//------------------------------// // 5: An Irregular Day on the Farm // Story: Fiery Incantation // by SapphireStarlightPony //------------------------------// Chapter 5 An Irregular Day on the Farm Applejack stood at her bedroom window, surveying the sprawling encampment of displaced dragons. It had sprung up overnight, faster than Granny Smith could say ‘The Timber Wolves are Howlin’!’ The rusty orange dragoness tried hard not to think of what it would mean for the farm if a harvest as important as the Zap Apples came along while the crisis was yet unresolved. It would be worse than those Flim-Flam brothers, that was certain. She grimaced. The sun was starting to come up. Well past time for the hard working farmponies to begin their daily chores. Dragons were beginning to peek out of their tents, feeling the sunlight on their new scales for the first time. For the moment things seemed peaceful. It was a nice morning, warm and bright. The dew was slowly burning from the grass. Not that Applejac expected there would be much grass within a few hours. Not with all those claws scraping through it. But it would grow back. The farmmare was sure of that. Life on the farm had a way of providing perspective. It was slow, steady, and productive and Applejack knew it well. Buildings could be repaired; orchards replanted and regrown. Patience and hard work could fix anything. Her patience was about to be tested. A commotion at the front door shook Applejack out of her early morning revelry. From her vantage point she could see Twilight Sparkle trying to talk her way into the farm house. A dragonized Granny Smith was blocking her way, swinging a frying pan with reckless abandon. So far Twilight was fending off all of the blows with a levitated book, but the lavender dragoness was losing ground. “I’ll teach you to come around here you big nasty brute!” Granny Smith shouted. Another swing went wide, spinning the elderly dragoness on her heels. She ended up on her belly, snout inches away from Spike’s feet. “Uh... Granny Smith?” Spike asked. “Hello Spike, how’re you this mornin’?” she asked. She picked herself up and dusted herself off. Spike retrieved Granny Smith’s frying pan and offered it up to her. “You dropped this,” he said, smiling in his usual gregarious way. The old dragon smiled warmly as she accepted it. “Thank ya kindly,” she said. “Such a good boy.” She patted him lightly on the head. Her expression darkened as she turned her attention back to Twilight Sparkle. “Spiiiike!” Twilight lamented, cowering away. Spike flinched visibly as the first swing glanced off Twilight’s head and sent her staggering with stars in her eyes. “Oops...” “Nasty brute!” Granny Smith shouted, taking another clumsy swing at the bedraggled unicorn dragon. “Granny!” Applejack barked. Granny Smith stopped and looked up at the window. “What’s that dearie?” Applejack shook her head in dismay. “Ah told y’all last night we’re all dragons now,” she said sternly. The old mare's eyes lit up. “Sakes alive! Another one! Don’t make me come up there! Out! Out!” “Granny Ah live here,” Applejack protested, but it was no use. Her grandmother had vanished and she could already hear the old dragon scrambling up the stairs. “It’s okay Twilight, she’s gone,” Spike was saying. Twilight had donned her spellbook like a helmet, and peeked out from beneath the wrinkled pages. “Y’all reckon you could do me a favor?” Applejack asked. She cast a worried look toward her bedroom door and swallowed hard. When she looked forward she was snout to snout with Twilight Sparkle and the wooden floor beneath her claws has been replaced with cool grass. “Good morning, Applejack,” Twilight said, smiling. “Thanks,” she answered. “Ya’ll sleep comfortably?” Spike was grinning ear to ear. “We sure did! I got to camp out! I never get to camp out!” Twilight nodded, trying to ignore the ringing in her ears from Granny Smith’s savage beating. “Yes, and best of all, we can check that off the Fun Things We Haven’t Done Yet list. Did we bring that?” “No, we get to do it again though, right?” Spike asked, eagerly. Twilight beamed. “Of course! When we get to go back home we’ll add it to the Things To Do Again list.” “Twilight, that optimism of yours is more stubborn than a lazy mule,” Applejack said, grinning. For a moment there was silence as Twilight's well-practiced mind started whirring away, trying to make sense of the farmer's statement. Applejack was grinning in earnest so the unicorn smiled back and said “Why thank you Applejack! I think." “What she means is you’re handling all this very well,” Rarity said, poking her head out of her tent. She looked back and forth warily before emerging to her shoulders. “Now there’s a horse of a different color,” Applejack said, winking. The others stared back blankly. “Rarity was always a different color than Twilight,” Spike offered. “Technically white is all colors,” Twilight chimed in. Applejack groaned, looking to the heavens for some kind of mercy. "Nevermind," she said. “Twilight, how’s that readin’ up doing for a cure?” “Well we might have a bigger problem than that,” the unicorn answered. Applejack’s ears drooped. “But I have a solution!” “You can change us back?!” Rarity asked, leaping out of her tent. “Please please please change us back. I can’t sleep on the ground like that! I only had three pillows last night!” Spike was already scurrying toward the farmhouse. “I can get you more pillows!” Twilight pulled him back to her side. “Sorry Rarity,” she said. "Not yet. But we have a food shortage to deal with.” “Ah was thinkin’ about that earlier,” Applejack said, prodding at her belly with a taloned digit. “Been thinkin’ about that a lot, actually.” “Dragons eat a lot more than ponies,” Twilight explained. “Spike’s not even full grown and he probably eats as much as Big Mac!” The youngest dragon threw his hands up. “I keep telling you! Gems! It takes forever to fill up on salads. I gotta have ‘em!” “Precisely!” Twilight said, clasping her paws together. She started to pull them apart but found the digits had interlocked. She scowled and tugged harder to no avail. “Let go,” Spike advised. And she did exactly that. The soft purple aura holding her book aloft blinked out of existence and dropped it onto Spike’s head. He caught it, staggering under the impact until he fell against Rarity’s forelegs. When it slid down off his eyes he gazed up at her dreamily. “Sorry Spike!” Twilight said, shaking her foreclaws free of each other. The little dragon had a distant look on his face. “For what?” “Aww my poor little Spikey Wikey,” Rarity said, scooping him up. Twilight frowned at him and started to reach out to take him back. Applejack, however, was simply satisfied to have the dressmaker occupied. “So what’s the plan Twi?” In answer Twilight produced an apple from her ill-fitting saddle bags and placed it on a stump. “Stand back,” she said. The unicorn dragon leaned down until the tip of her horn was inches from the fruit. Magic washed over it, pouring off the sides in sheets. Even when the aura had faded the bright sheen remained. The crestfallen farmer eyed the altered fruit warily. “Ah dunno... this seems unnatural.” “Part of a balanced diet!” Twilight said. “Try it.” “Idea!” Rarity sang brightly. “Twilight you and I simply must talk this spring. I'm envisioning a whole new line! It will be magnificent!” “You don’t wear food,” Applejack said flatly. She sniffed at the crystallized apple and took a bite. “Well?” Twilight asked, atwitter with anticipation as her friend chewed up her new creation. “Well... it’s alright,” she said. “Just what we need though, okay? Ah want to get this straightened out. Can’t plant crystal seeds.” “Or can we?!” Rarity asked. Twilight shook her head. Rarity slouched, pointing. “...but we can always plant more apple trees, can’t we Applejack?” she asked, quickly perking up. “Ah don’t like that look in yer eye Rares,” Applejack said warily. “There’s probably room behind the boutique for some nice fruit-bearing trees. Apples... oranges.... plums have such a nice color...” “You mean plum?” Applejack asked dryly. “Crystal plums. They’d absolutely dazzle in Canterlot!” “Rarity it takes years and years to grow a proper tree, and lots of care and attention to get all the fruit to come out right. Why, last Zap Apple season--” “Zap Apples!” Rarity squealed. “Applejack! Imagine it!” “No. Rarity this ain’t the time or place!” Applejack frowned, glaring Rarity down. “But...” Applejack lashed her tail against the ground and gave the dressmaker a stern look. “No.” Rarity slunk away, pouting. “Okay well I’m sure you’ll be busy here,” Twilight said, and started away as well. “What? Where are you goin’?” “To the library to work on the cure of course,” Twilight said cheerfully. “Don’t worry I’ll be back before the dinner rush.” “What about the quarantine?” “I’ll be careful,” she said. With a flash of light she was gone. “Uhm... I’ll just go help Rarity look for Sweetie Belle,” Spike said. A moment later Twilight reappeared in a flash of light, snatched Spike up by the nape, and vanished just as quickly, leaving Applejack staring at the empty space. “... Ah’d never get used to that,” she said. “Now, where is that Apple Bloom. Granny Smith?” she called up to the window. A jar of preserves sailed past her head in answer. “Nevermind, Ah’ll find her!” A hammer thudded into the ground at her feet. “Woo wee, time to skeedaddle!” Rarity hadn’t made it far. The white dragon was easy to spot snaking through the orchard going to a tremendous effort to avoid muddy spots. “Rarity!” Applejack calle as she ran to catch up. “Wait for me! We gotta find our sisters!”