Equestria 1940 - The Summer Sun festival · 9:40pm Aug 15th, 2018
Just putting up a little something to show I'm still working on my 1940 Equestria story. Below, I've included a little snippet from when Princess Celestia sent her trusted student and human guest to Ponyville to ensure that preparations for the Summer Sun festival were all in order. Subtitled: How to re-write an episode with another character in it and make sense
The dragon and the unicorn were still squabbling as they strolled away from the chariot, leaving Jon to face several pony satchels and his smaller ‘traveling’ suitcase, which had been somehow been brought along. The town was visible just over a low rise, which Twilight and Spike were walking away from, most likely on the first visit of their checklist.
“Can I get you gentlemen… I mean gentlecolts to drop our bags off at the hotel?” asked Jon. “I need to catch up.”
“No problem,” said one of the guards in Nightshade’s distinctive vibrant contrello. “We’re supposed to stay out of the way unless you need us, so try not to rile up the natives while we catch some sleep.” She yawned, with bright white teeth looking identical to an ordinary pegasus due to the armor’s illusionary disguise. “Princess Celestia said the library has an apartment that the previous librarian used, so find us filed under ‘P’ for Pegasus.”
The other guard just rolled his eyes and turned to trot away, giving Jon the opportunity to sprint after his student. Thankfully, arguing left Twilight moving slower than normal, and he managed to make good enough speed on the dirt path to be just within earshot when she said “—do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends.”
“Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about,” tried Spike. “Come on, Twilight, just try!”
Something pink and energetic bounded out of the bushes with a loud gasp, hovered in place in front of all three of them, then departed in the direction of the town so fast that it sucked up loose twigs and leaves in its wake. Jon was so startled he nearly tried to draw his revolver, but thought better of it almost immediately and tucked his jacket back in place instead.
“Hi?” ventured Twilight Sparkle long after the speedy pink pony was gone. “Well, that was interesting, I suppose.”
“No kidding.” Jon took a moment to look over Spike’s shoulder at the checklist. “Sweet Apple Acres. Sounds… rustic?”
* * ✹ * *
“Yeee-haw!” A golden-brown earth pony came galloping across the grass and planted both rear hooves into the trunk of a nearby apple tree, causing the apples in the upper branches to fall like rain. Quite unlike rain, the apples all managed to fall into several wicker baskets scattered around, except for a few of them which looked slightly darker or with brown spots on them. It was a stunning display of earth pony magic, which Jon wished he could capture on film if not for his camera being somewhere else. The young earth pony mare came trotting over to the wooden rail fence with a joyous smile and a wink for Jon.
Twilight stepped forward with a ill-hidden sigh and a grumbled, “Let’s get this over with. Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle—”
“Well, howdy-doo, Miss Twilight,” said the earth pony with a smile and a vigorous hoof-shake. “It’s a pleasure makin' your acquaintance. I'm Applejack. And who’s this handsome human?”
“Jon Walthers,” said Jon, reaching out for a hoof-shake only to find his fingers nearly crushed in the farm pony’s wrist grip. “Instructor in friendship studies,” he managed to gasp out through the sensation of his bones grinding together.
“Friendship studies? Well, ain’t that a hoot. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends!”
“Actually,” started off Twilight over the sound of Spike snickering, “I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you're in charge of the food?”
“We sure as sugar are! Would you care to sample some?”
Jon’s churning stomach took that moment to remind him of the carriage ride, but Twilight did not seem to be very enthusiastic either, despite most probably missing breakfast as he had. “As long as it doesn't take too long…”
Before Jon realized what was happening, the three of them were being herded to the back of the nearby farmhouse/barn and the clanging sound of a metal triangle echoed all around.
And earth ponies came from everywhere, like a multicolored flood.
There were introductions, Jon was fairly sure of it, even though all he really could retain out of the torrent was the constant repetition of the word ‘apple’ in one form or another. And with the apple ponies came the apple food, to the point if he ate a single bite out of everything in front of him, they would need to roll him around town to keep whatever appointments Twilight Sparkle had left on her list. Or clean up a messy explosion.
He managed to excuse himself partway through the food sampling on the excuse of ‘using the little cowpoke’s room,’ which was as he expected, an outhouse. An admittedly clean outhouse with a tight-fitting lid and a collection of Sears catalogs nearby to read while contemplating. Or he supposed from the pages torn out of them, to be put to an alternative use.
“I should have stolen a roll of Celestia’s toilet paper,” he murmured while doing his business. “I swear, they sculpt the stuff out of clouds.”
Once done, he sprinkled part of a scoop of lime in the hole, careful not to make a mess or inhale the dust, and put down the lid, but when he opened the outhouse door, Jon found a line had formed.
A line of one particular farm pony, who was regarding him with a very serious look.
“Doctor Walthers, was it?” asked Applejack. “Ah just wanted to caution you a bit on anything you and your city unicorn might get up to in this town, if you know what I mean.”
“Um… Actually, no.”
“Ah mean you ain’t going to be doin’ no hanky-panky in the streets where all the foals can see, right? Just because them mountain unicorns may be free to lift their tails—”
“I have a professional relationship with Twilight Sparkle,” said Jon as fast as he could to derail the oncoming train of thought. “I’m here to help my student learn about friendship.”
“Friendship, eh?” Applejack’s eyes looked him up and down, then both eyebrows shot up when she caught sight of his shoulder holster, which was still exposed since he had not put his tweed jacket back on after using the facilities. “Oh! Yer a Pinkerton man. Well, that’s a horse of a different color.”
“What? I mean, no. I’m not with the Pinkerton agency,” said Jon, quickly grabbing his jacket from the outhouse door and putting it on. “Really.”
“Ah know you can’t talk about it. Shoulda realized Princess Celestia wouldn’t have sent her student here without some security,” said Applejack with a sly smile. “Heck, one of my great-grandpappies worked with the Pinkertons in the West. Left me his Winchester and his hogleg, as a matter of fact. Mind if I see it?”
Feeling a little like he had wandered into a Western movie lot, Jon drew his Smith and Wesson, ejected the handful of .38 cartridges, and passed it over to the eager farm pony.
“It’s a mite smaller than Grandpa Applejack’s Colt .45,” she said, snapping the empty cylinder back up and sighting down the barrel. “He had the triggers on both of his guns wired back so he could work the lever on the Winchester or fan the hammer on the pistol faster than anybody else in his group. Never could get the accuracy of his rifle, but I can put five cartridges in his Colt and bounce tin cans out at the back field like nopony’s business.”
“Um. Right,” said Jon as the gun was passed back to him and he started refilling the cylinder. “Your great grandfather… Did he ever have to shoot anybody?”
“A couple of card sharks and a rustler, but we ain’t got none of them varmints round here. Just the occasional hydra or monster out of the Everfree Forest, and your little peashooter should be able to scare them off.” Applejack winked at him. “Now you go on back to the family and get filled up with them vittles. Sounds like you and your ‘student’ got a lot to do today.”
“So we can make it to the party,” added Jon, thinking about Nightmare Moon.
* * ✹ * *
Dragons had the metabolism of a blast furnace, even the small ones. Jon was fairly sure Spike had eaten more than him and Twilight Sparkle put together, but the little dragon jogged on down the road without a care while Twilight and Jon dragged along after him.
“Ugh,” groaned Twilight. “I ate too much pie.”
“There’s no such thing as too much of that pie,” said Jon. “That was worth my whole trip here.”
Twilight groaned again.
“And there’ll be more at the party tonight. The food’s all taken care of, so next on the list is the weather,” chirped Spike, who was looking up into the cloudy sky. “That’s odd. There’s supposed to be a pegasus named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds.”
“Maybe she ate too much pie too,” grumbled Twilight.
Jon had just opened his mouth to give a witty comeback when a pale blue section of the sky clobbered him in the side, sending himself and Twilight Sparkle arching across the path and into a deep mud puddle on the other side.
This looks very promising, Georg!
My goodness. Just what kind of rumors do Cantelotters inspire?
Also, fascinating bit of spice to otherwise very well-trodden ground. Looking forward to seeing how else you perk up meeting the future Bearers in the full release.
4920482 Should I? I mean... Ok, just one more. And it will be fabulous, darling.
“Beautiful.”
“Yes, Spike.” Twilight looked up at the ribbons and streamers around the open area. “The décor is coming along nicely. This should be quick. I'll be at the library in no time. Beautiful indeed.”
Jon wanted to ask about the ‘library’ comment, but Spike indignantly said, “Not the décor, her!”
It said something that Jon took a long and respectful look at the pale young unicorn currently testing the colors of various ribbons against a pillar. She had a beautifully coiled violet mane which bounced even when she was standing relatively still, which was most probably rare with the enthusiasm she was pouring into her present task of decorating.
He took in the long, graceful muscles of her forelegs and how they merged smoothly into her knees, the balance and matched ratio of her fore and rear quarters, the smooth roundness of her flank contrasting with the stark geometrical pattern of her tripartite diamond cutie mark, her long shoulders set at a proper angle for unicorn proportions, the regular spiral of her short but still tasteful horn—
Oh, God. I’ve been here too long.
“How are my spines?” whispered Spike, pulling on Jon’s trouser leg. “Are they straight?”
Thankfully, Twilight stepped forward before Jon could respond with something stupid. “Good afternoon—”
Man, this is pretty darn good, especially when you consider that it's an episode retelling.
How do you make the unworkable workable?!
Ah, the Apple clan has a proud tradition of unionbusting, I see.
All the time I’ve been reading this scene with Jon and Applejack talking about guns, I kept wondering…
…did he wash his hands?
4920620 You've never used an outhouse before, I take it. (You wash your hands over at the pump afterwards. There's no water in the outhouse. Thankfully, there are Sears catalogs.)
4920625
Most outhouses I have used weren’t anywhere near a pump, and hardly any of them even had a bucket of water on the wall. Which is precisely why I’m asking.
4920629 Putting the pump *by* the outhouse would be defeating the purpose. It takes a short walk.
At least the Apples didn't keep corncobs in there. Yes, I know from first-hand experience (when I was very young).