//------------------------------// // Applebuck Season // Story: Marjoram // by Nekiyha //------------------------------// The next afternoon, after Marjoram was awake and moving, saw Spike and Marjoram's baking day. Twilight was banned from the kitchen as the two baked. Twilight could sometimes hear their bickering, and more than once had to chastise Marjoram for his language from where she was looking through the library's paperwork. Soon enough, the library was full of delicious smells. Twilight's mouth began to water, and she forced herself out of the library before the smell drove her mad. Marjoram and Spike would be sure to try to feed her too many cookies (or whatever else they were baking), anyway, so she wouldn't miss much if she went to lunch- The ground began to shake, sending Twilight almost to the ground. “STAMPEDE!” Sompony shouted. Immediately, ponies began to run into the closest buildings, shutting shutters, moving things out of the street, and helping ponies who couldn't move very quickly. Twilight, unsure of what to do, ran back into the library, and began to shutter the windows. Pinkie Pie rushed inside, shutting the door behind her, “Thank you for not shutting the door, Twilight! I'd have never made it back to Sugarcube Corner before the stampede hits!” “What's going on!?” Twilight demanded, shutting the last window securely. “It's a stampede. Probably one of the herds of cattle got spooked, and are running toward Ponyville,” Pinkie said brightly. She sniffed the air, and she smiled, “Ooh! Are those chocolate/peanut butter cookies I smell?” “Yes, but-” Pinkie bounced toward the kitchen, leaving a bewildered Twilight standing in the middle of the library. A few moments later, the shaking stopped. Marjoram, Spike, and Pinkie came out of the kitchen. Pinkie sported a smear of chocolate on her muzzle, and wore a look of pure satisfaction on her face. “A stampede?” Marjoram asked, bewildered, “Seriously?” “Uh huh,” Pinkie nodded, licking the chocolate off of her face, “They're pretty rare, but they still happen.” A knock on the door prompted Twilight to open it, revealing a relieved Mayor Mare. Her mane was disheveled a little, but a smile graced her face, “Everypony, the crisis has been averted! Applejack managed to turn the herd of cows before they reached Ponyville. We're safe!” Message delivered, Mayor Mare left, going towards the next building. Pinkie opened the door, trotting out. “Thanks for the cookie! I hope I'll see you this weekend, Marjoram! I know you'll love the muffins Applejack and I are going to make!” Pinkie's eyes widened suddenly, and she ran towards the mayor, “ooh! Mayor Mare! Can we throw a party to thank Applejack!?” “So...those cookies smell good,” Twilight ventured, “Are you done baking yet?” Marjoram and Spike shared a look. Spike nodded, and Marjoram rolled his eyes, “Fine. Go help yourself. All we have to do is wait for those gem cupcakes to cool, Spike, then we can bag the majority of them and freeze them so they keep longer. We'll do that with some of the cookies too, okay?” “Sounds good!” Spike smiled brightly, showing off his sharp teeth. He scampered after Twilight. Marjoram sighed, and followed more reluctantly. (LINE BREAK) A week later was when Applejack's 'thank you for saving the town' party was going to be held. It was just outside of Town Hall, and everything was decorated to the nines in bright colours and apple themed décor. Applejack had been informed of the party, and everypony in Ponyville had chipped in to make the occasion special. Rarity was fixing a large golden banner with large apples on it to the front of Town Hall when Marjoram and Spike arrived, carrying a tray of their cookies. Pinkie appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and pointed to a table that was overladen with food and drink. Marjoram deposited the cookies, and went over to Twilight, watching in fascination as the last of the party decorations were set up. “So, is Applejack here yet?” Marjoram asked, looking around at the sea of ponies and not finding Applejack among them. “No one's seen her all week,” Rainbow replied, “but she'll be here.” Marjoram nodded slowly, then saw the pile of que-cards Twilight had brought with her, “You're making the speech, aren't you?” “How could you tell?” Twilight asked, picking up the cards with her magic. “The cards, for one,” Marjoram replied, “and you look like you're going to have an aneurism. Don't forget to breathe, it's deceptively important y'know.” Rainbow's face scrunched in confusion, while Twilight giggled, “I know. Oh, that's the mayor. Must be time to start,” Twilight trotted up to the temporary stage, flipping through the cards as she did so. Making sure they're in the right order. Maker, how many of them does she have? Marjoram wondered. This might be worse than when I asked her to do a presentation on Canterlot last year. Marjoram watched as Twilight's speech began, then got interrupted by Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Mayor Mare. Applejack is helping with a new trick, Pinkie's free samples, and the bunny consensus? Holy hells. Marjoram snapped out of his musings when Mayor Mare pointed to the large, golden trophy with a blue ribbon on it. Overkill much? “...my pleasure to give the Prize Pony of Ponyville award to our guest of honour; Ponyville's most dependable, trustworthy pony, Applejack!” The curtains opened, but she wasn't there. The cheering and applause died off, leaving an awkward silence. “I'm here!” Applejack called from the back of the crowd. From the front, Marjoram couldn't see much beyond her hat, and two towering piles of apples. Is she wearing a harness or something? Marjoram wondered. Applejack moved through the crowd yawning audibly, and apologizing to the crowd at large. When she emerged from the crowd, and stepped onto the stage, the crowd winced. Applejack looked like hell. Her mane and tail were a mess, huge bags and darkened patches of fur were under her eyes (indicating a serious lack of sleep), and she seemed unable to stand upright without tilting to one side or the other. Two baskets, overflowing with apples, were strapped to her sides. “Oh dear,” Marjoram mumbled. “What?” Spike asked. “Look at her, her eyes remind you of anypony?” Spike looked up at Applejack for a moment, then to Marjoram. His eyes widened, “No offense, but her eyes are like yours.” “No offense taken,” Marjoram replied softly, “That mare has had very little sleep in the last week.” Applejack smiled at the mayor, tilting a little like she was drunk, “Thank you kindly, Miss. Mayor,” She said, her accent thickening and her words slurring because of how tired she was, “for this mighty fine, award thingy. It's so golden and shiny,” Marjoram heard Applejack's jaw crack from the force of her next yawn, “hehe. I look funny,” she clearly saw herself in the polished metal of the trophy. “Thank you, Applejack,” Twilight ventured, stepping closer, “For saving Ponyville from that stampede, and for being there for everypony who needs you.” “I sure do like helping the pony folks!” Applejack smiled, seemingly not noticing when an apple fell from one of the baskets at her side, and rolled off the stage, “and, uh, stuff,” her eyes fluttered for a moment, before she shook her head wildly. She offered a smile to the crowd, “So, uh, thanks! For this!” With that, Applejack grabbed the edge of the massive trophy with her mouth, and began to drag it away, off the stage, and across the square to get back to Sweet Apple Acres. Once she was gone, and the horrible metallic scraping was no longer audible, Twilight looked down at her friends from the stage, “Did Applejack seem-” “Tired?” Marjoram said bluntly. “Dizzy?” Rainbow inserted. “Messy?” Rarity added, “Did you see her mane?” “I'm going to go check on her,” Twilight said, “A bit later. Maybe she'll be better by this afternoon.” “You wanna go home, Spike?” Marjoram asked, “You know me-” “Not a huge fan of crowds. Two steps ahead of you,” Spike smiled, “C'mon. I've got the latest issue of Power Ponies back at the library to read.” Marjoram smiled, “Thank you, Spike.” “Hey, no problem!” Marjoram and Spike plodded off, leaving the party behind them. All the while, a niggling feeling of worry lingered in the back of Marjoram's mind. This can't end well. (LINE BREAK) When Rainbow Dash extracted herself from Twilight's balcony, and made her way downstairs so Spike could get her a drink, she didn't expect to see Marjoram sitting at the counter, wrapped in a blanket, hunched over a red, faux leather journal. “What are you doing?” Rainbow asked, trying to keep her voice polite. She was a guest in his house after all. Spike opened the fridge, and handed Rainbow a cold soda. Rainbow opened it, setting the tab on the counter, waiting for an answer. “Trying to find the dates that correspond with my week awake,” Marjoram mumbled, “Couldn't sleep for a week. I know I wrote stuff down, but I haven't re-read them.” “Why not?” “Not sleeping does a lot of bad stuff to your body and brain!” Spike piped up, pouring himself a glass of milk. Marjoram nodded, “I'm hoping that if I find the pages, I'll be able to use them to convince Applejack to get some help with her harvest.” “It's applebuck season,” Spike corrected. “Same thing,” Marjoram retorted, eyes skimming through the pages. He stopped, squinted at the words, then nodded, “Here we go. Good lord, this makes no sense.” “What do you mean?” “I was writing about how the words were moving, how the sentences were trying to trick me. Good lord,” Marjoram shut the journal, “Never mind. This can't help Applejack.” “What's in there?” “I think I was trying to figure out some mathematical equations, the unsolvable ones. It didn't go very well. Most of it is my extremely tired self ranting about very personal matters. That's all.” “Oh,” Rainbow guzzled half of her drink, “What's with the blanket?” “Cold.” “Why are you cold? It's the middle of the summer!” “Underoxygenated, remember? Makes me feel cold all the time.” Rainbow nodded, “Okay...” Marjoram sighed, “Do you mind grabbing a cookie from the freezer for me, Spike? I'll sneak you an extra gem cupcake later.” Spike giggled, grabbing the step stool they had bought for him, dragging it over to the fridge, and using it so he could open the freezer. Pulling out a small baggie of cookies, he tossed it to Marjoram, who caught it with his magic. Spike shut the freezer, then climbed back down, moving the stool so it was out of the way. “How old are you, exactly, Spike?” “I'm nine, almost ten.” “Why does Twilight call you a baby dragon then? You're a kid!” “By pony years, I am. But I'm only a few years old when you're comparing me to dragons.” “Huh,” Rainbow sipped at her soda, “How old are you, Marjoram?” “Twenty-nine,” Marjoram replied coolly. “Seriously? I thought you'd be in your thirties, like Kafir!” “He's eight years older than I am. How do you know him?” “He comes through every once and a while to see if we need any help with anything that comes out of the Everfree,” Rainbow shrugged, “Been doing it a long time.” Marjoram sighed, then his eyes widened, “Wait, you know we're brothers?” “Who doesn't after you practically wrecked Main Street, and heard you shouting at him?” Rainbow retorted, “Besides, Kafir told me he had siblings. Where's your sister?” “Dead,” Marjoram stated, using his magic to pick up his book, “I hate to cut this short, but I'm going to go downstairs and read. You're more than welcome to join me, Spike.” “I will later, I've got some questions about the Second Pony War!” “You're learning about that already?!” Rainbow exclaimed. Spike shrugged, “Twilight learned it when she was eight.” “I learned it when I was seven,” Marjoram's lips quirked, “I read the book when Celestia told me not to.” Rainbow rolled her eyes, “How rebellious.” Marjoram shrugged, leaving the kitchen. Rainbow downed the last of her soda, “Thanks, Spike. Tell Twilight I've gone home,” Rainbow was gone before Spike could respond. Spike sighed, downed the last of his milk, put the glass in the sink, and went downstairs. (LINE BREAK) Twilight ran down to the First Aid tent that had been set up in Town Square, Spike clutching to her mane. Her heart pounded in her throat, and her mind swirled with possibilities. As the large, blue tent appeared, Twilight slowed down, panting for breath. Nurse Redheart was already waiting for Twilight, looking worried, “Thank goodness you're here.” “What happened?” Twilight asked. “Well, Applejack helped Pinkie with the muffins-” “Oh no-” Twilight moaned, “How is everypony?” “Food poisoning. We're in the process of trying to get everypony to the hospital now, but Marjoram-” “Oh no, he didn't eat one did he?” Worry blossomed in Twilight's chest. “He did,” Redheart replied, “At least one. He's been-” “Can we see him?” Spike interrupted, “Please?” Redheart smiled, “Of course. Be warned-” “It'll be okay. We're not squeamish,” Twilight reassured, “Where is he?” Redheart opened the curtain, flooding Twilight's nose with the scents of vomit, sweat, medicine, and sickness. Immediately, Twilight saw where Marjoram was laying on a bed. He was wrapped in a blanket, an icepack resting on his head above his horn. He was curled into himself, hind legs twitching in discomfort. His face was pinched in pain, and he looked more than a little nauseous. The ponies around him didn't seem to be faring much better. Some were on the floor, as there were not enough cots for everypony. Ponies were groaning in discomfort, and several were vomiting heavily into wooden basins that had been provided. “What happened?” “Muffins...were bad,” Marjoram breathed, his breath rattling in his lungs, “It was...bad. Applejack...” Twilight's worry was cranked into fear at the sight of Pinkie, puking into her own bucket. If Pinkie had eaten them, and had gotten sick, what could the muffins to do an average pony? Or to Marjoram? “I'll go talk to her again,” Twilight replied, “Then I'll get you home. Being around this many ponies while you're sick can't be good-” “Always sick,” Marjoram mumbled, leaning over the edge of the bed to puke bile into the bucket that had been placed there. Twilight nodded, “I know, but you're sicker than usual. Spike, can you stay here and help Nurse Redheart? Please?” Spike nodded, trotting off toward the nurse, his clawed feet clicking across the cobblestones. He watched as Twilight left, trotting her way toward Sweet Apple Acres. Spike looked back at Marjoram, and winced. I hope Applejack listens now. (LINE BREAK) Twilight came back to the tent, visibly angry. Her anger cooled as she aided Redheart with the sick ponies. She gave out instructions to family members, eased fevers, and kept an eye on Marjoram's ever declining health. Eventually, Redheart had enough hooves (sent from the hospital), to bring the few ponies left back to the hospital and take down the tent. Twilight, using her magic as she'd seen Princess Celestia do many times, lifted Marjoram into the air, and brought him back to the library. At his request, she set him up in the bathtub, giving him a pillow and a blanket. She thought it odd at first, but realized that the setup was quite convenient, as Marjoram could puke into the toilet from where he lay. All he'd have to do was lift his head and move forward a little. Twilight left Marjoram a bottle of water, and let him be, shutting the door so he could get some privacy. That was when she heard the screams outside. She ran outside, to find ponies laying on the ground, flowerbeds, flowerpots, and gardens in ruins. Running to the nearest pony, Roseluck if Twilight remembered correctly, she rounded the corner of the flower shop and found the source of the destruction. Bunnies. Loads and loads of baby bunnies. In and amongst the chaos was Fluttershy, trying meekly (and with little success), to get the bunnies to stop. Twilight trotted over, making sure she didn't step on an errant bunny, “What happened?!” “Applejack scared them,” Fluttershy stated quietly, “even after I told her not to! N-not that I blame her-” Twilight sighed, “Alright. Good luck with this, Fluttershy. I'm going to go see if Applejack is willing to accept our help now!” “Okay, Twilight.” Twilight trotted off, leaving Fluttershy once more with the herd of bunnies. It took her several hours, and a few more helping hooves, to get them back to her house. (LINE BREAK) Days passed, and the apple harvest was brought in on time. The chaos Applejack had accidentally caused was cleaned up and fixed, and the ponies stricken with food poisoning began to get better. Everypony, that is, but Marjoram, who seemed to have caught something else while he was sick. Marjoram, in a fit of fever induced rage, had cut the majority of his long tail off, leaving it very short. Twilight wasn't sure if he would be grateful for it later or not; he'd mentioned wanting to cut his tail shorter before, but had never acted on that desire before. Hopefully Marjoram wouldn't mind the crookedness of the cut either. Twilight was worried beyond measure for Marjoram, as the days passed, and he didn't seem to recover. The vomiting and fever stopped, but Marjoram began to complain about a deep ache that permeated through his entire body. It left him weak, and bedridden. Twilight had been watching as her mentor's health declined, and was unsure of what to do. She ran tests, checked his muscles, and ran diagnostic spells on him. She hadn't found anything yet, and the only thing that she had yet to do was scan his magic, something she could only do while he was sleeping and his body wasn't tapping into his magic subconsciously. This would also prevent his magic from sensing Twilight as a threat, as she'd done this multiple times while he was asleep. Mid-afternoon, Twilight went down to check on Marjoram, and found him fast asleep, propped up on pillows to elevate his chest and ease his breathing. Working quickly, and quietly, Twilight began to scan Marjoram's magic, dormant in sleep. Twilight immediately saw the problem. Dark magic was trying to overtake Marjoram's inherent light magic. This must be what's causing the pain, his light magic is trying to fight off the dark magic, and it's losing! Twilight stopped the scan, and an idea came to her. What if I can boost it? Maybe make a potion like antibiotics? Twilight trotted upstairs, and into the little room she had turned into her lab. Working quickly, Twilight began to make a potion, similar to the potions she'd been making for Marjoram for years. This time, instead of infusing it with herbs, healing magic, and different medicines, Twilight infused it with light magic, adding herbs that carried the magic well, and would release it into Marjoram's system over time, as well as give him a boost of magic at the time of consumption. Leaving the potion to brew for a while, Twilight set about making dinner, hoping that if she could get Marjoram to take the potion before eating, he would actually eat more than a few mouthfuls. Part way through figuring out what Spike, Marjoram, and herself would all eat, several minutes later, the timer for the potion went off. Twilight bottled the bright blue liquid, filling several bottles with the medium sized batch Twilight had concocted. Measuring out one dose, Twilight went to the basement, knocking before opening the door. Marjoram's golden eyes, usually bright, were dull and lackluster. “I've got a potion for you to try,” Twilight brought the cup to Marjoram's lips. Marjoram looked at the liquid for a moment, before drinking it down in one gulp. He winced at the taste, then relaxed, “Hmm...can't tell..what's in here.” “Herbs mostly, a boost of magic.” Marjoram nodded, “Yeah, magic's been...weak lately.” Twilight forced the soft smile, watching at Marjoram almost melted into his bed, “Is it working?” “Feel better already,” Marjoram breathed. The tightness in his face relaxed, and he fell into a deep sleep. Twilight watched him for a few moments, before retreating back upstairs. I'll tell him when he's more awake. No point waking him up now. Maybe he'll actually get some rest. A few hours later, while Twilight was pulling the baked potatoes from the oven, Marjoram walked into the kitchen. He still looked like hell, his mane disheveled and wrapped in a blanket, but his eyes were bright and he was on his feet. “I don't know what you did, but the pain's gone. Same with the weakness.” “Really?” Twilight smiled a big smile, “Thank goodness! I've been so worried-” Marjoram offered a weak smile, “I'm hungry.” Twilight spun around, “Seriously!? What do you want? We can get it, or I can make it-” “You don't have to-” “Yes, I do,” Twilight insisted, “You usually just eat whatever I make. Tell me what you want.” “Cheese croissants from Sugarcube Corner?” Marjoram suggested. Twilight nodded, offering a smile, “I'll be right back,” Twilight all but ran out of the house. Marjoram sighed, resting his head against the counter. Hopefully everything will be back to normal soon.