Applejack Through the Ages

by Paradise Oasis


Baking and Babysitting

Baking and Babysitting

So you went to work for Miss Sweetberry as a baker?

Yep, and it wasn't really hard to find a one room studio apartment with an attached bathroom nearby. See, the one thing I discovered about some of these Coltonville ponies was that you wave a few jangles in front of thier faces, and they won't ask you that many questions. So, with a new job and place to live, I spent the next week learning the ropes of my new employment...

"Apple! Mr. Barrington will be here to get his order in ten minutes!" Sweetberry yelled back into the kitchen. "Could you please get that cherry pie out of the oven?"

"Coming right up, Mrs. Berry!" Apple Pie yelled back. Pulling the over open with her mouth, the mare slipped the pair of oven mitts onto her hooves, and pulled the steaming hot baked good out of the oven. On the other side of the kitchen, Bon Bon was finishing up with the cookie sheet full of donuts she had been baking- and eating half on the merchandise as she had been making it.

"Wow, that's quite an appetite you have there, Miss Bon Bon." Apple Pie noted, thinking about how different this Bon Bon was from a pony she had known long ago. "I don't think I've ever seen one pony eat as much in one minute."

"You really think so? *mph* That's what Starlight and my friends all say." The yellow filly replied, crumbs falling out of her mouth as she talked. "My boyfriend says I should really stop stuffing my face, 'cause I want to be a model, after all."

"You? A Model?" The amused Apple thought to herself, looking at the mare who couldn't stop feeding her face. "Well, I certainly hope you learn to be a little less messy!"

They had just finished and bagged the order, that a white stallion with a rainbow-colored mane and spectacles came trotting into the bakery, a very 'business'-like serious look on his face. Sweetberry turned around, and smiled when she saw him.

"Ahhh, Mr. Barrington! So good to see you again!" The baker handed him the plastic bag with her hoof. "That'll be seventy-five jangles, please."

"Thank you, miss Berry, always a pleasure doing business with you." The stallion with the red automobile cutie mark replied, adjusting his spectacles. "By the way, we've got the new delivery van you ordered over at the dealership. You can come pick it up whenever you like."

"Ohhh, thank you so much!" Sweetberry smiled, smiling gratefully. "Would you mind if I caught a ride with you to your work, and picked it up? I have a really busy day ahead of me, and it's be a really big help."

"Okay, mom! Got my homework all done!" It was at that point, that Honeyberry came bounding down the steps, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm all ready to go to the park!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, dear." The mother frowned looking back at her little girl. "Mommy's got an errand to run, and we'll have to put the trip off until tomorrow."

"Oh, okay." The little filly's face drooped, as she looked away. "You've got stuff to do, I understand."

As Honeyberry sulked her way back up the steps, Apple Pie thought back to another little earth filly who she had seen that disappointed look on the face of. Stepping forward, the bakery's newest employee quickly spoke up.

"Excuse me, me Sweetberry? I'd be happy to take her!" The blue mare interjected, putting a hoof on the little filly. "I've been meaning to get out and see more of Coltonville, anyway!"

"Really, that'd be great!" Honeyberry whinnied excitedly, hopping up can down. "Can I go with her mom, can I? Can I?"

"I don't know..." Sweetberry asked skeptically. "...are you sure it won't be too much trouble?"

"It's okay, Miss Sweetberry! I can go with them!" Bon Bon assured her, smiling as she downed another donut from her bag. "I'll help Apple keep an eye on her."

"Well, okay. Just be sure to get her back by nine!" Sweetberry replied, as she and Mr. Barrington quickly trotted out the door. "See the three of you later!"

It seems Sweetberry was busy with retrieving her new van, so I just thought I was doing her a favor by taking the filly to the park. And so Bon Bon and I took the little filly out to play, and I think that was first time the little filly had had a good time in ages...

"Wheeeee! This is fun!" The little filly exclaimed, as Apple pushed her on the swing with her hoof. "I wanna go higher! I wanna go higher!"

Bon Bon and Apple Pie played with Honeyberry all afternoon, from throwing and catching a ball with her out in the open field, to bouncing up and down with her on the teeter totter. But every time Apple Pie looked at the little filly, she saw another little pony with a red mane and hair ribbon who kept asking her big sister to play with her again and again. At the moment, Apple Pie was watching the little filly play on the monkey bars with the other foals, when Bon Bon's voice snapped her out of it.

"Miss Sweetberry wasn't always like this, you know. Honeyberry used to be her world." The teen filly sighed, looking up at the children playing. "But after her husband died, she's buried herself in her work."

"Wait, you mean she doesn't have any time for that little filly?" Apple Pie asked in shock. "I understand the importance of work, but family is really important, too."

"That's why she started working so hard, taking control of the bakery like that. She wanted to provide for Honeyberry." Bon Bon explained. "But as she got busy, the business kind of became more important that the reason for working it, and- well, you can figure it out."

"That's so sad." Apple replied sadly, as the little filly dropped down from the monkey bars. "Everypony... everybody... should have someone to care about them."

"Hey, girls! Some of the other girls wanna takes turns braiding each others manes!" Honeyberry motioned them over with her hoof, where several other fillies sat in a circle. "Wanna come join us?"

Apple Pie and Bon Bon looked at each other for moment, and then shrugged.

"Aw, why the hay not?" Apple Pie said with a laugh. "I haven't had my mane braided since I was a filly!"

"My little sister does it to me all the time!" Bon Bon giggled, as the two trotted their way over to the other ponies. "Maybe it'll be fun!"

Two things I learned that day, sugar cube. One, not all mommy ponies are always loving to their children, even if they don't mean to be like that.

What's the other?

Don't let a bunch of little fillies loose on your mane, unless you want it to end up looking like a tangled bush.