Apple Withdrawal

by AmblingAnarchy

Substitute Sorrows

Chapter 3-Substitute Sorrows

Day two. Or was it three? Either way, Applejack was determined. Determined not to eat apples.

She rolled out of bed, tossed on her trusty hat, went through her morning breakfast routine, and headed out to the farm for some good old fashioned manual labour.

She inhaled deeply and got a whiff of her beloved apple orchard.

Woo doggy she thought, smells like manure and opportunity!

But, even as the loyal and familiar dog that was this thought crossed her mind, it seemed to grow an annoying little tail.

….and apples.

Applejack shrugged off her fragmented psyche, grabbed a few large baskets and got right to work.

She observed the day’s first apple-laden involuntary volunteer with great respect, almost a reverence for the ripe, beautiful fruits of her labour. Her metaphorical children. Her babies. The literal apples of her eyes. Yes, she approached her beloved apple tree, carefully placing the baskets in a strategically advantageous manner, and considered the most efficient courses of action she could possibly take.

Then she kicked the tree.

Hard.

Really hard.

Cartoonishly hard.

Cartoonishly hard enough to cause almost all of the apples to fall out of the tree.

She looked at the baskets full of apples and nodded in approval of her own hard work.

Yep. That oughta be enough.

She loaded the baskets into her favorite cart and took off into town to sell some apples.

---

After selling a cartload of apples in a way that was entirely within the norm and having no conversations or moments of any real impact or relevance to her on-going apple-abstaining bet with Rainbow Dash, Applejack had packed up her things and was heading back the family farm when her stomach started to growl.

Huh, guess Ah done worked up a bit of an appetite.

She craned her head to inspect the unsold specimens of her cart.

Y’know, normally Ah’d have some’a the leftover apples from the cart but Ah guess Ah’ll have ta wait to get back to the farm ta get a little somethin’ in mah belly.

Her stomach growled yet again, a bit louder this time, in protest.

’Er maybe Ah should just grab a li’l somethin’ while Ah’m in town.

Applejack slowed her healthy trot to an amble as she began to carefully inspect the various fruits and vegetables that were being offered along the Ponyville’s market stretch.

Eh, what the hay? Ah’m bound to find a snack fruit that Ah like at least half as much as apples, right?

---

“And y’all ’er sure that Rainbow ain’t been nappin’?”

“Uum, I don’t think so,” Fluttershy stammered.

“Fairly certain, darling, though not absolutely positive,” Rarity confessed, ”after all, Rainbow Dash does live alone. How have you been holding up on your end, Applejack?”

The three ponies sat around a table, which rested squarely in the belly of Carousel Boutique, consuming tea, scones, and other dainty non-apple comestibles.

“Pretty good Ah guess. The last three days have been, uh, interestin’.”

“How so?” Rarity questioned.

“Well, Ah ain’t been eatin’ apples,” Applejack drawled.

“Yes, and? What’s been interesting about that?” Rarity leaned in and perked up her ears, as if she were awaiting some grand confession about how eating a more varied diet had made Applejack want to try new foods, which had no doubt in turn let to Applejack meeting new ponies, and perhaps from those ponies, she found one that she particularly favored and was now about to tell her two dear friends the various details of her desire to make this pony her special somepony.

“Ah dunno. Ah just feel weird Ah guess. Like Ah’m missin’ an old friend. Even my body’s start’n to feel weird. Ah’ve got less ‘n less energy ev’ry day now.”

“Applejack, darling,” Rarity practically interrupted, “surely that cannot be the extent of your so called ‘interesting’ days.”

“Nah, that’s about it, Rares.”

Rarity’s eye twitched and she shriveled up a bit. Not like the delicate flower she believed herself, but like the gossip-driven cave troll she tended to behave as.

“Um, I think what Rarity means,” Fluttershy began in a most likely futile attempt to save her friend from gossip deprivation, “is that we expected a little bit more elaboration on your new diet.”

“Oh! Uh...lesee Ah’ve tried grapes, bananas, oranges, mangoes, peaches, even pears. A’course Ah’ve tried ‘em all before, but, Ah dunno. It’s like, don’t none of ‘em make me feel the way an honest day’s apple makes me feel.”

“Yes, and?” Rarity prodded “How has that affected you, darling? How does it make you FEEL?”

Applejack gave the question some serious thought time, really letting the question being asked sink in and allowing her mind the time to formulate an appropriate response. After a heavy thought session, she finally discovered what her true, innermost, and deepest thoughts were on the matter.

“Ya know,” the farmpony began, with what would surely prove to be some of the finest frontier wisdom her friends had ever had the experience of hearing, “Ah feel like eatin’ apples.”

Author's Note:

I dunno why this took so long to update. Oh wait, yes I do. I'm bad at everything.

No, I just wanted to ensure that this chapter was stupid enough to be a part of this story. That may or may not sound strange, but I wanted for it to sound like something that belong in a story that has a 'Random' tag and not like a trip into Applejack's innermost thoughts and beliefs.

This chapter was originally almost 2,000 words and I had to cut a lot of that sense-making nonsense out of here.

That said, thank you for reading something that I wrote.

Sincere thanks,

AmblingAnarchy