An Apple A Day

by Esle Ynopemos

1: Best Garden [Comedy] [Romance]

((Prompt: It should've been you!))

“It should be you.”

Applejack slowed her applause to cast a sidelong glance at her companion. “Beg yer pardon, Rarity?”

The white unicorn wore a paper-thin smile and pounded her hooves half-heartedly to match the crowd of ponies around them. “That should be you up there, accepting that trophy. I don't understand what the judges were thinking!”

Up on the stage ahead, Mayor Mare presented a trophy with a big golden turnip on top to this year's winner of Ponyville's Best Garden award. In a town that was mostly farmers, the title of Best Garden tended to be a hotly contested prize.

Applejack chuckled and shook her head. “Aw, we did well enough.” She waved the second-place ribbon in the air. “Second place ain't bad at all, with stiff competition like this. Golden Harvest worked her flank off, she deserved to win.”

An impatient huff erupted from Rarity. “Please, dear, don't give me that humble pony routine. You worked your flank off, darling. Miss Harvest clearly still has hers fully intact. Adding to it by the day, from the looks of it.”

Applejack sighed. “No reason to be catty, darlin'.”

“I am not being catty,” Rarity snapped. “I am simply pointing out an observable fact.”

Applejack glanced up at the stage. Maybe Golden Harvest was starting to put on a bit of pudge. Applejack quickly realized she was standing next to her marefriend while staring at her neighbor's flank, and coughed into her hoof. “Flanks notwithstandin', she put on a good show. She's got a mighty fine garden.”

“With all due respect to her,” Rarity said, “her garden was a patch of dirt with weeds sticking out. I am loath to even call it a garden! Your garden was art. Beauty itself, distilled into rows of cabbage and beets. I find it an utter disgrace that anypony could be so blind as to rate that mudhole of hers over the study in elegance that you presented!” She pawed at the ground, her nostrils flared.

Applejack pinched her brows. There would be no winning this argument. “Well, I guess there's always next year,” she said. “Besides, it ain't like Golden Harvest ever beat me for the Best Orchard... hey, where you goin'?”

Rarity was working her way through the crowds of ponies. “I simply cannot remain silent about this!” she cried, making for the stage.

“Oh, Celestia,” Applejack muttered. “Rarity, wait!” She tried to push her way through the crowds, but there was no way to reach the stage before Rarity did.

The fashionista climbed up on top of the platform, stepping in front of Golden Harvest. “Darling, I'm very happy for you, and I will let you finish,” she said, cutting off the carrot-farmer's acceptance speech, “but Applejack's garden is the number one garden of all time!”

An orange hoof snagged her and began dragging her off the stage. “Let's come on down, Rarity,” Applejack said as she pulled.

“Of all time!” Rarity repeated as she was taken off of the stage.

Applejack did not set her down until they were well clear of the crowd. “What the hay was that all about, Rarity?” she panted.

Rarity sat on the cobbles, staring at the ground. She mumbled something, too quiet for Applejack to hear.

Applejack knelt in closer. “Speak up, hon.”

“Our garden,” Rarity said, tears beading in her eyes. “I helped you grow this one. I put up with mud, and bugs, and weeds to help you with it.” She sniffled. “It is the very best garden of all time, Applejack. It's our garden.”

Applejack wrapped a hoof around her. “It surely is, sweethart. It surely is.”

Author's Note:

Let's pre-empt some of the more frequently asked questions this time:

No, these stories are not in continuity with each other unless I specifically mention that they are.

I get my prompts from Thirty Minute Ponies, which is a wonderful and amazing resource for writers. Really, if you want to practice your writing, check these folks out, because they are awesome.

I try to stick with only the genre tags available to FimFic stories when tagging chapters. This means that sometimes the tags do not exactly reflect the content of the story. Know that I am aware of this when something is marked [Sad] but is really more heartwarming/bittersweet, or [Slice of Life] when it contains intense dramatic action. (Honestly, why is there a [Tragedy] tag that nobody knows how to properly use, but no [Action] tag?)

I hope you all enjoy the ride!

Comments

[Hobbestc]

Lol, poor Tayler, er, Golden Harvest..............

[sharpshadow]

“Besides, it ain't like Golden Harvest ever beat me for the Best Orchard..." Of course she doesn't win Best Orchard. You can't win an award you're not eligible for.

[JetstreamGW]

Oh god, the friggin' Kanye thing... Why? Why would you do that to us?

[LionAgain]

I see what you did there.

[ObabScribbler]

Hi again. ^_^ I hope you don't mind (again) but this story tickled me pink and I just had to do another audio version. I hope you like it.

[Periphery]

Ack, I meant to look out for this after your Fluttershy series ended, but then by the time I remembered and looked for it, it had already gotten away from me. Well then, maybe I'll throw a whole series of comments at you on end instead of keeping with your pace of one a day.

Anyway, this one's a cute start, even if Rarity kinda steals it.

[koty]

Okay this may sound weird but I am a super genius and my freind told me about this site and once here I randomly picked one to write this on, I have built a machine that tears apart the space time continuum to take me to alternate places in the multiverse and one day when I fired it up I was sent to a alternate dimension where equestrian lives once there I was accepted into there society after i was given a equestrian body by twilight, in this dimension the equestriansare at war with creatures called kuh_due and after being accepted I was asked to fight for equestria,after several battles queen celestria had a vision of me and twilight leading the elements of harmony I was given the honor of being a element but I am no ordinary element I am the element of destruction I balance out good with evil although I am on the equestrian side when I returned to our dimension I still bear my battle star and have some control over electricity, please I need some one to believe me.