//------------------------------//
// Part 2 
// Story: A Quick Errand 
// by CrackedInkWell 
//------------------------------//

“Just who does he think he is?” Bright said, letting out a fuming snort. “The nerve Buttercup. Ah mean the sheer nerve of kickin’ us out like that!”
           	
His wife didn’t reply right away, she craned her neck towards the apple orchard. “I don’t know what’s going on. You don’t think that really was Big Mac, do you?”
           
The yellow stallion gave a skeptical look. “How can he? He’s twelve years old sweetheart.”
           
“But I could have sworn that he looked just like him. He’s got the exact shade of red, cutie mark and everything. After all, he did that the names we gave him were his parents.”
           
Bright Mac stopped for a moment to rub his temples. “Even if that were remotely true, why would he get upset over us for? For Celestia’s sake, he threatened to call the police on us.”
           
“Maybe we need to find Granny,” his wife offered. “Have you noticed that we didn’t see her anywhere in the house? What if she stepped out or something?”
           
Taking in a deep, calming breath through his nose, Bright replied, “Yeah, Ah guess yer right. But maybe we need to get those cherries first, and then go find Ma. Knowin’ her, she won’t drop why we haven’t done our errand in case we do run into her.” As he and his spouse resumed their walk towards Ponyville, his wife inquired what if they couldn’t find her. “Then we’ll get somepony to help us straighten this out.”
           
And so, the couple proceeded onto the path towards Ponyville. However, as they rounded the hill that descended into its streets, they both froze as they looked ahead of the town in front of them. “Is this even Ponyville?” Buttercup wondered aloud at what she was seeing. Not only there were a few buildings that were certain weren’t there before, but they were stunned to see that in the near center of town there was a giant crystal structure that looked something of a cross between a castle and a treehouse.
           
“What in tarnation is goin’ on around here?” Bright asked, looking just as perplexed as his wife. “Where did all these here buildings come from?”
           
He felt his wife leaning up against him, “Hon, this is starting to scare me.”
           
“You and me both,” he nodded. “But first things first, we need to get some cherries, then get some answers.”
           
“Do you think that we’ve moved somehow?” The orange-maned mare inquired as they began to move forward.
           
“How could we? We were jus’ takin’ a walk before we headed back. Maybe this is all jus’ a huge prank and we’re in the middle of some huge joke.”
           
“And if not?”
           
Bright hesitated, “Let’s go find the market first.”

           	



It was official, something was definitely going on. The very moment they walked into town, there were some ponies that were not only staring right at them, but many had taken double, triple, even quadruple takes. There was nervousness in some of the ponies’ eyes that steered away from them. Almost as if they were all surprised, afraid and in awe, all at the same time to even see them go by.
           
“Ah really don’t like any of this,” Bright Mac muttered.
           
“Tell me about it,” Buttercup looked over her shoulder as a mother shooed her children away from going near them. “Is it me, or is everypony here afraid of us?”
           
“Now why would that be? Everyone in town knows us; we ain’t criminals or anythin’ like that. And it ain’t like we’re feudin’.”
           
“But it does make you wonder why they’re acting like that.”
           
“There’s the cherry booth,” Bright pointed towards the stand where it had a cherry sign overhead.
           
The couple approached the stand where the owner had his back against them, scooping the red berries into large, glass jars. Buttercup cleared her throat, “Hi, are you busy?”
           
“Give me a sec,” the stallion behind the counter said as he scooped up the last amount before placing on a shelf. “There we go, so how can I help…” He turned around to which he faced the couple that was addressing him. The owner’s face paled, “P-Pear Butter? Bright M-Mac?”
           
“Yes, hello,” she smiled. “We were hoping that we could get some…” Buttercup trailed off as she took notice of the owner’s face. “Excuse me, but are you alright?”
           
The Pegasus from behind the counter backed away, agitation on his face, “Oh Celestia…”
           
“What’s gotten ya shaken up son?” Bright Mac asked. “It looks like you’ve just seen a couple of ghosts in a graveyard.”
           
“P-Please don’t hurt me.”
           
This taken the couple completely aback, “What?” the wife asked completely baffled.
           
“I-I’ll give ya anything you want,” the owner backed away until his flank bumped into the row of shelves. “Just don’t hurt me.”
           
“We just here for cherries-” but before Bright Mac could finish his sentence, the pegasus was practically slamming jars of the fruit on the counter.
           
“Take them all!” he yelled. “Leave me alone!” Then before they knew it, he flew out of his booth in terror.
           
The couple blinked, “Okay, that’s it!” the husband said, throwing his hat to the ground. “What in sam hill is goin’ on around here?!”
           
“I know, this doesn’t make any sense.” Buttercup took one of the jars before reaching into her husband’s saddlebag to fetch the proper amount of bits to be left on the stand. “There’s something not right happening, but what? What has gotten everypony shaken…” then her eyes trailed off as she spotted someone familiar. A blue mare with a yellow apron and a pink swirly mane was buying candy canes. She immediately went after her, “Chiffon Swirl!” she called out.
           
Ms. Cake immediately looked around; partly in surprise that somepony was calling out her maiden name. “Chiffon, how're things between you and your fiancé?” She located where the voice was coming from, and immediately her mouth dropped to the ground.
           
“Pair Butter?”
           
“How’s it been?” she went up and hugged the stunned mare. “Sorry I couldn’t make it for our outings last week, Jackie needed to be looked over and I couldn’t find a foalsitter for her. So how’s it going for you?” Buttercup pulled away and took noticed of Ms. Cake’s shocked expression. “Hey, are you okay?”
           
“Pair? Is that really you dearie?”
           
She looked at her confused, “Of course it is. What’s gotten into you?”
           
“And everypony else fer that matter,” Bright Mac added as he too walked up to them. “Ever since we got inta town, everyone has been actin’ real funny around us.”
           
“You look pale,” the wife pointed out to her friend. “Won’t you tell us what’s wrong?”
           
For a moment, the baker was a loss for words, “Wha… How are you two here?”
           
The couple blinked, “Come again?”
           
“How in Equestria are you here? Don’t you even know what happened to either of you?”
           
Bright Mac looked at her confused, “Ma’am, we don’t have a clue what yer referin’ to. Did we accidently break a law without realizin’ it?”
           
“The laws of nature for one!” Ms. Cake exclaimed, “I mean, both of you are dead, how are you still around?”
           
Husband and Wife exchanged blank stares between their friend and each other. “Pardon?” they asked in unison.
           
“With all due respect dears, I remember being at your funeral twelve, thirteen years ago! I saw your bodies and everything.”
           
“Afraid that there must have been some mistake,” the yellow farmer objected. “We’re breathin’, still walk around, and feelin’ a bit thirsty, so we must be alive. Side’s even if there were remotely true, Y'all think that we would at least remember dyin’.”
           
“But… don’t you?”
           	
“No…” Buttercup said. “Say, a change in subject, do you happen to know where Granny is? We’re about to go look for her about a problem we’re having.”
           	
Ms. Cake told her that she had indeed seen her; she was selling their Apple products at her usual booth. After thanking her, the couple began to navigate through the marketplace.
           
“Ah don’t believe it,” Bright Mac muttered.
           
“What?”
           
“Well… what she said back there. About us bein’ dead and all,” he shook his head. “Ah mean, that’s gotta be a whole load of nonsense if Ah ever heard such. Thinkin’ we’re like livin’ ghosts or somethin’.”
           
“Then how do you explain all the looks we’re getting?” his wife asked as they round a corner.
           
“Admittingly, no clue,” he replied. “Ah reckon that once we find Ma, then maybe things might be- Ow!” he felt something ran into his flank. Turning around, he saw a filly that had fallen over with a spilled basket of golden delicious. A young filly that offset him for a moment as she had the exact same shade of yellow coat and red mane as he. She had a pink bow and a cutie mark that looked like a shield at first glance.
           	
“Sorry!” she squeaked as she quickly tries to put the apples back into the basket. “Ah didn’t see Y'all there.”
           	
“Let us help,” Buttercup offered as she and her husband began to put the spilled apples back.
           	
“Again, sorry about that,” the filly apologized. “Ah’m in a hurry ta get these here apples to Granny.”
           	
This caught both of their attention, “As in, Granny Smith?” Bright inquired.
           	
“Yeah, turns out we’ve got everythin’ except golden delicious. Thanks anyways,” she told them as the last of the apples was back into the basket and she hoisted it onto her back.
           	
“Do ya know where she might be young trotter? We’re kinda lookin’ fer her.”
           	
“Yeah, she’s just down here. You two can follow me over.”
           	
The couple thanked her as they headed towards the booth where an elderly green mare was, pitching for her jars of apple jam.