Mr. Wonka gave a low whistle, “I wonder what happened here?”
As he hopped back into town, he noticed as he passes by, the adults wore frowns and the children were pulling behind them in their toy wagons or bags of various items around town. The air was perfumed with apologies from the grown-ups as things were being exchanged. He didn’t have to be a detective to see that he was in the middle of an aftermath of something frustrating.
“Ah! There you are!” The chocolatier looked to his right to find a rather crossed Mr. Cake coming his way, “Pinkie, where have you been on your break? Things have been going haywire lately.”
“My apologies sir,” he said. “I’m afraid that I got distracted elsewhere. What happened here?”
The yellow stallion sighed, “The foals were rioting a while ago. Sugar Cube Corner has been ransacked, taking everything, including that new candy that you’ve made out of the counter. We were barricading ourselves in the kitchen this whole time.”
“Really?” Mr. Wonka blinked, “Everything?”
“Everything that wasn’t in the kitchen, that’s for sure.”
“Oh phew,” the candy maker said in relief. “At least no one gotten into the experimental stuff, that’s good. What about your wife and the twins?”
“We’re fine, it’s just we have to close shop until we can make everything up again.” They started to head towards the gingerbread shop, “How fast can you make the stuff you made this morning?”
The Chocolatier thought for a moment, “If there are enough ingredients, probably an hour, if not, half an hour.”
Mr. Cake looked on in surprise, “That fast? How is that even possible?”
“It’s quite simple really, even if you find that you simply don’t have enough of anything, you get creative. You’ll be amazed how quickly one can improvise when they need to.”
“What does-”
“To the kitchen!” Mr. Wonka charged head on into the back door of the shop. As he stepped through, he saw that Mrs. Cake was taking down the barricade of chairs and mixing machines while the twins were crying.
“Oh there you are dearie,” the blue mare said settling a chair down. “Could you help me with the twins? I’m afraid that I have my hooves tied as it is.”
The Cady Maker scooped the foals into his fore legs, “Now what’s this crying about you two?” he asked. He cautiously sniffed the two, “I don’t think you need changing.” Then he put one ear against Pound’s stomach for a moment, tapping the sides of it gently. Humming, he did the same with Pumpkin, “Hollow, I’m guessing you two are hungry then?” This got a nod from the twins.
“Okay,” looking around the somewhat reassembled kitchen, he went from place to place a bird in a park – checking the fridge, the cabinets and the pantries of all the ingredients that were still left untouched. In the back of Mr. Wonka’s mind, something told him that there was a recipe that came from his other memories. It was the one that the family had taught how to make a kind of mashed dish for the infants. “Sweet potato mash…” he said to himself before inspiration struck.
In a flash, the Candy Maker’s creativity was in full swing as he snatched up the potatoes, spices, sugar, flour, corn syrup, mixing machines, vanilla extract, milk, cream, eggs, salt, and whatever was lying around and immediately set to work.
“Don’t worry you little Cakes,” he said to the twins as they looked up at him, “you’ll get your meal in no time. You two just gave me an idea.”
_*_
With the final basket of apples stacked into the cart, Big Mac whipped his brow. It’s already the afternoon and he hadn’t seen Applejack anywhere since this morning. ‘What is she doin’ anyway?’ he wondered as he trotted over to the front to hook himself up to the cart. It was on his mind a lot since he saw his sister run out the door shortly after she woke up.
But with or without her, he still got a job to do. With the freshly harvested apples behind him, the red stallion started heading over to the barn when he saw his little sister walk right in. ‘Here already?’ he thought as he looked up at the sun in the sky. ‘Shouldn’t she be gettin’ out of school later?’
His curiosity drove him up to the barn where he unhitched himself before walking up to the door. There he found the smallest Apple looking around. “Applebloom,” he asked aloud, “what are ya doin’ here?”
“Oh, hey Mac,” she said. “Ah’m playin’ hide and seek,” Looking around the barn for a moment she asked, “Ya haven’t seen Alice come in here too by any chance, have ya?”
The crimson stallion tilted his head, “Who’s Alice?”
Realizing what she just said, she corrected herself, “Oh! Ah mean Fluttershy. It’s… kinda a long story.”
With a raise eyebrow, Mac decided to change the subject, “Y’all haven’t seen Applejack around, have ya?”
“You mean Doro- Ah mean, not yet. Ah think she’s hidin’ here somewhere.”
“You mean she’s playin’ with you?”
“No, me and the Crusaders too,” Applebloom looked over into one of the stalls. “Again, it’s a long story.”
With a frustrated snort, he said, “Ah thought she was goin’ ta help me today. Why is AJ playin’ with y’all?”
When his little sister checked the haystacks, only to find it empty, she turned her attention to her big brother. “Do ya remember last night, when AJ jus’ fainted out of the blue when she brought our books home?” he nodded. “Ta make a really long story short, Princess Twi had accidently got a bunch of enchanted books mixed up, and now AJ, Shy, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rare’s and Blueblood now got completely different personalities. In fact, Applejack and Fluttershy think they’re jus’ little foals.”
Big Mac looked at her for a good solid moment, “When ya say, ‘think they’re jus’ little foals,’ how little are we talkin’ about?”
“Well…” Applebloom put a hoof to her chin, “Ah know that Alice- er, Fluttershy, say that she’s seven-and-a-half, while AJ says that she’s six.”
The red farm pony sat on his hunches, rubbing his temples, “Good Celestia,” he moaned. “So why are ya in here again?”
“I think I saw AJ come in here,” his little sister resumed looking around. She peered over at the hay lofts up above in which she saw something moved. Heading towards the latter, she climbed up as quietly as she could. Up into the opening, Macintosh’s little sister disappeared into the upper loft for a moment before she cried out “Found you!”
“Aw,” the older brother heard AJ’s voice say. “How did you know I was here?”
“Saw yer tail,” he then saw Applebloom descend from the latter before the orange pony did.
Dorothy looked over her shoulder at the red stallion near the barn door. As soon as her hooves reached the ground, she trotted up to Big Mac, “I overheard everything,” she said. “In the back of my mind, I somehow knew that I had chores that needed to be done, but I thought that things would return to normal soon. Although I did see you this morning, I think I should introduce myself, my name is Dorothy Gale, how do you do?”
Big Macintosh could do nothing but blink, he could instantly tell that although it still looked like Applejack, and has the same voice, he couldn’t help but notice that her accent had changed dramatically. “Weirded out,” he finally said. “Though, Ah can’t exactly say that Ah’m that surprised given all the weird things around town lately. Is this permanent?”
“I… I don’t really know,” Dorothy confessed. “We’ve been trying to figure out how all morning, but we’ve ran into someone that is helping us once everything is calmed down a bit.” Here, she offered up an apologetic smile, “But I am sorry for not helping you today, even if I’m not Applejack.”
“Ah… think Ah see,” he replied.
“There you are,” they suddenly heard new voices. Big Mac turned around to see the other two Crusaders plus Fluttershy come trotting up. “Do you still want to play hide and seek?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Dorothy Gale looked between her new friends and the red stallion, “Actually,” she said, “I don’t want to play anymore, can I help out my big brother?”
It was then that Alice gave a worried look, “Dorothy dear,” she said. “I thought we were going to wait until Ms. Poppins would come back to get us?”
“I know,” the orange mare replied, “but I just want to get to know my other family for a little while.”
“That’s very kind of you, but don’t you think it won’t be long now until we return home?”
Dorothy again looked at her and the Apple siblings, “Well, couldn’t I stay just a little longer?”
“What?” Applebloom interjected, “Ah thought y’all wanted to get back to yer Aunt and Uncle?”
“I do. But… I don’t want to go just yet.”
Alice’s jaw dropped, “What! After all that we’ve been through this morning, and talked about figuring out how to return, you want to stay!”
“Not forever,” Dorothy said. “It’s just that here, I have a family, a real family! One in which I have a grandmother, a big brother and a little sister, something I didn’t have in Kansas.”
“But Dorothy, do you realize what you’re saying?” Alice questioned, “That you’re in no hurry in getting back to the family that raise you to be with someone who you think is your family?”
“Yes!” the American girl narrowed her eyes. “Because here, although they’re not exactly people, these ponies have treated me like I’m a part of them. As Applejack, I have more friends, relatives, and adventures then I could ever dream back in Kansas!” she stomped a hoof, “If you want to go back to England so bad, then do it! At least leave me be with these ponies that actually care about me!”
“Well I-” Alice’s facial features soured at this before she too stomped a hoof, “Alright, fine! If you want to be stuck here, acting like such a baby over it without using your head, go right ahead! I’ll be going home!” She sharply turned away, heading towards the Crusaders’ Clubhouse. “Of all the unsatisfactory people I’ve met…”
Dorothy, meanwhile, looked up at Macintosh, “Come on, big brother,” she said. “Let’s go harvest some apples.” She said before walking in the opposite direction.
The Crusaders looked at one another, “Well that escalated quickly,” Scootaloo commented.
“Although,” the white unicorn said, “You have to remember that mentally, they’re not as mature as we are.”
“Ah’ll say,” Applebloom looked on as Dorothy and Mac walked into the Northern fields. “It was all goin’ so good too. Ah mean, to had her see them be a kid fer once.”
“So what do we do now?” the orange pegasus asked.
“Maybe we can help,” a familiar voice said. The three fillies quickly located where the voice was coming from, and bowed.
_*_
There were three knocks on the guestroom door, “Hey, you in there?” Spike asked, holding a tea tray up with one claw. “Zecora’s back with that tea she promised.” But from the other side, there was no answer.
Using his free claw to open it, Spike found that the room was empty. “Rarity?” he asked, setting the tea set down before checking the bathroom nearby. “Hello?” he knocked, but after he put an ear to the door, it was completely silent.
“Where did you go?” picking up the tea tray, he went looking for the white mare by going to one of the last places he’d saw her – the library. As he got closer, he heard the sounds of chalk on a board, ‘Is Twilight back already?’ he wondered as he pressed against the double doors. “Hey Shair-, Shar-, Czar-, your Majesty,” he said as he entered, “I brought you your- Blueblood?”