Shopping was not anypony's idea of a good time. It was dull and tedious, and especially when you were a little pony, your legs tired easily. Applejack was out on a standard shopping trip with her mother, trying to pass the time by looking at all the cutie marks the other ponies had and trying to think of what hers might be. She liked to thing it would be something cool, like an apple peeler, but Macintosh liked to scare her by saying she might wind up with a cutie mark of an orange or a pineapple and get kicked out of the family.
He'd gotten scolded for telling her such stories. Applejack had been assured that no matter what her cutie mark was, she would always be part of the Apple family.
Applejack stayed close to her mother, who weaved in an out of a crowd of ponies all with the same intention of visiting the Canterlot Mall. The mall was really just a large open field filled with tents and kiosks were ponies were selling their wares, but she didn't get to go to Canterlot all that often, and it exciting to see all the new things that Canterlot had to offer.
The two of them made their way down a particularly busy row of tents, with her mother nudging the filly inside. This particular tent was filled with empty jars and containers of every size and shape color.
"Now you stay nearby, Applejack." Her mother warned. "Zap Apple season is coming up, and ah need to make a new order'a jars after you an' Macintosh decided to destroy our supply at home," she said.
Applejack felt her ears burning red. It wasn't like they'd purposefully decided to break all the jars, they'd been racing garbage can lids down the hill after a heavy rain left the slope covered in mud. They hadn't any mechanism to steer the things and had wound up careening directly into the storage barn. It was amazingly fortunate that nopony had been hurt, glass had shattered everywhere. But their supply of Zap Apple Jam jars had been decimated.
"Ah din' do it on purpose!" Applejack insisted. That was the truth, they really hadn't. But she quieted down as her mother engaged the salespony in conversation, and stood around for what felt like hours. She was bored out of her mind, and her mother just kept talking. As children tended to do, her attention was stolen away by the tent across the field, just within sight of the jar tent.. Surely she'd be able to be found over there, and she slipped away to investigate to see what was in there.
Entering the new tent, Applejack's eyes beheld a wondrous sight. Hats. Hundreds of hats, all on display. But her attention was focused on one particular hat, a cowgirl one positioned high up on a shelf. Eyes glued to it, she wandered closer, and reached her little hoof up closer in the hopes of trying it on.
Not even close. It was far too high up for her to reach.
"You like that one, do ya?" A salespony asked, having watched a young filly enter the tent without a parent, and become understandably concerned. He reached up and plucked it from the shelf, placing it on her head. It was far too big, and fell over her eyes. Oh, how she wanted it. But she had no bits! So she did what ponies her age tended to do, she threw her own version of a tantrum. Which instead of acting out, meant she planted her flank right in th e middle of the floor and refused to move until the hat was hers.
It was a foolproof plan!
Time crawled slowly forward, the salesponies whispering amongst each other and trying to spread word about the parentless child in the hopes of somepony coming to pick her up. Applejack meanwhile was giving a bit of taffy to keep her occupied and carefully watched over.
Applejack had been in the store for almost two hours by the time her mother found her, and rushed forward to claim the filly. She was not angry, but worried out of her mind.
"Applejack! Oh thank goodness... I told you to stay nearby!" She scolded, but hugged the filly. "Come on, we're going home. Ah finished making m'order right before ah realized y'all were missing, Ah've been searching for ya ever since!"
The salespony coughed. "With respect, ma'am, the filly really does love that hat. She ain't moved since she saw it."
Applejack looked up and gave her mother a pleading look.
"Well, ah ain't one ta reward foolishness, but we did just get Macintosh that new yoke, ah s'pose y'all deserve somethin' too. Ain't nothin' proper about favoritism." She gave the salespony a few bits, and the latter removed the tag from the large brown hat, which now sat precariously on Applejack's head.
"It's all yours, kid," the salespony said.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Applejack bounced in circles around her mother, but couldn't see where she was going and fell right on her face. Her mother shook her head and placed the hat in a saddlebag, ushering Applejack out of the tent.
"Come on, let's go home."
Applejack was more than happy to leave with her mother, but on the way out her eyes locked on an absolute eyesore of a hat in the entrance display. A bright purple pointy hat, which nopony in their right mind would call fashionable.
Her mother followed her gaze and made a face. "Ugh, how tacky. What sort of flamboyant egotist would even consider wearing such a thing?" The two left, harmlessly passing a small blue unicorn filly who just so happened to notice the purple hat, and gasped.
The unicorn grinned, and rushed into the tent.