Apples: A Love Story

by Mod On Death

Day 2: Where Ponies Fear to Tread

DAY 2: Where Ponies Fear to Tread

Twilight and her friends got off of the train that ended in the Macintosh Hills and lead them to the border of Equestria. They knew that they were near their target when warning sign started appearing, telling ponies not to continue moving on at their own risk. There were illustrations of bloodthirsty changeling swarms with captions saying, “This is what awaits you out
here.” Fluttershy was shaking nervously while they ventured on, Rainbow Dash having to push her along.

“Now Fluttershy, dear, I really doubt there’s anything you need to worry about. After all, there isn’t any sign that the changelings are nearby, are there?” Rarity asked before stepping into a pool of green goop. “EEP! EWEWEWEWEW! What is this stuff?” she asked, trying to scrape the goop off her hooves onto a nearby rock.

“That’s changeling saliva. Some must be nearby. We need to be careful,” warned Twilight.

“Hmmph. Ain’t no hangeling gonna scare me!” Rainbow Dash yelled out as she passed by a cave. She started to hear a rumble come from inside there and looked inside to check it out. Suddenly she heard the flapping of a thousand wings thundering toward her, the expression on her face becoming pure terror. In a second, a swarm of bats came pouring out of the cave, flying straight into Rainbow Dash’s face.

“BATS!” Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity yelled out, running around in circles as the bats flew away. Twilight, with Rarity and Cranky, just stood and watched the three of them as they stood hugging each other with their eyes closed.

“Alright, now that you’ve probably ruined any chance of us not being heard, we should move quickly before something comes this way,” Twilight told the group.

“I’m sorry, Twi. It’s just that we’re all nervous,” apologized Fluttershy. “Maybe Pinkie Pie could sing us a song to calm our nerves.”

“Ooh! I have just the song.” Pinkie Pie jumped up on a rock and started bouncing up and down. “When I feel really nervous I like to sing the REALLY LOUD LOUD SONG-“ she belted out before Twilight tackled her.

“No! No loud songs! Just act like Cranky and be quiet!” yelled Twilight.

“Ew! Sorry Twi, but I’d rather not be like Cranky. Sorry Cranky,” apologized Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t worry. The feeling’s mutual,” he replied, confusing the brash pegasus.

“Whatever. Cranky, just take the lead. You seem to be the only one here who isn’t messing things up.” Twilight said, agitated from how things were going.

Cranky started moving, the rest of the group filing behind him. Things seemed to be going smoothly, that is until the ground started to crack.

“Oh come on!” they all yelled out as the ground gave way, causing the group to fall into a cavern filled with the sticky green goop. While it saved them from the fall, they were all stuck in place as a result.

“How could things get any worse?” Rainbow Dash asked. Suddenly the walls with lit with green dots, all pointing to the trespassers. “Great. More bats.” Twilight sent up a magic flare to light the cavern and revealed that those dots weren’t bats, but rather a swarm of changelings.

“I hope that cider is worth it,” Cranky said before everything went dark.

---

It was almost lunchtime at the Apple Family Farm. Big Mac and Applejack were cleaning up the farm from the crowd yesterday while Apple Bloom tended to the animals. Granny Smith had cleaned the house up and had also been preparing the lunch for when everypony had finished up.

“Alright everypony! Chow time!” Grannie Smith yelled out. Applejack and Big Mac soon came through the kitchen door. Apple Bloom was still busy cleaning the pig pen and would be in shortly. “Where are those Flim Flam boys?”

“Still in the cellar,” Big Mac said.

“Applejack, you mind letting them know its lunch time? Yer a lady and they’ll be sure to listen to you better,” Grannie Smith said.

“Uh, alright.” Applejack hated it when Grannie tried to get her with a colt. It never made any sense why she’d suddenly turn into a matchmaker at random times and try to have her interact with any colt in sight. She could tell she was trying to do that whenever she saw her eyes arching. They never seemed to rest when she was in one of her episodes.

“You boys ready for lunch?” she yelled out into the cellar. No response. “Wonder what they’re up to.” She went down into the cellar and found to her surprise a part of the room had been partitioned off with metal. She looked around the new wall in the cellar and located a metal door. Knowing that they had to be inside there, she carefully opened it up, hoping that there weren’t any unspeakable horrors lying beyond the door. She’d had enough of them for the week.

When she pulled back the door, her face was met with a blast of cool air. She heard the humming of fans blowing out cold air and saw several vents that had been installed.

“Keep the door closed!” Flim yelled out. Applejack quickly shut the door and checked out what they’d been doing since last night. Apparently the brothers had installed a refrigerator room in the cellar.

“Hey, I just realized that keeping this room running must cost a pretty penny,” Applejack pointed out. “How exactly could we afford this?”

“Don’t worry, darling. We’ll only keep the room operating when you need something to be preserved, like right now. Also, electricity is pretty cheap here, considering you live right next to a hydroelectric dam and all,” Flim explained. “Anyway, this room should keep your stuff fresh for at least a week. By that point this little ownership dilemma can be settled and we can sell off these wares.”

“Well that’s good to hear then,” she replied. “Anyway, I came to tell you two that it’s lunch time. Finish up whatever it is and head on up before it’s all gone. We’re having daisy sandwiches.”

“Sounds absolutely delightful. We’ll be up in a moment,” Flam told her. Applejack left the cellar and returned to the kitchen, her two siblings already eating their meal.

“Guess what? Those two made an entire walk-in refrigerator in our cellar to keep the cider fresh. I’ll be honest when I say that I’m mighty impressed they could do that in a single night.” Applejack sat down at her spot and immediately started digging into one of the sandwiches on the tray.

“At least they’re doing something useful rather than waiting fer us to run outta time. Big Mac! Save some sandwiches fer them. They didn’t get to eat breakfast,” Grannie Smith scolded. “It’s probably best to get them to bed after they’ve eaten. After all, they haven’t even taken a break.” As if they heard her, the two brothers come barreling up the stairs and took their places at the table.

“Boy! Have we worked up an appetite or what?” Flam exclaimed us he and his brother took the rest of the remaining sandwiches. Within a moment there were only crumbs left on the plate. “So, what else is there to do?” The Apple Family was surprised to see them so energetic after working for sixteen hours straight. It just wasn’t normal.

“Ain’t any of you tired?” Apple Bloom asked them.

“Nah. When it comes to engineering, me and my brother never get tired,” explained Flim. “Besides, I’m sure there’s more to do today, isn’t there?”

“Well, I might need help with bucking the apples. Applejack will be selling some of our other apples in town, so I’ll be on my own,” Big Mac told the brothers.

“Say no more! We’ll get straight to work on something for that. Come on, brother!” Flim yelled out. The two of them bounced out of their seats and went to the farmhouse that they had parked the Super Speedy Squeezy Cider 6000 in.

“Wonder what they’re up to,” Applejack whispered to herself, wondering what they could possibly be doing in the barn that would help out Big Mac.” She didn’t worry too long about it though and went off into town with Apple Bloom carrying some of the wares.

“Hey sis. Ya think that Twi and everypony else is okay?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Applejack replied. “In fact, I’d say that they must have it easy compared to us.”

Author's Note:

Yeah, not really. Let's see what everypony is up to when the group comes to in Day 3: Dinner and Deserts.