//------------------------------// // Delivery to Barnyard Bargain // Story: Apple Scratch : A summer at the Farm // by Mariacheat-Brony //------------------------------// After they settled down in their designated rooms, the girls from the Council of Harmony came back downstair when they heard a voice with a well known southern accent. "Soup's on, everybody." Applejack shouted from the dining room. The six women entered the room where they heard AJ's voice to see a large table, dressed for nine persons, overflowing with appetizing apple flavored dishes. Applebloom was sitting in her usual spot at the table, her gaze focused on a plate of apple fritter. The girls took a seat where they could find one, their eyes wandering through every plate on the table. "Woooh. That looks yummy." Pinkie said in her sing-song voice. "I think there're more different dishes than when the Castle's chefs cook." Rarity noted, really impressed. "My star, it smells good." "I didn't even know there were so many recipe with apples." Twilight commented. "Ya don't know the half of it Sugarcube." AJ said as she walked in from the kitchen with a two pitchers in her hands, followed by Vinyl who was carrying a basket of bread. "Great to finally see you, AJ." Rainbow said. "What are you talking about, silly?" Pinkie chimed in with an innocent voice. "You four saw her pretty good while she was cutting some wood." "Well. It's still pleasant to finally talk to her again." Rarity intervened with a small blush appearing on her and on the concerned girls' cheeks. "Oh sorry about not welcoming y'all, but we needed wood for the stove." AJ said apologetically. "It's ok Darling....We didn't...didn't mind the slightest." Rarity sheepishly added blushing even harder as Pinkie whispered to her ear with a sly smile. "I bet you didn't mind." Octavia gave her friends with a confused look, she was about to voice her interrogation when Vinyl said happily. "Anyway, let's dig in before it get's cold." They started to eat at Vinyl' signal. All the guest had content faces, the food looked delicious but its taste had nothing to be compared to. "So, AJ, Vinyl." Twilight said, as the two Apples turned to her, she continued." What are your plans for the afternoon." "Ah got to walk around the orchards and pick the apples that are ripe enough." Applejack explained. "Vinyl has to make a delivery in town." "And Ah gotta to take care of the animals." Applebloom happily added. At the mention of the animals, Fluttershy's head perked up. "Oh, can I help you with that? I mean if your sisters don't mind..." She said in a murmur. "Sure Fluttershy." Vinyl answered. "Lil' Bloom would have company like that." She added as AB was smiling at Fluttershy. "Anyone wants to go in Ponyville with me?" "I want to, I'll get to meet lots of new people." Pinkie shouted her face full of apple cake's crumbs. Rarity levitated a napkin to clean Pinkie's face. "Seriously Dear, you can at least try to be proper." Chuckled Rarity as Pinkie playfully sticked her tongue out at her. "I suppose, I'll come along. I would like to see what Ponyville has to offer." "Yeah me too." Octavia said cheerfully. "We never got to visit a small town like that. I bet it's totally different from Canterlot." "I'll tag along with Applejack." Twilight simply said. "I have read a lot about apple farming but I want to see if you do as the book says or not." "Well. We'll see about that." AJ waved. "Maybe we can pick somethin' out of those books. And you RD? What do ya want to do?" "I think I'll go with you and Twilight." Rainbow said. "Vinyl talked to Octavia about that Applebucking thing and I'm curious about that." "Looks like we all got the afternoon planned out." Vinyl said with a smile. Vinyl had dropped the girls near the entrance of Ponyville, after scheduling a rendez-vous with them. She took her cart to Barnyard Bargain where she had an order to deliver. When she arrived near the shop, she spotted a white and purple haired girl the same age as Applebloom sitting on the store's patio. The daughter of her costumer, Diamond Tiara. She had always heard stories about how that girl behaved in front of other. "Hey there, Diamond Tiara! Would you mind tell your father his delivery has arrived?" Vinyl asked. 'Who knows maybe there just stories...' The girl looked at her as if Vinyl was an incredibly ugly beast.'Or not!' "Can't you do it yourself?" she asked as if it was the natural thing to say to an adult. "I am busy." 'Why the little...' "Busy doing?" Vinyl retorted with a raised eyebrow. This time she didn't even bother to reply. Vinyl jumped out from her cart and fast the reins of the horse drawing her cart to a nearby hook. She passed next to little girl (not without glaring at her) and entered the room. She saw a purple haired woman in her forties wearing what looked like the latest dress from a Canterlot fashion show. Something totally out of place in Ponyville. Mrs Rich. Her features crisped when she saw Vinyl come in. "Hello Mrs Rich, is your husband around?" Vinyl politely asked. "Well, Ms Scratch, I am afraid my husband is on a business trip." She answered, stressing unnecessarily her surname. "What can I do for you?" Vinyl had always hated it when people reminded her on purpose of her origins. It didn't occur often. The majority of the town had accepted her affiliation to the Apple Family for quite a long time, still they were some, like Mrs Rich, who clearly didn't get the memo. "Well, could you come with me to check the delivery from Sweet Apple Acres?" Vinyl simply asked, trying to remain as calm as possible. "How odd. Usually it's one of the members of the Apple Family who does the delivery." She said in fake surprise. 'And people wonder why her daughter acts like she does...' Vinyl thought, her anger rising, before speaking in the most calm tone she could manage. "Well, that's why I am here." "Oh, Sorry Miss. I forgot that little detail sometimes." She casually said, following Vinyl outside. 'Sure, it's not like I took the name sixteen years ago....' Vinyl thought as she showed the baskets of apples she had delivered. "Everything looks ok..." Mrs Rich said. "Ha but there's a basket of 'pink lady' missing." "Are you sure?" Vinyl asked before taking the order they had receive from Mr Rich and checking both the order and the baskets. "No, everything from the order is there." "I think I would know what my husband had ordered, wouldn't I?" Mrs Rich asked with sarcasm. "Well, maybe he ordered that, but clearly not for today." Vinyl said as she checked the date of delivery on the order she had. Mrs Rich pulled a bag of bit from her purse. "If you say so." She threw the bag at Vinyl's feet. "300 bits for the delivery." Vinyl had enough of that condescending attitude. "OK. First of all, the order is at 400 bits." Vinyl slowly said. "And second, I am not some sort of stray dog you just throw something at. You will treat me like you would treat any other supplier." "I refuse to pay the full price for an incomplete delivery." She shouted. "And for such a poor service you accomplish as delivery woman." "It's either that or I take my merchandise back with me and you would have to explain that to your costumers." Vinyl angrily replied. "I bet your husband will appreciate the fact his most important apple supplier has been turned off by you." "You street rat, you've already caused enough problems to this honest family of farmer. If it wasn't for you coming in their lives, Jonah and Ariane Apple would probably still be around." Mrs Rich said in fury. "And now you want to rot our business?" Vinyl's expression completely froze, before her eyes narrowed at Mrs Rich "Do not speak about my parents, you crazy old witch!" Vinyl slowly said, fury dripping every words she said. "And now I'm off. Have fun explaining to your husband why Sweet Apple Acres will not do business with him anymore." She unhooked the reins, jumped in the cart and went away from the store. Slowly the anger was replaced by the pain from the memories of her parents. She arrived at the rendezvous point a bit earlier than expected, so she waited there, deeply lost in her thoughts. Her composure slowly but certainly returning to its usual laid back attitude. Her train of thoughts was interrupted by the voice that she recognized instantly. "Vinyl, you're here early." Octavia said, she had noticed the cart was still full of merchandises. "You had a problem with the delivery ?" Octavia slowly asked. "Something like that..."Vinyl tried to chuckle but her voice was trembling a little. "Vinyl, are you alright?" Asked Octavia with worry as she sat next to her blue haired friend. "Yeah, just an unfortunate inconvenience." Vinyl slowly said as she rubbed her eyes with her hands. "You want to talk about it?" Octavia hesitantly asked.'I wonder what caused her to be upset like that...' Vinyl thought about it for a few moments. "Maybe later." She finally said. "Ok." "So. Where are the others?" Vinyl asked hoping to change the subject and happily realized that Octavia took her hint. "Pinkie Pie found the town's bakery." Octavia told. "She was very excited to find a sort of Gingerbread house. She wanted to buy everything in the store. Rarity had to take her allowance away." She added with a chuckle. "Her allowance, seriously?" Vinyl asked with a small smile. "She's a grown woman, I doubt she needs you to chaperon her." "Technically speaking, she's only seventeen." Octavia explained. "Hold on, she's only seventeen?" Vinyl asked in surprise. "That means she invented her party cannon at only fourteen years old." Octavia nodded. "She's quite the prodigy." Vinyl whistled. "Well that's impressive." Then she added. "So back to my original question. What about Rarity?" Her voice carrying her usual tone and brightness. "She found out that there's quite a lovely spa in Ponyville." Octavia explained 'At least she's back to her usual self.' "Ha the one with the twins." Vinyl said. "I've been trying to get AJ in there for quite some time." "Why is that?" "Once in a while her muscles are too much sore from working, exercising and what not." Vinyl explained. "I tried to tell her that she need to relax and that a massage would probably do her a lot of good when it occurs. But she's too stubborn to get 'dolled up in a spa' as she says. And it usually goes away on its own in the next hours." "How does she manage to do that?" Octavia asked. "I got curious about that myself." Vinyl explained. "Apparently, her Eponian magic is quite stronger than average. She has an incredible stamina and toughness thanks to that." "I see, she's a sort of an Eponian version of Twilight." Octavia stated. "I guess you can say it like that." Vinyl nodded. "Ha. Here comes the others." "Vinyl. Vinyl. Look what I got at Sugarcube Corner." Shouted an extremely excited Pinkie Pie showing off a bag full of treats like it was the biggest treasure in the world. Rarity was standing just behind her. "Can you believe it?" "Quite the catch Pinks." Vinyl said. "But I thought the girls took away your money." "Oh. They did but when Octavia went on her own, I promised Rarity I would stop messing with her about how she looks often at Applejack's backside. So she....." "Pinkie would you be quiet." Shouted Rarity in a panic as Octavia bursted in a rather loud laugh. "So that's why you were blushing at lunch." Octavia laughed. Rarity eyed Vinyl with caution. Vinyl had shown no reaction. But in her head, gears were put in motions. She had an idea. One that could realize something she had been trying to do for years. "Rarity..."Vinyl slowly said. "Ye-Yes..." "I think I have an idea that you might find interesting ...." Vinyl slowly said with a widening grin.