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“…some ponies just want to watch the world burn…”
– Butler Alfred from Batpony: The Dark Knight
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The day began like many others. Simple and sweet, with a good wholesome breakfast. Pancakes, syrup, waffles, toast, English muffins… all that jazz! While the Apple family needed to go out and do their work each and every day, they still had to have some family time among themselves…
Even if Applebloom was bouncing around the table on a pogo stick at that moment...
“What the hay do you think you’re doing Applebloom?!” AJ called from the kitchen, too busy with cooking to actually go into the dining room to stop the small filly. An array of delicious aromas wafted out of the kitchen, luring a bleary eyed red stallion, Big Mac, down the stairs. He yawned, smacking his lips a bit as he reached the dining room area. The red stallion was about to grab a seat at the table when an overly active filly nearly sprung herself at Big Mac.
“WHOA!”
“Ugh…”
With finely tuned movement, he caught the filly, pogo stick and all, in mid accident before she could do anything hazardous, again, in the household. The small filly smiled sheepishly as she got off the contraption, letting Big Mac put it away on a wall.
“Uh… Thanks Big Mac! I was only tryin’ ta see if Pogo-stickin’ was my hidden talent! Guess not…”
As Applebloom was pulling herself up a chair, AJ walked on in, carrying several plates with a practiced ease, tossing them on the table one by one. As she did, she named everything before them, making Big Mac’s and Applebloom’s mouths drool like miniature waterfalls.
“So today we got toast with apple jam, buttery biscuits, a good helping of freshly cut apples, apple pie with whipped cream, apple juice, and a special treat today; zap apple jam infused bread! Tryin something new, but I think it came pretty goo-“
“OooOooooOoOooo hey? What’s with all the ruckus?”
A light green pony with white hair made her way downstairs on slow, wobbling legs. AJ smiled sweetly and helped the elder mare down the rest of the stairs and to her seat. The other two ponies had already started their dive into the breakfast, guzzling down the juice and devouring portions of everything in front of them. Applejack, for good reason, always made more than what they could eat.
“Mornin Granny!” Applebloom blurted through an array of breadcrumbs on her lips. AJ glared at her and wiped her own mouth, indicating Applebloom do the same. After a little bit, the filly understood the articulation and grabbed a napkin, wiping her face following a small smile.
Granny however, didn’t seem in the mood for breakfast and slowly leapt from her chair. With blindingly low speed, she made her way towards the window, checking left and right over and over again. “Mornin’ to you too sweetheart, but ol’ Granny heard something this mornin’ and she ain’t gonna eat until she finds out what it was!”
Applebloom’s face scrunched up a little in thought, but eventually she exclaimed, “Oh! I’m sorry! I was jus’ seeing if Pogo stickin could get me my Cutie Mark!”
The elderly mare peered back over her shoulder and shook her head. “No no no! I knew about that silly filly! I heard somethin’… odd, out a little bit past the orchards! It almost sounded like them Flim Flam Brothers were tryin to come back for a rematch, with their chuggin machine and nonsense…”
AJ cocked an eyebrow and finished her piece of toast with a quick gulp. She walked over to Granny and, never distrusting the elderly mare, questioned her politely. “Wait, what do ya mean by tha-“
Now, they could all hear it. A low, rhythmic bump that bopped to its own tune. Accompanying it came a rattle-rattle that would follow after the bump noise. It sounded horrible really, but it was hypnotic and catchy at the same time. Voices, although distant and hazy, could be heard coming from the direction of the weird music.
And it kept on getting closer and closer to Sweet Apple Acres.
“What in the hay…?” AJ murmured to herself, pushing open the door outside. Big Mac and Applebloom soon followed, also enticed by the noise coming from down the street. All three of them soon found themselves looking up the hill where the street crested over, watching as a large brown object kept getting bigger and bigger.
“…And I still say that we shoulda won! But anywho, I still think that there is somethin’ out there! I keep on hearin’ this weird ollllll music, but I don’t know where it-“
“Granny?”
“Hurr heh… uhmmmm… Huh? Ooo! Breakfast! Y’all better eat before it gets cold on ya!”
AJ rolled her eyes as she watched Granny Smith shuffle on over to the table gathering her usual meal, and began to slowly eat. She loved her grandmother but sometimes she was a little much. Anywho, we don’t need Granny to handle whatever that thing is!
…
…
What in tarnation?
The lumbering giant of a wagon finally had crested the hill to the farm, shambling itself over towards the Sweet Apple Acres household, pulled by two ponies. AJ looked from the vehicle, to her brother and sister, who simply shrugged. The orange mare shrugged herself and started to walk towards the entrance of the orchard to meet them halfway.
The wagon was tall and rickety, looking like a complete amateur. What it lacked in finesse and beauty though, it made up in sheer size and presence. A strange aspect of the carriage however was that there was a window on one side of it, opened slightly to show only a darkened interior. On a hook at one of the corners was a lamp, but it looked dusty and old as if it hadn’t been used in ages. The only other thing that was odd about the carriage was the fact that it had a singular large tree sprouting out of the roof of it, giving it a rather large overlay of green leaves. Even though Applejack knew a lot about her apple trees, this one was something she hadn’t ever crossed upon before.
“Hey sis! Why are those ponies wearing clothes? It’s the middle of summer!”
AJ cocked her eyebrow at her sister’s comment, now focusing her attention on the stallion and mare who were walking up to them. The mare, a dark green dainty unicorn, covered her head with a woolen blue cap with matching boots. The stallion next to her, a deep orange earth pony, wore a pair of small square glasses and a tan coat, leaving it open for the world to see his chest.
“I don’t know Applebloom, but don’t be rude! We have company now…”
As the mare approached the couple coming down towards them, she could now fully understand Granny’s reasoning for the music. How she had been able to hear such a thing, AJ would probably never know. But as the carriage swayed towards them, the combination of loose parts, the tree, the wheels and the lantern made a small chorus of sounds that played with each other as the wagon trudged on along the road.
Hoping it wasn’t business, she made the first introductions she could make with a good solid breakfast and coffee.
She really wanted some coffee right now…
“Well howdy there strangers! Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres! Sorry to say that ya caught us at breakfast time, so we ain’t exactly bright eyed at the moment! I’m Applejack and this is my brother, Big Macintosh, and sister, Applebloom! What can I do you for?”
The orange stallion smiled oddly, as if he was too tired or stressed to really try and do any actions at the moment. Pulling out some paperwork from his saddles pouch, he let the unicorn float it to the mare with her magic. As AJ read the papers, her jaw started to drop more and more, the shock washing over her in giant waves.
The stallion coughed once, eventually leading to a small coughing fit to which the green mare tried to console him with a pat on the back. He waved a hoof, indicating he was alright, and cleared his throat. Extending a hoof, he smiled once more, this one more sincere and warm compared to the other time.
“I’m Burnt Oranges, new owner and operator of Citrus Fields, your neighbor and competition! Nice to meet you Applejack!”
A/N:
Hey there!
Once again, i have pulled out another story from my head, wanting to get it down on this site for all to see! Hopefully, you will all enjoy this odd piece, and more than likely, i will be doing at least another chapter or two. In all honesty, not too sure about this piece, but hopefully you all will enjoy it as much as I did writing it! :)
And sorry bout the quote... just thought it needed somethin like that in the story XD
If you find any mistakes or weirdness in the story, please tell me! :)
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“Fire is never a gentle master.”
-Pony Proverb
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“…What do ya mean we have to give up part of our family’s land?! This is darn right outrageous!”
The green mare had unlatched herself from the wagon and sighed, walking over to Applejack with a small sway in her hips. Without much subtlety, she grabbed the papers with her magic and used her hoof to underline some of its words. “… and with this Warrant, the owners of the Warrant shall now have control under one fifth of the orchard known as Sweet Apple Acres to do what they want with said property, yet must retain the property to being an orchard…”
The unicorn rolled the papers up and deposited them back into Burnt Oranges saddle, giving Applejack a formal, yet slightly pained look, as if she were incredibly reluctant on the choice. “Sorry, but we happened to find some old documents in the town hall that had part of your land for sale on it. One thing led to another with the Mayor and we eventually were able to get some paperwork on it. Apparently, your land had mixed and mingled with the town’s land and about a fifth of you orchard crossed over into it. So… we bought it!”
Burnt Oranges now stepped forward and hugged the mare firmly, smiling broadly. “Emerald Greens had quite the eye, spying it amongst some old history records! It’s not exactly you giving up your land… we are just buying up some land that happens to have some apple trees on it!” The stallion smiled warmly, as if there was nothing wrong in the world at the moment.
Honestly, he didn’t exactly like the other orange pony. Orange was kind of… his thing. The fact that she was a nice light orange color and harvesting apples was preposterous! The bigger red stallion he could see being into apples… He fit the right color and everything! But an orange color with apples? Inconceivable!
The mare in question shook her head in confusion and stomped a hoof on the ground, Applebloom hiding behind her brother, who looked to be in complete shock. “Now listen here! This is good ol’ Sweet Apple Acres, my families land! We have been here ever since-“
“-ever since Granny Smith of the Apple’s came to this land, found out about the Zap Apples, and made a booming market with Stinkin’ Rich.” Burnt Oranges interjected with a bored tone, shutting the mare down.
The stallion started to walk back to the wagon and droned a bit at nothing in particular. “The Apple’s chose this land due to the highly fertile soil and semi-magical qualities that the land has around here, due to the approximation from here to the Everfree forest, which is where the Zap Apples originated from.” He stopped in mid stride and smiled a bit back at the mare. “Am I wrong so far?”
Applejack glowered hotly under her gaze, but refused to let her competition already have the better of her. “No. You’re not.” With a sigh, she sorted things out inside of her head so that she wouldn’t blow a fuse the next time Oranges opened up his mouth. “Alright. Honestly, I’m not much one to read, but I read everythin in that there Warrant. It’s true and fully legal. I’ll show you and you’re wife where the piece of land is…”
Emerald Greens and Burnt Oranges suddenly flushed a very deep red and looked away from each other, Emerald shuffling in place awkwardly. Applejack snickered inwardly at the oddness of the couple and soon realized something was odd and why it was so awkward for them.
“You aren’t married yet, aren’t you? Oh I am so sorry about that! Must be a trifle odd when-“
“No! It’s not that!” Oranges blurted, a bit more red now if that was even possible. He scrunched his face up, closing his eyes for a moment, and then exhaled sharply, letting the tension relieve itself from his body. “We’re aren’t married, dating, or anything! We’re siblings!”
Now it was Applejack’s turn to blush but before she could say anything, Big Mac surprised them all by suddenly stepping forward, letting forth a tumble of words. “Uh so she’s single? I mean, er… so there isn’t any relations between you all? Uhm, errrr…”
Big Mac turned a deeper red and slowly backed up, eventually thundering his way inside the household, slamming the door behind him.
Emerald Greens giggled a little bit, the red leaving her face, and noticed Applebloom once again who was now uncovered by her fled big brother. They had some eye contact, to which Emerald Greens grinned broadly, while the filly looked from left to right nervously, unsure of what to do.
“Uhmmmmmm… I gotta go to school now, so I’ll catch ya’ll later, I guess…?”
Burnt Oranges face lit up after the mention of school and looked over at Applejack, cocking an eyebrow up. “There’s a school here? Would it be alright if Sparky, our younger brother, goes along with Applebloom here?”
As much as Applejack wanted to say no to the annoying stallion, she truly didn’t want to have a worse beginning to their neighborly relationship. With a sigh, she rolled her eyes over at the filly. “Could you show Sparky where Cheerilee’s schoolhouse is?”
Applebloom was about to let loose a groan of protest but the leering glare from her sister said otherwise. With a curt nod, she went back inside to go fetch her school supplies.
Oranges smirked slightly and whistled loudly using only his mouth. “Hey, yo, Sparky! C’mere!”
From right behind the odd wagon, a small grey thunderhead puttered up and over the vehicle, belching out little puffs of grey smoke as it traveled towards the siblings. It levitated over them for a second and a small grey face poked its head out of the cloud cautiously, as if the world outside the grey blob was foreign and new.
“Hm? What? I was napping…” His voice was slightly squeaky, but it still had the youthful spirit residing in it.
Emerald Green pulled the bundle of dark gray coat and electric yellow mane out of the cloud with her magic, placing him on the ground lightly. His green and orange scarf, which matched his siblings, had wrapped itself around his head, making him flail a bit until he got it off. He gave her a sharp look after, to which she rebounded back with one of her own. “Sparky, this is our new neighbor, Applejack. Say hello!”
The pegasus colt grinned slightly and puffed out his chest slightly, making Applejack smirk slightly. The whole bravado of the colt reminded AJ of a certain blue pegasus, almost wishing she were here to see the little colt speak proudly out loud. “Hey Applejack! My name’s Sparky! Nice to meet-“
Sparky froze, his eyes catching sight of Applebloom, and he swiftly bolted back into his cloud, looking at everypony through a small dark opening.
AJ cocked an eyebrow at the odd behavior and spilled out a, “Uh… nice to meet you?” at the colt now in the cloud.
Applebloom then came by, her backpack on now, and looked around. “Hey! Where is he? We need ta get goin!”
Burnt Oranges chuckled and stuck his head in the cloud, getting a bit of a zap during the process. With slightly charred face, he extracted a terrified looking pegasus by the tale, his wings and legs folded tightly against him as he gazed wide eyed at Applebloom. His body shook all over
The filly herself was wide eyed herself, and looked at his other two siblings worriedly. “Uhm… is he ok? He don’t look too well…” Applejack as well looked at the colt strangely, nodded her head in agreement.
Emerald Greens smiled gently and went over to the pegasus, nuzzling him lovingly with her cheek as Oranges put him down on the ground. Soon, the shaking subsided and he released a long held breath, getting up on his own now, but awkwardly looking around now. Emerald sheepishly looked over at the two Apples and explained.
“We don’t know why but when Sparky is around ponies his own age, he gets incredibly shy and sometimes has a little panic attack.” She plucked a piece of the cloud with her magic and handed it to Sparky, he immediately clutched it like somepony would a teddy bear. “His cloud is like his comfort zone, so this should help him while at school.”
It was awfully cute to Applejack, reminding her of another pegasus pony who could surely beat his cuteness and shyness, but the resemblance was incredibly similar. “So… uh… Applebloom! I guess it’s time to go now, or ya’ll gonna be late!”
The filly looked from her sister, to the gray pegasus, who couldn’t focus on anything now, and shrugged her shoulders. “All right sis, if you say so… C’mon Sparky! We better get going! The other Cutie Mark Crusaders are waiting for me!” Sparky simply nodded and followed Applebloom, the grown-ups watching them as they traveled on.
After they finally crested the hill, Applejack flatly stared at Oranges, snorting a bit to get his attention. He continued to look at the hill though, knowing it would annoy the mare a bit, and smirked slightly. Ignoring Applejack fully now, he went over to the latches on wagon and repositioned himself in.
Emerald looked awkwardly from the glaring Applejack to her brother and sighed. “Well, uh, I guess we should get going! Don’t wanna waste the day away, hehe…”
AJ nodded and began to walk away, leaving Emerald and Oranges to fasten themselves to the cart, cloud in tow with Emerald’s magic. Once Oranges knew AJ was out of earshot, his face fell flat and he sighed, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. Emerald paused in her fastening and rubbed one of Orange’s shoulders, smiling a little. “Hey, it’s fine Burny… Don’t get so stressed out!”
The orange stallion sighed and put his glasses on, looking out at the receding mare. “I know… it’s just… I hate what we had to do to this family… I mean, this is their family’s land! I just feel… horrible about it…” He frowned a bit, his face wincing in mental pain every so often.
Emerald looked pained as well but hugged him softly. “You know perfectly well why we have to do this. If it happens again, this will be the easiest way… and you know that.”
“I know.”
“If it happens… when it happens…”
“It won’t.”
“That’s what you said last time you know…”
Burnt Oranges sighed, letting Emerald fasten herself fully now. Once she was done, they trekked towards AJ, who wondered what had taken them so long. After a lame yet believable excuse from Oranges, they set off into the orchard, towards their new home.
Hopefully, it will be our final home… thought Oranges. We’ve been through too much as it is…
A/N:
Welp.
Made a second chapter... Hopefully, this will get a bit more notoriety than the last chapter, but i suppose i might as well put it up on the site~
As always, please enjoy the chapter and if there are any errors or something odd, please tell me~ :)
