Twilight Gets a Puppy
By TDR
Friendship is Puppies,
Part 2
[ The following day.]
Twilight lay draped over the side of the chariot growling lightly as the pair of Pegasus Guard pulled the chariot through the sky. Spike was kicked back reading a comic book as they flew and Rahs was leaning over the other side of the cart, doing his best not to decorate the landscape with his lunch.
Twilight thought he was doing fairly well given that the last time they rode a train, he had revisited the squirrel he had eaten and the entire car had to be evacuated and the sight and smell of it caused a vomit inducing chain reaction.
It had been said at least three janitors of the rail company had quit that day.
Rahs was mortified anytime anyone brought it up, which was Spike's favorite thing to do every time he did something disgusting if Rahs tried to fuss at him for.
“So are you gonna let us read the letter or not?” Spike demanded looking up at her. “Honestly you drag us out of the party just as it's getting good and I'm getting every pony rocking with my mad piano skills, you don't tell us anything, and then, BAM, we're on a trip to the podunk little town at the base of the mountain.”
“I really don't want to share....” Twilight muttered.
“Yeah fine, so it's pretty evident she didn't believe your theory, but Rahs is ill, I'm annoyed, and you're moping. I'd like to think we are at least allowed to know what we are getting into here.” Spike argued.
Twilight sighed before pulling the scroll out of her saddlebag and offering it to Spike. “Fiiiiiine.”
Spike blinked at how quickly she gave up the argument, but shrugged and unrolled the scroll.
“To my dearest and most valued student Twilight.” Spike began reading the letter before sticking out his tongue. ”Wow she's laying it on thick from the start.”
“Spike....” Twilight growled.
“.. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely...”Spike continued.
“Woof.” Rahs chuckled.
“See Rahs agrees with me, she's buttering you up , this screams trap, haven't you paid any attention to the games I've run?”
“Spike......” Twilight rubbed her temples with a hoof.
“... But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books.....” Spike blinked as Rahs even pulled back from the edge to look at Spike then Twilight.
“Bark?” Rahs questioned.
“Yes the books in question are the ones she specifically gave me.” Twilight muttered.
“Maybe her secretary got the note before she did?” Spike offered.
“No, Miss Cliff Note is on vacation this week, plus it has the Princess's seal on it, this came from Celestia herself.” Twilight admitted.
“Woof” Rahs gestured for Spike to read on.
“My dear Twilight, there is more to a young ponies life than studying.” Spike continued before he turned to glare at his older sister.” Well she got that right at least.”
“Just finish reading the letter......” Twilight groaned.
“So I'm sending you and your brothers to supervise preparations for the summer Sun Celebration at this years location, Ponyville.”
“Woof!” Rahs called out pointing ahead as the town came into view.
Ponyville was larger than the three had expected, but still a far, far cry from the Canterlot the trio were used to. It was situated on the edge of a large forest and was surrounded by fields and farmlands on the other side with a river running around the town leaving it on a partial island.
Rahs seemed rather interested in the forest below them as he sniffed the air detecting a myriad of animal life... much of it smelling rather tasty.
“And I have an even more essential task for you to complete.” Spike continued.
“Here we go.” Twilight snapped.
“... Make some friends........” Spike read raising and eyebrow.” Seriously?”
“Yes seriously....”Twilight snarked.
“Woof?”
“Evidently they are not considered friends if I go to class with them.” Twilight grumbled.” Or she wants me to make MORE friends at random. What am I supposed to do randomly walk up to some pony and go, hey you wanna be friends?”
Rahs' ears perked up and he looked over the side of the chariot as they flew over the town. He could have sworn he heard someone far down below them yell out 'Okay' in response to Twilight's statement, but he couldn't tell who of the ones below might have done it.
“Yeah this is a little weird, even for Princess Celestia.” Spike pondered.” Think it's another test?”
“It has to be.....” Twilight grumbled. “Curse my need for motherly validation.”
“Woof.” Rahs pointed out.
“Just because I know what my issues are doesn't mean I know how to fix them. Like your clawing and chewing on things and Spike's fiery burps and tail sucking.” Twilight growled.
“Hey I only do that when nervous.” Spike muttered.
“Woof.”
“Yes I know you're getting better, but the point is knowing that you have them doesn't magically fix them.” Twilight slumped against the side of the chariot.
“Well on the bright side, the Princess has arraigned for us to stay at a library. That's like one of your filly hood fantasy's a library that was also a house.” Spike added reading the last of the note.” Doesn't that at least make you happy?”
Twilight thought a moment before popping up to her hooves.”Yes, yes it does and you know why? Because I'm right, I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can then get back to the library to try and find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return.”
“Bark.” Rahs nodded.
“Yeah what he said. We're with you all the way, but what about this part? The make some friends. There's got to be a reason.” Spike pointed out.
“I am her student and this is a royal order to check on preparations, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends.” Twilight retorted.
The chariot landed and Rahs quickly got off, nearly bowling the other two over in his eagerness to get back to the non swaying ground. It wasn't so bad when he could get fresh air, though a half hour long chariot ride down the mountain with wind gusts buffeting the chariot was a bit much for him. If it was something he was in control of like one of those odd flying machines he had tried or a balloon or a cart he had no issue, but he couldn't deal with being a passenger long.
Twilight moved to the front of the chariot to talk with the Guards as Rahs recovered. “Just park it by a place called Golden Oaks Library and go enjoy the festivities. We'll be leaving tomorrow along with Princess Celestia after the event concludes.”
“Not a problem Miss Sparkle. Thank you.” One of them said, neither of them hiding their grins at being allowed a days worth of paid free time.
“Maybe you should at least try it.” Spike suggested.
“What?” twilight asked looking back at her younger brother.
“The friends thing with other ponies. Who knows, maybe they might have something interesting to say.” Spike offered gesturing to a mare walking towards them.
To say that the mare that approached was pink would be an understatement. Her fur was pink, her hair was a darker shade of pink and curlier than anything the trio had ever seen before. The mare was a bit pudgy and had a curious look on her face as her blue eyes slid over the over the three of them in sort of a vapid wonder. She stopped before them as Spike gestured at her, looking down at him with a smile on her face.
Rahs flattened his ears, something about this mare made him nervous.
“Umm hello?” Twilight offered. The mare looked up met her gaze and her eyes went wide, her blue eyes shrink to pin pricks. She sucked in a great deal of air, jumped straight up in the air legs akimbo and darted off in a streak, tearing down the road like a shot, her hooves not even seeming to touch the ground until she was out of sight.
Rahs was really nervous about that mare now.
“Well that was interesting alright.” Twilight snarked.
“It kinda was. She defied at least three rules of motion in ten seconds flat.” Spike whistled as Twilight considered that.
“Good point. Maybe we can experiment on her later.” Twilight considered.
“Bark” Rahs snarled.
“Right, right, ask permission first. I know.” Twilight rolled her eyes.” You'll never let me live that down will you?”
“You did make him explode.... twice.” Spike added.
Rahs sighed picking Spike up to set on his shoulder as the little Dragon seemed to be eager to be off. Rahs reached into one of his pants pockets pulling out the scroll that came along with the first one.
“Summer sun celebration official overseers checklist.” Spike muttered reading the top of it. “ A checklist huh? The Princess knows her student well, doesn't she?”
Rahs chuckled.
“I can hear you you know.” Twilight snapped.
“Cause you were supposed toooooo” Spike chimed before clearing his throat.” Number one, banquet preparations, Sweet Apple Acres. The map says it's outside of town following that road over there.”
Spike pointed and the trio head down the road, ignoring the stares Rahs and Spike were getting from all the ponies they passed.
[Later]
“I think this is it.” Spike chimed.
Twilight glanced up at the large sign proclaiming the farm on the other side of the fence to be Sweet Apple Acres before glaring at her brother.
“Hey I could be wrong.” Spike smirked.
“ I hate you so much sometimes.” Twilight growled turning away from her brothers as Spike chuckled, looking around the farm. It was clearly an apple farm, though it looked like there were some cows and chickens and a bit of corn as well as other crops, though apples were the most prominent. There was a farmhouse on one side of the property with a large red barn and a number of outbuildings not far from the main gate the trio were walking through. In the distance they could see the towering barn of a neighboring farm that seemed to be focused on carrots.
“YAAAHAA!” shouted a voice.
The trio blinked watching as an orange Earth pony galloped over towards a tree, her head lowered, a brown stetson planted firmly on it. The apple tree had a number of buckets under it and as they watched the mare planted her fore hooves in the dirt and spun on them, lashing out with her back legs striking the tree. The hit impacted the trunk soundly making the tree shudder. As the tree shook, all of the apples that had been on the tree, save a few small green ones, fell from the tree, landing perfectly in the buckets around it.
The freckled mare glanced at the buckets smiled adopting a rather proud looking pose . Behind her a few other Earth Ponies were clapping their hooves at the show, though one of them was cursing and offering a small bag of bits to a rather large red stallion.
Rahs and Spike were impressed too though Twilight seemed less than thrilled.
“Let's get this over with.” Twilight sighed walking towards the mare.
“Good afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle.... gerrrk!”
Twilight winced as the mare grabbed her hoof and started shaking it like she was trying to dust out a old carpet. The hoof shake was violent enough to lift Twilight's other three hooves from the ground and bounce her about a bit.
“Well howdy do Miss Twilight, a pleasure making your acquaintance. I'm Applejack.” The orange mare paused in trying to remove Twilight's leg as she looked up at Rahs and Spike who were standing behind Twilight. “Well then who are these fellers?”
Twilight was certain a few of her teeth had come loose from the farm ponies hoof shake, but after a quick check with her tongue she realized they just felt that way. “These are my brothers, Spike Sparkle, and Rahs Sparkle.”
“Woof.” Rahs waved.
“Hey.. I'm Spike, by the way, the fluffy ones Rahs.” Spike added.
“Huh, nothing against family ties, but a Dragon and a..... Diamond Dog?” Applejack tilted her head a little looking at Rahs as if she wasn't sure the last statement was correct.
“We're adopted.” Spike shrugged.
“Ahh okay. So what ken ah do yah fer. Always happy tah meet a new friendly face or three.” Applejack commented.
“ Actually, I am in fact here to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.” Twilight adopted an official sounding tone. “ And you're in charge of the food?”
“We sure as sugar are.” Applejack winked. ”Would yah care to sample some?”
“Woof.” Rahs eagerly agreed having gone from airsick to famished in the course of the walk. He could already smell a number of the dishes as well as the fresh apples in the trees. This place was a far cry from the city, there were all sorts of new scents.
“Well as long as it doesn't take too long...” Twilight began as Applejack dashed off.
“What is it with ponies running away from you?” Spike asked watching the mare run away.
“I dunno, I took a shower before we left...” Twilight muttered tilting her head back to take a sniff of her mane just in case.
The ringing of a bell drew the trios attention towards the farm as they heard Applejack yelling.
“SOUPS ON EVERYPONY!” Applejack cried.
The thunder of hooves sounded soon after as flooding out of the trees was a stampede of ponies bearing down on them. Before the trio could react they were caught up in the herd and dragged along though the dust and mayhem.
A moment later they felt themselves being sat down and the dust cleared showing they were at a fair sized table out in the field.
“What just happened?”Spike asked a bit shaken.
Any reply was ended as Applejack popped up from nowhere.
“Now, why don't I introduce ya'll to the Apple family?” She waved a hoof and the trio noticed they were surrounded by rather expectant looking ponies.
“Thanks but we really need to..” Twilight began and was completely ignored.
“This here's Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Rhede Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp,” Applejack paused taking a deep breath.”.... Big Macintosh, Apple bloom, and Granny Smith.”
During the introduction dishes full of food were piled higher and higher on the table until Rahs couldn't even see over them. Granted neither he nor Spike were trying to and the pair were more focused on deciding what to eat first. Twilight was about to protest again when Applejack shoved an apple in her mouth getting a laugh from both Spike and Rahs as well as a few other Apples.
“UP AN ATTUM GRANNY SMITH, we got guests.” Applejack called to an elderly green pony asleep in a rocking chair.
The wrinkled mare slowly rose with a grumble and shifted forward, as she blathered some incomprehensible complaints or another.
Rahs flinched a little hearing the mares bones pop and crack even from behind the piled food.
“ Is that a Diamond Dog at tha table?” Granny asked finally seeming to regain her coherency about her.” Thought I said none of them dogs was allowed within five miles of these fields.....”
“He ain't part of that pack Granny, he came with this one. She's here tah check on tha preparations.” Applejack stated pointing at Twilight who was trying not to choke on the apple.
“Woof.” Rahs offered.
“He's a Moon Dog, not a Diamond Dog.” Spike translated.
“Hmmmph.” Granny snorted. “ I don't care if he's a spotted sun dog from tha far reaching shores a Tartarus. Ah catch him digging in tha garden and ah got two barrels a buckshot fer him.” Granny fussed glaring at Rahs who did his best to place the piled food between him and the ornery mare.
“Dun worry about her.” Applejack whispered.” She jus don't like being woke up from her naps.”
Twilight coughed out the remains of the apple, taking a moment to breath. “ Well that's umm, very nice and all. I see things are in order here, so we're just going to go check on the next thing.....”
“ Arn't yah gonna stay for brunch?” asked a small voice . Twilight, Rahs and Spike looked over to the little yellow filly with the red hair, and pink bow that was nearly the size of her head. She had the biggest most watery sad eyes they had ever seen, and the faint quiver in her lower lip as she pouted would have knocked even Celestia cold.
At least two of the trio were doomed, and Spike simply slipped back behind the food so he couldn't see her.
THUD.
THUD.
“Sake's alive Apple bloom, yah over did it.” Applejack grumbled looking over the collapsed pair of Rahs and Twilight, both of them clutching at their chests, as Big Mac had one of their Pegasus cousins prep a storm cloud to revive them.
“Sorry.” Apple bloom apologized.
“CLEAR!” Big Mac bellowed.