//------------------------------// // Family Matters // Story: Apple Scratch : A summer at the Farm // by Mariacheat-Brony //------------------------------// It was shortly after lunch. Vinyl had taken Octavia, Rarity and Pinkie Pie to town and Applebloom went to take care of the animals with Fluttershy. Applejack was making her round in the Orchard with Twilight and Rainbow Dash and a cart full of empty buckets pulled by a large brown work horse. Twilight was very eager to know about all the different types of apples the Apple family had in their farm. She kept asking tons of questions which Applejack gladly answered at Rainbow's great displeasure. "Raaaa, It's so boring!" Rainbow whined." When are we actually going to do something?" "Come on Rainbow." Twilight said. "It's really interesting." "For an egghead like you maybe. But I wanted to see AJ kick trees to get apples." "What do you mean kick trees?" Twilight asked in confusion. "Rainbow, we don' kick trees in this here farm." AJ explained. "We buck them." "Hold on, that's what applebucking is?" Asked Twilight in disbelief. "That's a joke right?" "What did ya think it was Sugarcube?" "You won't make me believe that a good kick on a tree can manage to pick apples." Twilight said with a chuckle. Applejack took notice of a couple of trees that had ripe fruits in their branches. "Ah'll do better than that, Ah'll show you." She whistled the horse pulling the cart. "Philibert, come here." The horse drew the cart right to where Applejack was, when he arrived at her side, she patted the side of his head. She then proceed to place a few buckets around the trees. She finally took a stance at three meters from her target. Rainbow and Twilight watched the scene in silent, the first was eager to see some action and the latter was rather skeptical. "Here we go!" Said Applejack before closing the gap between her and the tree with a powerful kick that the center of its trunk. The entire tree shook and soon after all its apples fell in the buckets. "So what do y'all think of that ?" Applejack said smiling. She faced the other and couldn't help but the chuckle at the fact that Twilight's jaw was hanging loose. The purple haired Titanian was staring at the farmer with wide eyes. Rainbow, on the other hand, had positioned herself in front of a tree in the same stance AJ used. "So all you had to do is to kick hard..."Rainbow said before launching herself at the tree. "Rainbow, wait ...." Rainbow's right foot connected with the tree. But the tree didn't shake, her leg did. In the next seconds, she was on the floor holding her right ankle, moaning in pain."Ow. Ow. Ow. Great Jupiter, that hurts...." Applejack and Twilight, who had come out of her stun, rushed at the injured Jupitarian side. Applejack kneeled next to her injured leg. "Let me see Sugarcube.." Applejack slowly said. She calmly palpated the injured ankle for a minute. "Good, it's not broken, or sprained." She said in relief. "Damn it, why did it not hurt you?" Asked Rainbow Dash, her pride as hurt as her leg, as she rubbed her ankle. "Well because I know where to hit." Applejack casually said. "What do you mean ?" Asked a confused Twilight. "There's more to Applebucking than a powerful stomp on a tree." Applejack explained patiently. "Ya have to hit the right spot otherwise that happens." She pointed Rainbow's injured leg. "Ya have to dose the strength too. Too little nothing happens, too much ya'll damage the tree, or worst your leg." "You managed to damage a tree?" A disbelieving Twilight asked. "Ah reckon, it has happened a few times." Applejack shrugged. "Must be Eponian toughness." Twilight pondered. "Tch. I understand why Vinyl uses a spell for that." Rainbow said as Twilight nodded. Applejack blinked in confusion. "What in tarnation are y'all talking about?" "I suppose that if Vinyl applebucks like you, she would probably hurt herself. Her being a Titanian." Twilight said. "That's why she has a spell for that. Right?" "That, and the fact she's a musician." Rainbow simply added. "Huuuh. Gals, Vinyl applebucks just like me." Applejack simply said. "She only 'created' her applebucking spell for when we are behind schedule. And what's the deal with her being a musician?" "Yeah right and the next thing you'll say is that she's as tough as you." Joked Rainbow. "Well not as tough." Applejack said. "But she does train with me all the time, so." Rainbow was a bit shocked at that information. "But she's a musician, and an egghead. She's like a combination of Twilight and Octavia. She's gotta be as strong as they are, which means not a lot." "Hey!" Groaned Twilight. "I can kick your butt anytime I want." Rainbow didn't seem to have heard her. "Well, think what ya want." Applejack shrugged. "All Ah can say is that at least she never moaned like a small girl in pain like ya just did." She added with a smug earning a groan from Rainbow and a laugh Twilight. "Anyway, Ah got trees to buck." They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering in the Orchard. Bucking or picking the apples that were ripe enough. After her failed first trial, Rainbow decided to leave the bucking to AJ, instead she picked apples like Twilight did. Well not exactly like Twilight considering she used her magic to pick fruits. After a few hours of work and lots of full buckets, the two guests went straight to the house and AJ went to put their harvest in one of the farm's cellar. After having divided all the harvested apples at their rightful places, she noticed something was wrong. Not that something was missing but quite the opposite. "What in tarnation?" Vinyl had come back to the farm house along with Octavia, Rarity and Pinkie half hour ago. She had put her undelivered order back in the cellar. She knew AJ would notice and she was preparing herself for that. They girls were inside the living room, busy chatting with Fluttershy and Applebloom about what they had done in the afternoon. Rainbow and Twilight had just joined them. Vinyl was outside, leaning on the patio's railing, her eyes wandering toward the immensity of the family orchard in the color of the end of an afternoon. "Vinyl, how come ya're staying outside?" Asked Applebloom. Vinyl faced her little sister. "I'm thinking about something.." She said slowly. "Are ya sad?" Her little sister asked with worry. "Ya always say ya're thinking about something when ya're sad." 'We give you way too little credit Bloom.' Vinyl thought with a smile. "Don't worry, I'm not sad. Just regular thinking." She said in a reassuring tone. The little Apple sibling move closer to hug her sister as Vinyl started to pat Applebloom's head. "Ya would let me know if ya're sad right? Ah would help ya, ya know." She said in a small voice. "I know you would sweetie." Vinyl slowly answered. She heard a soft "d'awww" coming from inside and she managed to catch a glimpse of Pinkie being pulled away from the window by purple and regal blue auras. She faced the Orchard again and spotted a rather perplex Applejack coming her way. "Would you mind go inside Lil' Bloom? AJ and I have something to discuss. Alone." She slowly said. "Y'all ain't gonna fight, are ya?" Applebloom asked with her worried little voice. "Promise. It's just that it's grown up talk. It would be boring for you." Vinyl reassured. After the little girl let go of her and went back inside, Vinyl met with AJ halfway. "Hey AJ, how was the harvest?" "Pretty good." Applejack said. "Ah noticed that the baskets ya should have delivered are still in the cellar, How come?" She asked as she crossed her arms. "Simple, I didn't do the delivery." "Ya did what now?" Shouted AJ. "Let me explain first." Vinyl interrupted her. She took a deep breath and told Applejack all that had happened from the 'misname' to the mention of their parents' death. As the story was told, AJ's anger didn't diminished. Quite the opposite. "So if ah understand correctly she said that ya're responsible for Ma an Pa'...." When Vinyl nodded, AJ turned around and start to go toward the property's exit. Vinyl grabbed her by the shoulder. "Where do you think you're going?" "Should been pretty obvious." Applejack said in anger. "Ah'm going to give her a piece of ma mind." "And what would that accomplish AJ?" "Well for start, it would make me feel a lot better." AJ said. "Second, it would teach her a lesson on how to treat our family and to say lies like that. And third, Ah got to make sure she apologize to ya." "AJ stop." Vinyl ordered as she placed herself in front of Applejack. "She isn't worth our time." Applejack did stop at Vinyl's request but she wasn't about to leave it at that. "But..How can ya even accept that?" Applejack said with a trembling voice. Vinyl wasn't sure it was from anger anymore. "She treats ya like ya're nothing more than a freeloader. That ain't true. And ah'm gonna make sure she gets it." "Applejack, you really think that going there assaulting her and dismantling her husband' store would help with that?" "Ah wasn't going to do that." AJ quickly retorted only earning a deadpan from Vinyl. "Well, maybe a little bit." "I appreciate that you're willing to defend me, I really do." Vinyl said with a small smile. "But I can't have you going in jail again. This time, we don't have Shining to bail you out." "Ah guess that's true." Applejack sighed. "But she hurt ya. Don't think ah didn't notice, ya may be able to hide things to Applebloom, but not to me." "You really think an old hag like Affluent Rich can get me down?" Vinyl asked. "I was a little pained, I admit it, but not because of her." "Why then?" "I just started to think about Mom and Dad again..." Vinyl answered in a whisper, head hanging as she looked her feet. If Applejack still had some anger in her at that point, it had been quickly swept away by concern. She grabbed Vinyl's shoulders. "Vinyl..." "It's weird you know." Vinyl started with a small voice. "I haven't realized that I didn't think so much about them." "It's been quite a long time, Vinyl." Applejack reassured. "They wouldn't want us to be held back." "I know but it's still not a reason to...."Vinyl sniffed. "I don't want to forget about them." "No one is askin' ya that, Sugarcube." Applejack firmly said. She poked Vinyl's heart with her fore finger. "As long as ya keep them in here, that's all that matters." Vinyl raised her head, and looked at AJ with teary eyes. "Thanks Sis'." She slowly said before pulling AJ into a hug. "Thanks for being there for me...." "No need to thank me for that. Ya're an Apple, Vinyl." AJ replied, returning the hug. "And Apples take care of each other." Vinyl softly sobbed at her sister's sentence, Applejack was softly patting her back. They just stood there, comforting each other, for a few minutes. Eventually, Vinyl stopped crying. "Feeling better Sugar?" "Yeah..." Suddenly a loud bang snapped them out of their embrace. A rain of confetti fell upon them. They turned their face to see Pinkie a few meters away, holding her party cannon with a big smile on her face. "Hey, I saw you were both kinda sad from afar, so I thought I would come and cheer you up." She explained in her sing song cheerful voice. The two apples stared blankly at her as they didn't know how to react when they heard quick footsteps coming from the house. "PINKIE. I told you to stay inside." Shouted Twilight. "And I thought I had confiscated that cannon." "You may take my cannon away from me. But you'll never take its FREEDOM." Pinkie shouted back before running toward the Orchard at incredible speed. Twilight's eyes started to twitch. "OK... I tried to remain calm...It didn't work..."She said slowly. " I tried to be strict it didn't work either.... No other choice then....Fine....Prepare yourself PINKAMINA DIANE PIE." She yelled before teleporting in a bright purple flash, probably after Pinkie. The two Apples blinked in unison before bursting in a good hearted laugh. "Ah don't know what's the funniest? Pinkie' shenanigans or Twilight trying to stop her." AJ laughed. "Same here." Vinyl chortled. After they calmed themselves, Vinyl passed an arm around AJ's neck. "Come on Sis', we have a house full of guests. Let's forget about that old hag for the moment." "Ya're right! Beside as soon as Filthy gets back, she's gonna get it." "You betcha, she is." Vinyl shrugged. They both returned to the house arm-in-arm. They entered the room and saw Applebloom playing a game with the others in the living room. When she noticed her big sisters came in, she forgot about the game and rushed to AJ and Vinyl. "Did yar talk went well?" Applebloom asked. "Sure as sugar, it went well." AJ winked. "Yeah,we found out that we won't have much delivery to do for the coming days." Vinyl added. "Sweet. Does this means, we'll spend more time together?" "Sure thing Lil' Bloom." Vinyl replied with a smile. "Wouldn't have it any other way."