//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 - Cider Season // Story: Apple Family Values // by Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch //------------------------------// ~~~~~Sweet Apple Acres~~~~ For Scootaloo, time had seemingly slipped by her without her ever noticing; and soon enough, the earliest hints of fall were upon them. The leaves were beginning to turn colors and the warm summer air had given way to the gentle bite of early autumn. Crusades had been waged, tricks gotten up to, and Scootaloo had begun to worm her way into life on the Apple farm. Well, sort of worm her way into it, anyway. Unlike Applebloom, who at least was still an earth pony even if a young one, Scootaloo lacked the physical strength to buck apples, not that she hadn’t tried anyway. Still, even if she hadn’t been much of a help outside, Granny Smith had not wasted a moment putting her to work inside the house. Scootaloo, like any self respecting filly, hated chores with a burning passion. But in spite of that, she’d taken to the tasks with gusto, determined to somehow return all of the incredible generosity and love the family had rained upon her since that fateful day in the club house. She wasn’t sure how she’d manage it yet, but she would do it. It hadn’t helped that Rainbow Dash had been conspicuously absent in the past few weeks. The excuses - and Scootaloo was sure they were excuses - had been many and varied. Wonderbolts practice, giving Twilight flying lessons, running errands for Princess Celestia, it didn’t matter. Scootaloo wasn’t sure what was bugging Dash so much, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it, so she found other ways to occupy her time. But now, all those thoughts would be banished by the looming demands of cider season. The Apple Family cider was more than merely famous throughout Equestria, it was the stuff of legend. And ever since Twilight had gotten her wings and a fancy title, word had been going around that Ponyville was going to be inundated by a wave of tourists and well-to-do nobles coming into town to experience the same down-home events that Twilight so beloved. Mayor Mare had even begun selling tickets for the annual Running of the Leaves, and they were already going for sacks of bits. That meant that the demands on the cider were going to be higher than ever, and according to Granny Smith they were ready and raring for it. Shipments of empty barrels had been rolling into the farm for days, and sacks of sugar and crates of spices were stacked all over the interior of the house. Twilight and her friends were already scheduled to arrive and help with the production… All except for Rainbow Dash, who’d said Spitfire wanted her on hoof to try her wing at some specialty stunt displays - to see if she’d learned enough to be considered for full on Wonderbolts membership. If it wasn’t for the fact that cider was involved, Scootaloo probably would have doubted her word, but she was almost one hundred percent sure that nothing short of the Wonderbolts could have kept Dash away. Fortunately, Big Mac’s advice earlier in the summer had proven to be correct. The best cure for thinking too much was to get your nose to the grindstone and work hard. Today was the first big day for cider, thankfully. It was time to bring in all the apples specifically left unharvested to be used in the cider making process, and get them prepped for production. Applejack and Big Mac had already carried out the three dozen or so carts full of bushel baskets to be filled and were working on positioning them, which left Scootaloo alone in the main barn with Applebloom. In honesty, if Applebloom hadn’t been there to keep Scootaloo’s spirits up, the last few months would’ve been a lot harder on her. But as a sister, Applebloom had been just as much the constant buoy to her as she had as a best friend, if not moreso. Right now, Applebloom was manipulating a wrench to tighten the bolts on a cart wheel, pausing to look up and wave at Scootaloo with a vigorous smile. “Mornin, Scoots! Gonna be a real firecracker of a day, today!” Scootaloo couldn’t help herself and waved back with a similar grin. “Yeah. I just wish I knew what I could be doing today to help.” That had been the sticking point for Scootaloo, as she wasn’t nearly old enough to be wielding the cleaver that Granny Smith would be using to chop up the apples en-masse, and she sure wasn’t strong enough to be bucking apples. Applebloom rubbed at her chin slowly, putting on her ‘thinking face’. “Actually…” She eyeballed the cart next to her, then eyeballed Scootaloo in return. “I might have an idea. Gimmie a coupla hours to see if I can make it work.” Applebloom’s smile grew quite wide, and her eyes sparkled at the thought of devising some kind of new plan. Scootaloo had to admit the enthusiasm was infectious, and she couldn’t stop herself from grinning back at her. As Applebloom began to pull down all manner of ropes and other supplies from the barn shelves, Scootaloo quickly retreated. If there was one thing more dangerous to be around than Pinkie Pie on Hearts and Hooves day, it was Applebloom when she had an idea. So she carefully shut the barn door behind her and trotted off, eyeballing the apple orchards as she went. She couldn’t just stand around and do nothing while she waited for Applebloom, so… “Heyyyyyyyyyyy, Scooter-roo!” came the sing-song voice of Pinkie Pie as she hurtled through the air, giving Scootaloo just enough time to go limp as Pinkie’s soft body impacted her in a pouncing hug, and the two of them went tumbling off across the ground. By the time they came to a halt, Pinkie was giving Scootaloo one of the fluffiest hugs she’d gotten in a long time. Sap or no sap, there wasn’t a single soul in the entire world who could resist a hug like that, so Scootaloo didn’t even try. She snuggled right back into it with a dopey grin. “Hey, Pinkie.” The words came out softer than she’d intended, but Pinkie didn’t miss a single beat. She gave Scootaloo a quick noogie before rolling them both back to their hooves and giving Scoots a dust off as the rest of her friends walked up, laughing and smiling. “And hey, everypony! How are y’all doin?” she asked, putting on Applejack’s trademark twang for a moment and finding much to her surprise how natural it felt. Twilight Sparkle half grinned at her, tilting her head to one side. “Doing just fine, Scootaloo. It’s good to see you’re settling in well.” She flicked her wings back in an unconscious motion, then glared at them for a moment before they settled down. “Ugh, though I wish my flying lessons were going a bit better. Who’d have thought such a mechanically simple physical action would cause so many problems!” Her wings flared out again, and Scootaloo couldn’t restrain her giggles a little. “Here, Twilight,” Scootaloo said with a tolerant sort of grin. Even though she herself had yet to master the fine art of flying, she knew everything about taking care of her wings, just like every pegasus foal. Apparently, Dash had been skipping a few lessons. “You’ve got yourself all tensed up, and I can see it from here…” Scootaloo trotted over as Rarity and Fluttershy appeared, chatting animatedly about something girly. Rarity’s eyes fixed on Scootaloo as she moved and immediately went from bright and clear to soft and kinda sappy. Scootaloo winced a little, deciding on the spot to have a long talk with Rarity at some future date, but for now… “Here, feel these muscles?” Scootaloo pointed out, gently prodding the offending things in Twilight’s back. Twilight nodded a little, looking instantly focused on Scootaloo. “You’re holding them in tension, like you’re getting ready to fly. You gotta relax em. Try stretching out your back, like you were trying to get rid of an ache and that’ll help let out some of it.” Twilight nodded and immediately went into a long, slow and languorous stretch that most pegasi were familiar with, but rarely brought up in conversation. With Twilight’s wing problems set aside, she turned to the other friends and as predictably as clockwork… “Hello, darling. How are you holding up after that dreadful little situation with Diamond Tiara?” Rarity’s voice was thick with a motherly concern, and if it had been any thicker Scootaloo could have spread it on toast. Truth be told, Diamond Tiara had vanished from Ponyville’s school mere days after Scootaloo’s return, and word had it her father was trotting her around Equestria along with his wife. “Honestly, I’m pretty much over it at this point,” Scootaloo verbally shrugged, trying her best to keep things casual on that score. Which wasn’t to say she wasn’t still mad at Diamond, she simply had stopped caring about it. “I shouldn’t have let her get under my skin like that, to be honest.” Scootaloo shook her head a little, still wondering at the strength of her reaction to those hateful words. Maybe she was less okay with how things were than she’d realized. But Rarity wasn’t going to leave it at that. “Nonsense, dear,” she sniffed derisively, her eyes snapping with a barely concealed anger that she must have been cooking up for months. “Such a scandal, treating somepony’s tragedies in such a disrespectful light. There’s simply no excuse for that sort of behavior from anypony.” Then the anger vanished into another blanket of soft concern. So quickly that it caused Scootaloo to wonder just what made Rarity feel so close to Scootaloo’s issues. “Still, I wish you wouldn’t have hidden yourself away here, darling. We had to positively restrain Rainbow Dash before she did anything foolish after your little tussle.” Scootaloo stared at her for a moment, her mouth working in surprise at that particular bit of news. “Oh yes. I’ve never seen Rainbow Dash so angry before,” Fluttershy gently added from the back of the crowd, half-hiding behind Rarity as she spoke. “Pinkie Pie had to sit on her for almost an hour before she calmed down.” Fluttershy trailed off into a whisper, pressing her hooves to her mouth. Scootaloo felt her butt hit the ground, just a little bit dazed. She’d been worried that Dash had been purposefully avoiding her, but she just hadn’t been able to figure out why. Now… now it made a lot more sense. Feeling powerless sucks, was about the only thought that summed up the whole situation. “Don’t worry about Rainbow Dash, darling,” Rarity said in a soothing tone, gently squeezing Scootaloo’s shoulder. “She’s just not used to not knowing what to do. She’ll come around - she always does.” Scootaloo nodded faintly, knowing that Rarity was right but wishing she could do something about it anyway. “Come on, girls, let’s go help Applejack get set up,” Twilight announced brightly, and Rarity nodded solemnly. She paused only to give Scootaloo a gentle peck on the cheek before trotting toward the family home. Fluttershy followed in close attendance, shooting an encouraging sort of smile at Scootaloo on the way. “Chin up, Scootaloo. I’ll have a talk with Dash when she comes back to Ponyville,” Twilight said, smiling at her before following in the wake of her other two friends. That left Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be purposefully waiting for the rest of them to head off before turning with one of her more weary smiles. “Sorry I haven’t had a chance to come up and see you, Scooter. I had a lot of stuff that needed doing.” She opened up her forelegs and wrapped Scootaloo up in a more sedate, but no less fluffy hug. “You sure you’re Okie-dokie? You need to talk?” Scootaloo leaned into the comfort for a moment, then sighed. “Yeah. I’m okay, Pinkie. And it’s okay, I understand.” She shook her head and prised herself out of the hug, which Pinkie gave up easily. “As for talking… I don’t think I’m ready for that quite yet.” She half smiled at her friend, holding up her hoof. “But when I am, you’ll be the first pony who knows.” Pinkie nodded and gave her a gentle hoofbump before bouncing off after her friends, leaving Scootaloo alone in the farmyard. That was okay, as she needed a moment to get her brain organized before the next crazy thing came along and interrupted her. She was half beginning to suspect that she’d been carefully managed so she never had too much time to let her thoughts run away with her, but that was way too paranoid for her taste. So she simply took deep breaths and tried to focus on the positives, rather than all the worries. Which of course, meant that Applebloom would choose exactly that moment to grab her by the shoulder, her voice bright and excited as she half dragged her back towards the barn. “I’m brilliant! Genius! Come on Scootaloo, yer gonna love this!” ~~~~~~~ The… contraption was a strange amalgam of an apple cart merged with a scooter. That was about the only way Scootaloo was able to comprehend the thing, given that it looked like it was held together mostly with rope and copious amounts of glue. The bed of the cart was smaller than the ones typically hauled by Big Mac and the other earth ponies and looked to be made out of less wood. In fact, it really just looked like an outsized version of her scooter strapped to their little wagon. Applebloom was beaming like she’d just invented the self cleaning frying pan or some other miracle invention. “See! It’s perfect! The front wheel’s the perfect size so ya’ll can steer it, an’ I got all three wheels on really good bearings so they’ll roll easier.” Applebloom wiped at her hooves with a rag, cleaning them of dark looking grease with a cheesy grin plastered across her face. “And if I’ve got the weight right, you’ll be able to haul three bushels a’ apples same as if you was haulin’ the three of us an’ babs.” Scootaloo gave the thing a little kick and was genuinely surprised when it didn’t completely fall apart in response. “Uh… you sure about that? I don’t want to sprain my wings trying to get this thing up to any kind of speed.” The whole thing looked dubious enough as it was, even if the wheels did look to be about the right type. Applebloom shook her head and grinned at her. “Silly. This thing isn’t supposed t’ go fast, it’s supposed to carry heavier stuff easier. C’mon, just give it a try!” She bounced up and down on her hooves, practically brimming with enthusiasm and energy. Scootaloo sighed and rolled her eyes at the histrionics. “Okay, okay,” she said in a deadpan sort of way, clambering through the mess of ropes and the like to the main platform where she figured she was supposed to stand. It took a moment or two to get a feel for the handlebars, but it wasn’t that different from her normal scooter. “Hm, okay…” She did a quick little experimental bounce on the thing, then stretched out her wings before giving them an experimental buzzing. It was a little harder than normal getting the thing to move, but once she adjusted for its added weight, it really felt a lot like her own scooter. It took a little bit of work but she got the thing out of the barn and into the main yard, tooling it around a bit and seeing how it took corners. “Hey, this isn’t half bad, Applebloom! Come on, lets put some weight on it.” She grinned and bounced up and down on her hooves. Applebloom trotted out and hopped up on the bed of the cart, and… there was a creaking sound and a sudden crack, followed by the sound of Applebloom tumbling down to the ground accompanied by a pile of wood. Scootaloo turned around quickly and stared at the cart behind her, where it looked like the entire bed of the thing had simply come loose and gone flying all over behind it. “Applebloom?” she asked in a soft, worried voice, wondering if she might be hurt... Until a muffled and slightly peeved voice piped up from the pile of wood, and a yellow hoof shot up from somewhere in the middle. “I can fix it!” ~~~~~ About a half hour later, the boards in the wagon bed were more firmly affixed thanks to a few well placed nails, and Applebloom was able to ride in the cart with a minimal amount of fuss and bother. The next problem, of course, came as soon as they put a more serious amount of weight on it. “Hang on!” Applebloom called out, hopping off the cart as Scootaloo tried to haul a couple of large bushel baskets full of rocks to no avail. Applebloom peeked down at the wheels, and sighed heavily. “Aw, dangit. I know that axle was gonna let me down.” Scootaloo just rolled her eyes at the statement, leaning morosely on the handlebars as Applebloom shoved the bushel baskets off the cart and hauled herself under it with a bag full of what looked like wagon parts. “Hang on, Scoots! We’ll get this thing a-workin’, or my name ain’t Applebloom!” Scootaloo couldn’t help it, she snorted and called back over her shoulder, “So long as it’s not like the apple wagon we made for that parade!” That thing had actually been pretty cool, but getting Applejack to let them keep using the engine was just not going to happen. She felt a thud as Applebloom probably removed something from the wagon, and the sound of a jack cranking up and the feel of her scooter lifting a bit on the right side, then going down again. Scootaloo just sighed, laying her head on the handlebars and closing her eyes. She really did appreciate Applebloom trying to help, but this was just one weird concoction of ideas she had here. Several more thumps followed the first one, and a mutter not unlike a curse word floated past her ears. Briefly, Scootaloo debated on going to hide in her room for a few hours until everypony forgot she was there, then cleaning out cider barrels or something. There was the sound of a wrench working for a minute before Applebloom yelled out, “Try it again!” Scootaloo sighed and picked up speed with her wings, feeling some heavier resistance than normal before the cart began to move slowly forward. With a little frown she picked up the speed, and the cart began moving at a reasonably quick pace, even if it wasn’t at the speed she usually liked. Scootaloo looked over her shoulder a bit to call back, “Hey, this feels pretty good, if a bit… slow.” Her words fell away, as she saw the back of her cart suddenly loaded with ponies. Twilight and all the rest of her friends were there, as was Applejack and Big Macintosh. All of them were grinning at her as she pulled all of the ponies out onto the main path leading into the orchards. Fortunately, she snapped her head back to make sure she knew where she was going before driving the thing into a ditch. “We’re goin’ ta’ the east orchards, Scootaloo! Get a move onnit!” That was Applejack’s voice, catcalling from the cart and a chorus of other encouragements followed. Taking it as a challenge, she buzzed up the power in her wings and the cart quickly picked up a bit of speed down the smooth dirt path. It was certainly way different than her normal scooter, especially with that big heavy weight on the back-end, but adjusting to it was easier than she’d thought it would be. The path through the orchards was as even as a flagstone road, and twice as smooth. She took the turn heading into the eastern orchards with ease and simply enjoyed the feel of the wind in her mane as she road. The whole load of ponies in the back of her funny little cart thing couldn’t have been less than at least a bushel or two of the apples. Maybe she could really accomplish something here… It didn’t take much more than a few minutes to get to the orchard, and bringing the cart to a stop seemed to be more about letting it coast to a halt than her usual method of braking. She’d have to bring that up with Applebloom later on. “Well now, ain’t that a hoot of a way t’ get out here,” Applejack drawled as the ponies piled out of the cart and chatted animatedly as they headed for the row upon row of empty bushels waiting for apples. “Think y’all can haul somethin’ back, too?” She cocked her head at Scootaloo, a challenging smile on her face. Scootaloo paused and rubbed at her chin for a moment in faux thought, before nodding solemnly. “I’ll give it a shot.” Applejack nodded right back, a gleam in her eye as she took off at a gallop and performed a picture-perfect applebuck on one of the nearby trees, dropping all of it’s fruit into the awaiting bushel baskets. A few minutes later, between Big Mac and Twilight, Scootaloo found her little cart with a half-a-dozen bushels, three stacked upon three. But now was the big test. She flared out her wings and took a deep breath before setting them to buzzing, building up speed and power behind them and ignoring the remaining ponies around her. She had to find a way to turn what she was good at into a way that could genuinely help, and no matter what Applebloom said… she was good at going fast. The cart began to pick up a little speed, trundling toward the main path as Scootaloo poured on the power. By the time she hit the main path she had a good head of speed going, her heart racing just a little faster. Sure, it was just a simple chore, just carrying apples. It wasn’t dramatic or risky, but it was… it was something she could do here. Something that helped, that was in some small way a repayment for everything they’d given her. If there was anything she’d learned from her time with the Crusaders, it was that one had a certain responsibility to the ponies one loved. Not some lame kind of responsibility that was about doing something because one had to, but the kind where one did something because it was the right thing to do. One did it because one cared about the ponies one loved, and on some deep fundamental level one wanted to be a part of making their lives better as much as they did the same for you. Applejack understood that. Maybe that was why she’d taken her in, seeing a little filly not unlike herself but without any of the advantages she’d had and deciding to do something about it. Maybe that was why Rarity kept wanting to help her, seeing somepony in need and feeling that powerful generosity inside of her aching to reach out and do something about it. Maybe that was why Rainbow Dash couldn’t come and see her yet, because she felt the same as Rarity and Applejack, but didn’t have the resources to help and hated herself for it. Come to think of it, maybe that was why she’d gotten so mad at Diamond Tiara. All of these ponies were just trying to help somepony else, and she had to tear them down. Helping ponies was a good thing, it was something she wished more of them would try to do more often. And now, for one of the first times in her life, Scootaloo could help them back for all the help they’d given her. She could make things go a little more smoothly on the farm, help do things nopony else here could do. Maybe someday, she’d even be able to help somepony else like her and pay it forward to the next generation. Maybe that was a little sappy, when you got right down to it. But after all of the little things that had happened, after Applejack had brought her in from the cold and given her a hearth and a bed and a place she’d never have to feel alone again, Scootaloo figured she could live with a little bit of sap. She was a tough filly, just like Mom would have wanted her to be, and she could take it. So she lowered her head and smiled, just a little. There was a lot of work yet to do, but she wouldn’t be doing it alone. And hey, there’d be cider later. Which would be awesome.