Winds of Change

Winds of Change

Chapter Eight

-«<♦>»- A few days later -«<♦>»-

Beads of sweat formed on Applejack’s forehead, so she wiped them off with a quick swing of her hoof. She looked up at the sky and squinted slightly. Aside from a few clouds here and there the sky was perfectly clear. The sun was directly over head, it’s bright rays bathing the merry inhabitants of Ponyville. The farmer looked back down at the countless apple trees that surrounded her and then at the grass growing at her hooves. Her mind was deep it thought.

“Hey there, sis,” The voice of the husky red stallion resounded through the orchard, pulling Applejack from the depths of her mind. He was working in another part of the orchard, but apparently came to see his sister. “Still thinking about... her?” He said, chewing on a small corn stalk.

“Yes,” She replied with a sigh, “Ah’m concerned about her.” With this she looked up at the sky and spotted her friends cloud home, idly hovering over the town of Ponyville. She kept looking at it and released a long exhale. She then turned her face towards her brother.

“Don’t ya worry, Ah’m sure she will come back to ya,” Big Macintosh responded, looking right into his sister's eyes.

“Ah sure do hope so...” She responded and faced the ground, “Ah mean, she did promise she will, didn’t she?” The orange mare quietly said, looking up at her brother, as if seeking approval of her words.

“Yes, she did. And if she did that, that means that she will keep her promise, she is the Element of Loyalty, and you know that,” Big Mac answered, his words of reassurance lifting the orange mares mood, if only a little bit.

“Thanks Mac, thank you,” The farm pony paused, “Well... Ah don’t think that Ah can put it off for any longer, it’s time that Ah go and sell all those apples we managed to collect,” Applejack said, “It was kind of Twilight to return the applecart that Ah left when Ah went runnin’ after Dash.”

“Yes, Ah never doubted Miss Twilight’s good manners,” The red pony said. When he looked at his sister he noticed that she was again solemnly looking on the only cloud home hovering over the village. He turned to walk away to continue his laborious work. After a few steps he stopped, craned his neck backwards and added, “Good luck... and don’t worry.” When all was said, he immersed himself back into the endless rows of apple trees.

“Okay, okay” Applejack muttered under her breath, trying to collect her thoughts. She brought her gaze back down and noticed that her brother has vanished. With a small shake of her head she directed her trot to the barn. When she arrived and opened the big, red door she saw her all-too familiar apple cart and the stand connected behind it. She grabbed a nearby apple basket and poured the apples inside the cart. When the cart was full there were a few empty baskets left over. Applejack strapped the harness of the cart to her back with ease, the years of experience taught her well. The wheels started squeaking quietly when the mare started pulling the cart, her destination Ponyville main square.

When she arrived, she stopped and started setting up the whole business. She worked like a robot, nearly thoughtless. Her mind was occupied with other things at the moment, she just couldn’t stop thinking about her cyan friend. She was so pensive that she barely acknowledged that the apple stand has unfolded and it was time to put the apples on display. Applejack sighed and started to put the fruits on their rightful shelves. She sincerely hoped that conversation with some village ponies will help her take her mind off things.

When the stand was set up, the farm mare stood behind the counter, waiting for customers. She looked up at the sky and immediately noticed her friend humongous cloud home flying above the village. her thoughts once again drifted to her best friend Rainbow Dash.

Anywhere Ah look, Ah see her! She thought with pain. She was already sick of constantly being concerned about Dash, sick of her thoughts floating to the her subject, against her own will. She desperately needed some distraction.

To her fortune, she saw somepony walking right through the center of the Ponyville main square. The whole town seemed placid, nearly abandoned. Usually, there were a lot more ponies wandering the streets at this time. The pony Applejack spotted had a light blue mane with hints of purple and a light yellow coat to match. He appeared to be unicorn.

Applejack never got to know the town ponies as good as Pinkie Pie did. She just wasn’t that type, to go around and make friends with everypony she met. She did know a decent part of the citizens of Ponyville, but never had the time to meet all of them. She was spending way too much time back at the farm to be able to do it. So it didn’t really surprise her when she could not recall the pony’s name, so she decided to wait for the pony to come by the stand.

When the pony was walking right in front of the stand, not paying much attention to it or to Applejack, the farm pony said, “Hello there partner, care for a delicious apple?” She had said it louder than intended, and loud enough to violently pull the stallion from his thoughts. He whipped his head to the origin of the startling sound and noticed Applejack.

Before the unicorn was able to regain his composure and say anything, the seller added, “Heh, sorry, Ah’m a little shaken lately... Ah asked if you, maybe, would like a apple. We sell delicious red galas, brae-”

“No, thanks,” The stallion curtly responded, cutting the mare off, “I don’t want apples.” He said harshly, gave the farm pony a meaning look and continued with his walk as if nothing happened. When the stallion was taking a corner, Applejack frowned and admitted to herself that she was actually happy to not know the stallion’s name anyway. He didn’t seem a pleasant friend.

Before her thoughts could get to her again the blond mare saw another group of potential customers approaching from the other side of the square. She put on the best fake smile she could muster and patiently waited for the ponies to come.

-«<♦>»- A few hours earlier -«<♦>»-

Dash slowly opened one eye, yawned, and saw the brilliant sun rays shining through her bedroom’s window, illuminating the whole room. Rainbow closed her eyes, momentarily blinded. She shifted in her bed for a while, looking for a comfortable position to continue her sleep, but despite her efforts, every position she tried wasn’t right. After a few good minutes of her vehement struggle she let out a groan and sat up on her bed. She didn’t have the energy to get up, neither did she want to stay in the bed.

Her eyes opened slowly, steadily accustoming to the light. When this was done, she scanned the room and laid her gaze on the clock. Her mind was still hazy so it took her a while to comprehend what it was showing. It was around 11:30. She realized that she didn’t have any plans for the day, again. The mare stretched, getting a few satisfying pops out of her body, took the quilt in her hooves and threw it to the floor, exposing her body to the colder air. This technique always helped the lazy Pegasus to get up from bed.

The faucet of her sink was turned off when the mare finished her morning washing routine. When she headed to the kitchen and opened the fridge, she noticed that there was hardly something edible there. After a short ponder she came to the conclusion that she will have to order something if she wanted a breakfast.

The colorful mare contemplated the idea of breakfast in general. She didn’t really feel hungry, despite her sleeping in late. Maybe due to her laziness or real lack of hunger, she decided that she will go on a morning flying session. The mare hoped that the flying, the thing she loved the most, will refresh her and make her hunger return.

The wind blew right through her mane as she opened her main door. In a similar fashion as a few days ago, she started running towards the edge of the cloud her house was placed upon. Her wings snapped open as she performed a marvellous jump. She glided on a very soft arc, flapping her wings only a few times. When she could nearly touch the roofs of the Ponyville houses, she flew back among the clouds. The clouds were dissipating when the cyan Pegasus flew right through them with a high velocity, the water vapour moisturizing her mane and coat.

Increasing amounts of adrenaline were coursing through her body as she tried to make as much clouds spin as she could. She circled them, one by one, each spinning faster than the other. On the fifth cloud, when the centrifugal force was too much to take, the Pegasus let herself shoot out of the loop, towards the sky. The sheer velocity made her mane whip furiously behind her, and the change of air pressure made her ears slightly ache before she managed to level it.

When the gravitational pull managed to overcome her previous velocity, the Pegasus glided to a nearby cloud. There were little clouds at this altitude, most of them too light and thin to even stand on.

I’m probably higher than even Cloudsdale The mare mused to herself. Her Pegasus sight let her see her house, now only a tiny speck, probably around hundreds of meters below her. When she looked up, she saw that the sky had adapted a shade of darker blue, than viewed from the ground. The pony felt that she almost could reach out with her hoof and touch the sun itself.

After a long moment of gazing into the cosmos, the thin air made it difficult for the Pegasus to breath, despite the fact that her lungs were well adapted to such environment. She stood up, walked to the edge of the cloud and dove headfirst into the air. It was going to be a long fall, and Dash knew it. She didn’t open her wings, instead she let her form plummet towards the ground with a breakneck speed. Her eyelids closed and her mind drifted in to peace, no longer troubled with anything, soothed by the feeling of free fall. The whistle of the air in her ears was getting gradually quieter and quieter, all the other senses seemed distant and irrelevant.

The Pegasus let herself stay in this state of pure bliss. Her voice of reason ordered her to open her eyes. When she did so she noticed that the ground was dangerously close, the once small houses were growing rapidly. Despite this, Dash didn’t let dread get to her. Her wings snapped open at a thought, immediately catching air. Instead of trying to fight the velocity, Dash used it to glide on a quite rough ark, barely missing the rooftops of Ponyville.

The cyan mare felt that she had enough flying for now, and headed home. When she arrived at the threshold of her cloud home, she entered inside.

Well, that was... nice The cyan Pegasus thought to herself. Always after a flight session was completed the mare felt fulfilled and happy. This always cleared all of her problems, swiped them from her mind like with a broom. It filled her heart and mind to the brim with content, it nearly made her explode. She really was born to do it.

This time, like always, she was satisfied by her performance. It was a extraordinary run, even for a pony with Dash’s caliber, and she was proud of herself. Despite of the satisfaction, something... was missing. She was happy and fulfilled, but not to her usual point. Dash noticed this the day after her first flight in months, though the satisfaction and content was great, it wasn’t as it used to be. Dash really couldn’t quite put her hoof on this.

The Pegasus discarded the thought, the hunger started to grow inside her body. She entered her bedroom and kicked the wall in a seemingly random place. Everypony had a special place where they hid their bits. Was it a chest, a safe, or even a sock thrown under a bed, everypony had one. For Dash it was a very small room, hid in her bedroom from the outside world with a cloud wall, exactly the same as any other in the house. Inside of this room there was a small enchanted chest. The enchantment let the chest stay afloat on the cloud without sinking through it and falling to the ground.

The chest had a simple password system, three rotating circles with numbers on them. The circles had to be rotated so the correct numbers were facing one of the three small arrows, painted next to each circle.

When the password was entered and the chest creaked open, the Pegasus gasped at what she saw inside the chest, or to be more exact, what she didn’t see. Bits; there were maybe ten bits left, scattered around the inside of the chest. She gathered all of them into a small heap at the center of the chest, and looked at them solemnly. This was her entire wealth. It was barely enough to order a pizza, not to mention paying the enormous taxes for a cloud home of this size.

It just right now dawned on her that she didn’t work for a few days now, instead she was recklessly spending her bits on food and entertainment.

I need to get my job as a weather pony back! She thought, not even slightly content about her decision, she had always loath to do work. She put her hoof to her stomach, it rumbled, clearly demanding food. She grabbed roughly half of her possession and headed to the kitchen, where she placed the bits on the table. She grabbed a piece of parchment and started scribbling her order...

-«<♦>»- An hour and a half later -«<♦>»-

The Pegasus laid on her side, her stomach significantly bigger. She shifted on the couch to be on her back. On the table near the couch laid a empty pizza box and a half full opened bottle of pop. After eating the pizza, the mare had a small nap.

Well, it’s time to get up She thought with a internal sigh. Her body rolled of the couch, falling to it’s hooves with a thump. Dash made her way to the door, exited the house and headed to the Weather Department.

Each city like Canterlot, Manehattan, Stalliongrad or village like Ponyville had it’s Weather Department. Its job was to have the weather under control, at all times. Each day there was a weather forecast for the day placed on a small board in front of the building. It also was the only place for a Pegasus to get a job in the weather team. Dash wasn’t even sure if they wanted to hire her again. Sure she was the best worker on the team, its captain to be exact, but she was ‘unstable’ as Lightning Bolt, the director of the Weather Department, had put it.

The colorful mare landed in front of the Department. It was a three story building, with a big sign saying ‘Weather Department’ with a picture of a happy Pegasus on it, just above the main entrance. The building was filled to the brim with Pegasus ponies, aside from the weather team itself there were a lot of other ponies working there. Amongst other things they were planning what weather would be the best for the whole village in the next days, after all, who had a better understanding of weather than Pegasi themselves?

Before entering, she heard a conversation with a vaguely familiar voice, somewhere to the right of her. It was too far to discern by the voice itself. When she turned her head, she saw a unicorn with a yellow coat, heading away from-

No... Not now! Rainbow Dash thought panicky as she saw nopony other than Applejack standing behind the counter of her apple stand. The whole stand was rotated, so it didn’t face the Pegasus directly, but was facing her nevertheless. Rainbow sped and hid behind the corner of the Department. She honestly hoped that the earth pony didn’t see her. After a few tense seconds Dash didn’t hear Applejack’s voice calling, so she guessed that the pony didn’t see her.

She couldn’t face the earth pony now. The incidents from few days ago were still too fresh in her mind. She just didn’t have the courage to talk to the mare. She was afraid that Applejack will be truly angry for what Dash did to her. The colorful pony regretted the course of their conversation from a few days ago. She should have carried out the conversation better, so it wouldn’t turn into a argument, like it did. Rainbow Dash really had faith that Applejack didn’t despise her, she didn’t want to lose a close friend, she didn’t want the situation to end like with Gilda. The Pegasus never really got over the loss of her closest friend from her fillyhood.

Dash stole a look from behind the corner. Applejack was busy selling apples to a group of three ponies, she didn’t notice Dash.

C’mon! Go to her. Tell her that you are sorry, and hope that she will forgive you! With this thought Dash turned the corner and looked towards the stand. She started walking with very hard steps, barely forcing her legs to move. When she done a few steps, fear overcame her and she sped right through the door to the Weather Department. She leaned against the wall next to the still swinging doors, panting heavily.

“Huh?” Applejack said under her breath as she looked towards the Department. She heard a noise that originated from there, but saw nopony. The door was still swinging, indicating recent use. She just assumed that somepony simply entered the Department and soon forgot about the whole thing,

Dash looked through the window that was next to the door that she just went through. Applejack was still busy with her customers, she still didn’t appear to notice the Pegasus.

Rainbow Didn’t know the reason why she feared confronting the mare she hurt so much. She was suspecting that that was because she was scared to loose a close friend.

But this is nonsense! I’m SURE that Applejack is not mad at me... She thought to herself, putting great emphasis on ‘sure’. But in the depths of her mind, she knew that she wasn’t so sure.

I’m... okay... with losing a marefriend, but not a friend! The lack of knowledge was eating her up. She didn’t even know if she was okay with losing a marefriend now. She couldn’t stand it for a lot longer.

A short “*Ahem*,” violently crashed the Pegasus’ train of thought, startling her. She turned her head to the origin, which turned out to be Merry May, standing behind the reception counter of the Department. “How can I help you?” She asked quizzically. Behind the mare a few clocks hung, showing the time around the vast lands of the world. The interior was fairly simplistic. There was a water dispenser and a few chairs aligned to the right wall. The left one had potted fern in the corner and a door leading to a room for personnel only, probably leading behind the counter. Next to the counter a door leading to the stair case was placed. The floor was carpeted with a red carpet that covered the whole floor.

“Heh...” Dash let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her hoof with the other, looking at the ground. When the silence got a little awkward, Dash rose her sight to meet Merry.

“Umm, hello. I came to work as a weather pony, like I did a few months ago. I was the team’s captain,” Dash responded immediately getting to the point. She was still a little shaken.

“Hmmm, you was? I think that I remember... If that’s true then please head to the last floor to see the director of the Department, Lightning Bolt.” She paused, “But if she doesn’t recognise you...” She let the sentence hang, leaving the rest to Dash’s imagination. “You don’t start to imagine how many ponies try to get the job by lying, just to skip filling the easy application form. I let you in only because I think that I remember you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Dash responded sarcastically and rolled her eyes. She approached the door to the stair case and opened it. She got to the third floor without a problem. When she opened the door with a big ‘3’ emblazoning it, she got to a corridor, it’s floor the same red as in the reception.

There were a few doors on the corridor, but she remembered all too well where the door to Lightning’s office was. Not many ponies knew this but Dash and Lightning knew each other even before the two of them arrived to Ponyville. Bolt was Dash’s friend from her old flight school, not as close friend as Gilda was or any other Element bearer is now, but a friend nevertheless. Lightning Bolt was a snow white Pegasus with a light blue mane and sky eyes. While Dash dropped out from school, Bolt stayed in the class and graduated. They met, on accident, when Dash applied as a weather mare to the Department. It turned out that Bolt applied also, but instead from applying for the actual team like Dash did, she applied as one of the ponies that think of the weather. Both mares worked alongside for years, both reaching the top of the pyramid, Dash as the team’s captain and Lightning as the director.

Dash slowly opened the door, and saw a hoof-chair, facing the window, which was across from the door. The light from the window slightly silhouetted the chair, making it darker. The room was just how the rainbow mare has remembered it. The same red floor, a big desk in the middle and a hoof-chair behind it. One of the walls was completely covered with bookshelves containing countless binders of the Weather Archive. The other one had a potted fern in the corner and a simple painting of a beach hung on it. While Rainbow was taking in the sights the hoof-chair started to rotate slowly.

“Who the hay let you in you-” Lightning Bolt said, with the harshest voice she could muster. She always tried to be as much intimidating as she could, but everypony that knew her for longer than a day knew that she was soft. Not timid like Fluttershy, but soft. She couldn’t possibly hurt a fly. “Dash?!” She loudly said, standing up and placing her hooves on the desk, her face immediately brightening up.

“Yea! It’s me, in all my glory,” Dash responded with a laugh, she really was happy to see her old friend.

Bolt circled the desk and ran up to Dash for a hug. When they hugged the white mare asked, “What happened Dash? I didn’t see you for months!”

Rainbow’s face expression instantly fell. “Well, I got together with my close friend, Applejack. When I resigned from my job as a weather mare, it was because I moved to Sweet Apple Acres. She lives there, you know. You must have seen her.” She paused and sighed, “Well... now we kinda broke up with each other... so I decided to get my job back, I nearly ran out of bits...” She trailed off.

“Awww, I’m sad to hear that,” Bolt responded with a sincere pout. “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you mean by ‘kinda’?

“I don’t know!” Dash shouted and immediately regretted it. Bolt rapidly moved her head away, slightly startled. “Sorry, I’m sorry for that...” The colorful pony paused “We had a argument and she ran away with tears, a few days ago and I haven’t had the chance to talk to her since.” She lied. No matter how close friend Bolt was, she didn’t like other ponies poking their noses in other ponies’ relationships.

“Well, I think that you need to go and talk to her...” Lightning said, tilting her head to the side with a smile.

“Thanks, I’ll manage without your advice,” Rainbow responded louder and curter than intended, what startled the blue maned Pegasus yet again. “Sorry, I-I know what I am doing,” She added quieter this time. “I just want the job, that’s all.”

“Well OK then.” Bolt responded, making her way back behind her desk. “It won’t be easy but I will try to make you the captain of the team again. Cloudkicker took your former role and she is doing a good job so far.

After Lightning Bolt filled a few papers and Dash signed them, the application for the team’s captain was filled. Bolt put it in a envelope and put in on a small stack of envelopes that had to be sent to the Administration in Cloudsdale. Both mares hoped that Dash will be able to take her former role. When the application was completed Dash sat in front of the desk, across from Bolt, and they started talking. They reminisced on old times from the school, recalling various adventures they had in it, together or separate. The rainbow mare lost track of time, so when she felt that she sat there for long enough she decided to leave. She would come back here tomorrow anyway, to check if her application was accepted or denied.

When she was at the door she craned her neck to Lightning that was sitting behind her desk.

“I’m sorry. For earlier...”She said, regretting her previous outburst.

“It’s completely OK, I understand.” Bolt responded, reassuring her old friend.

“Thanks, see you tomorrow.” Rainbow responded and exited.

When she was exiting the building, she looked through the window of the reception room, to ensure that Applejack was no longer standing in front of the building. To Dash fortune, she already headed home. In fact it got significantly late. She spent more time conversing with her white friend than she thought. The sun was already setting behind the great mountains at the West.

Rainbow quickly made her way to her house. While flying she glanced towards the Sweet Apple Acres.

Maybe I really should go and talk to her... She thought with a sigh and shook her head in confusion.

When she finally made it to her house, she opened the door and headed straight to the bedroom. The day really exhausted her, to this point that the mare was slightly surprised. When she jumped to bed, she immediately fell asleep.

-«<♦>»-

Applejack was looking out of her window in her room. Seconds ago she spotted the familiar rainbow trail that her friend always was leaving when she flied. She observed as the tiny speck that was the love of her life headed towards her home. Applejack silently hoped that Dash suddenly would turn around and fly right through her room’s window, directly into her embrace. In her fantasy Rainbow Dash would say that she was very sorry and that she wanted them to be back together. They would kiss and fall asleep, tangled together, here on the farm in Applejack’s bed.

The farm pony sniffed, closed the window and walked away from it. She looked at her bed and imagined Rainbow laying on it, waiting for Applejack to join her. The farmer moved the quilt, laid on the bed, and closed her eyes. She let one last sigh and slowly fell asleep.

-«<♦>»-

A / N - Thanks for reading, don’t forget to rate and comment if you have any feedback. There was a longer break so you got a longer chapter as a reward for patience! ;D
Disclaimer - The ponies: Merry May, Lightning Bolt and Rude stallion (Comet tail) are not my OCs!