//------------------------------// // One Plus The Crowd // Story: A Day With Friends // by MyOpinionIsSuperior //------------------------------// Soarin’ touched down on the inner edge of Sweet Apple Acres, his hooves sinking into the soil with a soft thump. The earthy smell danced around his nose, perfectly accenting the beautiful scenery that the rustic orchard had to offer. The verdigris leaves swayed gently in the daytime breeze, their tranquil motions having no effect on the pegasus in their company. Eyes bloodshot, Soarin’ galloped toward the unmistakable crimson farmhouse at the center of the property. His previous attempt to spot the children from the sky had gone unrewarded, and he wasn’t the kind of pony to wait for his wife to arrive with their slow-flying friend while his baby was in danger. Stopping at the door, he pounded it with a barrage of violent punches until the familiar sound of hoofsteps creaking on the wooden floor reached his ears. The door opened with a quick squeak, revealing a flustered caramel-colored stallion with a dark brown mane, the front parting in the middle as it rounded past each ear. His soft blue eyes matched the cutie mark on his flank, a trio of horseshoes that signified his special talent in hard labor. Caramel took a small step backwards as he took in the sight of the ragged Wonderbolt, his cerulean eyes bulging and jaw slightly slacked. “S-Soarin’?! What the heck happened to you? What’re you doing here?” “Kids,” Soarin’ gasped, his panting creating brief interruptions in his speech that seemed to emphasize his desperation. “Where *gasp* are *gasp* the kids?” Caramel’s face fell into a bitter expression. His temperament quickly changing from one of worry to that of annoyed, he took a step to the side and craned his neck backwards, hollering angrily into the house. “Why don’t you ask Applejack that?! I was pretty busy this morning so I missed out on the little rugrat reunion!” The sound of clopping hooves and creaking wood signaled the approach of another equine from the barn house’s interior. Guilty as sin, Applejack walked shamefaced to the door, avoiding the cynical gaze from her angry husband. Her eyes met the experienced flier’s, both pairs bloodshot from recent stress the two pones had endured. “Uh, hey Soarin. What’re ya’ doin’ ‘round these parts?” “Oh quit it with the formalities, Applejack!” Caramel yelled, his outburst cutting Soarin’ off before he had a chance to vocalize a response. “Why don’t you tell him about how you put me on a wild goose chase so that you could try to teach our daughter the value of a hard day’s work?” “Well Ah-” “Or why don’t you tell him about how you left the kids alone without an adult?” “Well if you-“ “Or- and this is my favorite one, Soarin’,- why don’t you tell him about the dangerous stunt our kid agreed to help his with?!” “Dangerous stunt!” Soarin’ cried, his lip trembling as the feeling of dread manifested itself as a knot in his stomach. “Do you mean-” “Ah said Ah’m sorry, Caramel!” Applejack snapped back, interrupting Soarin’ as her husband had done, her eyes watering and cheeks slightly flushed at the embarrassment she felt for the example Caramel was making out of her. Caramel’s scowl fell at her display. “Ah couldn’t have you ‘round cuz you’re even worse at sayin’ no ta her than Ah am!” “That’s because of that look she gives me. I can’t say no when she uses it,” He admitted before placing a hoof delicately under his wife’s chin, the keratin stroking against her fur as he drew her muzzle close to his. Applejack could feel his hot breath wash over her face as he looked at her with forgiving, tender eyes. “You know, she got it from you.” “Oh hush…” “It’s true,” He smiled, removing his flirtatious hoof from her chin as he redirected it to his own. “She definitely didn’t get it from this ugly mug. She’s too beautiful to-“ He never finished the sentence. Applejack’s lips pressed tightly against his, a slight blush rising with the heat of his face as his heart pounded from the surprise kiss. Pulling away slowly, she could still feel the warmth from his cheeks radiating onto her, the blush ever evident despite her closed eyes. Cracking them open slightly, Applejack allowed a small grin to creep across her face. “Ah don’t do that ta’ ugly mugs.” “You also shouldn’t be doing that in front of other ponies, Applejack,” The flustered stunt flier spoke up, his own face blushing in witness to the publically displayed affection. Neither member of the Apple family had time to respond before another pair of pegasus ponies touched down on their doorstep, one looking worse for the wear than her chromatic companion. Fluttershy’s raggedy wheezing sounded only slightly better than she looked, her mane draping over her sweat-laced face in frays that split unevenly from their exposure to the high velocities that Rainbow Dash had forced her to go through in the pursuit of her husband. “What are we? A runway?” Caramel jeered, an angry hoof pointed at the pegasus trio. Rainbow Dash rushed forward, coming nose to nose with Applejack, her snout pressing firmly into the cowpony as the two locked eyes, green battling against rose. “Applejack! Please tell me you know where the kids are!” She begged, clutching at the cowpony’s orange shoulders with both hooves. “Now what in Equestria makes ya’ think Ah know where them rascals are?” She retorted, eyes rolled back and away and her lips tucked in as her terrible poker face showed through. A low growl emanated from Rainbow Dash’s throat, threatening Applejack with wordless understanding about her inability to lie easily. She sighed digging a hoof at the floorboards timidly, her head turned in shame away from her friends and husband. “Well, they’re… uh, together.” She confessed. “Ah left ‘em alone to try ‘n pull off the Sonic Rainboom after Golden Delicious told me she’d make sure her daddy here would get ahold of the seeds for Winter Wrap Up this year if Ah didn’t leave ‘em be.” “I wouldn’t lose them again!” Caramel huffed, stomping a hoof on the creaking wood. “You always say that every year, hon! Ah ain’t facin’ an angry, hungry herd of cows again, y’hear?” A hoof stomped on the floorboard. Then another. The Apples paused their marital squabble, rings creasing under their eyes as the furious pegasus father slowly inched his way closer, wood cracking under each violent step. Head down and eyes glaring upward, Soarin’ spoke in ragged breaths, his speech matching the stride of his hooves. “You… let… my baby… run off… to go risk his life!?!” Ears pinned back in emanating rage, he nudged his wife aside and took to the air, hovering slightly above the ground as he glowered down at Applejack. “Where is he?” He hissed, air rustling the blond bangs that bent from his breath. Applejack bit her lip, her own ears bent backwards from shame rather than anger. “Ah don’t know, Soarin’. Ah’m sorry.” “Sorry doesn’t tell me where he is! Now where-“ A caramel hoof put itself between Applejack and her interrogator. Caramel joined his hoof, shakily stepping in front of his wife, his body a conversational barrier. “S-she doesn’t know, S-soarin’!” He stammered, his vocal and physical quavering contradicting the position he put himself in. “And trying to force an answer out of her won’t get anything done.” Fluttershy stepped up to Soarin’, putting a placating hoof on the fuming father’s shoulder. “Now now, Blitz is okay. I know he is; Capricorn is with him.” The looks of bewilderment Fluttershy received from everypony present brought an embarrassed flush to the mare’s face, prompting further explanation. “As… horrible as the things he’s done are, there are always good intentions behind them…. And as much as I hate it sometimes, my son always thinks things through. Like when he drugged me this morning-“ “He did what?!” Both Apples shrieked. “Please, let me explain,” She said patiently, waiting for the two farm ponies to calm down before resuming her son’s justification. “As I was saying, Capricorn drugged me this morning with some beaver tranquilizer I had left on the counter. That was… my mistake, and I do blame myself for making the procedure on beavers seem so casual. When Rainbow Dash found me today, I went to the kitchen and saw scratch marks on the backside of the bottle he had accidently made with his horn. That’s how I knew he had used the tranquilizer; he read the contents to make sure it was nontoxic.” She paused her speech with a smile, taking in a twisted guilty pleasure at the impressed looks her friends gave at her son’s intelligence. Applejack raised a skeptical eyebrow. “So, ya’ forgive him for druggin’ you?” Fluttershy’s face fell into a bitter frown. “No, my husband will take care of him when he gets home from work. In fact, the reason Capricorn resorted to tranquilizer was because Princess Celestia won’t be teaching him about sedation spells until she feels he’ll be responsible enough to make good decisions with them… which will probably take awhile,” She admitted with a sigh. “You see, I may not be a unicorn, but I at least make sure I know what it is the princess is teaching my child; it gives us something to talk about over dinner and I never was fond of the idea about him growing closer to his father just because the two can perform magic. What Cappy has learned that I know he’ll have used on Rainbow Blitz is an impact reduction spell. He used it on himself to literally butt heads with some mountain rams I had to perform a checkup on. Blitz could bring a tree down and get a bruise at the worst.” “A bruise!” “Soarin’ that’s not important right now! We can put a Band-Aid on it later!” Rainbow Dash barked. “Since we didn’t see a Sonic Rainboom, I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say they failed. Who do you think they’d go to for help, Applejack?” Applejack squinted her eyes in strained thought. “Well since my little one’s with ‘em, Ah supposed they’d visit-“ Her eyes bulged out. “Oh, poor Cappy.” Caramel turned to his wife, a glazed, half-lidded expression on his face. “Gizmo?” “Gizmo,” Applejack deadpanned back to him. “Gizmo! I said your friends are here!” The continued silence was all the response Twilight Sparkle needed to understand that her shouts fell upon ears that were occupied and not listening. With a groan and a roll of her amethyst eyes, the flustered librarian trotted back upstairs, tossing back apologies to the three children waiting patiently in the middle of the library’s first floor. The three sat in awkward silence, though Golden Delicious couldn’t help but notice Capricorn’s teal eyes, now shrunk to pinpricks, continually shifting towards the door. “Don’t even think about it, sugar,” The young farm filly spoke up. “The only thing keepin’ that there crowd away from Rainbow Blitz is a door and some spells my auntie set up, and while Ah love the crowd, my little zap apple don’t.” “Besides,” Blitz chimed in, all too eager to avoid the paparazzi and their flashing cameras, “How bad can it be hanging out in the library?” Before Rainbow Blitz could question the wicked scowl that cracked along Capricorn’s peach muzzle, the sound of clopping hoofsteps on the oak’s interior drew the attention of all three children. A unicorn colt trotted hurriedly down the steps, his choppy, yet combed, purple-grey mane and tail bouncing against his mild fuchsia coat with every step. Three large white freckles rested on each of his well-defined cheeks, the bone curving to give him a masculine and mature look for his age. His icy blue eyes scanned the present company, their findings giving rise to a wide smile that stretched the sides of his mouth to their limits. Despite his stallion-esque facial structures, the colt spoke in a higher pitched voice than any of the children present, the sound of it reminding Rainbow Blitz of somepony trying to sell a faulty product. “Well well well! If it isn’t my lovely cousin, my bright and handsome celebrity friend, and my most talented, most-“ “Cut the sweet talk, Gizmo,” Capricorn interrupted, his eyes never leaving the unicorn in their fixed glare. “What do you want?” The mauve-maned unicorn touched a forehoof to his chest, a feigned but well-practiced look of hurt and sadness taking over his facial expressions. “Why Capricorn, would you ever believe I wanted something from my friends other than their complete and total friendship? Besides, weren’t you the ones who came to visit me?” “First of all,” The alicorn colt growled, “You always make it sound like you’ve ‘learned the error of your ways’, and then you pull a fast one on us and one of us, usually me, ends up being the guinea pig in one of your lousy experiments!” “C’mon now, Cappy,” Gizmo said, approaching the blonde pony with a practiced smile. “My… projects are a blast!” Golden Delicious sighed, her strawberry curls swaying as she tilted her head, a fair hoof brought to the side of her head. “Ah think a blast don’t do them justice, sugar. We, and by we I mean my Momma, Daddy, and Uncle, had ta’ rebuild the barn after your little hay stacking machine done short-circuited. Ah am most grateful that nopony got hurt when that project of yours blew up more than Surprise’s mamma after a broken Pinkie Promise.” “That bad?” Rainbow Blitz smirked. Golden Delicious returned the entertained grin. “That bad.” “They aren’t that bad!” Gizmo protested, his hoof drawing invisible circles on the oak floor. Salmon wings flared angrily. “My feathers didn’t grow back for two weeks! My dad had to take time off of work to homeschool me because I couldn’t leave the house without being a laughingstock!” The flustered colt calmed himself, eyes half-lidded to compliment the small frown he wore. “And second of all, we didn’t come to visit you. We just needed a way to escape the crowd that Blitz attracted. In fact, I think they’re gone, so we’ll be leaving.“ A fuchsia hoof slid its way around Capricorn’s shoulder, its owner flashing a confident grin as he spoke honeyed words. “Cappy! Buddy! It’s in the past! Can’t we all just get along?” Golden Delicious just smiled. “Funny you should mention that, cous’. Ya’ see, Rainbow Blitz here needs to do the Sonic Rainboom of all things, and he needs ta’ learn it soon, y’hear? Think you can get along and help him out?” The unicorn practically tripped over himself, stammering to back out of the verbal trap his cousin had set. “W-well, uhm, I’d love to but d-doing something like that takes a lot of time aaaaaand I don’t even know if I have something that can help you with your… problem.” Blue eyes rolled over into a fixated stare on Golden Delicious, the matching smile giving her all the information she needed to know. “Ah’ll right, Gizmo,” She sighed, her curls swaying as she lowered her head submissively. “Whatcha want from us?” “Weeeeeell,” He began, his body swaying playfully as he balanced on the tips of his hooves. “Since it’s Rainbow Blitz that needs the help, maybe he’d like to volunteer to help me test out one of my latest inventions. It mostly scans the magical properties of the distinct trails that pegasus ponies leave behind them when they fly, and I’ve just been itchin’ to test it out on a rainbow trail. I’ll just need some clippings from your mane and-“ A pale blue hoof shielded the rainbow hair from the inventor’s view. “Mess with the mane, you’ll feel the pain!” “Yeesh, take it easy, Iron Will,” He replied sardonically, taking a step back from the angry pegasus colt, just to be safe. His eyes directed themselves once again at his cousin. “Well, it looks like Rainbow Blitz is out of the question. Such a shame too, if only there were some way to get some data I could work with, I might just be motivated enough to invent exactly what he needs!” Golden Delicious’ vermillion eyes darted onto the only other study-case of interest in the room. “How about scannin’ some fancy alicorn magic?” She asked suddenly. “What?! No way am I gonna be another one of Gizmo’s experiments!” Rainbow Blitz took a valiant step forward to defend his forcibly volunteered friend. “Yeah, I-“ He paused, a flashback quickly rearing up in his mind. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Lips or cheek?” Capricorn asked, a playful smirk on his face as he nudged the young filly in approval. Blitz gaped at Capricorn in shock. “Cappy!” “Oh, lips,” Golden Delicious sighed happily. “Most definitely lips.” “Deal,” Capricorn said, shaking the young romantic’s hoof. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “…think that’s a great idea,” Blitz finished, a wicked smile finding its way on the usually cheerful face. Capricorn found himself surrounded by his friends, a cold sweat on his brow as they slowly backed him into a corner of the library. He gave the pegasus and earth pony a pleading look with his large, wavering aqua eyes, searching the depths of their faces for any sympathy. Finding none, his rump hit the floor with an audible thump, his forehooves crossed defiantly. “Aw horseapples.”