ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 15: Solo Harvesting
It has been a couple of weeks since Naruto had his first adventure in another world, he decided to relax at his favorite spot which is at the top of a grassy hill overlooking the town after working on his latest project at his shop the Whirlpool.
“Now I see why Shikamaru always liked to lay back and stare at the clouds all day, it makes one relax and forget all about their troubles,” said Naruto as he laid on the grass and stared at the clouds in the sky while feeling the breeze blow through his mane. Luna had visited his mindscape a few nights ago to hear of his adventure in the other world and was quite excited to hear it. She also thanked Naruto for the Gracidea flowers as she and Celestia loved them before leaving.
Naruto continued to look at the clouds for a while until he started to feel drowsy, his eyes were slowly closing until he heard a rumble and felt the ground shake which startled him awake. He quickly scrambled to his hooves and looked around, “What’s going on? Is it an earthquake? I’d better head back to the town and find out,”
Naruto galloped back into town and saw many ponies running around in a panic with some locking their doors and others their windows. Naruto saw Pinkie Pie moving along the street while being carried by the vibrations of the ground shaking.
“Hiya Naru, say doesn’t this make my voice sound silly?” asked Pinkie pie.
“I have to admit that it does but what’s going around here?” said Naruto smiling a bit, Pinkie was about to answer when Rainbow Dash flew down and spoke.
“It’s a stampede Naruto!”
Naruto’s eyes widened as he thought back to when he was being chased by a stampede of bulls on his way to the Chuunin exams back at Konoha, it gave him nightmares for couple of weeks until he finally got over it. Naruto peered into the distance and saw that it was a stampede of cows heading towards the town.
“What should we do to stop the stampede?” asked Naruto, he could see Mayor Mare trying to get the ponies to calm down but to no avail.
“Wait, look over there!” Naruto and everypony turned to where Rainbow Dash had pointed and saw a familiar orange mare wearing a Stetson hat with a dog running alongside her. “It’s Applejack and her dog Winona!”
“Yeehaaw! Alright girl, you know what to do!” said Applejack, Winona barked in affirmation as she moved to one side of the stampede while AJ was at the other side. Naruto noticed that Trixie and the other element bearers had shown up and were watching.
“This is the best rodeo show I’ve ever seen,” said Pinkie as she munched on a bag of popcorn, Naruto shook his head in amusement.
“You can always count on Pinks to make a bad situation look like fun,”
Everypony watched as Applejack took out her lasso, twirling it around before latching to the cow in front of the stampede. She then pulled with all her strength and was able make the cow to veer off the road and away from the town with the other cows following.
“She did it!” Naruto and everypony cheered with Pinkie waving a flag with an apple drawn on it much his confusion but shrugged it off that she may brought it out of the beads that he had given her.
After talking to the cows and seeing them off, Applejack and Winona went back to the others as they stood on top of a hill with the sun behind them to form quite an interesting heroic appearance before galloping away with everypony cheering her on.
“If I had a backdrop like that, I’m sure that I would have impressed the others back at Konoha,” thought Naruto as he imagined himself standing on top of the Hokage monument with the sun behind and the crowd chanting his name, “But then my jumpsuit would have ruined it,” Naruto trotted over to Twilight and Rarity who were talking to Mayor Mare.
“That was quite brave of Applejack, we must do something to thank her for single-hoofedly saving the town,” said Mayor Mare.
“I know, let’s have a party!” said Pinkie Pie, hopping up to them.”
“That’s a great idea, we’ll also present an award to her that way,”
“You can leave the party planning and decorations to Pinks, Rare and I to handle,” said Naruto.
Later on, Naruto and the others had decorated the town square with balloons, streamers, ribbons and other things.
“Are we all set?” asked Twilight.
“Not quite,” Rarity used her magic to lift he banner and hang it in place, “Now we’re all set"
“Perfect, is Applejack all set?”
“Actually, I haven’t seen her all week,” said Rainbow Dash who landed next to them with Naruto, Pinkie Pie and Trixie following.
“Not since the stampede,” said Pinkie.
“Trixie hasn’t been seeing her around town either,” said Trixie.
“As a matter of fact, I don’t think anypony has seen her even before the stampede,” said Naruto after thinking back on the past few days.
“Don’t worry about it Naruto, she’ll show up for sure, Applejack is never late,” said Rainbow Dash.
“You’re right Dash, Applejack has never left us hanging,” said Naruto with a smile.
An hour later, everypony had gathered at the town square and were standing in front of the stage as Twilight walked over to the podium, she took out a stack of paper from her medallion and arranged them with her magic.
“Leave it to Twilight to plan things to the smallest details,” thought Naruto with a soft chuckle.
“Hello everypony! Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small. A pony whose contributions to-” Twilight was then interrupted by Rainbow Dash who flew up to the podium much to Naruto’s amusement.
“Did you see Applejack’s slick moves out there? What an athlete! This week, she’s gonna help me with my new flying tricks, and I know it’s gonna be awesome,” said Rainbow Dash before she was ushered off the stage.
Naruto wondered why she didn’t call for him as they always come up with tricks together but concluded that she didn’t want to bother him since he’s working now.
“Now as I was saying-” Twilight resumed her speech only to be interrupted again by Pinkie Pie.
“This week, I get to run the Sugarcube Corner for the first time,”
“What does that have to do with Applejack,” asked Twilight, Naruto knew exactly what Pinkie was talking about since he had been living with Applejack before moving to the Uzumaki mansion.
“That’s because Applejack, who is one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me. Applejack makes everything great, so there will be free samples for everypony!” Naruto and the crowd cheered loudly at the announcement.
“Okay then, now if I could make a point without being inter-” this time it was Fluttershy who came to speak up, Naruto could see one of Twilight’s eyes twitching in annoyance.
“Sorry Twilight, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack will also be helping me with the official bunny consensus, where we count up all the baby bunnies that were born this year. She will be most helpful with her wonderful herding skills,”
After Fluttershy left the podium, Twilight was looking among the crowd to see if anyone else would interrupt her speech.
“Now is there anyone else who has something to say? Okay, now I was saying-” Twilight noticed that Naruto was pointing to her right and turned to see Mayor Mare standing next to her “Ugh, fine!” she walked off the stage and stood next to Naruto while pouting.
“I worked so hard on that speech,” said Twilight with her cheeks puffed out.
“I’m sure that it would have been a great speech Twilight. Maybe I could come by and listen to you read it,” said Naruto with a foxy grin.
“Thanks Naruto,” said Twilight with a bright smile, then they turned their attention to Mayor Mare as she gave her speech.
“And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the prize, Pony of Ponyville Award, to our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the most trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. Ponyville’s most capable and dependable friend: Applejack!”
Naruto turned his attention from the golden trophy to the curtains as they were raised only to reveal an empty space much to the surprise of everypony.
“AJ not being here? That’s pretty unusual of her,” said Naruto, the others nodded in agreement as they know very well that AJ is never late for anything.
“I’m here, I’m here,” they heard Applejack’s voice as she moved through the crowd until reaching the podium, Naruto noticed that she was carrying baskets full of apples which were spilling on the floor and saw the bags under her eyes which piqued his curiosity.
“Miss Mayor, thank you kindly for giving me this award,” said Applejack who was continuously yawning while swaying a bit.
“Well, we wanted to thank you for saving us from the stampede from before, and being a pony whom we can count on,” said Twilight.
“It’s no problem at all, I always like helping out everypony and other things, so thanks for the award,” said Applejack before grabbing the trophy with her teeth, and dragging it back to her home with everypony watching her leave.
“Hey, doesn’t Applejack seem a little-” said Twilight.
“Tired?” said Rainbow Dash.
“Dizzy?” said Fluttershy.
“Messy?” said Rarity, receiving looks from the others “Well did you see her mane?”
Twilight then noticed Naruto walking away and went after him.
“Hey Naruto, where are you going?”
“There seems to be something going on with Applejack since she is not being her usual self, if her tiredness is anything to go by, so I’m heading to Sweet Apple Acres to find out,” said Naruto.
“Then I’m coming along too, I want to find what she’s been up to the past few days for her to look like that,” said Twilight.
The two ponies soon reached the farm, there they saw Granny Smith at the porch relaxing on her rocking chair.
“Hello Granny!” said Naruto.
“Oh howdy there Sonny, I haven’t been seeing you come around in a while. You should visit us more often,” said Granny Smith.
“Will do Granny, we came here to see Applejack,”
“Well she’s over at the orchard at the moment, I hope you can get some sense in that young filly as she’s as stubborn as her mother,”
“Thanks Granny Smith,” said Twilight.
They went to the orchard where they saw Applejack trying to buck apples from the tree only to knock over a bucket of apples. Naruto quirked an eyebrow at this since it’s not like her at all.
“What is that pony doing?” asked Twilight.
“I was wondering the same thing Twilight,” said Naruto as they approached Applejack who was drooping off to sleep.
“Applejack,” Twilight called at to the mare several times but she didn’t respond so Naruto stood in front of her and called out loudly.
“Hey AJ!” Applejack quickly woke up with a startled look on her face.
“Oh Howdy there Twilight, Naruto,”
“What’s going on here?” asked Twilight.
“It’s applebuck season,”
“What season is that?” asked Naruto, during his time at the farm, he hadn’t heard of it.
“It’s what we Apples call the harvesting time, we gather all the apples from the trees so that we can sell them,” said Applejack.
“If so, then why are you doing it all alone?”
“Because Big Mac had gotten himself hurt,”
“But what about all the relatives we saw when I first came to Ponyville?’ asked Twilight.
“They were just here for the family reunion, they actually live all over Equestria and are busy harvesting their own orchard so I’m on my own,”
“Are you sure about this AJ? you don’t look like your normal self,” said Naruto feeling concerned for her.
“Don’t worry about me Naruto, I’ll be just fine,”
“Don’t you need help?” asked Twilight.
“No I don’t need your help,” said Applejack.
“But AJ, with the help of my Shadow clones we can harvest the entire orchard in no time at all,” said Naruto trying to reason with Applejack.
“Nuh uh, I won’t be needing your clone thingies for this, I can handle it on my own,”
“But there’s no way you can do this alone,” said Twilight, Applejack walked up to her with an angry look on her face.
“Is that a challenge?”
“No it isn’t,”
“That’s what I thought, now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got apples to buck,” Applejack walked away from them while trying to keep her balance.
“What do you think we should do Twilight? Even I who is known to be hyperactive can’t possibly do this alone,” said Naruto.
“Maybe we should leave her for now, when she gets too tired she will ask for our help,” said Twilight.
“I’m not so sure about that, remember that Granny told us that AJ can be stubborn but I hope you’re right,” said Naruto as they left the orchard and were about to go their separate ways “I’ll be coming around later to return the book which I took from you,”
“Okay, I’ll see you later,” said Twilight before walking off.
After passing by his house and collecting the book, Naruto was on his way to the library when he saw Rainbow Dash standing on a fence and thought to say hello.
“Hey Dash, what’s up?” said Naruto waving at her.
“Hey Naruto, I’m waiting for Applejack to show up and help me out with my ideas for my tricks that will surely grab the attention of the Wonderbolts,” said Rainbow Dash with stars in her eyes to which Naruto chuckled softly at.
“So how are you to do it?”
“You see that contraption?” Naruto turned to where Dash pointed and saw a wooden structure placed in the middle of the street “With it, Applejack will be able to launch me into the air much faster than I can on my own, then I will perform my newest tricks,”
“That sounds good, maybe next time I’ll come around and help you with your aerial tricks,”
“Are you sure Naruto? I mean won’t you be busy with your shop?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“I won’t be so busy that I wouldn’t help someone close to me achieve her dream,” Naruto was then hugged by Rainbow Dash much to his surprise.
“Thanks Naruto, you’re the best!”
“Don’t mention it Dash, I’ll catch you later,” Naruto continued on his way to the library where he met Spike at the door.
“Yo Spike, is Twilight in?” asked Naruto smiling.
“Hi Naruto, Twilight is at the balcony reading,” said Spike.
“Okay, I was going to return the book which I took from her,” said Naruto, the he walked up the stairs and until he arrived at the balcony where he saw Twilight sitting on the floor with books around her.
“Oh hey Naruto,” said Twilight.
“Hi Twilight, I brought the book back so I thought I should let you know,” said Naruto.
They kept on talking until Naruto sensed something heading towards them at a high speed, his instincts took over as he formed a chakra arm and caught it when it got close. They took a closer look to see that it was Rainbow Dash who looked a bit ruffled.
“I know I said ‘Catch you later’ but I didn’t mean it literally,” said Naruto with a raised eyebrow.
“Can we help you?” asked Twilight.
“I think somepony else needs your help,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Does it have something to do with Applejack?” asked Naruto.
“Yeah, she launched me into the air before I was ready,”
“I’ll go talk to her while you help Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight before teleporting away.
Naruto escorted Rainbow Dash back to her home in the clouds before walking to the park to clear his mind and think of ways to convince Applejack to let them help her. He was deep in thought when he heard someone call his name.
“Mom look, it’s Naruto!”
Naruto turned to see who called out to him and smiled upon seeing Derpy and Dinky who was running towards him and jumped onto his back.
“Hello Dinky, Derpy, I haven’t seen you in a while,” said Naruto with a smile.
“Well you haven’t been coming over to play with me,” Dinky pouted to which Naruto chuckled softly.
“Sorry about that Dinky, I was busy at my new shop making crystals like the one I made for you,” Naruto poked at the necklace around Dinky’s neck with his tail. “So what are you up to?”
“We were on our way to the Sugarcube corner to try out the free samples when we saw you and Dinky ran towards you,” said Derpy.
“Well since you’re here, why don’t we have some fun before going to the Sugarcube corner,” said Naruto, Dinky started bouncing on his back excitedly at the prospect of playing with him since she wasn’t able to do that in a while.
Naruto and Dinky played a game of tag followed by Hide and Seek, they were playing tic-tac-toe when Naruto saw Twilight running past them with Spike on her back.
“Where do you think they’re going off to?” asked Derpy.
“I don’t know but it looks serious, let’s follow them,” Naruto had Dinky climb onto his back and ran after them with Derpy flying close behind.
Soon they caught up with them at the Urgent Care, and were shocked upon seeing many ponies in sickbeds with buckets close to them, even Pinkie Pie was among them. Naruto walked up to Twilight to find out what going on.
“Twilight what happened here?”
“I don’t know, I was called by Nurse Redheart to come over here,” said Twilight, then a female earth pony walked up to them, she has a coat of white with a pink mane and tail and a cutie mark of a medical red cross.
“Miss Redheart, what happened here?” asked Naruto.
“It was a mishap of baked goods,” said the nurse, they turned their attention to Pinkie Pie when she spoke up.
“No, not baked goods, baked bads,” Pinkie moaned before throwing up in the bucket.
“But how? I thought Applejack was supposed to help Pinkie at the Sugarcube corner today,” said Derpy, Naruto and Twilight’s eyes widened in realization of what really happened.
“Applejack must have mixed up the ingredients, which is possible in her current state of mind,” thought Twilight.
“Makes me glad that we didn’t show up early,” said Naruto to which Derpy and Dinky nodded rapidly in agreement.
Later, Naruto and Twilight went to the orchard see to speak to Applejack again. They found her walking in her sleep and ended up hitting a tree.
“Applejack we need to talk,” said Twilight.
“I know what you’re going to say and the answer is still no,” Applejack walked to a nearby tree and positioned herself next to it. “I’m going to prove to everypony that this Apple can buck these apples,” then she started kicking the tree only to kick harder when no apple fell “Come on apples, start falling already,”
“Those apples would have fallen if you weren’t hitting a dead tree,” said Twilight, Applejack looked up to see that it was true.
“Oh, I knew that all along,” Applejack walking off to the next tree.
“Sure you did,” said Naruto sarcastically before following her along with Twilight.
Applejack you need to listen, Naruto and I have just come from the Ponyville Urgent Care and-” Twilight was saying but was interrupted by Applejack.
“You know, I’m too busy to be listening to your lectures,”
“But AJ, if you let us help you, it would be a whole lot easier for you,” said Naruto.
“How many times do I have to say it Naruto, I don’t need any help from anypony,” said Applejack walked faster, leaving them behind.
“Ugh, that pony is just too stubborn,” Twilight groaned in frustration.
“Tell me about it, now I know how the others felt back at Konoha,” said Naruto, thinking back.
Later on, Naruto was at home in his workroom, working on some new sealing formula. He was inscribing some seals into one of the crystals when the table started to shake and the items fell to the floor much to his surprise.
“What the hay is going on?!” Naruto quickly dashed out of the house and into the streets to see the ponies panicking again. Twilight then ran up next to him.
“Could it be another stampede?” asked Twilight.
“It seems like it,” Naruto peered into the distance to see a stampede of…..baby bunnies?!
“Baby bunnies?! What could possibly have them stampede into the town?” asked Twilight.
Bunnies raided the gardens and consumed all of the flowers before anyone could stop them, Naruto and Twilight saw Fluttershy trying to stop the bunnies and walked over to her.
“Shy what happened here?” asked Naruto.
“Well Applejack came over today to help me with the bunny consensus, but she ended up frightening them and they ran off,” said Fluttershy.
Upon hearing this, Naruto had a look of seriousness and noticed that Twilight shared the look.
“This has gone on far enough far Twilight, it’s either she lets us help or we stop her from doing anymore to have her rest,”
“You’re right Naruto, let’s go,” Twilight used her magic to teleport them to the orchard.
When they see saw Applejack still bucking apples like her life counted on it.
“AJ, enough is enough you have to let us help. You’re about to pass out from exhaustion,” said Naruto.
“Not now Naruto, I’m almost done,” said Applejack.
“Applejack, your applebucking hasn’t only caused you problems but it has over-propelled Pegasus’, poisoned ponies and even terrorized bushels of baby bunnies. We don’t care what you say you. Need. Help,” said Twilight.
“Now I don’t, as you can see I was able to harvest all of the apples without your help,” said Applejack with pride “How’d you like them apples?”
Naruto looked to see that she had harvested the apples like she said but when he continued to look, his eyes upon what he saw and noticed Big Mac walk up to with a knowing look on his face.
“Think we should tell her?”
“Eeyup,” said Big Mac, they turned to Applejack.
“Uh Applejack, there’s something we need to tell you,” Applejack turned to Naruto.
“Um, how’d you like them apples?” Everypony turned to look at where Big Mac pointed only to see more apples ready for harvesting.
“It seems like you were only halfway done,” said Naruto.
Applejack mumbled incoherently before fainting much to the worry of the others. Later, she woke up to notice that Naruto had used his tail for a makeshift pillow.
“AJ, thank goodness that you’re okay, you really had me worried there,” said Naruto smiling.
Applejack knew that Naruto cared for her and the others and felt ashamed for having refused his help.
“Now Applejack, we completely respect the Apple family ways and you’re always there to help anypony in need, so maybe you could a little bit of your stubborn pride aside and let us help you,” said Twilight.
“Okay, Twilight,” said Applejack after looking at the apples in the orchard.
“And we not taking ‘no’ for answer--- what did you say?”
“Yes Twilight, Naruto. Please, I could really use your help,”
Naruto smiled gently before helping Applejack to her hooves and giving her a hug.
“Jeez, all you had to do was ask,” said Naruto.
“Sorry Naruto, and thanks,” said Applejack while trying to hide her blush.
Later in the day, Naruto called Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity over to help out with the harvesting. Naruto used his Shadow clones while Twilight used her magic to pluck the apples from the trees and deposit them in the buckets. They were able to harvest a large amount of apples before Applejack called out to them.
“How about y’all take a little break? I’ve got some fine apple juice waiting for ya,” said Applejack, they all gathered at the tram, Naruto closed his eyes and said ‘Kai’ then they heard several poofs and noticed that Naruto stumbled a bit before regaining his balance.
“N-Naruto, are you okay?” asked Fluttershy worriedly.
“I’m fine Shy, it’s just that when my clones dispel, not only do I gain their memories but their exhaustion as well,” said Naruto.
“I guess even a technique like yours has side effects,” Twilight having unsealed a scroll and was writing it down before sealing it back into her medallion.
“Everypony, I want to apologize. I was being a bit stubborn,” said Applejack.
“A bit?” asked Twilight while Naruto smirked.
“Okay, a mite stubborn, and I’m really sorry. I know the town gave me the Prized Pony award, but the real award is you all as my friends,” then she glanced at Naruto “And maybe something more,”
“Phew all that applebucking has made me hungry,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Then I’ve got the perfect treat,” said Spike carrying some muffins in his claws.
“Eew, Spike I threw all those away where did you get them?” asked Pinkie.
“From the trash,” Spike replied.
“Spike, that’s gross!” said Twilight.
“Spike, can I take a look at those muffins?” asked Naruto, Spike held them out to him. Naruto grabbed the muffins with a chakra arm and tossed them into the air.
“Pyro breath!” Naruto projected flames to burn the muffins to nothing, much to the relief of the mares and the ire of the young dragon.
“Awww, why did you do that Naruto?” Spike whined.
“That’s because they’re bad and besides, I can treat you all some ramen,” said Naruto.
“Yay ramen!” Pinkie Pie bounced around excitedly.
“I’m definitely up for some!” said Rainbow Dash who was just as excited.
“Alright then, let’s go,” Naruto led the mares to his house to cook for them as Celestia’s sun sets.