//------------------------------// // Spring: A Couple Of Renegades // Story: Earth-Chan in Equestria // by zack black //------------------------------// Applejack was not where she had been standing a couple seconds ago. No, she found herself sprawled out a few yards away, slightly dazed and utterly confused. She had seen what happened, though. She watched the entire catastrophe as if it were a step by step play screening. The impact, the magical surge from Earth-Chan, the carnage. Celestia's name, the carnage! It was a horror film played on loop in her brain. Replaying over and over so she could try and make sense of what had just happened. It'd just been a test. The pony was suppose to kick her legs out, miss and/or hit, give the tree a tussling, and then it was over. That had been simple. Why had this changed so drastically? Why wasn't this simple anymore? Picking herself up from her new spot she slowly walked back to where the tree had once stood, looking down the pathway of destruction with a sense of loss and confusion. She stepped carefully. The tree had uprooted, leaving a gruff looking hole filled with fresh dirt. It was a blight on her field. All of it. This was one of the worst cases of damage she'd seen in the past few years. The trees grazed from the tumble had slumped over and probably weren't going to be fixable. Some might be able to be readjusted, but the others weren't going to cut it. Their damage would have some effect on quality. Quality was everything to the Apple Family name. Those trees would have to be cut down and replanted. They'd have to make good use of the wood, try and disperse some of what they couldn't use to other family members. Maybe they could sell it as firewood? No, it was spring, the sales for firewood wouldn't amount to much anymore, the window of opportunity there had already closed long ago. Replanting would take some time, it had to be done immediately if they wanted any hope for a crop next year. Even then, first year trees wouldn't have that good of a turn out. They could borrow some trees from other orchards, Apples were always willing to look out for family. But that still meant a huge cut in time for their regular harvest. Summer would dry out the soil making the transfer difficult. There were so many options, but the pros and cons all wasted time for their harvest. Time was the key here. She didn't have time for this! This shouldn't have happened! It was supposed to be simple! This was going to set things back. It was supposed to be simple. She would have to bother her family for help. It was supposed to be simple. This would hurt their funds. It was supposed. to. be. simple! AJ let out a huff of breath as she shook away her own inner monologue. Turning around, she quickly honed in on a still shocked and befuddled Earth-Chan. She had no idea what she'd done. All the setbacks, time wasted! Applejack’s season just got a thousand times harder all because of her! This pony. What nerve, what absolute gall. To take such an innocent situation and demolish it with a swift kick from Tartarus. She'd broken the plan. So many corrections to make, all because she decided to break the plan! Seething, the farm pony had to grit her teeth to keep from saying something wild. She refused to let herself talk when she got like this. It'd taken a lot of friendship lessons to realize, but saying something crazy during a reactive phase wasn't a good idea. She had to compose herself, which was way more easily thought than actually done. She could not stop the rush of actions pouring into her head. She wanted to act immediately, but she still had to deal with the darn hooligan who'd gotten her into this mess. She had to address this situation. Don't react. Just act. Calmly. Take a breath. She did. Then another so she could organize the jumbled thoughts. She kept her cool. She just needed to keep breathing. Air, Air was key. In out, in out. Smoothly~ "Whoa..." Earth-Chan finally gasped, looking bewildered by such a chaotic turn of events. Turning to Applejack, she seemed to barely register the death stare being sent her way. Still caught up in the moment, eyes pin pricked with adrenaline, the blue mare failed to follow up with anything else to say. "N-Now AJ...." Pinkie Pie picked herself up from her own spot and quickly trotted to her friend, putting a hoof to her shoulder to consult her. "I know, I know, I know. There's a lot to be upset about." "Pinkie, she destroyed mah farm!" "She didn't mean to! It's obvious she didn't!" "Intent don't excuse actions!" "Alright, but come on, it's what, maybe a dozen trees?" "Do ya know how many apples are on a dozen trees?!" "No...." "Ah do! This is gonna ruin the season!" Pinkie Pie huffed. "This is not gonna 'ruin the season'. You've had fruit bat problems way worse than this!" AJ knew she was right on at least one regard. The fruit bats had taken out an entire section before they were finally reasoned with. But, that wasn't her point. That wasn't THE point. This wasn't because of some random infestation. Somepony had gone and wrecked her trees! That very same somepony who was currently the most wanted mare in Ponyville. That same pony, who came from who-knows-where. That pony, who couldn't tell her hooves from her tail! That same gosh darn pony... who was now starting to frown as it finally dawned on her what she did. "O-Oh my gosh... wait, I did that? I did that!" Blinking rapidly she looked back and forth between the girls and the carnage. All the while her ears pinned back against her head as she started to whimper. "Noooooo, oh no no no, Applejack. I... I wasn't thinking.... I-I just did what you guys said.... It felt so weird and I just kind of... I... Oh my gosh." The mare was left a stammering mess as she stared out into the distance, taking in the destructive scenery. "I don't know where to start. I-I'm so sorry." Her face all but completely dropped. She looked so sad suddenly. She reached up with her hooves to cradle her own head as she sat back on her rump. Her hooves rubbed through her messy mane with worry. Her expressions changed rapidly, some flashing by while others got stuck on her face. She looked like she was having a breakdown. Good, that'd make two of them. Served her right. Applejack winced though. That wasn't the right way to think. Heck, she'd been trying to avoid that exact reaction. Thank Celestia it didn't spill out of her mouth this time. Still, what was the right feeling here? Why was she so angry? Well, obvious answer, but better question, what was she gonna solve by being so angry? This had never worked out in her favor before. Did she just decide to have an epiphany this one time? It took this long for her to get a grip? Yikes. Deep down, AJ knew she was a stubborn pony. She knew she could convince herself that it was perfectly within her right to be mad, furious even. Heck, plenty of ponies would agree with her too. It'd be so easy to get mad, stay mad, and get even. But, then what? She'd still have to fix things. She wouldn't necessarily feel any better.  And Earth-Chan... well, as far as first impressions go. They'd be out the window. It was her fault though! Why be lenient?! This crazy pony who came from some faraway place, didn't know anything about the world around her, barely knew anything about herself, and yet walked and talked like she had some kind of clue.... Oooooh, wait, shoot she had to stop there for a second. This all sounded a little familiar. A tangent of thought turned into a nostalgic trip, which slowly expanded into a session of reminisce. Certain memories lead to others, in a string of consciousness without rhyme or reason, Applejack started to remember. Memories of her time in Manehatten flashed through her head. Memories of her parents passing. The pain that'd brought. The grief that'd driven her away in the first place. Memories of being alone, even when surrounded by all those ponies. There was more to this than just a mistake made. Earth-Chan, whoever she was, didn't have a handle on life. That much was clear. She had a knack for trouble, an eccentric personality, and a naive outlook on right and wrong, but to pretend like she couldn't sympathize with her, even a little, was a silly notion. This was a weird time to get sentimental. Maybe it had something to do with Earth-Chan's reaction, how genuine her regret sounded when it rang from her voice. Maybe it was something more personal.  She'd had a few emotional conundrums lately after having met and connected with her long lost Grandpa Pear. Some memories of her parents had become quite fresh as of late. Maybe today was just a Wednesday. Everypony got sentimental on Wednesday. Whatever the case may be, something about thinking it over like this helped. She felt better having worked it over in her head. This satisfaction being the exact reason she'd started controlling her temper in the first place. With a little bit of effort, she'd found it in her to forgive. In record breaking time too. This deserved a treat, likely some left over apple cobbler from earlier this week as a reward. With those plans suddenly in mind, it felt guaranteed that this tree debacle would NOT ruin her day. "Applejack, What in tarnation was that?!!" "Aah, Horseapples..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suffice to say, that was possibly the coolest thing Earth-Chan had ever experienced. She had no idea what to expect with the concept of magic, but what she had tapped into was amazing. It felt good to tap into magic. It felt unsettling at first, but if she overlooked the initial feeling there was so much more for her to focus on. All these complicated emotions become tangible as she converted power and feeling into raw force. Her heart was still pulsing as she had turned to inspect her work. It was unbelievable. Carnage looked cool! Holy heck, it all looked so intense, like an after affect of one of her own hurricanes. It was chaos and mayhem turned into a scene, captured for her to gaze at in all of its brutal glory! It was a trail of destruction like nothing she could have ever predicted. And for some reason, it gave her fond memories. She had to force herself not to smile. It became very obvious very quickly that the ponies behind her were not coping well with recent discoveries as well as she was. There were probably good reasons as to why. She couldn't for the life of her remember what those reasons were though. Did they not see the debris? Was scene too much for them to handle? What, did a few bruised apples get these ponies queasy? Apples? Wait a minute. AJ is a working pony. A respectable mare with a thick southern drawl who wears a farm pony's hat. It was recently deduced by Earth-Chan herself that this pony must be a farmer. But there weren't a lot of crops around. A few towards the house when they'd started walking towards it, but out here in their little section, it was just rows and rows of trees. She knew what a tree farm was. She knew what an apple tree was. Apples were great! Apples on the flank. AJ had apples on her rump. They were surrounded by apples. This was AJ's farm. She knew that. Something wasn't clicking though. Why did she feel guilty suddenly? The bruised apples were from the trees, the trees were part. of. the. orchard. Oh sweet universe, she'd wrecked private property! The stunning slap of realization should have come way sooner. But, yet, here she was, thinking selfish thoughts of magic and wonder. Still, she couldn't deny that there had been a thrill to that kick. And suddenly the guilt hit. As if following some kind of correlation, these feelings slapped passed her one after another, filling her entire being with a slow building construct of bad feelings. Her ears pinned back and she turned to look at AJ. Another slap. The look Applejack gave her as their eyes met made her recline. Her cheeks glowing red from the slaps of all this embarrassment. Having been thoroughly smacked straight, her ears splayed back against her head as she whimpered out a pathetic apology. AJ only continued to stare in frustration, border-lining pure rage as she seemingly fought the urge to smack a pony. That expression stayed firm for a couple seconds. Earth-Chan couldn't look away all those seconds, left under the gaze of disappointment and disapproval, she stared back teary eyed as those green eyes pierced her. Then, her features began to soften. It had been subtle, but once it'd happened, Earth-Chan finally let herself look away. The shame of it all leaving a sting that drew a few tears down her cheek. This was yet again just another excuse for tears it seemed. She wasn't a crybaby. But, something about having the ability to cry gave her all the permission to let loose. Letting out a loud sniff, Earth-Chan brought her fetlock to her eyes and wiped away her tears. Now wasn't the time for that. She needed to get better at tear management. Right now, it was time for some follow up. She had some major apologizing to do. She was going to fix this before it became a repeat of Bright Star. Looking back up at Applejack, the guilt riddled mare prepared to shoot wave after wave of apologies. Ready to go any distance it took to show the mare that she didn't mean it. Sadly, the world had different ideas. "....Tarnation was that?!!" "Ah, Horseapples." "Oooo, Heya Granny Smith!" Pinkie seemed more than ready to change the conversation as she regained a little more smile at seeing the old earth pony come hollering after them. It was weird to see her bounce so freely from emotion to emotion, but Earth-Chan was starting to understand that's just how the girl emoted. "Pinkie, this isn't the time for hellos, we've got to make sure granny doesn't see Earth-Chan." Applejack looked just about as panicked as one could get at seeing an old pony. Earth-Chan had her fair share of bad run-ins with old ponies. Still, it was hard for her to tell if Granny Smith was a name or an actual family title. "Wait, so you're not mad?" Pinkie gave her a look of gratitude. Her thankfulness was shared. Earth-Chan really doubted she could handle more than one peeved pony in today. Gosh, it was still her second day. Did time move slower for creatures than it did for planets or was that just all in her head? "Ah didn't say that. Ah just think it'd help cool things down if the pony responsible wasn't immediately present!" Well, that just left more fun to be had later. The blue mare could only frown at the implications of a future lecture in store for her.  Even though she'd resolved to fix this issue something about having yet another pony upset with her left a bad taste in her mouth. These whacky situations were starting to tarnish her good name. "Well, that will help with Granny Smith sure, but how do we avoid the rest of them?" "The rest?!" Both AJ and Earth-Chan followed her direction as Pinkie pointed down the hill towards Ponyville. A flock of pegasi were inbound, and closing in fast. Their worried calls already starting to become audible. Two fronts were now blocked by incoming ponies, leaving fewer and fewer options for escape. Clonking her own noggin with her hoof, Applejack let out a huff as it became quite clear that this was going to be her whole day today. "J-Just take Earth-Chan and head back further into the Orchard. Ah'll get their attention while y'all double back and use the barn as cover." "Kay! Where to after that?" "Phuuuuuh, Ah don't rightly know. I'm have'n a hard time thinkin'. Ah guess ya can't go wrong with Fluttershy. Try her." Pinkie Pie beamed at that answer, completely satisfied with the new option. She turned towards Earth-Chan and grabbed her by the hoof, starting to tug her away from the approaching crowd. "W-Wait, what are you gonna do, AJ?" Dragging her hooves, she resisted Pinkie's tug long enough to hear Applejack out. "Well, Ah reckon Ah'll do what Ah'm good and tell the truth." Earth-Chan gawked at that, feeling like she'd missed something here. "W-Wait, the truth?! What about that whole plan?" Pinkie Pie yanked a little harder making the filly relent. She turned around and followed after her friend, leaving AJ to stand her ground. "Don't worry too much about it. AJ's a smart pony. I'm pretty sure I know what she's up to." Pinkie assured her as they broke into a gallop, once again on the run. Behind them, Applejack greeted her grandpony and began what was likely a very long explanation.