Apple*ucked Season
The sun slowly rose over the Western mountain range, casting its golden glow upon the fields and hills of Sweet Apple Acres. A pair of siblings sat side by side in the growing dawn, and the smaller whistled.
“Boy howdy! I got my work cut out for me. That there is the biggest bumper crop o' apples I ever laid eyes on.”
The elder rolled his eyes. The shenanigans of last Tuesday had left him with broken ribs from a too-tight girdle. “Too big for you to handle on your own.”
Applejack squinted and prodded him in the side. “Now you hush, go and rest up. Trust Applejack to haul in all these apples.”
Big Mac rose to his hooves and chewed a stalk of hay as he squinted towards the horizon and tallied trees.
“One pony, plus hundreds of apple trees, times the dozens of apples on each tree… Just don't add up, Jack.”
Applejack scrunched her nose and stamped a forehoof. “Now look here. Just cos you got yer fancy high school diploma don't mean y'all can use yer fancy mathematics to muddy the issue! I said I could handle this harvest and I'm gonna prove it to you. I'm gonna get every last apple out of those trees this applebuck season all by myself!”
Life in Ponyville had become almost routine. Sunset woke, and zombied her way through morning ablutions. She trotted downstairs to find Spike had cooked either pancakes or oatmeal depending on what the fresh fruit situation was. She would then assist Twilight with library tasks, or go out into town on her own.
She slid on her jacket and saddlebag, and gathered her bit purse. She ventured beyond the sanctity of the library and glared at the infuriating front door.
“One day. I'll figure out why you annoy me so much.”
She turned and headed towards the open-air market, unfurling the shopping list. The market was a little more hectic, but Filthy Rich was too greasy for her to visit Barnyard Bargains and something in her brain cried when she walked down Two Things Avenue.
She turned up her collar and looked away as she passed by the still-smoking crater of Town Hall. The ponies of Ponyville had no hard feelings, but the sight of it reminded her of the single instant of agony as she burned until only the core remained.
“Let's see. Roses from Daisy. Lilies from Rose. Daisies from Lily…”
She stopped in front of an empty lot, where there was a friendly orange or red Central Equestrian pony every day from Sunrise to Moonrise. She cleared her throat and glanced towards a passerby as she felt the ground begin to vibrate underneath her hooves.
“Excuse me. What day is today?”
The scruffy colt thought for a moment. “Tuesday.”
“Thank you. That's what I thought.”
Many ponies thought that Rainbow Dash was lazy due to her frequent napping. They weren't exactly right; as the Weather Captain for the Everfree Settled Zone she was always “on call”. Sometimes she didn't see her own bed for days on end, and when you gotta crash for forty winks any cloud will do.
She was roused from a lovely dream about the torrential downpour they'd broken up the previous night as it had rolled out of the Everfree and threatened the town. She rose, pushing exhausted muscles into action and looked around for what had woken her. A dust cloud, made by a whole herd of cows charging.
Lungs that could shout over the winds of the coastal nightmare called Hurricane inflated, and a voice that could drown out lightning echoed over the sleepy burg. One word, two syllables.
“Stampede!”
At the cry, all hell broke out. When cows were frightened, they tended to lose reason. When one ran, the rest tended to follow. Just like ponies.
The vibrations of their impending doom grew ever closer by the second, the more skittish ponies fainting outright, the Mayor shouting from her temporary tent office to try and regain order.
Framed by the rising sun was Applejack, rearing up. Sunset swore she could hear a fanfare… and glared at Pinkie Pie, who sheepishly hid a trumpet behind her back.
The pony and her trusty collie charged, the dog nipping at hooves and barking to press the herd tighter together. Applejack dove right into the midst of the crushing hulks, and pulled sharply on the horns of the lead cow. At the last moment, the stampede turned away from town and slowed to a walk. Applejack hopped down and exchanged a few heated words with Mary-Jo, the spokescow, who responded in her cheerful drawl. Just like that, it was over and the cows returned to their pasture.
Ivory Scroll had been the unopposed mayor of Ponyville for nearly twenty years. She did so through her unrivaled understanding of politics. Sunset watched as gears turned, and the machinery of the mare's brain switched over from disaster management to celebration. She cleared her throat.
“So… Miss Mayor. About… how frequently would you say something like this happens?”
The mayor thought. “Oh, once a week or so. Just about every Tuesday.”
Sunset rubbed her eyes. “Of course.”
The rest of the day was spent in clamorous preparation. It didn't do to carry out a major announcement in front of the Town Smoking Crater, so a stage had been hastily erected in front of the library. Twilight had started to prepare a speech, but Sunset acted on a feeling and held her back from the stage.
Sure enough, the Mayor's speech was interrupted by crosstalk and other ponies supplying irrelevant details about Applejack. Apparently she was going to be all over town in the next few days. Sunset wondered how a farmer could find time to be several miles off the farm and not selling anything and the farm stay afloat.
Finally everyone was settled down, and the curtain was pulled aside to reveal the… entirely sufficient work of Brass Cast of Trophies and Tchotchkes. Sunset rubbed her forehead as an eye twitched, and she nudged Twilight in the ribs. Her daughter seemed a little put-out that she hadn't gotten to read her speech.
“I wonder what the annual trophy budget is, or if they hoof them out to whoever averts the most weekly disasters in a year.”
Twilight snorted despite herself. “It does sound like Applejack is overextending herself a bit.”
Right on cue the farmer shuffled up to the stage and blinked stupidly as the Mayor chattered in her face, looking like the walking dead. The second Ivory Scroll turned back to the collected ponies, she promptly fell asleep.
Twilight glanced aside at her friends, who split between sharing concerned expressions and watching Applejack mumble something that sounded like acceptance before dragging the trophy off the stage and heading back towards the Acres.
“Was it just me, or did Applejack seem a little…” She glanced towards the sky as if Celestia herself would give her the words to phrase it delicately.
Rainbow raised a brow as Applejack made it out of sight. “Tired?”
Fluttershy chewed the inside of her cheek. “Um. Dizzy?”
Rarity scrunched the bridge of her snout and pursed her lips, one hoof indicating her mane. “Messy? She's normally rough and tumble but she usually looks a bit more put together.”
Sunset snrked softly. “Probably just got into Granny's “Special Liniment” a little too heavily.”
Pinkie snorted a little. “Nah, she looks fine, considering.”
All eyes turned towards her, with a simultaneous “Considering what?”
The pink mare's ears pinned back slightly. “Well, she's a farmer, right? And they have a lot of different apples in the orchards. They start taking in the honeycrisp and the golds now in early Reaping, and the whole of the Acres has to be harvested by Nightmare Night.”
Six pairs of eyes blinked slowly, more used to Pinkie's random obtuse commentary than anything actually grounded in reality. She met the blank stares and tilted her head. “What? Petriculture runs on mostly the same timetable. Geode-stones tend to be the best right now and sometimes explode after Nightmare Night.”
Sunset blinked slowly. “Remind me to never think too hard about growing rocks but the rest makes sense. Doesn't she have a huge family though? Why is she so tired?”
Twilight pursed her lips. This was one of those moments, part of the social contract of friendship. Applejack obviously needed their help.
Twilight watched, aghast. Applejack had carefully arranged buckets. She stepped forward, leaned into her forehooves, and kicked back at empty air. She tried again. And again. Finally she managed to kick one of her buckets, sending it sailing off across the Acres. She sighed, and appeared a few inches off Applejack's snout with the crackle-fizz of teleportation.
She shouted her name, but the pony was asleep. This close she could see the frazzle in her mane, the way she seemed a few shades paler than normal, and the exhaustion clear in her peacefully snoozing face.
She sighed and shook her shoulder, ducking back as the farmer snorted awake with a shudder. “Applejack, when was the last time you slept?”
Applejack stooped like a clockwork soldier beginning to wind down, and began mechanically lifting fallen apples into a basket. “Uh… Sun's Day.”
Twilight pressed a hoof into her snout and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “Applejack. It's Thursday.”
The farmer snorted and dragged herself over to the next tree in line. “Huh. Never could get the hang of Thursdays.”
Twilight shook her head a little and reappeared next to her friend with a cheerful ‘pop’. “Applejack, I can't really say anything since I'd probably forget to eat and sleep if it weren't for Mom and Spike, and if it weren't for you girls I probably wouldn't leave the library. But when it comes to you skipping sleep for four days, you need to admit that you need help. Why are you doing this all by yourself? What about all those relatives that were here when I first came to town?”
Applejack snorted and managed to solidly connect with the bole of the tree. Her hindhooves fitfully sparkled greenish, and the tree barely trembled, but the apples still dropped… all over the ground instead of into the baskets which she'd left about thirty feet away.
“Well Big Mac snapped a couple ribs in Granny's girdle, Granny's too old an Bloom is too young. And the rest of ‘em were here to help with Summer Sun, they're doin the same all over Equestria. So, uh, I'm on my own. Which means, I should really get back to work.”
Twilight rubbed her forehead slowly. She was starting to understand why her mother had taken to near-constant chewing of willowbark. “Well… if you say so. I'll let you get back to it, but I'm going to be checking up on you and making sure you're sleeping. Or do you plan to keep this up all the way until Nightmare Night?”
Applejack sighed, her withers drooping a little as she dragged a basket over and began placing the apples inside. “That's what honest work is all about, Twi. Ya keep pushing until the job's done. It's the Earth pony way.”
Twilight sighed and patted Applejack on the shoulder, leaning in to brush their cheeks together. “If it's that important, I'll drop it. Seeya, Applejack.”
In retrospect, Twilight should have been a little more insistent. The remainder of the day resulted in an exhausted Applejack causing; Rainbow Dash shattering a window and destroying a bookcase as well as breaking her collarbone and spraining a wing, a hit to the Corner's reputation and forty-nine cases of food poisoning, several hundred bits worth of property damage between hungry frightened bunnies and panicked ponies.
Like a sane, mature pony, Twilight asked for help. Specifically, she asked for Sunset to accompany her to the Acres. When they arrived, they found Applejack by following the faint sounds of futile thuds and low cursing.
Twilight glanced over her shoulder for support, and sighed. “Applejack. We need to talk. Enough is enough.”
Applejack didn't seem to hear her, and brushed past her to the next tree. Twilight glanced back at Sunset and let out a deep sigh, teleporting in front of Applejack and halting her with a hoof on the nose.
The farmer squinted and scrunched her features up slightly at the crack of sound and the tap. “Uh, Twi… ain't y'all afraid you'll… teleport inside of somepony?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Please, Applejack. I've been doing this since I was a foal. Splinching isn't a big deal. Mostly. Almost never fatal. Anyway, this is about you. I promised that I'd come back. Your applebucking hasn't just caused you problems. You trying to work while exhausted has over-propelled Pegasus', practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand new bouncing baby bunnies. I don't care what you say, you. Need. Help.”
Applejack looked like she would dig her hooves in again. Sunset shifted to go for the nuclear option of getting Granny Smith. Then she glanced across the Acres and took it all in. Four days of constant work, and only a few hundred trees cleared. Three months of this ahead of her, all the way until Nightmare Night and the season change. She took her hat in her forehooves and sighed. Her voice was an uncharacteristic tiny squeak.
“Okay, Twilight.”
Twilight rubbed her forehead and glanced up at Sunset. “I'm not taking no for an… answer? What?”
Applejack turned her hat, inspecting the worn felt. “I said… okay. Yes, Twilight. Please. And Sunset. And… everypony. Please.”
Twilight rubbed her shoulder. “I know it's hard, Applejack, but it's the right thing to do. Let's get you into bed. Me and Sunset will put these apples up, and we'll all come out tomorrow.”
Saturday broke to seven ponies watching Sun's rise. Applejack looked a little better for a good night's sleep, and she was pressured into less strenuous tasks. Over the course of the day ponies filtered onto the Acres and lent a horn, or a hoof, or a wing.
That night, Sunset sat on Twilight's haunches and pressed forehooves into the smaller pony's sore shoulders. “I think you've got a letter for Luna, hm?”
Twilight groaned. Even with the work being cut into sevenths, and then more and more as ponies came to help, it was still rigorous and there was still three months of it to go. At least they'd made a big enough dent that the Apples wouldn't need as much help in the coming weeks.
“I think I do. Spike… take a letter.
Dear Princess Luna,
My friend Applejack is the best friend a pony could ever have, and she's always there to help anypony. The only trouble is, when she needs help, she finds it hard to accept it. So while friendship is about giving of ourselves to friends, it's also about accepting what our friends have to offer.
Your faithful friend, Twilight Sparkle.”
Spike blew to dry the ink, before furling the scroll. He inhaled sharply and breathed out again, burning it to ash and sending it to the Princess.
Stats
Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
735 users online
750,233 hits today, 2,054,621 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.®
good chapter
Nice chapter and shortly after the previous one too. Faster than I expected.
9394250 And I don't think many of us will ever complain
9393304
Claire wrote: "Hiya! Thanks for letting me know. And of course he can use my art, as long as there’s some sort of credit or original source link somewhere 😊"
If you want me to give her your contact details other than your Fimfiction.net profile, please pass them on - you can email me at xanni@glasswings.com.au.
I like to see Twilight Splinch into a Pony that be amusing if she says it not a big deal.
That went a little smoother than I expected. Hmmm. Let's see what happens when a busker with a big freaking mouth
shows up running said damned fool mouth.
Two Things Avenue is a brilliant idea. I may end up using it.
It must be weird for Sunset to be part of her daughter's general social circle.
At least she doesn't have to deal with Vogons.
"It's like Mom says: If you're powerful enough to teleport, you're powerful enough to tell other atoms to get out of your way."
In any case, some nice touches here and there, especially Pinkie's own farm upbringing and Sunset adapting as best she can to the ongoing headache that is Ponyville.
Can't wait for more.
That was fun, my I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
I don't get the reference for Two Thing Avenue
9394444
Quills and Sofas. It's common to extrapolate (Trophies & Tchotchkes, see also Letters by Georg for a full list of shops) that shops selling unrelated things are common in Ponyville.
9394346
Two Things Avenue is Georg. In Letters there's a very long list of ponies, places, and shops bringing various housewares to Trixie / the library.
Especially considering that the eldest are twenty (Rarity and Applejack) and everyone else is close to Twilight's age, and Sunset is thirty. Although, probably no weirder than canon Sunset.
I probably could have stretched a bit more humor out of the splinching bit. But your interpretation is way cooler.
The Trixie episode is going to be very interesting with Sunset on the scene.
Im loving this. But how much of the show do you plan on puting in here? I mean if your willing to put the entire show then ill read XD
9394694
Hopefully we at least get through to “Best Night Ever.” From what we saw in the last chapter, that one will play out completely differently to what we know, and I’m curious to see how.
9395956
Now the question of whether Luna knows and is fucking with her, or if Luna thinks Twilight was aware the second ticket was for a date.
AJ has too much pride sometimes
That is a remarkably in-depth analysis right there. What would the other three days represent in that setting, though?
I think that semicolon is supposed to be a full colon.
I've gotta say I like the little bits of lore stuck in there in places. Exploding geodes (and the rest of the rock farming info) and a full street of shops with odd names (though the latter may be canon; I don't know -- I only knew of Quills and Sofas).
Just so you know, girdles are unlikely to break ribs, they bind lower on the body so you would be more likely to suffer minor organ crush damage or some form of hernia.
The front door annoys her ?
I am Sunset in this scene
Sounds about right
Still being Sunset over here
Yes, yes she does
You know, there really should be more shenanigans on Sundays, considering it's the day named after Trollestia
9566920
The front door annoying her is inspired by Sunset noticing and getting angry at animation errors in Sunset Shimmer is MAD About Everything.
The library's front door is a solid piece on the inside, with hinges on the right and a knob on the left. On the outside it's three pieces. Sometimes the candle is an embossed image, sometimes it's a literal candleholder bolted to it. Sometimes the door is opened as one piece, sometimes it's opened as three (seen in Ticket Master when Spike closes the bottom halves and locks the door... with a single deadbolt... and in Magical Mystery Cure when Twilight opens only the top half).
9568233
Polymorphic door!
The fitst one could be explained that door is actually a layered thing of two doors in one frame (saw it in reality, though doors weren't that dissimilar), but we never saw it closed that way