“Cock-a-doodle-do! Cock-a-doodle-do!” The roster outside yelled with all his heart, his call echoing across the farm yard and into the forest of apple trees that waited patiently for the fruit to be plucked. It stirred the animals that lived on the farm as they called back to the roosters with their moos and baas, making it hard to sleep through. Even if you were trying to do your best to do so and get back to sleep after being woken up by the rooster who started it all.
“Mm…” Sunset groaned as she covered her head with her pillow trying to block out all the noise of the farm starting to stir to life. Which worked as well as sticking your fingers in your ears at a rock concert, so in other words not at all. But it was the only thing she could think to do to try and block out the noise in her tired state. Maybe if she was more awake she would have grabbed her phone and headphones and used those, but that was for a clearer thinking Sunset Shimmer. She had to stay with the Apple family as part of an unseen circumstance, and she had offered to help around the farm the little she could, but she didn’t realize that it involved getting up at the crack of dawn!
She had seen on TV and read in books that farmers got up at that hour, but she figured it was an exaggeration or something they stopped doing now that the lightbulb was invented. But apparently, nobody ever told the animals how good sleeping in was. The joys of actually having rest and being up when it was bright enough to see what you were doing were lost on the creatures. And Sunset knew it was still practically dark out since when she opened her eyes it looked like she hadn’t done so. Maybe that would be her project for the day, trying to convince the animals to sleep in later. That may have been something more suited for her friend Fluttershy since the girl could speak to animals, but it seemed like a good use of her time. But that would have to wait until later, as the animals seem to have calmed down for the time being. Leaving the girl to sigh as she let go of her pillow, but not bothering to move it from the top of her head, and just closed her eyes again to go back to sleep.
“YEHAAAAAAW!” Someone cheered, kicking the girl's door open and throwing the light switch up and illuminating the room.
“AH!” Sunset yelped out, jumping up from her bed, floundering around, rolling right off her bed, and crashing onto the ground with the blanket over her body. “No…” She whined pulling the blanket close to her body. They could not be getting up already, what kind of cruel prank was this?
“Oh, sorry Sugarcube,” The person said, going over and lifting her up, sitting her on the bed, and peeling the blanket off the girl as if it were a banana peel. “Didn’t mean to scare ya like so.” They giggled, as Sunset opened her eyes, wincing as the unwelcome light attacked her eyes. But she saw her friend Applejack bend over smiling at her like she had just found a million bucks, her emerald green eyes sparkling with excitement. Gosh, how could people be so perky this early in the morning?
“Mm…” The girl grunted as she fell backward and crashed on her back, keeping her baby blue blanket wrapped around her tightly.
“Up up up, that won’t do,” Applejack said, picking the girl up and literally tossing her in the air and catching her a few times. “Don’t be goin' back to sleep on us. You said you wanted to help, so you gotta get up and help!” She said, sitting the girl on her feet, still smiling. “Granny Smiths almost got breakfast ready and if you want any of it I’d suggest gettin' dressed and heading downstairs.” She said, and at this point, with all the tossing in the air, Sunset was wide somewhat awake and saw Applejack was already ready for the day. The teen was in a pair of blue well-worn overalls, brown leather boots, and red and white plaid shirt, and her signature cowgirl hat, her hay-yellow hair in a ponytail. Meaning that the girl had been awake before the rooster crowed and was just using that as an alarm to wake her up, how was that even possible?
“Kay…” Sunset said with a yawn as she rubbed her eyes with her hands, trying to wake up a bit more. It was clear going back to sleep wasn’t exactly an option for her. So when Applejack left the girl stretched her arms as she looked around the room. It was technically the attic of the farmhouse that had been changed into a makeshift guest room for anyone staying at the farm. So it wasn’t exactly the most spacious area, about half the size of a school classroom with an old, or antique as many people called them, dresser off into one corner, a mirror sitting beside it, the twin-sized bed that Sunset had slept on, a large brown carpet, and a teeny table with a small chair. The walls of the room were slanted up into a point since it was the top of the house.
Thankfully Sunset had picked her outfits for the week already picked out for the week her thanks to Rarity. And her outfit for the day at the farm was already waiting on the wooden chair, so she didn’t have to stumble through her clothes while half asleep. But that didn’t change the fact that she had to get dressed half asleep. But it wasn’t like she really cared about if her shirt was on backward or inside out, she had gone out like that a dozen times before. So she got out of her PJs, a red footie that had little lizards and numbers 5’s decorating it and got into her clothes for the day. A light blue T-shirt with music notes on it, a denim dress that fell right to her knees, a red sock on her left foot and a green sock on her right foot, a pair of pink cowgirl boots, and a cowgirl hat that matched her boots.
Looking at herself in the mirror Sunset did let off a satisfied smirk as she did a little twirl in the mirror, making her dress rise up a bit as she did so. She knew if Rarity, her fashion-forward friend, saw her she would probably melt into a puddle at how cute she looked. Which wouldn’t normally be the look that she’d go far, as she was much more accustomed to leather and much cooler-looking clothes. But in her current predicament, it was a lot harder to look cool.
After everything that had happened the previous day, the girl wasn’t sure how things could have gotten any weirder. A pair of magical pajamas forced themselves on her, turned her into a kindergartner, and she had no idea how to turn back. At least her parents weren’t home to have to deal with this, she was trying to not have them affected by magic more than they already had been. So she hadn’t exactly told them that she was currently a fraction of the size she normally was and going to be bouncing around staying with her friends until either this got fixed or they got home. And she knew it probably would be better to just rip the bandaid off and tell them now, and it would only get worse every minute she didn’t tell them. But she and her friends usually found the solution to these weird situations before it was too late. So she was banking on them to figure this out before it was too late.
She was just glad that she had managed to get the PJs off again, the zipper reappearing when she needed to get change. She wasn’t going to be thrilled to be stuck wearing the same pair of PJs for who knows how long. She imagined that situation would stink in more ways than one.
Though the way the PJs acted she was sure they were clingy and got jealous of the other clothes she could wear! The only thing she had been able to wear to bed was the footie! Not just because of the zipper on it disappearing and reappearing, but because she tried to wear one of her T-shirts over it to try and hide the fact she was wearing childish clothing. But suddenly the PJs changed from a red color with yellow fives on it to a blue color with white frowny faces on it, and then moved Sunset's hands to take the shirt off. Then when Rarity brought her a new wardrobe they turned green with envy though it didn’t do anything to the new clothing. The worst part was, that the PJs were so comfortable and felt soft and warm. Like she had just pulled them out of the dryer and she was being wrapped in a hug. But she knew she couldn’t just keep them on, they had turned her into a little kid. Who knew what would happen if she continued to wear them? Princess Twilight still hadn’t responded to her, which was kind of a common theme for a lot of issues. But this wasn’t exactly life or death and the Twilight in Equestria was busy with princess duties. Thankfully she hadn’t gotten any younger so that was good, but she hadn’t returned to her original age which wasn’t exactly fantastic. But since the situation wasn’t getting worse, she wasn’t going to bug her princess friend as if it was. Even if the PJs were weird.
Even now the Pjs walked up beside her with its arms crossed and tapping its foot, revealing the little rubber pads at the bottom of the white foot for traction. What was really creepy about it was the fact the PJs were blown up like there was someone in them. It faced her like it was wanting to talk to her about something, except the PJs didn’t have a mouth.
“Yes?” She asked the PJs confused by the Pjs, poking them on the belly and pushing her finger, and watching the stomach of the PJs cave in and then pop out when she moved her finger away. The PJs immediately jumped up and slapped at her hands as they wiggled, as if she had tickled them. It then waved its arms up and down at her outfit like it was trying to tell her something. “My… clothes?” She asked confused, grabbing the edge of her dress. And the PJs started waving their arms at her sporadically. “OK, this isn’t working, I can’t understand you. Yes or no questions. Raise one hand up for yes, two hands for no.” She said, and the PJs stood still. “Is it about my clothes?” She asked, and the footie rose one arm into the air. “You don’t like them?” She asked next leaving the PJ to keep its hand in the air. “Ok… I wish you could just tell me what you want!” She huffed crossing her arms and tapping her foot now.
The footie dropped its arm to where a chin would be and moved back as if stroking a chin trying to think. It then excitedly raised both arms as its design changed to a white color with little crayon stick figures with footie PJs decorated it. The stick figure was made with a yellow crayon with the person having red and yellow pigtails. It excitedly pointed to the person as it hopped up and down.
“Is that supposed to be me… wearing you?” Sunset asked raising an eyebrow, making the footie stop jumping as it raised a hand in the air. “You’re kidding me, I can’t wear you outside!” She scoffed, making the PJs shift to having the design be a bunch of question marks. “For one I don’t exactly want to wear you! You turned me into a little kid and won’t change me back. But secondly, you aren’t exactly farm clothes.” She said with a huff as the footie started to stroke its nonexistent chin again held its arms up and suddenly changed in color. Making it look like a cowgirl with a striped shirt, blue pants, and brown at the bottom, even a golden star on the chest that said SHERIFF SUNSET on it. But it was all melded together and was very much a footie still. “No that won’t work. You’ll get dirty and if I don’t want to wear you now, I really won’t want to wear you if you smell like a pig pen! Now stay up here until I come back.” She groaned rolling her eyes as she walked out of the room. The girl really hoped that Twilight would figure out a way to fix all of this before the PJs got any crazy ideas. At the moment it seemed like it lost a lot of its power during the daytime and didn’t want to move around much. But magic in this world was always so unpredictable so Sunset wasn’t going to let her guard down.
But for now, she seemed safe as she scaled down the steps, her little pink boots making a thud thud thud as she took each step, soon making it to the kitchen Which along with the rest of the house was simply looking. A tile flooring with an oven and stove, an old-looking white fridge, and a simple-looking wooden table with wooden chairs pushed up to it. Well, they would be pushed up if people weren’t sitting at them, as the Apple family was already munching on away on their breakfast. The smell of salty greasy bacon filled the air and made Sunset's young tastebuds cry out as she salivated. She rushed over to the chair that she had sat at the previous night for dinner, sitting on a hard thick phone book that Granny Apple had put down so she would be able to make it to the table. Where a plate with a couple of stripes of bacon, a little pile of bright yellow scrambled eggs, and a slice of buttered toast waited for her. And if she was her normal age that definitely would not have been enough to fill her up, but with her little body came smaller portions.
“Okay so here's how we’re breaking up the chores for the day,” Applejack said to everyone, standing up and taking her empty plate to the sink and placing it in. “Big Mac, you go ahead and get things ready for the different crafts. Saucing, juicing, coring, all of it. We might as well get it all ready since cider season is coming up. I’m gonna make sure the pigs and cows are taken care of. Leaving Applebloom and Sunset to take care of the chicken.” She said to the two youngest people at the table. “That's gettin' the eggs, lettin' them out of their coop, and feedin' them. You two got that? Applebloom, make sure you help Sunset, she's never done anything quite like this before.”
“You got it, Applejack!” Applebloom said, giving her sister a thumbs up as she inhaled the last bit of her scrambled eggs before turning to Sunset and giving her a thumbs up, the girl's yellow cheeks puffed out like a squirrel with its mouth filled with acorns. “Don rry. Sh zy!” She tried saying to the younger girl, though with her mouth full of food it made it a bit difficult to make words.
“Now what have I told you about talking with your mouth full, missey?” Granny Apple said from the head of the table, giving Applebloom a stern look that even made Sunset shrink back a bit and she wasn’t even talking. "You wanna act like a little piggy, you can march off to the one and eat with 'em!"
“Sorry, Granny!” The girl yelped after swallowing her mouthful of food as she rushed her plate over to the sink. But hearing the oldest member of the family talk made Sunset realize that Applejack didn’t say what Granny was doing.
“Granny does what Granny wants,” Applebloom said to Sunset before she could get her question out.
“Yep.” Big Mac said from the other end of the table before he shoved an entire piece of toast that had eggs and a slice of cheese on top of it into his mouth at once. Chewing three times before swallowing it down, making the kindergartener's mouth drop. Getting up before the rooster crowed, eating mountains of food as if were nothing, was the family secretly magical?
“Anyways, we’re losin' daylight!” Applebloom said, rocking back and forth on her heels as she watched Sunset eat her food.
“You could always go and get started on your own, Sugarcube,” Applejack said with an eye roll as she grabbed her little sister by her shoulders and dragged her out.
“But what if she gets lost, Applejack? I’m trying to be responsible!” Applebloom huffed as she was dragged off.
“Yeah and I know why, and you still can’t babysit the Cake’s babies on your own.” The older girl said with another eye roll, “Sugarcube, when you’re done go to the little building that has chickens and chicks painted on the front of it.” Applejack said to Sunset as the two farm girls finally got out the door.
“Yep.” Big Mac said, eating another stacked piece of toast in three bites before getting up and putting his plate in the sink as well. As he walked out the door he brushed the crumbs off his red button-up plaid shirt. Leaving Sunset alone with Granny, who got up and went to the sink to start the dishes.
Sunset scarfed down her breakfast, smiling with every bite that she took. All the food tasted so much better than it normally did. And that could be chalked up to her now having much more sensitive taste buds. But Sunset was certain it was from all the food being fresh and from the farm. But when all of her food was gone, she took the plate, which was practically licked clean, over to the sink. Revealing the red and green apples designed onto the middle of the plate. Once there she stood up on her tippy toes to try and put the plate in the sick. And doing that in brand new firm leather boots wasn’t the best idea.
“Ah, whoa, whoa, whoa!” Sunset yelped, as she stumbled backward, the boots having practically thrown her back when she tried to get a few extra inches of height.
“Careful youngin!” Granny said, reaching over and grabbing the back of Sunset’s shirt and holding her until the girl got her feet back under her.
“Thank,” The five-year-old said, blushing a bit as Granny took her plate, “I guess I still need to get used to these boots.” She said with a small giggle before turning and rushing outside to make her way to the chicken coop. And in her rush to the small structure, she tripped and stumbled a few more times in her boots. She really needed to get them broken in if she was going to be spending more time at the farm as a little girl. But she didn’t end up hitting the ground face first and that's what was important. “I’m here, Applebloom!” She chirped to the yellow-skinned girl, who had her head buried in the top of the coop.
“Ok good!” The freshman said as she stood up straight, a brown egg in her hand. “I already got the other side all gathered. So we just got to finish this side and then feed them.” She informed Sunset, as she used her foot to point at a small grey step ladder that was already popped open. “Use that to be able to get into the top of the coop and just reach in and gather whatever eggs you can get.” She instructed, bending down and carefully setting the egg in a basket that had about a dozen eggs in it already.
Sunset nodded her head, took the ladder, sat it beside the older girl, and climbed up it before peering into the coop. She smirked as she saw all the chickens walking around bobbing their heads as they let out baaawk bawk bawk. But directly below her sitting in a nest made up of hay sat two eggs, one a snow white and the other a chocolate brown. Reaching down the girl went to carefully grab the eggs. But when her little fingers wrapped around them she immediately yelped and let go of them, feeling the warmth coming from the eggs. She was not expecting the little ovals to be warm!
“What happened?” Applebloom asked, immediately looking at the girl, “Did a chicken peck you? They can be a little ornery when it comes to the eggs. Which one was it?” She asked, glaring daggers at a brown chicken that had speckles of white over her feathers, clearly having beef with that chicken already.
“No. I just wasn’t expecting the eggs to be warm.” She said, reaching back down and grabbing them, the eggs need almost all the reach of her fingers to hold onto them. But as she started to hear a giggle radiating from the other girl. “Is that normal?” She asked. Whenever Sunset got eggs from the store or when she cooked them they were usually cold.
“Yeah Sunset, that's normal.” She said ruffling the girl's head, “Since the chickens lay them and sit on them.” Applebloom explained.
“Oh… right.” She said, her cheeks tinting red as her head was ruffled. That did make sense, it just wasn’t something that she had to think of before.
But other than that the egg gathering went off without a hitch. They gathered the rest of the eggs, having to shoo away a chicken here and there but nothing bad. Well except when Applebloom yelled at the brown and white chicken when it jumped up and pecked the girl's arm and jumped back down.
“Ok with that done,” Applebloom said, rubbing a little red peck mark on her arm before lowering the roof of the coop so the chicken wouldn’t try to jump out or anything else jump in. “Time for the easy part.” She said, turning to a large barrel and popping the lid open revealing a bunch of dried corn. But since the barrel was almost as tall as Applebloom Sunset couldn’t exactly see what was in it. But when the older girl dipped an empty ice cream bucket into the barrel pulled it out and handed it to Sunset the little girl could see what was in it. Then getting her bucket Applebloom led Sunset into the coop, which was surrounded by a weird netting, and shut the gate behind them. “Ok, when I open the door to the coop just lightly toss the feed at them.” She said, tossing out a small handful to give the girl an example, and when to the small door of the coop and threw the latch on it open and the door swung open. A wave of chickens immediately rushed out, flapping and stretching their wings out as Sunset started to toss the food out, showering the birds with dried corn. The older girl soon joined in making sure to shower the birds with food, her head on a swivel as she looked back and forth.
“Everything ok?” Sunset asked the girl as they tossed out food.
“Jessabelle,” The older girl muttered, “She always tries to attack me. She's an evil chicken!”
“Oh is that the chicken that pecked you earlier?” Sunset asked though it was more a deduction as the girl had only been glaring at one chicken.
“Yeah. I don’t know why but she hates me!” She huffed getting ready to toss another handful of food, when suddenly her eyes grew as wide as saucers. “AH!” She cried, tossing her bucket in the air, and immediately tried to rush out the gate, but immediately got stopped and stuck at the gate and struggled to get it open.
BAAAAAAAWK a chicken screamed as something flew over Sunset's head, making her red and yellow hair blow up. And the brown and white chicken, Jessabelle Sunset guessed, flew onto the older girl and immediately started to peck the girl. Making Applebloom yelp and cry out as she struggled with the gate, Sunset too shocked to even move, but eventually got it open. She threw her hands around until she managed to knock the chicken off of her head, its beak filled with red hair.
“Sunset, get out of there! Quick!” She ordered the girl, getting ready to open the gate for the kindergartner. But before Sunset could move Jessabelle flapped up and landed on her shoulder, making the girl freeze again. She did not want to get pecked or attacked like Applebloom was, it didn’t look like a pleasant experience.
“What do I do?” She asked in a whisper, so she wouldn’t spook the chicken into attacking, her voice squeaking and quivering a bit as she looked into the chicken's light brown eye. If she had been her normal size this wouldn’t have been so scary, but as a little girl, her fear meter was going off the charts. But before anyone could say or do anything Jessabelle nuzzled its head against Sunsets, the chicken's feathers tickling the little girl’s cheek. “Hehehehe.” She giggled her shoulders jumped up and the chicken jumped up onto the girl's head and immediately sat there before it looked down at her. “Aw…” The girl cooed reaching up and petting the chicken, making it bawk happily.
“What's goin' on?!” Applejack asked, rushing over, “I heard screamin’, who's hurt? Will a first-aid do or am I callin the ambulance?!” She said running beside Applebloom, who was looking at Sunset with her mouth dropped open.
“Jessabelles not attacking her.” The girl said pointing at Sunset and the chicken, Sunset holding a handful of feed up to the chicken and letting it peck the food out of her hand. This sight made Applejack smile a bit, glad to see her friend not being attacked and having a good time so far.
“Ok, well that means Jessabelle just doesn’t like you, Sugarcube.” She said ruffling her little sister's head, “Once she's done in there you two come over and help me with the horses, kay Applebloom?” She instructed her, “But don’t rush her, it's good to see she's having a good time.” She said, knowing being a kid again wasn’t easy on her friend, but seeing the girl with a smile on her face having fun was a good sight to see. And if she was finally having some fun then who was she to stop her? As long as she had the girl ready for Rainbow Dash when the blue girl showed up. Not that Applejack thought that her friend would show up on time since the girl with super speed always seemed to be the one running late. But for now, she’d let Sunset have some fun and make sure she was ready later.