//------------------------------// // Interruption // Story: Applejack Through the Ages // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// Interruption "She got hit by a speeding car?!" Baby Applejack whimpered. "That's terrible!" "Yes suger cube, the poor little filly was heartbroken ." AJ told her daughter sadly, remembering the long-ago event like it was only yesterday. "And so with no one to take care of her, I just had to-" "APPLEJACK!!" A loud scream came from AJ's door, accompanied by a lot of banging against the wooden entrance. "I know you're in there!" Before the orange earth mare (who was right in the middle of telling her daughter the story of millennial lifespan) could even respond, Cherries had slammed against the flimsy door so hard with her earth pony strength, that the wooden surface crumbled before the pounding blow of her hooves. "Why don't you come in, Cherries." AJ commented calmly, as the remains of her door crumbled to the floor. "It's open." "YOU!" The angry mare screamed, storming up to the earth pony in the rocking chair, and shoving a hoof into her face. "How could you mess up my big chance like that?!? How could you stick your stupid snout in where it didn't belong, and rip away my opportunity to make this year's celebration a Cherry carnival?!?" Quickly moving Baby Applejack out of her lap, the earth mare stood from her seat, and rose to face the angry intruder into her home. "As I recall, Cherries, it was both of us being immature that messed up our chances." AJ calmly corrected her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I was telling my daughter about my life for her school project." The older mare snorted. "Please prop the ruins of my door back up on your way out, so that the castle repair crew can fix it." "Your life story!?" Cherries Jubilee asked in disbelief. "Ohhhh, you mean that little fairy tale of yours that you're the original Applejack that survived somehow!" "That's no fairy tale!" Baby Applejack protested, standing in front of her mother protectively, "My mama was the element of Honesty!" "Listen kid, you gotta stop believing all the lines your mother's been feeding you." The larger mare looked down at the little filly in annoyance. "I knew your mom when I was growing up, she's nothing but a washed-up migrant worker who goes from town to town in Ponyland, picking apples in exchange for room and board. She'd still be doing that if she hadn't made friends with Twilight and her crew during that whole Cadence fiasco about a decade back." "Cherries Jubilee, if you don't get out of my home..." AJ snarled in a warning tone, trying to be intimidating. While the orange mare was still physically powerful, but she knew Cherries Jubilee was stronger, the product of generations of barbarian pony blood mixed with the older Equestrian genetics- a mix that represented nearly all of Ponyland's present population. The shorter and stockier mare could easily knocked the old Equestrian-blooded apple-picker off her hooves... and probably out the window if she wanted. "...I swear I'll send you flying out of it!" "Oh come now, Jack! You might have Twilight, the queen, and your little group of friends believing your nonsense, but the rest of Ponyland isn't buying it!" Cherries retorted. "You're just trying to live off of the glory of your supposedly great ancestor, but you're family's always been good at lying about their greatness, hasn't it?" "Is your family still upset about that stupid cherry machine my friends and I messed up at Dodge Junction!? I wish Spike had never told you all about that!" Applejack snorted. "Would you all please get over it?!? That was over a thousand years ago!" "That's not the only time your idiotic family fouled things up for the Cherry clan!" The other mare growled, stamping her hoof so hard the floor shook. "If she really wants a story for her class, you should tell Applejerk junior here how your family screwed things up for my ancestor Cherry Blossom! Or Cherry Treats?! Or my own grandma, Cherry Sweet!" The angry mare turned, and trotted towards the doorway. "After all, she should learn how to be a good troublemaker, if she's going to follow in the family tradition!" She looked back at the other mare. "But that's still not going to help her get the best report in her class." "And just what's that supposed to mean?!" AJ growled, glaring at the rival mare. "It just so happens that Baby Cherries Jubilee has the same report due to Miss Cheerilee's class, and I'm going to make sure she has a full account of our family's successes." She stepped back through the broken doorway, firing off a parting shot. "And I'll be sure to add how the Apples were responsible for all of our failures!" "Why that miserable, no good, little..." AJ trailed off angrily, her face contorted in a look of rage. "...so she thinks she's gonna show the Apple family up, does she!?!" "Mama. what's she talkin' about, you messing up things for her family?" Baby AJ asked, giving her mother a confused look. "That's... that's a part of the story we'll be getting to very soon, Sugar Cube." The mare replied, sitting back down with a sigh, and picking up the telephone off the stand. "Now, why don't you just let me make this call to the castle's maintenance ponies, and then we'll pick up with what happened to Honeyberry..."