys' thoughts on the new changes. I think shifting from a second-person fic to this will give me more wiggle-room, namely solving the issues with the characters being unable to use the protagonists name.
For those wondering about the parents, Dash's mom is Fire Fly, and her dad is Rainbow Blaze. Given that one was the inspiration for RD in the show, while the other is (presumably) RD's dad, it seemed appropriate.
