A/N
Well here is chapter 20 enjoy
End A/N
Chapter 20
I was once again sleeping at Dash’s house (because I pissed off the bees at the library, again, hay how was I suppose those flowers were for the bees) and was having a nice dream, which I won’t get into, when I felt my tail being pulled, dragging me off
the couch I was sleeping.
“Whoa, what’s going here? “I questioned in panic and looking around, I saw that I was in the air, but I wasn’t flying, when I look down to see who was dragging me, I saw that is was Dash with my tail in her mouth.
“Dash, what’s going here it’s still dark out and can you let me fly already? I am awake you know that right?”
Dash’s answer was to spit out my tail, causing me to drop a few feet in the air, but I quickly took to the skies.
“No time to explain we need to get Fluttershy’s right now, “and that Dash sped up.
I flew as fast as I can to follow her, as I got to fluttery’s house I saw her knocking on Fluttershy’s bedroom window, after a few seconds later she flew back a little and rammed herself at the window, causing it to open letting her in, not noticing the open window a few feet away.
I hoof faced, and then I looked up and saw Fluttershy being rushed out of her room by Dash, shrieking, flying in the
direction of Sweet Apple Acres, almost leaving me here.
I followed them and I heard Fluttershy asking, “Oh, where are we? What’s the rush?”
“The rush, don’t you remember what happen last year? Or the year before that? Or pretty much any cider season ever?
“Dash asked.
Cider season, what’s cider season?
I then heard Dash said with so much hatred, “Pinkie Pie, she always ends up ahead of us in line, and then they always run out of cider!”
Wow, whatever cider season is? It is a big thing for Dash.
I listen to Dash as she rants off how she will be the first one there and buy a lot of cider and she’ll taunt Pinkie by slowly drinking it drop by drop.
When we flew over the last hill, Dash let out a huge gasp and stops flying, almost causing me to fly into her.
I looked over her shoulder and whistled and then said, “Oh wow that’s a lot of ponies.”
Before us was a line that reached from the farm all the way back to Ponyville, “Hole molies, that is a lot of ponies (oh look I rhymed), this is worse than Black Friday shopping.”
“Gee Rainbow Dash, looks like a few other ponies had the same idea, “Fluttershy said looking at the line.
We flew to the front of the line and saw a pink tent with balloons outside, I bet it is Pinkie Pie’s, the tent unzipped and more balloons came out along with Pinkie.
“Oh gosh Pinkie, I love your new style, “Fluttershy said, but I wasn’t sure if it was to her bed hair or her sleeping out here.
“Who are all of these ponies? “Dash questioned worried.
Pinkie’s mane poof back into its’ usually shape and she started explaining how she couldn’t wait for cider season to start she came up with the idea to sleep out here and told a few other ponies about her idea, and to call it a big cider party.
She jumps into the air and splats on the ground landing, she looked up and said, “Oh gosh that’s a lot of ponies, hope they don’t run out before you get any, “and walked back to tent.
I heard growling at this, I looked over and saw Dash gritting her teeth and was seething with anger, causing me to fly a few feet away, because I didn’t want to be near her in case she blows, I still don’t know cider season is.
Fluttershy, Dash and I started walking back to the end of the line, along the way I saw Twilight, Spike, Rarity and Arcana there already in line, “did you four spent the night here? “I asked.
“Ah goodness graces no, I would not sleep on the ground, “Rarity said with dignity.
“What Rarity means, Star, is that we woke up early and got here, “Arcana said.
“I have a question though.”
“What is it Star? “Twilight asked.
“What is cider season?”
“Cider season is when the Apple family makes wonderful and amazing apple cider that is famous around here, “Dash said quickly, “now come on and let’s get line, before it grows to long.”
And with that she bit my tail and dragged me all the way to the end of the line where Fluttershy was waiting.
A few hours later we heard Applejack voice (magnified by a blow horn) calling out, ATTENTION EVERYPONY, CIDER SEASON IS NOW OFFICIALLY OPEN!”
Murmurs of excitement came from the crowd when they heard this; I even saw some of them already pulling out bits for their purchase.
We saw Pinkie up in front what looks like two bags in her mouth walk up to the cider stand, she took them out of mouth and uploaded their contents into a box, what we saw shock a few ponies around us, because Pinkie had just dumped around thirty cups worth of bits into the box.
Moments later we saw Pinkie walking past us on her hind legs with her forelegs full of cups of cider, and her foaming at the mouth, like a rapid dog.
Dash and I looked at each other with our mouths open wide at what we saw, dang, I hope there’s some cider for us too, I thought as I saw Pinkie walk away.
More hours later we were finally at the cider stand, Fluttershy put her two bits in the box and Applebloom cranked the lever pouring cider into a mug, which Fluttershy took with a thank you, when Dash put her two bits into the box, she started hovering and looked at cider dispenser with joy in her eyes and mouth hanging open.
But of course fate just had to be cruel, for the faucet just sputtered out a few drops and foam, indicating that the barrel was empty, and that it was also the last barrel.
“Dang it, it’s just luck that something like this happens, “I said a bit frustrated, “I wanted to try it out every since I heard everypony talking about it being the best cider in Equestria.”
Dash’s emotions were first her looking about to cry, and then she growled in anger and I heard her said under her breath, “every year, I had never gotten one drop ever.”
Applejack walked up to the front of the line and said, “uh, sorry everypony, that’s it for today, “causing the crowd to groan out of frustration and annoyance.
Apparently Dash had enough and flew right into Applejack view saying, “surprise, surprise, you ran out again.”
“Ya, you always ran out, “Caramel said angry, now where did he come from?
Fluttershy was saying something, but I couldn’t hear her for Dash said, “Why can’t you make enough cider for all of us, or at least for me?”
This cause the crowd of ponies to get mad at Applejack, she jumped unto the stand and said, “Hold on everypony we’ve done our best to improve supply this year.”
“You always say that, “Caramel yelled out, wow this pony has guts.
“And it’s always true, but Apple family cider is made with love and integrity and only the highest-quality apples in Equestria, sorry but that recipe takes time.”
And with that it caused more groans and murmurs from the crowd to start up again.
“If y’all just be patient, we’ll have plenty more tomorrow.”
When Dash and I turned around to go back to town, we saw Pinkie and Arcana there with huge grins, and Pinkie said, “She’s right you know, you can’t rush perfection, and this year’s batch was perfection. “
“She is right Star, even though I never had cider before, it was like drinking a piece of heaven, “Arcana said to me.
Fluttershy tried to warn them with, “Ah Pinkie Pie, Arcana…”
“I’ll never forget the cider I just drank. It was a moment in time that will never exist again, oh! ”said happily on Dash’s back.
“She is right; I will never forget the taste of the first drop of cider on my tongue.”
“Just stop already, “I said annoyed, and then I pointed to Dash and continued “Dash looks like she is going to blow.”
We both looked at her and saw that she is seething in anger and looked about to snap, until we all heard a car horn like sound in the distance, causing everypony to look up farther the room.
“I didn’t know that they had vehicles here, did you? ”Arcana said confused.
I shook my head and answered, “No I didn’t.”
We turned our attention back to the road and saw what looked like blend of a car and a train with two unicorns in the front, making its way towards us.
“What in Equestria is that? “AJ asked as she came up to us.
We all shrugged in confusion, as it got nearer everypony started to get excited and walked up towards it. It stop at the stand knocking lose some of the fencing around the farm, which Granny Smith didn’t look happy about.
The vehicle started to make clanking and whirling sounds, as two look alike unicorn ponies step off the machine, and one of them (with a apple slice for his cutie mark) spoke up, “well lookee what we got here, brother of mine, it’s the same in every town, ponies with thirsty throats, dry tongues, and not a drop of cider to be found.”
We walked up to Twilight, Spike and Rarity as the pony continues, “maybe they’re not aware that theirs is really no need for this teary despair.”
The other’s brother joined in saying (with his cutie mark being a apple missing a slice), “that the key that they need to solve the sad cider shortage, you and I will share.”
And then they went into musical number, telling all of us that they are world famous Flim Flam Brothers and explaining what their contraption is called The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 and what is does that it makes cider in seconds.
After their catchy musical number everypony started getting excited, as they heard the promise of cider being made quickly.
“Holy cow, everypony is sure worked over just for some cider, “I said as I saw everypony licking their lips.
“I don’t like this, “Arcana said bluntly.
“Why? “Twilight asked.
“Because in back in our world people, like those two, are usually con artists, tricksters or thieves, “Arcana answered her.
“That’s horrid, “Rarity said
“Even their name gives them away, “I added.
Arcana, Twilight and Rarity gave me confused looks, “sigh, I might not be as much as a bookworm as you Arcana or Twilight, but I am smart too, you see when you put their names together you get flimflam, it is a term meaning confidence trick or a con,” I said explaining to them.
Flam started talking drawing our attention to him, “Don’t you worry, everypony, there’ll be plenty of cider for all of you.”
I looked over to his brother that was whispering to the Apple family, “look over there, “I said to the others, they looked in the direction I was pointing too, whatever Flim said to them, it wasn’t good, for they all become shocked at whatever he said.
“And I bet you a cup of cider that, he just threatens them, maybe by taking over their farm, “I said getting upset.
The next day
I was standing in line in front of Arcana, finally I am about to see why this cider is suppose to be amazing.
As the pony in front of me having her cup filled Arcana asked, “Hay have you seen Dash this morning?”
“No I haven’t, “I answered, and I looked in front and saw that the pony’s cup was almost full, so I pulled out two bits, as I was about to put them in the box Applebloom calls out, “that’s it, last cup.”
“D’oh! “I yelled in frustration, not again.
In the distance I heard Dash cry out, “Oh, for pete’s sake! ”I looked into the distance and saw her in the air.
“So that’s where she is.”
“Come back tomorrow everypony.”
Everypony started grumbling and then we heard the sound of machinery coming towards us, we turned around and saw the brothers were back, do they have a constant surveillance on this place or something?
“What seems to be the problem here? ”Flim asked.
“Oh, my, oh , my, out of cider again? ”Flam added.
Flim then walked behind the cider maker and said, “What have we here? ”and with that the machine spits out a barrel and Flim says, “who’d like a cup?”
With those words everypony started running towards the Flim Flam Brothers machine, again luck must have a grudge against me, because I was in the middle of the road and ponies were coming at me like a stampede.
“Ah crap, “was all I can say as ponies tackled me to the ground, where I was stepped, stamped, trampled and kicked, but somepony kick me in the jewels as she tried to leap over me.
After the stampede of ponies was finally over, I opened my eyes to see Arcana standing over me with failed to try to hide smile, “dude, are you ok and why are you in that position?”
“No I am not ok; it feels like I was run over by everypony in Ponyville, and somepony kicked me in the jewels.”
“Maybe because you were and somepony kicked you in the jewels. Who?”
“I will give a hint, her name rhymes with rash.”
At this she started laughing and said, “Dash kicked you.”
“Ya she did ok, “I said standing up and popping out my back and neck, from the tramples.
All of a sudden a lasso flies over us, we look to where it was going, and it grabbed the brother’s barrel of cider and was yanked away from them towards her where she says, “you can’t sell that cider, that’s made from Apple family apples,” but in the process it knocked Dash’s cup of cider out of her hoof, causing to spill into the dirt, where it was soaked up like sponge.
She dropped to the ground and started shoving the cider soaked dirt into mouth, eww, I shuddered at what I saw, , come on Dash have some dignity, but of course that can be karma talking.
She stood up with mud around her muzzle, and she said looking about to cry, “Is this some kind of cruel joke?”
“Don’t worry everypony there are plenty of apples in Equestria. We’ll find some others and make more cider than all of Ponyville can drink, “Flim said promising, causing the crowd to take in gasps of excitement.
“We’ll make more cider than you can could even imagine, “Applebloom yelled out, causing the crowd to take in a bigger gasps of excitement.
Big Mac picked up Applebloom by her tail and carries her over to the rest of the family where Granny Smith told her, “now it ain’t not about the speed youngin , it’s about quality, “when everypony heard that, they all groaned.
“Who cares how good the cider is if I never get to drink any? Dash said angrily.
Flim took this opportunity by saying while giving Dash a hug, “oh, look at these poor, dissatisfied ponies.”
Applebloom countered by saying while swinging around by her tail, “Ponyville is Sweet Apple cider country, “and then Big Mac dropped her.
“Our cider speaks for itself, “Applejack added.
“Let’s put it to the test, “Flim said while lying on the couch on the machine.
“Anywhere, anytime, “Applebloom said with a sly look.
Granny Smith whispered something to her, but we all couldn’t hear.
Then Flam said, “with our machine we can make enough cider in one hour to satisfy this entire town.”
“We’ll do it in forty-five minutes, “Applebloom countered again, causing everypony to look excited.
“Easy Applebloom, easy, “Granny said worried.
“What’s that matter Granny Smith, chicken, “Flim taunted Granny Smith.
Apparently Granny Smith doesn’t like being called a chicken for her expression deadpanned and she said, “what did you call me, sonny?”
“If you’re so confident in your cider then what’s the problem, “Flim said with a smirk, but it soon disappears when Granny Smith started yelling into face, “tomorrow morning, right here!”
“But I’m afraid that we haven’t any apples, “Flam said as he spit shined a apple.
“You can us our south fields. It will be worth it to teach y’all a thing or two about cider-making, “Granny said as she shook her hoof at him.
“Excellent, “Flim said getting up, “we have a bet, whoever can produces the most barrels in one hour wins the exclusive right to sell cider in Ponyville, ”he finished with him leaving out is hoof for a shake in agreement.
During this point Applejack was sweating bullets and has a worried expression.
“And after we beat you, I don’t ever want to see you bambahoozlers around here again! ”Granny said confirming the shake.
The twins left saying, “until tomorrow.”
Arcana looked at me with a worried look and said, “I hope the Apple family wins tomorrow.”
I didn’t say anything, for I was filled with worry for the Apple family.
The next day
Twilight and her friends and Arcana and I were once again back at the farm, waiting for the contest to start, I looked out to the fields and saw Big Mac stretching and prepping himself for this contest; with Granny Smith she was sniffing apples, probably practicing quality control; and Applejack was bucking a punching bag (or is it called a kicking bag) with Applebloom on it.
Twilight walked over to AJ probably concerned for her friend after a few words were exchanged (and Applebloom getting kicked off the bag) we heard Mayor Mare announce.
“Attention everypony, the teams have one hour to produce as much cider as they can, after which, the barrels will be counted and the winner will be named the sole cider provider for all of Ponyville, are both teams ready?”
“Ready, “Applejack calls out.
Flim Flam both said at the same time, “Ready.”
Then Mayor Mare pointed to a pony that looks like the Doctor, what is his name? I think it was Sepia Tock, “then let’s go.”
The pony turned over an hour glass indicating that the contest had started.
The Apple family rushed to their part, with Big Mac at the grinder, Granny in front of the grinder, and Applebloom picking up a basket and balancing it on her head and following Applejack wherever she went.
When the Apple family finished we all cheered, but that ended when we saw that the twins already has six barrels filled.
Applejack then started to look scared.
The twin’s machine was sucking up apples and with dings and an occasional buzz, it was spitting out a lot of barrels then the Apple family can produce.
The Apple family was started to get overwhelmed with Applebloom missing apples and a hold up at Granny’s station, and with Big Mac looking really tired.
I tried to calculate to see how many barrels of cider the Apple family is making against the twins, but unfortunately I wasn’t really good at math, but Rarity had it already figured it out.
“This is just dreadful, even at top speed the apples are only making one barrel to twins’ three.”
“Hay Twilight, see if you and the others can join in and help? “Arcana asked to Twilight.
Twilight thought it over and with a determine look she walked towards Mayor Mare.
“Um, Miss Mayor, are honorary family members allowed to help in the competition?”
“Well I’m not sure, “Mayor Mare said unsure, she then turned to the twins and said, “Flim Flam would object of honorary family members helping?”
“Are you kidding? ”Flim asked.
“We don’t care if the whole kingdom of Cantorlot helps, it’s a lost cause, “Flam said, then the twins took a drink out of the cups they were holding.
“Hmm, I guess it’s ok, “Mayor mare still a bit unsure, she then turns to Applejack and asked, “Applejack, what do you think?”
“I think I’d love to have the rest of my family helping out, “Apple jack said tired.
Her friends cheered at that they can help, they twin just smirk at them.
Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy lined up, while Twilight walked back and forth in front of them, apparently giving them a prep talk and giving assignments to them.
A minute later they broke up with Fluttershy flying into the trees making them shake, and pinkie catching apples with flips, spins and other crazy moves, Rarity was helping Granny out by quickly sorting the bad apples out and the good ones into the grinder, and Dash was running along with Big Mac, quickly making cider, and finally Twilight was using her magic to move away the filled barrels and putting up another barrel to be filled.
After a while I noticed that the Apples pile of barrel was catching up to the twin’s pile.
“Alright, “Arcana said.
“What?”
“They are making five barrels to the twin’s three, “Arcana explained, “They’re going to win.”
“Keep it up everypony, we’re back in this, “Applejack called out.
When Flim heard that, he spits out his cider at his brother in shook, he spoke to him and then he too started to panic, Flam said something and the twins fired magical beams (man that sounds so cheesy) at their machine and it started working faster.
What it did next shook us all, because the machine started sucking whole trees along the apples, oh boy the Apples are not going to happy about that and now we all hear the machine making a lot of buzzes from it.
Flim looked inside the sneak peek window and said something to his brother, after a few seconds later his brother had an idea and did something to the machine, so now it was pumping out barrels of cider again.
“Well done Flam, we’re at top productivity, “Flim said to his brother, slapping his hoof with Flam’s, causing some cheers from the crowd.
When Dash saw this, she flew of the treadmill, causing Big Mac to lose control on the treadmill. Twilight said something to Dash, and then she started to argue with Twilight and then flew to where Granny and Rarity was.
Granny cried out as Dash came to her station and said while protecting the baskets of apples, “Aah! Get back you, one bad apple spoils the bunch.”
“Applejack, help me, “Dash said calling out to Applejack in frustration.
”There’s no point in winning if we cheat, “Applejack called back wiping her forehead.
Twilight said something to Dash, Dash apparently agrees with them and then she yells out, “alright then, double time!”
The twins and the Apple team were close neck and neck trying to get the better hold in the competition with only a few minutes left.
When the last grain of sand fell into the lower part of the hourglass, Mayor Mare calls out, “Time’s up!”
When everypony on the Apple team heard that they all collapsed in exhaustion and were panting heavily.
Everypony started to cheer at the Apple team, “Alright they did it, “Arcana said.
“Woo-hoo!”
And then Mayor Mare said, “Flim and Flam wins, “we looked over to the Flim and Flam’s pile of barrels and saw that they have a towering pile of barrels.
“What?!, ”Arcana said shocked.
“They lost? ”I said disheartened.
Arcana and I heard Flim and Flam talking to the Apple family, “Ah to bad Apples, “Flim said and then Flam added, “cause you’ll just have to find a new line of work that doesn’t match your names quite so perfectly.”
“Now should we tear down all these tacky old buildings, and put up new ones, brother? ”Flim asked his brother.
“I don’t see why not brother, after all this isn’t Sweet Apple Acres anymore how about… Flim Flam Fields, “Flam said and there was a flash above us.
We looked up and a banner with pictures of Flim and Flam on it, oh no, this is not good, not good at all .
“This can’t be happening, “Arcana said.
Then we heard Dash yell out, “I oughta press you into jerk cider, “we looked over to the others and saw that Dash was going to thrash them, but Applejack quickly bit unto her tail, causing her to stop.
“No Rainbow Dash, a deal is a deal, “Applejack said to the twins, which they started to give an annoying laugh in victory.
“Congratulations to y’all, the cider business in Ponyville is yours, “Applejack said to them, and then she said to the rest of her family, “come on Apples, let’s go pack up our things, ”and made their back to the farm.
We all started getting teary at this and then Flim turned his attention to us and everypony around us and said, “fear not everypony, there’s more enough cider to go around, “and then they started laughing again.
“Go ahead everypony, go on y’all it’s ok, “Applejack stopped and said to us, and then she continues down the path to her old home, during this her friends were crying.
The brothers poured their cider in some cups and Flam said, “drink up Ponyville, “Arcana picked up a cup and then at the last moment she gave it to me saying, “here you go Star, I don’t want to drink any cider unless it is Sweet Apple cider, because I don’t want to forget the taste, ”I took it from her and then she walked away, “down the hatch.”
I took a gulp and swallowed it, and then suddenly I felt sick, I spit whatever I had in my mouth, and ran to the bushes, I heard other ponies complaining about the cider, but I didn’t hear them. I got to some bushes and started puking my guts out.
“Oh god this is the worst drink I had ever tasted,” puked some more, “oh god, milk chunks tasted better than this stuff, “puked my lunch, “oh god make it stop, make it stop, “and then I puked my breakfast, after about a minute of puking whatever I had in my stomach and pleading to make it stop, finally it stops.
I looked up and saw that the Flim Flam brothers were leaving in haste, leaving a cloud trail in their wake.
I walked back to others and asked, “what’s going on?”
“Where were you? ”Arcana asked.
“I was puking out my gut from the Flim Flam brother’s cider that you gave to me, “I answered.
“Oh crap, I am so sorry Star, I didn’t know, “Arcana said worried.
“It’s alright you didn’t know, and I think I got it all out of my systems, “I said to her, “Now would somepony please tell me what happen?”
“They’re gone, “Applejack said.
“That means Sweet Apple Acres is still in business, “Twilight said.
“Plus we can have high-quality Apple family cider, “Caramel said, ok seriously where did he came from?!
“And because of this silly competition, we made enough our cider for the whole town, “Applebloom added.
We all cheered when we heard that, after the cheering died down I asked Applejack, “Why did the brother’s leave?”
“Well their drink was so terrible that nopony will pay even one cent for it, so they took off in a hurry, so now we have our farm back, ”Applejack answered me.
“Yes it is a happy ending, “I said happily, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going into line to get some of your famous cider.”
I was behind Dash as we finally made it to the front of the line and was about to get some cider, when Applebloom pulled the lever… and nothing came out, she looked at us surprised.
Dash was stunned and then she looked like she was going to cry.
I started banging my head on the post of stand saying, “Oh lady Fate thou are surely a cruel mistress, why is it thou luck of bad strike me hard.”
“What are you talking about Star? “Arcana said as she walked up to me holding a cup of cider.
“I must have terrible luck, because the only cider I got today was that sorry of a excuse of a cider those Flim Flam brothers made.
“Hay come on now, remember that bet you made?”
“What bet?”
“That the Flim Flam brothers were going to try and take the farm.”
“Oh ya that’s right, what about it?”
“Well here you go, “she said as she levitated the cup of cider to me.
“Huh?”
“This is the bet and it’s also sorry that I gave you that nasty drink.”
“Oh thank you Arcana, “I said as I took the cup of cider, as I was about to take a sip, I heard Dash’s famous ‘oh my gosh.’
I looked over and saw that Pinkie gave Dash her cup of cider.
Dash, Arcana and I walked to the group and Applejack said, “Let’s have a toast, “she said lifting up her cup.
“Ok then, here are some toasts, “Pinkie said putting a plateful of toasted breaded in the middle of our group.
We all laughed at that and had the proper toast, after the toast I took a sip, as soon as the drop of cider landed on my tongue, I shivered in delight at the taste, it tasted of course like apples, but it wasn’t to sweet, but neither was it sour, and I detected a hint of other herbs in it.
“Holy cupcakes, this is the perfect drink I ever had tasted in my life, “and then I started drinking like crazy out of the cup, causing everypony in the group to laugh, and enjoying the rest of the day.
A/N
How this is a new record for me, 5,225 words, well thank you all for staying with this story, see you next time.
End A/N