The Secret Success Of Sweet Apple Acres

by DerpyStarlet

Work As Usual

At the crack of dawn
At a chickens call
A cowgirl arises
Ready for all

A farmer at heart
An apple to the core
Applejack the honest
Reliable, hard-working, and more

Ready to go
Raring to go
But breakfast comes first
It’s healthy you know

After she starts her day
With a plate of oats and hay
She gets herself going
With work and not play

Tending the farm
Working the fields
Fixing the barn
Seeing what the crop yields

Gathering lots of apples
Apple tree bucking
All this work she tackles
And she keeps on trucking

A figure crests the hill
And heads deeper into the farm
But the farmer smiles
For the figure means no harm

She intercepts the figure
And looks him up and down
And just by looking at him
She knows he’s from out of town

“Howdy there, partner!
Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres.
Best apples in Equestria,
And we ain’t no fakers!”

The cowgirl smiles pleasantly
The stranger smiles back
They shake hooves
And he answers with tact

“So I’ve heard,
And I was hoping to buy.
But it’d be just great,
If I could give your wares a try?”

“Well, sure Sugarcube.
Come and follow me.
I’ve got fresh produce,
Straight from the tree.”

And so the farmpony led
Deeper in they tred
The stranger unknowing
And the cowgirl carefully goading

They reached the barn
And the cowgirl swung around
Picking a tree and bucking
Then picking the apple that fell from the ground

The stranger takes it
Being sure to wipe any dust away
He bites into the succulent fruit
And swallows to say:

“These are great, as always.
Though one things not clear,
How do you make them so good?
That’s what I’d like to hear.”

The farm pony chuckles
The question is asked countless amounts
And each time presents an opportunity
And she takes this opportunity into account

“That right there is a secret
And well kept one to be honest,
But I’m feeling generous
So I’ll show you what makes our apples the best.”

And so she leads him into the barn
The stranger follows behind her
The door shuts and locks
Leaving them stuck in there

Neither of the two panic
For the stranger assumes it was meant
And it very much was
He just didn’t know the intent

“This here’s where the magic happens
We make our own fertilizer right there
And it sure does stink
But I’m sure you can bear.”

“The fertilizer certainly smells
As I’m sure you can tell.
But it smells like something dead
Or is that all in my head?”

The cowgirl chuckles darkly
Pulling a hidden object out of the hay
She makes sure it’s clean
Before turning to him to say:

“I apologize for that
I really do
But this fertilizer
Is not merely poo.”

“A body contains all the nutrients we need
And we’ve realized something wonderful.
If we put that in when we plant the seed
It greatly improves the crop and makes it tasteful.”

“That must be the smell
But don’t pay it any heed
You won’t have to worry anymore
Once I’ve done the deed.”

The stranger trembles in fear at her speech
For she had since revealed her object
A knife that had been cleaned with bleach
Making it clean and letting light reflect

He wanted to cry out
He wanted some help
But it mattered naught
If he uttered a single yelp

For they were deep in the orchard
And the barn muffled all sound
And no matter if he tried hard
His cries would be bound

The cowgirl lunged and he squealed
The knife plunging into his stomach and up
The body slumped and the knife clattered
The cowgirl left the body to cleanup

Washing her hooves in a nearby trough
And cleaning the knife in kind
She grins down at the body
Thanking chance for her lucky find

With her hooves cleaned of all trace
And the stranger dealt with easily
She leaves the barn at a quick pace
Getting back to her chores giddily

Moments later, she’s joined by a sound
The sound of joyful laughter
She looks up and around
Looking for the source to the noise

The owner makes themselves known
They come up on her and she pauses
They smile kindly at each other
The newcomer speaks up

“Hey Applejack! How’s work?”
Asks a pink party pony
Hopping in place giddily
Her eagerness definitely isn’t phony

“We just met our quota
Thanks to the latest resource we’ve earned.”
Applejack thinks back fondly
While her friend smiles, unconcerned

“That’s great to hear!
Say, you wouldn’t have seen my new friend?
He was headed here
But I don’t know where he went.”

“He arrived a while back
But he’s not with us anymore.
He departed in fact
If only you’d stopped by before.”

Her friend only frowned slightly
Then she returned to regular
Not sensing anything shady
Smiling and none the wiser

“Okay, I’ll keep looking
He couldn’t have got far.
Good luck with your working,
I’ve got a pony to search for.”

As her friend hopped off, aloof
And she returned to the task at hoof
She couldn’t help but feel satisfied
About the stallion that died

A twisted grin
And a merry tune
And Applejack keeps bucking
Long into the afternoon

She made sure to lock the barn
So no ponies will go wandering where they shouldn’t
And now she must wait
Though she almost feels like she couldn’t

At a giddy pace
The work speeds up greatly
The time is never a waste
And the work is done enthusiasticly

The day continues without interruption
And her work is finished with gumption
As she retires to bed after the days ordeal
She thinks on it’s mundane feel

It was just work as usual
And every weeks the same old routine
Eat, work, sleep, repeat
Even if she harbors a secret noponies seen

There at Sweet Apple Acres
With the best apples in Equestria
And Applejack will do whatever it takes her
To keep it that way

Author's Note:

Just a short little one shot, partially because it was an assignment... but I chose this topic because it instantly intrigued me. I never expected it to get so long. But once it started dragging into more and more pages I thought `Hey, this is getting long enough to submit.` The one I'm turning in is less complete than the one on here, because it was just barely under the 1000 word minimum... but it's still complete, mostly. And don't worry! This is the complete version! It's already longer than I think my teacher expects. Of course, I turned an editorial piece that didn't need to be very long into a three page paper all about the future of Scootaloo and the show in general... so, who knows. maybe he's come to expect it by now.
I know that he reads my free-writes, which are all about magic theory. and me piecing together magic as a concept on paper, and writing various magical workings... I get good grades on this stuff, so I must be doing something right. Back to the Scootaloo thing, maybe I'll post it as a blog if y'all are interested in hearing a pony editorial. I dunno, tell me what you think in the comments.

As always, remain amazing everypony! You are you and I am me, we can't be eachother... unless we're changelings. huh... well, let's hope neither of us are changelings! also, comments are very much appreciated!
<3 Hearts! <3 and a Brohoof! /)

Comments

[CCC]

Hmmm.

The "twist" was predictable; dark for dark's sake, it appears. Pinkie's character is dead-on, despite the brevity of her appearance; though Applejack is badly out of character, above and beyond the whole dark not-a-twist; canon Applejack is a terrible liar, yet this Applejack twists the truth like a pro, diverting Pinkie's attention perfectly. You've certainly got the basics of "show, don't tell" down, and you present the story in an interesting format; but the story being presented is simply too predictable to earn an upvote from me. (No downvote, either; I'll just leave my opinion on 'neutral').

[Good Fedora Pony]

Well, this was new. It's good in my mind, I like poetry fairly well, but I can't help but wonder if improvement can be made here.hmm. What was your test score anyway?

[DJ_DEMO3]

Those apples sound good. Maybe appleJack was faking being a bad liar to be more innocent to the others.

[DerpyStarlet]

5170866
She doesn't lie... per se. She more of bends the truth. And while she's the element of honesty, I like to think that gives her a sort of advantage over truth for this. It's manipulation, certainly. But she doesn't truly lie...

5169061
And Yes, very predictable.

5169761
It wasn't a test, jujust an assignment. But we had a substitute, so we couldn't turn it in yet.

[Good Fedora Pony]

5171143 OOOoooooh, I was thinking it was one in the same but in different parts of the education world, the word "assignment" and "test" was the same thing.
Then again, I haven't been in a "official" class sense third grade. Heehe, so I may be alone In that mistake oh well. Further more, I agree that Apple jack can bend the truth. If she can do it once, then the second time is easier, and the way this is going, she's been at this, a vary, long time. she will never fail, hehe.