//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - The Equine Alarm Clock // Story: Sweet and Sauer // by TheAnYPony //------------------------------// Hello out there! My name is Ayn Wye. I would like to tell you a bit about myself. However, before I do this, you should know about somepony else first. Her name is Sauer Kraut. I haven’t met another mare like her in all of Equestria, and I have traveled quite a lot in my younger years. If she wasn’t the way she is, well, I can’t even imagine how my own life would have turned out. So, please, enjoy her story. See you soon! ~~~~~~~~~ Sauer Kraut woke up when the rays of the early morning sun shone onto her face, disorienting her for a few moments. Since when was her bed in a spot where the sun hit it in the morning? Oh right! She recalled that she had moved her bed across the room the evening before so she would be woken up by the sun. After all, it was up to her to get everypony out of bed until the rooster was ready again. She jumped out of bed energetically and pushed it back to its usual position, grinning to herself. Stage One: Completed! Sauer put on her favorite neckerchief and allowed herself a short glance into the mirror. Her purple hair was the usual mess, but she didn’t care, that’s why she wore her mane so short after all. While trotting out into the hallway, she pondered what would be the easiest and quickest way to wake everypony up. Suddenly, a brilliant idea hit her! OooOOoohhh, this is going to be fun! With glee, she turned to the door of the bedroom next to hers and entered without hesitation. Sauer noticed to her satisfaction that the room’s owner was still fast asleep in her bed. She quickly trotted over to the bed, whirled around and gave it a powerful buck, flipping it on its side and sending its occupant into the gap between the wall and the furniture. Sauer pulled herself up to the edge of the sideways bed and grinned down at the noisy, confused, twitching bundle of pony and blanket. “Good morning, Sis! Time to wake everypony up!” The bundle stopped moving, and an angry-looking eye glared up at Sauer from within the fabric. Sauer took this as her cue to slide back down the bed, sit a few steps away and put her hooves over her ears. “What, by the Mare in the Moon, Is wrong with you, you insane lunatic?! Have you finally snapped, you verfickter nutjob?!” This was followed by a few feral screams and the sounds of a pony fighting her way out of a blanket Sauer Kraut listened to the hallway and could hear voices and movements from the other rooms. “Perfect! Looks like everypony is awake now. Thanks for the help, Blauy! See you at breakfast!” With this, Sauer Kraut happily left the room and turned towards the stairs. One of her cousins was peeking out of his room with sleepy eyes, and she wished him a good morning in passing. That went absolutely smoothly! I guess I’ll use that trick every morning until the rooster is ready again! Sauer was halfway down the stairs when she heard the movement of a heavy piece of furniture followed by the sound of angry galloping in the corridor above. Oh, come on! Not again! Blau often showed a lack of appreciation for Sauer’s idea—especially those involving her without being asked first. Then again, she usually declined whenever Sauer asked her sister upfront. This seemed to be one of those times Blau got super angry—and ponies called Sauer the irrational one! The sound of galloping ended at the top of the stairs, and Sauer tensed up, preparing for the impact. A moment later, a pony sized projectile hit her and sent her flying down the rest of the stairs. The two siblings tumbled a few pony-lengths along the floor before they slowed down. Sauer managed to control their momentum in her favor, so that she landed on top of her sister and pinned her down once they came to a halt. Blau fought against her sister's grip but without any success. “You crazy hay brain! You are going to pay for this!” Sauer sighed. “Calm down, Sis! It’s over; everypony is awake, and beyond a little scare, you are fine as well. Stop being so childish!” Blau struggled futilely for a moment until a deep, husky voice sounded from behind her. “Do I even wanna know?” Both mares froze and turned towards the source of the voice. At the head of the otherwise empty table in the center of the common room sat Weiss Kraut, their father. He looked at them with a raised eyebrow while holding a mug of coffee in his one remaining front hoof. Verdammte scheisse, how does he manage to always beat me down here no matter how early I get up?! Blau used her sister’s distraction to throw her off with one rough thrust. “Papa, Spotty bucked my bed upside down for no reason!” “No, it was for a very good reason! I needed to wake everypony up since the rooster can’t do it, and you were my alarm clock. It was super efficient!” “Wha… WHAT?!” Blau looked about ready to attack her sister once more. However, once again both mares’ attention snapped to their father when he put his mug down onto the table with a loud clank. “Spotty, dear. Why can’t the rooster wake everypony up today? He did just fine yesterday.” Oh, scheisse! I shouldn’t have mentioned that. Sauer started fiddling with her forehooves. They will probably not understand, as always, and look at me like… like I am nuts. Oh, scheissdreck! They already started staring! Weiss Kraut leaned a bit forward, a warm but strict smile on his face. “Spotty... What about the rooster?” “Well…” Sauer glanced at her sister, who was staring back at her, eyebrow raised. She wasn't going to get out of this one. “He can’t wake everypony up today since he is gagged.” Blau’s eyes widened, and Sauer quickly looked back to her father. Weiss Kraut still smiled, and unlike her sister, he showed no sign of shock. However, there was something else in his look. Disappointment? Worry? Sadness? Maybe if she just explained the rest, he would understand and stop looking at her that way. “Look, Papa. The rooster has been out of tune for months! So, I finally took it upon myself to teach him how to crow correctly. But obviously, I can’t let him continue with his out-of-tune crowing until we are done—otherwise, he will just fall back all the time, and it will take forever! So, I gagged him yesterday before I went to bed.” Sauer pleadingly looked at her father. He would understand, right? He was smart, after all, and her logic was correct: the teaching would be unnecessarily prolonged if the rooster was allowed to continue his flawed crowing. Her father examined her a moment longer in silence before focusing on something behind her. Her adopted little brother had just come down the stairs. “Schlingel, my boy,” Weiss Kraut said. “Be a dear and quickly run to the stable and ungag the rooster!” Well, at least somepony isn’t asking questions—he just smiles and runs off to do as he is asked. Why can’t Blau be like that? “Spotty, come over here.” Her father made an inviting gesture with the shoulder of his missing foreleg. Blau had already turned to the kitchen, probably preparing her breakfast. She sighed and trotted over towards her dad and sat down so he could lean onto her in a hug-like manner, while his remaining forehoof was free to ruffle her mane. “You do realize why gagging the rooster and literally kicking your sister out of bed is not right, don’t you?” Sauer fought against a misty sensation in her eyes. He was talking to her as if she was a filly again. She was a grown up, adult mare for crying out loud! She was the oldest amongst her siblings! Just because they… misunderstood her way of thinking didn’t make her a child! “Don’t you?” Weiss Kraut repeated. “I…” She gritted her teeth, before her shoulders slumped. “No. Not really…” She tried to avert her eyes, but her father put his hoof under her chin and turned her head so she was facing him. Still smiling, he replied in a calm and patient voice. “Put yourself in the position of the rooster or your sister. Do you believe they enjoyed what you put them through?” “It worked! Well, it would have...” “Sweetheart, an idea needs to be more than just working in order to be a good one. For starters, it shouldn’t make other ponies feel bad. The same goes for roosters, by the way.” He gave her a peck on the forehead. “You are smart young mare, Spotty, and just a bit nuts like your mum used to be. I know you’ll figure it all out eventually.” He let her go. “Now have some breakfast and get ready for the day. It may not be harvest season, but there is still more than enough to do!” ~~~~~~~~~ Upon leaving the main house of Kraut Land Hof, her family’s farm, Sauer was met by the disapproving look of the now un-gagged rooster. He opened his beak wide, and gave his annoyingly out-of-tune crow. However, one angry stare later, he quickly retreated to wherever he spent his day. Blau accompanied Sauer on her way to the field she was going to work on that day. Sauer could tell that her younger sister was still cross with her because she didn’t say a single word. What was she so mad about? Sauer had already promised that she wouldn’t use her as an alarm-clock again. Now that she wasn’t allowed to gag the rooster anymore, there was no point in doing so anyways. What was Blau expecting from her? An apology maybe? Sauer didn’t see any point in that. After all, she had been in the right! Eventually, they parted ways when they reached the northern fields. Each of them would work on one of two neighboring fields. Sauer Kraut welcomed being on her own so she could focus on her work. She enjoyed giving her absolute best in her work—or everything she did for that matter. Having other ponies around usually only caused her distractions, because they would constantly ask her to slow down and take it easy. Killjoys! Around noon, Sauer was lying under a tree at the border of the field she had been working on, panting and covered in sweat. She also felt super happy! She had already finished her chore that was supposed to take the entire day. She fished out her lunch from within her saddlebags and started looking around the landscape while chewing on her sandwich. There, she could make out her sister still only halfway done with her own field. On her other side was the field Sauer was supposed to take care of tomorrow. Maybe she could finish it today as well? She felt her muscles ache and laughed a bit to herself. Maybe just start with it. Sauer looked towards the Macintosh Hills mountain range to the north. She had never been to the Equestrian Heartland. Then again, she wasn’t sure if she would really enjoy being there. From what she has been told, life was pretty boring up there. For the past thousand years, Princess Celestia had ruled her peaceful utopia without anything interesting happening. Life down here was a lot more exciting with the constant threat of Troglodyte raiding parties attacking. Sauer finished her sandwich and laid back looking into the bright sky. What a beautiful day. When she turned west, she could even see the small cloud settlement hovering above Cloppenburg. She then noticed a single pegasus, high up in the sky, flying towards  her. As she came closer, Sauer noticed that something was off about the flyer: she clearly had the shape of a pony, but Sauer couldn’t make out any wings. Or were those translucent blurs on either side of the flyer supposed to be wings? Who or whatever it was, it was no normal pegasus! Sauer curiously watched the mysterious creature as it continued to fly eastwards. When it was right overhead, she noticed it’s erratic flying as if it was struggling with something. This thing was in trouble! Suddenly, a flash of light startled Sauer when a magic bolt was fired into the air from not very far away. The magic projectile hit the creature, and it started dropping towards the ground.