Vinyl woke up at her usual time, she kept her eyes closed because it was the day she could sleep in. The Apples had decided that Sunday would be their 'break' day, a day on which they worked less than the others. She noticed something was different. She was used to sharing a bed by now, but today was different. She opened her eyes and finally understood why. Octavia was sleeping tightly next to her. They were both entwined from hugging each other to sleep.
Vinyl remembered what had happened. Octavia's question about Vinyl' scars had brought back bad memories from her time before Sweet Apple Acres. Octavia insisted on staying with her for the night when she noticed the tears in Vinyl's eyes. Octavia had kept hugging and reassuring Vinyl until she felt better and could fall asleep. Vinyl wasn't mad at Octavia for her question. She knew the cellist had asked it with genuine concern, and the fact Octavia never left her side during the night made her happier than ever.
Vinyl stared at the sleeping Octavia. She couldn't help but smiling softly at her. She pulled her closer, slowly to not wake her up. At her surprise, she felt Octavia tighten her grip as well. She looked her lover and saw that she was still in the dreamworld. 'Even in her sleep, she won't let me go.' Vinyl thought with an affectionate internal chuckle.
Vinyl hadn't known Octavia personally for a long time, and it was even shorter time since they decided to become a couple. But right now, deep down, Vinyl was feeling that Octavia was THE one she would have waited for all her life. Her special someone. She had no idea why she was so sure about that at that precise moment, but at least she knew she was sure as sugar about it.
Vinyl put softly her forehead on Octavia's and closed her eyes, ready to go back to sleep. After a few minutes, she felt something incredibly soft touching her lips. She knew that sensation, what was touching her lips were undoubtedly Octavia's. She opened her eyes, and happily started to return the kiss when her eyes confirmed what her lips were convinced about.
Octavia had her eyes half open while she was giving Vinyl the best good morning one could ever think off. The kiss was clearly not as passionate as the one they had shared on their picnic last night before being interrupted by Winona. But it did carry a lot more meaning and emotions. It was more than enough for Vinyl, way more than enough. Eventually, they had to break the kiss, Vinyl looked in Octavia's purple irises in which she could only see love and knew Octavia was seeing the exact same thing in her own red eyes.
"I can see you're feeling better than yesterday." Octavia said slowly.
"Thanks to you, Octavia." Vinyl nodded. "Only thanks to you."
"I don't know about you, but I don't feel like staying in bed." Octavia said as she shifted a bit, still not breaking their embrace.
"Ooooh. Can't we just stay like that? It's comfortable." Vinyl pouted in an adorable way, slightly disappointed.
"Well I was thinking that since it's rather early and that everyone is probably still asleep." Octavia explained. "We could find another spot for a picnic, and take over exactly where we were interrupted last night." Octavia said in a tone that clearly showed what she intended to do.
Vinyl instantly felt more awake than before for some reason. "Really?" Vinyl asked incredulous. Octavia nodded with a very seductive smile. "Like now? In broad day light?" Octavia nodded again.
Vinyl blinked in confusion, before smiling widely. "You, dirty girl."
Applejack exited Rarity's bedchamber get herself her morning coffee. The seamstress was still sleeping heavily, with a happy smile on her face. After a quick stop to the bathroom for her natural needs, Applejack looked herself in the mirror. She spotted quite a few red marks on her neck and around her collarbone.
'Never thought Rarity Belle, the representative of Art at the Council of Harmony, would be such a biter in the bedroom.' Applejack thought happily. Their date had been just perfect. Even their little encounter with Affluent Rich hadn't disturbed them more than five seconds. They had come home really late, everyone was already asleep, and Rarity had been a bit tipsy. Not drunk, just tipsy.
After leading Rarity to her room and going to her own, AJ was quite surprised to see her side of the bed occupied by Octavia who was hugging Vinyl tightly. AJ decided to let it slide and went back to Rarity, who immediately accepted to host the farm girl in her room for the night.
It turned out that Tipsy Rarity was even more sexy than Bossy Rarity in Applejack's eyes, and a lot more wild. It took AJ's full will power not to 'take care of her properly' in the second. She knew that the house was far from being soundproof, and the fact that it was full of people who would have interrupted any love making activity. Or at least, she knew that three of the six would have eagerly interrupted them. Of course, it didn't stopped them from fooling around a bit....
AJ blushed at that thought as she made her way to the kitchen where she found a note on her cup. She recognized the hand-writing on the note, it was from Vinyl.
'Hey there, Sis. How was your date?
I hope it was good.
Just to warn you, Octavia and I are taking a morning walk on the farm.
Could you do me a favor? Yes?! Awesome.
Let no one go outside the house until we come back?
I repeat : NO ONE OUTSIDE. I cannot stress that enough.
I will not be responsible of my actions if anyone gets out.
Huge thank you and see you later.
Your trusted sister : Vinyl.
Ps: Got something important to tell you afterward.'
It hadn't taken AJ more than two seconds to figure out what her sister was exactly doing outside. She chuckled as she put the note in her trousers' rear pocket. She served herself a large cup of coffee and went back to the living room. At her surprise, she found Pinkie Pie trying to sneak out of the house, wearing a black latex suit and weird goggles on her forehead.
"Howdy Pinkie. Watcha doin'?" AJ asked casually.
"Oh. Hi Applejack." Pinkie said happily. " I sensed there was some secret fun going on outside, so I was about to go invest...Hey... Wait a minute...I'm flying?" She said as she didn't notice Applejack was lifting her from the ground by the back of her collar with her left hand. Her right hand bringing her cup to her lips.
"Sorry, Pinks." Applejack casually said, lifting Pinkie back upstairs. "Can't letcha have yer shenanigans this morning."
Pinkie groaned her disappointment, her arms crossed and a bad mood pout on her usually cheerful face. "..Party pooper.."
Applejack had put Pinkie back in her room, she remained outside the room until she heard the pink haired girl's snores adding themselves to Twilight's. She came back to the living room where she sat in an armchair to enjoy her coffee. A few minutes later, Rarity came down as well, wearing a deep blue night gown, and sat on Applejack's laps, at the concerned party's great pleasure.
"Darling, why aren't you in bed?" Rarity asked with a small lady-like yawn, before snuggling the farmer.
"Ah went ta get maself a coffee." Applejack shrugged, returning the seamstress' affectionate gesture. " Beside, Ah thought ya needed yer 'beauty sleep', so ah didn't want to risk waking ya up by goin' back in."
"While I am pleased with your concerns about my sleep." Rarity said. "I would still have preferred waking up at your side instead of alone." Rarity pouted.
"Ah'm sorry, Sugarcube."
"It's ok." Rarity waved. "Considering how formidable you were yesterday night, I can forgive you for that."
They kept discussing about everything and nothing, just enjoying each other's company. Later on, the front door opened and let Octavia and Vinyl come inside, both positively beaming, blushing a little and both much disheveled. Octavia's usually well kept hair were a complete mess, with twigs, grass blades and leaves tangled in it. When she saw the state of Octavia's hair, Rarity jumped from her Applejack shaped seat.
"My star, Darling. What happened to your hair?" Rarity nearly shouted in concern.
"Oh. hmmm. that..Well." Octavia stammered, blushing madly. "Vinyl and I took....a walk around the Orchard. and I......tripped on....something...Vinyl tried to catch me....and huuh...we both fell ...in a ...bush." It was pretty obvious she was lying, but Rarity, completely focused on her friend's hair, didn't see it.
"Oh those bushes can be so dreadful." Rarity sympathized. "Come on, Darling. We must take actions." She added, grabbing Octavia's arm and pulling her upstairs. "Let's go save your coiffure."
"Wait, I can do it myself, Rarity." Octavia slowly said. "No need to disturb your morning with AJ."
"Nonsense, My dear." Rarity claimed with determination. "I shall restore them to their original beauty. To their fabulosity and beyond." she added dramatically, pointing at nothing.
They climbed the stairs leaving the two Apples together.
"Soo, a bush huh?" AJ casually said, rising from her chair.
"Yeeeess." Vinyl said carefully, still blushing.
"Was it hers or yars?" AJ asked with a smirk, before being whacked at the back of her head by Vinyl's Magic. "Aouch. No need to strike that hard." She yelped in pain, rubbing the back of her skull. She took notice of her sister's bandaged arm. "What in tarnation happened to ya?" She asked in concern.
"Oh, a timberwolf bit me yesterday night." Vinyl said casually. "The pack entered the orchard, I took care of them. We might want to change a few things at the forest border for next year. They've become quite stealthy."
"What? This early?" AJ asked in disbelief. "Them critters're far ahead of schedule. Ya'll think that the 'cloud' followed them too?"
Vinyl nodded. "Yep. I saw it too." Vinyl bit her lower lip. "It's probably in the right spot by now...."
On cue, a huge clap of thunder resonated in all Sweet Apple Acres, causing everyone, awake and asleep, to jump in surprise. Soon after, shouting could be heard from upstairs.
"Rainbow Dash!" Shouted Twilight's voice. "We've told you to NEVER prank us with thunder again."
"Yeah, thanks to you, I almost cut off Octavia's hair." Rarity yelled.
"WHAT?" A panicked Octavia asked.
"I didn't do anything." Replied Rainbow, clearly offended. "I was asleep."
"What happened to my hair?"
"Nothing dear, I said almost."
The sounds of pained wailings could be heard. "Pinkie Pie what....Oh no. Poor thing.....It's ok..." Twilight softly said in a motherly tone. "Thanks a lot Rainbow. Because of your prank, Pinkie fell off the bed and hurt herself." She shouted angrily before speaking with a comforting tone. "There, there. It's ok, Twilight's here."
"It wasn't me, damn it." Rainbow snapped.
The shouting kept going, but the two Apples ignored them and continued their conversation as if it hadn't been interrupted.
"Looks like the leaves have appeared." Vinyl said simply. "We should send Granny a letter to have her coming back early."
"Ah reckon we should. We need her ta make Zap Apples jam." Applejack said with unease. "This here will change our plans..."
"Yeah..." Vinyl admitted slowly.
"But Ah got to say, It couldn't be at a better timing." Applejack said with a small smile. "Filthy Rich's comin' this afternoon, and with the Zap Apples' comin', them negotiations will be in our favor."
After having explained that the thunderclap wasn't Rainbow's fault and making breakfast for everybody, Vinyl and Applejack worked in the Zap Apples Orchard while explaining to the others, who have all tagged along very interested by this magic fruit, what was so special about it for the farm. The existence of those special trees was the reason the pack of timberwolves came back every year. The wolves were unexplainably attracted by those trees, like a butterfly by a flame, around four or five days before the fruit's appearance.
Right after lunch, Vinyl and Applejack stationed themselves near the farm's entrance to wait for Filthy Rich. Their wait wasn't very long, Filthy's carriage had arrived few minutes later. But to their great surprise, He wasn't alone. An elderly woman got off the carriage right after him. The two Apples froze when they recognized their grandmother, Arabella Smith.
"G-Granny." Applejack stammered. "What are ya'll doin' here?"
"Where's Big Mac?" Vinyl asked.
"That ain't no way to welcome yar grandmother, girls." Granny Smith said with a raised eyebrow. "As fer yer questions. Macintosh's still in Appleloosa. And Ah decided to come back when Ah heard that ya'll stopped trade with Barnyard Bargain." She explained with a neutral tone. "Thank ya'll for warnin' me about that, by the way."
Vinyl and Applejack shifted awkwardly at Granny's remark. They wanted to justify themselves, but they knew better than to interrupt their grandmother.
"Anyway, when Ah arrived at Ponyville, Ah decided to have a talk with Filthy Rich about what happened." Granny continued her explanation. "He said he was 'bout to come here, to talk things out with ya'll. So Ah came along with him and he explained what he knew 'bout this here matter on the way here." She concluded.
"And what did he tell you?" Vinyl asked, turning her face toward Barnyard Bargain's owner.
"What my wife had told me about it." Rich replied matter-of-factly. "That you had been very rude during the delivery, that you decided to refuse delivering us in a fit of anger and that you managed to convince Applejack it was a good idea."
"That ain't even close to the truth!" Applejack snapped in anger.
"Simmer down, Applejack." Granny Smith chastised her blond granddaughter who flinched at Granny's scolding. "We are here to talk, not to shout. Now, Vinyl. We heard Affluent's version, what 'bout yars?"
Vinyl explained everything that had transpired that day. During her telling, Filthy Rich and Applejack groaned at some moments, especially those mentioning Jonah and Ariane Apple, while Granny's face remained unreadable. Then Applejack and her explained what happened with Caesar Laurel and his thugs.
"Yeah, I heard about that." Rich said quickly . "Be assured that we have nothing to do with that."
"It's ok, Rich." Vinyl shrugged. "We know you're a not a man like that and that your wife wouldn't dare to do such thing."
"That really what happened?" Granny Smith asked after having thought about what had been told to her for a moment.
"You think that one of us can really lie to you Granny?" Vinyl asked slowly.
Granny Smith looked deep in her children's eyes. Before smiling a little. "Ah reckon ah didn't raise liars." She said before turning toward the business man. "Filthy!"
"I prefer Rich, Mrs Smith." he chuckled. "What is it?"
"Ah'm expecting yer wife to apologize to ma granddaughter for all she had said to her." She said sternly." And to me for daring to bring my son's and his wife's names into this mess. Then the trade between us will reopen."
"What? Hold on a cotton pickin' minute here." Applejack interjected, causing Granny Smith and Rich to look at her. "The trade restart like before? Ah don't think so. Ah think we could change the contract in our favor a little."
"Where did that non-sense come from, Applejack?" Granny Smith asked, crooking her eyebrow.
"She's right." Vinyl chimed in. "During the stop of our business with Rich, we found out that the costumers are ready to come all the way up here for our products. We can gain the same thing, maybe more, but without having to loose one hour of daily delivery and one hour of sorting for each one of your order. Unless you can offer us a good deal to counter that, AJ and I refuse to start the trade again."
Rich looked at AJ and Vinyl with a small smile. "You've thought about it pretty well. I'm impressed." He chuckled. "You both are going to be tough business partners." The two girls grinned at Rich's comment.
"Too bad, ya'll have no say in the matter." Granny said causing the surprise from everybody.
"But Granny.." AJ started.
"No but, the deal we have with Barnyard Bargain is based on the friendship and the unity of our two families." Granny explained sternly. "It's been like that since Ah was a young'un. Ah refuse to let it become a simple business where everyone stabs at each other fer profits." She nearly shouted in anger. "It ain't the way we do things in this here farm." Both girls started to feel ashamed of themselves and were now looking at their feet.
"Mrs Smith, they still made a valid point." Rich said softly. "Plus, considering the harm brought by this incident..."
"Thank ya kindly Filthy, but ma decision's made." Granny Smith interrupted. "Ah didn't brin' them up to be vultures that spin above a wounded cow, waitin' for it to fall to start eatin'." She said with conviction, AJ and Vinyl were now completely down with that remark. "Go back to yer home, make yer wife apologize. And make it fast, the Zap Apples are coming."
"What? Really?" Rich said in complete surprise.
After Granny nodded, he bid his goodbye, he left with his carriage after having put Granny Smith' suitcases out, leaving the three women of the Apple Family alone. The two younger women were on the brink of tears as the Matriarch of the Apple Family was eyeing them with a stern gaze.
"Sorry, Granny." Vinyl said with a cracking voice.
"We've really disappointed ya...." Applejack said with a sad tone.
Granny's expression softened after the first word from her granddaughters. "It's ok, girls. Ya'll had our best interests at heart." She softly said.
"Why did you got mad at us then?" Vinyl slowly asked. "We could have a lot more bits to..."
"Girls. Are their any reparations needed?" Granny asked abruptly.
The girls were a bit taken aback by the sudden question."Humm, no." Applejack slowly said.
"Did we have a bad harvest?"
"No, not at all." Vinyl answered.
"Is one of our kin sick?"
"No." AJ and Vinyl said in unison.
"Are our finances in the green zone?" Granny Smith asked with a small smile.
"In the greener that zone can be." Vinyl affirmed.
"Then why would ya'll want more bits then?" Granny asked with a chuckle.
The girls' mood brighten a bit when they realized what Granny had meant by that.
"Ah reckon ya're right, Granny." AJ softly said earning an approving nod from Vinyl.
"Now, why don't ya'll introduce me to our special guests?" Granny asked as she started to walk toward the farm house while Applejack grabbed her suitcase.
"Granny, how did you know about the Zap Apples?" Vinyl asked with a puzzled expression. "The leaves've appeared just this morning."
"Ya'll still got a lot to learn from yer good ol' Granny Smith, girls." She replied with a chuckle.