Applejack - Peyote
Applejack wiped the sweat from her brow before unscrewing the cap from her canteen and taking a long pull of the cold water inside. Another day’s farm work was complete, and in good time too. While the farm needed less care as the Fall season drifted towards Winter, there was still plenty to be done to make sure her trees were healthy and ready to resume growing when Spring came along next year.
She squinted toward the Sun in the sky, judging its distance from the horizon. About 3 o’ clock I’d reckon. Glad I got an early start on the chores today. She smiled and began trotting back to the farmhouse.
Applejack hadn’t had a chance lately to catch up with the girls due to her work on the farm. Yesterday Rainbow Dash had invited her to see a hoofball game in Canterlot, and luckily the season’s work was winding down enough for her to tag along, as long as she worked quickly.
Just in time for cider season, too. I’ll have to bring some along with me or Rainbow will never let me live it down. She chuckled to herself.
As she made her way back for a well-deserved shower, she spotted a gray-coated pegasus come in for a landing near her mailbox. Applejack waved at Ponyville’s resident mailmare. “Good afternoon, Ditzy! How’re the rounds treating ya?”
Ditzy Doo opened her saddlebag, then returned the wave. “Afternoon, Applejack! It’s going swell! Just one letter to give you and then my day is done and I can go pick up little Dinky from school.”
Ditzy hoofed over the letter, gave a lopsided salute, and sped away into the air. Applejack watched her leave with a smile. Such a loving parent. Reminds me of Ma, she does. Applejack soaked in the warm nostalgia for a moment before turning over the letter in her hooves. Cousin Braeburn? Shoot, I haven’t heard from him in months! She tore open the letter and began to read.
Dear Cousin,
Hope the farm is doing well!
Us Appleloosa Apples are getting ready for this year’s Coming of Age Ceremonies. It’s time for you to gain a deeper connection with the Earth, just like ol’ Big Mac before you, and your Ma and Pa before that. Don’t eat supper the night before, or breakfast on the day of the ceremony, and come down with nothing but an open mind.
We’ll see you next week.
Love,
Braeburn & Family
“Shhhhoot! Forgot all about that mumbo-jumbo!” She stomped a hoof in frustration. “And what the hay does he mean a ‘deeper connection with the Earth’? I’m an Earth Pony, I get along just fine already!”
Braeburn’s side of the family were known to have some odd ideas about Earth Pony magic and how it works, which caused some tension with her extended family in the past. Still, despite their strange beliefs, they were honest folk, and hard-working as any Apple should be, so the rest of the family humored them to stay on good terms. Applejack remembered when Big Mac left for a week a few years back for his own ‘ceremonial retreat’. Oddly enough, when he returned he seemed to work harder on the farm than ever before, and their crops that year were even better than usual.
Spying the large red stallion exiting the house, Applejack trotted over to meet him. “Hey Big Mac, just got a letter from the cousins in Appleloosa, looks like it’s my turn for that Coming of Age malarky.”
Big Mac paused in thought before he replied. “...Yup, I guess it is. Would’ja look at that, my little sis is growing up.” He gave a playful noogie to the orange mare before his hoof was swatted away.
“Consarnit Mac, I’ve been working at this farm since I was a young’un, same as you.” Applejack snorted in frustration. “Ain’t no need for any of this ‘Ceremony’ nonsense.”
Big Mac chuckled and shook his head. “I said the same thing when it was my turn. You’ll be fine, little sis. In fact, I bet you’ll have fun.”
Applejack opened her mouth to reply, then shook her head. She knew that she was already pushing her limits with the normally quiet stallion, so she left him be and went inside and upstairs to wash off. Now I’m really looking forward to that hoofball game, gotta get my mind off of all this Appleloosa nonsense.
***
The train coasted to a stop, and Applejack stepped out onto the Appleloosa platform, keeping a hoof on her hat to keep it from sailing away in the desert breeze. She already missed the temperate climate of Ponyville, but luckily the changing of the seasons had come to Appleloosa too, bringing the thermostat down from ‘sweating buckets’ to ‘almost tolerable’. Applejack didn’t like to complain, but she wasn’t a fan of the Summer heat, and was always glad when it started to cool off and she could switch her focus from bucking apple trees under the sun to brewing cider in the Fall.
“Hey cousin, over here!” Applejack glanced over to the end of the train platform, recognizing Braeburn’s voice. The yellow stallion wore his usual stetson and vest, just as she remembered him. She returned his wave and trotted over to give him a familial hug.
“Good to see ya, Braeburn. It’s been a while.”
“Sure has! Glad you could make it.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “You know just as well as I do that I couldn’t miss this. Literally. You woulda hog-tied me and carried me over yer back if I said no.”
“Aw cousin, don’t be like that, it’ll be a good time. And I wasn’t kidding around in that letter, we’ll help you get a deeper connection and a new appreciation for the world we all live on.”
“Sure Brae, whatever you say.” Applejack knew there was no way out of this. She was already here, might as well go along with it and make nice with her extended family.
Just then, Applejack heard a high-pitched noise. For a moment, she thought it might have been the train’s whistle signaling for departure, but when she looked the doors were open and ponies were still filing into the passenger compartments. She perked her ears and glanced around.
“...jack!”
“Applejack!”
“AAAAPLEJACK!”
A pink blur knocked the wind from her lungs and gripped her in a bone-crushing hug. “Pinkie Pie? What in tarnation are you doing in Appleloosa? How come I didn’t see you on the train?”
Pinkie Pie unclamped herself from her friend, and Applejack took the opportunity to catch her breath. “I got here yesterday to help set up for tonight’s ceremony! It’s gonna be so much fun!” The party pony hopped in excitement.
Applejack’s eyebrows came together in confusion. “Wait, you’re here for that?” She turned to Braeburn. “But I thought this was exclusive to the Apple family.”
Pinkie cut in before Braeburn could say a word. “Aw c’mon Applejack, don’t you remember when Twilight found that scroll that said I was your fourth cousin, twice removed? And then Big Mac loaded the cart and took us to Goldie Delicious’ house to check the family history book but the page was all smudged? And then you said-'' Pinkie suddenly adopted an exaggerated country accent. “‘It doesn’t matter what tha book says or doesn’t say. It’s obvious yer an Apple to tha core.’”
Braeburn laughed at Pinkie’s imitation and threw an arm over Pinkie’s withers before turning to Applejack. “And if it’s good enough for Applejack, it’s good enough for me. I’d be happy to have you join us for tonight’s festivities.”
“B-but Pinkie, you’re a baker. Why would you need to ‘deepen your connection with the Earth’ or any of that mumbo-jumbo?”
“Mmm…” Pinkie held a hoof to her chin in thought. “I don’t! But I’ve never tried Peyote before, and it sounds fun!”
“Peyote? Now what in the sam hay is-”
Braeburn cut her off “You’ll find out soon, Applejack. Don’t worry about it. You’ll have a good time, just like Pinkie said. And Pinkie, who knows? Maybe you’ll decide to take up gardening or something after all this is over.” They shared a laugh.
Pinkie led Applejack off the platform just as the train started to depart. “C’mon Applejack, let’s get to the hotel room and get out of this heat. The ceremony doesn’t start until after nightfall.”
***
Pinkie entered the hotel room, followed by Applejack, who closed the door behind her and hung her hat on the coat rack by the entrance. The room was sparsely furnished: plain wooden planks made up the flooring, and aged white wallpaper patterned with bright yellow sunflowers covered the walls. A simple wooden dining table occupied the center of the room, matched on either side by equally unadorned dining chairs. Two cots sat in each corner of the room, and a small refrigerator plugged into the room’s single power outlet on a wall opposite a door leading to a bathroom.
In short, the room would never pass in a place like Canterlot or Manehattan, but Appleloosa was far removed from the hustle and bustle of those cities, and it fit the needs of the ponies here just fine.
Applejack collapsed on top of one of the cots, and blew out a sigh. “Pinkie, what in the hay did we get ourselves into this time?”
Pinkie was in the middle of checking the fridge for snacks, but pulled her head out to address the incredulous mare. “Don’t worry Applejack! They’ve been doing this for generations, it’ll be fine!”
Applejack lifted her head from the pillow to look Pinkie in the eyes. “Can ya at least tell me anything about this ‘peyote’ business? I don’t have a plum clue what that is.”
Not finding any tasty snacks, Pinkie closed the fridge door and walked over to sit in front of Applejack’s bed. “Well, to put it simply, it’s a cactus. A super-duper special cactus. It contains a chemical called mescaline that causes you to see things that aren’t there, and gives you a feeling of warmth, like that happiness you feel the day you finally get your cutie mark. It can also make you feel woozy, or like you’re floating through a dream. Some ponies feel a deep connection to the world around them, which is what it sounds like the Appleloosan ponies are going for here.”
Applejack raised her eyebrows. “That actually doesn’t sound too bad. ‘Cept for the whole ‘seeing things’ business, that is. Sounds downright scary.”
Pinkie raised a hoof over the edge of the bed and rested it on top of Applejack’s own. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. Usually milder hallucinogens like this one are pretty tame. You might see or hear ponies that aren’t there, but they’ll disappear just as quickly as they appeared, and they won’t turn into some spooky monster or anything like that.” She gave a visible shudder, recalling an experience Vinyl had told her about in gruesome detail. “You might even come out of the experience learning something new about yourself. Maybe find yourself a new calling in life!”
Applejack scoffed. “My apples are a perfectly fine calling, thank you kindly.” She leaned up into a sitting position and swung her legs over the bed and onto the floor. “So how long do we got before this whole ceremony begins, anyway? I’m plum famished, and the sooner we’re done with this, the sooner I can get some grub.”
Pinkie looked out the window. The sun was just disappearing over the horizon. The sky was painted in the kinds of brilliant reds and purples that you could only find in a desert sunset. “Braeburn told me to be there an hour after the sun went down. I’m glad you listened to him and didn’t eat anything, that’s to help prevent the nausea, by the way.”
“Well, I’m glad he didn’t say anything about water, at least.” Applejack left the bed and walked over to the pantry, grabbing a glass from a cabinet and filling it from the sink. “I could never live with this heat year-round.”
Pinkie shrugged. “The family rock farm wasn’t much better, to be honest. It should start cooling down now that the sun’s set.”
***
Applejack took a deep breath of the cool night air. “Well I’ll be. You were right, Pinkie! It’s downright pleasant out here now!” The two ponies were walking to the site of the ceremony. Small rocks made a perfect circle around a large bonfire where several members of the Apple family were engaged in conversation. Hammocks were set up outside of the rock circle, which seemed odd to her. Laughs were heard all around. If Applejack didn’t know better, she would have thought this was a simple family reunion.
Pinkie nodded. “Yup! Nights in desert towns like this cool down quickly. There’s so little humidity in the air that it can’t hold the day’s heat in, and the heat just floats off into the sky.”
Applejack stopped and started at the pink pony. “Where in the hay didja learn that, Pinkie?”
“Twilight told me how it worked the last time we came here for a visit.”
“Ah, Twilight, of course.” Applejack resumed her trot, Pinkie bouncing alongside her.
“Ah, there you are, cousin! Hope our hotel was to your liking.” Braeburn had a wide grin on his muzzle, clearly excited for the night’s festivities to begin.
“Suited us well enough, thank you kindly. So, Pinkie filled me in a little bit, but how’s this all gonna go down, Braeburn?”
“Welp, first we’ll lay down some mats for everypony to sit around the fire. We’re getting that set up now. Then we’ll have ol’ Cosmic Crisp over there say a few words, and we’ll hand out the brew to everyone. After that?” The stallion shrugged. “Whatever feels right at the time, I suppose. Some ponies sing, others dance, some just lay in their hammock the whole night, lookin’ up at the stars.”
Applejack glanced over to the fire upon hearing the unfamiliar name. The stallion named Cosmic Crisp was chatting to some ponies beginning to sit down, and he was certainly a character. He wore a large, feathered headdress, and had small gems inter-woven into his braided brown mane. A brown blanket covered the top of his bright red withers all the way down to his dock. He leaned his weight on a long, gnarled walking stick that rattled as he stepped, like it was filled with dozens of little pebbles.
Pinkie Pie approached Applejack's side. “Huh. He reminds me a little of the chief of Yakyakistan.”
Applejack held in a snort of laughter, but only barely. “I can see the resemblance. Let’s go take our seats, I suppose.”
As Pinkie Pie and Applejack picked out a pair of simple thatched straw mats next to each other and sat down, Cosmic Crisp raised his voice, addressing the small, assembled crowd as a whole. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, thank you for coming to the 107th annual Apple Family Coming of Age Ceremony!” The aged stallion stood shakily on his rear legs and raised his arms to the sky to the sound of clopping hooves all around. “This year, like every year before it, we welcome our family members from all around Equestria as they make their journey into adulthood, and seek to give them guidance and greater understanding as they take the next steps in their own personal journey through life. Braeburn will start us off by passing out the tea.”
Braeburn carried a tray filled with orange cups made of clay, and passed a cup to everypony present. Applejack glanced around at the crowd. She didn’t recognize anypony besides Braeburn and Pinkie Pie, but most of the other ponies present, only 8 or 9 in total, had cutie marks which openly showed to anypony looking that they were a proud Apple.
Braeburn came around the circle to Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and both ponies took a cup from the tray. Applejack looked inside the cup and held back a grimace at the sight of the thick, brown liquid. The way it slowly sloshed around the inside of the container reminded Applejack more of the mud inside the pig pens back at the farm than any kind of tea she’d ever drank. She gave a tentative sniff of the brew and was unsurprised to find a decidedly earthy scent, with maybe a hint of flowers.
Once all of the cups had been passed out, Cosmic Crisp began to sing, if you could call it that. A deep, rumbling voice began chanting in words Applejack had certainly never heard before. It certainly wasn’t Equuish, and Applejack wouldn’t have been surprised if somepony had told her that what she was hearing was plain ol’ gibberish. Cosmic Crisp danced in a wild, uncoordinated fashion, spinning on a point while hopping on two hooves, then the other pair of hooves, making a loop around the bonfire all the while. The sound of the ceremonial walking stick rattled through the air underneath the chanting. Applejack turned her head to the side. Pinkie certainly seemed to be enjoying the performance, her eyes wide in rapt attention and her mouth forming a small ‘o’.
The start of the singing seemed to be an unspoken cue, as the ponies around her began to drink from their cups. Applejack took a tentative sip, and wasn’t surprised to find that the bitter brew tasted just like it smelled. There was a hint of lemon, however, probably added in to help with the otherwise bland flavor.
Once everypony had drained their cups,Cosmic Crisp brought his performance to a halt, and took a moment to catch his breath. Once he collected himself, he addressed the crowd once more. “The night is now yours to do with as you please. I ask only that you remain nearby so that those of us who have gone before you can keep an eye on you to make your journey a pleasant one. Please ask any of us if you need some water, or if you feel yourself becoming ill. Thank you, everypony, and may your ancestors watch over you, now and in the future.”
***
Some time passed, and Applejack had weathered the worst of the nausea. She occupied her time rocking back and forth in the hammock, content to simply watch the stars while she waited for the effects to intensify. Her anxiety surrounding the experience had melted away more and more as the ceremony progressed. While the ideas and behaviors were strange to her, it was clear from the organized nature of the proceedings that these folks knew what they were doing, and they had the experience to step in if anything went wrong. Applejack figured she might as well try to enjoy herself. She tried to stop thinking about the work she was missing out on back at the farm, and attempted to let go and fully participate in the experience.
Applejack looked at Pinkie Pie on the hammock beside her own. The newest member of her family sat on her back, hooves folded on her stomach with her eyes closed. Applejack would have thought she fell asleep if it weren’t for the occasional giggles bubbling up from the perpetually peppy pony.
Wanting to check up on one of her best friends, Applejack opened her mouth. “Hey Pinkie, you doin’ alright?”
Pinkie’s eyes fluttered open, and she turned to meet Applejack’s own. “Yupperooni! Just watching the party going on inside my eyelids.” She giggled at her own nonsensical statement.
“...Pinkie? The hay are you talkin’ about?”
“You don’t see it?”
“See what?”
“Hmm. Try closing your eyes for a minute.”
Applejack let out a soft sigh. Just Pinkie bein’ Pinkie. Let it go. She closed her eyes and waited for something to happen, but nothing changed.
Wait a minute…nothing changed. I can still see the stars.
Applejack stared incredulously at the night sky painted on the back of her eyelids. Blinking a few times, she did notice some subtle differences. With her eyes closed, there were less stars, and they were in different positions in the sky. Clouds of color floated behind and between the stars in a mix of colors alien to the nights she was used to in Ponyville, like otherworldly nebulas.
Keeping her eyes closed, she waved her hoof in front of her face, and was amazed to see a ghostly silhouette of her own hoof pass through her personal sky, mixing up the clouds and scattering the stars.
“Well ain’t that somethin’.” Applejack continued waving her hoof through the air. Pinkie giggled and laid her head back against her hammock, resuming her own journey through the cosmos.
A few moments later, Applejack opened her eyes again, expecting to see the sky as she remembered it, but was shocked to find that every star in the sky was swaying slowly back and forth alongside the moon. She followed the dance for several moments before she put the pieces together and realized that the stars weren’t swaying at all. Applejack was still swinging the hammock gentle back and forth. She chuckled to herself, feeling more than a little silly.
She felt an urge to move, and Applejack rose from the hammock and swung her legs onto the ground. Something was telling her that she needed to sit by the fire, and she dutifully complied. However, as she took the first few steps away from the hammock, her ears caught a sound that immediately made her nostalgic. A filly’s laughter filled her ears, and a young orange mare with a yellow mane and tail darted around her side, closely followed by a larger red colt chasing in a foalhood game of tag. The pair looped around her once, twice, ghostly neon traces of light following in their wake. Then, they sped off and disappeared behind the flames of the fire.
“That…that was me. That was Big Mac and I when we were foals. We played tag in the orchards after school all the time…” Applejack felt an immense feeling of peace deep in her chest as she resumed walking toward the bonfire and took a seat on one of the mats.
The light from the fire seemed brighter than normal. The glow spread farther into the sky than it had any right to, lighting up the surrounding area in an orange haze. Applejack smiled, the heat of the flames adding to the warmth and all-consuming feeling of contentment she felt in her heart. She spotted Braeburn out of the corner of her eye as he took a seat on the mat next to her.
“How’re ya feeling, cuz?”
“I’m…I’m great, Braeburn. I saw something. A memory from years and years ago. Just tryin’ to make sense of it, is all.”
Braeburn nodded in partial understanding. “What was it, if’n you don’t mind my asking?”
Applejack shook her head. “I don’t mind. It was Big Mac and I when we were still foals. Neither of us had our cutie marks yet. We were playin’ a game of tag, I think. We used to play it all the time, back when our parents were still alive and we didn’t have to worry so much about the farm. We’d finish up with school for the day and just play out in the apple orchards ‘til Ma called us in for supper.”
Braeburn smiled and nodded. “Sounds like a nice memory. Do ya think it means anything?”
Applejack was caught slightly off guard, and had to think about the question. After a moment, she replied. “I think I’m workin’ to hard, if I’m honest. I think my inner filly was telling me to slow it down a touch, spend more time with my friends and family. Somethin’ like that…” She trailed off, lost in thought again. “...Yeah, that sounds nice.”
Braeburn smiled. “That does sound nice.” Both ponies returned their gaze to the crackling flames.
Some time passed before Applejack raised her voice again. “Braeburn, would it be alright if I took a walk? Jus’ feel like I need to be on my hooves for a while.”
Braeburn stood and helped applejack to her hooves. “Sure thing cousin, I’ll go with ya.”
Applejack simply walked with no destination in mind, letting her hooves take her where they would. She passed the hammocks and saw Pinkie Pie sitting up and talking animatedly to Cosmic Crisp. Applejack saw tears in the pink pony’s eyes, but the large smile on Pinkie’s face let her set her worries for her friend aside.
Applejack came to the crest of a sand dune and took a seat, the sand still retaining a trace of the sun’s scorching heat and giving a pleasant warmth now in the middle of the night. She gazed into the desert, away from the frontier town and just watched, content to simply be present in the moment. Far removed from the heat of the bonfire and the laughter of the other Apples going through their own journeys. She spotted movement in her peripheral vision, and turned her head. Further along the sand dune she spotted something which caused her heart to skip a beat.
Applejack caught Braeburn’s attention and pointed into the distance. “Braeburn, that’s a timberwolf! What in the hay is a timberwolf doing out in the desert?”
“Hmm…” Braeburn squinted his eyes. “I don’t see anything, cousin. We don’t get timberwolves this far South. Ain’t nothing out here but coyotes and snakes.”
Applejack knew that, of course, but that knowledge didn’t make what she saw feel any less real.
She resigned herself to watch and wait to see what happened. The timberwolf slowly approached, its glowing green eyes seeming to stare through her and directly into her soul. Applejack’s anxiety rose as the beast came closer and closer. Time seemed to slow and the background noise of the ceremony faded away. Closer still. She could make out the grooves in the wood that made up the Timberwolf’s body, and started to smell its musky, woody scent. The timberwolf was right in front of her now, and showed no signs of stopping its slow, steady gait.
The timberwolf was right in front of her now, its piercing gaze pinning Applejack in place. Despite her fear, Applejack didn’t sense any hostility from the beast, yet it didn’t show any signs of stopping. Finally it made contact with her, and Applejack flinched away, but opened her eyes in surprise when she felt nothing. The beast passed around her, through her, and continued on. Applejack looked behind her and watched as it faded away, motes of light drifting off toward the horizon which had begun to glow in anticipation of the rising sun. She felt a tickle on her cheek and rubbed it, surprised to find moisture on her hoof when she pulled it back. Her eyes teared up, but they were tears of joy, not sadness.
Braeburn stood and motioned back toward the camp. “C’mon cousin, let’s get back to the bonfire. It’s time to start wrapping up the ceremony.” Applejack nodded and silently followed. She was relieved to smell the scent of food in the air, as bowls were passed around to everypony present. Some ponies were laughing, others hugging, and a few were content to watch the sunrise in silence. She spotted Pinkie Pie at the head of the line, helping to dish out the meals. She smiled and joined her, giving the pink pony a bone-crushing hug.
***
6 months later
Applejack yawned, and leisurely rolled out of bed. She glanced out the window at the rising sun and smiled before heading downstairs to find something for breakfast. She hadn’t needed to rise before the sun since she hired some helpers for the farm, and she enjoyed the slower pace her life had taken in recent times.
Pouring herself a glass of apple juice and popping two slices of bread into the toaster, Applejack took a seat at the dining table. She raised the glass to her lips, but the front door slammed open just as she was about to take a sip.
The burly voice of her brother called out. “Applejack! There’s a timberwolf running amok at the edge of the orchards. I need yer help!”
“On it!” Applejack stood and swiftly galloped out the door, following her brother through the trees. She spotted a pair of stallions in the distance, Caramel and Thunderlane, the laborers she had hired last month, and went to meet them.
Skidding to a stop, Applejack took a moment to catch her breath before she spoke up. “Where’s it at?”
Thunderlane raised a hoof and pointed through the trees. “Over there, just down the hill. Big Mac was the first one to see it, said it was running around like it was possessed. It’s weird though, don’t they usually travel in packs?”
Visions of sand dunes and stars flashed in her eyes. Applejack spoke. “Yeah, they do. Stay here. I’ll see if’n I can’t drive it off.”
She walked past them, despite their protests. She passed Big Mac who nodded to her. “Be careful, sis.” She turned her head and returned the nod before continuing down the hill.
She heard a crack of splintering wood, and spotted the beast. True to Mac’s description, the Timberwolf was acting wild, running around without rhyme or reason and tearing grooves into the dirt in its wake. It paused and raised its nose to the air, sniffing for a moment before turning its head to Applejack. Glowing green eyes focused on Applejack’s own. It’s mouth opened and a howl echoed out. It began to sprint directly toward her.
Applejack spread her hooves and held her ground, keeping her head raised high. In spite of all common sense, she felt no fear. The scent of cacti and sand filled her nose.
The beast began to slow, its gallop slowing to a trot, then a cautious walk before it stopped right in front of her. Applejack met the Timberwolf’s stare with her own. The standoff stretched on for what felt like several minutes before Applejack heard ponies calling her name from up the hill.
Applejack smiled and addressed the timberwolf. “Thank you, for everything. Now go on, back to the forest with ya.”
The beast cocked its head to the side, then turned and meanered past the property line and into the wild trees of the Everfree.
She heard hooves stomping behind her, and turned to greet her brother as he skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill.
“You okay, sis? Is it gone?”
She nodded, and smiled in contentment. “Yep. Everything's fine now. Let’s get back to work. We need to wrap up early today so I can meet up with the girls.
Big Mac nodded, and they climbed back up the hill. As they reached the top, Applejack glanced behind her into the forest and smiled, before turning back and giving out the day’s work orders to the gathered ponies.
A feeling of absolute peace followed her throughout the rest of the day.
Shoutout to OF29 for guessing Applejack's drug. It was tough not to say anything when they made that guess 
This was my most ambitious chapter to date, and I'm very proud of it.
Cosmic Crisps are my favorite apple, by the way. If you've never tried one, do it. They might be a Washington-only thing though.
Let me know what you think!
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Ha! I called it. This is my favorite chapter by far.
So, is this it, or will others besides the mane 6 get chapters?
11672084
Oh yeah! I forgot to give you a shoutout for that! Will fix that in a moment.
Full steam ahead, next up it's finally Pinkie's turn.
11672084
Maybe an experienced Psychonaut, like Tree Hugger or the Ponk Herself, will try MEGAFLIPPING
11672234
I honestly would love to see others besides the mane go on their own trips, or at the very least, have a bonus spike and/or princesses chatper(s).
11672816
An XK class end of the world scenario if I ever heard of one.
11672835
I have at least one more semi-solid idea after Pinkie's chapter. After that I'd be happy to keep going but I have to come up with more ideas.
If anyone has any ideas they'd like to see, let me know! I'd be happy to at least consider anything as long as it's not an underage character or a substance with serious potential for harm.
(I briefly considered having a CMC chapter with caffeine, but I couldn't make it interesting enough in my head)
11673155
I could definitely see an alcohol or caffiene chapter happening and maybe tobacco? other than that, I don't really have any ideas.
I don't usually talk here, mostly just a silent reader.
but this is awesome to read
11681490
Thank you! Knowing that you don't usually comment but you made an exception here actually means a lot!
Next chapter was slightly delayed because of life stuff, but I'll get it out this weekend!
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/513973609983901708/1162786200562696272/HERECOMESPINKIE.png?ex=653d3409&is=652abf09&hm=8617187e056665f643fd6d198ec17beda18858f4c8beeab6d3336e30aff5a193&
Was wondering when Pinkie Pie was going to show up!
Also, I never heard of cosmic crisps before! If I ever see it while shopping, I should go give it a try!
11721939
I'm so glad you're enjoying the story, and thanks for the comments!
I actually did look up cosmic crisps while I was writing this story to see if I was referencing something regional that people wouldn't understand, and yeah apparently they're grown in the Pacific Northwest, USA, and not really available outside of that. So if you're ever up here feel free to try them out!