Apple Tidings, Part 1
During the time that Dusk was away...
Soarin stared glumly down at his fritter.
His first day heading out to work on a farm, and he starts off this week of enlightenment not only without Dusk to wish him good luck with his morning tea and beautiful warm smile and big gorgeous eyes…anyway, since the pony was currently muzzle deep in some patch of dangerous plant life or something, things just hadn’t been the same. The Cakes had been out of town taking care of something or other, and Pinky Pie was busy handling Sugar Cube Corner and a sudden rush of party pasty orders for Filthy Ritch, thus there weren’t any fresh apple fritters, leaving him blueberry, the lesser flavour.
As he turned the corner up the long dirt driveway of Sweet Apple Acres after his unsatisfying breakfast, his mood improved at the sight of the picturesque fields of apple trees and lush flattened grass, white picket fence that was bright and freshly painted, guiding him up the drive to the main house where he was to meet with Granny Smith, the Matron of the Apple Family.
From what he understood of them, the Apple Family, only seconded by the Pears, was the most prolific farm ponies in Equestria, having founded Ponyville, had invented zap apple jam, and provided nearly all the apple based supplies in the country. If he remembered correctly, Applejack, the farm pony that ran the main family seat, was also an Element of Harmony, one of these Mane 6 that he had heard so much about from Dusk.
He brushed lingering crumbs off his chest pelt and lifted a hoof to knock on the front door.
Before hoof could touch wood though the door slammed open and into his face, sending him sprawling to the ground, stunned. Before he could even work out the necessary thought patterns to even contemplate putting a leg under him, he was unceremoniously trampled by the exuberant tidal wave of filly energy known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, capes tied around their necks, screaming and laughing "Cutie Mark Crusaders Candlestick Makers!".
When the little hooligans were long gone on some adventure, Soarin groaned as he wobbled to his hooves, spitting dust from his mouth from their passage, muttering dazed cuss-words to himself.
By the time he had righted himself, he again raised his hoof to knock and managed one thump, when unseen by him a random pale green hoof smacked into a nearby vase on a window above his head, and suddenly there was a crash! Dirt and colourful pedals flying everywhere, then he knew no more.
Granny Smith stopped be-bopping to her gramophone at the crash and looked over the sighed as her early morning Saturday Night Fever workout had yet again claimed another window sill victim.
"Well, dang nabbit, there goes my prize-winning Snapdragon!"
ooo ooo ooo
Soarin groaned as he came to with a pounding headache and an old green wrinkled face staring down at him.
The Pegasus yelped and sat bolt upright, only to groan in pain again as his entire body throbbed in time with his pounding headache.
"Whoa there young feller," the old green mare admonished, "you did yourself in pretty hard there, just sit back and rest a spell."
Soarin lay back down, looking around him considerately. He was in what appeared to be a spare room decorated in bright, homey colours with a fair amount of apple based motifs and doilies, leading Soarin to the conclusion that he must be in the sitting room of the Sweet Apple Acres main house.
Granny explained what to expect for the week while he was occupied with his headache, then she left him for the rest of his first day, he was made to stay prone on the couch and drink foul smelling potions that the mare got from Zecora, the friend that Dusk had made in the woods, with a cold compress over his eyes.
He continued listen to the old mare's gramophone, turned down due to his head, and she sternly insisted that he remain for the night, saying that he could start working in the morning with her grandchildren if he was feeling better, who were currently away and would be arriving later that evening.
Soarin fell asleep eventually in the early evening and completely missed the arrival of the rest of the brood.
Ooo ooo ooo
Soarin, Sweet Apple Acres Day Two…
When Soarin awoke the next morning, the sun was just beginning to rise and the golden rays were spilling over the old faded golden-brown shag carpet, across centuries old apple wood, hoof carved furniture, and directly into the eyeballs of one blue Pegasus.
Soarin groaned as a sharp jabbing pain in his aching head, had him falling back onto the mound of cushions that Granny Smith had kindly set out for him.
It was only the light glinting off glass out of the corner of his eye, drew his gaze from under his hoof, to a small bottle with a post it notes that read "Drink Me" in bold black lettering.
The bottle it was attached to was surprisingly warm when he touched it, and after popping the cork and warily sniffing, he could smell the sent of chamomile and ginger. On the side of the bottle, were the words:
"Headache Brew, tea for the soar noggin, drink warm and in its entirety."
Soarin smiled when he saw the logo for The Tea Cozy on the bottle.
He tossed it back and immediately felt the ache and tension begin to melt away. He sighed contentedly. Dusk really could do anything with those teas of his.
Feeling much better, he made his way down from the spare room he had been put in and entered what he assumed to be the kitchen.
He found Granny Smith making hay rashers next to a giant pot of what smelled like hot cider. He took a deep breath of the inviting smell, his hoof moving towards the cheerfully steaming pot until a ladle to the hoof got his attention.
"No peekin'! yer goin' to let the flavour out," Granny scolded, herding Soarin to the kitchen table where the rest of the family was sitting.
Soarin's first look at the eldest Apple Siblings engendered mixed feelings in Soarin.
The first was the one who introduced her self, Applejack. She practically ran the farm single hoofed, and held obvious pride in what she did, as she preceded to jaw his ear off about all the chores that needed doing, more then he thought possible for an apple farm, with a single-minded intensity that strongly reminded him of Spitfire in a training haze, as she was super intense and kind of intimidating, but he found her otherwise likeable, and gave off such an honest air, that it was no wonder she was reputed as the Honesty element of harmony.
The oldest of the brood was where Soarin's real mixed feelings lay.
He knew who Big Macintosh was of course. He was the one that Dusk always talked about in his letters, Dusk's Mac. Soarin couldn't help the wave of jealousy that sprung up automatically when he realized he was sitting across from his romantic rival. He also felt intimidated as well. To put it bluntly, Mac was impressively built, easily the biggest stallion he had ever seen in a towering mass of bright red muscle. It would be so easy to hate him for that, but Mac was also friendly, engaging him in conversation throughout breakfast, asking him all about what it was like to be a Wonderbolt.
He didn't notice the gobsmacked expression of the mares at the table.
Their conversation took them from the table to the fields, and as Soarin was being rigged up to a wagon, he felt a wave of gloom descend on him. He had thought that Mac would be easy to beat for Dusk's affections, but as the day progressed, he found mac to be everything a stallion could want in another. Mac was friendly, handsome, insanely strong, hard working, and clearly loved his family and his work.
Soarin knew he had just as many good qualities of course, but the stallion just seemed so...flawless. Soarin couldn't even pull the mountain of apple barrels that Big Mac had kept loading onto his cart. Big Mac looked barely winded as he pulled his own, while Soarin's flanks were dripping with sweat and his legs trembled.
When they got back by the end of the day, Soarin could barely stand up he was so exhausted. They meant a frowning Applejack who took her brother aside for some sort of business talk. Soarin just helped himself to the Daisey sandwich that Granny Smith handed him silently, a considering look on her face that Soarin was to tired to notice.
After Soarin had stumbld home, gobbled his sandwich, then crawled into bed, groaning with relief as soft pillows engulfed his aching head.
Ooo ooo ooo
Working for the Apples, Day Three…
Soarin knew that there was no way he was going to make it if he tried harvesting apples, and it seemed Big Mac agreed as he was hitched to the first empty apple cart and he glumly followed behind big Mac as the pony gathered and tossed apples into the cart.
Then, not even before lunch time, insult to injury, the red stallion had to take over when Soarin could no longer pull the cart. The two went back to the main farm stead, and after insisting on helping to unload apples and put away into storage later, Soarin felt his insides burn when Big Mac easily carried huge wooden barrels of the bright red fruit, while Soarin strained with his small basket.
When they were done, Soarin felt to depressed, tired and sore to eat much of the hefty and delicious looking dinner fare. He just grabbed a hunk of bread in his teeth and excused himself politely to go to bed early.
He didn’t notice the thoughtful looking eyes following him as he left.
Soarin slid under the covers of his bed, and, after looking around furtively, pulled out a small framed picture from inside his saddle bag.
It was a recent picture of Soarin and Dusk taken outside the wind mill. The photographer (a thin little colt) had captured the moment just after Dusk had finished laughing from some lame joke that Soarin had said, so his beautiful dark green eyes sparkled, and Soarin…Soarin’s face displayed all the naked adoration. The look was so obvious in his feelings for his friend and secret crush, that he had paid the enterprising little colt a few extra bits to ensure no other copies of the picture was made and destroy the negative for the original.
“Well Dusk, I can sort of see why you would like him more then me, I mean…great Celestia! I was nothing out there in comparison! How can I compete with a pony that could bench press three times my own body weight?”
Soarin gloomily tucked the picture under his pillow and settled in to a troubled sleep.
Ooo ooo ooo
Soarin’s third day on the farm was a little different though.
Soarin woke to the slam of hoof on door.
When he opened it a little blurry eyed, he found an unusually frazzled looking Big Mac.
“Quick! I need yer help!”
Soarin blinked in surprise, “Why? What happened?”
He galloped as he followed the hurrying pony outside and headed towards Sweet Apple Acres and to the far side of the barn where the chicken coop was located.
He could immediately see what was wrong. The north facing fence was completely wrecked. It looked like it had been trampled by something large.
There was an obvious trail of chicken foot prints, and they were heading in the direction of…Soarin grimaced, The Everfree Forrest.
“Ah Celestia, your sister is going to pull a nut” Soarin groaned.
“Not if we get those chickens back before she’s back from doing the plumbin’ at the Spa in Ponyville,” Big Mac said grimly, and took off at a steady trot directly towards the fearsome twisted trees and wall of dark shadows.
Soarin sighed, feeling that this might not be a good idea.
Still, maybe the Everfree wasn’t as bad as ponies had made it out to be, I mean, after all, Dusk was in there right now, spending a week gathering ingredients, so…how bad could it be really?
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
1,114 users online
1,707,559 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Nice to see you again, hope to see more of you soon.
8439659
thanks!
I think i remember the Story anf I'm actually happy to read about soarin and his littlr crush this time, but the hapter itself wasn't exactly that interessting for me.
hooray it lives! And talk about amusing chapter to read. (had to go reread everything to remind myself about it... good story once again!)
At last, new update!
Few typos here and there, though.
8440007
yeah, its the first part. Its more along the lines of set up for the second half which is the two of them having an adventure in the Everfree forrest which should be more interesting.
8440034
yeah. I am going through the fic to do some editing, hopefully I'll catch them, crafty little buggers. :D
8440015
thanks!
8440418
Any chance on updating your second HP\MLP crossover? It was also very interesting.
8440438
Might be a bit on that one. Got alot of fics to update, and when Star trek Discovery starts, I will be preety busy working on my Masters Thesis. The next chap of the other one might be the interaction between Morty, Shinning and Blueblood.
Ok story, shame I had to skip alot
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/211585/reviewers-cafe/thread/308771/reviews?page=7#comment/6240341
8574303
Dusk.
8753945
Oh, yeah, I know. I couldn't resist mentioning this one, though.
I NEVER post a chapter without rereading it at least twice, on separate days, to catch things like that. IT's amazing how many errors you find that way.
If you take up this story again (8 months since last update) one thing I would love to see is a glimpse back in the human world. I'm wondering what happening back there without Harry. It could go in so many ways. For example if Harry wasn't with the Weasleys in Diagon ally, would the lack of arguing prevent Lucus Malfoy from slipping Tom Riddles diary into Ginney's book bag? Therefor leaving the secret chamber unopened?
Or without Harry would Wormtail never have a reason to go searching for Voldemart?
If Voldemart did return, he would not have had access to Harry's blood.
Indeed many of the major events in the original timeline are both solved BY Harry, but only after they were CAUSED by him.
8942519
Less caused by him and more caused by his continued existence but that's more semantics than anything.