//------------------------------// // Two // Story: Lethe // by LunasCaptain //------------------------------// "Y'all'd better git them apples over to Sugarcube Corner right quick, Big Mac. Mrs. Cake says they got somethin' big planned." "Eeyup." Big McIntosh leaned forward, the wood of a yoke that had long since worn smooth rubbing against his fur. The wheels of the old cart creaked and turned. It was packed full of barrels of apples, each carrying a different kind. They weren't quite ready, in Big Mac's opinion. Could have done with another week or so of ripening. But the Cakes had placed an order and Applejack had deemed the fruit from the west fields good enough for baking. Without consulting him first, of course, but he had gotten used to that. "Big Mac! Big Mac, wait up!" Obligingly, he stopped. Little Applebloom and her friends scampered up beside him. She had a bucket on her head with a couple of blue feathers tied to it (maybe in an approximation of a royal guard's helmet), and the other two were carrying sticks in their mouths. Big Mac struggled to keep a straight face. He had observed enough of his younger sister's misadventures to know that there was no way this could end well. "Are ya goin' into town?" Applebloom asked with a wide smile. "Eeyup," he replied. "We'a rodeck ya!" Scootaloo exclaimed around her stick. "Beg pardon?" "We'll protect ya," Applebloom translated while her friends swung their sticks in fierce arcs. "We're gonna be Cutie Mark Crusaders royal guards!" "Ya cah be Prih-seh Celehtia," Scootaloo chimed in. "We'ah prackissin'!" "Eeyup," Big Mac nodded in observation of that fact. "Well then, ya'll'd better climb on up." He glanced at the cart. "Ah guess there ain't no harm in it." "Thank ya, big brother!" Applebloom said brightly. "Now, c'mon, mares! Let's git! The princess has to be in Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration soon!" "Yeh suh, cappen Apple-loom!" He leaned forward again, settled into the steady rhythm of a cart and its puller. He could hear the fillies in the back, wriggling around between the apple barrels. That couldn't be safe, with those sharp sticks in their-- "Ow! Sweetie Belle, ya poked me!" "Sah-ee!" "Sorry don't cut it, soldier! Ah want ya to get out and walk!" "'Ut Apple-loom--" "Ah said git out!" The sounds of a minor scuffle, probably not meant to be serious, came from behind Big Mac. His ears lowered in concern, but he didn't stop and turn around until something thumped against the road and Sweetie Belle started wailing. "Ow! Ow, why did you do that?! My mouth--" "Ah'm sorry!" Applebloom cried. "I fergot that--" "Git up here, lemme have a look at it," Big Mac called with a deep internal sigh. Why did such bad things happen whenever he was around foals? Sweetie Belle trotted up and warily opened her mouth. He peered inside. There was a small cut on her palate, barely a nick, that had already stopped bleeding. She said something without closing her mouth, eyes darting nervously around. He thought that it might be "It's really bad, isn't it?" "Uhhnope." He motioned for her to close her mouth. "Should be fine." She did so, looking scandalized. "Are you sure it's alright? It really hurts!" "Stop being a foal, Sweetie!" Scootaloo called. "I'm not! It--" "Lissen, fillies, Ah hate to interrupt, but Ah really gotta git these apples into town..." Big Mac interrupted. "Just get back in the cart, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo yelled. The small unicorn did so, muttering something under her breath. Big Mac pulled. For the third time, the cart lurched into motion. Maybe this time he might actually be able to make it to Sugarcube Corner. He reached the bridge that led into Ponyville in just under fifteen minutes. The fillies in the back squabbled near constantly, hitting each other with sticks or something, but they managed to avoid knocking anything out of the cart--each other included. He was beginning to think that he might actually be able to get this thing done on time. "Excuse me, are you Mr. McIntosh Apple?" Typical. Big Mac stopped and glanced around, finally noticing a pale gray mare approaching him. She smiled warmly. "Eeyup." "I am Gypsum. I understand your family owns most of the land around this town?" "Eeyup," Big Mac agreed, offering a hoof that she readily took. "Us 'n' the Riches." "Well, I represent a very old, very powerful Equestrian family," Gypsum said. She was wearing a frilly, expensive-looking saddle--the kind that only left the bedroom on the backs of well-paid servants. "They are interested in taking a rather old and useless bit of property off your hooves..." Applebloom wriggled between a barrel of Red Delicious and one of Fujis, standing up on her hindhooves and peering over the side of the cart. Her brother was yakking away with some long-legged mare whose coat color reminded her of Silver Spoon's. She was well-dressed, ribbons in her mane and tail and a fancy saddle on her back. It hid her cutie mark. "Hey, who's that, Applebloom?" Scootaloo asked, popping up beside her and significantly reducing the space between the barrels. "Can't...breathe..." Applebloom wheezed. "She sure is pretty," Sweetie Belle chimed in, placing her forehooves on her friends' backs. "Is she your brother's special somepony?" "Ah...don't...even know what's happenin' between him and Miss Cheerilee," Applebloom gasped, rotating her torso so that her lungs had room to expand. "Let alone this mare." "I don't like the look of her," Scootaloo proclaimed. "That's not nice," Sweetie Belle scolded. "Don't you remember what Applebloom told us about the whole Zecora incident?" "Well, yeah, but..." Applebloom tuned out her friends' minor argument. It was true that she had been the pony to reach out to Zecora, when all the grown mares had been terrified of her difference, but she got what Scootaloo was saying. There was something...off about the gray mare. She just couldn't put her hoof on it. After all, she looked perfectly normal at first glance--perfectly coiffed mane, pricked ears, warm smile...holy Celestia, there it was. She hadn't blinked once since approaching Big Mac. "That jest ain't right," Applebloom muttered. "What was that, Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Um...Ah said, Ah think the princess is in danger! Grab yer swords, mares, we gotta protect her!" "Yessss!" Scootaloo hoofpumped before spinning around to retrieve her 'sword.' Applebloom adjusted her bucket helmet with a grim expression on her face, preparing to leap down and charge the mysterious mare. It wouldn't occur to her until much later that it might have been an unforgivably stupid idea.