1.3: Farm Work and Motivation

The next day, Rainbow woke up in her cloud home. The events of yesterday were a blurry memory, mostly due to Rainbow still being half asleep. She lazily looked outside through the window, staring at the sunrise. Ponies always said they were beautiful,she thought. Then again, she didn't really care. It was bright, and interfering with her sleepy time. She slammed her head back into her cloud pillow face first, hoping to fall asleep again. She lay on the bed, staring into the darkness provided by the pillow.

"Darn it, didn't this just happen?" Rainbow said to herself as she rolled over in bed and stared up at her cloud ceiling, unable to sleep anymore..

She sighed and prepared. She turned her head to her wall. Next to a Wonderbolts poster, the schedule Twilight wrote up for he, or actually, the revised version. Twilight wound up rewriting it to not confuse Rainbow. Now, it only encompasses when she should start practising up to when she should stop.

Mondays to Wednesdays, starting at 9:00AM, arrive at Sweet Apple Acres. 9:10AM, commence the crate exercise again. 10:00AM, break. 10:15AM, commence the crate exercise again, this time using barrels; difference being the barrels contain apples, and are open top... of course they aren't real apples, just a set of fakes so real apples aren't wasted. 12:00PM, lunch. 1:00OM, Aerial Practice (with choice of nothing, with banner, with chute, or with weights), and that was it.

She could end the practice when she wanted but she had to do at least half an hour. All in all, it was short, sweet, to the point, while on Fridays and Saturdays, she had to practice the other necessities; tending to Applejack's Apple Cart in the Town Square, or applebucking, or even baking with Pinkie Pie and/or Applejack. Sundays and Thursdays were no practice days due to those being taken up by other things; weekly Weather Team meetings, or leaving to check on their crops at the contest grounds, or other things. Today was Wednesday, already up to her first day off tomorrow.

"Well... might as well start..." Rainbow said as she rolled out of her soft cloud bed, and quickly glanced at the mirror atop her dresser.

She had a frazzled mane to which she frowned at. She grabbed a brush off her dresser, and did a few brush strokes just so it looked more like 'Rainbow Dash' rather than 'Rainbow Dash struck by lightning.' She tossed the brush in what she thought was the general direction of her nightstand, and trotted out to her living room. The sun's rays coated her room, and now that she was fully awake, got why people said sunrises were beautiful. It gave her cloudy living room a golden colour, and it made Rainbow admire her room.

Just shortly after, her room dimmed as a rogue cloud blocked out the sun. Rainbow looked out of her windows, and saw that an armada of clouds swarmed the skies like a wave of bees... and Rainbow didn't like that. One of her self-imposed rules; if she sees a mess of clouds, she clears it. It was probably left over from the previous day, and this provided Rainbow with the perfect opportunity for a warm up. It was only 6:50 am and Rainbow was now ripped and raring to go. She ran over to her front door, grabbed her saddlebags off of the hooks, put them on, tightened them, opened the door, and took off after she closed it.

"It's on now, lingering rain clouds!"

[*][*][*]

Applejack cursed the skies as the clouds above floated carelessly. She stared for a few minutes before letting out a long sigh, and she just stared at the clouds. For a moment, Applejack grew envious. Clouds had no cares, no problems. They floated along, not choosing where they float, or where they eventually build up with other clouds... nor do they choose when a rainbow-maned cyan Pegasus blasts them to kingdom come.

"What in the hay, Rainbow is up this early? Mus' be som' sorta special occasion. Either that, or she jus' couldn' get back t' sleep," Applejack said as she trotted through the acres early morning, pulling a cart full of baskets as she set them out for the day's applebucking.

Above the acres, Rainbow sped around doing loops, spins, anything to add more pep to her daily routine.

"Always doing the acres first, not out of favouritism, but, well, they are up bright and early in a literal sense. I understand why, but it does help that nothing obscures the sun and stuff," Rainbow said to herself as she darted along, clearing the skies early.

Surely somepony would question her later on about doing her job early, it wasn't like her at all, and surely, she would go to bed early. She decided to ignore the thoughts as she focused on cloud clearing.

Around ten minutes later, the fleet of clouds had been reduced to one cloud, which Rainbow pushed out of the way. She positioned it directly above the acres and landed on it, lying down as she watched Applejack's pre-buck work. It wasn't chilly but it wasn't hot either. Actually, it's what some would call the perfect temperature for most things (unless you really like snow sports). Working, flying, messing around, Rainbow could see why someponies enjoy mornings.

"Maybe I should get up early from now on." She thought about it for a second. "Ha! Like that's ever gonna happen." She looked down to Applejack, frowning while the farmpony chipped away at dispersing baskets among the trees. "I bet she would love some help," Rainbow said to herself.

She hopped off of the cloud and air-bucked it, sending the mass of condensed water to oblivion before she soared down to where Applejack was pulling the cart and placing baskets. She slowed down coming in for a feather-light landing, the only noise being made was when her hooves touched the ground. Oddly graceful for Rainbow, but another self question pushed to the back of her mind. Applejack didn't seem to notice as she pulled the cart along through the acres. She stopped and stepped out of the harness for a second to place some baskets down, and when she did, she finally noticed Rainbow. She stopped moving as she stared for a few seconds, Rainbow allowing Applejack a few seconds to process an early-risen Rainbow Dash. She knew this was odd, especially due to the time and place.

"... howdy," Applejack said as she grabbed three baskets piled up and walked over to a set of trees.

"Oh, hey," Rainbow said nonchalantly, losing any planned greetings she had before. "So, um, early morning."

"Fer you, maybe. Heh, what brings y' out here this fine, early mornin'? Decided ta clean th' clouds early from now on?" Applejack said as she placed the baskets around the trees.

"No, nothing like that!" Rainbow said defensively. Applejack looked at her for a second before smirking. She realized that she got worked up over a simple question. "Err, no. I mean, I just woke up early and couldn't fall asleep again." She turned towards the sunrise. "Man, the sunrise actually does look kinda nice, though."

Applejack returned to the cart and grabbed a few more baskets. "Heh, well, ya get used t' it down here. Not so much that it loses its pep, of course," she said as she trotted over to more trees.

"Heh, yeah," Rainbow said, at a loss for words.

A short silence followed, prompting Rainbow to kick at the ground from the awkwardness of it all.

"Um, would you like some help, Applejack?" Rainbow finally asked.

Applejack seemed taken aback slightly by the offer, but she didn't turn it down. "Well shoot, feel free Rainbow. Jus' take a few baskets and set them around some trees. How many, y' be the judge based on th' apples hangin'," she said as she returned to the cart.

Rainbow smiled, happily obliging. This could be considered practice, but if Twilight were to find out, surely this would be tacked on to my already busy schedule,she thought. She gave it no more thought as she flew forward, caught up with the cart, and was about to grab some baskets.

"Hey, you don't mind if I use my wings, right?" Rainbow asked, wondering if it took some of the luster away from Earth Pony hardwork.

"Not at all. This ain't no competition," Applejack said as she stopped the cart and stepped out of the harness.

Rainbow and Applejack spent the next thirty minutes grabbing baskets and placing them around trees. Rainbow didn't notice but after a while, they covered a good portion of land before running out of baskets, not to mention Rainbow never got bored or tired once during the work. Tired could be easily explained due to her stamina, but bored? That remained a mystery to her.

"Well, that's enough fer today. In about an hour, after th' other chores 're done, we'd usually start bucking," Applejack said.

Rainbow sighed. This actually somewhat pleasant time with Applejack was ending. Pleasant? Yeah, I guess that's why I never got bored. Maybe I can wiggle out some hangin' time from Applejack. Always nice to hang with friends,she thought. She looked up to Applejack.

"I'd offer to help buck, but, ya know," Rainbow said as she let loose a small chuckle.

Applejack smirked at Rainbow. "Too lazy? Ah knew that," she said as she cracked a smile.

Rainbow cocked her head. "What? No! I mean, maybe, but I have practice," she said as she trailed off. Applejack chuckled again as Rainbow hung her head.

"Ah understan', just messin' with ya," Applejack said as she turned to return to the barn to drop off the cart.

Rainbow motioned to follow, but stopped. She stopped flying and landed, deciding to walk. She approached Applejack.

"So, want some help with your chores until I have to leave? Still quite a ways away from nine," Rainbow offered, trailing off near the end.

Applejack was even more surprised by this offer. "Are ya feelin' well, Rainbow? 'cause you offered to help me twice," she said as she eyed Rainbow suspiciously. "Or is this sum kinda plot t' suck up f' somethin'?"

Rainbow did a quick gasp before taking a proud stance. "What! No, nothing like that! I just thought maybe you could use some help since I have nothing to do and I can be the one to offer that help with the things that you do even if you are used to doing it and... stuff..." Rainbow said, once more trailing off. Rainbow coughed, averting her gaze temporarily. "Point still stands, you're working, why not kill time helping you until I have to leave?"

Applejack had a look of surprise on her face which was quickly replaced with a warm smile.

"Well, that's swell. Ah 'spose ya can. Thank ya kindly sugarcube," Applejack said.

Rainbow let out a sigh of relief. She was quite happy. Happy that she decided to do labour until she was supposed to actually be doing something. Probably for the hundredth time this week, she ignored the thought. It had starting to become a daily occurrence.

[*][*][*]

She examined her body. Covered with mud, hay, and feathers. One could mistake her for somepony whom was tarred and feathered out of town. She turned around to marvel at the work she just completed. If it weren't for her, the work wouldn't have had to be done. Earlier, she wasn't paying attention as she carried a bucket of slop for the pigs to eat. She wound up losing balance, and had fallen onto a fence. Said fence decided that the weight of a Pegasus was the cutoff line, and broke, releasing a horde of pigs. Thankfully, they never got into the orchards but the chickens can't be too happy about the damage to their specified area. After a few minutes, Big Macintosh came in and was forced to help round up the pigs which Applejack was able to do, but Rainbow only managed to snag one pig, with a lasso she made, only to be dragged around, being swung around like a flail into hay, mud, and other various things.

"I'm gonna need one heck of a shower," Rainbow said.

"Well, maybe next time, y'all will pay attention," Applejack said as she chuckled.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were walking to a nearby lake to wash off, Applejack only requiring a quick rinse.

"Not my fault the slop looked like... ugh." Rainbow facehoofed, trying to forget the events of the past ten minutes. "Huhn, I probably need to start practising soon," Rainbow thought as she started trotting a little faster to the lake.

"Well, good luck 'n stuff. Can't imagine how much pegasi need t' practice for, well, things," Applejack said, speeding up too to keep up with Rainbow.

"It's actually harder than it lo—err, I mean, it's easy, peasy," Rainbow said, avoiding the subject of any imperfections Rainbow could make while flying. She began a jog to avoid the conversation.

"Aheh, well it can't be all that hard f' someone like you," Applejack said, doing her best to suppress her sarcasm while matching the speed of Rainbow's jog.

"Totally easy, but not as easy as this grunt work you do," Rainbow said as she began a gallop towards the lake.

"That a challenge?" Applejack and Rainbow were fully racing now.

"Maybe it is."

"Take it y'all will be applebucking with me from now on?"

"You're o—"

The two ponies were unable to finish the sentence as the ground beneath them vanished as they tumbled into the lake, landing on top of each other in the water. The water turned brown as the mud washed off, along with the feathers and hay Rainbow was coated with. Applejack was laying under Rainbow, stetson floating away slowly.

"I do recall somepony losin' her concentration jus' a few minutes ago," Applejack chuckled as she stood up, pushing Rainbow off as she waded over to her hat.

"Pft, I told you," Rainbow said, spitting out some water as she turned to look at Applejack. "I didn't lose my concentration. It just made me nauseous. Yeah." She looked over at Applejack, whom turned to look back at her, stetson now resting atop her head again. Her wet coat, mane and tail dripping into the shallow water. It reminded Rainbow of where they were.

"There a difference between losin' concentration and you bein' 'nausious?'" Applejack laughed as Rainbow stood up, stepped out, and shook herself dry.

"Totally. Twilight knows this, I think," Rainbow said.

"Heh, well alright then," Applejack said as she stepped out and placed her stetson on the ground as she shook herself dry.

"Well..." Rainbow looked back towards Sweet Apple Acres. "Race ya back?"

[*][*][*]

Rainbow redid the crate exercise the next day, this time faster than before since she knew the strength of her harness. Rarity constantly teased Rainbow about the uniform as she took pictures. Rainbow soared through the skies, trying to find a path of flying best suited to carrying crates. She never knew what was in these crates. Not apples, she knew that much.

Twilight was constantly watching and observing Rainbow, taking notes as she studied her flight pattern, how exhausted she looked, and other things. Spike was there as he was taking notes as an audience member. He wrote one word: "good," and the rest of the time, he just watched Rainbow and drew doodles of various things. Twilight was writing every little detail about Rainbow down to the positioning of her feathers while she flew.

"Only twice, and Rainbow is already used to it," Rarity exclaimed as she abused the snap button on the camera. "Just look at her physique, her style, her... Ooh, how marvellous!"

"Uh huh," was Twilight's reply.

"And how swiftly she drops off a crate and picks a new one up." She snapped another picture.

"Uh huh."

"And sweet Celestia, her landings and takeoffs have such finesse!" Snap goes the camera.

"Uh huh."

"Ooh, at this rate, she'll be done before the schedule says so."

"Uh hu—" Twilight diverted her gaze from her parchment to Rarity. "She's not sticking to the schedule!" Twilight shouted at Rarity.

"Good heavens, it's nothing to get worked up. She'll just have more time to rest—"

"But too much time means she'll be too relaxed, and then she won't want to practice anymore!"

"But Twilight, dear—"

"AND APPLEJACK WON'T WIN BECAUSE THE ADVERTISEMENT WI—" Spike nudged Twilight in the side with his quill. She turned her head, quickly staring at Spike, face inches away from his.

"Twi, chill. If Rainbow wasn't dedicated, she probably wouldn't be practising right now," Spike said with an annoyed gaze.

Twilight looked directly ahead. She let out a long sigh. "You're right. I'll just have to make a new schedule to take this extra break time into account," she said as she went back to recording Rainbow's stats.

Spike and Rarity both sighed at the same time, looked at each other at the same time due to the synchronization, both smirked, and went back to doing what they were doing before... at the same time. Meanwhile, in the air...

Alright... I have to do this in record time. For advertisement, for my friends, for Sweet Apple Acres, for Applejack! Especially for Applejack. Can't look weak in front of my rival,she thought as she landed and undid the clips on the crate. She took off back to the other side of the field, landing with such grace that she heard a squeal from Rarity in the distance. I better win this competition. Free advertising means I'll be plastered all over the place. The Wonderbolts will be seeing me all the time. The next crate was clipped on, and took off again, making sure to not make it too rough or too light to maximize speed.

"Whatev's," Rainbow growled as she landed and undid the clips.

She mindlessly continued the exercise, effortlessly doing it this time. It was another few minutes before she completed the exercise, and Rarity had taken what seemed to be thousands of pictures. Twilight made a 30 page analysis of Rainbow's flying, and Spike completed a small comic book he was drawing.

"Aha, the photos are perfect for the campaign!"

"My analysis is complete!"

"King Leonheart slayed the Jabberwocky!"

Rarity and Twilight looked at Spike, both parties frownsing. "Err, I mean, Rainbow was excellent," Spike said, chuckling as he hid the notebook behind him. Twilight sighed and Rarity chuckled. Rainbow trotted up to them unnoticed.

"So~, howwassit!" Rainbow asked excitedly. Twilight looked at her notebook.

"Well—"

"GREAT! I knew it," Rainbow said before she took off into the skies once more. She did a few laps of the field before landing near them yet again.

"Photos? How were they? Are they as cool as I am?" Rainbow asked, still full of excitement. Rarity looked at the photos.

"Well dear—"

"Ha! Glad you got my cool side," Rainbow said as she trotted over to Spike. Spike grimaced as he knew what was going to happen.

"A~nd any notes?" Rainbow asked as she took the notebook from Spike.

"Hey, wai—" Spike attempted to say before Rainbow read the cover.

"'King Leonheart the Legendary Dragon'?" Rainbow asked in confusion.

Awkward silence followed as the three ponies stared at Spike. Twilight shot a look at Spike, her typical unamused stare. Spike sheepishly grinned, and attempted to find the right words.

"Hey, at least I wrote 'good' down?" Spike said as he put on a hopeful smile.

Twilight sighed, Rarity giggled, and Rainbow let out a laugh. Spike turned away in disappointment, and kicked at the ground.

"Don't worry about it. I just know I'm going to be amazing. Don't sweat it Spike," Rainbow said as she took a proud stance.

"Spike, you're hopeless," Twilight said playfully to which Spike shrugged.

Twilight put her notebooks in her saddlebags and levitated them onto her back. Rarity packed up the camera and showed the photos of Rainbow flying to Spike and the pegasus herself.

"Impressive shots, nice angle, I can give this the official 'Rainbow Seal of Approval,'" Rainbow said with gusto.

Spike packed up his notebook in the only way he could, by closing it and tucking it under his arm. Not much packing there. Rainbow merely walked over to a box that was perched up against a tree and removed the harness on her and set it in. She placed the top on the box and she turned back to the others.

"Alright, time to go train with Fluttershy!"