//------------------------------//
// Day 17: Food Restock 
// Story: Ponyville the Town of Youth 
// by Ironskull 
//------------------------------//

"Hellllooooo Applejack!"

Applejack lifted her hat off of her face and sat up on the sofa where she had been taking a nap.  "Oh, Pinkie Pie," she answered.  "Howdaya do?"

"How do you do what?"

"...  Huh?"

"I said, 'How do you do what?'  I can't really tell you how to do it until you tell me what it is!"

"...  Ah don't follow."

"Oh!  I know!  You want to know how to play 'Pillage the Village'!"

"What?"

"I could show you, if you like.  We play that game every few days, and we're going out to play it again today!"

"Hang on now, you want me to do what exactly?"

"It's easy!  We go out into Ponyville, go into pony's houses, grab all of the good food and ingredients, and bring them back here!"

Applejack raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I get it," said Applejack in bemusement.  "We have no choice but to take food from the other houses.  Even though this isn't the real Ponyville, I know I can still get hungry as a shrew.  But do we really to call it pillage the village?"

"Of course not, you can call it whatever you want.  So, you want to come?"

Applejack considered.  "Are you the one in charge of this here venture?" she asked.

"Nope!" answered Pinkie.  Suddenly, one of her hooves stretched away out of sight and returned a moment later with a very startled dragon.  "He is!"

"Spike's in charge?" said Applejack in surprise.

"In charge of what?" asked Spike, bewildered.

"In charge of Pillage the Village, silly!" answered Pinkie.

"Pinkie, I told you, don't call it that!" complained Spike.

"So, you are in charge?" asked Applejack.

"That's right, I have this list that helps me keep track of what we need," confirmed Spike, producing the list out of nowhere.

"And who else is on your... team?" asked Applejack.

"Well, Snips and Snails always volunteer.  Sometimes others offer to help out.  Other than Snips and Snails, Pinkie and I, nopony else is really a permanent part of the... salvage team.  Sheesh, there's not really a way of saying it that makes it sound good, is there?"

"Hmm," pondered Applejack.  "Well, Ah suppose Ah'll try anything once.  Count me in."

"Alright!" cheered Spike.  "Let's go find Snips and Snails and get started!"

As Applejack followed Pinkie and Spike outside, they passed two of the three remaining ponies left in the fort.  Dinky and Rumble were once again playing a game of chess.

"There you go again," complained Rumble.  "Doing freaky moves that I don't know about!"

"It's called castling," answered Dinky.  "It's a thing.  Here, this time, I can prove it!

"Hey, Twilight!  Come here!"

Twilight, who was sitting a short distance away, sighed and carefully placed her book back on the shelf that she found it on, and then walked to Dinky.

"What's up, you two?  Having fun?"

"Yeah.  But, could you please tell Rumble that castling is a real thing?  And en passant?"

"They are real moves," confirmed Twilight.  "I'm pretty sure I saw a book on the rules of chess around here a few days ago, so I could find it and show you.  Only...  I think that was one of the books from the library..."

"Fluttershy probably knows where it is then," said Dinky.

"Fluttershy?" said Twilight in surprise.

"Yeah.  She's been spending the last couple of days with the... book flock," Dinky finished awkwardly.

"She has?  I haven't seen the books ever since the... incident."

"She goes on walks all over Ponyville and those books follow her everywhere," explained Dinky.  "It's kind of... strange?"

"Really."

"Yep."

"I'm going to go find her."





"Are y'all two sure that you're alright pullin' that thing?" asked Applejack to Snips and Snails, who were hitched to a wagon.

"This is easy!" declared Snips.

"Yeah, this is nothin' compared to pulling a cart without wheels," said Snails.

Applejack gave Snails a strange look, but didn't say anything.  Spike put a hand over his face.

"Alright," said Spike.  "We're coming up on our first house."

"Who's house is it?" asked Applejack.

"We have no idea," said Spike.  "It's not usually obvious who lives where, and I made everypony Pinkie Promise that we wouldn't snoop around.  We go in, find the kitchen, grab what we need, and leave.

"Speaking of which," he continued, "You promise not to snoop around too, right Applejack?"

"Sure.  Ah promise!"

"Make it a Pinkie Promise!" shouted Pinkie.

"A whut now?"





"Fluttershy?"

"Oh, Twilight!" answered Fluttershy happily.  "Hello!"

"You seem to be in a good mood..."

"Oh, I am!" answered Fluttershy.  "It's days like this that make me happy to be alive!"

"Are you... reading a book... to the other books?" asked Twilight, staring at the book flock surrounding Fluttershy, who was holding one in her hooves.

"Oh!  Well-  Yes.  They do seem to love it ever so much!"

"They... do?"

"Yes, they do!  I think it gives them a sense of fulfillment.  Being read is their purpose!  It makes them happy!"

"Really?" asked Twilight, baffled.  She shook her head.  "What are you even reading anyway?"

Suddenly, Fluttershy turned her arms away from Twilight, hiding the book from view.

"Um, it's nothing."

"Come Fluttershy, it's only a book from the library.  There's no reason to hide it from me."

Fluttershy didn't answer.

"I promise I won't judge you for it," Twilight offered.

Fluttershy hesitated, then turned and showed Twilight the book.

"Waterfalls of Equestria?" read Twilight aloud in surprise.  "That sounds like a guide book."

"It is."

"Well, that certainly wasn't what I was expecting you to be reading, but there's no reason to be embarrassed about it."

"You don't think that it's weird?" asked Fluttershy.

"Of course not!  Waterfalls are beautiful!  And, luckily, Ponies have photographed that beauty and published it in books like this one so that ponies like me can appreciate them without ever having to go and see them for ourselves!"

"I don't think that you can really experience the beauty fully if you don't see it with your own eyes," muttered Fluttershy.

Twilight looked at Fluttershy in surprise.

Fluttershy hunched down.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to shoot down your opinion.  Please don't hate me."

"I don't hate you!" cried Twilight.  "In fact, I think that you're... right!  It would be better to see them with your own eyes.  It's just that, ponies like me don't usually have a lot of time for that sort of thing, so we have to settle for seeing them in picture form instead."

"I would like to see some of these one day," said Fluttershy.

"I'll tell you what, Flutters," said Twilight with a smile.  "When we get back to the real world, I'll take you to see some of those waterfalls."

"Thank you."

"You are welcome."

There was a few moments of silence.

"So, it's not weird that I read 'Unicorn Magic for Beginners' either?" asked Fluttershy.

"You read what?"

"Oh, I knew it!" wailed Fluttershy.  "It is weird!"

"No, Fluttershy, it's not!  It's just-  Why did you read a book like that?  Considering... you know, how... you're not a unicorn?" Twilight finished weakly.

"I couldn't help it," Fluttershy defended.  "The books just love to be read, and I didn't want any book to feel left out, and even though I normally wouldn't be interested in a book like that, making my friends happy is fun, and so reading that book suddenly became fun, and before I knew it, I had read through the whole thing!"

Twilight stared at Fluttershy for a moment.

"Say, Fluttershy..." Twilight said slowly.  "Quick question.  I don't suppose you know what the part of a unicorn's horn that controls magic is, do you?"

"Um... the thauma?"

"Correct," answered Twilight.  "How does energy use increase in class A type spells?"

"It goes up linearly with distance?"

"Correct..." answered Twilight in astoundment.





"Whoa," said Applejack.  "This isn't the kitchen."

Spike walked beside Applejack and looked through the doorway that she was looking through.

"I should say not.  It looks more like an exercise room.  Look at all this stuff!"

Spike wandered into the room.

"Wow.  They have an exercise bike, an exercise mat, and just look at these barbells!"

He stopped in front of one of the said barbells, which was as tall as he was, and attempted to lift it.  It didn't budge.

He sighed.  "When I grow up, I'll be able to lift these things without even trying."

"Hey you two!" cried Pinkie.  "We found the kitchen!"

"Alright, let's pack everything into the wagon," said Spike, abandoning the exercise equipment.

As they were walking toward the kitchen, they passed Snips and Snails in the hallway.

"What's that?" asked Spike, indicating the bags that Snips and Snails were carrying.

"Dried Pasta," said Snails.

"The kitchen has all kinds of pasta," said Snips.  "Square pasta with waves, pasta shaped like letter 'U's, pasta shaped like bow ties!  There is even some leftover pasta already prepared in the refrigerator."

"What else is there?" asked Spike.

"Not a lot," said Snails.  "I saw some cheese and milk though."

"Did you grab the milk already?" asked Pinkie.

"No."

"I'm going to go check it!"

Pinkie bounced away and disappeared into the kitchen.

"Why is Pinkie so interested in the milk?" asked Applejack.

Spike responded with a groan.

"Okay," he said.  "Most of the food in Ponyville is fine to eat.  It's either dry stuff that doesn't go bad, or it's stored in pony's refrigerators.  It will all stay good, for just one month at least."

"Ohhh," said Applejack in realization.  "But milk goes bad mighty quick, even when refrigerated."

"Exactly.  Last time we went out, we started noticing that some of the milk was starting to go bad.  Not all of it, just the milk that had already been in the fridges for a while before Discord created this Ponyville, but more and more of it is going to turn bad the longer we wait."

"Do we really need it that badly?" asked Applejack.

"Pinkie Pie does," answered Spike, beginning to walk toward the kitchen.  "It's an essential ingredient in her cakes and stuff."

"Ah suppose that makes sense..."

"Anyway, our number one priority is to grab as much of the milk as we can today," continued Spike.  "If you see any, first check the expiration date.  Trust me, you don't want to open a bottle that is past expiration."

"You don't have to tell me," said Applejack, making a face of disgust.

"Then," continued Spike, "if the date says that it's good, open it up and make sure."

"Well," remarked Applejack.  "Ah'm not looking forward to that, but I guess there's no choice."

"Oh, that reminds me, Applejack!" cried Pinkie, who was coming back through the hallway with two bottles of milk.  "When we finish up this job, you'll help me with the baking, right?  I need to work fast if I want to use up all of this milk before it goes bad, and I would really appreciate your help!"

"Sure, Pinkie," said Applejack.  "I'm always ready to lend a helping hoof!"