//------------------------------//
// O 
// Story: Apple Loader 
// by shortskirtsandexplosions 
//------------------------------//

	"Apple Bloom!"  No response.  "Pssssssssst!  Apple Bloom!"

"Mrmmmff—guuu..."  Apple Bloom's head nodded and nodded from where she slumped in her school desk.  "Don't... w-wanna ride the orangutan, Granny..."

"Apple Bloom!" An orange hoof swung across the space between desks and kicked her stool.  "Wake up!"

"Snkkt—Huh?!"  Apple Bloom's bloodshot eyes snapped open as she glanced everywhere from her seat.  "What?!"

Scootaloo hissed from the next seat over.  "Snap out of it!  Do you wanna flunk this?!"

"Flunk w-what?"

"We're taking a pop quiz," Scootaloo whispered.  "Remember?"

"Pop quiz?  Oooh!"  Sweetie Belle whispered from behind them.  "I love soda!  Heehee!"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and facehoofed.

"Mmm... I-I can't help it, y'all..."  Apple Bloom yawned and yawned.  "I couldn't get a wink of sleep last night."

"Oh no?"

"Guh... my big sister got this brand new piece of farm equipment and she was up all evening makin' all kinds of racket doin' Celestia-knows-what..."

"Maybe she's building us a new clubhouse!" Sweetie Belle hoarsely exclaimed.

"I wouldn't bet on it," Apple Bloom whispered back, eyes on Cheerilee at the front of the class.  "Ever since AJ's gotten that apple loader thang, she hasn't quite been herself."

"What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well, she's been all smiles'n'giggles and stuff."  Apple Bloom squirmed, glaring down at her blank quiz sheet.  "It's startin' to creep me out."

"Sounds to me like she's just happy!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.  "Is that such a bad thing?"

"Mmmm..."  Apple Bloom glanced aside, sighing through her nostrils.  "Nah, I guess not."

"Just relax and do your quiz, Apple Bloom," Scootaloo said.  "And don't worry about Applejack.  I mean... she's said and done weird things before."

"All our sisters have!" Sweetie Belle said—then winced.  "Well, except Scootaloo, b-because she doesn't have one."

Scootaloo clenched her teeth but nevertheless calmly said, "Point is, she'll come around.  Applejack always does!"

"Hmmm..."  Apple Bloom smiled tiredly.  "Yer right.  I'm frettin' over a whole lot of nothin'."  She stifled a yawn and picked up her pencil, smiling.  "After all, if I can't trust my big sister, then who can I—?"

SMASSSSSSSSSH!!!

Cheerilee and every foal screamed in terror as a hole exploded right beside Apple Bloom's desk.  As the dust and plaster settled, there loomed Applejack—grinning wide—with Apple Bloom's lunchbag held out in a glistening metal limb that nearly decapitated Twist beside her.

"Apple Bloom, there ya are!  Ya forgot yer lunch, ya silly filly!"  Th-Thap!  She dropped the mushy bag onto Apple Bloom's desk top.  "Reckon the pickles may have gotten mixed in with yer PB&J, but—hey!—it's all goin' down yer gullet at some point or another, right?"

"Er... r-right..."  Apple Bloom gulped, staring down at the wrinkled bag.  "Thanks...?"  She winced as the metal limb hovered right over her fragile little skull.

Wreee!  Wreee!  Wreee!  Applejack gently stroked Apple Bloom's mane with the hulking limb.  "Dun ya fret yer pretty lil' head about dinner, either!  I'm fixin' us some corn on the cob this evenin'!"

"But... wh-where you gonna get the corn from?"

"The West Field of course!"

"But that ain't even harvested!"

"It will be this afternoon!"  Applejack leaned back through the fresh hole in the wall.  "Right after I demolish the old barn, repair the silo's roof, and dig a new trench to keep out the Everfree squirrels!  Yeeeha!  How I do lurve an afternoon full of chores!"  GONGGG!  The schoolhouse's bell landed in the soil beside her.  "Whoops!"  Applejack turned the machine around with a grin.  "Whelp!  When in Roam!"  She clamped the thing in two hooves and slapped it over the very top of the recess yard's flagpole, where it dangled obtusely.  "That's where it belongs, right?"  She shrugged with the whirring machine.  "Ah well."  Wree-Wree-Wree!  She waved.  "S'long, Apple Bloom!  Y'all study hard, now, ya hear?"  THUD!  Thud!  Thud!

At last, the mare-in-her-mech was gone.  Apple Bloom and the rest of the students remained frozen in their seats, gawking out the fresh hole.  Two seconds later, the flagpole bent forty-five-degrees from the weight of the school bell.  Four seconds later, and the fire sprinklers of the schoolroom burst, soaking every foal down to their tails.

Twist sat up straight, covered in plaster.  "Holy thit!" she wheezed, adjusting her cracked glasses.