//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Flurry Heart's Story: Apple Family Memories 
// by AleximusPrime 
//------------------------------//

“This is where you can get the best view of the whole orchard,” Chip said as he and Annie guided Flurry to the top of a hill with some apple trees on it.
“Wow!  It looks beautiful!” Flurry said, sitting down.
“It’s also where we both got our cutie marks,” Annie added.
“Really?  How did it happen?”
“Last autumn, Mom let us do some apple-bucking for this whole acre,” Chip explained. “We both really wanted to get more involved with the farm so we offered to start small with this special spot on the hill top.  It took a while but we did it all by ourselves. By the time we were finished, we both sat down here, watched the sun set and decided we really liked being apple-farmers.  That’s when these little beauties showed up on our flanks.”
Chip walked over next to his sister.  They turned away from each other and bumped their rumps together, showing off their identical apple cutie marks.



“Haven’t regretted it ever since!”
“You should have seen how excited Auntie Apple Bloom was when she heard we both got our cutie marks at the same time.”
“That’s right!  I remember reading the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ entry in the Friendship Journal about when that happened.  It’s usually pretty rare for several ponies to acquire their cutie marks simultaneously. I’m still waiting to see what mine’s gonna be.” Flurry said, looking back at her bare flank.
“Well we’ve heard a lot of stories that our aunt told us about what she and her friends did to figure theirs out so don’t go too crazy with it.” Chip snickered.
“STORMY!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” shouted Pound off to the side.
The three of them turned to see Spike, Pound and Pumpkin at the base of a tree, looking up at some rustling leaves.  The sound of electricity could be heard and the tree lit up from the inside.  Stormy flew out of the tree, blackened from the electricity and his hair standing on end.
“I’m okay,” he said wearily as his eyes spun around. 
“Those zap-apples aren’t ready for eating yet, Storm!”  Spike laughed as Pumpkin and Pound joined her.
“Yeah, Stormy can’t help himself sometimes when he’s here,” Chip told Flurry as she giggled.
“Least he’s kinda living up to his name!” Pumpkin giggled.
Stormy looked miffed, but he shook himself off and matted his hair down.  He then flew over to Flurry and the Apple Twins.
“Chip, Annie, can we go inside and play the Joy Box?” he said, landing in front of them.
“The Joy Box?” Flurry asked.
“Yeah, it’s for video games,” Annie explained.
“Oh, like the new console version of the Joyboy.  Dad used to play one of those.”
“Chip got it last Hearth’s Warming and Stormy can’t get enough of it.”
“Well there’s no point in saying no now that he’s mentioned it,” Chip said.
“Can we play battle mode on Super Dragon Warriors?  Can we, can we, can we?!” Stormy asked, hopping up and down.
“Take it easy now, Storm,” Spike said behind him.  “Flurry came to visit us after all.”
“It’s okay, Spike,” Flurry replied. “I’m not much of a gamer, but I wouldn’t mind watching them.”
“YES!!  Let’s go!”
Stormy took off and flew ahead while the others walked and Chip continued talking to Flurry.



“So yeah, that’s pretty much the whole farm,” he said. “We go out here to check the trees every week to make sure there aren’t any worms or other issues.  Sure does keep us busy.”
“You guys are so lucky to have all this land to roam around in,” Flurry said as she looked around.
She then noticed a nearby clearing with a few gravestones. One of the gravestones had some fresh dirt in front of it and was surrounded by bouquets of colorful flowers. Annie stayed behind and glanced at them. Her ears went down and she hung her head.  She turned around and continued walking with the others, trying to get herself to smile again.  Flurry couldn’t see the writing on the stone, but she then remembered that Cadance had told her that Applejack’s grandmother passed away a few weeks ago.  Annie must have been having a hard time getting over her death, which could’ve explained why she seemed so shy at first when meeting her.  Flurry wanted to ask about it, but she figured now wasn’t the time to discuss her great grandmother’s death.
“Come on, slowpokes!” Stormy teased. “Let’s go play!”
“Ah, that crazy little colt.” Spike laughed.
“I dunno about you guys, but I could definitely go for some of those delicious mashed taters your mom makes for supper tonight,” Pumpkin said to Chip and Annie.
“Great idea, Pumpkin!  I’ll run it by her when we get inside,” Chip replied as he started running along with everyone else to keep up with Stormy.


“BATTLE MODE!  CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER!” said the announcer in the video game as Chip, Stormy, Pound and Pumpkin all sat in front of the television monitor.  The green box between them was the “Joy Box” console. Four controllers were plugged in to the front end.  The controllers were shaped like a capital H with colorful buttons on the side so ponies could use them with their hooves effectively and even control the center joystick with their mouth.  On the top section of the controller were smaller versions of the buttons that were meant for other creatures with fingers such as dragons, griffons, and hippogriffs. This video game system was developed after Equestria began to open up to more non-pony races and designed it so it could be played by anyone.  The game they were playing was very popular with dragons due to its action and use of dragon lore and historical figures.  Spike, Flurry and Annie all spectated from behind as they selected their favorite character to use.
“I call Lavan!” Stormy shouted making his selection on screen.
“Stormy, you always choose Lavan,” Pound teased.
“He’s my best character!”
“He’s not even a dragon though,” Chip chimed in.
“He’s still cooler than Smelt.  The dragons aren’t as fun to use.”
“Just let him have his fun, guys.  I’m looking forward to kicking all your flanks,” said Pumpkin smugly as she lay down on her belly with her hooves under her chin.  Her controller was hovering in front of her with her magic.
“Whatever you say, cheater,” Chip said, nudging her playfully.
“STAGE SET!” shouted the announcer. “EREBUS, LAVAN, SMELT, AAAAAAND GROGAR!”
“Wait, Grogar is in this game too?” Flurry asked as the arena took time to load.
“Apparently he is,” Spike replied. “Ever since Discord disguised himself as Grogar to fool the Trio, tons of game producers and sci-fi authors have been making up their own versions of Grogar left and right.  Kinda strategic if you’d ask me.  Everyone loves having him as a villain.”
“Yeah, but the least they could do is make him accurate. He was blue, not green.”
“His default color is blue, I just changed him to green for fun.” Pound told Flurry.
“Oh.  Well they definitely got the Bewitching Bell wrong.  That looks like a little cow-bell around his neck.  The red eyes are also a bit off-putting.”
“Don’t worry, Flurry, I’ll beat Grogar for you!” Stormy said.
Annie smiled and shook her head back and forth.
“You don’t play games, do you?” Flurry asked her.
“Not really.” Annie replied. “Some are too violent for me, but Mom and Dad seem to be okay with this one.  I like Seapony Adventures, but I’m not so good at playing it so I usually just watch Chip instead.  It’s got a nice story.”
“Yeah, my Dad tried to get me into them but it’s not really my thing.  This game looks okay; it’s just weird seeing all these ancient villains of Equestria being portrayed like this.  I think Erebus and Lavan looked a lot scarier than that.  I still don’t know why Lavan has a crown.  That monster had no right to pose as royalty.”
“Least they’re not doing anything with Nightmare Moon.  That would be pretty disrespectful to Princess Luna.” Spike added.
“And I hope they don’t do anything with Tirek after what he told us yesterday.”
“Shhhh!  It’s about to start!” Stormy whispered loudly.
“THREE, TWO, ONE, GOOOOO!”



The kids began button mashing their controllers as the polygonal characters ran around the stage and pummeled one another.  Erebus resembled a large cloud-like being that was based on the historical villain of Equestria that was sealed away over a thousand years ago: Erebus the Shadow Demon.  His reach was excellent since he was made out of clouds and he was difficult to land hits on, but didn’t have much brute strength.  Lavan the Lava Demon had the appearance of a large bipedal monster made of lava and was also based on an ancient villain who met the same fate as Erebus.  He was one of the stronger characters and could shoot lava blasts from a distance. He moved slowly but was strong and could burn characters if they stood next to him for too long.  Smelt was once a real-life dragon warrior of old that was very iconic in dragon culture.  His game character was good with weapons like a crystal sword and arrows.  He also had great aim with his fire breathing abilities. Grogar the ram was based on the ancient, evil sorcerer of the same name.  He was extremely capable with magic and could use a powerful head-butt move that would send enemies flying.
Flurry watched in awe as she saw all the characters using their unique abilities and fighting moves.  It was a bit too fast-paced for her to keep up with which was part of why she never got into fighting games, but she was amused by it nonetheless. Erebus landed a punch on Lavan and the latter fell over, melted into a puddle of lava and faded away.  A small glowing number floated over him, indicating that the player had lost a point.  He respawned on another section of the stage with a refilled health meter and continued to fight.
“OOOH!  Pumpkin, nice job!” Spike said.
“Dangit!  I’m gonna get you for that, Pumpkin!” said a determined Stormy.
“Stormy, try using parry.  Lavan’s too slow and you need to be able to dodge attacks sometimes,” Chip advised.
“Alright, alright, fine,”
Annie walked over and sat down on a nearby couch, while the others continued to talk amongst each other over the game.
“They’re going to be doing this for a while.  Might wanna find a comfy spot over here,” she said as Flurry joined her.
“So does Chip play games a lot?” Flurry asked.
“Not too much.  They all love he Joy Box, but Chip always minds when Mom gives us time limits on it.  He’s really diligent.  If he’s got some work to do around the farm, he does it without complaining and I just go wherever he goes.  It’s been that way ever since we got our cutie marks.”
“You guys sure are great workers.  Applejack and Tex are lucky to have you around here.”
Flurry looked around the room, noticing some photos on mantles and bookshelves.  She then noticed a portrait of Granny Smith on the wall behind her in a circular frame. Without thinking, she asked about it.
“Hey, isn’t that your great grandmother, Granny Smith? The one who…uh, passed away recently?” she asked.
“Oh.  Yeah, that’s her.”
Flurry realized she had said too much and noticed a change of expression on Annie’s face.  She had to finish what she started though.
“Sorry she had to go like that.”
“It’s okay.  She was really old and wasn’t doing so well.”
“You really miss her, don’t you?”
“Yeah.  We did a lot of things with her.  She was so fun to have around.”
Annie sniffled a bit and her lips began to quiver.  Flurry was scared that this would lead to her crying. She was about to say something to cheer her up when suddenly the announcer began talking and Pumpkin started to whoop.
“ROUND COMPLETE!  THE WINNER IS…EREBUS!”
“MUAHAHA!  NO ONE CAN WITHSTAND MY SHADOW POWERS!!”
Erebus congratulated himself on screen while the others hung their heads in defeat, except for Smelt, who was being a good sport and clapping for the winner.
“YES!” shouted Pumpkin. “I knew I still had the touch!”
“Dangit!  Why do unicorns have to be so darn good at video games?!” Stormy whined.
“It’s the magic, Storm.  They’re total pros,” Pound said, patting Stormy on the back.
“Hmpf!  Well I’m gonna play as Penguin King next.”
“Hey Flurry, I’m gonna sit this next round out since I won. You wanna give it a try?” Pumpkin said, offering the little princess her controller.
“Oh…well, uh…”
“It’s okay, we’ll all set the difficulty to level 1 if you want.”
“Give it a try Flurry.  Ember’s a pretty good starting character,” Spike told her.
“Ember’s in this too?!”
“Sure is!  She can fly and she uses the Fire Scepter as a weapon!  She’s super cool!” Stormy told her.
“We’ll go easy on you, Flurry.  We promise,” added Chip.
“Go ahead, Flurry.  I’ll be ok back here,” Annie told her with a smile returning to her face.
Flurry almost wanted to stick with Annie some more after seeing her look so sad, but Annie looked better now so she thought it was worth a try.
“Eh, I guess it wouldn’t hurt.  Alright, I’ll play as Ember.”
Flurry hopped down from the couch and used her magic to hold the controller.
“Alright!” shouted Stormy.
“Go get em, Flurr!” Pumpkin said, giving Flurry a pat on the back.
They all sat down for a few moments to select their characters while Chip gave Flurry a quick run-down on the controls.
“Alright Flurry, the cross-shaped yellow pad here on the left is for walking, jumping and crouching.  These buttons on the right are for attacking.  That big green one is he main attack, the little blue one is for more powerful attacks, and the red one can also make you jump if it’s too hard to use the pad to do that.  I always jump with the red button.  Pretty much everypony does, but you’ll probably do just fine with magic.”
“Also, be sure to use green and blue when moving in certain directions and you’ll use different moves.  Ember’s got this really awesome slash move if you press green while running,” Spike added.
“Green while running.  Got it!”
Flurry sat down and readied the controller with her magic. The screen changed to show the characters they were using.
“STAGE SET!  EMBER, PENGUIN KING, SMELT, AAAAAAND GRUMBLEBOG!”
“Oh my gosh, even Grumblebog is in this game?!” Flurry asked, surprised.
“Who’s Grumblebog?” Stormy asked.  “Is that like Spike’s brother or something?”
“No, that’s an old friend of Celestia and Luna’s.  Of course he was much larger when they first met him. Another historical inaccuracy.”
“Well they can’t make the characters too big in this or it wouldn’t be fair to the other players.  That’s why all the dragon characters are in their young adult forms,” Pound told Flurry.
“THREE, TWO, ONE, GOOOOO!”
“Alright Flurry, go!” Chip told the princess as she started concentrating her magic on the controller.  She hadn’t used one in quite a while with her magic, but she had already memorized the buttons and started experimenting with her moves.  She tried flying away from the other characters and testing out some of her moves.  She pressed blue and Ember shot out a fireball.  Pressing and holding it would allow her to breath fire for a few seconds. She managed to start burning Penguin King until her fire ran out.  Flurry remembered Spike’s advice and pressed green while running forward.  Ember slashed with her scepter, landing a hit on him.  Penguin King, better known as “King Charlatan”, was a tyrant that Celestia and Luna defeated long ago.  He had ice-themed powers so he didn’t do well with fire.  Before Flurry could act again, Penguin King shot ice beams out of his eyes and she flew backwards, temporarily frozen in ice.
“Come on, Flurry!  You can do it!” Spike cheered.
“Here Flurry, let me show you something.” Pound said as he controlled Grumblebog, the plump red dragon that closely resembled Spike. Grumblebog flew over Penguin King, quickly shot downward and did a ground-pounding move that shook the platform beneath him.  Penguin King fell over with snowflakes spinning around his head and faded away.
“That’s how you do it.”
“Don’ get too cocky, Pound!” Chip said as Smelt began thrashing Grumblebog with his sword.
Pumpkin sat on top of Spike’s back as they both continued watching the others play.  Meanwhile back at the couch, Annie couldn’t help but take a quick glance at the portrait of Granny Smith.  The smile left her face and she was sad again.  She curled up on the couch, trying to forget Granny’s death a few weeks ago.  Watching the others play the game did no good.  Her throat felt soar and tears began to form in her eyes.  She sighed and hopped down from the couch, slowly making her way up the stairs to her bedroom.  The heartache was too much for her to continue with the others.
“FLURRY, YOU DID IT!” Spike hollered.
“Wait, I did?!”
“ROUND COMPLETE!  THE WINNER IS…EMBER!”
“Too easy,” Ember said nonchalantly while leaning on the scepter.
“Not bad for your first time, Flur!” Pumpkin said, giving her a noogie on her head.
“Geez, she’s good!” Stormy said. “She even got more K.O.s than Pound!”
“Well hey, we know video games aren’t your thing, but that was a nice challenge, Flurry!  Next time we’ll have to put it on Level 3!” Chip told her.
“Thanks guys,” Flurry said, bashfully. “It really felt awesome to play as Ember for sure.  Does she know she’s in this game?”
“Oh of course she does,” Spike said. “I don’t think she really gets video games, but she’s flattered they made her a playable character and the game has sold really well with dragons.”
“Maybe we can give Seapony Adventures a try real quick,” Pound told everyone.  “What do you say, Annie?  Uh…Annie?”
Everyone looked back to see that Annie was not in the room. Spike stood up and checked around in case Annie might have moved to another spot, but she was nowhere to be found.
“Annie?  You around?” he asked.
“I’ll go look for her.  She probably just went upstairs real quick,” Chip said as he walked off to find his sister.
“Uh oh…” Flurry said, apprehensively.