The dirigible sailed smoothly through the clean open skies, bouncing smoothly over the occasional cloud that it passed. Seated comfortably in the gondola of the modern air transport were the six Elements of Harmony plus dragon, spouse, and child.
"Hey look! I think I see it up ahead!" Blossomforth called out as she peered over the railing for about the umpteenth time. All heads poked out of their seats to see a colorful little village coming up on the horizon. A series of thatched houses encircled an open square with a large tall three story building in the center beside a river and a fountain with an earth pony statue.
Honey pointed a hoof a little towards the left. "Yup. That's Ponyville all right. That over there is the Ponyville Tower. One the town's few outstanding landmarks. It's actually one of the three remaining clock towers from the founding era that is still fully functional. It used to be every town back then had a clock tower on account that miniaturizing clock gear technology wasn't cost effective with current materials. That changed in 692 however, when Professor Tick Tock combined his profession with Doctor Coinage's alloy development transmutation matrix to create a cheaper alternative to-"
A large fake snore from Trixie broke the history teacher out of her lecture. "That's one very interesting and completely useful tidbit that's going to be locked in Trixie's vault for the rest of her life."
"A simple 'later Daring' would have sufficed," Honey remarked back in return.
Orange Sherbet, meanwhile, continued to watch the dirt road pass by below as the houses parted to make way for a series of farms on the western outskirts. A stretch of carrot patches, vineyards, cherry groves, and finally the largest plot of all, apple orchards came into view. She tightened her voice changing choker yet again as the aircraft began to descend, making a beeline for the open patch of dirt just inside the fenceposts left of the gate.
Twilight took notice as her sun hat brushed her mane. "Easy Auntie," she said as she pulled Sherbet's hoof away from her neck. "You want to be able to breathe too."
"Sorry Twilight. Ah've just got ants in ma pants like crazy 's all."
"But you're not wearing pants, you're wearing a blouse," Spike said.
A large rumbling could be heard as the very air itself shook the swaying airship. "Holy mother of Faust!" exclaimed Blossomforth as a dust cloud of carriages and stampeding hooves suddenly closed in from all directions below. A chorus of whoops and hollers filled the air as the parade passed on by, settling bit by bit as pony after pony disembarked from their respective rides. "Sweet nectar of a honeysuckle! All those ponies are Apples?"
"Told you it was a big clan," Honey affirmed with a grin.
"There must be dozens of farmers down there," Trixie murmured in silent awe. "Quite possibly over a hundred!"
At Trixie's outrageous, but seemingly conceivably probable estimate, Sherbet pulled out a pocket mirror and looked herself over again. She did remember to forgo the blush and eyeliner this morning, right? Wait, was that an uncombed curl sticking out from underneath her hat?
A pat on the back brought her back from her self conscious inner spree. Octavia gave her the usual calm smile she often carried. "Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it. Be at ease."
"Ten per-cent wha-? You know Ah don't like ya usin' yer fancy mathematics on me, Macintosh!"
An orange freckled mare adjusted her hoof-me-down stetson for perhaps the umpteenth time as she looked out the window towards the incoming herd that was gathering before the front entrance. Beside her with a slightly concerned expression was a larger red stallion with a large yoke on his shoulders. He shifted the wheat stalk in his mouth from one end to the other before giving his younger a square look face-to-face.
"Ya sure you want to do it this way? There might still be a chance ya know...if'n we tell 'em."
"It's mah bed Ah made. Ain't nopony else gonna sleep in it but me."
"Maybe so. But what're you gonna do after once that bed's gone? They're gonna find out sooner or later."
The mare gave her head a shake, trying to unnerve herself. "Then let it be later! All that matters right now is makin' this th' best reunion ever, something that'll make everypony think fondly of Sweet Apple Acres fer years ta come!"
The stalk in Macintosh's mouth dipped as his lips spread out in a wince. "Ah know you want'n this ta be perfect, sis. But Ah've been lookin' at some of what you got planned today, and Ah'm plum worried yer spreadin' yerself too thin again. Ah know you think it's yer fault-"
"Cause it is," she cut him off. "That's why it's gotta be me that does this. Ah just gotta do by right this time, for the farm's sake, for family's sake."
"Or is it just for your sake?"
Staid reprehension clashed with apprehensive glare as the mare's eyes hardened at the larger of the two. "Just git out there with Granny and greet our guests," she finally said.
Macintosh sighed. No sense in souring the clan get together with an argument. "Eeyup." As he opened the door to the front porch though, he couldn't help but mutter to himself.
"Just like ya ta be stubborn 'til the very end, Applejack."
"Oh, this is more excitin' than when it rained frogs!"
The chatter amongst the gathered clan was already in full swing as the Orange airship touched down.
"Well Auntie, this is it," Twilight encouraged as she opened the gondola doors. "Remember, we're all here for you."
Orange Sherbet gingerly pressed a hoof down into the dirt, looking around the crowd of ponies. Many had given her a quick glance as she stepped off, but were already engrossed with other relatives to do more than give a simple wave. In fact, it looked like everypony here had another member of the family they had clustered together with to form an unbreakable group of minglers. Everyone had a pony they would immediately run to in a heartbeat.
Everyone but her.
"Sherbet!" Her ears perked up and she swiveled her head to see a wizened green mare with an embroidered apple shawl steadily draw closer from a distance beyond the crowds. As her mind took the approaching pony in, her image began to transform before her eyes. The wrinkles seemed to disappear and her hunched back straightened out as a pair of blond braids replaced the tied white hairs, her warm smile radiating with those energetic brown eyes.
"M-ma?" Her voice quietly made its way back as the memory's image faded.
"Oh, Sherbet. My sweet little cream of the crop! Ya finally made it this time!" The elderly matriarch lifted a hoof as she hobbled within the five hoof radius. "C'mere, give yer ma a nice big hug!"
Sherbet was more than happy to oblige, her first real smile today spreading across her face. "Oh mom!" She wrapped her hooves tightly around the old mare's body. She breathed in deep with contentment as she closed her eyes, nuzzling deep in the comforts of the mother she had not held hooves with in decades. If anything, this one moment made everything worthwhile. "It's been so long mom," her voice cracked. "Far too long..."
"Ah know, Ah know. Oh, look at you!" She pulled Sherbet back a bit to place a hoof on her cheek. "You've grown inta such a beautiful mare, ya look just like ya did twentysome years ago!"
It did Sherbet's heart a great relief to hear those words.
"See, Auntie? Everything's going to be just fine," Twilight said, walking up beside her.
The matriarch of the Apple clan was quick to regard the plus-six in Sherbet's party as she was joined by a large red stallion and an energetic border collie. "Hmm? And just who are these young'uns?"
"Ah, yea. Ma, these are ma friends from Manehattan. You remember, from mah last letter?"
"Ohhh yes! That 'hole Elements o' Harmony thing, right?"
"That's right. They all wanted to come with me and meet th' family. Was it alright for 'em ta tag along with me to th' reunion?"
"Aw, shucks. It ain't no trouble at all! The more th' merrier! Any friend of an Apple's practically family already, ain't that right, Big Macintosh?"
"Eeyup," the large stallion deeply answered. Meanwhile, the dog beneath chose to answer in a more paws on approach, licking the face of every newcomer she could find.
"Ah! Get off! Trixie is not a lollipop, you walking tongue factory! Hey! Where are you going with her hat? Get back here!"
And thus, the Element of Laughter's plans for today would be penciled in for the entire morning playing a rousing game of 'catch the hat thief' as she sped off after the playful canine.
The old mare gave a throaty chuckle. "Oh, that Winona. Such a rascally little dog. She means well, though. Yer friend will get her fancy hat back soon enough. Now then, how's about you introduce me ta yer circle already?"
"Sure thing. This here's Twilight Sparkle, Honey Do, Blossomforth, and Octavia Melody. An' over there, climbin' the hay bales, is Trixie Lulamoon." Sherbet then circled around to her friends. "Girls, this here's my ma, Maria Ann Smith. She's the current head o' the family an' organizer of this here reunion too."
"Oh ho ho. No need ta git all stuffed shirt with me. Everypony 'round these parts just calls me Granny. And believe it or no, th' only thing Ah did this year was write them invites. You can thank ma Jackie for puttin' together this here shindig."
The name caused Sherbet to freeze for the briefest of moments. The one mare aside from her mother that she needed to see the most. "Applejack? She's runnin' the reunion this year?"
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh's voice didn't seem quite as cheery as it did before, though he still held his smile.
"Mmm hmm, and from what she told me the other day, she's got loads of-oh look! There she is now!" Everypony's attention turned to the stage in front of the barn, where an orange mare with a trio of red apples marked her flank.
Sherbet's expression was a mix of nostalgia, longing, disbelief and slight affliction. It didn't go unnoticed. "Auntie?" a concerned Twilight asked.
"Sis' hat. She's wearin' it."
The mare on stage tapped the megaphone, testing to see if it worked before speaking through it. "Howdy, y'all, and welcome to the Apple family reunion!"
The ponies cheered, Apple style.
"Mah name's Applejack, and Ah just want to let y'all know that Ah got a real big day planned for ya! We're gonna start off with an obstacle course for the young'uns, and some fritter makin' and quiltin' for the not-so-young'uns. And there's lots more to come after that! Hope y'all enjoy it!"
As the family members stamped their feet in approval, Sherbet plucked up every ounce of courage she had. The one thing she came to do here above all else, was to make up for all the misgivings between her and her niece. And now, finding out she was in charge of the reunion, and seeing her in her dear sister's favorite hat, it only seemed to make the stakes that much higher.
Her husband walked past, a peckish grin on his face. "Well, I know where I'm heading first. I skipped breakfast just to make more room for those fritters. Join me, darling?"
"In'a bit hon, there's a few things Ah want ta do first. You an' the others can go 'head of me. Tangerine, why don't ya run along and find th' other Apple foals? I'm sure they'd love ta meet ya."
"Very well mother."
And with that, Sherbet was all alone with her nephew and mother. The latter of which ushered her over towards the stage. "Com'on," Granny gently coaxed her, "Why don'cha you go and say hi to yer niece? Ah'm sure she'll be delighted ta see ya after all these years."
The trio came within conversation as Applejack hopped off the steps. "Applejack," her granny called out, "We've got a rare treat this year's reunion. You remember your Auntie Orange, right? She was finally able ta make it this year!"
Applejack took her in for barely half a heartbeat before going into an automatic reply. "Oh, howdy Auntie. Glad ya could be here. Enjoy the reunion!"
"Applejack, I-" But the mare was off before Sherbet could even think of the end to her sentence.
Granny took notice of the downturned ears on her daughter's head, and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't you fret none, girl. Jackie here's just so overly excited what with this bein' her time runnin' the reunion. You'll get yer chance to talk with 'er. She just needs a little time ta settle, what with her worryin' 'bout every last breadcrumb an' all that lately."
"Eeyup," Big Macintosh concurred.
Sherbet steeled herself again. A plan of her own forming in her head. "Well she won't be worryin' fer long. Cause Ah'm gonna do mah best to make sure this 'hole reunion runs as smooth as apple grease! Ah'll make sure everything goes to her plans!"
Granny chuckled. "Still got that filly zeal in'ya, huh? Well, Ah know any thoughts you have turn to pure gold at some point. Why don'cha join me an' the rest my girls fer a little quiltin' and we'll catch up while my grandfilly gets all that extra energy out o' 'er system?"
Tangerine shuffled around the taller, adult ponies. Still hesitant to find the other children, she wasn't trying that hard, just wandering around. But as she whipped around the side of a wheelbarrow, she bumped into a slightly robust light brown filly with a two-tone redhead.
"Ah!" They both stumbled back on their rumps. Tangerine was the first to regain her composure. "Oh, forgive me. I was not paying attention to my surroundings."
"Uh, y-yeah. That's okay." The other filly seemed to be slightly withdrawn despite being big for her age. And it seemed as if her tail was instinctively raised to cover her flank.
"Um, are you alright? Is there something wrong with your flank?"
The opposing filly took a step back in alarm. "Uh-uh no! Why would there be something wrong with it? It's perfectly normal to have-"
"No cutie mark!"
They both jumped at the third voice that belonged to a head that popped over the side of the wheelbarrow. It was another redheaded filly, only she was cream yellow with a large bow tying her mane. She ecstatically pointed to both their flanks. "Y'all don't have no cutie marks! Wow! Ah thought Ah was the only filly here that didn't have one!"
The brownish one seemed to relax a bit when she noticed what the newcomer had identified. The wheelbarrow tipped over as she leaned to get out and meet them on ground level.
"Every other foal Ah've met so far seems ta gotten their cutie mark since the last reunion. It's been so frustratin'! That's all they seem to be chattin' 'bout, makin' me feel like the odd apple out! Y'all can't tell how glad Ah am not ta be the only one in the blank boat!"
She stuck a friendly forehoof out. "Mah name's Apple Bloom! What's yers?"
The other filly tentatively stuck her hoof out slowly. "I'm Babs. I'm from Hooflyn."
Hooflyn? Wasn't that the city across that huge bridge on the east end of the bay? Tangerine now mimicked Apple Bloom's excitement at a sudden prospect. "You mean I'm not the only city filly here?"
"City filly? Where are you from?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Oh, right." Tangerine shifted out of filly mode, realizing she was the only one who hadn't introduced herself yet. "My name is Tangerine. I hail from Manehatten, it is very nice to make your acquaintance."
"Manehattan? Wooowee, that's fancy! Is it true that red velvet cakes there cost 700 bits apiece? Or that you got a huge underground carriage system that's run by mole ponies?"
Tangerine blinked at the incredulous questions her cousin was asking. This certainly wasn't a poor impression she was making, but it wasn't exactly one she expected either.
Babs, on the other hoof, completely broke out of her inward shell and started laughing. "Really? You believe those silly rumors? Next thing I know, you're going be wondering if we gots alligators living in our sewers! Ha ha ha!"
"Why not? Pinkie Pie says that's where she found Gummy."
"Ah, fuhgeddaboudit!" Babs swung her hoof in a downward dismissive arc before blowing a stray forelock away from her eye. "Never you mind those crazy stories and let a real pony tell you what's what."
"Yeah? So what's awesome there?"
"Well, for starters, we gots a real fun place on the east side of Hooflyn called Coneigh Island that's got hundreds of amusement-"
"There ya are, Apple Bloom!" Applejack trotted right over to the trio. "What are y'all three doing here? Every one of the youngsters is waitin' for ya at the obstacle course."
"Oh, I kinda wanna get ta know these two a bit better first sis," Apple Bloom started to protest.
But Applejack was already nudging the three fillies along. "Don't you worry. There'll be plenty of time for family bondin' while you're racin' against your other cousins."
As they joined the rest of the children at the starting line, Tangerine did a quick head count. "6...7...8...oh dear! There are an odd number of ponies here."
Apple Bloom did a quick count to confirm. "Shoot! Yer right! How we gonna do a seven legged race with forty-four legs?"
Tangerine glanced to the side, a bit forlorn. "I guess I could excuse myself. I probably would not be a good partner anyways."
"Woah woah woah woah!" Babs interjected. "Nopony's sitting this out. In fact, I gots an idea that I think youse gonna like!"
Within a few moments, there were four seven legged racers lined up at start along with one ten legged racer.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Tangerine asked from Babs' left.
Babs blew at her bangs again with a grin. "Don't sweat it. I know this kid from Hoofboken who came in first with four of us strapped to his hind legs."
"Yeah, and this could actually be real fun! Us doing things a little differently!" Apple Bloom chimed from Babs' right.
Applejack then trotted over the line to officiate the race to begin. "Alrighty, ponies! Ready to have some fun?"
It was then that the fillies and colts actually decided to take a good look at the course laid before them, a long twisting dirt path over several hills that ended at the tallest one in the horizon.
"Woah!" exclaimed Babs. "Is that the finish line? It's like a mile away or somethin'!"
"Actually, that's just th' marker where you go onto the next leg of the race," Applejack stated matter-of-factly.
"There is more?" Tangerine asked.
"Much more. Trust me, Ah have put together somethin' you are never gonna forget." Applejack then rushed over to the side of the lane where a bunch of filled basins were. "After the seven-legged race you're gonna wanna hurry up and head over here, where you'll be bobbin' for apples!" She stuck her head in and pulled out a threefer to demonstrate.
"Then you'll run around these trees fifty times until you're real good and dizzy..."
She whirled around the nearby apple trees really fast.
"Then you'll jump these big wooden hurdles..."
She hopscotched a bunch of stacked logs and planks, three at a time.
"And then there's the final leg, where you'll balance plates on your head while sayin' 'Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets' over and over and over again."
She spun a plate on a stick on top of her noggin while belting out the tongue twister before skidding back to start.
"Last pony standin' wins!"
There was a dead silence as the foals looked blankly at Applejack.
"...Seriously?" a disbelieving and slightly annoyed Apple Bloom broke the silence and addressed her sister.
"Seriously!" Applejack affirmed with a wide smile. "C'mon, y'all, let's start makin' some memories!"
With a whip of her tail, the mare raised the checked flag. "On your mark...get set...go!"
Well, needless to say, the foals all did decide to give it the good old earth pony try. They all shot out of the starting line, with one or two trips to start out with. All galloping in sync as fast as they could...for the first five minutes.
Panting and huffing, the trio of blanks slowed their pace to a halt in order to catch their breath. Tangerine looked back to see they had already gone twenty barn lengths from starting line, Apple Bloom looked ahead to see they weren't even a tenth of the way there yet, and Babs just raised her freckled face to sky to give a silent groan.
"Whooee! Lookin' good, everypony!" Applejack called from the distance. She then turned around to tend to the other activities. "Ooh, better go check on the quilt."
Trixie rounded about the water pump for the third time after Winona.
"When Trixie gets her hooves on you she's gonna-"
Darting under a fencepost and into the north fields where all the newly planted trees were, the playful canine weaved through the saplings as if she were a snake. Chancing a glance back, she stopped to see her azure playmate was nowhere to be seen. In fact, as she turned her body in a circle, all she could see were rows of year old apple trees and the scarecrow protecting them.
Wait a minute, orchards don't use scarecrows, do they? Winona pad-footed closer to take a questionable sniff. She was a hooveslength away when the straw hat popped off to reveal the silhouetted face beneath.
"Trixie has you now!" she cried as she emerged from the collar of the hay stuffed shirt. But while her leap was fast, the collie's reaction time was faster. As the showmare came down, she jumped up and over, giving her huntress a fresh taste of grass and dirt.
Spitting out the clod of soil in her mouth, Trixie turned to the shrinking dot in the distance of the acres. "You have no idea who you're messing with mutt. Trixie has sent packs of Lupus Majors to the great beyond and back with their tails between their legs! So if you know what's good for you, you'll stop this inane bout of shenanigans and come back with her hat at once!"
Her loud ultimatum was obviously not heard from that distance or ignored as the dog happily brisked her way into the livestock stalls and out of sight.
"......Please?"
Granny Smith admired the gleaming pearly dentures her own cousin was showing off to her as her knitting circle convened. "How long you had those new choppers, Auntie Applesauce?"
The spring green mare simply primly raised a hoof to her chest. "A lady never reveals the age of her teeth."
"Ugh." The peach elder next to her simply rolled her near-sighted eyes.
That earned a chuckle from granny and a scowl from Applesauce. "Don't you roll your eyes at me, Miss Apple Rose! I imagine you two think I have forgotten what you did to my parasol six reunions ago?"
All that served to do was get Apple Rose going too.
"We were just usin' it to help break open that piñata!" Granny said between giggles.
As the two continued to laugh, they were eventually joined by a younger third. "That must 've been some get 'ogether y'all had. Did it at least work?"
"Oh, you bet your dealyboppers it did! But that wasn't even the funniest part!" Granny told Sherbet. "When nephew Newton Apple tried to get the fandangled contraption down afterwards, it plumb fell on his noggin'! Oh ho, he looked so silly! Havin' a speckled goat's rear end fer a face! Poor fella's always had trouble with things fallin' from trees, but that there took the cake!"
"Newton, as in Cobbridge University's leading physicist teacher Newton?" Honey's ash colored hair filled the view of every mare in the group as she stuck her head upside down from above.
"Why yes, that's the school!" Granny exclaimed and then mumbled to herself. "I knew it had something that started with a C..."
"Heya, Honey," Sherbet greeted. "Somethin' we can do ya fer?"
"Just wanted to hang. I mean, there's only so much you write about a historical family in the textbooks. If it's alright, I was hoping the more aged Apples could tell me a few tales that haven't made the pages."
"Hmph, I've have you know I'm not as 'seasoned' as you might expect," Applesauce proclaimed. "Why, it was just yesterday that I trotted a good half a mile on my evening constitution. The sea breeze from the Haybale Bay was blowing every bachelor's head from the bingo parlor my way..."
Apple Rose rolled her eyes once more. "Oh boy, here we go again..."
Around that time, Applejack trotted in clutching a large quilt checked in yellow, green, and red. As she settled in down on a table, Applesauce broke away from her monologue to address her. "Applejack, delightful to see you. Are you going to join us in some quiltin'? Granny here's already managed to rope us one set of fresh hooves with Sherbet."
"Sorry, Auntie Applesauce," the farmpony answered. "Ah am busy busy busy. Y'all should get started, though!"
"Do my eyes deceive me?" Honey asked as she hovered over the unfinished blanket. "Is that really the authentic Apple family ancestral quilt?"
"Oh, I wouldn't know about ancestral," Apple Rose replied to Honey. "But we 'ave been workin' on that thing for seven generations straight!"
"Speaking of..." Granny Smith looked around quizzically. "Where are our rocking chairs? Cain't get started without 'em!"
"Ah got rid of 'em to make room for these!" Applejack pulled a tarp away to make room for a workbench with several sewing machines. "This is the year y'all are finally gonna finish that quilt!"
"Finish it?" Apple Rose looked a little quizzical too as Applejack set the quilt under the needles and yanked the starter cords.
The machines stared rattling and rumbling like a mini-earthquake. Granny Smith's hooves went up to her ears, while Applesauce's teeth nearly chattered out of her mouth.
"Won't that be excitin'?" Applejack called out over the noise. The din, however, made it near impossible for the older mares to make out.
"What's that?" Apple Rose raised her voice in return.
"I said, won't that be-" Applejack finally got the sense to switch the machine off for a moment. "-excitin'?"
The elder ponies shared an unsure glance with one another.
"I suppose," Applesauce finally said. "Although I have been told that too much excitement can wreak havoc on this youthful complexion of mine."
Apple Rose sighed while Granny Smith giggled. And so the mares sat themselves down in front of the machines and yanked their respective cords. The sewing machines roared to life once more as they dubiously fed the whirring needles new patches.
"That's the spirit!" Applejack shouted before moving on.
"What did she say?" Granny asked.
"What?" Apple Rose called back.
Sherbet, on the other hoof, was full of determination. She cracked her hooves as Honey landed nearby.
"Uh, are you sure about this?" she asked over the cacophony. "You've never threaded a needle in your life, let alone worked one of these machines!"
"An Apple cain do anything they set their minds to!" Sherbet shouted back. "An' Applejack's mind is set ta finishin' this quilt, so that's what Ah'm gonna do fer her!" With that, she began vigorously filling seam after seam with lightning quick hooves. "Ma, cain you pass me some more red?"
"What was that?" Granny asked.
"Huh?"
"What?"
Granny flicked her hoof in annoyance at the awful din of the machines. "Oh good gracious!"
"Golden Delicious? I think he's racing with his cousin!" Apple Rose replied.
Indeed he was, around and around the apple trees along with every other dizzy foal. Three in particular circled the center one, each one trying to hold a conversation over the growing lightheadedness.
"So...you ever been...to the statue...of Liberty Mare?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Yes...you can see all...the way...to Canterlot...from her crown..." Tangerine answered.
"Is it really...made in...Prance?" Babs asked.
"Uh...huh...what about...you...Apple...Bloom? Do you really...get to...run an...apple cart...all by...yourself?"
"Not since...AJ...caught me...trying to...aggguh..."
"You alright?" Babs panted.
"So... dizzy..." Apple Bloom's eyes spun and derped. She finally tumbled to the ground, sprawled out on all fours. Her head bobbed as her brain jumbled around, and her face fell flat into the dirt.
Babs and Tangerine approached the passed out filly, looked to each other, and then sighed. This race was turning out to be anything but fun.
"Woaaaah..." Trixie flailed her free hooves occasionally as she tottered from the pen railings, the posts holding them only large enough to accommodate one hoof at a time.
Sitting at the corner of the pens on the other end was none other than her hat thief, wagging her ever taunting tail. With great effort not to fall, Trixie finally made it to the peg neighboring Winona's. "Nowhere to run now, mongrel!"
With a swing of her hooves, Trixie lashed out for the hat. Winona easily ducked and Trixie wobbled badly. But she recovered and then swung again, with a little more control this time. Winona jumped over the swing. Trixie tapped her head as to how to get this cornered canine to cough it up, then she felt a point on her her forehead.
"Duh, Trixie!" She rolled her eyes at herself, then smirked as her horn lit up. And suddenly the dog now felt a tugging sensation coming from the cloth between her teeth. Of course, dogs were the undisputed tug-of-war contenders next to ponies, so she certainly wasn't giving it up that easily.
Jaws versus magic was a slightly disfavored matchup for her though. Paw by paw, she began to creep closer to the magician.
"That's right, come to Trixie her pretty. And she's talking about her hat!"
As luck would have it, a couple more seconds and she would have won had it not been for the fact that the particular part of the pen Trixie was balanced on doubled as the pen's gate. With a swipe of her paw, the clever border collie undid the latch to open the gate. Trixie yelped in surprise as the wooden poles she precariously perched on violently jerked underneath her legs losing both her concentration and her balance.
*SPLAT*
The mud encrusted mare emerged head first from the muck, warding off the adjacent pig's friendly advances. She glared daggers at the pooch who decided it was time to pick another hide and seek location.
"Trixie will get you yet!" she crowed angrily to the fleeing adversary, pausing only to sock the oinker nuzzling her mud soaked mane in the snout. "She's get you doggie, and her little hat too!"
Octavia gave a few light plucks to her strings as she fine-tuned her instrument.
"You actually brought that with you?" Twilight asked.
"Fate favors the mind that is prepared," the musician quoted. "I should not deviate from my daily practice merely because we are in an unconventional setting."
"Yeah, and who knows, Twilight? Maybe these country folk could to learn to love cello music the way I do once they hear it."
Twilight dialed down her playful smirk as she glanced over at Spike, already lying on his belly awaiting the sweet symphony to come. "No one could love cello music the way you do." And with that she walked off to find some other event to participate in.
The gray mare raised her bow, gave a contemporary bow as per custom before performing, and with a delicate sliding motion of her hoof-
A series of high pitched and fast tempo vibrations filled the air. The rarely startled Octavia nearly jammed her hoof into her cello's strings as she lost grip of her bow. Quick to recover, her finely tuned ears perked and swiveled to trace the source of the unexpected accompaniment. The sound trail led her to a particular clump of trees planted in a semi-circle pattern, giving an obscure wall to the player with the half-ring from her approach.
Peeking around the private grove, the pair saw a sight that made Spike's jaws drop. Sitting on a stump in the middle of the grove was what he could have easily described as a mirror image of his cello playing goddess. A fun-house mirror at least. This mare was lemon chiffon with a navy blue mane. Instead of a bow tie, she sported an orange neckerchief and white brimmed hat. And for the occasion, she had on a worn green blouse with barely an inch of skirt at the waist, it could have easily been mistaken for a shirt. Resting in her hooves as she fervently practiced was an equally worn violin of sorts. Though the wood was weathered and the strings were half frayed on the ends, Octavia could discern with her muse's eye that the player before her still maximized the melodious output of her tried and true partner, not wasting a single chord.
The player suddenly stopped, as if realizing she was being watched, and turned to meet her two observers. "Well hey! Didn't expect an audience until it was time for the square dance!"
"Pardon, I didn't think I wasn't the only one practicing out here." Octavia stepped forward into the clearing to speak properly with the stranger. The first thing the performer did was take notice of the cello she was carrying on her back.
"Hooowee, that's one whopper of a fiddle you've got propped up there behind your shoulders!"
"Oh no, this is a cello. A larger member of the violin family," the cellist corrected.
Her rural counterpart just shrugged. "Eh, po-ta-to, po-tah-to. So, you planning on livenin' this hoedown up too? Sure be a breath of fresh song if'n so. I've been soloing these shindigs for twelve years straight now. It ain't easy bein' the only musical Apple in the orchard, I gotta tell ya."
"Music is always better when you play together," Octavia said. "If you will have me, my bow is yours."
"Neato. What's your name anyways?"
"I am known as Octavia."
"Okie dokie, 'Tavi. You can call me Fiddlesticks. So, whatcha play?"
"Well, I am a bit partial to the works of Johann Stablestian Bronc. Particularly his six suites." To demonstrate, Octavia settled her instrument to playing level, and began to emulate the arpeggios of the prelude.
She was about seven bars in when Fiddlesticks chopped her hooves together to give a cutting motion. "Okay, okay. Hold up for a minute, fancy strings. That's real pretty and all, but I don't think you're going to hit many dance calls here with that lullaby."
"Hey, don't make fun of Miss Octavia's playing! She's a five string savant compared to anything you could play!" Spike aggressively argued.
"Really? Could she play...this?" With that, Fiddlesticks snapped her strings up and began to stroke an allegro of wild Coltic folklore.
As she progressed into an apex of the verse, a second softer voice suddenly began to echo from the ends of her chords. It was slower and diminished, but its beat did not outstand the underlying tone despite the difference. The new notes seemed to wrap around the edges of melody, bolstering it like chanting chorus. With every treble, a subtle bass highlighted its effect. It danced around the lead tune, letting its own sounds be sucked in the whirling vortex of rising crests and multiplying its soul tenfold. The deep strum then paused for a moment to let the first reach an epiphany of sonancy, then came back in faster, fuller force, still lower and softer than the lead, but now coaxing the other to time its cues. Now the first voice started to dance too, it swung in full momentum no longer letting the second voice strengthen it as much, but instead leading it to stand out in the spotlight on equal footing. They stepped together, soft and loud, high and low, but both in tandem, brimming the air with an electric feeling. Faster and faster, they spun and leaped, the excitement continuing to build.
And then abruptly they halted, face-to-face in silence, and bowed. The lone clapping of a dragon was only thing that followed.
Opening her eyes, the fiddler slowly raised her neck alongside her accompaniment, staring in awe. "So perfect...it never felt like...when did...how could have...what did you do?"
Octavia simply smiled. "I listened. I listened to what the music wanted to say, what it wanted to convey, and what it asked for to accomplish it. And then I provided it with what I knew how."
"Well pull my ears and call me a packmule! If you can use those classy threads of yours to spice up my scripts, I'll bet a doughnut and a dingbat I could whip some flavor in those waltzes of yours." Fiddlesticks raised her trusty partner to its mounted position, grinning widely. "What say you give that old timer diddy of yours another shot for me?"
Octavia matched her enthusiasm in a more calm and collected manner. "It would be my pleasure."
"So, I was wondering. Exactly what events led up to you discovering zap apples when you first settled in Ponyville?"
"What's that? What kettle I use to till?" Granny Smith raised a hoof to her ear to try and make out Honey's question. "I actually use a hoe, except when it's a dry spell, then a poker actually works better."
Honey facehoofed while Sherbet finished hemming a corner. Five more square hooves...just five more. The quilt will be done, one of the Apple clan's most crowning achievements. Applejack will surely to be proud of me!
"Rose, Ah'm almost outta thread. Can you hoof me that spool over there?"
"What?"
"Nevermind, Ah'll get it mahself."
She stretched over to grab the extra spindle, her zeal making her unaware that her other hoof holding the cloth steady was shifting. It wasn't until she was past Applesauce that she heard her friend scream.
"Sherbet, your sleeve! It's caught in the needle!"
"Huh?" Snapping back in surprise, Sherbet's hoof ended up tugging her machine to the side, knocking against it's neighbor. "No no no no!"
Applesauce scrunched her hooves at the jarring, overlapping a fold and causing a wrinkle between a red and a green. "Oopsie."
"Aah ahh! Quick! Turn it off!" Sherbet hastily fumbled with Applesauce's machine, only to end up pulling the now sewn corner on her blouse's sleeve against the needle of her own machine. *Riiiip*
"Ack!" Sherbet spun her head in alarm to see several patches bear jagged tears while the last of the old spool spread the last of its contents over it in a squiggly pattern, making a collage of imperfect triangles and trapezoids. In a panic, Sherbet jerked at the quilt to bring it out from under the needle, falling over as it gave away.
As she fell, the still sewn corner tugged at the rest of the sheet, pulling cloth from all the other other mares' sewing contraptions. One mismatched threading now gave way to a fourfold increase. Honey immediately slapped the off switches as the elders abandoned their stations for the moment to aid the distressed mare under the tarp.
As Granny finally manged to undo the stitching on Sherbet's clothing, she looked upon the disfigured blanket before her in horror.
"No...no, it's a mess! Ah ruined it!"
"There there," Granny patted her hoof. "It ain't ruined. Just a 'nother hiccup is all. Believe me, Ah've seen worse happen to this quilt. It cain be fixed."
"But you'll never finish it now! It'll take the 'hole reunion just ta get rid of all the bad patches! And it's mah fault."
"Shhshhshhhhh..." Granny hushed. "Sweeten that sour face of yers. Ah'm not mad, and neither are the girls, right?"
Apple Rose and Applesauce mmmhmm'd and nodded gently. "We'll just pick up again next reunion."
Sherbet was still uneasily. "But Applejack-"
"Will understand, trust me. It's not the end o' the world. And believe me if she so much frowns at you for this, you kin bet Ah'm going ta be givin' her a lesson on manners all the way 'til next Winter-Wrap-Up!" She then prodded her distraught daughter into an upright position with a smile only age could help master. "Now why dont'cha you head on over and grab a fritter to cheer ya up while the rest of us ladies clean this mess up?"
Sherbet stood up, still feeling completely guilty. "A-are ya sure?"
"Go on," encouraged Apple Rose. "Have some fun with the other young'uns. You don't deserve ta spend your whole time mopin' around here when you could be livin' it up with the folks."
Honey elbowed Sherbet softly. "It's okay. I'll stay here and help clean up," she whispered to her. "Why don't you take their advice and make a few fritters to calm yourself?"
Sherbet's head was soon deep in thought, and within moments, her earnest smile came back. "Yeah, fritter making. Ah'll make up for this!"
She dashed off for the cooking station. She was going to work extra hard to make sure that ran smoothly.
"Oh, and save one for me!" Honey called out.
Winona happily frolicked around the front porch. This was the longest any one pony ever bothered to play with her! That blue unicorn must really like her. What new surprise did she have for her next?
A series of whirs and buzzes answered her from a distance. Walking out back toward the source of the sound, the energetic border collie approached the family tool shed. A distinct sound of sawing, pounding, and even jackhammering could be made out from behind the closed doors.
Then all of a sudden, everything was silent. Winona cocked her head curiously as she pawed the door. Wait, was that purring she was hearing? Was there a cat inside trespassing? Winona backed up to give a growl of warning. If this was that spoiled persian from that pretty building in town, she wasn't welcome back until she admitted she was the one who took her favorite play rag, lost it, and owed her a new one!
She backed up just in time for the doors to burst open, and zooming out came not a cat, but a large wagon-like contraption that was apparently made from a spare cart, a snow plow, several metal shingles, and an old mana battery. Ponying the contraption over a set of levers that guided six appendages made from rakes, hoes, brooms, and baskets, was her favorite playmate at the reunion.
"Playtime is over you kleptomaniac pooch! Now know the full wrath of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
With a roar from the engine, the great and powerful Catch Thieving Dog and make her Pay Mark 1 rushed at said dog with alarming speed. Winona took to her heels as Trixie laughed manically after her. The arms swept at the canine, trying to catch her in their snares. Up and down the open fields they went, earth and stone being upturned underneath the gardening behemoth, the wanton upheaval ironically making the soil plowed and ready to plant.
Try as she might, Winona couldn't lose the mare this time. Her contraption was steadily closing in on her. The plow was barely touching the tip of her tail.
"Let this be a lesson to you, mess with the unicorn, get the ho-urk!"
Trixie's victory gloat was rudely interrupted as she and Winona ran headfirst into a large haystack. The mighty mound of straw engulfed the dog, the mare, and her entire vehicle, making it impossible to see. Riding blind, the mobile haystack swerved uncontrollably in erratic circles, jumps and bumps, and zig-zags. It dinged against the orchard trees like a pinball machine, hitting the acres' gate flippers.
As the final bump sent it rocketing forth, the branches caught hold of the hay and lifted the veil from Trixie's vision. She shook her head to regain her senses, then dusted a few lingering strands off her nose.
"Now then, as Trixie was saying-"
*bark bark*
Trixie's head swiveled around to look behind her. There, safely in the distance behind her machine of doggie doom, was Winona, poking her head out of the top of the haystack, hat still in mouth. Trixie growled in frustration before realizing another fact, she had stopped moving.
Glancing down, she discovered that in the chaos of the hay covered driving, her contraption had throttled up the highest incline in the fields...that had a sheer cliff of at least a hundred feet of height on the other side.
And she had just driven off it.
"I hate that dog..." Trixie empathized in the first pony. And then gravity finally caught up.
*Weeeeeeeeeeee*
*CRASH*
Big Macintosh fished another dozen globs of doughy, fruity confection from the fryer. He cantered over to the serving table, where Mosely was stacking plates. The orange stallion set a nice big one aside for the strong and silent farmhoof to set his batch down. With that latest bunch done, they now had roughly forty fritters at their table, ready to serve to everyone else. As they inspected their work, Big Mac sniffed the heavenly cinnamon aroma coming from the treats. Mosely gave a lick of the lips. The two shared a knowing look, then eyed the area around them to see if anypony was looking. Within a few minutes, the table's contents were back to zero and two pairs of cheeks were bulging at the edges of the lips with fried apple goodness.
Smiling through the mouthfuls, Mosely gave a look to Macintosh that said it all. Not a word of this to anypony.
Big Macintosh's was the same. Eeyup.
Returning their gaze to the table, they suddenly found one more pair of eyes looking to it. Particularly at the now empty plates that had taken over an hour to fill.
Applejack's face told an entirely different story. Boys.....
Mosely's eyes darted to his red partner in crime. He ate more!
Macintosh's chew swished from one cheek to the other, looking down at his orange accomplice. Eeynope!
And they were off. The orange mare huffed at the fleeing gluttons, but didn't give chase. Instead she made her way to tent where three mares in aprons were packing the apple slices into the kneaded dough.
"This is fun!" Blossomforth giggled. She stretched one particular ball into a bowl-like shape. "Hey watch this. I'm going to break the world record for apples stuffed into a fritter!"
The pale green mare with red hair next to shared a tired laugh. "Don't let Bushel overhear that. He's the current title holder!" she joked before turning to her maple friend. "So, where were we Leaves? Ah, yes. You've got eight now, dont'cha?"
"Oh, sure do," the mare replied. "Tell you what Dumpling, my Apple Tart may just be a baby, but he is a hoot!"
"Havin' fun?" Applejack asked the trio as a canary yellow stallion in a brown vest and fedora passed her with a plate full of unbaked pastries.
"Sure are!" the pony named Apple Leaves lazily answered.
"Better pick up the pace on those fritters though, huh?" Applejack elbowed Apple Dumpling and pulled a bowl of apple slices to her. "Roll, fold, crimp, slide to the left. Roll fold crimp slide to the left. Rollfoldcrimpslidetotheleft."
The nearby mares watched her with bewilderment has the farmer seemed to demonstrate her method like she was a machine. She then caught Apple Leaves completely off guard when she shoved a mound of dough in her hooves. "Now you try!"
She fussed with the dough as best she could, rolled it up, then set it aside.
"That's it!" Applejack called back as she was already on her way to another section of the reunion. "Gotta keep this assembly line movin', gals! We want every Apple here to get a chance to taste the best darn fritters in Equestria!"
Blossomforth seemed a bit perplexed. "Um, wasn't the fun to this making fritters thing making the fritters? Why do we want to rush fun?"
"You heard mah niece!" Sherbet squeezed a spot into the fritter folding station. "We gotta make sure sure we have enough for everyone here! Won't be fun if somepony goes without, comeon!" And with that, she began to fold fritters faster than even Applejack had demonstrated. "Roll, fold, crimp, slide to the left. Roll, fold, crimp, slide to the left..."
She then snagged the boat shaped dough filled with apple bits left of Blossomforth's hooves, much to her dismay. "Hey! I was still working on that!"
"Ya shouldn't play with yer food, Blossom. And you shouldn't overstuff the fritters neither. We only got so much to go around. Roll, fold, crimp, slide to the left. Roll, fold, crimp, slide to the left..."
Blossomforth wasn't sure of it, but it seemed like the little bags around everypony's eyes had grown a little darker.
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
Apple Bloom's head wobbled to keep her plate straight as she tried to speak in between breaths. "So you mean to tell me you're the only one without a cutie mark in your entire school?"
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
"Uh huh. I'm actually older than a lot of them, so I get teased a lot," Babs briskly answered before taking another gulp of air.
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
"That is horrible," Tangerine spoke next. "But at least they speak to you."
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
"Whaddya mean?" asked Babs.
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
"I am alone at my school." "Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "All the foals avoid me-" "Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "-because I am rich."
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
"That's dumb!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "Two of my classmates are the richest foals in Ponyville-" "Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "-and EVERYpony wants to be their friend." "Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "Which is beyond me, cause they're total snobs!"
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "Maybe that is why no one wants to be my friend."
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "But you're not a snob at all, you're the nicest filly I've met, right Apple Bloom?"
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "Yeah! You know what? We'll be yer friends!" "Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "Ya won't be alone ever again!"
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "Really?"
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets." "You bet! I could use a friend myself anyways! I'm lonely back in Hooflyn too."
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
"Ah can' thfeel my tongue," Babs numbly muttered through her swollen mouth muscle.
"Neh nehber," Apple Bloom concurred.
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
"Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets."
Babs and Apple Bloom stared Tangerine, who had yet to break from her chant.
"How arth sou thill dobing that?" Babs asked, obviously impressed.
"I have had a speech tutor since I was five, we practice with phrases like this every other Friday for an hour," the Manehattanette filly answered.
"She tried to be nice..."
Another bottle rocket was planted into the ground at a launching angle.
"She tried to be reasonable..."
Strings of firecrackers littered the ground until it was a minefield.
"She tried to be merciful..."
Drum after drum of Roaman candles were rolled into a pile.
"But you just wouldn't listen..."
Bruised and charred hooves stepped on top a soapbox of matches.
"All Trixie wanted..."
A disheveled mane parted to make way for a pair of twitching eyes and sadistic grin.
"WAS HER HAT BACK!!!"
The perky little bundle of brown and white spotted fur stopped dead in her tracks as she rounded the haybale and locked eyes with the wild-eyed mare.
"You should have quit while you were ahead, you should have stopped when it was still within forgiveness...but no...you just had to push and push and push all for the sake of your little game!"
Trixie snagged a match from underneath her.
"Well the game-"
She struck it beneath her hoof, a tiny flame was born that matched her eyes.
"-is-"
She lowered it to a matrix of fuses and wicks.
"OVER!"
That's when all Tartarus broke loose on that simple field of hay.
Explosion after explosion erupted from her huge arsenal of fireworks. Bangers and poppers started a full scale chain reaction on the ground, all rushing at the dog. Winona jumped and raced among the maze of straw blocks and piles, trying to keep ahead of the detonation. The air filled with dirt and clay, raining grass and shredded wheat. The nearby trees shook violently at the ruckus, dropping their leaves and fruit. And Trixie continued to laugh all the way through as she flung Catherine wheels, cherry bombs, and aimed her flare cannons at the fleeing pup. If fact, she was so busy laughing, she had no idea that her cape was snagged on one of the larger skyrockets.
She did find out five seconds later.
With a sudden jerk, Trixie blasted off at the speed of light, her laughs quickly turning to screams. She zoomed all around, doughnuting several times around the trunk of an elder tree, loop-de-looping around a few low hanging clouds(reshaping them into a skywriting that said 'Eat at Pony Joe's'), even criss-crossing the dog's path low to the ground once or twice, until finally, she spun upwards high into the air and came straight down on a pile of her 1000-shot finale cakes.
The noise was deafening. The color was blinding. It was as if a mini-rainnuke had descended from the heavens.
The dust settled amongst a pile of upturned haybales, and for a few minutes, there was a deafening silence. Then an azure hoof clawed its way out from underneath the huge stack of farmyard rubble, followed by a leg, a head, a torso, a back, and finally a bottom and tail. Trixie heaved a few heavily breaths as her aching body struggled to stand with little success. Then, her lungs grew still, as her eyes caught a starry purple cap gently float its way to the ground in front of her. A tiny weak laugh grew inside of her. One chuckle, two chuckle, a tear of joy etched it's way down her cheek. It hurt to even smile, but she had finally done it! She-
Out from the straw, about a bale above where Trixie emerged, an unscathed border collie poke her head out. Quick as a whip, she bounced out and on top of the mare's head, snatching the prize once more. A fiddle's jovial tune filled the air as the dog pranced off.
"Do you MIND?!" Trixie bitterly snapped at the fiddliest some trees down.
"Sorry," she replied. "Just teaching my new string buddy one of my favorite songs."
"Roll, fold, crimp, slide to the left. Roll, fold, crimp, slide to the left." Sherbet tossed another fritter onto a pile three times as high as her. The rest of the ponies next to her had long since shown signs of fatigue, including her friend Blossomforth.
"Okay, I think we've made enough...can I eat one now?"
"There's still plenty of ingredients left! We make 'til we run out!" Sherbet then began to pile full plates one after another onto her back. "But we should get the cookin' part up an' runnin' faster now that you mention it. Ah'll take these batches over, you girls keep makin'."
A brown mare with a poofy green mane snuck a fritter off one of plates to munch, while her pale green friend with a curly pink wave watched beside her as Sherbet continued to pile the stack. "Um, I think that's too many for one load."
"Nah it ain't, Florina. Those fryers can hold up over twenty of these at a time."
But Florina wasn't talking about how many the cauldrons could hold. Sherbet took one step forward, and the towering stack instantly began to wobble. She swayed and stumbled to keep steady, and ended up sidestepping right against one of cooking pots. An avalanche of fritters buried a couple, Candy Apples and Apple Cinnamon by the slicing station, and an overturned pot filled with hot cooking oil splashed all over one of the fryers, Wensley.
"Ah! Grease in the eye! It burns!" the forest green stallion screamed.
"Help!" came a muffled cry from under the pile. "My sis an' I are drownin' in pastries!"
"Oh no! No! I'm so sorry!" Sherbet exclaimed, horrified that she had ruined another activity. Just then, a voice rang from a megaphone from the patio of one of the farm's storehouses.
"Alright, Apples, break!"
Everypony almost immediately slumped or flopped down on their seats or in the dirt, tired and sore. Sherbet on the other hoof, paced around a nearby barrel, worried and restless. She was trying her best to be the best Apple she could be at the reunion, yet things were not turning out at all peachy, or in this case, applely.
Twilight walked in, surveying the scene. As she looked to one unhappy pony and then another, her brow furrowed to accompany a suspecting grimace. "Something doesn't seem right here," she wondered out loud. "It's been awhile since this whole reunion started and everypony actually looks less happy than when they first arrived. Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
"It should! But how can it be, if everything Ah try helpin' with blows up in mah face?" Sherbet bemoaned. She readjusted her choker again as Blossomforth joined her.
"Maybe...you're trying just a little too hard?" she suggested.
"I don't know," Twilight joined in. "I'm not so sure it's just you. I've been wandering around a bit, Auntie, and some of the stuff I've seen seems pretty complicated for a reunion. What's more, that niece of yours seems to be running all over the place, definitely exerting herself more than you are."
"Probably just fixin' what Ah'm breakin'." Auntie Orange took her hat off for a moment, holding it to her chest with a curved hoof. "Maybe it was best Applejack left me. She would've just wound up as out o' place here as I."
"Don't say that auntie!" Twilgiht desperately argued. "Nopony's blaming you yet!"
"But none of your lessons are workin'. Maybe...maybe there just isn't any Apple left in me after all."
Blossomforth took a moment to pick a few apples from the nearest basket, then returned to place Sherbet's sunhat back on her head and decorate it with said fruit. "Come on Auntie. You're not giving up until we say give up. Now think Apple!"
If Orange Sherbet had taken a moment to look up towards the hilltop, she would have been able to see she wasn't the only pony feeling guilty at that moment.
"No, Nothin' all that memorable there." Applejack swiveled the camera to sewing area, where her granny was rubbing her sore cankles. "Or there." She continued to scan the reunion for anything worthy of picturing. "No, nuh uh, nope. What's going on?" She backed up from the photo taker, worry plastered all over her face. "This was supposed ta be th' best reunion ever, the perfect get together. There should be tons of great memories being made right now!"
She shook her head, muttering against her uncertainty. "No...no, Ah cain't mess this up again. Ah just cain't let this of all things fall apart! C'mon, Applejack, think... you gotta kick this reunion up a notch!" As she tapped her chin and brooded, the corner of her eyes caught sight of the family haybarrow. "Hmm..."
From the cover of their makeshift haybale fort, Apple Bloom peaked her bowed head up, on the lookout for her overeager sister, she gave one last crane of the neck before she deduced it was safe to talk, sliding back inside with a sigh. "Ah get that my big sis wants this to be like a super-awesome reunion, but that back there was ridiculous!"
Tangerine nodded in agreement. "Is your sister usually such a silly pony?"
"Ta be honest, she has been actin' awfully funny ever since last applebuck season."
"Well whatever the case," Babs added glumly, "I thought we'd never get a minute to just hang out!"
"And yer minute's up!" The trio's pupils shrunk, and they apprehensively gazed up into the green irises of the stetson wearing mare. "Your fellow Apples are waitin' for you to join 'em."
"Applejack!" Apple Bloom whined. "I haven't had any time with Babs or Tangerine!" She crossed her hooves grumpily. "We were so busy with that obstacle course, we barely said two sentences to each other!"
Applejack leaped over the hay hurdle to met her little sis at eye level. "There'll be plenty of time to bond between the three of y'all when we do the hayride."
"Hayride?" Babs and Tangerine asked at the same time.
"Yes, it's something the Apples do every reunion," Sherbet explained to her friends, minus Trixie(you really don't want to know what's she up to at the moment this time). "At least all the ones Ah've been to in mah fillyhood. We take a quiet group ride around the host family's farm in a haywagon."
"Well, there you go! You can't mess anything up on that activity!" Blossomforth said.
"Yeah, just sit there, chat and make up with your family, and enjoy the ride!" Honey added.
Octavia tapped Twilight's shoulder and pointed in a direction. "Looks like they're lining up right now," Twilight observed. "Better get in there and join them."
"Sure you don't want ta squeeze in?" Sherbet asked.
"We'll let this be a family thing," Honey explained. "'Sides, I prefer my unwinding to a bit more stationary."
"Good luck!" Blossomforth waved her off. "And remember, think Apple!"
"Alright, everypony! Step right up, take a seat, and leave the drivin' to these stallions!"
Promontory and John Bull, the twin front-end engineers for the Ponyville station whom had volunteered to pull this year's hayride, gave a smile and a salute to Applejack and her boarding passengers.
"Now, I know ya'll've been workin' real hard makin' some awesome memories, and in all of our past reunions, we always had a nice and relaxin' hayride around the farm."
A majority of the family were already beginning to lean back against the side, hooves crossed around the back of their necks. Mosely took a moment to scoot lovingly to the side of his nervous wife, inviting her head into the nook underneath his neck.
"Which is why Ah decided to change things up a bit, and try somethin' just a wee bit more excitin'." Applejack closed up the back and gave prompt kickstart. "So let's get this show on the road! Giddyup!"
The drivers gave a loud neigh, and the haybarrow was soon speeding off in a cloud of dust as Applejack giddily cheered to herself. Speeding off in another direction.
"Now just what is she trying to do?" Twilight wondered as the four mares watched from the shade.
"Woah!"
The wagon bounced and buckled as the pullers raced through the rough patches of grass on the barely trodden trail. The ponies riding bounced up and down like a bag of freshly popped corn. Babs, Tangerine, and Apple Bloom held each other in anxiety. Applesauce's teeth popped out when they bumped over a particularly large rock in the road.
Mosely uneasily pried the dentures off his nose and back to his great aunt. "I just had those professionally polished," she mumbled incoherently through her gums.
"Where in the world does that girl have us headed?" Granny Smith asked, "The west orchard?"
Big Macintosh chanced standing up and moving to the front of the wagon. Lifting a hoof to his brow and squinting his eyelids, he peered ahead.
"Eeyup."
"What?! I was jokin'! Why, we haven't tended those fields since all the trees went and got filled up with-" Granny's mouth clamped up and gulped at the thought.
Wiping the sweat off her brow, Applejack looked from behind the grove where she had rushed ahead to at the approaching wagon. Turning her backside against the nearest tree, she leaned down and gave a good applebucking kick. A swarm of brightly colored creatures were forced out, squeaking and flapping into the air. The noise soon triggered similar flocks to wing from the other trees. Red, orange, yellow, green...soon a living rainbow of the critters arced high overhead the passing wagon.
Everypony ooh's and aah'd. The sight was breathtaking. Applejack looked on from the trees, a satisfied feeling growing in her chest.
"Wowsa! I've never seen real fruit bats before!" Babs exclaimed.
"If I recall the plaque from their exhibit in the central park zoo, these animals take on the features of the fruit they eat. Rather odd, as most of these look strawberry shaped," Tangerine coyly observed.
As the relatives all continued to watch, one of the lead bats happened to glance down and take note of Sherbet's sunhat, namely the bright red shiny apples that now decorated it. Licking its lips, it pulled into a nosedive at the haywagon. The other bats soon began to take their leader's initiative.
"Uh...oh..." Applejack watched in dread as the entire swarm descended upon the ride.
"Oh no..." echoed Twilight as she pulled the binoculars down from her eyes and back around Honey's neck. "That cannot be good."
"Come on girls, we gotta help Auntie and her family!" Honey took to the air, and the others were soon close behind.
Sherbet yelped as she ducked to avoid an incoming red one, then again at two blues. Mosely flailed his hooves aimlessly to try and ward off the flyers. Pretty soon, everypony riding was screaming and thrashing about in their seats. As the full force of the swarm hit, the wagon could not even be seen anymore. The duo pulley team, galloping blind in the mess of leathery wings and fruity colors, veered off to the left in an attempt to lose the attackers.
Unfortunately for them, that put the hayride on a downhill direct collision course for the Sweet Apple Acres barn.
"Everypony!" Apple Bloom cried out. "Abandon hayride!!"
Big Macintosh piled the elders on his back, while Mosely scooped up the foals. Ponies leapt from the out of control ride en masse, even the drivers unhitched themselves and darted to the side.
Running playfully by the barn's side, Winona skipped and bounced, tossing her play object up and catching in her mouth. Suddenly four hooves shot straight out of the dirt from right underneath where she stepped. A dirt smeared Trixie finally wrapped her hooves around the border collie, wrestling her to the grass mat.
"Give to Trixie! Trixie wants! Trixie wants it! She'll bite off your paw for it!"
Winona, still thinking this was but another game the wild-eyed mare wanted to play with her, indulged in the little playfight for a few seconds, then dropped her jowls as she caught a glance northside. With a yip and a whimper, she squeezed out of her pony's hooflock and sped away, leaving the hat behind.
Trixie immediately seized her long fought prize, clutching it to her chest. She raspily squealed in glee. "Precious! My precioussss! Trixie finally has you again!! She will never let you go until the day she dies!!" That's when she pulled her head up northside too, and saw the incoming disaster of living produce and wheels. "Oh cruel makers, why must you torment Trixie so?"
*CRASH*
The fruit bats scattered as the big red walls came tumbling down. The roof caved in, splintering the framework into broken beams. A cloud of sawdust filled the air around the area, and as it cleared, a sorry pile of wood and plaster was left where a proud shed once stood.
First on the scene was Applejack, and as she took the entire sight in she slumped down in the ground, pulling her stetson over her eyes so as to hide the tears forming from them.
"Ruined. Everythin' is ruined."
It wasn't long before the rest of her immediate family was by her side to try and console her. But seeing them next to her only seemed to deepen her anguish. "Oh Granny, Ah'm so, so sorry... " she blubbered.
"Oh, it's alright, child..." her granny started.
"But it's not alright," the distraught organizer continued. "Just look at this! The barn, and all my plans for the perfect family reunion are completely destroyed!"
As she lay down to sob into her hooves, her little sister edged up and nuzzled into her. "Maybe that's a good thing."
"How can that possibly be a good thing?" fussed the older sister.
Granny gave a material sigh as the extended family began to creep closer to the wreckage. "Applejack, you had us so caught up in all the doin', we haven't had a second to enjoy the company of the folks we've been doin' it with."
Two pegasi, a unicorn with dragon riding backside, and an earthpony tumbled in from behind a row of trees. Honey looked to the ruins of the barn with a grimace. "Crud, guess we were too late!"
"Hmm? Hey girls, look!" Blossomforth pointed a hoof in the direction of the rubble. Crawling out from it, battered and bruised, was a bold and brave border collie. Clenched tightly in her jaws was none other than the tail of the Great and Powerful Trixie. She steadily dragged the unconscious showmare to where the group stood, laid her down before them, and then proceeded to lick her face as if she was performing CPR.
Letting out a cough and a splutter, Trixie wearily opened her eyes. "Am I in pony heaven?" she half-coherently mumbled. Another slurp rudely disproved her assumption. "Ack!" she shook her head as she wiped her face. Then blinked in confusion. "Alive? Trixie is alive? But how? The wagon- the barn- the fruit bats-"
Winona happily barked, wagging her tail at the fact her friend was up and kicking. Trixie glared down at the dog, fury boiling. "You! You took Trixie's hat! Had her run ragged diddly all over this overgrown pasture! Fall in mud! Blew her up! And- and-" Her gaze suddenly softened along with her voice. "You rescued Trixie...saved her life..."
Winona whimpered and licked a few sore bruises on Trixie's leg. Then looked up at her, puppy dog eyes and everything. Wincing at the display, Trixie gave sharp inhale. "D-don't think that act makes everything better, because it doesn't! Trixie has still gone through so much suffering today!" She then let it out after awhile. "But, perhaps that is somewhat on her own part, maybe. This really was just some sort of game to you and...Trixie didn't really try to explain."
She proceeded to sit up straight, with a dignified look in her face. "Trixie supposes that given the events that have unfolded, she could...clear the slate and try again on the...right hoof, perhaps." With a wave of her hat, she pulled a bouncy rubber ball out of it, which she bounced and hovered above the dog. "But this time, let her choose the game, savvy?"
With a happy nod, Winona jumped up to catch the ball, and hugged the mare avidly.
"Wow Trixie, you look like somepony put you through a blender...twice," Spike said, letting the pony know she was not alone. "Just where have you been all this time anyways?"
Giving the ball a toss and sending Winona to fetch, Trixie let out an exhausted smile. "Let's just say, you would not believe what Trixie has been through today. Speaking of, how have her lessons been in helping our dear Auntie Sherbet as of late?"
"Yeeeeeah...I think we can pretty much say you've better off not asking. In fact, we should probably be heading down there so Auntie-" Twilight stopped, then scanned the congregation gathered at the barn remains. There was Mosely, gently keeping Tangerine close to his side at the far end. But among the rest of the heads, not a familiar face could be found, especially not the one she was looking for. Suddenly feeling a pang of a warning bell in the back of her head, the studious unicorn drifted her gaze away from the herd.
Orange Sherbet was distancing herself from the crowd, miserably creeping away back towards her airship. Suddenly a purple pop resounded in front of her, and a concerned Twilight was blocking her way. "Auntie? What are you doing?"
"I never should have come here," the sad mare replied, removing her tight choker and letting it fall, her southern accent giving way to its original Manehattan voice. "I've ruined everything. I couldn't even sit on a hayride without creating a debacle of sorts."
"No Auntie! Please! That was a complete accident back there! Nopony could have anticipated-"
But Orange Sherbet cut her off. "Twilight, dearie, I know you tried your best, and so did everypony else, but I have to face the fact that I was trying to live a lie. Apple Sherbet...is just no more."
She pushed her way past her worried friend. "I did get the closure I wanted though, because I finally understand what my niece's words meant all those years ago. I'm going back to the city Twilight, I'm going...home."
Twilight could feel a pain in her heart start to grow, and she knew her friends watching from behind could feel the same thing. They had failed. Despite everything they did, despite their support and being there for her, their Auntie Orange could not reconnect with her relatives, and now she was going to leave them forever.
Suddenly, Orange Sherbet froze in her tracks. Her head was twisted in the direction of the front gate left of the transports. Twilight's head turned to see what had suddenly caught her attention and broken her out of her gloomy stupor. There, walking pass the wooden bars, was clean-cut white unicorn with a combed beige mane. He wore a sky blue freshly pressed button-down suit with a striped necktie, and had a large clipboard with an attached ballpoint pen on hoof. His cutie mark was a large wad of bills overlapping a house, with a check on one side and an X on the other. She then took notice of the Canterlot emblem attached to shirt.
"That's the Equestrian Revenue Service badge. What's a Canterlot tax official doing here?"
The stallion seemed to take no notice of the six ponies and baby dragon nearby and briskly marched towards the gathering ahead.
"Oh, hey now... everypony's still here, ain't they?" Granny continued to assuage her granddaughter.
"Yeah!" Apple Bloom chimed. "Ya always tell me ta learn from mah mistakes. All this means is you'll do a better job next time!"
"But there isn't gonna be a next time!" Applejack groaned.
Confusion filled the little filly's face. "Whaddya mean, AJ? No next time?"
Applejack's ears perked up as she heard the crowd part away, questionable mutterings among them as a steady clop of hooves approached. Turning around, her pupils shrank to little, tiny dots as she saw the ERS worker making a beeline for her.
She hastily scrambled to her hooves, almost crashing into him as she addressed him in a hushed and panicked manner. "C-capital Gain? W-whut are you doing here? A-a-ah still got three days left!"
"That's a moot point by now, Miss Applejack," the stallion bluntly declared. "Especially since I've checked your recent expenditures on the town hall's ledger and just witnessed the blatant property damage that has been dealt to this area. It's flagrantly obvious you have no plans on paying back the amount owed by the deadline."
Applejack frantically glanced around, seeing the befuddled faces of every member of the Apple clan zeroing in on her. "Uh...unnnn...c-cain't we talk 'bout this some other time? Ah'm kinda in the middle of somethin'-"
"A bid has already been made," Capital Gain continued. "Informal of course, as the bank has yet to finalize an auction date. But seeing as that your declaration of indigence is inevitable, it might as well be legitimate. Meaning a buyer has already been found."
Beads of sweat poured down Applejack's face, her tail twitching madly. "O-okay Ah get it, just-just please don't say any-"
"You leave me no choice in the matter but to finalize the foreclosure. Your family has until the end of the week to vacate the premises."
A flurry of exclamations and questions suddenly came to the mare on spotlight from all sides.
"Foreclosure?"
"Bid? Auction?"
"What's he talking about?"
"What's this about some deadline?"
Applejack's head swung from one upset pony to another. "N-no, wait! A-a-a-ah can explain! It's not what- Ah didn't- It wasn't- Please! Ah-ah-ah..."
"AJ?" Applejack gazed down into Apple Bloom's eyes, wide and imploring, with just the slightest tinge of fear in the back of their whites. "What does he mean by vacate? Why do we have to leave our home?"
Applejack trembled, her mouth gone dry, her eyes fighting back a fresh batch of tears. She felt a solid hoof press against her shoulder, and turned to see her big brother's solemn expression.
"Applejack...ya gotta come clean. There's no way around it anymore."
Applejack grit her teeth, choked back a sob, and pulled her hat off, letting it fall to the ground. "Everypony," she began, her voice already breaking, "Ah've got a confession ta make. *sniff* S-sweet Apple Acres is...*gulp* closin' up shop..."
Her head hung low as she uttered the final two dreaded words. "...fer good."