Crashing Down
The Apple family congregated on the farmhouse’s front porch for afternoon tea. Apple Bloom helped Grandpa Smith bring tea and oatcakes from the kitchen, while Red Gala made her way back from the field she had been harvesting since lunch. Grandpa Smith waved a hoof at the road leading towards Ponyville. “I saw them two colts walkin’ you home, Apple Bloom. Good to see you’re makin’ friends already.”
“Who, Gold Watch and Blue Chip? Yeah, they’re real nice,” said Apple Bloom, between pouring cups of tea. “We talked all about our families and stuff. Gold Watch said his pa used to be Mayor.”
“Mayor Gold Chain?” asked Applejack. “Why, he was Mayor when I was just a colt. Pa always spoke real good of him. Said he really believed Ponyville could be a great town. He made a lot of difference around here. Darn shame he died so young.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “What happened to him?”
“Rattlesnake bit him in the middle of the Running of the Leaves. It was an accident, nopony blamed the poor critter for it, but they just didn’t get Gold Chain to the hospital in time. I guess that’s life out here in the country.”
“His little colt turned out alright, though,” added Grandpa Smith. “They didn’t make colts that handsome when I was a lad.”
“Grandpa!” objected Apple Bloom, blushing.
“You know I could have married his grandmother?” the old stallion continued, oblivious to Apple Bloom’s embarrassment. “Why, that Rotten Lucre was a pretty young thing, battin’ her eyelashes and flirtin’ her tail at me every chance she got. Kept tellin’ me I was the bravest, smartest, handsomest stallion she’d ever met. I knew she only wanted one thing from me, though.”
By this time, Applejack had buried his nose in the oatcakes to avoid having to look at Grandpa Smith, and even Red Gala was somehow managing to blush through her bright red coat. Apple Bloom found herself unable to look away. “And what was that, Grandpa?” she asked, reluctantly.
“Why, the secret to making zap apple jam, of course!” Grandpa replied, stamping his front hoof. “Everypony wanted to know how to get the trees to give up the fruit right on time, and make it into the best jam in Equestria. There was big money in it. We’d never have made Sweet Apple Acres the size it is today without that jam, and Rotten Lucre was the sharpest businesspony in town. She wanted a slice of that pie. The money pie, that is, not zap apple pie. She had plenty of that too, when she came a’courting.”
“Gold Watch said the Lucres were all self-made ponies, building their businesses without their family’s money backing them up,” said Apple Bloom thoughtfully. “She wanted to make zap apple jam into her business?”
“Oh, my pa was already sellin’ plenty of zap apple jam to her ma, old Filthy Lucre. But Rotten Lucre figured if she married me, the whole orchard would be hers one day. Now, don’t get me wrong. Rotten was a real nice girl. Well-mannered, hard-working, with the nicest long black mane you ever did see. I thought long and hard about marryin’ her. She’d have made a pretty good wife and mother.”
“So why didn’t you, Grandpa?” Applejack managed to ask. “If she was so nice and all?”
“She might have been right for me, but she wouldn’t have been right for Sweet Apple Acres!” Grandpa exclaimed, stamping his hoof again. “She didn’t love the land and the trees the way we do. It takes more than hard work and good business sense to make a farm like this work. You have to remember that making plants grow ain’t just a business, it’s part of what we are. Earth ponies! She didn’t understand that, and she wouldn’t in a hundred years.
“So I married that nice Hamilton lady instead. She weren’t quite so pretty, nor so business-savvy. And I know she wanted the zap apple secrets right where she thought they belonged – in the hooves of the Apple family. But when I showed her around the orchard, I knew she was the right one for Sweet Apple Acres. She’d care about the trees for themselves, not just for what she could sell. I never regretted marrying that mare for one second. Even now.” He stared at the wooden floor of the porch, sighing wistfully. “I miss her so much, and our little filly and her husband. But I got me three fine grandchildren now. Four, now that you’re here, young’un.”
Apple Bloom trotted forward and laid her neck against Grandpa Smith’s. “I’ve never had a grandpa before,” she said softly. “Thanks for letting me be your grandchild.”
“Well, of course, whippersnapper! You’re family! Let that purple unicorn lad figure the hows and whys of it, it’s plain as day you’re one of us.”
After tea, Red Gala went back to the southern fields, while Apple Bloom accompanied Applejack down to the corn fields behind the farmhouse. “Y’all know how the corn harvest works, right?” the young stallion asked. “We used to leave it until winter to harvest, so’s it would dry out properly, but this year we want to bring it in early, ever since that time Eris turned it all to popcorn.”
Apple Bloom nodded eagerly. “I push the stalks over with one hoof, until the stalk breaks, then pick it up with my teeth and throw it into the cart. That way the broken stalk stays in the ground, and breaks down so the nutrients and magic go back into the earth.”
Applejack nudged Apple Bloom with a hoof. “That’s right. Looks like your sister taught you well. Let’s get to it.”
The two ponies worked hard through the afternoon, swapping stories of their adventures as the corn piled up in the wagon. As Apple Bloom trotted over to the cart with three ears of corn balanced on her back, she stopped with a thoughtful look on her face.
“Applejack, what do you think about the unicorns in Canterlot?”
The orange stallion tilted his head to one side, as he pulled the wagon, regarding Apple Bloom quizzically. “They’re just like ponies anywhere else – some of them are nice, some of them ain’t. Most of them wouldn’t know a proper day’s work if it bit ‘em, though. Why do you ask?”
“Well,” the filly began, looking over her shoulder just as her friend had, “I was talking to Blue Chip on the way home, and he said that the Canterlot unicorns might try to use their money and power to, I dunno, do something bad to Ponyville and the earth ponies.”
“Oh,” Applejack said, stopping in his tracks. “That.”
“You know about that?” asked Apple Bloom. “So it’s all true?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s all true. Listen, Blue Chip... his pa is old money, ain’t he?”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Very old. Older than the Prince, he said.”
“No, that’s his name, Old Money. He lives in a big mansion not far from Butterscotch’s cottage. Old Money’s a good pony, but he’s got some... funny ideas about unicorns. Your sister never gave you this talk, did she? I guess she didn’t, if I ain’t given it to Applebuck.
“Alright,” he continued, unhitching himself from the wagon and kneeling down in the soil. “The thing is, Ponyville has had no shortage of unicorns coming to town and trying to make us prance to their tune. We had three just this last year, and they weren’t the first, and they won’t be the last. Presto was a loudmouth, all hat and no cattle, but he didn’t do no real harm. I can’t honestly blame him for the Ursa Minor – if anypony’s to blame for that, it’s Sugar and Spice, and they’re just a couple of silly fillies who didn’t know no better.”
“I met Sugar and Spice!” interrupted Apple Bloom. “I really like them! They are pretty silly, though,” she agreed.
“Anyhow, Presto weren’t no real trouble. But Razzle and Dazzle darn near ran us out of business. They knew exactly what they were doin’, too. Grandpa was a darned foal for making that bet with them, but when Razzle called him a chicken...” He snorted angrily, his ears flicking back for a second. “It’s unicorns like that who give the tribe a bad name. Now, there’s plenty of good unicorns in Canterlot, like that Fancy Dress lady we met at the garden party. But for every Fancy Dress or Trefoil, there’s a Razzle or a Dazzle, and these ones have money, and power. Ponies who’d sell our entire town if it meant lining their own saddlebags with a few more bits.”
Apple Bloom nodded slowly. “And there are families like Old Money’s who keep us safe from that? Blue Chip made it sound like some kind of huge anti-Canterlot conspiracy.”
Applejack laughed. “Oh, it ain’t nothin’ like that. I first heard about it from Aunt Orange when I was just a little colt, wanting to live the high life in Manehattan. It’s not exactly a conspiracy, but it is a secret. If Razzle and Dazzle had really driven us out of business, Old Money would have done all he could to help us keep Sweet Apple Acres. Not sure how much he could have helped – the sisters won the contest fair and square – but he’d have done something, that’s for sure.
“But there was another time that a Canterlot unicorn came to Ponyville, sayin’ he was in charge of things for the Summer Sun Celebration, with orders from the Prince himself. And then later he tried using his magic for Winter Wrap-Up on Sweet Apple Acres, and that was just a disaster. But that unicorn is one of my best friends now. So I don’t want to hear of you judgin’ anypony for where he’s from, or for having a horn, or wings for that matter.”
Apple Bloom knew she shouldn’t, but she simply couldn’t resist. “What about stripes?”
Applejack rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you got me. I sure messed up when it came to Zircon, and Applebuck was the only one with the guts to go make friends with him. We all owe you one for that. I guess I don’t need to be teaching you any lessons about judging ponies by how they look.
“Still, though... the fact is, you’re growing up. It’s one thing to have an open mind about zebras when you ain’t never met one before. It’s another thing to have an open mind about unicorns when the last two you met almost took your home away from you. You’re gonna meet some pretty lousy ponies as you go through life, and it’s gonna be real easy to let that make you think bad of everypony you meet. I ain’t perfect like that – it took me a lot longer than it should have to realise just how good a friend Elusive was.”
“What went wrong with you and Elusive? I mean, Sweepy and I got on just fine as soon as we met.”
Applejack sighed. “It was just little things. Stupid things. I reckon we just started off wrong, what with him being a fancy unicorn and a flashy designer. I think he said something about dirt when we first met, I don’t remember. But because we started out wrong, it kept going wrong. Once you’ve got a bad impression of a pony, every little thing he does is gonna rub you the wrong way. It’s real easy to assume that anything he does that upsets you, he’s doin’ it on purpose. Before long, you’re in each other’s faces all the time and you wind up ruining your friend’s sleepover. But I could have just put it all aside and tried to make peace with him, and I’d have had a loyal, generous friend by my side much sooner. So I don’t want you making those same mistakes. Try to make friends with everypony, even the ones who don’t seem so friendly. They’re probably the ones who need friends the most.”
The rest of the week passed just as pleasantly as Apple Bloom’s first day had. Every day she made new friends, and was invited into more and more games and gatherings. She still sat with Sugar and Spice in class, helping them with their work and hearing all about their misadventures. The Crusaders had warmed up to the two unicorn fillies, and were happy to include them in their lunchtime activities. Scooteroll and Sugar spent Thursday afternoon sharing a pair of binoculars and a plate of Applejack’s apple turnovers as they watched Rainbow Blitz’s aerial exercises, while Apple Bloom helped Sweepy Bell and Spice practise their magic together.
Getting Gold Watch and Blue Chip to hang out with Sugar and Spice had been easy, too. Gold Watch took his personal grooming very seriously, and spent an entire morning before school trading mane care tips with Spice between rounds of hopscotch. Apple Bloom had been worried about how Blue Chip would get on with the two unicorns, but if his family’s prejudice extended to Ponyville unicorns, he showed no sign of it with his gentlecoltish attention to Spice, and his offer to treat the five of them to a trip to the spa on the weekend.
Apple Bloom’s attempts to reconcile the rich colts with the Crusaders were met with less success. Simply mentioning Gold Watch made Sweepy Bell’s ears twitch in agitation, and Scooteroll would always whinny aggressively and declaim the two earth pony colts as vicious bullies who made their lives miserable. For his part, Gold Watch refused to elaborate on how Scooteroll affected their lives, only muttering about how he always “ruined everything”. The two ringleaders would sometimes snipe at each other during school, pushing the limits of what Sunny Smiles would tolerate in his classroom.
The weekend was even more fun than school. Apple Bloom had only been to the Ponyville spa once, at Rarity’s insistence after the Sisterhooves Social, and hadn’t found the experience particularly entertaining, but having Sugar and Spice enjoying the treatment right next to her made all the difference, and she had to admit that she liked the way Gold Watch looked at her with her coat brushed and mane styled. They all ended up spending the evening in Blue Chip’s suite at his family’s mansion, dining on pizza and talking nonsense well into the night.
Sunday morning found the Crusaders and their new unicorn friends at their clubhouse on Sweet Apple Acres, planning their next adventure. Sugar’s mother owned a small boat that the filly sometimes used for visiting the nearby sugar cane plantations, and Sweepy decided that navigating the river would be a great way to earn a piloting cutie mark. The ponies loaded the vessel down with food, maps and binoculars, and it was only after they had pushed away from the bank and were in the middle of the current that they realised that they had forgotten to pack oars. They panicked and argued for a few minutes, and then Scooteroll swam for the shore towing a rope, and managed to drag the boat safely to the bank. The crusade was quickly adjourned to the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse, where the drenched pegasus colt could curl up in front of the Apples’ warm hearth with a hot meal from Grandpa Smith.
Monday morning was when the trouble started.
Apple Bloom walked into the schoolyard, confident of another fun week of learning and spending time with her friends without the shadow of Diamond Tiara hanging over her. Many colts and fillies were cantering around, talking and playing, but a small knot of students was gathered around the corner that was the Crusaders’ usual lair. She could hear the raised voices of two colts coming from the crowd, and began trotting that way with a sigh.
Sure enough, once Apple Bloom shouldered her way through the crowd, she found Sweepy Bell and Scooteroll butting heads with each other, arguing about Sunday’s boating failure. “We could all have boat piloting cutie marks by now if you hadn’t forgotten the oars!” shouted Scooteroll, snorting angrily.
“If you’re so smart, why didn’t you bring them?” shrieked Sweepy Bell, his voice cracking briefly. “It’s not as if either of us knew what we were doing! You could have gotten a swimming cutie mark for all you know!”
“Well, I didn’t, did I?” Scooteroll shot back. “All I got was covered in river mud! That’s even worse than tree sap!”
Apple Bloom watched the two colts fighting, more than a little concerned. Sure, she fought with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all the time, but that was harmless, and they were always laughing about it together within the hour. This looked different – more vicious, more spiteful.
But then again, maybe it only looked different because she wasn’t involved. Apple Bloom knew that she said and did things in her arguments and fights at home that she wouldn’t have done with a cool head. With the advantage of perspective, maybe it fell to her to smooth things over.
She trotted forward carefully, placing a hoof on Scooteroll’s shoulder. “Hey, guys, I don’t think what happened was anypony’s fault. I mean, we all had a good time, right?”
Scooteroll lurched to one side, slamming his flank into Apple Bloom and knocking her sprawling across the playground. “Nopony asked you, Apple Bloom!” he shouted, then whirled back to face Sweepy Bell.
Right, that’s it, thought Apple Bloom, all ideas of pacifying the situation flying out of her head. If it’s a fight he wants, it’s a fight he’ll get. She won about three out of five fights with Scootaloo, thanks to her farm-bred strength and Rainbow Dash’s karate training, and she probably knew most of Scooteroll’s tricks already. I’ll teach him to pick on Sweepy Bell.
Still, that flank slam had knocked the wind out of her. She twisted around on the ground in an attempt to get her hooves underneath her, then looked up in surprise when a pink fetlock was extended to help her up. She accepted the aid gratefully, allowing Gold Watch to pull her upright. “Thanks, Gold Watch!” Apple Bloom said as she dusted herself off, smiling at the pink colt. “Scooteroll and I were just...”
Gold Watch didn’t smile back. “I saw what Scooteroll was just. Blue Chip? Take my watch.”
Blue Chip groaned as he trotted up beside his friend. “Do we have to do this, Goldie? Apple Bloom’s fine, there’s no harm done...”
Gold Watch fixed the grey colt with an imperious glare. “Take it,” he instructed, his tone inviting no disobedience. Blue Chip sighed deeply and drew the watch from his friend’s pocket, unclasping the chain from his collar and cradling it delicately with one leg and his mouth.
Apple Bloom watched in confusion as Gold Watch strode up to Scooteroll, the other students quickly clearing a path for him. He tapped the pegasus on the shoulder and spoke loudly enough for the whole schoolyard to hear him.
“Scooteroll, tell me you did not just hit a filly.”
“Wait, what?” cried Apple Bloom, staring at the two colts in disbelief. “What the hay does he think he’s doing?”
“He’s defending your honour, of course!” said Spice, who had come trotting up to watch the commotion, along with, it seemed, the rest of the school. “Isn’t it romantic?”
“No, it’s not!” Apple Bloom insisted. “It’s ridiculous! If me and Scooteroll want to have a fight, Gold Watch shouldn’t butt in!”
The two angry colts were circling each other now, snorting and pawing at the air. “Don’t stick your muzzle where it’s not wanted, Gold Watch!” the pegasus shouted, stamping angrily.
“I’ll stick my muzzle wherever it’s needed if you’re going to beat up my friends, you belligerent ignoramus!”
“Don’t call me things I don’t know the meaning of, you stuck-up little twerp!”
“Stop it, both of you!” yelled Apple Bloom, trying to get between the two colts. They edged away from her and steadfastly ignored her, focusing their ire on each other. Apple Bloom felt a pair of jaws latch over her tail and gently draw her out of the fight. She turned around to see an apologetic looking Sweepy Bell letting go of her tail.
“I’m really sorry, Apple Bloom, but there’s nothing we can do. Gold Watch has had this coming for a long time.” The unicorn colt turned to watch the fight, his hooves shuffling anxiously.
Apple Bloom groaned in frustration and turned to Blue Chip. “What about you? Can’t you get Gold Watch to back down?”
Blue Chip shook his head. “Too late,” he mumbled around the chain in his mouth. “If he backs down, he’ll lose the respect of the whole school. Gotta go through with it now.”
“I already don’t respect him!” she cried. “This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen either of them do!”
The rest of the school had well and truly surrounded the pair now, stamping their hooves and cheering. “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!” they yelled, all eyes fixed on the duelling colts. Sugar pranced happily behind Scooteroll, tossing flowers at him.
“Have y’all gone mad?” yelled Apple Bloom, staring at the crowd. Nopony answered her, so she turned back to the fight.
Scooteroll and Gold Watch were still slinging insults at each other, accompanied by the occasional hoof swipe. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes in annoyance and paid little attention to their words, until Gold Watch pitched his voice higher and gave Scooteroll a particularly vicious grin. “I’m not going to back down to the likes of you, you barbaric, good-for-nothing blank flank!”
Apple Bloom felt her jaw drop as Gold Watch brought out the insult that had made her life miserable since Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had started tormenting her. How could he say that?
“See what I mean?” said Sweepy Bell, pointing at Gold Watch. “I told you he was a jerk!”
“He knows I’m a blank flank, right?” asked Apple Bloom forlornly, her ears starting to droop. “That’s just... the meanest thing a pony who’s supposed to be my friend could say!”
Scooteroll snorted in rage at the insult, rearing up on his hind legs and flapping his wings to steady himself as he lashed out with both front hooves, landing a sold blow on Gold Watch’s muzzle. “I’d rather be a blank flank than a stuck-up, spoiled, money-for-brains, lame mamma’s colt like you!”
Apple Bloom turned to look at Blue Chip, who had the same appalled expression on his face as she did. The first and last time she had called another earth pony “lame”, Applejack had threatened to wash her mouth out with soap. “An earth pony lives and dies by the strength of her legs,” she had explained to her. “Calling an earth pony ‘lame’ is saying that she ain’t worth nothing at all.”
“I told you he was mean!” said Blue Chip, still holding the watch carefully. “He’s always like this!”
Apple Bloom looked at the gesticulating Blue Chip and Sweepy Bell, then back to the fight, which had finally escalated into violent blows. She stamped her hooves, staring at her friends in disbelief.
“Fine! Y’all can kill each other for all I care! I’m through with both of you! All of you!”
The young filly shouldered her way through the crowd and galloped away from the sounds of violence and hatred, tears streaming from her eyes.
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH
i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/007/699/ohcat.jpg
Still awesome. Looks like one pony hates intradimensional travel.
Why'd they have to go and do that...
Oi, vey. Talk about drama. I'm looking forward to what happens next.
What really makes me shudder is that this is probably happening to Applebuck as well. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle get into an argument, Scootaloo smacks Applebuck aside when he tries to step in, Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo butt heads over the issue, insults fly, and Applebuck storms off.
You have a very good writing style, and I wish you would update more often than you do.
One last thing: I'm looking forward to Chapter 2 of 'The Crusaders Take Manehatten'.
My reaction, let me show you it
Another enjoyable chapter
Very interesting twist to the story with the under-the-surface animosity between the unicorns and earth ponies. I'm still trying to picture what's happening in mirror Equestria. Somehow I can't see Diamond Tiara defending Applebuck's honor in the same way.
Oh man....you have a real talent for building up the tension and atmosphere. I'm not quite sure where all the earth pony paranoia is gonna fit in the long run, but it's certainly an interesting view, ditto with the additional 'lame' explanation. This is an awesome story, worthy of the original!! Well done!
This should be interesting.
farm2.staticflickr.com/1060/5124699989_a414738d44.jpg
for some reason it reminds me of an anime.
Except with reverse genders
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0inzj18cL1r7ho7u.gif
XD un espectacular final de capitulo, joder esta mucho mejr que las novelas XD
Excellent work. I like the drama. The conspiracy thing is weird.
Oh shit. Well... damn.
But, some of those names made me cringe... Razzle and Dazzle... Cream Puff...
Anyways, this is looking to be an interesting story. It's a nice way to show how perspective changes everything. I'll be watching this for sure.
657723 Er... more likely that would have degraded into a catfight as fast as in this universe
wanted the fight to end with Applebloom bucking both of them in the head tearing into the boys about their respective insults and then ordering them to shake hooves...
NOW.
(whispering back and forth)
Scooteroll: "How long do I have to shake your hoof?"
Gold Watch: "Is she still glaring?"
SR: "Yeah"
GW: "Then don't stop you foal!"
Apple Bloom is probably putting two and two together right now.
657923
I kind of agree on the Razzle and Dazzle names. I think Shim and Sham make better names for Flim and Flam.
Very good story nonetheless.
Good stuff, love it!
Insert comment about how I like your story and want you to continue here.
Well, boys will be boys, much to the disgust of girls. Here's hoping somepony tries to reconcile things.
Hmm. I wonder how bad it's going for Applebuck...
659117 And two! You can't forget the last "two"!
660027
How'd you know?! Was it Hanson? Damn you Hanson!
Oh noes. What shall happen now.
That wasn't sarcasm, by the way.
Very good story! I can not wait for the next chapter.
Fahkiiiing hell man, I need more... it's too much too handle...
Holy Celestia gender switch story....
I wonder if colt Twilight can send Applebloom home ?
659409 I agree aout the names. Shim and Sham really do work a lot better name-wise.
Also, still loving this. Gotta get me some more!
659117 ahem... This would be more accurate.
I didn't know what I was getting into.
Now I see that you have TALENT!!
Ahem, stallions don't have 'sleep-overs'; they have camp-outs. Or camp-ins, as the case may be.
Surpisingly..i'm on Gold Watche's side..
I guess that's only because his being sweet,i usually easily fall for someone like that.
Oh, dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. I must say, I really like the universe you've built here and the story you are spinning. I can only hope this has a happy "let's be friends ending."
...Time to find out!
Oh dear, things are getting violent, this is not going to end well...
1986583
Well, I got a bruise on my cheekbone from a fight I had while defending my friend yesterday. And I'm a girl.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=lyrics+attitude+adjustment&&view=detail&mid=3C4BC3179F53E05D05813C4BC3179F53E05D0581&FORM=VRDGAR
Yeah, probably don't use the pejorative term that can also be applied to one of your own friends, Gold Watch; if you want an excellent example of what that can lead to, just ask a certain Potions Master about the time he let loose the epithet 'mudblood' while he was being tormented by bullies. Ruined his life, it did.