Applebuck Season - Part 2
Chapter 5
Applebuck Season – Part 2
Alex and Spike walked down the street to Sweet Apples Acres. The two had been tasked with checking up on Big Macintosh for Applejack.
Since Applejack had hurt her leg a few days ago, she had been staying with Twilight and Alex in the Library. Twilight had promised to help nurse Applejack back to health with some spells she knew.
At first, Applejack had been wary of staying away from the orchard. But, since she had promised to help her friends with some jobs around town, and walking back and forth between the farm and the town would have been extremely difficult, she decided to stay in the library.
However, being away from the farm kept her from knowing how the applebucking was going; so, she sent Alex and Spike out to check up on Big Mac. He had been so busy the harvest, he hadn’t had the time to go see her in town either.
“Do you see him anywhere?” Alex asked Spike, who was standing up on his back, trying to see though the orchard.
“Nope,” Spike said, scratching his head. “All I see are a bunch of bucked trees!”
Alex had been looking himself, but had no luck either. They knew where Big Macintosh had been, by simply following the trees that were missing apples. Unfortunately, most trees had already been bucked, which left them with lots of paths, and lots of ground to cover.
After nearly a half hour of searching, the two finally spotted a red pony on the ground, a short distance away. Quickly heading over to check on him, the two were surprised to see Big Mac collapsed on the ground, fast asleep.
Alex and Spike looked at each other, then back at the sleeping Big Mac. “Uhh, Big Macintosh?” Alex said to the sleeping pony. “We just came to check up on you! To make sure everything was… Going… Well…” He finished slowly.
“I don’t think he’s gonna answer you…” Spike said to him. “It looks to me like he’s bucked himself out cold.”
“Yeah…” Alex said thinking about all the work Big Macintosh must have done. They had passed hundreds of trees that had all been bucked. And he was the only one who had been doing it. “If he’s done all this, then I really can’t blame him for being this tired.”
“Without Applejack, I guess it’s been too much work for him.” Spike agreed.
Looking around the orchard, Alex was surprised to see just how little was left to do. The small corner that Big Mac was passed out in was the last chunk of the orchard. There wasn’t much work left to be done, which gave Alex an idea. “Hey Spike, what do you say if you and me finish up this work for him?” He asked the dragon.
Spike liked the idea, “After all those two did for the town, it’s the least we could do!” He said smiling. “We can finish this up as a ‘thank you’ for saving the town!”
“Yeah!” Alex said, “After all, how hard could it possibly be?”
He’d live to regret those words.
Applejack walked down the street to where she was asked to meet Rainbow Dash. Apparently she was needed to help her pull off a new trick. Her leg was still bugging her a bit, so she hoped that Rainbow didn’t have anything too ‘extreme’ lined up for her.
“Hey Applejack!” Rainbow Dash called to her with the usual squeaking in her voice.
“Howdy,” Applejack said smiling, as she approached the cyan pony. “What can I do ya’ for?”
Rainbow smiled, “You see this contraption behind me?” She said gesturing to the large seesaw looking contraption behind her.
Applejack nodded.
“Well…” She began, “I'm gonna stand on one end, then you're gonna jump down from that platform, launching me into the air faster than I can take off on my own. Once I'm in the air, I'm gonna do some amazing flips and spins that are sure to impress the Wonderbolts!” She said beaming at the thought.
“Isn't that a might' dangerous?” Applejack asked her.
“Not for a pony who can fly!” Rainbow Dash said, flaring her wings.
“Well… If you say so!” Applejack said trusting she knew what she was doing.
Applejack climbed to the top of the makeshift catapult, and lined herself up with the board that was just below her.
Rainbow Dash Waited in anticipation on the end of the plank that was touching the ground. However, remembering Applejacks injury, she quickly called out, “Wait! Is your leg still sore? Won’t you hurt yourself?” She asked.
“Naw,” Applejack replied. “I’ll just make sure to land on my three good ones!” She said with a wink.
Accepting that this was a good enough reason, Rainbow readied herself for the launch. “Ready?” She asked, earning a nod from Applejack. Seeing this, she started her count. “One… Two… Three!” She shouted.
Hearing her cue, Applejack jumped off from her elevated position, on to the raised end of the seesaw. Her weight quickly lifted Rainbow Dash’s side off the ground, launching her into the air successfully.
Once Rainbow Dash was in the air, she started to perform the tricks she had planned. She did flips, loops, and even a barrel roll.
Applejack couldn’t help but be amazed at the Pegasus’s skill. She didn’t know a single pony who even had a fraction of her skill, save the Wonderbolts.
When Rainbow finally finished her routine, she started gunning straight down toward the ground as fast as she possibly could. Then, a split second before hitting the surface, she opened her wings, and gave a powerful flap, and stopped herself an inch from the ground.
To Rainbow Dash’s surprise, a small crowd had gathered to watch Rainbow do her stunts. And, upon her spectacular landing, everypony erupted in cheering.
Applejack was happy to see Rainbow getting cheered on by the ponies; however, one thing caught her eye. The pony from the hospital was standing in the crowd. He had a confused look on his face, like something was wrong with what Rainbow had been doing. But, after the moment of confusion, he headed off, leaving her to wonder what he had been so concerned about.
Rainbow couldn’t help but blush; she hadn’t expected this kind of reception. But, she was still happy to have the recognition. “Thanks everypony!” She said with a smile, having missed the confused pony.
Forgetting about the Doctor, Applejack smiled, she could tell that this was going to be a good day.
Alex sighed, after much focus and struggle, he had managed to lift Big Macintosh off the ground with his magic, and move him away from the last remaining trees in the orchard. Alex didn’t want his and Spike’s surprise to be spoiled by him waking up.
“Alright!” Spike said excitedly, as he dragged a couple baskets over to the tree that Alex was standing next too. “You ready to start applebucking?”
“Sure am!” Alex said with a smile, as he poised himself next to the tree, ready to fill the baskets that Spike was placing.
Spike carefully placed the baskets below the tree, then stood up and took a step back, so he could watch Alex.
Remembering how he had seen Applejack do this a few days before, he faced himself away from the tree, lifted his hind legs off the ground, then, he bucked his legs against the trunk of the apple tree. Upon doing this, Alex turned around to see how many apples he had knocked off the tree. However, he was disappointed to see that nothing had fallen. Turning to Spike, he gave the dragon a confused look, “Did I do something wrong?”
Spike simply shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t think so… Everything looked good to me… Maybe you need to buck harder?”
Alex was surprised. He had hit the tree pretty hard. Maybe another kick would do it.
Alex lined himself up, and gave another powerful buck. But, to his dismay, nothing.
Spike walked over to the tree kicked the bottom of the trunk in frustration. Applejack made it look so easy! “I just… I don’t get it!” He said angrily.
“How about this?” Alex said raising his front legs up, and shaking the trunk, trying to get the apples out that way. But still, absolutely nothing. This was a lot harder than it looked.
Applejack walked through the front door of Sugarcube corner with a bright smile on her face. Pinkie Pie had asked her to help run the shop, while Mr. and Mrs. Cake were out. Something that Applejack was more than happy to do.
“Now Pinkie Pie, are you sure you’re up for baking the muffins and running the store this afternoon?” Mrs. Cake asked her, with a touch of worry in her voice.
“Yes siree bob, Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie replied with a smile “Plus, I have one of Ponyville’s prized ponies here to help me out!” She continued, “Why, you’re the best baker ever, right Applejack?” She said, as Applejack entered the room.
Applejack blushed lightly at the complement, “I can bake anything from fritters to pies in the blink of an eye!” She said confidently, easing the worry of the owners.
“Alright,” Mrs. Cake said, happy to have Applejack there to help. “See you girls later!” She called as her and her husband walked out the front door of the bakery.
“Alrighty!” Pinkie said excitedly, pulling out a few mixing bowls, “I’ll get the sugar and the eggs, can you get some chocolate chips?”
Applejack nodded, “Sure thing!”
The two proceeded to prepare enough muffins for the entire town. Applejack followed every one of Pinkies instructions, and even threw in a few ‘secret’ Apple family ingredients to make them even more irresistible. Then finally, after hours of work, the two got the muffins baked, and moved outside of the shop so they could give free samples to the ponies in town, who had started to gather around the sweet shop.
“Free muffin spectacular!” Pinkie called to the ponies gathered in front of the bakery.
“Eeyup,” Applejack agreed, liking the name she had given it. “Free muffin spectacular!”
Applejack and was happy to see everypony enjoying the muffins she had made, but then something caught her eye. The Doctor was here again. Seeing that he didn’t have a muffin, she decided to see if he wanted one.
“Hey, Doctor!” Applejack said, to the brown pony. “How’d you like one?”
“Oh!” He said, turning toward Applejack. “I’m not a big fan of worms actually.”
Applejack wasn’t sure how to respond to this. Luckily for her, he walked off in his own direction. “What a strange pony…” She muttered.
Besides the odd encounter, the rest of the sampling went well. Everypony loved the food, and complemented Applejack and Pinkie endlessly. And by the time they had all left the shop, the two girls were left feeling pretty good.
“That was great!” Pinkie said to Applejack, as the two started to clean up.
“Darn tootin’!” Applejack agreed. “We should do this again soon!”
“We should do this again soon!” Pinkie agreed happily. “How about tomorrow?”
Applejack laughed at her enthusiasm. “Maybe not THAT soon, Sugarcube.”
“Anything?” Alex asked Spike, who was watching him buck the tree as hard and as fast as he could.
Spike was absolutely bewildered at the lack of movement in the top of the tree. Seeing that Alex had stopped his assault on the tree for the moment, he moved toward the trunk and looked up at the apples above him.
“Hey!” Spike said excitedly, “You got something off of it!”
“Really?” Alex asked excitedly as he moved toward Spike. However, he quickly saw what it was that had fallen out. A single leaf was drifting down from the top. “Great…” He said sighing and turning away, feeling completely beaten.
Spike watched the leaf float down form the top of the tree, until it landed on his nose. Unfortunately, he hadn’t considered the possible hazards associated with doing this. “Aaaa choo!”
Spike sneezed.
“Gazuntite” Alex said immediately, still turned away from Spike.
“Uh… A… A… Alex…” Spike stammered, his eyes glued to the tree in front of him.
“Hm?” Alex said, still facing away.
“I… Uhh… Can… Please… Look!” Spike said, still unable to for coherent sentences.
Sighing, Alex turned around to see what had spooked Spike so much. Upon seeing the tree, he immediately understood. There was a fire. And it was spreading extremely fast.
“What happened?!” Alex asked frantically.
“I… I sneezed!” Spike said desperately, “I didn’t think about the fire!”
“Do you always sneeze fire?” Alex asked, increasing his volume as he went.
“Yes!” Spike shouted, increasing his volume as well.
“How often do you sneeze?” Alex shouted, getting even louder.
“Really often!” Spike answered, matching Alex’s loud volume.
“THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU THINK ABOUT IT?” Alex said, now passing the screaming level.
“I DON’T KNOW!” Spike screamed back.
Alex opened his mouth, but closed it before saying anything. He wasn’t really angry, just panicked. The orchard was on fire, or, was soon to be on fire. So, he needed to put the fire out before it could spread to another tree.
“What should we do?!” Spike said lowering his voice.
“Umm… I’m thinking!” Alex said, looking up at the tree that was now completely engulfed in flames on the top.
“Just… use magic or something!” Spike said desperately.
Alex had considered this, but wasn’t sure it was possible. He had been practicing with Twilight quite a bit, and he could already levitate things with little problem, and he had even learned to make a basic force field. But how could he use either of those to fix this? The tree was rooted, so levitation wasn’t an option, and the only force field he had been taught to use was the most basic kind. The most it could do was keep anything from getting into, or out of it.
Then, he suddenly had an idea. “I’m gonna try something Spike!”
Hearing this, Spike took a cautious step back, and watched as Alex pointed his horn toward the tree.
“Please work, please work, please work…” Alex repeated to himself as he focused his magic.
Finally, Alex managed to create the bubble around the tree. Then, instantly, the fire was gone, leaving only the black, charred, top chunk of the tree. So, Alex to let the force field disappear allowing all of the burned remains of the Apples and leaves fall to the ground.
“How did you do that?!” Spike asked, with a mixture of relief and excitement on his face.
“That force field cut off the oxygen,” Alex said, his voice still shaking from the excitement. “The fire couldn’t breathe, so it died.”
“Wow!” Spike said, “Good thinking!”
“Thanks.” Alex said simply, then sitting down on the ground. “I think I’ve had enough Applebucking for today…”
“You said it!” Spike said, moving next to Alex, and sitting beside him.
“We should probably clean up first though…” Alex replied, looking around at the remains of the tree that littered the ground in front of them. “Yeah… Yeah we should…”
“Thank you so much…” Fluttershy said to Applejack, who had just finished corralling her bunnies in a small pen that had been made for them.
Applejack smiled, “It was no problem! I’ll take herdin’ bunnies over cows any day!”
Fluttershy giggled lightly at the comment. “So, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.” Applejack told her, lifting the wounded leg and giving it a shake.
“Thank goodness…” Fluttershy said quietly. “How has it been staying with Twilight and Alex?” She asked.
“Good!” Applejack replied with a smile. “I couldn’t have asked for a better library to stay in.”
“How’s Big Macintosh been with the harvest?” Fluttershy asked.
“I sent Alex and Spike to check up on him for me.” Applejack answered. “In fact, they aren’t even back yet! I ought to go check up on him myself!” She said, getting excited at the thought.
“Oh… well, if you don’t mind, could I come with you?” Fluttershy asked timidly, “I’m going to give these bunnies some time to calm down after being herded.”
“Sure!” Applejack said, “Let’s head over there right now.”
Fluttershy simply nodded, then walked over to the baby bunnies in the pen, who were all huddled together, and shaking. “Don’t worry little ones.” She said in a comforting voice. “I’ll be back soon. So try to relax for me, okay?”
Applejack was amazed to see the bunnies visibly calm down at Fluttershy’s reassurance. She truly did have an amazing way with animals.
“Alright,” Fluttershy said turning around to face Applejack, “I’m ready to go.”
“Well alright then!” Applejack replied with a smile. “Let’s go!”
“How does that look?” Spike asked Alex, who was standing a distance away from the tree they had almost burned down. They had cleaned up most of the burned stuff off the ground, and now Spike had been trying his best to make the tree look like nothing had happened to it, by placing leaves and apples from other trees on the burned carcass.
“It looks… Better?” Alex said, not really believing himself. As far as he could tell, the tree looked like someone had lit it on fire, then covered it in a handful of leaves, and a couple of apples. “Okay, scratch that.” He said after a moment of silence, “It looks terrible.”
Spike sighed. He knew fixing the tree was a futile effort. And he knew that he was going to get in trouble for it. Twilight was always telling him to be careful when he sneezed, and now this had happened. Everypony was going to be so mad at him… He couldn’t help but let a few tears well in his eyes at the thought.
Seeing Spikes distress, Alex walked over to the baby dragon and nudged his back lightly of his head.
“You okay Spike?” Alex asked, figuring Spike was still overwhelmed by the fire, and was only just feeling the effects of it.
“N… No…” Spike stammered through the tears that had now started flowing. “E... Everypony’s gonna be so mad at me!”
It took Alex a moment to understand what he was talking about, but he eventually understood what he meant. He hadn’t even considered it, but, it made sense that Spike would be blamed for the fire. So, he got where his tears were coming from.
“A… And everypony will yell at me!” Spike said through the tears. “And then they’ll all ignore me!”
Alex could clearly see that Spike was actually worried that this might happen, so, he decided to try and ease the dragons worries.
“Spike, listen.” Alex began. “Nopony is going to ignore you. And I don’t think that they’ll really yell at you over a complete accident.”
“But you yelled at me!” Spike said to Alex.
That was true. He had yelled when the fire started. But it wasn’t really out of anger.
“Spike,” Alex said, “I WAS yelling, but it wasn’t at you,” He explained, “I was just taken off guard by the fire. That’s all.”
“But… What about everypony else?” Spike asked.
”Even if they get a little upset, I don’t think that they’ll yell at you that much. And they definitely won’t ignore you.” Alex said. “It was an accident. I’ll make sure they understand that.”
“Really?” Spike asked quietly.
“Really really.” Alex said to him with a soft smile.
“Thanks Alex.” Spike said after a moment’s pause. Then, wiping the tears from his face with his arm, he wrapping his arms around Alex’s chest, and hugged him.
“Don’t worry about it.” Alex said smiling and lowering his head to rest his chin on the back of Spikes shoulder.
Alex was happy he could lighten Spikes spirits. Even if the dragon got in trouble with Twilight or Applejack, He would be there to cheer him up, no matter what.
Breaking away from the hug, Spike quickly said, “But don’t tell anypony I was crying! I don’t want Rarity to think I’ve gone soft!”
Alex was happy to see Spike getting back to his normal self. But, before he had a chance to promise to stay quiet, he was cut off.
“What in tarnation?!” Applejacks voice called from behind them.
Alex and Spike both turned to see Applejack and Fluttershy standing behind them. Judgement day came sooner than they had thought.
“What’s goin’ on here?” Applejack asked, looking up at the charred remains of the apple tree.
Spike stepped forward to face Applejack, and decided to get it over with. “I… I… I…” He said, stammering once again.
Applejack waited for his explanation about the burned tree, expecting some extravagant story to be behind the fire starting. Maybe Spike kicked Alex, and made him shoot a laser beam out of his horn at the tree. Or maybe Spike got really angry at her, and breathed fire on the tree to get revenge.
“Me and Alex were going to get the last of the trees bucked as a ‘thank you’ for saving the town, but then… Then… Then… I sneezed!” Spike said finally, falling to the ground, apologizing as fast as he could.
As soon as Applejack heard this, she burst into laughter. “That it?” She managed to say between the snorts and the giggles. “Well shoot! I was worried you’d gone and set it on fire because I forgot your birthday or somethin’!”
“So… Wait…” Spike said slowly. “You’re not mad at me for setting one of your trees on fire?”
“Of course not, Sugarcube!” Applejack said to him. “We’ve got plenty to spare!” She said gesturing to the orchard behind her.
Spike was relieved beyond words. He knew that Twilight would want to have a few words with him when they got home. But, he was feeling a lot better about it now than he was a couple of minutes ago.
Finally, after having a chance to calm down, she managed to ask the question she had come here for. “How’s Big Mag been doing? I haven’t seen him.”
“Oh,” Spike said glancing toward the sleeping Big Mac. “He fell asleep!”
To everypony’s surprise, Applejack wasn’t angry. She was smug. “Did he now?” She said, almost laughing. This was too good. After everything he had said to her about her not being able to do it, he was the one that fell asleep on the job. She wasn’t going to let this on go anytime soon. “Where is he?” She asked.
Alex pointed a hoof in the direction of the sleeping pony, and watched as Applejack walked over to wake her brother.
Leaving over to Spike, Alex whispered in his ear, “I told you. Nothing to worry about.”
“Thanks Alex.” Spike said.
A few minutes passed, and finally Applejack returned, just in time for Fluttershy to disappear, off toward Big Macintosh herself.
“He’s up now!” Applejack said with a sly smile. “And he’s got more tree’s to buck. So you two can head on back to the Library. And don’t go sneezing on any trees on the way back” She said to Spike with a wink.
Alex was happy that Applejack wasn’t mad at Spike. Things could have been much worse. And he was confident that she knew that too. So, she was letting them off the hook. Neither Alex, nor Spike could be happier with that kind of result.
But now, all that Alex knew, what that he was tired, and wanted to go home and get some sleep. However, he quickly changed his mind and decided to ask one thing before he took Spike back to the Library. The answer to the greatest mystery he had encountered in all of Equestria.
“Applejack?” Alex said. “Why the hay is Applebucking so hard?”
Applejack thought about the question, but didn’t quite understand. “How many trees did you buck?” She asked him.
“None,” Alex said flatly. “I bucked that one with all my might, but didn’t get a single thing out of it… Besides a leaf.”
Applejack laughed. “That was the only tree you bucked? Well...” She started, “We call this tree the leg breaker… There’s only one in the whole orchard. She’s stiffer than anything I know. An’ the only way to get her apples, are to climb right up and pick 'em out.”
Alex frowned. “Are you saying that for almost two hours, I bucked the one tree in the ENTIRE orchard that can’t be bucked?”
“ ’Fraid so, Sugarcube.” Applejack said, trying not to laugh.
Alex sighed, then walked over to a tree next to the one he had been trying on. He raised his hind legs, then bucked the trunk. And, of course, the apples fell out.
“I think…” Alex began turning right around to face Applejack, “I think I want to go home, and get some sleep.”
“Sure thing.” Applejack said, trying not to burst out in laughter again.
Alex opened his mouth to say something, but one of the apples from the tree landed right on the top of his head, causing Spike and Applejack to start laughing, despite Applejacks efforts not to. Alex couldn’t help but start laughing with them. Today had been just crappy for him, but this was good. That was something he loved about this world. No matter how bad things seemed to get, it always ended with everypony happy.
He loved it here.
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MOAR!
lawl dat tree its a troll
cant wait for the next chapter 
672221
I Use the space to separate the individual words within Nightmare, that's all. It's just my personal preference.
And I'm not out to surprise anyone. It's just part of the plot.
Rainbow Dash Waited in anticipation on the end of the plank that was touching the ground. However, remembering Applejacks injury, she quickly called out, “Wait! Is your leg still sore? Won’t you hurt yourself?” She asked.
*waited
Applejack's
back of Spikes shoulder
*Spike's
despite Applejacks efforts not to
Applejack's
The Doctor KNOWS!
The jig is up man, the Doc knows! Seriously, Eli, stop doing the jig, it's over.
Oh, right.
~Sylpheed and Eli
*crosses fingers* FlutterMac FlutterMac FlutterMac FlutterMac
"Mac"
3187130 NO!
to each his own but please no
Alex is falling for Equestria pretty fast.
So the conversion begins.
Oh god
3264700 why not?
4209650 I just hate FlutterMac's for some reason probably because I ship Big Mac with Cheerilee.
4159975 what?
Alright, I've gotta admit. The prologue almost had me stop reading then and there, partly because of how cliche it all seemed, and mostly because of a combination of stuff having to do with grammar, Nightmare Moon's name, and some tiny little unimportant bits.
But I like this. This was good. If the story improved that much in just a few chapters, I can't wait to see how much it'll improve over the next one hundred.
Oh dear Tony Tony Chopper, I hope she did not put NHC10 in there
Its a One Piece thing
"The NHC10 drug gives enjoyment to the consumer, to the point that the user gets addicted if taken regularly. If the user does not receive their standard dosage they suffer withdrawal symptoms. However, when used correctly, it can serve as medicine"
Looks like the Doctor is noticing the difference in the happenings going on.
huh, I guess alex time travled as well as going to a different place, otherwise the doctor would have known she would have succeeded, but since he's an anomaly, he saw she failed before.
heh, forgot about the worm muffins.
Correction: Already loving Equestria - Check.
Spotted this immediately, as a lover of the German language:
'gazuntite' isn't a word. The correct word is the German 'Gesundheit', pronounced geh-zoont-HI-t (more or less).
Sorry about my nit-picking.
~HM892
Wait.....Rainbow Dash blushing and being praised by a crowd....oh crap....Mare Do Well is happening a lot sooner... and probably before RD can handle finding out her friends were behind it without being severely hurt and losing trust in them. Or not, depends.
Pinkie and AJ are gonna become closer friends.... closer than her and RD I am guessing so no pranks?
Aaaand it dead.
The Doctor was seen muttering in quiet chant to himself, "fixed points in time, fixed points in time...."
Point A: Oh and about that story of the de-horned magic user, I shall paraphrase the phrase, Any sufficiently advanced technology will look like magic to a less advanced race.
Point B: I told you! I told you that the Doctor was trouble! He may not be involved in it in any way, but he is just like us! He ends up wherever trouble lands!
It won't be that way for long because you keep jinxing everything.
There's one thing that looks wrong with this chapter.
Real trees don't burn like this unless they have a lot of very old bark and even then Spike would have to sneeze napalm on that tree to make it catch fire or keep sneezing for a few minutes straight. Non-stop. All in the same direction. And even then entire tree won't catch fire immediately and it'll take 10+ minutes to become a real problem.
11208675
Depends on the chemical composition of these Equestrian apple trees. Sap of our pines is flammable and can cause an entire live tree to go up in flames. Also, Spike’s fire is magical.