A fair skinned teenage boy with short, dark brown hair stirred from his sleep, noting he was sleeping in the shaded area under an apple tree. For a second, he remembered that this wasn’t where he went to sleep last, so he figured he was in a dream. He gave a short yawn and laid back down, about to close his eyes when a girl looking similar to him suddenly towered over him.
“Whoa!” The boy shouted, jolting awake and sitting up. “Give me a break, sis.” He told her as she giggled.
“Brandon, you lazy bum. Figures you’d be the one to wake up second.” The girl said, still laughing a bit as she bit down on an apple she was holding.
“Oh, be quiet, ‘Kairi.’” Brandon joked, what with the certain scene the two nearly re-created.
“Me, be quiet? As if.” ‘Kairi’ replied, leaning against the tree and eating the apple.
Brandon stood up, still feeling a bit dizzy. “Okay, let’s get serious for a second. Where are we, Brianna?” He asked, calling his twin sister by her real name.
“I’d guess some apple orchard, because we sure as hell don’t have a tree in Jordan’s backyard.” Brianna replied, pointing up to the rows of trees with apples in them. Jordan referred to a friend of theirs that they had been living with for a few months after moving out of their parent’s home.
“So, how’d we get here?” Brandon also asked.
“Dunno, but I’ll think about that after I’m finished with this.” Brianna said, finishing off the apple and storing the core in her pocket. “I’ll find a place to throw that out later, it just wouldn’t be right to throw a core down here.”
“Tell me, was it delicious?” Brandon asked, since it was obvious he wasn’t getting the answer to his first question.
“Like you wouldn’t believe! Seriously, I don’t normally have raw apples, but these are just heavenly!” Brianna beamed, backing up from the tree.
“What are you gonna do, buck it?” Brandon laughed. “You’re not Apple-“
Brianna kicked the tree, at least getting one apple to fall, though slightly hurting her foot in the process. “Ow…okay, my foot is good enough collateral damage for an awesome apple.” She said, hanging the apple to her brother.
“Wow, so you CAN applebuck to an extent.” Brandon said, a little impressed and taking the apple.
“With some training, I bet AJ would be happy to see any girl become a quick applebucking expert!” Brianna said as the two started walking while Brandon bit down on the apple.
Brandon made sure to chew and swallow his bite before answering. “Wow, this IS great! Just imagine what you could do with these apples!”
“I’d make the best damn apple pie ever! Now, if only I could actually cook…” Brianna said, crossing her arms.
“Or, we could make apple juice make a comeback in our lives after not having it for so many years.” Brandon suggested.
“Argh, now I WANT apple juice!” Brianna said, hearing a couple voices. “Bro, do you…”
“I hear them, too.” Brandon said, keeping quiet and staying behind a tree where Brianna propped herself up against.
One of the voices had a southern accent tied to it while the other was a bit more subdued. They heard something about training somewhere in there, but nothing too specific.
“Did Jordan take us to a farm and we forgot about it or something?” Brianna whispered.
“Nah, I doubt we’d have amnesia about the last few hours of a trip with no trauma or anything.” Brandon whispered back.
The twins hopped from tree-based cover to tree-based cover, hearing the voices sound closer. They could make out the voices a bit easier as well.
“…Jack, we’ve still got a month! I’m sure we’ll get the other girls as fit as a fiddle!” The second voice said before a banging sound was heard near the voices.
“Okay, she only said Jack…” Brianna breathed out with relief.
“Please, you thought that Apple would’ve preceded that?” Brandon rolled his eyes at her.
“Plus, you-know-who will be coming back the day before.” The voice from before said in a teasing manner.
“Ah know, Vi’! Ah’m just not sure if we’ll be ready in jus’ one month!” The girl with the southern accent replied.
“Vi? I guess like Violet.” Brianna guessed.
“With you being scared before, I was sure you were gonna say Vinyl.” Brandon said with a chuckle.
“Oh, be quiet.” Brianna replied.
“Me, be quiet? As if.” Brandon shot back.
“Now, one last tree and ah’m headed for the showers!” The southern voice said, followed by another bang.
“I’ll do a couple extra while I’m at it.” The other girl added. “You go and shower, sis. I’ll be right with you.” She said.
The twins moved closer, getting a glimpse of one of the girls. She had two different shades of blue as her hair colors, prompting Brianna’s eyes to widen.
“Th-that’s…” Brianna said, moving behind the tree she girl was standing in front of as a more musical bang rung through the air. Brianna covered her ears a bit late, as her ears were ringing from the blast. “Could this GET any worse!?” She whispered to herself as a couple apples bonked her on the head, making her fall over.
“It got worse…” Brandon said, still a couple trees away from her.
-----------------------------
Brianna looked up at the blue-haired girl that was very clearly worried about her. The combination of the loud bang and the apple headshots made her a little dizzy on top of her ears still ringing. “Hang on…can’t hear you yet…” She said, unsure of how loud she was. The other girl seemed to understand and sat down with her as Brianna brought a hand to her head.
In the meantime, Brandon had approached the two and kneeled down in front of his sister. “Sis…” Brianna could faintly hear. “Sis, speak to me.” Brandon had told her, the sound coming in a bit clearer.
“Alright, I hear you.” Brianna told him, shaking her head.
The blue-haired girl sighed in relief at hearing her response. “Well, thank Celestia for that.” She said, watching the both of the twins’ eyes widen. “Are you guys okay?”
“Huh? Oh, sorry.” Brandon said, turning to the girl. ‘Wow, so she IS Vinyl. I mean, it’s GOTTA be, right? But, she’s…human.’ He thought, shaking his head after having stared at her for a good few seconds.
“Are you two sure you’re okay? Maybe I should take you guys over to Redheart, just to be sure.” The Vinyl Scratch-like girl replied.
“We’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Brianna said, standing up. “I’m Brianna Sky, and this is my brother Brandon. What’s your name?” She asked, nudging Brandon to follow along just in case he wondered why she asked for a name the two already know.
Fortunately for her, Brandon got the hint and simply stood up with her.
“Name’s Vinyl Almata Apple Scratch.” Vinyl said, standing as well.
It took the twins a bit of effort to prevent another twin eye widening, with Vinyl having introduced herself as part of the Apple family.
“So…uh, Apple, huh?” Brianna awkwardly said back. “I’ve heard that’s a pretty big family.” She randomly commented, the awkwardness doubling with asking for information she already knew. ‘Big enough to somehow include Vinyl of all people…’
“Eeyup, it sure is.” Vinyl replied, her red-colored eyes darting between the twins. “There’s no mistaking twins when I see them, that’s for sure.” She said with a grin.
“Well, you’d guess right.” Brianna replied as she noticed Vinyl’s grin disappearing.
Vinyl had been looking at Brandon, but down at his hand which had a half-eaten apple in it.
Brandon wondered where she was looking until he remembered the fruit. ‘Ohh, I’m in a lot of trouble…’
“I can explain!” Brianna quickly interjected as Vinyl looked back up at both of them with a neutral expression. “We just woke up a little while ago and we thought we were on a farm a friend of ours knows, so we just had a couple apples. We didn’t realize it was Sweet Apple Acres until we saw you and…the other girl applebucking! I’m really sorry, honest, it wasn’t just his fault! Here, I have the core from the one I ate to prove it!” She said, pulling out the core from before. She had almost called Applejack by name until she stopped herself to avoid raising suspicion.
Vinyl inspected the apple core before walking up to the two of them, keeping her neutral face. Just when the twins seemingly couldn’t get any more nervous, her grin returned and she started laughing. “It’s cool, guys. Heck, my sister Applejack would be happy with that honesty.” She said to them. “Us Apples can understand if you were just hungry. In fact, why don’t you join us for lunch later?”
The twins both blinked and sighed with relief. “That’d be great, Vinyl. Oh, and thanks a lot.” Brandon replied.
“Don’t mention it, Brandon.” Vinyl told him. “It’s still a while until lunch, so would you want to join me and Applejack for some exercises?”
Brianna shrugged, since the two had nothing better to do. “Sure, why not? Lead the way!”
“Cool, now follow me.” Vinyl instructed. After a few steps, she held her hands out to stop them. “Oh, and that’ll be two bits for the apples.” She said in a serious tone. Once she heard one of them audibly gulp, she chuckled again. “Didn’t I just tell you it’s alright? Relax a little.” She said without even turning around.
The twins looked between each other, with Brianna glaring at Brandon.
“While we walk, did you guys have any questions about the farm?” Vinyl asked as they continued walking.
“Umm…” Brandon mumbled, turning to Brianna. “Do we try to spill the beans, or just throw out random questions?” He whispered.
“I’m still wondering that myself…” Brianna whispered back.
“If you guys wanna know anything, just lay it on me.” Vinyl prompted them.
Brianna took an extra breath and began. “Actually…”