Chapter 91

“Nah, just wiggle the wheel back and forth a bit.”

Applejack sat on the seat of her truck, keeping her feet on the ground as she gripped the steering wheel and turned it back and forth.

I got down on my hands and knees to look under the front of the truck and observe the steering linkage. “Wow.”

Applejack stopped what she was doing so she could hear me. “Huh?”

I stood up, shaking my head. “Drag link's falling out and both tie rods are fucked.”

“Dang,” she grumbled, slamming the driver’s door shut and shaking her head. “Eh...I s’pose it could always be worse though, right?” she reasoned, after a short pause.

“Well we’ve still gotta finish checking it,” I said, making her look at me with a bit of worry. I pointed to the driver's front wheel. “We still gotta jack it up and check the ball joints.”

“Ugh,” she rolled her eyes. “Well, hopefully they’ll be alright; I don’t wanna sink too much money inta this old pig.” She paused when she noticed that I was looking at her. “So…you got a jack here or what?”

“Yup.”

She stood still for a moment, confused, waiting for me to elaborate. “Alright, so...where is it?” she shrugged.

“I’m looking at it.”

Applejack furrowed her brows for a second, then looked down at herself, realising what I meant. “Ah…dang.”

I let out a quiet chuckle as I watched AJ take her hat off and toss it onto the hood. “Yup, it’s an Apple-jack,” I joked.

“Yeah yeah,” she grunted as she got down on her hands and knees and crawled under the driver’s side of the truck.

I shimmied under the front bumper and tapped the front axle with my hand. “Lift ‘er here, AJ, would you please?” I instructed.

“Gotcha.” Lying on her back, she placed her hand on the heavy, cast-iron beam and pushed. With a grunt, the farm girl hoisted the truck from the ground, earning a deep groan from the old iron as it creaked its way into the air.

“Ok…” I sighed, scrutinizing the front-end components like a doctor checks his patient. After grabbing the wheel and jiggling it back and forth, up and down and taking a peek at the brakes, I instructed Applejack to set the truck down. We then turned over and repeated the process on the other side.

“Well?” she grunted as she let the wheel come to rest on the ground and then dusted her hands off.

“All four ball joints are about to fall out.”

“Fuck!” she winced, letting her head rest on the ground, rubbing her eyelids.

“How does this thing stop?” I asked, laying on my side to look past the axle at her.

“Not great. Why?”

“Your brakes are gone too.”

She sighed, looking down at the gravel beneath her.

“Well it could be worse,” I said, pointing up into the old machine. ”Your steering box is OK and the shaft is good, springs and shocks look...OK; uh, there’s no major oil leaks anywhere, and the tires…” I paused to look at them. “Well, they have tread on them, but they’re chopped to shit cuz you’ve got all these loose parts up here. I bet they hum pretty loud going down the road, eh?”

“Yeah…it’s pretty noisy,” she grumbled. “Fuck sakes! What’s all this is gonna cost me, d’ya think?”

“Let’s find out.” I reached under the truck towards Applejack, hand open. “You mind if I borrow your phone?”

She glanced at me for a second with those bright, emerald eyes. “Sure,” she mumbled after a pause, looking down at herself to fish her phone from her pocket. “Here ya go,” she said, handing it to me.

I turned the phone on and dialed the parts supplier, then held it to my ear. Lying on my back, I listened to it ring, idly running my fingers through my hair while Applejack laid on her side, watching me from behind the front axle.

Finally, an answer. “Hey Al,” I said, pausing. “Yeah, I know…long time, no see.” Another pause. “Oh, yeah I was away on extended vacation. Places to go, people to see; you know the drill. So listen: ’78 F-250; I’m looking for all four ball joints, both tie rods and both ends of the drag link, both adjuster sleeves, and front brake pads, rotors and calipers.” A pause, then I nodded. “'78. Yes, I’m serious.”

I sighed, waiting on the line as Al looked up the parts on the computer. Applejack laid in silence, chewing her lip as she waited for the bad news.

“OK,” I finally said, with a nod. “For all of it?...OK, hang on.” I set the phone on my chest and turned to AJ. “Six-fifty for everything, taxes in.”

Sticker-shocked, her eyebrows went up in disgust. “Six-fifty!? God dang it!”

“Well, I don't know what to tell you, AJ; you’re either gonna have to fix it or park it because it’s not safe to drive like this.”

She let her head rest on her shoulder, rolling her eyes. “Fine. How long till we can get the parts?”

I put the phone to my ear. “Hey. How long to order that stuff in?” I paused briefly, then my eyebrows rose suddenly. “Seriously? No shit! All of it?" I paused for a second, before letting out a small chuckle. "Haha! Yeah, I bet they’re dusty. Hang on a sec.”

I set the phone on my chest again, facing AJ. “They have everything in stock. We could go get it right now and then go to my shop to put it in. I bet you we could probably have it all done by this afternoon.”

“This afternoon?” Applejack repeated. “I dunno, I wasn’t really plannin on doin all this today; plus, that’s a lotta money ta spend on such short notice.”

“AJ…if you were paying retail plus labour, it’d be well over two-grand to get this work done.”

“WHUT!?”

“Yeah. You’re paying my cost on the parts, and I’m not gonna charge you labour—obviously—and we can get it done today and be back in time for supper.”

“Hold up, are you sure about that? Ain’t this gonna be a piss-load a' work?”

“Not for me, it’s not. It’ll be a breeze. I say go for it. It’s a good deal, AJ.”

She paused for a spell, studying the gravel beneath her. After considering it for a moment, she looked at me again with an enthusiastic grin. “Alright then, fine. Giddy-up, partner; let’s git 'er done!”

“OK,” I replied, returning the phone to my ear. “Al? We’ll be there in about forty-five minutes…Yup. Thanks.”

After ending the call, I handed the blonde her phone. “Let’s go.”

We crawled out from under the truck and headed inside for a moment to tell Rarity and Fluttershy what we were doing, to which they were fairly indifferent; apparently they had no real plans for me around the house that day other than dinner, which Rarity informed us was at 4:00pm sharp, and that we were NOT to be late!

*****

I let Applejack follow me to my shop in her truck, where she parked and then joined me in my truck to drive to the parts store.

It was slightly awkward at first. Applejack and I hadn’t spent very much time alone together; certainly not for this long.

“So…” I said, seeing if I could get the ball rolling.

“So…?” she replied, glancing over at me, adjusting her hat.

Admittedly, it was a bit of a struggle to think of something to talk about. “Uh…have you heard from Pinks at all this week?”

She drew a breath and shook her head before replying. “Nah…didn’t hear from ‘er.”

“Hm.” I returned my eyes to the road. “Do you think she got along with her sisters this week?”

Applejack shrugged. “Who knows. They’re a strange bunch, them Pies. I used ta go over there all the time fer movie nights with Pinkie Pie, but lately, her family’s been gettin weird and overbearin and I honestly don’t much care fer goin over there anymore.”

“How long has this been going on for?” I asked.

“Eh, pretty much since she moved back home,” AJ replied. “It’s been on a steady incline ever since, but it got real bad just in the last month, what with Fluttershy bein gone and all.”

I glanced over at her with an arched brow. “Really?”

“Ah yeah. From what I heard, she had this rip-roarin fight with her sisters just before Thanksgivin, and she started stayin at Fluttershy’s house pretty much all the time after that.” Applejack chuckled and gave her head a little shake. “Every time I went over there ta cut the grass, Pinkie Pie was in the house, watchin TV er somethin.”

“What were they fighting about?”

“Ah who knows. Limestone is such a territorial bitch ‘bout everythin, and Maud has been….just…I dunno. Though, I don’t know if that was really the problem, ta be honest with ya.”

“What do you mean? You think Pinkie is the problem?” I asked, glancing at her.

“Well…maybe. I mean, Maud ain’t been right lately either.” Applejack shook her head. “Them girls all need ta git their own place and move the fuck out. I know their dad likes havin ‘em all under one roof and all—I mean, really, he’s just havin a hard time lettin ‘em go, which is sweet an’ all— but it ain’t doin ‘em any good bein cooped up at home like that. Much longer, and they’ll be at each other’s dang throats tryin ta strangle each other ta death.”

“Hm.” I sighed, chewing my lip for a moment. “But…wait, what were you saying about Fluttershy being gone? Like…you think that made it worse?”

“Yeah, I think so.” AJ nodded. “Like I said, Pinkie Pie was stayin at Fluttershy’s most of the time. I think Fluttershy bein gone really bothered her —I mean, it bothered all a’ us— but Pinkie seemed like she was out of it a lot if the time, even though Rainbow didn’t think so.”

“Rainbow?”

“Aw,” Applejack waved dismissively. “Rainbow Dash was insistin that Pinkie was fine cuz she was still actin like her usual nut-job self, but I know Pinkie better than that. And ta tell ya the truth, Rainbow ain’t been right lately either.”

“Oh?”

AJ shook her head. “Nah, I just been noticin somethin off about her lately too; probably just cuz a’ Fluttersy bein gone. I dunno.” She paused to yawn, finishing her sentiment in loud, open-mouthed words. “I’m sure she’ll be fine now that Fluttershy’s back though. Everythin‘ll probably start gettin back ta business as usual b’fore long.”

I nodded. “So what about Pinks? You said she didn’t seem right?”

“Ah yeah…Pinkie’s…I dunno. She’s a tough one ta read; when somethin’s botherin her, she hides it behind that big smile and all that crazy bullshit, and it takes someone who’s known her fer a long time ta see through it.” Applejack paused to shift her position in the seat. “Pinkie’s a lot like Maud in that way: see, they both hide everything they’re thinkin and feelin behind their personalities. It’s just that they act so different; like, Maud’s basically got the personality of fuckin roadkill, and Pinkie’s just a gigglin shit-fest,” —she paused to glance at me, smirking— “although...I mean, I guess ya already knew that, didn’t ya?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

Applejack shook her head and looked down at her lap. “I know they seem like polar opposites, but Pinkie and Maud are a lot more similar than ya think, and I really think that Fluttershy being gone brought out all the problems Pinkie’s being havin with her family lately.”

“Hm,” I mumbled, focusing on something through the windshield. “Hey,” I said, pointing to the bent guard rail as we approached the curve. “This is where it happened.”

Applejack glanced at me with wide eyes, then her face drained of its colour when she saw the damaged rail. “What, Fluttershy?”

“Yup, she killed six men here,” I explained. “Look,” —I pointed into the woods— “the trees are still broken from where the truck flipped over.”

AJ shook her head. “Dang,” she said. Then she frowned. “Hey Golds? I don’t get it; how did she lose ta them guys? She’s so tough now, and bein out here in the woods, she shoulda had all the help in the world. Whaddaya think happened?”

I sighed, turning the wheel slightly to round the bend, watching as the scene of the crime shrunk into obscurity in the rear-view mirror. “Well, let’s just say she learned a valuable lesson that day—two actually; one:” —I raised a finger— “if you have an arsenal at your disposal, use it.” —I raised a second finger— “And two: always go with your first instinct.”

“First instinct?”

“Well, she had the chance to escape into the woods,” I explained, “but she changed her mind and came back to finish them off. She almost did it, too; Cody was the only one left, but once he got those cuffs on her, it was all over.”

“Hm.” Applejack nodded and then sighed, staring through the windshield, deep in thought.

Indeed, the conversation had put us both into a spell of silent rumination, and for the rest of the trip to the parts store, we thought about the shy girl’s recent plight, listening to the endless chatter of the heavy diesel as it hammered away under the hood.

*****

Eventually, we made it to the parts store, picked everything up, paid, loaded it into the back of the truck and began the trip back to my shop.

It was quiet in the cab for the first fifteen minutes or so; if I didn’t know better, I would have thought that Applejack enjoyed the sound of a diesel as much as I did.

Eventually, however, the farm girl broke the silence with loud and rather unladylike yawn.

I glanced over at her, secretly pondering what it must feel like to be tired. “Hey, am I keeping you awake over there?”

She finished and closed her mouth quickly, then looked at me somewhat sheepishly.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her response. “You’re like a fuckin hippopotamus today; did you not get enough sleep last night?”

“Uh,” she looked down at her hands, studying the calluses on her palms. “I…actually didn’t sleep much all week.”

“Oh? Howcome?”

She sighed, chewing her lip with an obvious reluctance to answer.

“Something bothering you?”

She drew a breath to speak. “Kinda…well, I mean, yeah. I s’pose.”

I glanced back and forth from her to the road, waiting to see if she was going to continue. When she didn’t, I shrugged somewhat impatiently. “OK...so what is it?”

With a sigh, she turned away from me to look out of her window. “Somethin Fluttershy said last weekend…when we was talkin ‘bout her bein captured.”

I watched her, but remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

“Um,” she paused again, then turned to look at me, “when she was talkin ‘bout them tests. It uh…it bothered me a lot.”

I nodded. “Oh…yeah, some of that stuff was pretty fucked up.”

“It was the fire,” she blurted out quite suddenly, making me look over at her. “That one bothered me the most,” she continued, closing her eyes.

“What about it bothered you?”

Applejack re-opened her eyes and stared through the windshield. “Well…I mean…what if she weren’t immune ta it?”

“Ahh,” I nodded, realising what she was getting at.

“I just,” she paused to shake her head, huffing out a tense breath, “I can’t get it outta my head; Fluttershy, alone in there, scared outta her britches…what if they hit her with that fire and she didn’t survive it? What if she got…burned alive?” She closed her eyes again and swallowed, trying to shut the horrific scene out of her mind. “I can’t, I mean…she’s always been such a nice girl, a pretty girl, y’know? And...I just can’t get that dang image outta my mind of…you know, her bein engulfed in flames, screamin, her hair burnin off, her skin…just…”

I sighed, looking over at Applejack as she trailed off, staring into the distance. “It probably doesn’t help that you’re thinking about it so vividly, but I get where you’re coming from.”

“I-I know,” she said, looking back at me.

We drove in silence for a few minutes. Eventually, something came into my mind and I looked over at the blonde again. “Hey, is that why you were all spaced-out on the couch last week? When you went to go get a fritter from the table?”

She chewed her lip for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah.”

“Hm,” I said, looking ahead again. “Sunny and I thought something was up; you really didn’t seem quite right for a bit there.”

“Nah, it...it bothered me somethin fierce; I hardly slept a wink all week b‘cuz of it,” she replied.

“Hey…” I reached over and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’re immune to everything. Trust me.”

“Yeah…I know.” She sighed. “I just couldn’t help but think it. I still just…I can’t believe Fluttershy had ta go through all that.”

“Well hey,” I shrugged, “what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, right? And Flutters, she definitely came out of it a stronger person.”

*****

After returning to my shop, we carried the parts inside and brought Applejack’s old Ford into the bay, lifted it on the hoist, and went to work fixing up the front-end.

The conversations continued to become more interesting as the day went on.

“Y’ know…” she was saying as she worked at ratcheting the brake caliper bolt out, “I been thinkin a lot lately, what with all this nonsense goin on with Fluttershy: could the same thing happen ta any of us?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, before whacking the pitman arm with a hammer to knock the drag link out of its taper.

“Like, if they find out more of us have powers er whatever, d’ya think they’ll come fer us too?”

“Um…no.” I shook my head, studying the nuts on the tie rod ends; this was a rusty old truck, and I could tell it wasn’t going to come apart without a fight. “Mainly because the organisation that took Fluttershy is pretty much defunct, at least for the time being. Plus, Sunny threatened the owner pretty hard if they ever came sniffing around here again.” I paused to let out a chuckle and then I shook my head. “She uh…she sure can have a mean streak about her, eh?”

Applejack replied with a chuckle of her own, glancing away from what she was doing. “Who, Sunset? Heh! You don’t know the half a’ it; you shoulda seen her when she first came ta CHS. I don’t think I ever seen such a rotten cunt in all my life!”

“So I’ve heard,” I replied, finding myself thinking about Sunset’s cunt. “But anyway, I don’t think we’ll be seeing too much of them anymore, and apparently the CIA isn’t really interested in us either, so I think we’re in the clear for now, at least. Plus, Sunny read a few of those guys who attacked us in the desert and she picked up quite a bit of info from them, so she’ll know what to expect if they try anything.”

“Well that’s good, I s’pose,” she said, sliding the caliper off the rotor to set it aside. “Still…” she continued, ”I been thinkin a lot about, like, what I would do if some a’ them showed up at the farm. What would I do? What about my family? Big Mac, Cherilee, Apple Bloom, Granny…would I be able ta protect them?”

“Well, that’s a tough question,” I replied. “You do have super strength, which is good, but can you fight? Do you have good tactical awareness?”

Applejack shook her head. “Not really. I mean, I’ve always been pretty tough…and yeah, I got my strength, but what if they have guns? My strength don’t mean shit if they can just shoot my ass from across the room.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled as I spun one of the tie rod nuts off with the impact gun. “You’d be kind of fucked if they were armed, which they most likely would be if they’re with the organisation.”

“Well, ya see? I’d be screwed,” she replied. “And I wouldn’t be able ta protect mah family properly…I mean, unless I was like you.”

Her statement caught me by surprise, given the insinuation it carried. We stared at each other for a moment, feeling the awkwardness created in the wake of her revelation. Finally, her freckled cheeks began to flush slightly, and she quickly turned away.

“So, uh…would ya happen ta have one a’ them fancy axle-nut sockets fer this thing? I gotta get off…er, get the rotor off, I mean,” she corrected, huffing with embarrassment.

“Uh, yeah…sorry, I do…somewhere,” I stammered, trying to sound casual as I set the impact gun on the floor. “I’ll have to take a look around for it; it’s been quite a while since I’ve worked on an old rig like this.”

“No doubt,” she chuckled, resting a forearm on the steering knuckle as she adjusted her hat with the other. Then she cleared her throat, waiting for me to return.

I rummaged around in the old tool boxes along the rear wall, searching for the special socket needed to remove the eight-toothed nut. “So, AJ?” I called across the shop.

“Eeyup?”

“I thought you didn’t want to...you know, make the change...cuz of your family?”

“Ah…yeah, well…yeah, that’s right,” she replied. “I-I wasn’t bein serious, that was just a…like a hypothesis, er whutever.”

“Hypothesis?”

“Y’know…like a ‘what if’ type a’ thing.”

“Oh,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “You mean hypothetical.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Hm. Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said as I finally spied the tool I was searching for. I plucked it from the drawer, moving it from its long-time resting place amongst the pile of other obsolete tools that I thought I’d never use again, then I headed back to the truck, where Applejack was waiting.

“Yeah, I just don’t know if I can do it,” she continued, clearing her throat. “Like, me stayin alive and young while mah brother and sister get old and wither away; I dunno how I’d deal with that, gettin left behind by myself.”

I approached Applejack from the side as I listened, holding the socket out to her. “Here. I’m pretty sure this is the Ford one.”

“Thanks, sugarcube,” she replied, taking the socket and trying it on the nut. “Yep, that’s the one,” she nodded. “Anyway, like I was sayin: I know I’d have the other girls —and you— ta hang around with, but mah family means a lot ta me, too. I just can’t imagine my life without ‘em.”

I nodded, leaning with my shoulder against the bumper, watching the blonde twist the axle nut off with ease. “Um…listen, AJ; I wanna tell you something,” I said, raising a hand when she glanced at me. ”Now, I’m not trying to convince you to do anything, or talk you into something you’re not sure of, I just think there’s some things you need to consider.”

“What kinda things?”

I cleared my throat and stuffed my hands in my pockets. “OK well...you talk about your family getting old and dying, and how you’ll be alone after they’re gone; but there’s something you’re not thinking about.”

“Oh? And that is?”

“Well, someday, your brother and his wife are probably gonna have a little one…right?”

AJ’s eyes went to the ceiling for a second, then she nodded. “Yeah, I guess.”

“And...Apple Bloom’s gonna meet someone and they’ll settle down and have kids at some point too.”

“Uh-huh,” she nodded again, yawning through her response.

I watched her for a moment, letting my eyebrows rise as I waited for her to pick up on what I was saying. “AJ…” I finally said, “you’ll have them.”

She paused for a moment, her eyes darting around as she thought to herself.

“Think about it,” I continued. “You’ll have them, and one day, they’ll have children of their own, who will one day have children of their own. You see what I’m saying?”

Applejack’s eyes widened slightly when the wheels in her head began to turn, and the scope of what I was alluding to suddenly hit her. “Ya mean…I could know my descendants…well into the future?”

I nodded, smirking. “Generation after generation of Apples, and you could know them all. You’ll see what they become, how they evolve, what they’ll be like; and they’ll know you: their great, great, great, great, great Auntie AJ. You’ll be able to teach them the family history in amazing detail, cuz you’ll have been there for all of it, and they’ll love you for it.”

A smile began to grow on her chapped lips, one of euphoria and wonderment as she began to imagine the possibilities. “Wow…I could see what becomes a’ mah family? Where they’ll be and what they’ll be doin in four or five-hundred years?” She chuckled and shook her head in amazement. “That’s…I mean, that’s not somethin I ever even remotely thought about b’fore; it’s kinda amazin when ya stop and think about it. I always had a bit of a soft spot fer family history, but ta be a livin, breathin part of it? Now that sounds mighty nifty.”

I nodded in agreement. “It is. And you’ll still have a lifetime to spend with your brother and sister, just like you would normally, except you get to keep going and you’ll be able to meet each new generation as they come along.”

Her expression sank upon hearing the reminder of her siblings being gone. “Hm,” she sighed. “I still would miss Apple Bloom and Big Mac though. It’s too bad they can’t be turned too, but they ain’t got any magic.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled flatly, “you gotta have magic for it to work.”

“Well, you could always try it anyway, ya know?” she suggested, to my surprise. “Better try it on Big Mac first though, I don’t want you touchin mah little sister!”

“WOW AJ…just, wow.” I shook my head and pointed to a crack that jutted across the floor. “See that line there? You just crossed it; like, you went RIGHT over it.”

Applejack burst into a hearty chuckle as she reached for the line wrench that waited for her on the tool cart.

Smirking, I turned my attention back to the tie rods and we worked quietly.

Again, the blonde girl broke the silence before too long. “So…what about you? Do you know if ya have any descendents around somewhere?”

“No clue,” I replied, zipping off the other tie rod nut with the impact gun. “That’s going back a long ways; and I don’t even know how far back I really go, to be honest.”

“Hm, yeah that’s true,” AJ replied, “Fer all we know, you could go back ten, er even a hundred thousand years, right?”

“Well, I doubt it’s that far,” I replied, “I mean, the technology to create tools for cutting hair and shaving obviously existed, so I doubt I go back much farther than 2500.”

“Ah, yeah I s’pose. So ya never got ta see yer family exist through the generations, eh?”

“No.”

“Ah. Well, I just wondered, cuz a’ how you seemed to know what it’d be like with mine,” she explained.

“Oh…well,” I paused to yank the tie rod ends from the knuckles and then dropped the whole assembly on the floor. “I actually went through something like that with a Hungarian family; long time ago.”

“Oh? Not relatives though?”

“No, but I knew them for hundreds of years, and I had the honor of telling them over and over again about their ancestors from two, or even three hundred years earlier, and it was always fun to see their eyes light up when I would tell them about some of the things their great, great grandfathers or grandmothers did; how they lived, and so on.”

Applejack ducked her head to glance at me through the wheel well, intrigued by my story. “Heh! That’s pretty neat there, sugarcube. So, where is this family now? Are ya still in touch with them?”

I shook my head. “No, I uh…I lost track of them.”

“What? How’d that happen?” she asked, sounding disheartened.

“War. All the men in that one generation went off to fight and died, and all the women who were left over —widows, daughters— they eventually married and the name got swallowed up and disappeared. To be honest, I never really went back after that, and now it’d be a huge pain in the ass to figure out who their descendants are if I were to try and find them.”

“Aw shucks,” AJ shook her head, “that’s too bad.”

“Yeah.”

“That musta been a pretty special thing, eh?”

“Uh…yeah, I guess.” I nodded. “I had a special bond with that family because of that whole thing; something I’ve never really had since…well, until you girls came along. Although...this thing with you guys is a bit different, again.”

Applejack paused and smiled as I assembled the new linkage, readying it for install in the truck. “So…I take it they knew about ya bein…ya know…”

I drew a deep breath and paused for a moment. “Yeah…well, I never explicitly told them, but they pretty much figured out something was up when I would tell them I knew their great grandfathers and I still looked like this” —I gestured to myself— “and then, when they reached old age on their own and I still looked like this; yeah. They knew.”

“Heh, well isn’t that a- aw FUCK!”

I stopped to see what Applejack was doing, surprised by the outburst. “What? What’s the matter?”

She stood back and clicked her tongue, shaking her head. “I broke the brake line off.”

“Let’s see,” I said, calmly walking around to the wheel well to see for myself. She was right; the steel line had wrenched itself off when she tried to loosen the nut. “Yeah, the nut was seized to the line, so when you turned it, it twisted the line off.”

“Fuck,” she huffed, removing her hat to run her fingers through that matted, blonde hair in frustration. “Now what? We gotta go all the way back to the parts place? Are they even open still?”

“Nah,” I waved her off. “I have bulk line and a flaring kit here; we’ll just make up a new one. No big deal.”

“Ah…well that‘s good, I s’pose.”

I had started to make my way to the tool box to get the flaring kit, but then I stopped and turned to face her, brows furrowed. “Wait, do you still have to take the other side off?”

“Uh…yeah,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “How much ya wanna bet it’s gonna do the same thing?”

I raised an index finger. “Here; I’ll show you a trick.”

The blonde folded her arms and stepped over to the other side of the truck, which had yet to be disassembled, and she watched as I wheeled over the acetylene torch and then filled a tin can with water from the wash bin faucet.

“OK look,” I said, holding the torch head up and flicking the striker in front of the nozzle.

POP!

The torch burst into flame, and I quickly set the striker down to turn the knobs on the handle, adjusting them until the flame went from a fluttering orange to a hissing light-blue feather. “OK, you watching?” I said, prompting her to step closer. “Here’s what you do: get the line nut hot, until its glowing orange…” As I said this, I waved the intense, blue flame over the fastener, which began to glow a dull, reddish-orange in a few short moments. “Like that, but not too much, cuz you don’t wanna burn the line off.”

“OK,” AJ nodded, plopping her hat back on her head.

I shut the torch off and set it aside, then grabbed the tin can and dumped the cold water on the glowing nut, which created a hissing, spattering cloud of steam as it rapidly cooled the metal down. “There,” I said, handing her the line wrench. “Try it now.”

AJ stepped up, set the wrench on the nut and turned it loose with little effort. “Say!” she chuckled, glancing over at me. “That’s a pretty neat trick; I’ll have to show Big Mac that one.”

“Mm-hm,” I replied, winding the torch hose up and turning the tanks off. “It’s the quick change in temperature that does the trick: when you heat it up like that and then shock it with cold water, it expands and shrinks really fast and breaks all that rust loose, so then the nut spins free on the line and doesn’t twist it off.”

“Good ta know.”

I pointed at the line before she got too many turns on the nut. “Just tighten it back up for now so you don’t lose all your brake fluid; we’ll come back to it when you do this side.”

“Ah, good point, sugarcube,” she said, turning the wrench the other way.

After removing the other end of the broken brake line, I made my way over to the work bench to make a new one while Applejack began to install the new brake parts on the driver’s side. I had to admit, she was doing quite well working on her own vehicle, especially for someone who doesn’t fix cars for a living. Just another skill she picked up living the farm life, I suppose.

The added distance placed between us while I worked on flaring a new line inevitably caused us to remain silent for quite some time. I kept myself busy listening to my own thoughts during the hiatus, thinking about the Hungarian family I once knew, having been reminded of them for the first time in ages during the conversation with my rural-bound friend.

Eventually my thoughts returned to Applejack and the conversation itself, and I found myself wondering: “Was she seriously considering turning just then? How long has she been thinking about this?”

Then Applejack broke the silence.

“Ya know, i-it’s nothin personal, sugarcube.”

Confused, I furrowed my brows and turned to look at her, but her upper half was obscured by the hoist-levitated truck, allowing me to glimpse only her legs.

“Huh?”

“You know,” she replied. “The whole ‘becomin immortal like you’ thing…I know how it’s done, and that’s not why I didn’t wanna do it.”

“Oh…OK.” I said, turning back to my work. “That’s fine anyway; Dashie’s been pretty forthright about how she thinks I’m old and weird, so it really wouldn’t have bothered me if you did too.”

“Ugh! Sorry ‘bout her, Golds. I don’t know what her fuckin problem is with you; it’s not like yer a bad-lookin fella er anythin.”

The compliment made me smirk a little. I continued on with what I was doing, removing the line from the flaring tool to start on the other end. “Uh…she surprises me, actually…Dashie,” I said absentmindedly, “I would have thought she’d be all about making herself better, you know? Especially with her ankle being the way it is.”

“Ah, ya heard about that, eh?”

“Yeah, the girls told me about it the night we got back: about how she lost her scholarships and was really depressed after high school, living with Pinks and Scratchie in that house.”

Applejack sighed. “Yeah…she was in a real bad way fer a while there. She pulled outta it though; she got that job drivin the delivery truck, and a’ course with her havin ta be the best at everythin it wasn’t long before she was on top, as always.”

“So I heard.”

“Eeyup.”

Silence for another few minutes, but then Applejack spoke again, returning to the previous subject.

Something was obviously on her mind.

“Uh, but anyway, like I was sayin,” she began, “it’s not like havin a good piece a’ ass would be the worst thing in the world right now…”

I paused again, but didn’t look at her. Instead, my eyes were darting around the surface of the work bench. “Oh…?”

“I mean, I been goin through one hell of a dry-spell lately, what with farmin and runnin the marketin side more, since Granny’s getting too old ta deal with it on ‘er own.”

“Hm,” I was unsure of what to say. “How long of a dry spell are we talking?”

“Like…probably over two years now.”

The answer made my eyebrows jump up in surprise. “Wow, two years, eh?”

“I told ya it was a dry spell; drier ‘n a popcorn fart.”

I let out a good chuckle and shook my head. “Well, it’s been a bit for me too,” I replied sarcastically. “I think it’s been like…a whole day since I’ve had a piece.”

“Heh-heh!” she chuckled, “Dang, life’s tough, ain’t it, sugarcube?”

“Yeah, I don’t know how I’ve made it this far.”

“It’s just cuz yer such a trooper, that’s all.”

Smiling, I removed the line from the flare tool to inspect it. “So…who was it?” I asked.

“Who was who?”

“The last guy you…you know.”

“Fucked? Uuuhh, I guess it woulda been that dumbass Trenderhoof.”

“Dumbass?” I replied as I headed back to the truck. “Why were you banging a dumbass?”

“It was only the one time!” she defended, scowling as she took the new brake line from me. “Thanks.”

“Fine, fine,” I said, resuming my work on the steering parts. “So what happened? How’d you meet this Trenderhoof guy?”

“Oh, he went ta Crystal Prep. Met him durin the friendship games and he took a shine ta me right away. I have no idea why; I guess it was the whole ‘country girl’ thing or somethin,” she explained, followed by a chuckle. “Poor Rarity had a huge dag-gum crush on him and he weren’t interested in her in the least; he just kept mackin up on me like crazy —even though I told him ta fuck off more times than I can count— Rarity just couldn’t believe it.”

“I can imagine,” I replied, tightening up the adjuster sleeve. “I can already see a problem with this guy; nothing against you, AJ, but anyone who wouldn’t be interested in Rare must have some kind of fuckin deficit or something.”

AJ sighed. “Well, ta be fair, back in those days Rarity hadn’t really grown inta her face er her titties yet; she weren’t near as pretty as she is now, but still, like I said, it weren’t looks so much as the whole farm girl thing that had him interested in me.”

“Hm,” I replied. “So…you obviously didn’t like him back?”

“Nah. He looked like a fuckin idiot most a’ the time, what with that stupid hair and those dick-ish glasses; and the shit he wore made him look like a complete tool. Rarity, a’ course, thought he was the bees-knees, but I could hardly stand the sight of ‘im.”

“But he got in your pants somehow, didn’t he?” I chuckled.

“Ugh…don’t remind me,” she grumbled as she tightened up the last bolt, completing the brake job on that side of the truck.

“How’d he do it?” I asked.

“Well…he kept showin up at the farm durin the summers, askin if he could work fer us —which was just an obvious trick ta get close ta me— and even though I said no, Granny and Big Mac hired him on fer the summer, which pissed me off, needless ta say.”

“Oh fuck, so you were stuck with him, eh?”

“Yeah,” she replied, grumbling as she wheeled the tool cart past me to start removing the brakes on the passenger side.

“So what happened?”

“Well, nothin that year,” she explained. “It was the summer after —our senior year— and a’ course, he came back ta work fer us again, and that’s when…it happened.”

“How?”

“Well, he worked pretty late that night and then he stayed fer supper, then he kept hangin ‘round after that even. I knew he musta’ been up ta something, but I couldn’t really say much, cuz he wasn’t really doin nothin wrong.” Applejack paused to cough, and then picked up a wrench before continuing. “It was after Big Mac and Cherilee went out and Granny went ta bed that he started gettin frisky with me.”

“Where was your sister?”

“She spent that week at her friend’s house, so it was just me and him in the house, basically alone, and I’ll admit, I…” —she paused to let out a shameful sigh— “I was sorta hard-up for some action myself…and…I had a moment a’ weakness and decided to give him a shot.”

“Wow. And?”

She raised a hand to adjust her hat, sneering. “Ehh…kinda so-so. I mean, he was enthusiastic, I’ll give him that; it was his big moment after all, and he went at me pretty hard, but…it was just…nah.”

“Hm. Just didn’t hit the spot, eh?”

“Like I say, I’ll give him credit; it was a long day and we worked the shit out of him, and he still had the energy to go to town on me like that. I mean, heh-heh! It was makin the lights in Granny’s room turn on-and-off all the way down at the far end of the hall!”

“What?” I was confused. “I don’t get it; why were the lights going on and off?”

“Well…Granny has a clapper in there.”

My eyebrows went up in astonishment. “Oh shit, he was fuckin you hard!”

"Heh-heh! Yeah, Granny woke up and started bitchin about someone fuckin with the breakers er somethin like that," she chuckled, then shook her head. “but anyway…like I said, the sex was just…I dunno, meh.”

“Hm,” I chuckled. “So what happened then?”

Applejack glanced at me. “Aw, I uh...fired him the next day.”

“...Nice.”

“Eeyup. I told him he wasn’t a good enough worker and that it wasn’t workin out, and I told him his pecker was too long and skinny.”

I was busy greasing the new steerin parts while she was saying this, and so it took me a second to catch-on to what she’d just said. “Wait a sec, what did you say?” I asked, turning to look at her from under the truck. “You were already firing him, and you made fun of his dick?”

“Why not?” she shrugged. “The fuckin thing was like a pepperette.”

“Yeah but,” I shook my head, “that’s just…cruel, AJ.”

“But it was true!”

“Yeah, but…” I paused to look at the floor, shaking my head for a moment before looking up at her again. “OK, look: you were already firing him; the both of you knew why he was there, which was just so he could get close to you—which, to be fair, was kinda ‘stalky’ of him, but still; so getting fired would have already been like a break-up to him —or a rejection, whatever you wanna call it— but to go and rag on his dick after all that? That’s just mean.”

“I was just bein honest, sugarcube. No need ta git yer panties all in a bunch.”

I sighed. “I know, I know. Honesty is a good thing, AJ. It’s one of my favourite things about you. But there’s a time and a place for it, and an omission now and then isn’t always a bad thing.”

Applejack just shrugged. “Yeah-yeah, I know. The other girls said the same thing, ‘specially Rarity. She went up one side a’ me and down the other about it, saying he didn’t deserve that, and yadda yadda yadda—you know.”

“Hm...yeah.” I went back to what I was doing.

“Er...ta be honest, I did feel kinda bad about it after a couple a’ weeks,” she continued, after a short pause. “I mean, I knew I kinda fucked up, and I was just tryin ta distance mahself from it, but...I guess that really weren’t no excuse neither.”

“Did you ever try calling him back or anything?”

She shook her head. “Nah. I kinda figured the damage was already done by then. These sit’iations can be a lot like dog shit sometimes: that more ya fuck with it, the more it stinks.”

“Oh...”

“Besides...I couldn’t really work up the nerve fer it, ta be honest.”

*****

Hours later, Applejack’s truck was finally finished and we had just set it on the ground to torque the wheels. Once that was done, I laid under the front end and checked the toe-in with a tape measure, laughing hysterically at the story that she was telling.

"Wait, wait," I howled, "it took his pants and his boxers?"

"Eeyup!" she laughed. "So there was poor Big Mac, chasin this sheep 'round the yard with his ass hangin out, tryin ta get his pants back. Normally he wouldn't care, but his wallet was in the back pocket and he didn't wanna lose it."

"So what happened?"

"Well, he finally got a hold of ‘er; managed ta catch ‘er off-guard from around the corner and dove onto her back. Heh-heh! So, he's hangin onta the back a’ this sheep with his bare ass showin... aaaaaand that's when Cherilee pulled inta the driveway..."

"Oohhh fuck," I moaned, closing my eyes and letting my head drop to the floor. Just imagine what it must have been like to get caught in such a predicament.

"Oh fuck is right, sugarcube," she replied, shaking her head. "It took us hours ta calm her down. And they were still just engaged back then; she almost left him over that whole incident."

"Wow...well, to be honest, that would be a hard one to explain."

"Yeah," she agreed, scuffing her foot on the floor. "It all worked out in the end though, obviously."

"Well that's good."

"For a bit, anyway," she continued, prompting me to roll over and look up at her. "I got myself inta a bit a’ hot water a few months later...fer instigatin."

I chuckled and went back to what I was doing. "Oh god, what'd you do, AJ?"

"Well, Rainbow and I had this idea fer his birthday," she explained, wringing her hands together, "so I went and bought him a plain T-shirt and some a' that paint that ya can write on clothes with, and I made him a shirt that said: 'FUCK YOU'...except I spelled 'you' like E-W-E...ya know, like a female sheep."

I laughed immediately, the image of her brother receiving the gift in front of everyone filling my mind’s eye. "Wow, haha! Classy. How'd that go over?"

"Eh..." she shrugged. "Apple Bloom thought it was funny, but Big Mac and Cherilee?...not so much. Granny wasn't too thrilled either, in fact, she dragged me outta the room by my fuckin ear and tore a strip off a' me right then and there."

"Hm. Who's idea was it, exactly?" I asked.

"Well, I came up with the slogan, but it was Rainbow's idea to make it into a shirt and give it to ‘im fer his birthday," she explained. "And she got away scott-free; sayin she was just kiddin and that she didn't think I would actually do it."

"Well...I haven't known Dashie as long as you have, but I have noticed that if she thinks something's funny, it probably isn't funny," I said, taking one final measurement.

"Yeah. I learned my lesson on that one," she replied, leaning against the bumper with her leg.

“That you did, AJ, that you did. OK...that’s not bad there,” I concluded, letting the measuring tape snap closed as I rolled out from under the truck and rose to my feet. “It shouldn’t wear the tires like that, but the steering wheel will probably be off-center. Just bring it by my work when you get a chance, and I’ll set it up on the alignment machine and we’ll price out some new tires for you, too. I rotated the fronts to the back for now though; that should hide the road noise a little bit.”

“Sounds good, sugarcube,” she yawned. “Thanks for doin all this today, Golds; it actually didn’t take as long as I thought it would. I gotta say, yer pretty good at fixin shit.”

I waved her off. “Nah, I’ve just been doing it since cars were invented, that’s all. It’s like second nature.”

“Heh, yeah.” She began to look around the shop, scanning the walls for something. “Even so,” she said, “I wonder what time it is; ain’t you got a clock in here?”

“Oh…no, I always just used my phone, but I haven’t got a new one yet. Where’s yours?”

She pointed over her shoulder to the truck. “Mine’s in the cab. That’s OK, I’ll check it when I go.”

I nodded.

“Well,” she said, stretching her back. “I guess I better skedaddle; I gotta get home and shower ‘n stuff before dinner, so…”

“Yeah, you’d better head out,” I replied. “I’m just gonna stick around here for a bit and clean up.”

“Alright then,” Applejack said as she opened her truck and slid into the cab. She closed the door and started the engine, then paused for a moment before sticking her head out the window. “Hey! What time did Rarity say ta be there fer supper?” she shouted over the engine.

“No later than four.”

“Ah,” she nodded. “OK then, see ya there.”

I nodded and waved as she shifted the truck into reverse and backed out of the shop.

Author's Notes:

Because I was worried that “fuck ewe” line might be a common joke (and given my track record of accidentally copying video games), I decided to google ‘fuck ewe’ just to double check that it hadn’t already been done to death.
DO NOT google this. It will take you places you don’t wanna be.