Applejack tried to figure out what had just happened. She'd been running. There had been a flash of purple, and then she'd ended up colliding with something. In fact, possibly two things, and since she could feel scales pressing against her fur, she was certain she could tell who, or indeed what she'd collided with.
"Mornin' Spike" she groaned.
"Good morning Applejack" said the familiar voice of Twilight Sparkle. Applejack smiled.
"Good mornin', Twilight."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Hey, Twilight, you think maybe we can put our heads together and get untangled?"
"Just a minute" the unicorn said. Several more seconds passed as Twilight tried to untangle herself.
"Hold on a moment" she said. Her horn began to glow, and with a small pop, she vanished, Spike suddenly falling free now that he wasn't crushed between either mare. Twilight reappeared with a bright flash a few feet away from both mares, and then turned to look at Applejack. Then she saw Apple Crisp standing behind the mare. Applejack saw where she was looking and nodded.
"Twilight Sparkle, this is mah cousin Apple Crisp. Apple Crisp, this is Twilight Sparkle."
The two ponies nodded to one another, before Applejack continued. "She's visiting with my aunt Brown Betty."
Twilight just smiled, "Nice to meet you." Then she glanced at Applejack.
"Is something wrong?"
Applejack blinked, "Wrong? No, no, nothing's wrong. At all."
Twilight stared at Applejack's expression. Even before one got to the fact that she was bearer of the Element of Honesty, Applejack was a terrible liar. Fortunately for the farmpony, her statement hadn't been corroborated. After all, just because her aunt who had managed to get into serious trouble for sampling her own creations had teemed up with Pinkie Pie, a pony who had apparently designed a means of delivering cake at high velocities, it didn't mean anything was currently wrong. She just hoped Twilight didn't enquire further.
"Okay then" she said, smiling brightly, "I'll let you get on with what you were doing then."
She began walking off, Spike following after her. Applejack looked concerned for a moment. There had been something odd about the mare's expression that seemed unusual, that she hadn't seen on Twilight's face before. And she suddenly found herself wondering whether Twilight actually had any family. She knew that her parents were alive, if only by Twilight's regular behaviour, but as to whether she had any other family, she wasn't sure. Certainly, Twilight seemed understanding of her admittedly rash behaviour during the Poison Joke incident, though again, this seemed perfectly natural considering Twilight wasn't the sort of pony to hold a grudge.
Any further rumination on Twilight's behaviour was cut off by Apple Crisp giving her a sharp nudge. "Applejack?" she asked, "Snap out of it."
Applejack shook her head, and turned toward her cousin, who had a worried expression, and then nodded, setting off once more in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Fortunately, nothing happened to possibly slow them down.
Apple Crisp looked about. "It's kinda quiet" she noted. Applejack nodded.
"Apple Bloom's at school. Big McIntosh just happened to go on a fishin' trip this mornin'. Didn't tell me about it."
Apple Crisp stared at Applejack. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'too quiet', but... nice of you tell me."
The two ponies stared at the front door to the main house. It was too quiet, especially with Pinkie Pie involved Applejack noted. Something was utterly wrong.
The two ponies glanced at each other, their eyes sharing the same though, that in any normal situation, they'd likely have kicked the door clean off it's hinges by this point. But since it was Applejack's house, they just calmly opened it, and then heard the sound of laughter. Applejack gritted her teeth as she realised it was the sound of Pinkie Pie's laughter. Slowly, and with great caution, the two mares slowly looked around the house, and a fear began to worm it's way into Applejack's heart as she realised the occasional giggle could mean one thing, and one thing only.
Granny Smith was looking at the photo albums again.
Back when she and her brother had been younger, they had suggested (or, in a much more accurate sense, pleaded) Granny Smith to not bring out the photo albums whenever somepony came around. And Granny Smith's reaction had been to smile gently, and warmly, and tell both ponies that they didn't have to look at any photos if they didn't want to, then suggest to Apple Bloom that the two ponies take a look at photos of her parents when they were younger.
Applejack's thoughts came back to reality as she saw three ponies looking at one album and occasionally remarking upon photos, as Granny Smith described their context. She noticed Pinkie and Brown Betty were occasionally eating what looked like candies, but the only ones she knew were in the house was Apple Bloom's secret supply that she thought Applejack didn't know about.
"Hi Applejack!" Pinkie's voice cut through Applejack's thoughts like a knife through air. She looked up, and noticed the mare was holding a hoof up to Applejack with a small paper bag clearly filled with candy.
"Candy?" she offered. Applejack stared at it, and could practically feel the confusion Apple Crisp had.
"Where did-" the mare started, before Pinkie just grinned at her.
"Oh, I have bags of candy everywhere. In case of candy emergency."
"Candy emergency?" Applejack asked. She knew about Pinkie Pie's emergency supplies of corks, toilet paper and pens, but the bags of candy were new, and raised serious questions as to where Apple Bloom acquired her candy stash.
"Why would-" Apple Crisp started, before Applejack cut her off.
"Don't bother. That's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie, an' that's all you need to know."
"But-"
"All. You. Need. To. Know." Applejack said, staring straight at the mare, who just looked from her cousin, to Pinkie Pie, before deciding to heed her cousin's wisdom. Then she gave a small cough and a meaningful Look at Applejack, who turned to look at Granny Smith and Brown Betty.
"Hey, granny, can ah talk to ya in private?" she said nervously. Granny Smith gave her a pointed stare.
"Sure can" she said. At this, Apple Crisp walked over toward Brown Betty.
"C'mon, Elizabeth. Let's go check out the bedroom situation."
Applejack watched as the two ponies headed towards the stairs, then looked at Pinkie Pie. The mare just stared at Applejack, before bouncing away.
"What's so important?" Granny Smith asked. Applejack tensed.
"Well, Granny, it's... it's about Aunt Betty."
The temperature suddenly seemed to drop, but Applejack felt it wise to continue. "Ah think perhaps, maybe... that is... it might be an idea to-"
"Ya think she's gonna cause trouble, or be trouble" Granny Smith said. Applejack blanched.
"Ah didn't say that, granny."
The mare gave Applejack a disapproving look. "Ah know you didn't say that. Ah know that quite well. Ah ain't lost all mah marbles just yet, girl."
Applejack went silent.
"Brown Betty is our guest, and our kin. She ain't here to cause trouble, she's just here to visit. And while ah think ah can see why you might be concerned she might do something... foolish, ah really doubt that's gonna happen."
Applejack didn't respond. Granny Smith sighed.
"Now, young lady, since Ben's gon' a'wanderin', ah think you have some chores to do."
Applejack nodded. "Guess ah do."
She looked up at Granny Smith, who just smiled. Applejack slowly made her way toward the door, her blood freezing when she wondered where Pinkie Pie had gone. She turned around to go find the mare, only to see Granny Smith was glaring at her.
"Chores" she repeated. Applejack nodded numbly. Chores suddenly sounded good at the moment. Then she noticed Pinkie Pie was bouncing alongside her.
"Hi Applejack" the party planner said. Applejack just nodded.
"Hey, Pinkie."
"What's up?" she asked. Applejack tilted her head.
"Just wondering, you and Brown Betty talked right?"
"Yeah" Pinkie Pie said, "She said she's from Maressechucets, and that she's got all sorts of freaky knowledge of chemistry even though she usually just makes apple-themed drinks and I asked if she wanted to make cider here and-"
Applejack cut her off with an expression of alarm. "Pinkie" she said quietly, "Tell me you didn't."
Pinkie blinked, "No. We didn't. She said she didn't feel comfortable using somepony else's equipment for her experiments. Then she said she was hungry again."
For a few seconds Applejack just stood there, staring at Pinkie, who just smiled back, as her brain tried to process this information without making a lot of noise and attracting the ire of Granny Smith.
"Okay" she eventually managed. Pinkie's smile didn't flicker for a second. Applejack felt less than satisfied by this. The two ponies stared at one another. Applejack's eyes began to move toward the house, and she was certain she saw a hint of green at the windows.
"Sorry Pinkie, ah would love to chat, but ah have a lot of chores to do today."
"Need some help?" Pinkie asked. Applejack considered this, before shaking her head.
"Nah, ah can handle a couple'a chores easy enough. Ain't like ah'm being asked to take on every tree on the farm by mahself."
"Okie-dokie-lokie" Pinkie Pie smiled, before bouncing away. As she did, Applejack noted that Pinkie Pie hadn't actually conversed with Apple Crisp yet, and briefly wondered whether that would be an issue.
She dismissed this thought. Pinkie Pie had met Brown Betty, and nothing had gone hideously wrong. Nothing was on fire, nopony had been arrested. In fact, everything seemed to be going just fine.
She couldn't help but feel she'd forgotten something, though...
*****
Rainbow Dash was not in a good mood. It was bad enough she was missing both her usual nap-time, and her mid-nap-snack-breaks, and her post-nap exercise routine, but to be missing those, and trying on whatever clothing Rarity seemed to have at hoof was even worse. She hadn't even agreed to get herself measured for dresses, and since then, her friend had seized upon the opportunity to force whatever garments she could find upon Rainbow Dash. She was aware of Rarity's cat staring at her, as it had been for the last several minutes, but at no point did it seem interested in attacking her, as it apparently did with everypony but Fluttershy. This was annoying, because if it attacked she could have claimed she wanted to get away from a psychotic furball if she wanted to, even if it meant Rarity doing that thing she did when she was upset and acting super-snooty.
Rainbow Dash paused as she wondered where the phrase 'super-snooty' came from, and after length deliberation decided Pinkie Pie was probably responsible.
'If I stay here much longer, I'm probably gonna end up like Pinkie. Or worse, Screwball.' She blinked as she considered this. 'And now I'm talking to myself. Great'
"Hey, Rarity" she said, as the fashion designer returned with a box, the contents of which Rainbow Dash couldn't identify, "How long exactly are we gonna be here?"
Rarity looked up at Rainbow Dash, then she just smiled. "Well, the less you complain and distract me, the less longer this will take."
"Rares, I had wing-preening sessions in school that were shorter than this. Hay, I've had lectures from Raindrops that were shorter than this."
Rarity just stared at Rainbow Dash, "There's no need to shout, Rainbow Dash. Besides, I'm almost done."
"You said that five dresses ago."
Without a beat, Rarity responded, "Yes, and now we are five dresses closer to being finished."
Rainbow Dash snorted. "Rarity, at some point, I would really like to get the hay out of here. Can we do that? Is that allowed? Me getting the hay out of here? Tell me it's on your list. I have things I want to do today."
Rarity paused, and then smiled unnervingly. "We're almost done." she said, before her horn glowed, and the box opened. Several things floated out of the box. At first, Rainbow Dash wondered if they were some manner of lingerie, and then realised with mounting horror they were worse. They were far, far worse.
They were uncool. She watched as the clothing floated towards her, but her legs seemed weighed to the ground for some reason. As the clothing came towards her she tried not to scream.
"Oh, stop being such a foal!" Rarity chided. "And hold still."
*****
Applejack paused, and scanned around the orchard. Normally this would have been the point where somepony had said something to the effect of it being quite, or too quiet. However, Applejack wasn't about to question her luck. It was coming up to lunch-time, and most of her chores had been finished, and there had been no distractions. She smiled, and wondered if whether there had been any reason to be concerned at all.
At which point there was an almighty shaking and an explosion, followed by the distant sound of Pinkie Pie laughing. Applejack slowly picked herself up, and replaced her hat on her head and looked about.
"What in tarnation?" she muttered. She glanced about, and started walking back toward the farmhouse. As she approached she noticed a small amount of smoke emerging from the not-yet finished apple cellar. She stared at it, and then cautiously approached it. Making her way down the stairs, she found an unusual scene.
The cellar wasn't yet furnished, or at least wasn't supposed to be. Applejack had been hoping to finish it over the last week, but various things, including several mandatory baths for certain sap-coated fillies, had put those plans on pause. She was therefore surprised to find a table had been set up in the cellar, and even more surprised to see a variety of strange beakers laid out on the table. And when she saw Pinkie Pie standing over one apparently empty beaker, her face evidently covered in soot, her hair looking like somepony had ran an electric charge through it, and a wide smile on her face, Applejack just gave up.
"What just happened?" she asked. Pinkie turned to look at her and smiled.
"Hi Applejack!" she beamed, not noticing or not caring about the soot on her face, "We're conducting a science experiment."
"What."
She turned her gaze to look at the other occupant of the room, Brown Betty, who looked up at Applejack and smiled.
"Hello Applejack. Would you like to help us make cider? Your friend Winkie here has been quite helpful, though unfortunately we both got slightly distracted when we started discussing which brand of liquorice was best."
Applejack stared blanked for several seconds, her gaze moving to the variety of equipment, not of which looked like it was necessary for the brewing of cider. Some part of her brain still capable of rational thought tried to point out that cider season for that year had been, gone, and had generated a tidy sum. It was hushed down by the part of her that represented her curiosity, which had strangely not died out despite years of exposure to Rainbow Dash, or even Apple Bloom's attempts to gain her Cutie Mark.
"Make... cider?" she said slowly.
"Oh, yes" the elder mare said, "We talked about that as well, and young Dinkie here-"
"Pinkie."
"Would feel about improving your recipe."
Applejack turned to stare at Pinkie with hurt and shock at this act of betrayal from her friend, and best customer. "What's wrong with our recipe? Which, ah'll have you know, has been in mah family since the Warmin' of Equestria!"
Pinkie smiled back, "I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. I just wanted to see if we could make it ever better. Or betterer. Or would that be bettererer?" she frowned, and from nowhere produced a pad of paper and a pencil and began scribbling away at it. Brown Betty didn't react to this, and was instead chowing down on a small box of candy nearby.
A small part of her noted that if they found a way to increase cider sales, she wouldn't need to go to the gala and sell anything, and could just have a fun time having the best night ever with her friends. Or, she considered, possibly gaining more funds for the farm in case of a rainy day, or Granny Smith having an accident, or her head exploding when Apple Bloom suggested she and her friends became Cutie Mark Crusaders Demolitions Experts.
"Ah don't know about this" she muttered, "Is it gonna be safe?"
"We're only experimenting with cider, Applejack" Pinkie Pie smiled. "It's not like we're devising means to cross between universes, or increase intelligence at the cost of emotions."
Applejack just nodded. "'kay. Where'd Apple Crisp go, by the way?"
Brown Betty looked about, concern apparent on her face, before recognition flashed across it. "I sent her to go find a functional black board. For some reason you don't seem to have one here."
Applejack nodded. "Alright. So you two are just gonna be down here, tinkerin' with cider? Nothin' else? Nuthin' dangerous, right?"
The two ponies exchanged glances, and then Pinkie smiled. "It's only cider, Applejack. What could possibly go wrong tinkering with cider?"
Applejack frowned, and decided not to give that any response, glancing only at Brown Betty, then back to Pinkie Pie.
"Pinkie, can ya promise me you won't do anything... dangerous?"
Pinkie's expression suddenly went from bright and perky to stone cold seriousness without a single beat. "Cross my heart and hope to fly" she said. Applejack just bit her lip.
"Alright. Guess that settles that then."
She wished she could say she felt reassured by this, but she didn't. She turned and left the apple cellar, sparing one last glance backward to the two ponies, who were now talking in whispers to each other. She frowned, and quickly found herself walking as far away from the apple cellar as possible.
*****
It was some hours later, Applejack noted, and there'd been no more noises, explosions or disasters. Feeling concern welling up inside herself again, she set off toward the apple cellar. She found it completely empty, with no sign anypony had ever been there. She frowned, and looked about.
Slowly, she began to move, heading behind the farmhouse, towards the small barn where Pinkie usually held any party she had while visiting the Apples. She found Pinkie Pie, Brown Betty and Apple Crisp standing around outside it near the variety of instruments used to brew cider, looking at a barrel, which she guessed was filled with cider. She frowned.
"What the hay's goin' on here?" she asked. The three ponies looked up, and an odd look flashed across their faces, which Applejack ignored.
"We made some cider" Pinkie said, before her smile flickered, "But apparently we aren't allowed to drink it."
"Why not?" Applejack asked, "Ya weren't plannin' to sell it, were ya?"
Pinkie Pie and Brown Betty glanced at one another. "No." they both said.
"But we do need a 'control group'" Pinkie Pie said.
"A what now?"
At this, Apple Crisp spoke up, "One of the major rules of scientific experimentation: never experiment on yourself" she glanced briefly at Brown Betty as she said this, "And I made it a personal rule to never drink anything Elizabeth's had a hoof in brewing, so we're gonna have to go find a volunteer to drink some of this stuff."
Applejack frowned. "Please, tell me that cider ain't hard cider."
"No." Brown Betty said quickly, "We made sure of that."
Applejack sighed. That was one less potential fire put out, at least.
"Ah'm still not sure about this" she said, "Ah just wan' that made clear right now. Ah ain't sure about any of this."
"You could always come with us and supervise" Pinkie Pie smiled. Applejack blinked for a moment.
"No, ah... ah don't think ah will. Ah'm just gonna go... talk to Granny Smith." at this she began walking away, glancing nervously at the ponies standing next to the barrel, before surprising her concern.
Pinkie had promised to make sure everything went well, after all. Everything was going to be fine.
So why did she have a feeling of impending dread?
*****
Twilight Sparkle smiled warmly. The day had been going well enough. Nopony seemed to be in any sort of distress, which was good, although it did mean she was unlikely to find something to write to the Princess, which was a bother, even if she had plenty of good material to write anyway over the last week, especially after Apple Bloom and her friends had tried to help in the library.
(Next to Twilight, Spike noticed the mares' twitching ears, but decided it was far safer for him to say nothing.)
Yes, Twilight thought to herself, today had been going very well. Aside from getting talked into modelling some clothing for Rarity, alongside poor Rainbow Dash, who clearly hadn't been enjoying herself, but had bravely sacrificed her own chance for freedom so that Twilight could escape, and take Spike with her before he could tattle on her. Now she found herself in the marketplace on the edge of town, wondering what to do next, whether to visit Sugarcube Corner, or visit Fluttershy's cottage. She did briefly entertain the thought of going to see how Applejack and her relatives were getting on, but she dismissed it. It would be unfair to get in the way of a family reunion.
Then she, along with almost everypony else in the marketplace, saw three ponies, two she recognised, setting down a barrel in the middle of the road and glancing about.
*****
"So, what now?" Pinkie Pie asked.
Apple Crisp tilted her head. "Well, we can either ask a passer-by, or we could set a sign up. Your choice. You helped make it. Not me."
Pinkie Pie considered this, and looked about. "Okay, I know who to ask to test-taste this drink. Her."
Apple Crisp and her mother looked to where Pinkie Pie pointed, which was to a bright yellow pegasus pony making her way slowly through the marketplace, taking the utmost care not to make eye-contact with anyone, which was helped by the bright pink hair obscuring half of her face.
Or Fluttershy, as her friends called her.