One typical late morning at Sweet Apple Acres.
“Alrighty, anypony left?” Applejack asked as Raisin Brandy loaded the apples into the cart which Nikula Alder was mounted onto.
“Uh, I think there’s Bloodthirst over there,” Raisin replied, pointing to Bloodthirst’s direction. He was balancing a basket of apples, with Malinae accompanying him.
“So, how you’ve been working? Been a few hours you’re here,” asked Fiji as Bloodthirst emptied the basket of apples into the cart.
“Eh, well, I’m doing great here,” he replied. “At least, better than staying at home all day while waiting for every few days to work at Sugarcube Corner.”
“Hey, Mom, just curious,” she turned to her mother. “Why didn’t you let him uh… do applebucking?”
“Well, y’know,” said Applejack. “I got a reason behind this, but it’s pretty hard for me to explain.”
“Hey Bloodthirst,” Apple Bloom called. “Just to be sure, can you try to buck that tree?” she said, pointing to an apple tree close to the fence.
“Alright, here I go…” he walked up to the tree, and taking a deep breath, he kicked the tree with his hind legs, but it was way too hard, and just as everyone witnessed, the tree fell down and crushed the fence with a crash, leaving their jaws wide open.
“Oops,” murmured Sweet Potion.
“Okay, now I know why,” Niku admitted. “I totally forgot about the incident back at the engagement party.”
Bloodthirst could only look at the damage he’d done, speechless.
“I… I’ll pay for it, I promise,” he stammered to Applejack, but she didn’t look at all cross.
“Nah, it’s okay, Sugarcube,” she told him. “At least that wasn’t intentional.”
At that moment a pink, maroon-haired earth pony mare came rushing towards them.
“What just happened?” she exclaimed before she saw the fallen tree. “Goodness! How did that fall?”
“Err, we wanted to see if he’s capable of um, falling a tree, y’know,” said Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, to see how strong he is,” added Raisin.
“Who are you talking about?”
“I-it’s me, you know,” Bloodthirst admitted meekly.
“Huh? Who are you?” The mare was getting more and more puzzled.
“In case you don’t know,” began Applejack.
“He’s Bloodthirst the vampire pony!” Malinae interrupted, finishing her mother’s sentence.
“Huh? Bloodthirst? When have I heard of that name?”
“You know, Maple Blossom, he’s the one we invited to our tea party when he met us for the first time?” reminded Sweet Potion.
“Was it him?”
“Yes, it’s me!” answered Bloodthirst. “Look, I-”
“He’s a good vampire pony! Remember he helped Novella Fantasy from those bullies?” Malinae finished for him. “He works out at Sugarcube Corner, too!”
The mare looked at Bloodthirst.
“So you’re the vampire pony my cousins talked about?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about you! My family told me about your bravery on your expedition and the events at Prince Orion’s engagement ceremony!”
“Really?”
“I forgot to introduce to you about her,” said Applejack. “She’s Maple Blossom, daughter of my brother Big Mac.”
“Mom and Dad don’t speak so much,” Maple replied. “You go talk to them and they’ll answer everything like ‘yup’s and ‘mm-hmm’s.”
“Yeah, speak of which,” interrupted Fiji. “Aren’t you supposed to be with your brother Iron Granite? Where was he?”
“Oh, Iron Granite! He’s as big as my father, but he’s such a scaredy-pony. He went straight back to the barn after he heard that thunderous crash!”
“I suppose I owe him an apology,” said Bloodthirst. “I didn’t know I scared him.”
“C’mon, it’s not your fault!” Malinae emphasized again. ‘’We now know you’re too powerful for that job, okay?”
“Alrighty,” said Applejack. “Let’s finish our duties, then we can gather together!”
Soon, everyone gathered at the main barn at Sweet Apple Acres. They were all treated to apple pies and cider. But Maple Blossom wasn’t with them.
“Where’s Maple?” wondered Applejack. “She should be here with her family.”
“There they are!” pointed Sweet Potion.
Maple arrived. “Sorry, folks,” she began. “It took us a while for him to accompany us to the break.” She moved away to reveal Marble Pie, Big McIntosh and Iron Granite, who was hiding fearfully behind his father. He was as big as him, but unlike his red-colored father, he had his mother’s color scheme.
“Uh… huh,” said Raisin Brandy.
“Wh-where’s that… destructive pony?” Iron Granite stammered.
“Here he is! Now come on, just say hi to him.”
“D-does he-”
“He won’t bite you!” snapped Maple, grabbing his hoof. “Come on, just greet him already!”
She dragged him along, making him stare eye to eye to Bloodthirst, who looked at them bewilderedly.
“So… you’re her brother?” Bloodthirst asked.
“Y-yeah,” Iron replied, his face away from him.
“You’re big, I can say,” commented Bloodthirst. “But, why do you look so scared?”
“B-because, because, I…”
“You what?”
“I’m… I’m scared of, of…”
“Me? But I’m harmless.”
“H-how did you know what I was about to say?”
“I’m… just guessing.”
“Why? Why can everypony know what I was thinking!??”
“Um, maybe, just… coincidence?” asked Sweet Potion.
“But why are you so scared of him?” Malinae inquired.
“I… I knew it… he was the one who made that loud booming sound which made me thought that there’s a monster invading Sweet Apple Acres! And it was so loud I had to run back to the barn for shelter!”
“That’s no monster. It was Bloodthirst showing us how strong he was!” answered Applejack.
“… strong?”
“The more you get to know him, you won’t be scared of him, I guarantee,” said Fiji.
Iron Granite stared at his new guest, still rather fearfully and sat on the table to eat his pie without a word.
“It’s okay, he’s always like this,” Maple Blossom assured him. “He’s rather scared in meeting new guests, I always told him, he’ll be fine if you warm up with him eventually. I’m sure Mom and Dad can agree with me.”
“Mm-hmm,” replied Marble.
“Eeyup,” added Big Mac.
“Yeah, hey, why don’t you come to the rock farm this weekend?” Maple asked him. “You know, I sometimes go with my cousin Pepper Flake as part-time jobs. Mom used to work there with my aunts. Maybe you can come with us to watch us over.”
“The rock farm?” he asked. “I… I never knew there was a rock farm.”
“My grandparents have their business there. They make money from selling rocks for a fortune. They rocks they sell serve a lot of purposes!”
“You should go there,” suggested Applejack. “I’ve been there with my family during Hearth’s Warming Eve, and I can tell you everything. And that’s when Big Mac first met Pinkie’s sister!”
“Eeyup.”
“So you should probably go there and try a bit of that work! You can go check with Rarity about it. I think that shouldn’t be tough for ya.”
“Seriously?”