Chapter 5
Applejack yawned loudly as she turned down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres. Despite the fact that the road had been paved with asphalt in the time that she had been gone, instead of the dirt road that it had been before leaving, Applejack glanced around to discover that everything else was nominally the same.
Applejack had admitted to herself that she'd been slightly on edge since the walk back from FutureTec Headquarters. There had been a lot of changes in Ponyville, and Applejack didn't like them in the least bit. Things were going too fast for her liking.
Now, Applejack, when she was younger had lived in the big city of Manehattan for a few weeks with her Aunt and Uncle Orange, because she had thought, at the time, that farm life wasn't for her so to say that she had a problem with big cities would be hypocritical and untrue. However, she had discovered on that trip that city life wasn't for her. It was okay for others, but not her. Applejack enjoyed a simple life and there was nothing...
Applejack stopped in mid-stride, something wasn't right. There were a number of strange noises coming from the farm, noises that she didn't recognise. Applejack felt her entire world shatter, she realised that Apple Bloom had done something with their farm after all.
Applejack picked up the pace, galloping at full speed towards her home, she no sooner than stepped on her property when she realised what was making the noises.
There were two giant, yet familiar looking, machines sitting on the ground with large hoses attached to a crane. The crane passed over an apple tree and the hose sucked the apples right off the branches. Applejack looked towards the other end of the machine, there were two large hoppers at the end, some of the apples, the better looking ones, were being funnelled into the left hopper, the bad ones into the one on the right. Applejack looked over back towards the front of the machine to discover two unicorn stallions in blue robes standing near the machine, supervising its work.
'WHAT ARE YA'LL DOIN' ON MAH PROPERTY?' Applejack screamed at the top of her lungs, causing the two unicorn stallions to jump in surprise. They turned around to face her, and that was when Applejack realised that she recognised the duo. The two were twins, tall, lean, crème coloured coats, crimson coloured manes. The only real way to tell the two apart was that one of them had a moustache to match his mane. 'What?' Applejack asked in confusion.
'Well lookie here, brother of mine, look who's come back to town!' said Film, the non-moustachioed member of the Flimflam brothers.
'Indeed indeed, brother of mine, Hello there miss Applejack, pleasure to see you again', added Flam.
'No it ain't!' Applejack cried out. 'Why would Ah be happy ta see any o' you two? Las' times ya'll were here, ya'll tried ta run our farm outta buisness!'
Both Flim and Flam sighed in annoyance. 'Not the case at all my dear, just not the case at all', Flam said.
'Indeed indeed', Flim said. 'Think about it for a moment Applejack. Our bet was to determine the control of the CIDER trade in Ponyville. You still would have controlled the supply of apples. If you had been smart, you would have been able to control the price you sold your apples to us for us to turn into cider'.
'Huh?' Applejack asked. 'What are ya'll talking about?'
'Apple Bloom was right, no business sense at all', Flim said.
'Ya'll goin' ta stand here and insult me all day, or are ya goin' ta explain what ya'll are doin' here?'
'Harvesting apples of course', Flam said. 'Sweet Apple Acres has been mechanised and its product has been itemised primarily for export as part of FutureTec's financial restructuring plan'.
Applejack's eyes became wider than the full moon at the statement. 'Beg pardon?' she asked.
'Simple, FutureTec agreed to absorb all of Sweet Apple Acres debt. In exchange, the Apple Family had to agree to allow the Cultus Mechanius to mechanise production, and well, that's what we're doing!' Flim said.
'Then... you...' Applejack began.
Flim and Flam nodded. 'I'm Flim, he's Flam, and we're Cultus Mechanius Brother Saracens!' Flim said.
'Wha...' Applejack said, looking blankly at the two. Flim and Flam did not get the chance to answer, the door to the control cabin of the crane opened up and the operator hopped out.
'That's all in this area, we're going to have to move the crane onto the next area... oh hey there Applejack! Good to see you!' Carrot Top said as she walked over from the crane.
Applejack looked at Carrot Top in shock; Carrot Top was wearing a set of blue robes identical to the ones that Flim and Flam were wearing. Applejack shut her eyes tightly and took off at full speed towards her house. She threw open the door and slammed it shut behind her.
'BIG MCINTOSH!?' Applejack cried out.
'Eeyup?' Big McIntosh asked as he trotted down the stairs .
'What did you do?' Applejack asked.
'FutureTec made a good deal, an' Ah took it', Big McIntosh said, understanding what she was asking. 'We were five thousand pounds in debt Applejack. FutureTec absorbed all o' it'.
'But at what cost?!' Applejack asked.
'Ten per cent of our profits', Big McIntosh said.
Applejack’s ears perked up at the statement. ‘Ten per cent?’ she asked. That wasn’t that much for absolving their debts. ‘As in, we get ta keep ninety per cent?’
‘Not exactly...’ Big McIntosh said. Applejack knew it was too good to be true, there was always a catch. ‘Another five hast ta go into an educational fund for Apple Bloom so she can’ attend tha University o’ Canterlot, and another five hast ta be devoted ta expanding tha farm. But otherwise... eighty per cent is ours ta do with what we choose, Ah also give a little extra ta Carrot Top, since she operates tha crane’.
Applejack may have had poor business sense, but even she could see that that was a good deal, her stubbornness, however, wouldn’t allow her to admit it. She stamped her hoof on the ground. ‘What does Granny Smith think ‘bout this?’
‘She don’t like it none’, Big McIntosh said. ‘But frankly? It ain’t her choice anymore, she got us in this debt, and she told me ta find a way ta get us out, so Ah got us out’.
The front door pushed open again, and light hoofsteps could be heard across the wooden floor. ‘Ah’m home!’ Apple Bloom called out as she walked into the room.
Applejack turned to Big McIntosh. ‘We’ll finish this later’, she said before turning back to Apple Bloom. ‘Apple Bloom! Ah gots a bone ta pick with ya!’ she said in a huff.
Apple Bloom swallowed hard. ‘Uh oh...’
...
‘Is this really necessary?’
‘Yes!’
Vinyl Scratch trotted down the High Street towards her home, Surprise was lying on her back, resting her chin on Vinyl’s head, and her forelegs draped around Vinyl’s neck. Vinyl Scratch couldn’t help but sigh. ‘If you weren’t being so adorable right now, I’d be annoyed’.
‘I do that!’ Surprise called out triumphantly.
‘Okay... okay!’ Vinyl said as she stopped outside her home. ‘We’re here; you have to get off now’.
‘Aww’, Surprise said in disappointment as she slid off of Vinyl’s back.
‘Yes, I know I’m sure...’ Vinyl began, however, when she looked back at Surprise she noticed that the Pegasus mare looked as if she was about to cry. ‘Surprise? What’s wrong?’
‘When we were in South Island, we hung out all the time!’ Surprise said. ‘We were bestest best friends... and now it’s all over’.
‘Aww... Surprise!’ Vinyl said, feeling a tear forming in her eye. ‘You want to stay the night?’ she asked.
Surprise nodded her head in affirmation.
‘All right!’ Vinyl said with a smile. ‘Come on in!’
‘Yay!’ Surprise said with a bright grin as the two of them trotted inside. She went and sat herself down on Vinyl Scratch’s sofa getting very comfortable before looking up at Vinyl Scratch. ‘I have a secret’, she said simply.
‘You probably shouldn’t tell me then, I don’t have a very good history of keeping secrets’, Vinyl said.
Surprise frowned. ‘But...’
‘I’m just saying’, Vinyl said. ‘You can go ahead and tell me if you want’.
Surprise looked at Vinyl nervously, as if it had taken her a while to work up the courage to get this far, Vinyl looked back at her in confusion, she pulled her goggles off her eyes and down around her neck before trotting over towards her and taking a seat on the sofa next to her. ‘Surprise? What is it?’
‘Um...’ Surprise said as her face began to turn red.
‘Surprise, come on’, Vinyl said. ‘If you have something you want to tell me, just tell me!’
Surprise nodded, and in the blink of an eye, leaned forward, interlocking her lips with Vinyl’s for a deep, passionate kiss.