-Jack's Recap-
The rest of the camping trip went nice. My lil bro and Scoots had a little adorable moment one night as evidenced by Xavier, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say that filly has a crush on lil Jonny. Whatever the case, I made sure to set it as my phone wallpaper.
About a week later, Spike almost got munched on by a Timberwolf. Thankfully, Jeff was around doing who knows what with his makeshift flamethrower, which everyone is wondering why he has it. Seriously, it's dangerous. Where does he keep that thing? Hopefully no where near the house. One of these days he's gonna burn his eyebrows off with it and I'm gonna laugh. And then I'm gonna run.
Anyway, Spike was following him along all day asking for favors, and of course, Jeff gave the 'Jeff responses' which consisted of:
1) "Fuck off."
2) "Shut the hell up."
3) "Don't you have a prissy curly-haired harlot wannabe to fawn over?"
Eventually, Jeff thought of an idea. He 'made a man' out of the lil dude. He has an alter ego now.
Savage Spike.
The guys thought it was hilarious. Twilight and Rarity on the other hand, looked pretty friggin annoyed. Let's just say they were glad it was a quick phase. It may or may not have had anything to do with Rarity ignoring 'Savage Spike.' Turns out, that's not the kind of thing that Rarity looks for in a guy.
-End of Recap-
-Jack's POV-
It was a pretty average morning. I'd wake up, say hey to my friends and my lil bros. After breakfast, I looked to see if there were any jobs I could do before it hit me. A few days ago, Applejack wanted to see if the other guys could help take over on my end as she needed my help with a big project. Of course, Xavier owed me a few favors, so I called him for it. So there we were on our way to Sweet Apple Acres. Him not being an early morning person, he walked in silence for the most part, but soon we got there.
"Howdy Jack!" I heard a high pitch voice. "What're you and Xavier doin' over here so early?" Applebloom said, coming out of her tree house.
"I owe Jack a few solids..." Xavier groggily said.
"Aw well ya should work on the farm more often. Ya get used ta wakin up this our a mornin'."
I turned and knelt down in front of Applebloom, and she gave a 'squee' and hopped on my back. "Xavier's just like this at this time of hour."
As I approached SAA's barn, I saw my fillyfriend hard at work with planning. Big Mac was pulling barrels on a cart. I decided to take a closer look at what AJ was really doing. She seemed to be focused on a list. "G'mornin Applebutt." I called out.
"Howdy hun. Ah see ya got yerself an extra pair o' hands there." AJ said, nodding at my friend. "Thank ya kindly, Xavier. Don't think I'd ever see ya up this early." Xavier didn't say anything back, but gave her an annoyed look. "Ahm sure Big Mac'll appreciate ya givin him a hand, and it'll get ya in the mornin spirit."
"I'll mornin spirit my foot in your arssnmg-.." He grumbled under his breath as he walked off towards where Big Mac went.
Applejack frowned at Xavier while I looked at her list. "So what're we lookin at, here?"
"Oh these are mah ideas for the Apple Family Reunion." I took a look at the list. "Ah've been thinkin o' ways to make this the best family reunion ever." She stated. She thought for a moment before looking up at me. "Say, ya got any good ideas fer a family reunion? Any ideas from a human?"
I shrugged."Nope.. I got nothin. Gonna be honest, my parents don't really keep in touch with our distant family members outside of our grandparents." I pointed to Xavier. "Him and his family on the other hand, his mom's side keeps in touch with each other. You should ask him."
Applejack shook her head. "Ah don't think that's a good idea, hun." I didn't need to look at him to agree with her. "Ah'm takin charge of settin things up. Just lookin fer a second head for creativity."
"I can get Trae if you want. I'm sure he's a morning dude." I offered.
Applejack nodded. "Mighty good thinkin'."
As I walked off, I couldn't help but feeling a burning glare on the back of my head. Figuratively, not literally. I shrugged. I'll be back.
I headed back to SAA and saw that we had another pair of hooves helping out along with a set of wings. Because of this, Xavier was in a better mood.
"Heya Rainbow. Glad ya stopped by to help out." I called out, laughing.
She waved. "Hey Jack. Just helpin my grumpy monkey not be so grumpy." She said, nuzzling Xavier. He seemed to be in a better mood if only by a slight as she helped him carry things. "If you're looking for Applejack, she left for town to gather more materials. She'll be back any moment now."
I nodded. "Alright. Keep up the good work you two."
Leaving the two alone, I noticed Applejack returning from her trip, but covered in golden glitter. Not being able to help but laugh, I walked over to her.
"Looks like I have a golden apple, and I'm not even playin Minecraft."
"Hun." She said, still covered in the golden glitter.
"I bet you're livin your life like it's golden."
"Hun." She repeated, getting a bit annoyed.
"Unless you're foolin me. Haha, get it? It's becau-"
"Hun, would ya mind?!" She cut me off. "Can yah help me get this goshdarn glitter off?"
"Sure, but tell me, who decided to give you the gold experience?" I asked.
She glanced towards the town. "Pinkie." I made note to stop by her place sometime. "So, got any ideas from Trae?"
"Yeah, he just said to set up areas for adults to hang and for kids to play and just cook and mingle. Like a cook out."
Applejack looked at me puzzled. "That's it?" I shrugged and nodded my head.
That's pretty much all Xavier and Trae's family did during their family reunions. "I guess it's just the fact that they're together and havin fun that matters."
"What 'bout makin special memories? And makin sure each moment is better than the last?" Okay, she's definitely thinking about this way too hard.
"Tch! I guess that is the special memories. Nothin gotta be perfect, ya dig?" I laughed, grabbing a bucket of water and throwing it on her. "Geez, you're sounding like Twilight."
She laughed as she was splashed. "Hey now, we need that."
"Relax, we can just have RD bring a small raincloud to fill it up again." I told her. I patted her head after she shook herself dry. Hours later with the help of some of our friends, we were almost done with the preperations. A few of Applejacks ideas had to be rehashed because the child games she had came up with were pretty tedius and well, something no boy, girl, colt or filly would want to do. I mean, running around trees until you're dizzy? Balancing a plate on your nose while tongue twisting? Who the fuck comes up with this shit? Also had managed to convince Applejack that the elderly wouldn't do well with operating machines very well, using the exaggeated analogy of a caveman trying to operate a 3D printer. And the noise was like a train on train tracks. Last I checked, the elderly prefers quiet.
Soon, it was getting dark. We were all done with preperations. Well, for the most part. We hadn't really had much replacement activities, but Xavier said he'd come up with a few things before he and Dash headed home. I had decided to stay with the Apples for this night in case they needed any last minute preparations in the morning. Not only that, but nothing beats a good ol' fashioned country breakfast in the morning. Though I miss bacon. I miss bacon so much...
After a long day, I had made my way to the guest bed room when Applejack had tapped my hip.
"Mah room is this way." She pointed to her door.
I shook my head. "Not tonight, AJ. Maybe if we were under the human roof, but your siblings and granny are kinda nearby."
AJ smiled. "Ah understand." She reared up and pecked me on the cheek before heading to her room. "Night, hun."
I continued to the guest room and flopped on the guest bed that surely wasn't fitting for a human. It was a busy day and I was exhausted. Sleep came pretty quick.
The next morning wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. Woke up to the smell of baked cinnamon apples, eggs, and crispy hay bacon, only 2 out of 3 I actually enjoyed. Though watching them eat the later reminded me on why I didn't spend many nights there. Living off of eggs and fish for the past year or two and then seeing ponies eat anything resembling.... bacon. Applejack must've saw me staring.
She chuckled. "An' here Ah thought ya humans didn't eat hay. 'Ere." She forked over a strip of hay bacon. I stared for a moment as the entire table stared at me, watching. I grabbed it and took a bite.
I have no idea what else I was expecting. Applebloom and Granny Smith were giggling at the munched up face of disgust I was showing.
"Nope... Humans... don't eat hay." I said after bringing a napkin up to my mouth to spit it out. "Just been ages since I had the real stuff."
"Bacon made out of pig meat?" AJ asked. I nodded. After years of getting to understand one another, the ponies seem to become more understanding of us humans Applejack had thought Granny Smith was gonna have her kick me to the curb when she found out about what we ate, but there are quite a few civilized races here other than ponies that are carnivores. I grew a bit understanding of why meat isn't on the market here as well.
Ponies do not like killing creatures and don't really have much of a need to as herbavores, so it fell on us to find our own sources of meat. ...Other than the fish Fluttershy provides us. Only one species we felt comfortable touching that wasn't made of wood or friends with the shy peg.
"Jeff's got a bit lazy with hunting cockatrice recently." I explained. "I'd tell him to stop being a lazy ass fetch us some grub, but I'm not lookin for trouble."
"Ya best be watchin yer language 'ere around the young'uns, mister!" Granny Smith warned. Right. Applebloom...
"My bad. Anyway, is everything set up for the reunion?"
Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup."
After breakfast, we did our own thing as we waited for relatives to arrive. They did and wow were they a lot of 'em. I saw a few familiar faces. They were the only ones that weren't giving me funny looks. Some heard of us already, but didn't know what to make of me. I just smiled and waved as Applejack and I introcuded myself to those I hadn't met. The same happened when Pinkie arrived with my siblings.
After the awkward ordeal, the activities had started, and Applejack took my suggestion and let people participate in whatever activity they wanted. Hiroto, being the anti-social super introvert, went inside whereas Jonathan, Applebloom and a few other fillies and colts went straight for the seven-legged race. I smiled and walked over. I have got to see this. Heheh...
-Nobody's POV-
Jonathan and a few of the fillies and colts had headed straight for the seven legged race. They all picked their partners. As one would expect, Applebloom picked Jonathan.
"Ah call Jonny!" AB claimed, clinging to the boy.
Babs had laughed with her partner. "You sure you wanna do that, cuz? You're down two legs."
"Havin' fun with yer friends is more important to me than winnin'." Applebloom retorted.
Jonathan gave Babs a determined look, mentally declaring rivalry. "I'm gunna win!"
They all lined up at the starting line with Pinkie sitting there, digging around in her mane. She pulled out her party cannon and lit the fuse. The moment it went off, every pony darted ahead, with the exception of Applebloom, because she was stuck with Jonathan going at a very slow pace. Poor Jonathan looked like he was trying so hard, but the mismatching of number and size of legs they had was a huge disadvantage, Not only that, but Jonathan's stomach was growling.
"It's okay Jonny, we can stop." Applebloom said comfortingly. "We gave it our all, and it's not good ta run on an empty stomach." Before Jonathan could reply, Applebloom pulled out a caramel apple and hoofed it to him. Jonathan took a bite.
This would be a moment that Applebloom would regret.
In the lead was Babs and her partner. They were perfectly synchronised with their steps and had a pretty fair lead.
"Keep it up! We're ahead and almoat there!" Babs stated between breaths.
"WELCOMETOTHEJUNGLEWEGOTFUNNGAMESWEGOTEVERYTHINUWANTHONEYWEKNODANAMES"
Babs heard a colt babbling and a filly screaming from far behind. Babs silently told herself not to look back.
"WEAREDAPEPOUCANFINDWATEVAUMAYNEEDIFUGOTDAMONEYHUNAYWEGOTYURDISEASE"
Babs tried to further resist temptation as the ruckus got louder and closer as it was right on their tail. The moment she looked back, a tall blur passed them both. Looking ahead, she saw Jonathan booking it with a screaming Applebloom who was upside down holding on for dear life with three of her legs wrapped around him, one of her forelegs still tied to his leg
"INDAJUNGLEWELCUMTODAJUNGLEWATCHITBRINGYATOURSHUNUNUNUNUNUNUNUNEEEEEEZNEEEEEZ"
Both Babs and her partner had stopped, watching them both cross the finish line. Jonathan didn't stop. He kept going and going and going and going... and going... and going...
You get the idea.
It was about an hour later when Jack and AJ carried a sleeping Jonathan and a traumatized Applebloom back to the party. Nobody was hurt physically, but AJ gave her little sister a talk about giving Jonathan too much sugar. She learned her lesson to say the least. The reunion was pretty relaxing after that. The kids were playing tag or catch, or throwing water balloons at one another. The elderly worked on their quilt, everyone else socialized and caught up with one another and getting to know about Jack.
Another hour later, Jonathan had woken up underneath a tree. He looked around, seeing everyone still enjoying themselves and having fun. He felt lightheaded still, but he was also hungry again if his stomach growling was of any indication. He stood up and walked over to where the food was and grabbed the nearest item off the table.
He took a bite out of a caramel apple.