The Evil Juice

by Detectivefish

The Sinful Substance

There was the feel of warm sunlight on her cheek, and cost blankets rubbing against her. It was the worst part of waking up, just after you'd realised you had woken up and you had things to do, but before you had actually managed to rouse yourself.

Still, Applejack had heard the rooster calling, as it did every morning, which meant it was time for her to get up, and she slowly pulled herself out of bed, nudging small bits of sleep out of her eyes. She looked at the time. She was fourteen minutes out from her usual waking time.

Slowly, she made her way to the small bathroom, and tried to get her hair into some sense of order, then brushed her teeth. As she made her way back out, she looked into Apple Bloom's bedroom to make sure the filly was still there, just in case. She knew it was really foolish to worry, but she always checked, just in case.

Apple Bloom was still there, still resting. Applejack nodded. Her little sister was asleep and the sun was coming up as it always did, and everything was right with the world. But there was something she was sure she'd forgotten.

Was it the Ponyville rodeo? No, she told herself. That was last month.

Was it cider season? No, that had been a few months ago.

Winter Wrap Up? She certainly knew it wasn't that, seeing as this year it had actually been on time, thanks to Twilight Sparkle. There had been one of Pinkie Pie's parties and everything.

Pinkie Pie. For some reason that girl's name was sticking in her head.

'Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie' she mused. She shook her head. She had breakfast, followed by chores to deal with. Then she'd start dealing with Pinkie Pie.

When she got downstairs, she found Winnona carefully sitting out of the way, while her brother carefully made his way through breakfast.

"Morning" Applejack smiled.

"Good morning" the large red stallion responded, before going back to his meal.

"Nice day out" she observed, looking out of the window, and already she could tell what McIntosh was about to say.

"It is" was not what she'd been expecting. She turned to look at him. Years of living around Big McIntosh had given her the uncanny ability to discern his mood and train of thought, even if most of what he said was some variation of 'eyup' or 'nope', despite the best efforts of their grandmother.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Yes" he said, before calmly moving his empty bowl away.

"So, what's on the board for today?"

"Wouldn't know."

Applejack blinked. She was by her own admission, prone to overworking herself, as she had proven during the last Applebucking season, despite the best efforts of one Twilight Sparkle. Actually, once she thought about it, she'd really managed to steam-roll right through 'overworked' and out the other side, considering everything she'd done during those few days without sleep. She'd even hidden the award trophy she'd been given during that time because it reminded her of what'd happened. Strangely enough, she wasn't sure where it had gone, though she was certain that if she asked Apple Bloom, the filly would have been able to tell her. But Big McIntosh not knowing the schedule? Her own big brother, not knowing what he was supposed to do? Considering he'd once been so ill his coat had turned a strange pink colour, and still been trying to walk about, something didn't smell right.

"And what do yah mean by that?" she demanded, and could see instantly a total lack of guilt in her big brother's eyes.

"Goin' away. With Caramel. Fishin' trip" he said, calmly.

"But- y-... wha-..." she sputtered, as he calmly made his way upstairs. She shook herself. Inelegant spluttering, as Rarity would probably have said, was unbecoming of her. Rarity reminded her too much of Manehattan, which was probably why she hadn't gotten on so well with the mare until they'd been stuck in Twilight Sparkle's library in a rainstorm.

It was beginning to dawn on Applejack that a lot of events in the last eight months had something to do with Twilight Sparkle. She'd been spending more time with the personal student of Princess Celestia herself, more than she had with Fluttershy, who lived right by the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, or even Carrot Top, her next door neighbour, and it hadn't even occured to her.

She filed those concerns away in the back of her mind, as she noticed her big brother carrying suitcase out the door.
"Where the heck do you think yer going?" she yelled, and then she noticed it. Just for a second, in his big green eyes, she noticed fear. She paused, as he motioned toward something behind her. She turned, completely ignoring the escaping form of her big brother.

On the wall by the front door was one of the many schedules around the house, designed to tell each member of the family who was doing what that day (which wasn't, as some might have suspected, because of Granny Smith's occasionaly spotty memory at all), and she saw it. Written in large print, covering all four parts of the schedule were the words
'Brown Betty'.

Applejack stared at the words for a moment, hoping to utilise some previously unknown ability of the Apples to destroy the words. Now she remembered why she was so desperate to find Pinkie Pie. It was clear to the farmpony now that time was of the essence. But first things first, she told herself.

*****

Apple Bloom was woken by a nudging feeling. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up to see her big sister standing by her bed.

"Whut?" she managed to get out.

"Time to wake up, sleepy head" Applejack smiled. Apple Bloom noted it was the sort of smile her big sister had when there was something going on that she thought Apple Bloom wouldn't understand, like when she mentioned their parents, and then disappeared for hours.

"C'mon, ya got school in a bit" she said.

"'s only half six" the filly moaned, before pulling the bed sheets over her head.

"Apple Bloom" her big sister said, in her best impression of their mother.

"Sleepin'" Apple Bloom said, before trying her best impression of snoring.

There was a sudden freezing cold draught, and Apple Bloom knew without seeing that her bedsheets had been removed.

"Ah ain't got time t' argue with ya" Applejack said, "Ah just need you up an' about right now, Apple Bloom"

The filly opened her mouth to ask what was going on. "An' no back-talk, 'cuz ah ain't explainin' mahself right now. There ain't time. But ah will explain later."

And at that her big sister was out of the door, leaving the little filly wondering what had just happened.
"An' stop standing there, and get ready fer school!" she heard Applejack yell from the bottom of the stairs.

*****

Applejack stepped outside, confidant that her little sister would do as she asked, and for a few second was sure she could handle whatever the day held.

Sure, Big McIntosh had up and fled, but it was entirely possible her big brother really had planned a fishing trip with Caramel, and just forgotten to tell her completely, even though such forgetfulness was unheard of from the eldest child of the Apple family, and it just happened to be on the same day as their aunt was scheduled to visit Ponyville.
'Ah swear ah'm gonna tan his hide for this, even if it is all a big coincidence' she thought.

Then she saw the sky. The lovely, clear blue sky. And her hopes sank.

Ponyville did have a weather team, but if there was still more than few clouds in the sky in early spring, as it was right now, that meant Rainbow Dash had actually gotten her flank out of bed before ten. And apparently today was one of those days. Which also meant she had much less time than she thought. Her pace, already at a brisk walk, accelerated. If Rainbow Dash was awake, she'd need to go to the last place in Ponyville she thought she'd have to visit that day.

The Carousel Boutique.

*****

Rarity usually woke up by seven, if only because Opal was a fiend of a cat who got incredibly loud if she was kept waiting for breakfast past eight (Not that Opal was starved for ponies in town she could bother for food. Rarity had once caught her own dentist feeding Opal completely by accident), and today was no different. She stared at the small kitchen, and at Opal deciding that her food wasn't quite good enough at the moment, and calmly took a sip of her morning tea (with no sugar, only the best substitutes her money could buy), mentally preparing herself for a hard day of working, hoping for some spark of inspiration.

And occasionaly, thinking of the Grand Galloping Gala. It was only a few months until the most prestigous night of the year, and she still hadn't finalised either her dress or those of her friends. She was just about to start focusing on that when there was an urgent hammering on the door. For a moment, she gently placed her drink down, and looked at Opal, who had been just about to possibly consider sampling her breakfast, and wasn't really interested in Rarity.

As she walked to the door she tried to determined who it was that was knocking on her door. It wasn't Pinkie Pie, who usually chose seven knocks at a time, or Twilight Sparkle, who used merely two, or Fluttershy, who actually just tried the doorbell most times. It wasn't Lyra, whose knocks were usually to whatever tune was in her head at the moment, or her marefriend Bon-Bon, whose knocks were usually to whatever tune had just been in Lyra's head, or the local jeweller Amethyst Sparkler, who she had on occasion collaborated with since the mare had arrived in Ponyville. Aside from that, she hadn't really determined anypony else's knocks, since very few ponies in Ponyville wore clothing, and certainly not on a day-to-day basis, and the few who did (like Filthy Rich) weren't usually the sort who frequented her store.

So, Rarity was extremely surprised to find Applejack standing on her front-doorstep, looking nervous and fiercely determined.

"Rarity, ah need your help!"

Comments

[SuperGiantRobot]

Now normally, I'd be shouting WHAT HAS SCIENCE DOOOOOOONE?!, but science hasn't actually done anything yet, and I don't want to blame it prematurely.