Applejack's Vacation

by ImmaGenericWriter

Chapter 1

Applejack drew her knife, ready to cut into the apple her family had worked on for several months.

“So much for having the winning apple in the Appleloosa State Fair, huh?” Rainbow Dash commented after she revealed the gigantic apple. It still amazed her that any fruit could grow so big without the aid of Unicorn magic.

Applejack sighed as her ears drooped. Even though this would be the crowning achievement of her life as an apple farmer, she had no choice. She would lose the apple, or lose her friend.

With the knife inches away from the prized apple, she stopped. “Ya’ll hear that?” She asked, dropping the knife.

“I don’t hear anything,” Spike commented from his spot behind the mirror. “I just hear Rainbow’s wings flapping.”

Even with this said, the rest of them still listened carefully, but could only hear the sound of wing beats.

“I don’t hear anything either.” Rainbow Dash said from her spot next to Twilight. The purple Unicorn did a double take upon hearing her friend speak.

“Uh, Rainbow?”

“Yes?”

“If we aren’t hearing your wings flapping, and I’m down here as well…” Twilight trailed off, turning her gaze to the darkened sky.

Sure enough, Flutterbat was hovering mid-air, staring them down. Once she realised that she had been spotted, she dove at them with a hiss.

“Duck!” Pinkie Pie shouted, snapping the rest of the group out of their shock. They swiftly obeyed, allowing their transformed friend to harmlessly pass over them.

Applejack, being the first to recover, noticed the bat-pony hybrid diving again, only this time straight towards the giant apple.

Thinking fast, she leapt behind her prized apple and pulled the mirror out while shouting, “Get a move on, Spike!” She refused to buck the apple out of the way, not wanting to bruise it.

She had completely abandoned the original plan. She might still be able to win the State Fair if she could prevent

With the mirror now being maneuvered by both Applejack and Spike, they were able to get the mirror in the path of their friend.

To her unending joy, they made it in time. Flutterbat locked gazes with her mirrored self.

---

“… and in first place, Applejack!” Sheriff Silver Star announced, followed by much cheering from the town ponies. Nearly the everypony had gathered for the fair to take this time to relax.

“Well done, Applejack.” Chief Thunderhooves congratulated her as he placed a red ribbon with a big ‘1’ in the centre on the gigantic apple.

Every year the buffalo would partake in the festival as a way to increase their relationship with the fairly new town. As a way to show the buffalo that they wanted their friendship, the town had appointed Chief Thunderhooves as one of the judges in the fair.

He moved to the next contestant, an orange mare with a poofy mane that was a much darker shade of orange. On the second place pedestal beside her stood a carrot no larger than a pony, but interestingly enough had grown two arms and two legs much like a minotaur’s. The arms were flexed, as if displaying its non-existent muscles. “You did well, Golden harvest. I am certain that you will come in first place next year.”

She bowed her head slightly as he placed a yellow ribbon with a big ‘2’ in the centre on the carrot. “Thank you, Chief Thunderhooves.” There was more cheering, but slightly more subdued.

Finally, the chief moved to the third place pedestal. Standing next to a pony sized cabbage was a brown stallion with a messy mane that was light green and had several streaks of white in it. His cutie mark displayed a cart filled with, you guessed it, cabbages.

“A valiant effort, Cabbage Core.” Said the chief of the buffalo as he placed a green ribbon with a ‘3’ in the centre onto the cabbage. Again, there was cheering, but not as loud as what Golden Harvest had gotten.

“Thank you, Chief.” He replied, looking at his cabbage with pride.

“Now,” the Chief began softly, turning to face the crowd. “Let the feast begin!”

“Feast? What feast?” Cabbage Core asked. This was both the first year he had entered into the competition and the first year he had been to the Fair. The stallion had heard about it through some of his customers.

Applejack and Golden Harvest had already removed their ribbons from their entries, preferring not to lose them in the coming frenzy. They both chuckled slightly and exchanged knowing looks.

With no warning, the crowd that surrounded the three winners surged forward, tearing into the massive products.

“My cabbage!” The stallion cried out in horror. He looked at the flying cabbage bits with the same level of horror that one might have when you witness another individual being torn apart.

Oblivious to the borderline mental breakdown their fellow contestant was having, Applejack and Golden Harvest shook hooves. “Nice try Golden, but yer gonna have ta do better than that next year.”

“Oh I intend to, Applejack,” she replied with a smile, “the competition isn’t nearly as interesting without you here. Don’t you dare slack off! I want to beat you fair and square.”

“Oh dun’ worry, Ah intend to show you who the better farmer is again next year.” Applejack said jokingly, breaking the hoof shake. The two of them have been frenemies for a long time now. They used their competition against each other as a way to motivate themselves to constantly improve.

“Ha!” She barked out, stepping away from her rival and disappeared into the crowd.

---

“Applejack?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“I think you need to stop this.” Twilight said as she waved a hoof up and down towards her friend. “I know you want to be as prepared for the next State Fair, but this is preposterous!”

“What do ya mean, Twi’?” Applejack asked in genuine confusion. “Ah’m jus’ doin’ as Granny Smith said. She might be old, but she sure knows a hecka lot about apple farmin’! There is nothin’ wrong with some creative apple growin’.”

Twilight gave a stare so flat that it could have been seen as one dimensional. She lit up her horn, levitating a full sized mirror into view.

It showed Applejack wearing a necklace made out of apple stems, some of them still had a leaf or two on them. Her Stetson had been painted red except for a part on the side that was white with a black-ish brown blob in the middle. Even with the deformed shape, it was obviously meant to be an apple. Her fetlocks had several red apples strung around them. Upon closer inspection, they too were held together by apple stems.

She stood on one hind leg, the other one pressed firmly against an apple tree. Her forelegs were stretched at an angle above her head. “Wut?” Applejack asked with the same amount of confusion as before.

Twilight did the only sensible thing in a situation like this. She lifted a hoof and introduced it to her face. The two became quick friends, but sadly the hoof was needed to keep Twilight from falling down so they had to part ways rather quickly.

“Look, Applejack,” Twilight said as she put the mirror down, it would do her no more good now, “I know that this is important to you and all, but you’ve been at this for nearly two weeks! Worse, it’s escalating! Rainbow Dash said she saw you sneaking up on this tree and tried to scare it! Why would you even try to scare a tree?!”

“Granny said that we need to keep the tree on its toes!” Applejack retorted, shifting her forelegs into a different angle. “Ain’t no rest for a prize winnin’ apple tree!”

She held this new pose for a few seconds, all the while Twilight’s eye twitched madly, before she dropped down to all four hooves and said, “Now if ya’ll excuse me, Ah gotta go get Bloombulk, he has been oglin’ Leafana for a while now.”

“No… just... no… Wait right here.” Twilight commanded before blinking away in a brief flash of purple light. A few moments later she returned with Zecora.

The Zebra was covered in suds with her eyes wide open in shock as she was levitated by Twilight’s purple aura. “Lat my gan jou mal ding voordat ek jou klap dat jou ore sing!” She shouted in her native language, far too angry and embarrassed to speak proper Equestrian.

Twilight looked confused at her words, but when Zecora swiped at her the message was clear. The levitation magic was cut off and she landed on her hooves, glaring at Twilight.

“Ahehehehe… Let me get that for you.” She fired up her horn again, producing a stream of water to hose the soap off of the Zebra. She never let her glare waver, even though her mane covered half of her face. With a sheepish smile, Twilight cast another spell to dry off the shamaness.

“I hope you have a good reason for interrupting my bath, otherwise I will show you my wrath.” Zecora said, still glaring.

Twilight merely nodded as she pointed to the side where Applejack, still in her strange get up, was busy spraying some of Big Macintosh’s cologne on a tree while saying encouraging words like ‘No way she can resist ya!’ and ‘Look at dat bark!’ and even ‘Go plant yer seed!’.

“… The flower known as poison joke, did she have any of it to smoke?”

Twilight considered the question seriously for a bit before she finally shook her head. “Apparently it’s some sort of ritual to make an apple grow to be half as big as a tree.”

Zecora kept staring at Applejack, who by now was making some very suggestive gestures. “I never thought she would use such a strange ritual. Applejack always seemed like a rational individual.”

“She usually is, but I have no idea what’s causing this! It’s as if she became a different pony when she came back from the fair!”

Zecora considered this before she asked, “How often does she take a break?”

“I… I am not sure.” Twilight replied. She raked her brain, trying to think of the times she had seen her friend relax. “When she sleeps or visits any of us, though I’m not too sure.”

Zecora nodded as she watched Applejack drag the now uprooted tree towards them. She would occasionally look back and wiggle her eyebrows at the other tree. “If I had to take a wild guess, I would say that this is caused by stress.”

“Stress?” Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Why would she be stressed only now? She’s been doing this for years before I even met her.”

“I think it is because a lot has been happening recently,” She began thinking of when the entire forest grew spiky tentacles that tried to capture as many ponies as possible and shuddered at the thought. She also remembered that Twilight had told her that they were teleported into a comic book world and had to fight another tentacle-using enemy. “… crazy things have been happening with increased frequency.”

Twilight was about to argue that the rest of her friends have been through all of it with Applejack, but stopped short. They all have had time to relax in between the craziness. Rainbow Dash loves practising stunts in her free time. Fluttershy is as calm as calm can be when she is with her animals. Rarity relaxes by making dresses, which puts food on her plate. Pinkie Pie… is Pinkie Pie. Twilight didn’t even have to worry about providing for herself or Spike since the Princess sends her enough bits each month.

But on top of all the craziness, Applejack has to make sure that she sells enough apples to keep her family fed. She might have Big Macintosh to help her, but it is still a big burden to carry. “You’re right. I never even considered that she might be overdoing it…”

Zecora nodded in agreement. The Zebra might not be as familiar with Applejack as her other friends, but she knew enough about her to know that a week at a luxurious hotel would do anything but relax her.

Fortunately, Zecora knew of the perfect vacation for Applejack. “Come, Twilight Sparkle. Let us take our leave. I must tell you of the plan I have up my sleeve.”

Author's Note:

And here I thought I would have less time to write since I came to University. As it turns out, I do have less time. But here's the thing, I don't have an internet connection to play Warframe or Dota anymore.

So I thought I'd try writing a light hearted fic, it's my first attempt at one so please tell me what you guys think!

Oh, and for those who don't want to open Google Translate:
“Lat my gan jou mal ding voordat ek jou klap dat jou ore sing!"
"Let me go you crazy thing before I slap you and let your ears sing!"

Comments

[VGI]

I am amazed at your Zecora dialogues. You've nailed it 100%! It flows naturally. It rhymes! And it SOUNDS AND FEELS like Zecora! It was soooo easy to imagine her voice and actions as she spoke her dialogues!

NAILED IT!

Thumbs up and tracking this story...

A few points of possible improvements and possible errors:
1. With the mirror now being manoeuvred by both Applejack and Spike, they were able to get the mirror in the path of their friend.
- maneuvered

2. Don’t you dare slack off; I want to beat you fair and square.
- Don’t you dare slack off! I want to beat you fair and square.

3. “Oh dun’ worry, Ah intend to show you who the better farmer is again next year.”

4. She also remembered that Twilight had told her that they were teleported into a comic book world and had to fight another tentacle using enemy.
- Personal suggestion: She also remembered that Twilight had told her that they were teleported into a comic book world and had to fight another tentacle-using enemy.

5. Personal suggestion: You may want to put Zecora's native dialogue like this ->“Lat my gan jou mal ding voordat ek jou klap dat jou ore sing!" ("Let me go you crazy thing before I slap you and let your ears sing!" - Google Translate)

The first time I read, “Lat my gan jou mal ding voordat ek jou klap dat jou ore sing!" I thought you were just making it up. It would be nice to know from the get-go that it isn't a made-up thing.

[ImmaGenericWriter]

5586986
I'm really glad you're enjoying it so far!
I fixed up those errors you pointed out, thanks! ^^

As for Zecora's language, it's Afrikaans, my home language in fact. So no, it's not made up. Though to be honest Zecora would probably talk Xhosa or isiZulu, but I'm not fluid enough in either of those to write her with 'em.

[VGI]

5587068 You're welcome and...

...wow...