An audience gathered in the makeshift stadium, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy among them, Pinkamena selling rocks just outside.
Several wooden and not so wooden chairs and stools surround a large round expanse of field, forming the ‘stadium’. In the field stood several Apple families, including Hard Cider and Juicy Apple’s family, the Bad Apples and, of course, the Sparkles, wearing simple farm clothing. The assembled crowd booed at the unicorns, to which Rainbow merely glared at.
“Oh this is so exciting!” Fluttershy squeed, clapping her hooves and bouncing on her seat.
Braeburn and the local Sheriff, Silverstar, stood in front of the crowd, introducing each family in turn, the crowd booing even more as the Sparkles were named.
“Alright everypony, settle down.” Braeburn said placatingly. “We all know the Sparkles, and we all have reasons to not want them here, but they were invited and came all this way, we might as well give them some courtesy.” The crowd quietened down, and Silverstar stepped forward.
“The rules are simple: the competitors will be given a series of challenges, and whoever manages to successfully complete the most within the time limit will be declared the winner and receive a trophy proclaiming them Appleoosa’s Top Farmers, but will also receive a handsome bit prize. Remember, each challenge will have around 1-5 minutes in length, depending on the difficulty of the task.” He turned to the competitors. “Ok, Farmers, get ready for the first challenge!”
He raised his hoof high in the air and several trees on wheeled stands were pushed onto the field, each tree having a large beehive near the top, and large glass jars were placed near each family.
“This challenge is simple: you must harvest the honey from the hives without getting stung by the bees. If you are stung, you will lose the round.”
“Honey!?” Juicy Apple remarked. “When does honey have to do with farming?”
“Ma’am,” Sheriff Silverstar said sternly, “farming isn’t just one darn thing. We know your family are primarily apple farmers, but keep in mind this isn’t an applebucking competition; this is about farming in general. Where do you think we ponies get honey anyway? That the bees just give them to us? If you do not agree with how this competition is run, you may forfeit, unless you wish to talk about this with Deep Roots?”
Juicy and her husband frowned but didn’t object.
“Alright, now BEGIN! You have four minutes!”
Applebloom grinned excitedly and ran headfirst into her familiy’s tree, knocking the beehive off and sending it crashing onto Big Mac, covering him in honey and promptly screaming in pain as the angry bees attacked him. Hard Cider, his wife and Applejack all facehoofed.
Night Light and his wife smiled and stepped forward, their horns glowing, carefully removing only as much honey as they needed without disturbing the bees.
Rotten Bad Apple aimed his blunderbuss high, only to lower it as Worm-Eaten held up his hoof and trotted forward, pulling a banjo out from under his black poncho. He began playing a quick tune, the bees flying out in formation, dumping honey in the Bad Apple’s jar.
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Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “W-what kind of magic is that!? I thought all Apples were Earth Ponies?”
Fluttershy watched, awestruck and grinning. “He’s not using unicorn magic; he’s just playing on his banjo...”
Several other audience members talked amongst themselves, surprised by this development.
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Worm-Eaten smirked, playing one last note, sending the bees back into their hive and putting them to sleep.
“Time’s up!” Braeburn called out.
Those that were not yet finished stopped what they were doing, frowning in defeat. The Bad Apples, The Sparkles and several others held up their jars, showing off the amount they managed to collect. The Ponyville Apples, however, grumbled.
“Well this is a shocker!” Sheriff Silverstar announced. “The Ponyville Apple branch lost the first event, and the Bad Apples and the Sparkles are tied in first place. Following them are the Oranges, the Turnips and the Stalliongrad Apples. Sadly, the Outback Apples, the Dawns and the Grapes haven’t been able to collect any honey. Hopefully the next few rounds will see a turnaround.”
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“Yeah go Twilight!” Fluttershy cheered, flying around in their air, seemingly ignoring the other audience members booing at both the unicorns and the Bad Apples.
Outside the ‘stadium’, Pinkamena froze, wide eyed. She quickly grabbed a small sign that read ‘closed’ and ran off.
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“Next up, the Apple Clan favourite, Applebucking!” Silverstar called out as again trees were wheeled in, this time various appletrees, and this time one for each individual family member.
“Again, the rules are simple,” Silverstar continued, “just get down as many apples as you can within two minutes. The winner will be the one with the most apples in their basket when time runs out, and the apples must be undamaged, so anything smashed, bruised or split apart will not count. Begin!”
Rotten Bad Apple wasted no time, hefting up his gun and firing away until his tree was nothing but splinters. However, he also hit most of his apples and only one managed to get by undamaged. Worm-Eaten tried the patented Apple Family Applebucking Techinque, resulting in him spraining his back legs. Bruised Bad Apple grinned as they stepped up to their tree, grinning as they raised their left forehoof, punching the tree with incredible strength...and sending it crashing down, half of the apples bruised or smashed by the impact, but the other half unharmed.
The Sparkles calmly lifted every apple from their trees with their telekinesis, gently placing them in their basket.
Hard Cider and Big Mac managed to kick their trees clean of every apple, Juicy Apple managed to get down half and Applebloom couldn’t even get a single apple down from her tree. Applejack nervously stared up at her own tree, gulping as her family urged her on expectantly. She sighed and lightly tapped her hoof against the bark.
“Put some muscle in it girl!” Hard Cider yelled. “We’re runnin’ outta time!”
Applejack sighed and this time hit harder...and screamed as the action injured her leg.
“AHHH!” She screamed. “My hoof! Ah! My hooficure!” She hurridly inspected her injured hoof to see if she had managed to ruin its perectly well groomed appearance. She sighed in relief upon seeing it was undamaged and unruined.
“Time’s Up!” Braeburn called out.”
Silverstar nodded. “The Sparkles win this round again, followed by Stalliongrad, then the Outback, Ponyville, the Turnips, the Dawns, the Grapes and the Bad Apples. The Oranges lose this round, having only gotten two apples down.”
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Rainbow rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “That big white pony is certainly a strong one.”
“Oh I think he looks super cuddly!” Fluttershy squeeled.
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Bruised Bad Apple glared towards the audience, towards the two pegasi, growling in irritation.
“Now jus’ hold on one second!” Hard Cider called out. “Those unicorns cheated! They used their dang magic to get all the apples!”
“Is it wrong for a pony to use their natural skills to help perform a certain task?” A new voice stated gently.
The apple farmer froze as an elderly, extremely wizened earth pony walked in, hobbling along on a twisted tree branch walking stick. His mane and tail were a light grey, his coat was also a darker grey, but his blue eyes sparkled with wisdom and compassion as he smiled warmly.
“D-Deep Roots!” Hard Cider and several others exclaimed.
The elderly stallion nodded. “Indeed, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Now, back to your complaint, a farmer must use every method they deem fit to successfully perform their tasks. As unicorns, the Sparkles are blessed with abilities that simplify their work far more than any tool, but using it is not ‘cheating’. After all, you are fine with Rotten Bad Apple’s use of his invention, and his son’s use of his special talent.”
“That’s different!” Hard Cider spat. “They’re kin, and those unicorns are...”
Deep Roots frowned sternly. “My fellow judges agree with me, the Sparkles are allowed to use their magic. If you wish to cause a scene, however, you will be disqualified. Am I clear, Hard Cider?”
The stallion sighed and hung his head low. “Yes, Deep Roots.”
“Good.” The elder grinned happily. “So let’s continue the competition, shall we?”
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Rainbow Dash raised a brow at this. “Who is this Deep Roots? He was mentioned earlier...”
“Oh, Ah suppose you wouldn’t know him, not being an Apple an’ all.” An earth pony said from beside Rainbow. “He is the patriarch of the Apple Clan, and every one of us, no matter how distant, can be linked back to him, the stallion who started our family.”
“He...STARTED the Apple Family?” The pegasus’ eyes widened. “But that’d be...How old IS he!?”
“Nopony knows. But he has guided everyone at one point or another, and is extremely wise. He has earned his position as the overall head of the Clan and our most respected and loved relative.”
Fluttershy grinned, sighing in amazement. “I’ll bet he’ll love to hear some of my party ideas!”
“Maybe later Shy,” Rainbow said, a leg over her friend’s shoulder, “right now there’s a bit of a family event going on.”
“Oh, duh!” The yellow Pegasus giggled, sticking out her tongue. “I meant after silly! Only a jerky meanie pants would interrupt a party for their own party!”
Rainbow smiled at that, watching the competition again.
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Pinkamena ran down the streets, panting and wild eyed as she scanned her surroundings for an irritating yellow Pegasus who liked to sing. She breathed a sigh of relief upon finding that she was safe and alone, only to get the wind knocked out of her as something big and white crashed into her, knocking her to the ground.
Pinkamena glared up at Rarity, the white unicorn rubbing her short messy mane, grinning in embarrassment. “Hehe, sorry Pinkie, didn’t see ya there.”
‘PInkamena.” The rock farmer growled. “Pink. Ah. Mee. Nah. Got it memorised?”
“Yeah, yeah. Anyway gotta dash I’m late for the competition!” The unicorn hurriedly ran off through the middle of the town.
“Why?” PInkamena groaned. “Why am I surrounded by crazy ponies!?”
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As the events continued, the Ponyville Apples had managed to crawl up the standings and were now head to head with the Sparkles, the other families jockeying for their positions, the Bad Apples Floundering in last place.
“Now then!” SIlverstar announced. “This round will show how good you are at taking care of produce in order to sell it, as well just how well you can grow something. All you need do is bring out something you brought over for the judges. This time, you will have all the time you need. Begin!”
The competitors all gathered together various items, some fruits, some vegetables, ready to present them to the judges. Hard Cider put on a brown Stetson, smirking towards the Sparkles as his wife handed a nervous Applejack a jar of Zap Apple Jam.
“You may have gotten very lucky, but naturally, our Zap Apple Jam will win us the competition.” He turned, frowning at Applejack. “Surely our daughter can prove not to mess up this time.”
Applejack winced, Applebloom and Big Mac frowning in shame as her parents glared disappointedly. She stepped forward, lifted the jar to the judges and...
Blinked, frozen in place as the jar shattered and jam covered hers and the judges’ faces. Several other contestants cried out as their own samples were blown to smithereens after a gunshot rang out each time.
“ROTTEN BAD APPLE!” Deep Roots shouted disapprovingly. “You will stop this lunacy at once!”
Rotten chuckled as his children stood by him with wicked smirks. “Well Ah cain’t exactly prees’nt anything to yew, Deep Roots sir, on accounnt of mah bein’ such an awful farmer. ‘S only fairs that everypony else suffer th’ same handeecap.” He spread his forelegs out in a shrug, smirking like the kid who stole the pie from the windowsill.
“The Bad Apples are disqualified for disorderly conduct.” Deep Roots stated. “I will not tolerate anypony, not even family, disrupting our event.”
“Welp, not like we were winnin’ anyways. Let’s go.” Rotten chuckled as his two children followed him as they left the stadium.
“Zat vas uncalled for.” Night Light said with a raised brow. “Surely he knew doing zat vould result in instant disqualification.”
“I’m sure he had good reasons, Dad.” Twilight offered. “I talked to him before; he didn’t seem to be a bad pony.”
“You hear that!” Hard Cider yelled out. “They’re defendin’ the Bad Apples! They’re prob’ly in cahoots! Why we oughta..”
“Cider.” Deep Root breathed. “Do not cause a fuss, or you’ll end like Rotten and his kin. Understood?”
“....Crystal.”
The wizened pony smiled and turned to the Sparkles. “I assume you were the only ones Rotten didn’t sabotage just now.”
Twilight’s mother sighed. “We...were not familiar with how this event is run. We didn’t prepare anything in advance. I am sorry.”
“Hah! You ain’t so special after all!” Applebloom pointed at the Sparkles as several Apples laughed cruelly.
“Ve never said ve vere.” Night Light replied, smiling gently. “All farmers, all PONIES, can suffer bad luck or poor planning at the best of times.”
“Wait we do have something!” Twilight grinned and ran over to the judges, showing off simple overalls she was wearing. “We save a ton of money making our own clothes! See? Real, genuine cotton!”
Deep Roots raised a brow. “You farm cotton?”
“Oh we farm lots of things! Wool, cotton, fruits, vegetables, and many besides! We pride ourselves of being prepared to cater to everypony!”
Deep Roots rubbed his chin, smirking. “Hmm...Quite interesting...”
“But that don’t count!” Big Mac interjected. “You can’t eat it!”
Silverstar gazed back. “And where does it say a farmer only farms food?”
Deep Roots nodded. “Very true. Living off the land takes more than being able to grow fruits or vegetables. It means being able to think about how to use everything else nature gives us. The Sparkles win this round, followed by the Apples.”
Twilight grinned wide. “Yay!”
“You’re letting us win?” Applejack asked, puzzled.
“While the jar may have been destroyed, you did manage to present your product to us, and we were able to sample, albeit...in an unconventional manner.” Deep Roots chuckled. “Now then, I believe it’s on to the next and final round.”
There was much cheering as the contestants were directed back to their initial positions.
“Now then, in the end, farming comes down to one thing. And in this one thing, this final challenge will test you to the fullest. And, thus, I ask you now, Kin, visitors, to do one thing.” Deep Roots cleared his throat and leaned spoke softly but was still able to be heard.
“Dig a hole.”
Applebloom tilted her head. “What.”
Rainbow Dash blinked from up in the stand. “What.”
Fluttershy laughed, twisting around in the air mirthfully
“That’s easy!” someone shouted out.
Deep Roots chuckled. “OH? Then surely our competitors can do quite well. So then...whoever has dug the largest whole in oh say 4 minutes wins.”
The each team was given a shovel, except the Sparkles, who declined, instead setting to work taking something out of a bag, constructing a large, complex machine.
“They ain’t prepared to give produce,” Juicy Apple yelled incredulously, “but theya re prepared to build THAT monstrosity!?”
Hard Cider growled, taking his shovel and quickly begin digging. “We ain’t gonna lose! Not to them! Not to those dang blasted unicorns!”
“Um, father, mother?” Applejack asked. “Aren’t you taking all this a little harshly? They are not really bad ponies...”
“Why are you on their side anyway!?” Applebloom shouted out. “You’re supposed to be helpin’ us, we’re your family! You’re my big sis, you’re supposed to be the one who helped us win!” The filly started to cry. “But instead all ya’ve done is make us look like idiots and let THEM win! Don’t ya love us, AJ!? Aren’t ya supposed to always be there for us!?”
Applejack sighed, and began to speak when her father interrupted her.
“Now’s not the time!” Hard Cider shouted, digging furiously, sweat pouring down his brow. “We gotta win! We gotta win! Jus’ once, we gotta beat those Sparkles!”
Big Mac hopped into the hole, helping his father dig as Applejack watched with a frown on her delicate features.
The other families worked hard as the Sparkles used their magic to power their machine as it dug incredibly rapidly within seconds.
“Time’s up!” Silverstar shouted after some time had passed, the respective families stopping.
The judges looked over the holes. It was clear to all who had won yet again.
“You cheatin’ no good varmints!” Juicy Apple shouted. “That there hunka junk is the most blatant cheatin’ Ah’ve ever did see!”
Twilight looked down, turning to ehr father. “Did we really?”
Night Light sighed, shaking his head. “Ve vere just told to dig a hole as fast as possible, nopony said how ve could go about zat.”
“Not to mention that this isn’t so much dirt as bedrock.” Twilight’s mother added. “We would’ve had a difficult time digging with only a shovel.”
“But you till had an unfair advantage.” Big Mac said, stepping forward. “We were all utilising our own strength and ponypower, while you just used that machine and your magic. You didn’t even work up a sweat!”
Twilight back up as the other competitors gathered together, rallying behind the Apples into a mob out for blood. Her parents stood resolute, turning to the Judges.
“I apologise for not zinking about ze rules more carefully.” The stallion stated. “On behalf of my family, we are prepared for any disciplinary actions you wish to take on us.”
All eyes turned to the judges, particularly Deep Roots. The elder stallion opened his eyes, looking towards Sheriff SIlverstar.
“This is your town, Sheriff. Your call.”
The Sheriff nodded and turned to the competitors. “The Sparkles have done nothing wrong. They win the round, and the competition.”
Hard Cider slammed his hoof into the ground. “WHAT!?”
Deep Roots nodded. “Tell me, was it difficult digging into the ground? And in such a short amount of time?”
Several of the competitors asserted that yes this was true.
“I...may have had some difficulty, even with Big Mac’s help.” Hard Cider conceded.
“Now tell me...” Deep Roots continued. “What did this round have to do with farming?”
Big Mac raised a brow. “You sayin’ there was some other meanin’ behind this challenge?”
“Deep Roots nodded, and opened his mouth to speak, when a white unicorn came barreling in dramatically.
“WAIT!!!” Rarity yelled out.
Rainbow Dash flew over to her friend. “Oh, where have you been Rarity?”
“I was asleep on the train!” The unicorn shouted. “It’s a good thing it was going anywhere today cause everyone was out here for the competition, or else i would’ve been who knows where!”
Rainbow blushed and looked away sheepishly. “Hehe sorry I guess we kinda...forgot about you due to well...a lot of things.”
“You FORGOT about me!?” Rarity’s eye twitched. “Some friend YOU are!” She folded her forelegs, harrumphing.
“Don’t worry Rares!” Fluttershy called out as she joined them. “I’ll throw you a big ‘Rarity is our bestest friend’ party ever!”
“Now, excuse me,” the three mares turned towards Deep Roots, who walked over to them slowly, “but is there a reason you came here so late and interrupted us before we decided on the winner?”
“Oh right! I almost forgot!” Rarity’s expression became much more fearful. “We have to evacuate the town! Call the Royal Guard! Duck and Cover!”
“And why should we do that?” Hard Cider said irritably.
That was when everyone noticed the ground rumbling as the sound of many rapid footsteps grew louder.
“STAMPEDE!!” Rarity and Fluttershy shouted, the latter with utter glee, earning a mild glare from Rainbow.