Farmin' Mishaps
The group of ponies, after they finally finishing the tour of the town, found themselves back at the farm where Granny Smith was talking to two ponies. One of them was a stallion with a very light purple coat with a rainbow mane and tail. The other was a stallion as well, but had a yellow coat and a red mane and tail.
“Who's Granny talkin' ta?” Applejack asked, out loud. Rainbow Dash gulped nervously when she saw the purple stallion.
Uh oh...
The two stallions turned to the group and seemed visibly relieved. “Oh thank goodness, Dash!” The purple stallion said, hugging the filly. “I was so worried about you!”
“Fluttershy!” The other stallion cried, hugging the yellow filly in turn. “Are you hurt? Where were you?”
The group seemed a bit confused before the similarities in the stallions and fillies started to stand out and the idea seemed to click.
“Dad!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, trying to push him away. “You're embarrassing me in front of my new friends!” She stressed further when his grip tightened.
He, after some time, let his daughter out of his grip and set her down. However, he was now setting his daughter with a disapproving gaze. “Now young lady, you should know better than to go out alone at night.”
“But Fluttershy...”
“I know, sweetie, but you should have told a grown up,” He answered, before she had a chance to finish her sentence. His glare softened a bit when she started to look down at the ground. He sighed. “Well, I'll let you off this once. You seemed to have gone through enough.”
She smiled slightly. “Thanks dad.”
While that was going on, Fluttershy just clung back onto her father. “I don't like it at Flight Camp, daddy! I don't want to go there again!”
“I know baby, don't worry. I won't force you to go back. Not after this,” He reassured her.
“How did you know we were here?”
“Granny Smith got a pony called Dolty Doo to send a letter to us.”
The four fillies and the colt just stood there, unsure of what to do, until Granny Smith cleared her throat. “Why don't you five go inside an' grab a cookie each, fresh outta tha oven.”
“Yay cookies!” Pinkie cheered, before she just seemed to disappear in front of their eyes. Twilight's eye twitched as she tried to figure out how she did that, while she was being pushed in by Applejack. Rarity trotted in afterwards, thanking Granny Smith as she went.
Lil' Mac was about to follow before Rainbow's dad put a hoof on his shoulder. In confusion, he looked up into his grateful smile. “Thank you so much for saving her. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
Mac just blushed and scuffed the ground. “Aw shucks, t'weren't nuthin'. Just doin' what felt right,” He answered, breaking eye contact to look at the ground.
“I wish more ponies shared that view,” Rainbow's dad replied, before letting him go, only to be hugged by Fluttershy's dad.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you !” He kept repeating while Mac squirmed, uncomfortably, in his hooves. Rainbow tried to contain her giggles while Fluttershy blushed, extremely embarrassed by her father's behaviour.
Rainbow's father poked Fluttershy's in the shoulder. “C'mon, Feather, I'm sure he wants to get a cookie.”
Feather's eyes widened and he quickly let the colt go. “Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to trouble you!”
Mac just shrugged. “T'weren't no trouble,” He said, before awkwardly making his way into his home.
After that, Feather and Rainbow's dad turned to their daughters. “Uh, well I hate to tell ya the bad news, squirt,” Rainbow's dad started. “But the Flight Camp officials said that leaving the area without permission is grounds for exclusion so...”
“Aw man...” Rainbow said, scuffing the ground. “That stinks. So much for a vacation...”
“You could always stay here,” Granny Smith said, causing Rainbow to turn. “It ain't no trouble an', if'n yer vacation was cancelled, doesn't seem fair fer ya ta have no vacation at all.”
“Well that's really nice of you Mrs Smith,” Rainbow's father said, turning to his daughter. “So what do you think, kid?”
Hm...Stay here with Mac, Granny and AJ or go home to stay in my room all summer. Easy! “Thanks Granny Smith!” She said. Her father turned.
“Alright, how much do I owe you?”
“Oh, no payment necessary. It'll be a delight ta 'ave her here,” Granny answered. “Lil' Mac don't make a whole lotta friends, so it'll be nice ta see 'im spend time with one.”
“Can I stay too?!” Fluttershy asked, a little too eagerly, to which her father seemed concerned.
“Are you sure, sweetie?” Fluttershy nodded, to her father, before looking up at Granny pleadingly.
“Why sure ya can! Tha more tha merrier,” Granny Smith answered. Rainbow's dad grinned, nudging Feather away from his daughter.
“Well, see ya in a month, Rainbow!” Her dad called out to her, before he flew away, taking Feather with him.
“Yay!” Fluttershy cheered, softly, to herself, to which Rainbow rolled her eyes.
Jeez Flutters, could you be any more obvious!
“Yay! A whole month of fun!” Pinkie cheered as multi coloured confetti exploded out of her mane and showered the whole group, causing Twilight's eye to twitch again.
“Are you okay Twilight?” Pinkie asked. Twilight sighed.
“Yeah. Just a brain aneurysm from sheer stupidity...” Pinkie whistled.
“Wow, from all those big words I would've never guessed you were that stupid!” She replied, oblivious to the obvious sarcasm, to which Twilight's head slammed into the table in front of them, jolting all the glasses of milk around.
“Um...Hey Pinkie, wanna help me feed tha chickens?” Applejack asked, picking up the bag of chicken seed. This Twilight seemed to be having trouble dealing with the pink filly so decided to try to distract her.
“Chickens! I love chickens! Cause you can't make a cake without eggs. Well you can, but the way you should make a cake is with eggs, otherwise the mix won't bind together and the whole thing will come apart so it'll probably be more like crumbs then a cake...” Pinkie's voice seemed to get quieter and quieter as they got further and further from the other five ponies.
Rarity sighed in relief. “Thank heavens,” She said, taking a sip of her milk. “I'm not sure if my ears could take another Pinkie rant...”
Mac rose an eyebrow. “Aw shucks, she ain't that bad. She's just bein' herself.”
“Oh I know, Mac. It's not that I don't like her, it's just that she seems to be more inclined to talking to herself, more so than us.”
After a small pause, Rainbow just shrugged. “Well I think she's really fun!”
Twilight rose an eyebrow at her once Fluttershy put an ice pack on her head. “Weren't you the one asking what was wrong with her earlier?”
“Hey, everyone has something wrong with them! Nopony's perfect!” She defended, swigging the last of her milk down and knocking it back on the table. “I, apparently, don't have very good table manners!”
“I can't imagine who'd dare say such a thing,” Rarity said, sarcastically, followed shortly by a rather loud burp from Rainbow Dash.
“Sorry,” She said quickly. Lil' Mac just grinned and let out a larger one in response.
“Ah no need ta apologise, better out than in is what Ah say,” Rarity and Twilight cringed and shuffled away from the two. Fluttershy just stayed put, trying her hardest to hold her breath to maintain her place next to Mac.
Rainbow laughed and pumped a hoof in the air. “Amen to that!”
Lil' Mac pulled the cart his yoke was attached to forward and through the forest, the six fillies following behind him. “So all we hafta do is gather all tha twigs, stones an' branches lyin' around an' pop 'em in tha cart!” Applejack explained as she flicked a stick into the cart.
“Why?” Twilight asked, igniting her horn and levitating a few stones into the cart.
“Well it's so that we don't trip an' hurt ourselves in tha orchard an' tha apples that Mac bucks from tha trees falls on tha nice soft ground rather than, say, a big rock. Last thin' a pony would want is a bruised apple!” Applejack answered, noticing Rarity lagging behind a bit. “You okay back there, Rares?”
“Mud...So much mud...” Rarity murmured, carefully manoeuvring around a large, mud puddle. Rainbow, who was standing beside her, rolled her eyes.
“C'mon Rarity! A little dirt won't kill ya,” Rarity glared at Rainbow before saying.
“Do you know that for sure?!”
“Mud can't kill anypony, silly filly!” Pinkie piqued in from behind, diving head first into the mud, sending a few splotches towards the two. Rainbow took it like a champ but Rarity screamed, dramatically as it covered both of their faces.
Pinkie then surfaced out of the fairly shallow mud pile and gave the two a big, toothy grin. “See?!”
Rarity looked down, seeing her pristine white fur stained with mud, her face starting to turn red from both anger and embarrassment.
Rainbow noticed and turned to Pinkie with a deadpan expression. “Pinkie. Run.”
Pinkie tilted her head to the side in confusion. “Run? Run from wha...”
“I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, PINKIE!!” Rarity screamed to the heavens as she dove into the startled pink pony, who dived into the mud puddle after taking a breath. Rarity splashed around the fetlock high mud, trying to find Pinkie. “WHERE ARE YOU?!”
Rainbow glanced at the rest of the group and noticed a bit of pink in the cart, hiding under a pile of leaves. “Um...Rarity? We're falling behind,” She explained. “Maybe you should save your...”
“THERE SHE IS!!!” Rarity exclaimed, interrupting Rainbow, and charged towards the cart. Pinkie saw this and jumped out of the cart, past the four perplexed ponies.
Lil' Mac, Applejack, Twilight and Fluttershy were about to call after Pinkie before Rarity passed by them like a Wonderbolt, almost toppling them over in the process.
Rainbow trotted up to them, looking towards where the pair of ponies had disappeared. “Um...Shouldn't we do something about that?”
“Nnnope!” Lil' Mac exclaimed, picking up a rock with his teeth to throw it into the cart. “Ah ain't touchin' that issue wit' a ten foot pole!”
“Seconded!” Fluttershy agreed, looking over yonder with a sense of fear over the white Unicorn....Wouldn't stop her from messing with her face if she made a move on Mac, but still!
“Thirded!” Applejack joined in, Twilight sighing in response.
“Thirded isn't a word, Applejack,” She complained, causing Rainbow to snicker. Twilight rose a bemused eyebrow at her. “What?”
“We woo, we woo! Egghead alert!” She teased, running a couple of circles around the purple Unicorn. “We woo, we woo!”
“Stop it! I'm not an Egghead!” Twilight argued, turning her head away. “It's not Egghead like to tell somepony that something they say isn't a word in the dictionary!”
“How do you know?” Rainbow accused, grinning. “Did you check the whole dictionary?”
“Um yeah? Why?” Applejack started laughing as well at that point, leaning on a nearby tree trunk.
“Seriously! Tha dictionary!” Applejack cried out, almost falling over when Rainbow fell into her, still laughing at the absurdity of it.
Twilight started to blush when Lil' Mac and Fluttershy gawked in her direction as well. “W-well...I like reading and I had read everything else...It's normal...”
“About as normal as readin' tha phone book...” Lil' Mac muttered to himself, actually managing to get a giggle out of Fluttershy too. Twilight's eyes shot open further and glance to the ground, blushing in embarrassment.
Lil' Mac was about to ask what was wrong before it dawned on him. “Wait! You have read tha phone book?!”
“Not a lot of books left...” Twilight huffed. Rainbow, finally getting over her laughing fit, wrapped her free wing around Twilight's barrel in a Pegasi hug.
“Ah cheer up! We're only teasing! Besides I'm sure you can read all the books you want while living in the library!” Twilight sighed, but did let out a little giggle.
“I guess...Maybe they have the new Sherlock Hooves book!” She exclaimed, suddenly very excited to get back to the library after the day was over. Rainbow rolled her eyes as the group continued.
An hour later, after they found Pinkie and Rarity panting, covered in dirt, mud, leaves, twigs and just about anything you can name that might be lying on the ground in an orchard, Lil' Mac stood, looking up into a large golden delicious tree, several baskets scattered around.
Applejack watched with the utmost attention while everypony else was wondering what was going on.
“Um...Applejack?” Rainbow whispered to her, half afraid of breaking the silence in the area. “Not that the tree isn't cool or anything, but why are we sitting here and watching one?”
Applejack grinned and bumped her hoof into her shoulder. “Do not go an' pretend that you've been lookin' at tha tree, unless ya wanted 'im ta save ya from it?” She teased, which Rainbow was quick to blush at, quickly checking to make sure Fluttershy hadn't heard.
Luckily, Fluttershy had been busy doing what Rainbow was totally not doing and staring at Lil' Mac intently, almost as if she was trying to imprint his image into his mind.
With this sorted, Rainbow shoved Applejack back and repeated her question, not even bothering to acknowledge her rebuttal. “Why are we looking at a tree?”
“Well...” Applejack started, looking back to see that Mac was taking a few steps away from the tree. “...Yer about ta see, now please be quiet, I love watchin' 'im do this!”
Rainbow turned her head to watch as Lil' Mac charged towards the tree, his eyes seeming to stare intently at one point in the bark.
As soon as he was one step away from colliding with the tree bark, he stopped, using his momentum to swing his hips around and slammed his back hooves into the bark of the tree, about four foot up the tree from the base.
The whole tree vibrated for a few seconds before the plump, golden delicious apples fell from the branches and landed into and around the baskets, some rolling around a little before coming to a stop.
Lil' Mac nodded to himself before he realised he had an audience and he felt a small weight on his back. Before he could register what was going on, he was suddenly assaulted by a pair of large baby blue eyes staring right into his. “Wowee! How did you do that?! Was it strength, magic, telekinesis, luck, power, endurance, a wobbly tree, precision, strategy...?”
Mac, startled, jumped back and tripped over one of the apples behind him, slipping backwards sending Pinkie over forwards, still spewing words from her maw like water out of hose.
Rainbow, who was just about to help get Pinkie off of his back, only had a few seconds to register the little, red rolling blur before it collided into her and she joined the ball.
The other fillies had gathered on top of the small hill, watching as the blue and red wheel continued down until it hit the bottom.
Rainbow's head was spinning around as she leaned up to try to get back to her hooves, desperate to stop being dizzy. However, as she did, she felt her forehead collide with another, luckily without the force necessary to headbutt somepony.
She opened her eyes wide as a pair of shocked green ones looked back.
The two just remained like they were, staring at one another, their foreheads still pressed together, snouts about a centimetre apart. If one of them were to move unexpectedly they'd have probably been kissing.
Suddenly, the full weight of the embarrassing situation hit Rainbow, as well as how guilty she felt for having feelings for somepony her best friend wanted so bady. So she, flushed red and a hint of a tear in her eye, pushed Mac off of her and ran off.
The others got down the hill and helped Mac off of his flank, still a little shell shocked by what had happened. “Mac, what happened?” Applejack asked, concerned over her brother and her friend's well being.
“Ah...Ah don't know...Did Ah upset her?” He shook the thoughts from his head and chased after the filly. “Rainbow wait!”
Fluttershy was about to pursue, both in concern for her best friend and her crush, before she paused. Wait, no Fluttershy! Rainbow's upset about something that happened with Lil' Mac, so you need to leave them alone to figure it out! Besides, we can trust Rainbow! She's our best friend!
During all of this, Pinkie had finished asked her question when she spotted Lil' Mac running away. She tilted her head to the side in confusion. “Was it something I said?”