Applejack stands with Rarity and Pinkie Pie, forlornly watching Doug and Rainbow Dash as they jog away. Her breath catches, remembering his cold eyes and wishing he was back with her. Come on! Don’t leave me like this! Ah thought Ah had you figured out!

“Are you all right, darling?” Rarity asks, slightly puzzled as her horn lights, folding the canvas.

“Yeah!” exclaims Pinkie Pie, pronking around and making up for all the lost pronking time in the tent. “You look like you’re gonna go Haylord Whifting the rest of the day!”

Applejack snorts. “Ah ain’t gonna be mopin’ in mah room, listenin’ to Haylord.” She turns up her nose slightly. “Ah’m gonna be workin’ the orchards’n singin’ her songs.”

“She can be very inspiring,” Rarity adds, offering Applejack a sympathetic nuzzle. At Applejack’s questioning look she adds, “What? Just because she’s not my usual fare doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy her. From time to time of course.”

Applejack shakes her head, a smile creeping over her muzzle. “Ah’ll never know how a simple country mare like me could go to the city and make it big, yet still keep those rustic roots and good’ole gal charm about her, while makin’ such upliftin’ music. Seems like most of ‘em get to the big leagues and go all pop’n glitzy.”

“Nice exposition!” Pinkie Pie says with a grin.

Applejack sighs. “Like me.” She loses her accent, her syllables carefully enunciated, “I, on the other hoof, could not wait to abandon all I held near and dear to my heart. And as divine as Manehattan can be,” her voice shifts back to her country twang, “Ah couldn’t bear to stay away from here.” She glances back at her cutie mark, smiling at the three red apples, though it quickly falters. “Ah missed home somethin’ fierce, and Ah dunno what would’a happened if Ah was forced to stay. What if Ah got a different cutie mark? What if Ah never got a mark at all?!”

Rarity and Pinkie Pie sidle next to Applejack, forelegs draping over her in support. They, too, shudder as they think about going through life without their cutie mark, and the joy it brings them every day.

“Ah wouldn’t do that, couldn’t do that to Doug.” Applejack sniffs, a hoof coming up to wipe her dry eye. “What if this ain’t where he belongs? Ah knew it was a fragile line to begin with. Ah just never thought it’d break.”

“I think you should talk to him about this,” Rarity counsels, hoof gently squeezing Applejack. “Even though it might be scary.”

Pinkie Pie smirks. She sings, “You gotta be-”

“-Undaunted!” the three mares chorus, then break into a chuckling fit.

“Thanks, y’all,” Applejack says, smiling as she surveys the apple orchards. Another day, another hectare. She glances back to Ponyville, a slight grimace on her muzzle. “Ah’m glad Ah can count on ya.”

“Of course!” Pinkie Pie says, her entire tent packed up and resting on her back. She raises an eyebrow as Applejack follows her to Ponyville. “What’cha doing?”

Applejack takes a deep breath. “Somethin’ Ah should’a done a long time ago. Ah’m gonna keep hopin’ he stays, even though it feels like Ah’m holdin’ on’ta nothin’.” She grimaces again as the purple sign of Barnyard Bargains comes into view.

“Well,” Pinkie Pie says, somewhat subdued, “just remember to stay strong.”

“Ah will,” Applejack says.

“Oh, and one last thing,” Rarity says, levitating over an odd half saddlebag with an insignia she doesn’t recognize on them. “That is for Doug, and I am planning another expedition on Genday should he be available.”

“Ah’ll pass it along,” Applejack says, waving as they break up. She heads inside the general store. It’s easy to force a smile to her face as she spots Filthy Rich helping a yellow mare and her filly pick out a selection of gardening materials, the pegasus obviously out of her element. “Mornin’, Filthy.”

“Please,” the salespony purrs, his suave smile never fading as he turns to nod in greeting at Applejack, “call me Rich.” He chuckles to himself. “I was just helping Sunshower here pick out something for the garden she wanted to start.” He smiles as he crouches down, the slightly darker yellow pegasus filly peeking out from between her dam’s legs. “Isn’t that right, Raindrops?”

“Uh-huh,” the filly meekly replies, glancing up at her dam. Sunshower smiles back, giving her an encouraging push. “S-should, um,” Raindrops says, tentatively putting a hoof down on one of the half-dozen bags. “This one?”

“Well,” Applejack explains patiently, also dropping down to the filly’s level, “those seeds are enhanced.” She points at the relevant line on the bag. “Do you know what that means?”

“Uh-uh,” Raindrops says with an adorable shake of her aqua blue mane. Her eyes look huge in her head as they stare at Applejack, as if she has all the answers.

Applejack’s heart swells at the sight. Ah want one! “‘Enhanced’ means that the seeds will grow on their own. It just takes a little bit of water,” she lightly pokes the blank flank and shakes the aquamarine tail, getting a giggle out of the filly, “and they’ll sprout right up.” She pulls over another bag, large yellow flowers on the front. “These sunflowers aren’t enhanced, which means they’ll take a bit more work.” Her eyes flick to the filly’s dam, who has perked up at the suggestion. “If you’re trying to get your cutie mark in gardenin’, Ah’d recommend those. Plus, they’re good for snacks after you’ve done your homework.”

“Thanks, Applejack!” Raindrops exclaims, clutching the bag to her chest like it’s her favorite Hearth’s Warming present. She takes to the air, flying to the counter where a young salespony, the small mare looking like she just got her cutie mark herself, rings it up. Sunshower waves and smiles at Applejack as she goes and pays, the two pegasi giddy as they exit the store. Applejack can’t help but sigh at the sight.

“Thought I saw something like that when you walked in,” Filthy Rich remarks quietly, standing close to Applejack. “Everything okay back at the farm?”

“Well,” Applejack says, her voice low and eyes darting around, “you’ve probably heard rumors.”

“Whole town has,” Filthy Rich confirms, smiling and nodding at the other customers as they come in, though none approach the two. “Are any of them true?”

“Ain’t sure,” Applejack returns, her shoulders slumping.

“Well,” Filthy Rich says, his whisper barely audible, “If’n there’s anything you need, anything at all, then don’t hesitate to ask.” He straightens up a little, adjusting his tie.

“Well, there is one thing,” Applejack says, drawing a curious eye raise. “Ah was hopin’ to get an advance on the Zap Apple Jam.”

“Certainly,” Filthy Rich replies immediately. He pulls a thin wallet out from under his tie. “How much?”

“Just twenty bits,” Applejack says, hunkering down a little.

“That’s…” Filthy Rich mentally calculates, a slight frown on his muzzle. “About what I’d pay for two hours of entry level labor.” He inspects Applejack from eyes to flanks, carefully watching her reaction. “But if you’re paying room and board, it’s closer to two days work, maybe three. But he ain’t a pony, so I’m guessing he doesn’t get as much work done.” He frowns, especially as Applejack gives the slightest nods to what he says. “This what you’re paying Doug weekly?”

“There’s a reason nopony plays poker with you any more,” Applejack says with a rueful shake of her head and glance at the three bitbags on the tan flank. “He still ain’t sure about stayin’, especially if he can’t have any foals.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Filthy Rich says sympathetically, reaching a hoof over and giving Applejack a quick squeeze around the withers. “I truly am.” He pulls out a few papers from his wallet, pressing them into Applejack’s hoof.

She stares at them. “A-a hundred bits?” she stammers, glancing up, holding the money out. “Ah can’t take that.”

“I’m tired of trying to whittle away at you two bits at a time,” Filthy Rich says firmly. “If Doug can’t see what’s there in front of him, then he deserves to go.” He notes the harsh glint in Applejack’s eyes. “But I don’t want you coming in here every week, begging for more. You can see this as a gift, or five weeks of advance.” A hoof swats aside Applejack’s, pressing into her chest but not hard enough to push her back. “What’s important is that you do what’s right for you.”

Filthy Rich grunts, replacing his wallet and adjusting his tie again. His suave smile reasserts itself, cordially asking, perhaps slightly louder than necessary, “Now, is there anything else I can help you with?”

Applejack glances around the store, many of the other ponies pausing in their shopping to watch the two. “No,” she says, placing the bits inside her hat. “Thank ya kindly.” She tips her hat, “Ah’d best be goin’, now.”

“Take care.” Filthy Rich’s curt reply echoes in Applejack’s mind as she heads back to Sweet Apple Acres. Who am Ah takin’ care of? Me? Doug? Our future? She doesn’t see the human as she walks across the farm, heading to the southwest orchards, only stopping to grab a cart and empty baskets and tossing his pack inside. Worse, she can’t seem to rid him from her mind, her thoughts turning back to him between every tree much like she wants him between her legs.

Tartarus. Did my heat start already? Applejack pauses, holding a hoof behind her. The steady breeze makes it easy to feel the shift, radiating from her backside. Consarn it. Must be ‘cause of Doug, normally Ah’m one of the last to get it. But maybe that’s ‘cause Ah’m so far apart from everypony else. She sighs, continuing along with her harvesting.

It isn’t until she returns with a full load that she finds Doug going over their recipes with Granny Smith. The human looks lost, and it feels out of place - normally when he’s confused he seems curious. “Thanks again,” Doug says with an apologetic look to Granny Smith. “You have so many recipes, it’s hard to keep them all apart!”

“Mm,” she grunts back, a brief passing of her eyes over Applejack seemingly enough to peer into the orange mare’s soul. “Ah’ll go make sure everything’s ready.”

Doug nods, glances up at Applejack, a brief flicker of a smile crushed by something more. He gets up, his arm jerking at his side before his hand reaches out, tussling Applejack’s mane as he sits next to her.

The silence is deafening, and it’s all Applejack can do to not shout every agonizing emotion coursing through her. So she sits there, letting those cursed fingers caress her coat, sending shivers down her spine that threaten to overwhelm her. “There’s so many things,” she says, just to distract her rebelling body, “that Ah want you to know.” Her eyes close, her head bows down, and his hand stops its motions, giving her his full attention. “Ah feel like we’re finished, that Ah’m the only one fightin’. Ah’m scared, that this is the ending of the story of us, and it’s a tragedy.”

Doug considers for a moment before he carefully responds, “I know.” He leans back against the wooden wall, taking a deep breath. “I don’t want us to end, either. I want everything to work out, but it’s been one devastating twist of fate after another.” His hands reach down to her belly, his gentle squeeze turning to a long, tight hug that’s almost painful. “It’s killing me that I’m hurting you so badly, and I hate myself for it. But I don’t see another way, besides building up walls that might never come down.” His arms fall down, Applejack missing the hug instantly. “And that will just hurt both of us even more.”

She nuzzles him briefly before an idea comes to her mind. “Come with me,” Applejack says, getting up. “Ma and Pa had a special place. Ah want you to see it.”

“Alright,” Doug says, following her, only for Rainbow Dash to land next to them. She holds out the cooler with an apologetic smile. Doug sighs, holding a hand to his face. “Already?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash says sheepishly. “I wear off quick. Well, it’s more like a lot of my practicing is really precise, and I can’t afford any distractions.” She glances at Applejack. “You okay?”

“Ah’m a bit annoyed, but it’ll take longer to argue than to just get this over with.” Applejack squats down as Doug takes the various items, rolling her eyes as Rainbow Dash turns around and flicks her tail to the side.

Next Chapter: Ch. 40 - Wall of Brambles Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 49 Minutes