Winds of Change

Winds of Change

Chapter one

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An orange hoof landed on the top of an old analog alarm clock with a barely audible click, stopping the annoying buzz. Applejack let out a long yawn and opened her eyes. She sat up on her bed, particles of dust dancing around her, illuminated by the first rays of sunlight that shone through the small slit in the window drapes. The orange mare looked to her right. She could make out a silhouette of a certain blue Pegasus lying beside her, quietly snoring. Applejack briefly considered waking her marefriend up and decided against it. She knew that the Pegasus enjoyed sleeping longer than the Apple family is used to.

She got up from the bed, making sure that she didn’t accidentally wake the cyan mare. She reached for her worn out Stetson that was placed on the bedside table and placed it firmly on her head. Applejack began her slow trot towards her bedroom door. Years of the same daily routine taught her which floor panels to avoid because of the squeaks they made when pressure was applied. The door was slowly opened and the farm pony snuck out closing the door behind.

Applejack noticed the door to her brother’s room across the corridor start to open. A crimson head emerged from the room.

“Howdy there sis.” Big Macintosh said as he closed his bedroom’s door behind him.

“Howdy brother, please keep yer tone down, Rainbow’s still asleep.” She said while tipping her hat in a gesture of greet.

“I’ll sure will sis, did ya wake up Apple Bloom yet?” The husky stallion asked.

“No, but Ah recall that Ah was the one to do it yesterday, so it is yer turn this time.” She said with a small smile forming on her face “In case ya forgot, Ah’m the element of honesty, Ah wouldn’t lie to ya”

“Thanks for the reminder” Big Mac replied, his voice betraying a hint of playful sarcasm ”Ah completely forgot who Ah live with”

“Woah, time’s really not serving you right then, yer gettin’ old fast.” Applejack said as she passed the door to Apple Bloom’s bedroom and headed for the bathroom.

Once she got there, she looked at herself in the mirror. She had traces of bags under her eyes, which were a sign that the preparations for apple buck season have taken a toll on her. The barn had to be emptied from all the baskets, barrels and carts which were placed in strategic positions, so the only task in the upcoming days was apple bucking itself. The process was prolonged because of all the chaos Apple Bloom was making when she heard that she was already old enough to take part in the family tradition of bucking trees. The filly was so worked up over this that she was more of an impediment rather than help.

Applejack turned the tap on and splashed a hoofful of water on her face, hoping that this would clear the light bags under her eyes. A fast glimpse at the mirror proved otherwise. With a sigh she grabbed a comb with a specially designed handle that made it easy to use for earth ponies. After a few fast combs she reached for the pair of elastic red bands that she used to style her mane like she liked. When the bands were on their rightful places she set about brushing her teeth. In the middle of this activity an increasingly loud racket could be heard from the corridor.

Once the bathroom was stoic and placid, but that was before a streak of pale yellow and red dashed into it, causing bottles of different cosmetics and toiletries to fly up into the air and land on the wooden floor with soft thuds.

“Ohsisit’smahfirstdayapplebuckin’ahseriuoslycantwaitahcantahcant!” Apple Bloom blurted out in a streak of incoherent words. She was prancing around and startled Applejack, who was at a temporary loss of words. She spat the paste into the sink, rinsed her mouth and turned the tap off.

“Well hello there little Apple Bloom, Ah can see that you really are lookin’ forward to today’s apple buckin’. Remember though that this is a great responsibility, the well-being of our family depends on those apples,” Applejack let Apple Bloom taste a little bit of her philosophy.

“Ya bet!” Apple Bloom nearly shouted “Ah can literally feel my apple bucking cutie mark forming on mah flanks, Ah simply can’t wait no longer! Let’s fix somethin’ to eat really fast and get to bucking!” With this she tugged on Applejack’s hoof with strength that slightly surprised the the older pony. Once she was forcefully transported to the kitchen down stairs, she started making a breakfast with the little filly.

-«<♦>»- A few minutes before -«<♦>»-

Rainbow Dash woke up to a sound of a closing door. She shifted slightly in the bed and covered herself tighter with the cloud blanket.

Those cloud quilts and beds are really comfortable, I wonder who came up with the idea… wait… this is not a cloud quilt… it’s too rough and…

Rainbow’s eyes darted open and wandered around her surroundings. The outlines of the furniture and the faint apple smell in the half dark room made her realize where she was.

Of course, Applejack’s place. The same place in which I was waking up for a few months’ time. Was I dreaming of being in my cloud home again?

She shifted around expecting to find Applejack lying next to her, but the only thing she found was sunlight shining right at her eyes, that still were not used to light. She clenched her eyelids tight, a tear escaping anyway. After a few seconds she slowly started to reopen her eyes and getting them used to the sunlight. When this task was completed she searched the bed for Applejack, with no result. She guessed that the farmer already woke up and left. She wasn’t sure whether to be happy that Applejack let her sleep longer or if to be saddened that she was left in the bedroom. Dash decided that she will try to get some more sleep before going downstairs.

Apple Bloom got so excited yesterday when she heard that she will take part in the next day’s apple bucking that she nearly fainted. I really don’t know what is the deal with this. What is so exiting about bucking trees? I was doing this here for a few months already and all I can say is that this work is boring. I would rather go back to my weather control duties than buck trees-

Her train of thought was interrupted by a horrible racket somewhere outside of the room. She froze genuinely bewildered. After hearing a very muffled shout, the sound of something being dragged on the floor could be heard from outside the bedroom. Rainbow waited another ten seconds but nothing could be heard any more.

Her bewilderment and concern reaching climax, she jumped out of the bed right on a squeaky floor panel. The sound made startled Rainbow even further. She very slowly approached the door, as if it would bite. When the rainbow mane’d Pegasus finally made it to the door she started twisting the door knob and opening the door. When she peeked through the slit that formed she found herself staring into a pair of green orbs. The Pegasus let out a muffled shriek and slammed the door shut. Inside she recoiled and fell on her rump in the middle of the room. As the door reopened, a red head emerged into the room.

“Ah didn’t mean to startle you like that miss Rainbow,” Big Mac said with a giggle that was muffled as soon as it started.

“What? You didn’t startle me at all… eeee… hey, how many times I’ve told you to call me Rainbow Dash? Or Dash? Or Rainbow? Just this, without “Ma’am” or “Miss”. Really, we’ve know each other long enough,” Dash said, just for the sake of changing the subject. Big Mac knew that, because they had discussed this matter a few times already.

“Ah’m sorry but when Ah was a colt, Ah was taught by Granny Smith to address mares with respect they deserve,” The strong stallion replied as he helped Rainbow to stand up.

“Oh, OK then, I’ll be going if that’s all!” Dash wanted to get out of this stupid situation as fast as she could. As she passed the stallion, she could only hope that she didn’t blush from embarrassment. In the corridor she took a turn and descended a few steps right into the kitchen, where Applejack and Apple Bloom already were. Big Mac followed closely.

Apple Bloom was first to spot the cyan Pegasus in the kitchen “Hey there Dash! How was yer sleep? Guess what? Today is mah first day of apple buckin’! Ah’m so exited Ah can barely stand!”

“Well hello there pipsqueak! “ Rainbow said absentmindedly, while sitting on a chair near the table, apparently waiting for a breakfast, “Did you catch some good sleep last night? I know that it’s your big day today,”

“Ah tried but Ah totally could not even close my eyes from all the excitement!” She replied with a grin.

“Well that’s strange, when Ah came to yer room ya were sound asleep,” Said Big Mac, barely stopping a laugh.

“Breakfast is ready!” Yelled Applejack, saving Apple Bloom the effort of coming with a good response.

Big Mac seated himself along Apple Bloom on one side of the table, leaving the other one to Rainbow and Applejack to share. Dash sat opposite to Applejack’s brother, Applejack soon came to the table with four steaming apple pies on her back.

“Breakfast is served!” She said, setting the hot pies in front of everypony present in the kitchen. “Howdy there Rainbow! How was your sleepin’?” she wanted to check if her marefrend managed to get out of her strange mood which she caught a few days ago.

When the farmer seated herself and got a laconic answer “It was OK”

Apparently she did not, so Applejack decided to pull Rainbow Dash into a kiss. As Rainbow was grabbed she seemed to shake at contact. When in the hug, Dash did not make eye contact, instead looking at the table in front of her. It the light of the new situation the orange mare kissed Rainbow Dash on her right cheek and let go.

“Is something wrong sugarcube?” The orange mare said with a concerned frown, “You can always tell me if there is something that-“

“No, no really I’m OK,” The blue Pegasus interrupted, “I just didn’t get enough night’s sleep, that’s all. I’m tired just from thinking about all the bucking that’s ahead of us,”

Even though the blond pony made the impression of believing the Pegasus, she clearly could see through her lie, and knew that something was off. After a moment of hesitation she decided not to push on the subject. At least not yet, they indeed had a hard day ahead, and she did not want to trouble herself, Dash nor the rest of the Apple family with anything until the work was done.

Apple Bloom was first to devour her pie, due to her excitement and anticipation of the coming work. She even beat her brother in terms of speedy eating, which was not an easy feat to perform.

When all the ponies finished eating, they walked out of the house, soon standing in front of the enormous apple orchard. While Applejack and Big Mac were calm from having done this task many times before, the little filly had a hard time containing herself.

“OK ponies, Ah think it’ll be the best if Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh headed together to work on the North part of the orchard while Ah will work on the South part with Dash” Applejack stated. “Mac will introduce you to the secrets of bucking apples, Apple Bloom, make sure ya listen to yer big brother!”

“OK Applejack! Now, let’s go, let’s go! Come Big Mac, we don’t have the whole day, Ah finally want to get mah cutie mark! C’mon!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, eager to get to work. She grabbed her brother by his hoof and started dragging him towards the North part of the orchard, with strength that surprised the stallion in the same fashion it surprised his sister some time ago.

“OK Dash we can go… Dash!” Yelled Applejack, bringing Rainbow’s mind back to Equestria.

Dash’s head shot upwards, her mane whipping the air. “AH! Sorry I got carried away a bit”

“Are ya OK there Dashie? You’ve seemed awfully bothered recently, sugarcube. Remember, ya can tell me if there is anything that Ah can do.”

“Applejack, really, everything is OK, you have nothing to worry about” Dash persisted, looking straight into Applejacks eyes. She attempted a sincere smile that would reassure Applejack that she was telling the truth. The farmer pony looked deep into Rainbow’s eyes for a few seconds, making Dash feel anxious and finally smiled back.

“Hmmmm… If ya say so Dash, Ah believe you” she said, nuzzled her and gave the usually brash Pegasus a hot kiss on the lips which was repaid but not with the devotion that the blond pony would like. With a sigh she motioned for the Pegasus to follow her towards the first row of trees.

Without another word the cyan Pegasus stood before an apple tree. She examined it for a few seconds, as if the apples would buck themselves. She let her head drop a little, turned around stood on her forelegs and gave a powerful buck that made the whole tree sway back and forth. Red and green apples fell to their designated positions with soft thuds as expected. Rainbow absentmindedly moved to the next tree in the row and bucked it with the same blank expression on her face. She repeated the process a few times, oblivious to the fact that Applejack was observing her closely the whole time, with a look of worry on her face.

Ah would swear that something is not right with this one… It seems like the whole happiness just disappeared from her life in the past few days… her mind seems to wander around instead of focusing on anythin’

After a few more moments of contemplation, Applejack started harvesting apples herself. The work had to be done, with or without family problems. Her bucks were fast and powerful at the same time. This made the work efficient. In a matter of minutes she overtook Rainbow in the terms of bucked trees.

-«<♦>»-

The day’s time of apple harvest came and went. Overall it was success, despite Rainbow’s absent-mindedness. The family was sitting near the table in the kitchen, the same one they had breakfast in. Big Macintosh and Applejack were fixing dinner for the whole family. This time Granny Smith was also present, she woke up around midday. She no longer took part in the harvesting process, due to her age and weak hip. The cyan mare sat on her place, having a stare contest with her plate. Her mind clearly had trailed off to other things once again. Apple Bloom sat near the table with a scowl on her face and her fore hooves crossed.

“Ah can’t believe Ah bucked so many trees during the whole harvest, but STILL I didn’t get mah cutie mark,” She said with a hint of mingled annoyance and sadness. “Maybe Ah will never get mah cutie mark, this harvest was mah last c-chance…”

“Don’t be worried young Apple Bloom, Ah’m sure ya’ll get yer cutie mark soon enough. Remember, you need to wait for yer mark and I’ll come all by itself, there’s no reason in worryin’ yer small head bout’ it,” Granny Smith reassured.

“But Ah’m already tired of waiting!” Apple Bloom whined and looked down on the plate before her. She was nuzzled by her brother that just came back to the table, while carrying three apple pies on his back.

“Ah’m sure that yer cutie mark is just around the corner Apple Bloom, patience is key,” he said as he distributed the pies to everypony. Applejack soon came behind him and did the same with the two pies she had on her back.

“Tell me Rainbow, did you enjoy today’s bucking?” Applejack said, but not from her desire for a conversation but rather to detect what mood Dash was in.

“It was OK, nothing special though,” Rainbow Dash responded simply.

“Did you get tired?” Applejack continued.

“No,” Dash responded, choosing to look at the steaming pie in front of her instead of Applejack.

At this point the orange mare started seriously worrying about Rainbow. The whole day she was silent and absentminded, she did not say a word if not asked the whole day. Her expression was blank and she wasn’t looking at Applejack when talking with her. When harvesting apples she was working like a robot, she did not stop the entire time like if her body was locked up in this particular activity and her mind wandered away.

After the pies were eaten, Applejack notified everypony that it was about time for them to hit the hay. They were all surprised by this, it was barely after dusk. She explained that they needed to get as much sleep as they can before the next day’s harvest which would be similar to today’s. This was not the real reason why she had said that, at least not the whole reason. She said that to give more sleep to Dash. It hopefully would clear her mind and she will be able to finally say what is troubling her.

-«<♦>»-

Everypony were in their beds and ready for a relaxing night of sleep after a tough day harvesting their apples. Applejack had just finished taking a shower, which freshened her mind after the exhausting day, she always enjoyed going to sleep clean.

She quietly stepped into her former room which now she shared with Rainbow. The mentioned pony was already laying on the bed, her back towards the door and Applejack. When the blond pony entered, Dash did not move. Applejack heard snoring, so she assumed that Rainbow was asleep. She slowly walked towards the bed and gently laid herself next to the Pegasus. She shifted to see Dash’s face. Her eyes were closed and her chest was rhythmically going up and down in slow breaths. Applejack kissed her on the cheek.

“Goodnight darlin’,” she whispered.

This earned her no reaction, so with a barely audible sigh, she laid her Stetson on the nightstand and put her head on the pillow. She hoped that more sleep would clear Dash’s mind and let her express her problems, so they could solve them together. After a few more minutes of silent contemplation, she fell asleep.

-«<♦>»- One minute earlier -«<♦>»-

Dash laid down and covered herself with the thick quilt. She was shifting, looking for a comfortable position for a good thirty seconds. She would do the same for another thirty if not for the sound of the opening door, which caused her to immediately freeze. She closed her eyes and started her best impression of her own snoring. She hoped that Applejack would fall for the trick and not ask her the same hard questions, answers to which she did not know herself. When she got the kiss and heard that Applejack was probably asleep, she shifted so she would be facing the ceiling. She opened her eyes and stared at the wooden panels that made it up. Thousands of thoughts crossing her mind at hundreds miles per hour.