//------------------------------// // Bon-Bon's Tavern // Story: Apple Scratch : A summer at the Farm // by Mariacheat-Brony //------------------------------// The next morning, Applejack and Vinyl got up at their usual time in order to do their chores. Vinyl had finally fully recovered from her back injury, and was going through work so eagerly that they managed to finish about forty-five minutes earlier than usual. Both women were now enjoying a fully merited cup of coffee while waiting for the rest of the house to wake up. "AAAATTCHAAA." Applejack sneezed rather loudly. "Dang nabbit! Ah hope Ah didn't catch a cold!" She said as she grabbed a tissue and blow her nose. "How in the Princesses's names could YOU, of all people, catch a cold in the middle of summer?" Vinyl asked with a crooked eyebrow. Applejack started to think about what happened yesterday in her gym. Rarity and her stayed a very long time in the shower, and an even longer time outside of it with their hair wet. Now that she thought about it, it wasn't very clever to have done that. The gym was far from being the most insulated building on the farm. No matter how hot you felt inside. Applejack started to blush when an other part of her memories from last night came back to the surface. "Ah haven't got a clue." She said quickly, trying to hide her blush and the fact her eyes were shifting up and down. "....Ooookay." Vinyl slowly said with narrowed eyes, completely not buying any of it. "Anyway, yesterday you mentioned a night out with the girls." "Oh right." Applejack said, getting out of her reverie. "Ah thought it might be good to do somethin' nice with all of them, since they're leavin' on Tuesday." "Sheesh! It's that close already." Vinyl sighed with a pinch of sadness. "What's the matter, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked slowly, she had an idea of what was troubling her sister. It was probably the same thing that was troubling her as well. "Nothing! Just some random thoughts!" Vinyl waved off before taking a sip of her coffee. "Back to the night out. I suppose you want to do it tonight?" "That was ma first idea, Ah reckon." Applejack nodded. "We can't really do anythin' special except on saturday night." "Do you have any place in mind?" "Ah was thinkin' about Bon-Bon's tavern." Applejack suggested. "The bar's nice, there's music, a rather large dance floor. And the food's mighty decent." "Oh! She managed to open it in the end!" Vinyl said with interest. "What happened to her parent's sweets' shop?" "She opens it only in the afternoon, now." Applejack explained. "Well that might be a good idea." Vinyl pondered. "Hold on, does Lyra has anything to do with the tavern?" "Ah think she plays the music there from time to time." Applejack said, rubbing her chin as she tried to remember. "And she often helps Bon-Bon at running the place. Why do ya ask?" "Well, last time I saw her, it was at the audition for the wedding." Vinyl said with a wince. "She didn't take it very well that I got the part." "Ya think it'll be a problem?" Applejack asked with caution. "We can always go to someplace else." "No, it'll probably be ok." Vinyl said with a wave of her right hand. "Beside, I want to see what Bon-Bon did. She used to talk so much about it in the past." Vinyl said with a small smile. "Well, Now we just gotta see with the girls if they're ok with it." Applejack said clapping her hands together. The girls had accepted the Apple siblings's invitation. Fluttershy took some convincing, but she had agree that a small dinner and a drink with friends might be lovely. After a quiet and peaceful day at the farm, the girls were getting ready for the evening. Twilight was going on about rules of conduct to Pinkie Pie. " So did you understand all that I just said?" Twilight asked sternly. "Yes, Sir! I mean, Ma'am!" Pinkie who was wearing a dark green helmet saluted. "Ok, I think we're good." Twilight nodded with a smile as Pinkie threw the helmet away. "Ow! I'm so excited." Pinkie said, bouncing wildly as they made their way toward the cart Vinyl and Applejack had prepared. "My first time in a bar/tavern. I'll finally taste some alcohol." She said dreamily. "NO ALCOHOL FOR YOU!" The seven other women shouted in unison. Even Fluttershy had shouted at the same level as the others. "Aaawwwww! Why?" Pinkie Pie asked with a sad pout. "Because you're still underage, sweetie." Octavia explained in a soft tone. "No alcohol until you're eighteen." "That and the fact that you're crazy enough without any alcohol in your system." Rainbow added sharply. "Renée Marianne Dash, that wasn't really nice!" Rarity chastised. "What? You're all thinking it!" Rainbow said. "And don't use my full name!" "Hold on! That's your real name?" Vinyl asked in surprise. "Gotta problem with that?" Rainbow asked. "No, I just find weird for you to call yourself Rainbow Dash when you've got such nice name." Vinyl shrugged. "Hey! Rainbow Dash's a cool name!" Pinkie Pie interjected. "Damn straight Pinkie! You tell her!" Rainbow shouted happily before she high-fived Pinkie. "All right girls!" Applejack said as she took the driver seat in the cart. "Hop in." "Hey, there isn't enough place to sit." Twilight observed as the cart had only five other seats. "Don't worry!" Vinyl said. "Octavia and I are riding Red Hare!" She added, pointing at the huge red stallion with a double saddle on his back. Once everyone was in the cart, and Octavia comfortably installed in front of Vinyl on Red Hare's back, Pinkie Pie pointed toward Ponyville. "TO THE TAVERN!" The way to Bon-Bon's tavern went swimmingly. The Apples and the Council of Harmony had disembarked from the cart, or dismounted from Red Hare in Vinyl and Octavia's case. A young, slightly chubby woman with blue and pink hair, wearing a waiter outfit came their way. "Vinyl, Applejack! I've seen you arriving!" She shouted happily. "It's been so long." She added before hugging the two Apple siblings. "Especially you, Vinyl!" "Good to see you, Bonnie!" Vinyl said with a smile. "Howdy Bon-Bon!" Applejack grinned. "Got some space for us?" "For you? Always!" Bon-Bon replied. She took a glimpse at the girls behind Vinyl and Applejack. "So, Cloud Kicker was telling the truth about you having guests!" "Oh! Were are our manners? Bonnie, let me introduce to you the Council of Harmony!" Vinyl said. "We have Pinkie Pie!" "HI!" Pinkie shouted happily. "Fluttershy!" "Hum! Hello." Fluttershy quietly said. "Twilight Sparkle." "Good evening, Ms Bon!" Twilight said politely while Applejack leaned to her ear and whispered something. "Oh dear! I mean Ms Sweetdrops!" She added quickly, blushing in embarrassment, causing Bon-Bon to giggle. "Renée Marianne Dash!" Vinyl chuckled playfully. "Rainbow Dash's just fine." Rainbow muttered before smiling at the innkeeper. "How you doing?" "Rarity Belle!" "Good evening! Quite a nice establishment you have there." Rarity said politely. "And last but certainly not least, especially to me, Octavia Philharmonica." Vinyl concluded with a small smile at her lover who smiled back, before politely bidding her good evening. "Girls! Meet Bonnie Sweetdrops. Also called Bon-Bon!" "My ladies, it's an honor to have you in my humble tavern." Bon-Bon bowed slightly at the Council members. "None of that, Darling." Rarity firmly said with a smile. "We're not on an official visit. We're just a group of friends willing to have a good time." "All right, Ms Belle." Bon-Bon nodded. "If you'd like to follow me inside." "What about Philibert and Red Hare?" Applejack asked. "Ya got a place where we can attach them?" Bon-Bon pondered for a short moment as she eyed the two horses. "Well the lawn behind the tavern needs to be mowed!" She chuckled. "They ain't goats, Bon-Bon!" Applejack retorted with a small laugh. Bon-Bon's tavern was kinda rustic, but it had a nice vibe to it. After an excellent dinner in the restaurant part of the establishment, the girls moved to the bar section that gave on a large dance floor and a scene on which was playing a country band. There was a fiddler, a banjo player and a harmonica player. The girls had scattered to look around the room, leaving the two Apple siblings at the bar with a white and light green haired barmaid. "Vinyl, I really hate you, you know that?" The barmaid let out. "You're still not over the fact I got chosen for the wedding?" Vinyl asked with a tired sigh. "Lyra, buck up a little!" "Well, at first it was for that." Lyra casually explained. "But thinking back, there was no way for them not picking you among the others. Heck, I still got chills by just thinking about your performance." She added with a small smile. "You really blew us out of the way." "Thanks for compliment!" Vinyl smiled at the barmaid. "Vodka with apple cider, please." "Coming right up." Lyra replied before magically preparing the asked beverage. "As I was saying, I really hate you!" "Why don't ya explain us why, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked as she took a small sip of her glass of wine. "Pretty fancy vintage ya found! Good choice!" "Thanks AJ!" Lyra said while giving Vinyl her drink. "First of all, Vinyl. You're way too much talented for me not to hate you." "Yeah, I know. You've been saying stuff like that since fifth grade." Vinyl shrugged before tasting her drink. "Humm! That hits the spot." "Only that, I could have managed." Lyra continued. "But, you had to get the chance to work with Octavia Philharmonica, one of the greatest musician alive. Worst of all, she has just passed three weeks on your farm." "What's your point?" Vinyl lazily asked. "You just had to become friend with her, didn't you?" Lyra asked. "Now, you got the talent and the relations." "Yeah. Right! Friend!" Applejack chuckled, earning a raise of eyebrow from the barmaid. "What does she mean?" "Nothing, just the wine making her dizzy." Vinyl shrugged. "As if, I'll be out of booze before making AJ tipsy." Lyra chuckled. "Back to us, Lyra." Vinyl said. "If I get an autograph from her for you, would you let me off?" "I'll even kiss your feet and call you mistress for that." Lyra said with conviction. There was a short awkward silence before the three women bursted out laughing. "It's great to chat with you again, Lyra." Vinyl chuckled, wiping tears from her eyes. "Likewise, Vinyl!" Lyra nodded, before turning away to serve an other client. "I'll be waiting for my autograph though." Soon after, Rarity, Fluttershy and Octavia joined the the two Apples. Lyra took their order and served them quickly in a very professional way, unlike how she had served Vinyl and Applejack. But it didn't matter for the Apples. "Were are the others?" Applejack asked pulling Rarity close to her by her waist, at Lyra's great, yet silent, surprise. "So, Cloud Kicker was telling the truth about that as well." Lyra whispered to herself. "Rainbow and Pinkie are dancing over there." Octavia answered as she leaned her head on Vinyl's shoulder, causing an even greater surprise for Lyra. "And Twilight found a table right.... Who's she talking to?" Octavia asked blinking. The group turned their heads toward the Princess's student. They all saw her chatting happily with a woman with long blond hair. Vinyl and Applejack recognized the woman instantly, even if she lacked her usual red armor. It was Cloud Kicker. "Damn! We lost Twilight, AJ!" Vinyl shook her head in defeat. "Ah reckon we did!" Applejack nodded at her sister. "What do you mean, Darling?" Asked a confused Rarity. "Who's that woman?" "Lieutenant First Class Cloud Kicker of the Royal Guard." Vinyl said. "What Ah meant is that Twilight will probably come back to the farm a lot later than us tonight." Applejack slowly added. Before anyone could voice their interrogation, Vinyl stood up quickly from her stool, when the band started a new song. "I love this song." Vinyl said happily. "Let's dance Octavia." She grabbed Octavia's hand and pulled her on the dance floor. While a bit stressed and surprised at first, Octavia started to dance gracefully close to Vinyl. Vinyl put her hand on Octavia's lower back to put even less distance between them. Octavia seemed to enjoy that a lot. "I think that, now, I know why you laughed when I mentioned them being friends." Lyra slowly said to Applejack who only chuckled in response. "Care for a dance, Lady Rarity?" Applejack asked. "I was wondering when you'd ask, Darling." Rarity beamed at the farmer. The couple left for the dance floor, leaving Fluttershy on her own. The shy woman just sat on a stool and quietly enjoyed her drink. For the following half hour, she had discussed a little with Lyra, but the barmaid had other costumers and at some point she let Fluttershy on her own. It didn't take much time for a grey haired young man to sit right next to her. "Hey there." He said with a confident smile. "Good evening!" Fluttershy quietly and politely answered. "I've never seen you in town before. You've just moved in?" "Hum! I'm on vacations with my friends. Sort of." "Oh! Weird. I work for the fanciest hotel in town, and I haven't seen you there." He noted with interest. "And I'm sure a beautiful lady like you wouldn't stay in another hotel that the one I'm working for." He added with a wink. "Oh! I'm not staying at the hotel, I'm staying at Sweet Apple Acres." As soon as she mentioned the place she was staying at, the man's interest dropped drastically. He took worried glance right and left and seemed to freeze when he noticed Applejack and Vinyl on the dance floor. Worst of all, Applejack had seen him. He was about to leave the pink haired beauty alone when he heard a woman shouting his name. "What the hell are you doing here, Thunderlane?" Shouted an angry woman with teal hair and a pink bow in it. She was followed by large group of friends lead by another woman who looked identical to the shouting woman, except she had spikier hair. "Hey...Flitter! How are you doing?" Thunderlane asked in a frightened tone. "Well, let's see. My boyfriend said that he was too sick to come celebrate my promotion in the weather management team. But surprisingly, I find him in a bar chatting with some pink haired slut." Flitter said with venomously. "Oh, no! It wasn't anything like that. We were just ..." Fluttershy started. "I didn't ask anything to you." Flitter snapped before pushing fiercely Fluttershy, who fell on the ground with small yelp. Applejack who had witnessed the scene, was about to shout at Flitter. But, before she could even say anything, she saw Pinkie Pie running amazingly fast toward Flitter, before whacking her in the face with a rubber chicken. "MEANIE!" Pinkie Pie shouted with anger. "Who the hell are you?" Flitter asked furiously, as she rubbed her sore face. "No one pushes Fluttershy. NO ONE." Pinkie was holding the rubber animal as if it was a sword. "oh. And I'm Pinkie Pie by the ..." The spiky haired twin didn't wait for introductions and kicked Pinkie in the stomach, making the young inventor fell on her knee holding her belly in pain. Fluttershy gasped in shock. The attacker readied her fist to punch Pinkie Pie. "Who do you think you are for hitting my sister like that?" She shouted before punching Pinkie in the face. Her blow didn't hit his target. Her arm was stopped by a very powerful tanned hand who nearly crushed her forearm. She looked up to see who had grabbed her. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw a rather angry Applejack. "Shouldn't have done that 'Chaser!" Applejack slowly said in a threatening tone. It started in a flash. Some of Flitter's friends dashed at Applejack, with pretty clear intentions. Applejack tossed CloudChaser at them in response. It quickly escalated in a traditional bar brawl. Fluttershy had retreated away from the fight, she had tried to pulled Pinkie Pie with her. But, as soon as she recovered from her hit in the stomach, Pinkie pulled out a second chicken and was now rampaging in the fray with one rubber poultry in each hand. From the dance floor, Vinyl had noticed the start of the fight while she was still dancing with Octavia. She stopped dancing, much to Octavia's and her disappointment. "Sorry Love! Gotta go." Vinyl quickly said, pecking Octavia's lips. Before Octavia could say anything, she dashed toward the site of the fight. She climbed on a table before jumping into the melee yelling: "YIPIKAYEE WOHOOO!" "We have to stop them!" Rarity said in panic. "They'll end up hurting themselves." "How? Your magic could barely contain Applejack for more than two minutes." Rainbow argued. "Maybe Twilight has enough power to stop them." Octavia suggested. "Hum! I don't think she'll be willing to do anything." Fluttershy said, pointing toward the table Twilight was sitting earlier. The three other member of the Council's jaws dropped on the floor when they saw what Twilight was doing. She was passionately kissing the woman she had been talking to half an hour ago. Apparently none of them had noticed the fight. Rainbow recovered from the shock quicker than the others and flew right behind Twilight to tap her shoulder. "What's it Rainbow?" Twilight snapped as she was forced to break the kiss. "I'm busy in case you haven't noticed." "Hold on to your horses Twi' and look around you." Rainbow said defensively. "Wow! That's quite a brawl they're having." Cloud Kicker commented casually when she noticed the fight. "Can't you do something?" Rarity, who had joined them with Octavia and Fluttershy, asked. "Since you're a Lieutenant of the Guard." "I didn't know that." Twilight said with interest. "My brother's in the guard as well." "Really?" Cloud Kicker replied. "What's his rank? Maybe I know him!" "That's fun and all, but couldn't that wait after the fight's stopped?" Rainbow asked impatiently. "Oh yeah! I forgot about that." Cloud Kicker said sheepishly. "Hang on. Do Applejack and Vinyl happen to be involved in any way in this fight?" "Yes. Why?" "Then it's beyond my ability." Cloud Kicker affirmed. Lyra was behind the bar with a load of bags of bits in front of her. She was busy taking some notes. Bon-Bon came to her in a panic. "Lyra, what's going on?" Bon-Bon asked before she noticed the pouches of bits. "What's all that money?" "As for what's going on," Lyra started. "Thunderlane tried to cheat on Flitter with Fluttershy. But, that was before, he knew Fluttershy had come with Applejack's group. He tried to get away before doing something he'd regret, but unfortunately for him Flitter and her friends happened to pass by. Flitter was a bit rude to Fluttershy and pushed her on the ground." "One of her friends, who had seen everything, jumped in and attacked Flitter to defend Fluttershy." Lyra continued as if she was speaking about the weather. "CloudChaser defended her sister, Applejack defended her friend. And it kept on growing like that until now." "What about all that money?" "That's what people betted on the outcome of the fight." Lyra shrugged. "What? They betted that much?" Bon-Bon asked with wide eyes, before catching herself. "Anyway, we have to stop them, they've already broke two tables and six chairs. No,seven." "Yeah, but if Vinyl and Applejack ends the fight naturally in less then two minutes, It'll be one thousand and six hundred fifty-four bits for us." Lyra remarked as she finished her maths on her notepad. "COME ON, APPLEJACK." Bon-Bon cheered loudly. "FINISH THEM OFF QUICKLY, VINYL! GET THEM! GET THEM!"