Just Blink

Digital_Hex

Chapter Ten

"Well..." I trailed off on a tangent as Rainbow Dash and I trotted down the road, Rainbow deciding to join me on hoof this time. "That was... random. And quite honestly, a tad creepy."

"What, Pinkie Pie or that colt you were disturbingly interested in?" Rainbow Dash asked me as she lifted an eyebrow, peering at me suspiciously. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll go ahead and just say both," I grunted as I pulled out the list with a lengthy flick of my horn, trying to get used to using the spell. It was still just as difficult as it always had been to use levitation spells, which made me grimace as I scanned down the page. I was barely aware of the sun climbing higher into the sky, slowly making it's way towards noon.

Letting my eyes rest on the next line on the list, I read it aloud.

"One hundred apples; red."

I was flabbergasted, to say the least.

"What does she need one hundred apples for?!" I said in horror. I barely had any bits on me to pay for anything! In hindsight, I probably should have grabbed a little more than a small hoof-ful of currency before I left the library, but still! One hundred apples! A tad excessive, no?

"I'm sure she has some egghead reason for them," Rainbow Dash said while flicking a hoof ahead of her, dismissing my shock completely. "But as for where we can get them, I'm sure Applejack has enough. She might have her stand set up at the market, let's go!"

With that, Rainbow Dash charged off ahead of me with a determined trot. I fell into step behind her, thinking. But not about the apples.

I was more interested in Rainbow Dash. She was... an interesting character to say the least. I really didn't know her at all, but she seemed to be a nice enough mare. The part that got me, though, was how she and Twilight could have ever become friends in the first place! From what I'd noticed from Rainbow Dash simply from her subtle body language and attitude, I was guessing she was rather lazy at times, and was most definitely not at the same academic level as Twilight, or me even as I had guessed. She was as different from Twilight as I suppose a pony could have been.

But they were friends, none-the-less. I sighed, not wanting to hurt my brain by trying to comprehend how such a friendship could have been formed. It probably had to do with the elements of harmony or something cheesy like that. Surely only a plot device of some sort could have brought the two into contact.

"Howdy there!"

I snapped back to reality upon hearing Applejack's voice. Looking up, I noticed we were in Ponyville market. I shook my head for a moment, clearing my mind of any thought of the pegasus mare next to me before giving Applejack a light smile.

"Aye, hello Applejack. Fancy meeting you here."

Applejack raised an eyebrow before turning around. I was slightly concerned as to why she did so before I noticed she was still unpacking her cart.

"Fancy? That's an odd way of puttin' it, I s'pose." she said offhoofedly as she pulled out the final sign for her cart resting it against the front of her mobile apple-selling vendor's wagon. "So what can ah do for ya two?" she said before her face contorted slightly.

"Ah mean, not 'ya two' as in ya two, but ah mean, uh... ya know-"

Rainbow Dash quickly stopped Applejack mid-sentence (er, ramble).

"We're getting things for Twilight, Applejack. That. Is. It." she practically growled. Wow, that was slightly ominous.

"Ah see," Applejack said unfazed- no, I take that back. Rainbow Dash's aggression seemed to actually calm Applejack down. Whatever the case, Applejack sighed before hopping behind her stall.

"Well, whatever the case bein', what can ah get for y'all?"

I cringed slightly as I answered her. "One hundred red apples."

Applejack laughed loudly, slapping a hoof on the side of her cart forcefully. Many of the ponies around us (read: everypony surrounding us) cast us a concerned glance. I smirked sheepishly to them before turning to Applejack, who seemed to be composing herself from her... outburst.

"Ah'm sorry, it was jus'... Ah thought ah heard ya ask for a-hundred apples!"

I gave her the flattest expression I could muster.

Two hundred bits later (which was all I had plus a considerable amount of compensation by Rainbow Dash), I was heading back to the library with a cart full of apples, provided generously by Applejack.

"Thanks again for covering the rest of that for me, I'll make sure I pay you back," I assured Rainbow Dash. The bag I'd received from Pinkie Pie was bobbing about atop the cart of apples hitched to my back.

"No problem, don't worry about it too much. We're cool," she insisted. I rolled my eyes, a habit as of late it seemed.

"No, it is not 'cool', and I assure you that I will cover the difference you provided as soon as possible."

"If you insist," Rainbow said as she trotted along next to me, her own form carrying a bag of apples provided (of course) by a bewildered Applejack. Apparently we were free to use them for the rest of the day, bless her heart.

As we made it to the library, I knocked on the door, hoping Spike would hurry up and open the door. I couldn't wait to see the look on his face. Speaking of Spike, how did Twilight even expect him to gather all of this by himself?! This was borderline crazy, even for her! Granted, I barely knew her other than what I'd picked up and/or heard, but-

The door creaked open, revealing a sopping wet Spike. He was sweaty, which was actually kind of disturbing to see glistening on his scales. How could he even sweat?!

"Hi," he said coldly as he performed a perfect about-face and scampered off back to the kitchen. He must have been having a difficult time, I almost felt bad for him.

Rainbow Dash and I drug the apples and the bag intro the kitchen. As we passed by the table in the main room, I noticed the letter from earlier was missing. I assumed that Twilight had gathered it while I was gone.

"This is only the first part of the list, Spike," I said while I parked the cart in the corner of the kitchen. "I'll go and get the rest of it-"

Spike cut me off.

"Yeah, about that. Forget about the list," Spike said, growling to himself.

"I'm sorry?" I asked carefully.

"Forget about it, Twilight doesn't need any of it anymore."

I face-hoofed.

"So what do you want me to do with all of this stuff here, then?" I asked, casting a hoof to the supplies I'd managed to accumulate through the day.

"Just leave it there," he grunted, turning to a bowl of... something.

I muttered a confused "Alrighty" before slowly exiting the kitchen, accompanied by a bewildered Rainbow Dash.

"That was... odd."

I nodded. "Yes, yes it was. Pointless, too."

The two of us stood there awkwardly for a few minutes, trying to come up with something to say. Finally, I broke the silence.

"Well, since I no longer have a chore to do today, I suppose I'm going to go help Applejack out at the farm again."

Rainbow Dash cocked her head at me. "Why'd you want to do that?" she asked.

"Well, if I want to stay here, I might as well help out around here. I might end up with a... job..." I paused. That actually didn't sound like such a bad idea, being a farmhand. Applejack had stated they always would appreciate having an extra set of hooves on the farm, and I wasn't really doing anything else other than keeping an eye on Twilight. Surely I could keep enough proximity on her to be able to have a job and still keep an eye on her. Pl,us, a job would keep my cover more-or-less intact, seeing as Twilight wasn't supposed to know that I was her own personal security detail.

"You know what, I think I might just ask Applejack if I can get an actual job on the farm."

"That's... nice, I guess?" Rainbow Dash said, rubbing a hoof on the back of her neck. "But what am I supposed to do now?"

"I don't know, whatever you normally do?" I said, completely oblivious to what she was implying.

And with that, I blinked out of the library, leaving the mare all alone.

So much for tact.