My Little Pony: Friendships are Magic

by professor space n time

Chapter 7 (Applebuck Season)

Applejack and Big Mac were on a hill looking at the plantation in front of them, it was the fruit of their effort and anypony could tell it just by looking at the color of the leaves and the bark of the trees, they looked healthy as best they could, Not to mention the apples, they were fat and juicy, their surface shining like red metal.

"Boy howdy! I got my work cut out for me. That there is the biggest bumper crop o' apples I ever laid eyes on." Said Applejack.

"Eeyup. Too big for you to handle on your own." Commented Big Mac.

"Come on, big brother! You need to rest up and get yourself better. I haven't met an apple orchard yet that I can't handle." At that moment Big Mac was slightly shaken in pain due to the blow that Applejack gave him in the side "Oops, sorry. I'll take a bite out of this job by day's end."

"Biting off more than you can chew is just what I'm afraid of."

"Are you sayin' my mouth is makin' promises my legs can't keep?" she inquired.

"Eeyup." Big Mac replied.

"Why of all the-. This is your sister Applejack, remember? The loyalest of friends and the most dependable of ponies?"

"But still only one pony, and one pony plus hundreds o' apple trees just doesn't add up to. . ."

"Don't you use your fancy mathematics to muddy the issue! I said I could handle this harvest and I'm gonna prove it to you. I'm gonna get every last apple out of those trees this applebuck season all by myself. . .*Gulp*" Applejack couldn't hide the nervous expression on her face as she took a closer look at the vast lands of Sweet Apple Acres.

At that moment Amara came out of the trees carrying a few empty baskets with her and with her magic she was holding a toolbox and the plow "I think I'm done." she said up the hill "What were you two talking about?"

"I was telling Big Mac that this year I'm going to take care of the harvest myself," Applejack replied.

Amara looked at her for a moment and chuckled to herself 'Is she serious?' A little taste test gave her the answer, she just shrugged “Well, it's your doom, the only way you can do it is if you don't sleep for at least maybe fourteen days and that would kill you, but you would surely break your legs before reaching that point. Anyway, I'll go drop this off in the barn, I have to meet up with a pony in an hour and a half to get a pair of hoov-hooks for my experiment."

"Okay, see you later, I have work to do." Said Applejack coming down the hill "Well I better get kickin'. These apples aren't gonna shake themselves outta the trees." Suddenly earth started to shake and an apple falled on her head "Hey! Oh no."

Suddenly a cry was heard in the distance "STAMPEDE!".

Applejack raced up the hill and started running towards the path "Winona! My lasso! Quick!" she yelled, immediately the dog began to run towards the stable, at the same time Amara appeared flying.

"That was Rainbow Dash! We have to go soon!" Then Amara overtook her and in a few minutes Applejack lost sight of her, shortly after Winona appeared at her side carrying the lasso in her mouth, Applejack looked at the chaotic group of cows and began to run faster, realizing that they were heading straight for the center of Ponyville.

Amara was flying over the cows "Ok, Amara, think, you have to deflect them, the only way is to move the first one and they will follow like a domino effect." Immediately Amara threw herself on the back of the first of the cows and grabed the left horn, she threw herself to the left with all her might forcing the bovine to move to the left, but just as she was about to swerve Amara was pulled from the waist by Applejack's lasso.

"Stop there Daisy, do you want to kill yourself? Leave this to me!" Shee said disappearing into the distance

Amara simply growled "I'm just trying to help!" but her screams were not heard, she turned around to untie the rope, but noticing that the knot was too complex Amara opened her mouth and pressed her fangs with her tongue spitting out a jet of acid that burned the rope, Amara immediately opened fly and headed towards the stampede at full speed.

Applejack had managed to tie the leader by the neck and was trying in vain to deflect her, but the cow was stronger, Applejack saw in horror how they were already a few meters from Ponyville, she closed her eyes and with all her strength she pulled the rope. While no one was watching Amara flew in front of the cow and looked directly at her, her eyes were filled with green and shined like lanterns, her pupils were tiny points that stuck like knives in the eyes of the bovine and entered her mind with no delicacy, the eyes of the cow turned green and its pupils dilated growing like saucers, at that moment the cow was carried away by Applejack without any resistance, diverting the whole group and stopping the stampede, the ponies in the city cheered. Meanwhile, a few feet away, Amara landed and dusted herself off, then simply walked back home to pack some coolers with ice and some preservative liquid.

Twilight was walking home with a nervous and worried expression, she was so focused on her affairs that she had not realized that Spike was not with her until she reached the door, she could only hope that he would stay with the others or that at least he wouldn't get in troubles, she had more important things to do at the moment. Upon entering she didn't see Amara anywhere, so she went down to the laboratory, everything was silent, she could only hear her own footsteps "Amara? Are you here?" suddenly from the closet came resounding thumps, like the ones coming from kicking a metal box.

Twilight approached slowly when out of nowhere the door slammed open revealing Amara who was wearing a side button lab coat and apron "Twilight! Good to see you! How was the celebration?" She said standing on her hind legs and hiding her front hooves behind her back.

"It was good, I guess, what are you doing in the closet?" she asked.

"Nothing." Amara replied shrugging and showing her hooves, Twilight suddenly turned pale.

"A-Amy, is that-?" Twilight couldn't finish the sentence, Amara's hooves were covered in red liquid with a metallic smell.

Amara looked at her hooves "Oh, this? This is just iron thiocyanate diluted in water, they use it to make fake blood, I was doing some experiments and I spilled it on my hooves." Amara immediately pointed to the bucket on the table filled with red liquid.

"Oh okay, freaked me out for a moment" Twilight said laughing at her own idea.

Amara walked to the sink "Well, since we cleared that up, tell me, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"It's about last week, you were right, you were absolutely right."

"Yes I know. . . What are you talking about by the way? Lately, I'm right about many things." Amara said drying off and taking off her lab coat.

"About Applejack, she looks terrible, she looks weak, tired and confused, even her dark circles have dark circles!"

"It is what one would expect after a week of work without rest and without sleep." Amara commented.

"Before she left I offered her our help, but she refused, I couldn't even negotiate."

"She is a stubborn mare, isn't she?" Amara said with a smile "What do you want me to do?" Twilight was impressed "Oh come on! Isn't it obvious? You didn't come for me just to tell me your sorrows, you want something, what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to talk to Applejack, to make her see reason" Twilight said to her in a pleading tone.

"Okay, but why me? What makes you think I could do it?" she asked.

"Because you always win all the discussions, you are also the element of empathy, maybe someone who understands her can convince her." Twilight answered.

"Okay, let me pack some things and I'll go right away."

I was at the doors of Sweet Apple Acres, the smell of the fresh and fertile earth filled my lungs accompanied by the sweet heat of the sun that caressed my black chitin giving me a comforting and numbing warmth, it made me want to lie on a hill and have a nap, but I hadn't come to that, I walked straight towards the house, on the path I could see in the distance an orange dot next to the trees and the barn full of a few dozen baskets with apples. I went to the door and gave three strong knocks, Big Mac opened "Princess? What are you doing here?"

“Please Mac, call me Amara. You know why I'm here, why don't we just sit down and talk about this?"

With a gesture he invited me to pass "Coffee?"

"Yes, please, with milk and a lot of sugar" I walked to the kitchen and sat at the dining room table, took the chair next to the window, I saw the same orange dot on the horizon walking towards another tree, but halfway it would stop and remain motionless, then it shook with confusion and continued on its way only to repeat the same thing with each tree, at that moment Big Mac handed me my cup and sat in front of me.

"And why exactly did you come?" he asked.

“Twilight asked me to come and convince Applejack to accept our help with the harvest, but we both know that won't work, I understand why she wants to do it alone, I've had a project or two which I wanted to complete alone no matter what, in the end I did it, but that does not compare to harvesting so many hectares of land."

"So what is your plan?" Big Mac asked. What I like best about him is how direct he is, but how gentle his words are at the same time.

A smile formed on my face "Well, you know what they say, 'If you can't beat them join them'"

"That is a good plan, but you forget that my sister will not accept the help of anypony."

"And who says she should accept?" I answered with a mischievous smile on my face, Big Mac raised his eyebrow "What I plan to do is the following, while she works in a place I will get as far as possible and harvest that area, but I need you to teach me how to make the apples fall from the tree."

Big Mac was thoughtful for a moment, took a sip of coffee and sighed, “Okay. It is not as difficult as it can be seen, you actually have a more than perfect build for the job, you stand with your back to the tree and leave enough room to kick, you have to tension your legs and buttocks until they are like branches of an oak tree, then you have to push yourself with your whole body and let your weight force the kick, you have to hit a point at the same height as your torso or your neck, sometimes it is even higher, it depends on the thickness of the trunk and how ripe the apples are, so you may have trouble with the trees on the west side. I recommend you drink a lot of water and bring something to eat that is not too heavy for the stomach."

"Easy, I've got that covered" I said giving my backpack a hit "Don't tell any pony that I was here, not AJ orTwilight, the secret stays between the two of us, understood?"

Big Mac nodded. I said goodbye and went to look for some baskets, I looked for the last time where Applejack was, I turned my back on her and started walking as far away from there in the opposite direction, fifteen minutes later I found the last of the tree line, the only thing in front of me was a white fence at about four meters that was in charge of limiting the lands. I immediately went to work, I put my backpack aside and approached the tree to my right, leavde some space between the tree and me, put my legs together and tighten my lower body, with all the force that my body gave me I lifted my own weight and with a sudden movement and pure inertia I kicked the trunk hard, suddenly I heard a CRACK! I immediately turned around and saw how the tree had broken at the point where I kicked it, in a second I took it delicately with my magic just before it touched the ground, I looked around to make sure that nopony had heard me, I approached the tree and put my hoof in the center of the piece of the trunk that was still glued to the ground and from the holes in my legs I expelled some sap-like sticky liquid that was moss green in color and carefully glued the rest of the tree, luckily the tree didn't fall to the ground "Ok, that should fix it, luckily Applejack won't notice while the tree repairs itself"

I picked up the apples on the ground and approached another tree, this time I hit with just one leg, with almost no effort all the apples fell into the baskets "Hmm. . . Maybe this will be easier than I imagined."

The next three hours I spent harvesting non-stop, it was not that difficult once you got into the rhythm, but I was starting to get bored, at that moment I remembered a song that I sang together with the boys of the royal guard.

"Hello?" Immediately my heart began to beat rapidly, without thinking twice I hid the baskets full of apples with a simple spell and sat leaning on the tree "Is anypony here?" Applejack asked from afar.

"Here!" I answered, at that moment Applejack appeared between the trees in front of me.
“Amara? What are you-Yawn- doing here?" she asked.

"Oh, you know, I just wanted to come and enjoy the sun and the calm, I have had a lot of work lately and I wanted to get away from the problems of finances and the laws of the parliament, how are you?"

"Good I guess, I think the harvest will go well for me if I continue at this rate" she said rubbing her eyes.

"You should rest a few hours and go to sleep." I recommended.

"Ha! No." She said, then she turned around and disappeared into the trees.

I just sat there and when I was sure Applejack was far enough I got up in a hurry and started working again “Now. . . Where was I?. . . Oh! yeah"

In the distance Applejack was kicking some trees and she could swear that in the distance she heard a chorus of voices singing for a second and then vanishing, she simply shook her head in denial and attributed it to fatigue.

Amara continued working tirelessly for hours singing every melody that her mind had on file, she sang until it got dark and at that moment, in a new moon, surrounded by darkness and cold listening to her own breathing and kicks next to the dim light of the stars she decided to sit down to rest, she took from her backpack something to eat and a bottle of juice, she enjoyed her food while admiring the stars, she turned to see the dozens of baskets full of apples and thought that she should take them back to the barn, but her thoughts were interrupted when her ears caught something in the distance, a harmonious whisper, almost incomprehensible but became clearer the more she heard it.

The voice was attractive in a way that Amara could not describe, she felt the imperative need to get up and walk towards where the voice originated, she jumped over the fence, walked until she reached a clearing and on a hill a shadowy figure rested, dark as the deepest abyss, Her blue hair waved and shone like the starry sky, despite sitting she looked tall and imposing. For Amara everything felt unreal, it seemed that the figure was and was not there at the same time, like a ghost, a vision, a simple mirage, but still Amara felt the need to make sure "Hello?"

Amara did not see it, but a malicious smile formed on the figure's face, it turned to see her revealing turquoise blue eyes with small pupils, a long and thin horn on her forehead "Uh? Oh! Hello! I didn't know there was anypony around at this hours" said the mare smiling slightly, her features made that slight smile warm and at the same time caused fear and discomfort.

"Me neither" Amara replied cautiously approaching "What are you doing here?"

"Looking at the stars, I really like the night. And what are you doing here?" she asked, diverting the conversation elsewhere.

"Nothing," Amara replied.

The mare raised an eyebrow "Who comes to a clearing in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night to do nothing?"

Amara shrugged "Good point, I was helping a friend who lives in the area with this year's harvest."

"Oh yeah, her name is Applejack, isn't it?" asked the figure.

Amara was impressed "How do you know?"

"It is the only farm near here, but there is something I do not understand, did she let you help her? I have seen her work non-stop all week and she always refused every time I offered to help her."

"Well, actually I help her secretly, while she works in one area I take care of another so that she works less, it's the least I can do."

"You know that she will never thank you, right?" asked the mare

Amara looked at her confused "Yes, what about that? I don't do it out of pride or recognition, I do it because it is the right thing to do."

"I understand that, but don't you think it's unfair? That all your efforts won't be rewarded in any way and that on the contrary, it is most likely that she will reproach you"

The mare's words left Amara thinking for a second, but she just laughed "What about that? It's not like it's the end of the world."

"Oh, but it's not just that, it's all the time isn't it? No one ever thanks you and no one ever rewards or even acknowledges what you do, right Amara?"

"Of course not, people appreciate what I've done," Amara replied a bit defensively.

"Oh really?" the mare asked mockingly.

“Yeah! Whe-When I was captain of the royal guard before Shining Armor, T-The soldiers. . . well they never gave me anything, B-But! The other ponies-"

"The other ponies what? Uh? " she asked intensely “ You said it, they never gave you you anything, they didn't even thank you for joining the royal guard, you put your life at risk for them, how many wounds did you receive to help your soldiers? and they never talked to you about something unrelated to the battle."

“Well, maybe that's true, but ponies are made like that when they are soldiers, they become cold and mechanical, besides, in theory it was partly my duty to join the royal guard, they should not thank me for anything. Still, my subjects do appreciate me."

"Your subjects? The subjects that don't recognize you on the streets even though you're a giant insect with holes all over your body? Do you know why they don't recognize you? Because they don't care, they don't care about you, for the love of the moon! You are a princess and even so they treat you like a nobody! You cannot continue to ignore the truth, they consider you nothing, they do not care about your life and they will not mourn your death. Have you ever asked yourself Why should I put up with all this?? Have you never thought about changing things? To make them see how great, powerful and wonderful you are, to change everything, to make them your slaves, wouldn't that be fantastic?"

"No!!, the ponies don't see me like that! And even if they did, which they don't! Mom does appreciate me, she loves me and that's enough."

For a miserable second a smile formed on the mare's face "Your mother? Loving you? Don't make me laugh! Your mother? Really? The mother who did not hesitate to abandon you in this nowhere town with a bunch of ponies you just met and her student?"

"She didn't abandon me! She only did the right thing, it is better that the bearers of the elements stay together, also they are my friends"

"Do you really think Celestia cares about you?" she asked. Amara looked at her confused. "Think about this, who do you think Celestia cares about the most? Her daughter whom she let join the army, work on dangerous experiments, sent her on risky missions around all of Equestria and who is only twenty years old or her Immortal sister who she has known since she was born countless thousands of years ago, sister who she herself had to exile in a brutal battle and then spent the next thousand years creating a plan to get her back? You are a tool, a simple pawn which she is willing to sacrifice for anything no matter how insignificant it may be."

"That's not true! She loves me! I know, my senses don't lie ”Amara replied boiling with fury.

"Oh please, Celestia is just deceiving you, a simple spell of hers surely makes you believe that she loves you."

Amara laughed "There are no such strong emotional spells, those things only work for a few hours"

“Celestia is capable of moving the sun and the moon, do you really think that she is not capable of making a spell like that last a few decades? Admit it Amara, you are alone, nobody loves you and nobody respects you; Now I am offering you the means to change everything, you just have to shake my hoof” said the mare offering her left hoof.

Amara watched in silence for a second, then turned to look at the stars and laughed uncontrollably "What are you trying to achieve? I don't have time for this."

Amara got up and turned her back, but just before taking the first step the mare touched her back, Amara turned around to see her, immediately the mare pounced on her, she could only see her for a second, but that was enough, her features were warped into a grotesque and bloodthirsty smile that showed her razor sharp teeth, two huge black wings had sprouted from her sides, her feathers like thin and sharp claws seemed to try to catch her, the very composition of her body seemed to have changed from solid to something between gas and liquid, like mist or ink floating in the air. Amara rolled down the hill and fell on her back, she immediately got up with her heart beating at a thousand per hour and looked frantically at her surroundings while preparing an attack spell, there was nothing, everything was completely calm, as if the mare had never been there. Amara then prepared a tracking spell, there was no sign of any pony for miles around except the Apple, she immediately looked for signs of teleportation, also nothing. Amara felt dizzy, her head ached and spun, she felt cold sweat all over her body and her legs trembled, she rocked awkwardly towards the fence, leaned against one of the posts, and felt a twinge in her stomach, immediately she began to vomit, not a little, all the contents of her stomach emptied so fast that Amara was about to choke because she did not have time to breathe. She staggered slowly back to Sweet Apple Acres, reached for the juice bottle and rinsed her mouth, sat up and leaned back against the tree and looked up at the sky as she caught her breath. By the time she regained her reason and calm Amara had no idea how long she had been sitting there, it shouldn't be long because it was still night, she got up, gathered her things and carried the baskets to the barn with the help of her magic, once finished she started walking home with a feeling of unease.

Amara walked slowly through the silent streets of Ponyville, her expression thoughtful, glancing over her shoulder from time to time to make sure she wasn't being followed. When she got home she took the keys out of her backpack and without making much noise she slowly opened the door, walked silently through the darkness until she reached the main room, suddenly the light came on revealing Twilight sitting in a chair with a book in her hooves "Where the hell were you? It's ten-thirty!"

"How long have you been sitting there in the dark? You weren't reading, you don't have candles" Was the only thing Amara said.

Twilight blushed and giggled nervously "That doesn't matter! Did you manage to convince Applejack?"

"No." Amara answered simply, she hung up her backpack and started walking towards the kitchen.

Twilight looked at her in disbelief "So what the heck have you been doing all day?!!"

"Oh, you know, walking around, finding out some things for my experiments, talking, all those things." Amara opened the refrigerator and began to browse its contents "did you eat my mushrooms?"

"No, I threw them to the trash, somepony sold you the wrong mushrooms, they were wild mushrooms, although because of how young they were I would not worry about the dose of hallucinogens, I got rid of them to avoid problems"

A smile formed on Amara's face as she let out a relaxed sigh “So it was just a hallucination. . ."

"What?" Twilight asked.

"Nothing. Why don't you just go to sleep? you must be exhausted. I'll eat something and then I'll go take a nap.” With that, Twilight turned and started walking towards her room. Amara prepared something to eat and took a bath to wipe off the dirt and sweat, she felt calmer now knowing that it had all been just a hallucination, she walked to the wall and began to walk on it until she hung upside down on the ceiling, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Fifteen minutes later she woke up with new strength now, prepared some food, packed it in her backpack and headed out to Sweet Apple Acres to continue harvesting.

The routine was repeated for the next three days until Tuesday, Amara stayed home writing in a notebook while resting sitting in the living room under a warm blanket, she had told Twilight that she had had to take a few trips on royal business during those three days. Speaking of Twilight, she was in the kitchen talking to Spike, who was drinking a delicious cup of hot chocolate made with Amara's secret recipe.

Suddenly their peace was interrupted by a loud knock on the door, Twilight got up and opened the door, a gray pegasus, derp eyes with golden iris and blond hair, she was dressed as a mailpony stood up and dusted herself off "Letter from Miss Applejack” She said, handing her an envelope.

"Thanks." Twilight said "are you okay?"

"Yes, Miss!" She answered with a military salute "It happens to me all the time, I'm a bit clumsy"

"Okay. . .? Well, thanks. . . I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Derpy, Derpy Hooves" suddenly an alarm clock rang, Derpy took it out of her pocket and saw the time "I gotta go, see you later!" Derpy took flight only to collide with the branches of a tree.

Twilight closed the door. "Who was that?" Amara asked without taking her eyes off what she was doing.

"The mailpony, Applejack sent us a letter" Twilight said as she opened the envelope and read its contents.

"And what does it say?"

Twilight looked at her impressed. "It's an invitation, apparently she already finished with the harvest and she wants us to go celebrate with her."

"Wow, so fast?" Spike commented.

"We seem to have underestimate her a bit, maybe too much." Twilight replied.

"Well, we better be there." Amara said.

The three got ready and started towards Sweet Apple Acres, when they were near Twilight noticed how Amara was staring at a hill.
"Amy, is something wrong?" she asked cautiously.

"Uh? Oh! no, no, nothing, I just. . .admired the landscape” she said looking away.

Upon arrival they found the rest of the girls already celebrating with Applejack and Big Mac since Apple Bloom had school.

"Welcome sugar cubes!" Applejack said cheerfully giving each one a hug.

"Congratulations Applejack, I can't believe you did it all alone!" Twilight told her.

"Eeyup! I promised that I would, I harvested everything without the help of anypony” she said proudly.

"Sure. . . nopony” Amara commented with a smile on her face.

"What are you insinuating?" Applejack asked.

Amara shrugged "I don't know, you tell me"

In a second everything fell into place inside Applejack's head. "No. . .it was you?!"

Amara simply nodded. "That explains why I founded trees that I didn't remember kicking! I thought I was losing the bolts faster than a rusty mechanical bull!" she said with a tone between relief, surprise and fury "How much did you harvest?!!"

"About three and a half quarters of everything, although I'm not entirely sure, I started three days ago." she answered.

"All that in three days?!! How?!" Applejack asked.

"Well, I'm stronger than I look, insects don't have body fat so I'm pure muscle, besides I don't sleep, I only take short naps during the day."

"But you are not even a farmer, how did you learn to harvest apples so fast?"

"Well, I had a little help."

Applejack growled "BIG MAC!!" The red stallion had already taken the lead and was running at full gallop as far as possible, Applejack began to chase him while shaking her hat to the winds.

The others just laughed. Amara went to pour herself something to drink when she saw her reflection in the punch bowl 'She was right, Applejack will never thank me.' she said to herself laughing remembering the words of the mare in her hallucination. But the laugh was short-lived as she felt a cold touch on her shoulder, a familiar voice whispered in her ear "I told you"