Blaze the Pony Tale

by Wolven5


9. Applebucking Season - Part 2

Meanwhile, a tree was just getting bucked, apples falling into the baskets below. Applejack was working hard, so hard she bucked again but wasn’t anywhere near a tree, almost making her fall over. She panted, and shook off the sluggishness she was accumulating, when she heard, “Applejack!”

She didn’t answer, having already started snoozing while standing.

“Applejack…!”

The owner of the voice appeared in front of her in a flash of light, shouting, “APPLEJACK!”

AJ woke up and said, “Howdy Twilight!”

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked as the farmer stepped past her.

“It’s Applebuck Season,” Applejack explained, Twilight teleporting in front of her as she bucked another tree.

“Applebuck Season?”

“It’s wha’ th’ Apple Family calls harvestin’,” Applejack clarified, “we gather all th’ apples from th’ trees so we can sell `em.”

“But why aren’t you working with Big Macintosh and Midnight?” Twilight asked, following her.

“Ergh! Big Mac… Thinks Ah cain’t do what he certainly couldn’t!” Applejack huffed. “He insinuates if’n he couldn’t work, Ah couldn’t handle the harvestin’ mahself.”

“But that’s what family’s for, Applejack,” Twilight reminded her. “You work together.”

“Big Mac started this, Twilight,” Applejack insisted, bucking another tree. “So we’ve split the orchard down th’ middle, and Ah’m gonna finish mah half first! That’ll show `im.”

“Applejack, I think the harvest matters more than your pride,” Twilight scolded, “and this silly bet of yours has dragged Midnight into the middle.”

“Ah told him, Twilight!” Applejack refused to listen. “He wants to stay, he earns his keep!”

“Applejack, wouldn’t you like some help getting this harvest done?”

“No way, no how!”

“But you can’t do all this work on your own!”

“Is tha’ a challenge?!” Applejack gave her the stink-eye.

“Um, no…” Twilight shied at the accusation.

“Well! Ah’m gonna prove it, to you, to Big Mac, that Ah can finish harvesting mah half of the orchard first!” She walked past Twilight, her nose in the air, “Now if you’ll excuse me, Ah’ve got apples to buck!”

Sighing, Twilight started making her way back to the barn but grimaced when she heard Applejack yelp from a mishap.

Arriving, she saw Midnight and Big Mac waiting for her.
“No luck, Ah assume?” Big Mac asked, apparently made aware of Twilight’s attempt.

“She’s determined,” Twilight admitted, “but I suppose I could’ve tried better.”

“I’m telling you, Twi,” Midnight shook his head. “That pony is as stubborn as a mule!”

“Hee-haw!”

“No offense,” Midnight apologized to his right, and they turned to see a mule (who hadn’t been there a moment ago).

“None taken,” the mule said before he walked away.

“Ah tried ta’ say no when she brought up this silly contest,” Big Mac explained, “but mah sister’s `bout as stubborn as any earth pony.”

“Well I can’t keep being peacekeeper here!” complained Midnight. “It’s stressing the hell out of me!”

“But what can we do if Applejack won’t listen?” Twilight asked.

For a moment, the three of them were at a loss when Midnight smiled.
“How `bout we teach her a little lesson about her stubbornness and what it will cost her.”

“What’re ya gonna do?” Big Mac asked.

We,” Midnight corrected, “are gonna carry on. But! ...Mac, you’re gonna have some help. We’ll let Applejack keep working alone while we get Thunderlane to help you out. I have to keep going back n’ forth so AJ doesn’t wise up. Once she finishes, we let her show up thinking she’s won, but we’ll show her we finished your half first!”

“But the bet was see which of them can do it first by themselves!” Twilight reminded him.

“Not exactly,” Midnight looked smug. “The exact bet was, whichever side is completely harvested first, that side is the winner.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Twilight considered, “anything else?”

“Yes, we all know Applejack,” Midnight went on, “despite her work, she’s gonna try to honor her commitments to Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy. I have a feeling those appointments won’t turn out so well…”

“But wha’ exactly is th’ point of this?” asked Big Mac.

“Bottom line, AJ will see how her stubbornness will affect others and once she sees how we got your side finished first because you had help you sincerely needed, the lesson will sink in.”

“It’s a little devious but I think we should go with it,” Twilight agreed.

“Well Mac? It’s your call,” Midnight offered. “We won’t do this if you’re not along with it.”

Big Mac looked towards the side of the orchard his sister was at, and sighed.

The next day, Twilight was sitting on her balcony, enjoying a good book, when…
“…AAAUUGH- Oomph!”

She looked to the railing of her balcony and saw it was Rainbow Dash, her wings looking a little frazzled.
“Can I help you?” she asked.

“I think somepony else needs your help,” Rainbow groaned.

“Applejack?” deadpanned Twilight immediately.

“Yup,” Rainbow nodded.

Back at the orchard, Applejack had just brought down more apples, but had forgotten to place the baskets underneath. Groaning, she started picking them up but as she stood up, “Ow!”

She had unfortunately hit the back of her head against a low hanging branch.

“Applejack, can we talk?”

She turned around to see Twilight, but felt a ringing in her ear as Twilight appeared to be asking something.
“Can bees squawk?!” Applejack asked loudly. “Ah don’ think so!”

“No, can we talk?” Twilight asked.

“Twenty stalks?!” said Applejack, obviously not hearing right. “Bean or celery?!”

“No! I need to talk to you!”

“Ya need to walk to th’ zoo?!” Twilight face-hoofed as Applejack yelled, “Well, who’s stoppin’ you?!”

“I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!!” Twilight yelled.

“Oh! Well why din’cha say so?! Wha’choo wanna talk about?!”

“Rainbow Dash dropped in to see me today!”

“Tha’s quite neighborly o’ her!”

“Yes, except she crashed onto my balcony after you launched her into the air!”

“Oh yeah,” Applejack suddenly remembered she’d helped Rainbow with a trick earlier today but in retrospect, ‘help’ might have been a strong word. She sighed, saying, “Ah wasn’t feelin’ quite mahself this mornin’.”

“Because you’re working too hard and you need help!” Twilight insisted.

“Wha- Kelp? Ah don’ need kelp! Ah don’ even like seaweed,” Applejack shot down, only for Twilight to get in her face.

“HELP! YOU NEED HELP!!!”

“Nothin’ doin’, Twilight! Ah’m gonna prove ta’ you, to everypony, that I can do this on mah own!” She walked into another low-hanging branch, “Ow!”

Backing up, her eyes bulged, as she said, “Now if you’ll excuse me, Ah gotta go help Pinkie Pie!”

Twilight sighed as she watched Applejack wobble off.
“No good?”

She turned around to see Midnight collecting the baskets of apples Applejack had left behind, looking nonchalant.
“Midnight, I’m not so sure about this plan of yours!”

“I’m worried about her too, Twilight,” Midnight assured her as he started carrying the baskets off in his aura, Twilight trotting up.
“But Applejack is gonna have to learn how her pride affects others when she’s being unreasonable.”

“But at the expense of her health?”

“Trust me, Twilight, by the time this is all over, Applejack will be begging us for help. Speaking of which, Big Mac and Thunder are making great progress.”

“I still feel a little guilty about this,” Twilight sighed.

“Twilight, when Applejack sees the end-results, she’ll admit she was wrong and learn her lesson. Now, I think you’d better get back to Ponyville. I have this sudden feeling you’re gonna be needed.”

Midnight’s words came true, as Twilight got a call and, with Spike accompanying her, she made her way to a tent that had been set up nearby Sugarcube Corner, and they gasped at what they saw inside.
“We came as soon as we heard!”

“Thank you, Twilight,” Nurse Redheart worried as she looked at the tentful of patients. “We need all the help we can get!”

Throughout the tent, on set-up beds, were ponies, green in the face, some with icepacks on their heads, others thermometers in their mouths, but all of them groaning, clutching their bellies. There was even a pony emptying the contents of her stomach into a bucket.
“Oh no,” Twilight shuddered, “What happened?!”

“It was a mishap with some of the baked goods,” Nurse Redheart explained, Spike examining a half-eaten muffin and startled when a worm popped out.

“No… Not baked goods!”

They looked to a bed and saw Pinkie as she said, “Baked... Bads!”

“Applejack!” Twilight growled, wincing at the sound of Pinkie ralphing into her bucket.

Once again, Applejack was too-hard at work, bucking a tree, startling when an apple fell on her head. She gathered them up and carted them over to a big basket set in a shallow in the ground, only for the cart to slip in, leaving her hanging from the harness. She might have been angry if she hadn’t fallen asleep.

“Applejack, we need to talk!”

“Wha- Huh?!” Applejack opened her eyes. “Oh, it’s you, Twilight.”

She yawned, saying, “Ah know wha’ yer gonna say but th’ answer is still no.”

“That’s up to your apple-cart but you need help!”

“Hardy-har… and no Ah don’t!” Applejack said while trying to get loose.

“Let me help!” Twilight gently insisted.

“No thanks!” Applejack refused as she continued to struggle, Twilight standing there, silently frustrating over the situation.
“One more… a little! Ergh! There…”

Twilight face-hooved again, but Applejack did managed to free herself, as she set up next to a tree.
“Ah’ll prove that this Apple can handle these apples.”

She started bucking it, saying, “Come on, erg! Apples, ugh! Fall off!”

“AJ, I think you’re beating a dead… tree,” Twilight pointed out and Applejack saw she was right as a dead leaf fell onto her nose.

“Ah knew that,” Applejack muttered as she moved on, Twilight following.

“Actually, Applejack, I have something else to talk to you about.I just came back from Ponyville Urgent Care and-”

“Y’know, Ah’m a little busy to get lectured right now, Twilight,” Applejack seethed.

“But if you’d just let me help-” Twilight tried to say, Applejack groaning.

“NO, NO, NO!!” Applejack yelled, giving Twilight the stink-eye. “How many times do Ah gotta say it, Ah don’ need help from nopony!”

Twilight glared after Applejack, unable to comprehend, “Just how can anypony be so stubborn, huh?”

Twilight turned and once again, there was Midnight, collecting Applejack’s spoils.

“Midnight, this is starting to get out of hoof!” Twilight insisted.

“Yes, I heard about the Baked Bads incident,” Midnight said as he gathered some spilled apples. “But like I said, Twilight, Applejack has to learn this lesson, and that’s only gonna happen if we see this through to the end.”

Twilight sighed.

Later that day, a very familiar vibration was spreading through Ponyville. Rainbow flew up, looking in the direction it was coming from. She squinted, looking towards the distance and realized what was coming.
“STAMPEDE!”

Everypony was prepared this time, running indoors, closing the doors and windows, in fact Carrot Top even pulled in her welcome mat. But then everypony gasped to see it wasn’t a stampede of cattle, but bunnies!

A pony named Lilly fainted in the middle of the street, the bunnies hopping past her.

Just minutes later, Twilight was humming as she was taking a walk when she gasped at the sight in front of her.
Daisy, Lilly, and Rose all lay fainted on the street. But suddenly, they woke up, clearly upset.
“The horror, the horror!”
“It was awful!”
“A disaster, a horrible-horrible disaster!”

Twilight looked around but didn’t see anything wrong.
“I don’t get it,” she muttered.

But Lilly ran over to, “Our garden! Destroyed!”

“Every last flower devoured!” Rose cried, looking at the remains of her potted plants.

“By-” Twilight looked to Daisy. “By… them!”

She looked in the direction the hysterical flower-seller pointed and saw bunnies everywhere! Munching on flowers and bushes publicly planted throughout Ponyville, Fluttershy trying hopelessly to take control of the situation, as the bunnies gorged and ignored her gentle pleas.
“Oh my! Oh, please stop, little bunnies, no-no! Please, let’s go home! Oh my goodness!”

“Alright,” Twilight declared, “This has gone far enough!”

“Keep” – Buck! – “Focus…” – buck!

Applejack stood on a hill, next to the apple tree atop it, wearing a harness with baskets, sleepily still at it.
“Must… finish… harvest…”

“Alright, Applejack!”

She looked and saw Twilight, looking to be in no mood for an argument.
“Your applebucking hasn’t caused just you problems, it’s over-propelled pegasus’, practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand new bouncing bunnies. I don’t care what you say, you. Need. Help!”

Applejack responded to that with a buck to the tree behind her, bushels of apples falling gracefully into her baskets.
“Ha! No Ah don’t! Look, Ah did it!”

Twilight looked and saw the results of Applejack’s work.
“Ah harvested mah half of the Sweet Apple Acres orchard all by mahself! Ah bet ah even finished before Big Mac. How’d’ya like them apples?!”

Her moment of victory was interrupted by the sound of somepony clearing their throat. They looked to see Big Mac, Midnight, and Thunderlane, her brother giving her a pair of binocs and pointing out the barn as he said, “How do you like them apples?”

Confused, Applejack looked and her jaw practically dropped at what she saw! In front of the barn, and clearly inside, were baskets upon baskets full of apples, carefully organized and ready to be sold.
“No way…!” she whispered disbelievingly, and looked towards the other half of the orchard.

Her mood deflated all the more, as she scanned Big Mac’s half, seeing nary a single apple in any tree! And from the looks of those baskets at the barn, he’d finished quite some time ago!
“How did… all the apples…?!” she mumbled, before keeling over.

“Applejack!”

“Huh?”

“Applejack!”

Applejack woke to find herself in bed, surrounded by Twilight, Midnight, Big Mac, Thunderlane, even Granny Smith.
“Oh! Thank heavens, yer alright, sweetie pie,” Granny Smith sighed as she wiped Applejack’s brow with a wet cloth.

“Wha’ happened?” Applejack asked as she sat up, groaning as her head pounded.

“You keeled over,” Midnight answered, “not surprising as you worked yourself into the ground!”

“The orchard! The apples!” Applejack remembered. “Big Mac? Y’won?”

“Nnope,” Big Mac shook his head and put his hooves Midnight and Thunderlane’s shoulders. “Ah finished, because Ah had help.”

“Wha-?!” Applejack felt the anger rise. “We had a bet, Big Macintosh!”

“No, Applejack!” Midnight snapped. “You had a bet! You turned an anthill into a mountain just because Big Mac worried about what might have been!”

“And unlike you, Big Macintosh was not so proud as to deny help he sincerely needed,” Twilight added.
“Applejack, I respect the Apple Family ways, I mean, you and your brother are always there to help somepony in need! But that doesn’t mean you should allow your stubborn pride to disallow you from accepting help when you truly need it yourself.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

“You help everypony in town all the time, Applejack.” Thunderlane brought up, “it’s only natural for us to want to repay you now and then. Even if you’re not expecting something in return.”

Seeing the concern in all their faces, and hearing what they’d said, Applejack sighed, feeling ashamed of herself.
“Yer right, everypony. Ah over-reacted to a simple worry and caused problems not just fer me but fer everypony Ah was trying to help mahself! Ah’m sorry.”

Everypony smiled, Twilight going over and giving Applejack a hug.
“It’s okay, so long as you understand. Now, would you like somepony to collect those last few apple baskets?”

“Please, please, Twilight! Ah really could use some help!”

Twilight, Big Mac, Midnight, and Thunderlane brought in all the last few apple baskets Applejack had left behind (having earlier expected Midnight to collect them) and started storing them,
During the break they took afterwards, Twilight wrote a letter:

Dear Princess Celestia,
My friends Applejack and her brother Big Macintosh are about the best friends a pony could ever have. But unlike Big Mac, Applejack had a problem in finding it hard to accept help when she really needs it, so while friendship is about giving ourselves to friends, it’s also about accepting what your friends have to offer.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

P.S.
The lesson learned here wouldn’t have been possible if Midnight hadn’t insisted on a course of action. There’s something about that pony…

“Hey everypony!” Applejack called as they sat down in front of the barn. “Ah got some fine applejuice waitin’ for ya!”

They all came over to the picnic table, where Applejack had set some bottles of the beverage, sighing as she said, “Everypony, Ah cain’t thank you enough for this help. Ah guess Ah was acting a bit stubborn…”

“A bit?” Twilight smirked, the boys chuckling.

“Okay, a might stubborn,” Applejack admitted. “An’ Ah’m awful sorry.Now, Ah know th’ town gave me and Mac the Prize Pony Award… but the real award is having y’all as mah friends!”

“Eeyup!” Big Mac agreed, “Bottom’s up!”

They all slurped the straws of their drinks when Spike walked up and Thunderlane said, “That applebucking sure worked up an appetite!”

“And I’ve got the perfect treat!” Spike was holding a bunch of half-eaten muffins.

“Uh, Spike? Where did you get those?” Midnight asked warily.

“From the trash behind Sugarcube Corner!” he answered, earning him a round of ‘yucks’ and ‘ews’