6 - ZAP!
Perfect Rose really liked trains.
And she never knew the world was so… green! So… open!
The Equestrian countryside continued to roll on by as the young griffon kept her face firmly pressed against the window, looking out in complete fascination at all the land had to offer. After spending most of her short life thus far inside city limits, seeing the raw and yet unspoiled landscape beyond those walls was an experience to behold.
Sure, she had found the train a little scary at first. Her parents had tucked her into her pram and taken her out into the streets, leaving the family butler behind to mind the house. They took her lower down into the city than she ever recalled being before, which in of itself had held the infant’s curiosity. And when they’d boarded the train, which Rose had undoubtedly comprehended and a mere building at the time, she’d been quite startled by its sudden jolt as the vehicle started to move down along the track.
Cue some terrified whimpering and squirming, but the reassurances of Ebony and Cash were enough to put her at relative ease.
And then she’d looked out the window…
“You know, it occurs to me…” Ebony lamented. “She’s never played in the grass before, or even just walked in it. Outside of our own garden, she’s never really even seen it before.”
“She’s a bit young to let out and play,” Cash noted.
“I know, but still. I think she could use the fresh air.”
“Maybe. Well, there’s plenty of that where we’re going. Ponyville is infamous for its location.”
“The good and the bad.”
“Bad? Please, there hasn’t been anything coming out of the Everfree Forest in ages. I don’t think the animals like leaving their home.”
“I know, still, you hear all sorts of things about that terrible forest,” Ebony mused. “A good thing we’re not going close to it.”
“The most trees we’ll be seeing are apple trees,” Cash Counter pointed out. “Heh, another thing Rose is about to learn. Where apples come from.”
“Think they’ll let her sneak one of the ‘special’ kind that’s making the rounds?” she wondered. “They only bloom for five days, right?”
“I’m sure they’ll part with one. Still, unfortunately, we need to take care of the ‘business’ part of this business trip first.”
“I’m sure Rich won’t mind. He’s a young stallion who got out of Canterlot at the right time, he’s never been quite so uptight as some might think.”
“True. We’ll just have to see.”
As the train continued on, Ponyville started to draw close enough that the town was easily visible from the window. Row after row of wooden, wattle and daub housing, all clustered around the town hall and an odd little tree that had been hollowed out for a library. The product of a unicorn’s odd design sense, or so they’d heard.
There were also the farms on the edges of town, of course. The true beating heart of the community in a lot of ways, and the very reason Princess Celestia had given the go-ahead for the town’s construction all those years ago. There was Carrot Top’s farm for one, with carrots being one of her primary sources of export. But that wasn’t the one the couple were there to see.
No, that would be Sweet Apple Acres, run by a branch of the Apple family that had helped found the town. It was with this farm that they did business, and it was one of their own primary sources of income. The farm had always done well, and particularly at this time of the year each and every year.
After all, where else could you get the highly sought-after zap apple?
The stallion who was actually their primary distributor was a young pony by the name of Filthy Rich, who had moved with his own late father to Ponyville many years ago to be closer to the family business. He had taken up the mantle when his father passed on and has worked well to enquire the farm’s continued prosperity.
And so came the real reason for their trip. With zap apple season well underway, the Apples would be working hard to complete the harvest while they had the chance. And much like every year, Filthy had new contracts and areas of distribution in mind. And that meant he had places he wanted to send Cash Counter to negotiate said contracts. So, they would go to Ponyville to talk strategy.
At least, this year, it gave them a good excuse to get Perfect Rose out of Canterlot and allow her to experience things beyond the capital city.
“Last stop, Ponyville!” the train’s conductor announced. “Prepare for departure from this train. Thank you for travelling with the Friendship Express.”
“This would be our stop,” Cash stated, standing up from his seat as his horn lit up and retrieved their luggage. “You got her?”
“Got her,” Ebony confirmed, prying Perfect Rose from the window, despite her protesting grumbles, and proceeding to strap her back into the pram. “Come on, honey. You can see it all up close in a minute.”
“So, check-in to the hotel and then head to the meeting point? I think we have little over an hour before we’re due to see Rich.”
“It’ll give us a moment to settle in,” she agreed. “Maybe get this one a bite.”
Rose’s stomach proceeded to growl as if to illustrate the point.
The mare nodded. “Yes, definitely.”
“Well, let’s get a move on then. We’re now pulling in.”
As he spoke, the train slowed to a halt at the platform of Ponyville’s train station, a hiss and slight shudder indicating the application of the breaks and the outer doors being opened to both let passengers off and allow those waiting outside to embark.
The family stepped out of their private first-class compartment, moving into the hall alongside the scant few others sharing the first-class carriage. They squeezed along the confined space towards the exit, carefully walking off onto the platform and into the light of Celestia’s sun.
Ponyville. They had arrived.
Splash.
Perfect Rose grasped at the water in the fountain and giggled maniacally as she flicked the water with her claws, taking delight in the patter of the drops and the new sensations she was experiencing for the first time. Her mother sat by her side as she played, mostly to ensure she didn’t fall into the fountain and require a rescue.
Her father, meanwhile, stood a little ways away keeping his eyes on the crowd of passing ponies. He was tapping his hoof in an expectant manner, waiting for the arrival of his business partner.
Not that Rose cared for such things, she was just enjoying her time playing with Mr Splashy!
Her time making a small mess with the fountain’s water was, however, cut short when a new voice cut across the crowd addressing Cash Counter specifically.
“Cash Counter! Well then, it has been too long!” a brown stallion with a black mane, blue eyes and a red bow tie greeted cheerfully as he approached from the direction of the nearby town hall. “How was the trip.”
“Filthy Rich, good to see you,” Cash greeted back. “The trip was fine. Different, for obvious reasons.”
“Yes, I can imagine,” he noted, looking over at the stallion’s two companions. “Ebony. A pleasure to see you again, and this is the little one I’ve heard about?”
“Yes, this is Perfect Rose,” Ebony introduced her daughter. “I think she’s a bit preoccupied discovering what a fountain is, I’m afraid.”
The stallion laughed. “The joys of infancy. Nopony minds, griffons need to discover things first hoof as much as any pony, I’m sure.”
“What about you, how're your prospects of starting a family going?” Cash enquired.
Filthy Rich grimaced. “Not so well. I have an uncle in Canterlot trying to pair me with varying mares from wealthy families. Nothing has come of it so far.”
“Uncle? Just find somepony you like, I don’t need to tell you this.”
“Well, there’s a lot of pressure. My father might have moved us to Ponyville, but that doesn’t mean I’m free of the nobility’s expectations,” he explained. “Not that you seem to mind defying those expectations. I wish I had your spirit.”
“You’re an earth pony, you’re partway there already. Plus, defying expectations is half the reason your father moved out here,” Cash joked. “I learned a lot from the old stallion, back when I was his young and inexperienced business partner.”
“And now I’m the young and inexperienced one, I see where this is going,” he replied in bemusement. “Funny, Cash.”
“I try.”
“Bwah?” Perfect Rose babbled in question. She also got the odd feeling that, for some reason, she should never utter that phrase again. It felt like she was stealing from someone else.
Trying to figure out words was confusing to the griffon.
“Maybe we should get a move on,” Cash suggested. “The zap apple harvest won’t wait while we reminisce.”
“Point taken,” Filthy Rich conceded. “Will Ebony and Perfect Rose be joining us?”
“We will,” Ebony confirmed, standing up and re-securing her daughter. “I don’t intend to miss the harvest. And I think she’d find it a nice experience too.”
“Fair enough. Come on, I assume you remember the way to Sweet Apple Acres.”
Cash nodded. “It’s hard to miss.”
“Good. I’d hate to keep Bright Macintosh waiting.”
The three ponies departed from the fountain, Ebony pushing Perfect Rose’s pram along as the infant continued to take in the sights. She got a few odd looks here and there, but generally it was more ones of ‘d’aw look at the little baby’ rather than the dismissive or outright disdainful glances they had a habit of getting in Canterlot.
It was nice getting away from the city for a while.
They headed off in the direction of the farm, Cash Counter and Filthy Rich taking the lead as they continued to talk.
“So, what’s the new game plan?” the blue unicorn asked the earth pony.
“A couple of venues in Fillydelphia are interested in the zap apples,” he explained. “Some big wigs for a big private gathering of theirs, and then another company who wants to distribute a limited selection to local schools as part of some big multicultural food tasting scheme.”
“I hope they know how expensive a bulk shipment of these apples are.”
“Of course. Given how rare they are, how couldn’t they? There’s also a retail outlet in Trottingham who wants to start selling Sweet Apple Acres branded cider, so you’ll also need to head there to hash out the details of production and shipping.”
“Cider always promises a good night and a bad following morning,” the unicorn quipped. “I’ll see it done. At least after we’ve talked it over with the Apples, going to need to know the numbers of zap apples we can expect this season before we can distribute.”
“Fortunately, it’s looking to be bountiful this year. They’re driving themselves ragged. Though, the return of the prodigal daughter certainly helped.
Ebony frowned. “Huh? What?”
“Their daughter, Applejack, went on a bit of a self-discovery trip to Manehatten,” Filthy Rich said. “Went to live with some cousins of theirs, the Oranges. A splinter group of the Apple family that wanted to give the life of the social elite a try. Given the money the family makes, more of them could make that jump with little difficulty.”
“Tradition is a hard thing to shake, and I think they like the way they live,” Cash Counter noted. “Besides, nopony else could do their jobs quite like they can.”
“True,” Rich agreed. “But yes, little Applejack wanted to give that life a try as well. It wasn’t for her it seems, got her cutie mark for the experience too. Something about a rainbow explosion.”
Cash took this moment to share his wife’s frown. That sounded familiar…
Right. They saw that too, the day they adopted Perfect Rose. It had been right before Celestia’s school had… ‘exploded’.
What an odd coincidence.
“But with her back, she’s giving her all to help her family do the harvesting. The filly has enthusiasm, I’ll give her that.”
“I guess we’ll find out…”
Soon enough, the volume of buildings lessened, and they found themselves on a dirt path heading into a distinct gathering of trees. The pathway led all the way to a gate blocking access to a farmyard consisting of a red barn, house and varying other small structures dotted around them. The trees grew into what was practically a thick wood, and while some of them were bare, others were covered in delicious-looking red apples.
And then, amongst them, already they could begin to spot some apples with a strange rainbow texturing. That was the reason they were here.
“Wonder why they never produce green or yellow apples…” Ebony muttered to herself.
“They have other farms for that,” Cash pointed out.
“I know, just seems odd to be dedicated by colour.”
“That’s just how the Apples run things,” Filthy said. “Not a lack of orchards for us to manage.”
No. This was just the most recognisable, mostly due to the yearly zap apples.
They could all still remember when the land had been shared with another farm, one who had been more inclined to produce pears. Now that had been a blood feud between the two families, at least before they’d moved the farm elsewhere and the entire orchard was bought out by the Apples.
Of course, the present two proprietors of the farm would know all about that conflict, wouldn’t they…
And there they were, just up ahead outside the barn as the group made it to the gate and slipped inside. A large pale olive stallion with a red mane and a Stetson was talking to another pony, this one a mare. She was a gamboge pony with a bright orange mane and the brightest pair of turquoise eyes you’d ever lay eyes on. Watching them proudly from nearby was an ageing but still fit and able green mare with a pale blond mane done up neatly with a band.
Bright Macintosh, Pear Butter and Granny Smith. Though the middle one was more commonly known as Buttercup nowadays, Cash Counter had to doubt her and Bright’s foals even knew about her former name given the unfortunate history is entails.
“Ah, look what the hound dog dragged in,” Granny Smith stated when she saw their approach. “Now what time do ya’ll call this?”
“They’re right on time, Ma,” Bright Mac interrupted. “Howdy, welcome back to Sweet Apple Acres!”
“A pleasure, as always,” Cash returned with a nod of his head. “Buttercup.”
“Guess ya’ll are here for the zap apples, huh?” Buttercup noted. “Oh, now what’s this I see? Nopony told me yer were getting a little one!”
Buttercup approached the pram giddily, tilting her head at the sight while not losing her smile. “Oh, that a griffon? Shucks, Ebony, Cash, really defying connection with that one!”
“I take it you approve?” Ebony enquired.
“Heartily!” the earth pony mare confirmed with an enthusiastic nod. “One mother to another, don’t matter a bit what they look like. Just love ‘em for what they are.”
“Well said,” Ebony replied approvingly. “Speaking of, where are your little ones?”
“In the house, getting some refreshments after a hard few hours of apple bucking,” Bright Mac responded. “We were just about to get back at it.”
“Big Macintosh! Applejack!” Granny Smith bellowed at an incredibly loud volume. “Get yer behinds out here! We got guests!”
A flurry of activity suddenly became visible inside the house, followed by a few crashes and bangs indicating the passage of some scampering foals haphazardly rushing to get outside. And then, from the front door, an orange filly and a red colt bundled out tripping over one another to the point of kissing the dirt.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Buttercup remarked crossly, trotting forward and pulling the two up by the scruffs of their necks. “What have I told you two about being careful and looking where ya’ll are going?”
“Not my fault!” Applejack whined in protest. “It was all Big Mac!”
“Liar!” Big Mac objected. “She was pushing just as much!”
“Was not!”
“Just because we gotta see some prissy rich ponies!”
“Enough!” Buttercup shouted. “Applejack, I’ve warned you about lying. Big Macintosh, you need to learn when to stop speakin’. We got guests, it’s rude to talk about them like that!”
Both foals bowed their heads guiltily, speaking in unison. “Yes, Mama.”
“Good. Now, whadda you say?”
“Sorry, Mama.”
“Good,” she said with a nod of finality, turning back to the bemused expressions of everypony else. “Ah’m so sorry about that, they got carried away sometimes.”
“The joys of parenting ya’ll got to look forward to,” Bright Mac joked towards Cash and Ebony.
“Tell me about it,” Cash Counter replied with a laugh. “Anyway, before we leave you all to get back to the farm work, we need to talk about business. Boring, I know. But it has to be done.”
“That is does,” Granny Smith agreed. “Big Mac, Applejack, you mind keeping Mrs Rose and her young’un company while we talk with Mr Rich and Mr Counter?”
“If it’s no trouble, Ebony Rose,” Buttercup added.
“No trouble,” Ebony assured them. “I can let Perfect Rose out for a bit. She’s never interacted with a couple of foals before.”
“Alright then,” the earth pony mare replied with a nod, turning to her two foals. “You heard ‘em. Play nice.”
They nodded, trotting over to Ebony and Perfect Rose while Cash Counter split off with the other adults to speak quietly amongst themselves by the barn’s entrance. Ebony immediately got to work releasing Perfect Rose from her constraints, letting the young griffon loose while the older foals looked on at her in fascinations.
“Wow!” Big Macintosh spoke first. “Eeyup, that’s a griffon!”
“What was yer first clue, genius,” Applejack jabbed as she jokingly elbowed her irritated brother. “Might I say she’s a mighty cute one, Miss!”
“Thank you,” Ebony responded as she gently placed her daughter onto the ground and watched her look up at the two earth ponies curiously.
Perfect Rose tilted her head, taking them in as she went over the situation in her head. She’d seen ponies like these two before, small ones. Little ones. Why were they smaller than her parents? Were they like her? They didn’t have the floaty-makers on their heads either, just like her. Was she like them? She looked different though, she could tell that just by looking at herself compared to them.
Little ponies were weird.
“Does she like us?” Applejack asked, seemingly worried the answer would be a negative one from the griffon’s strange look.
“I think she doesn’t really know you that well yet,” the older mare stated. “Try talking to her.”
“Big Mac’s good at that,” Applejack teased.
He huffed. “Shut up, Applejack!”
“Guys,” Ebony said warningly. “No fighting in front of the baby.”
They flinched back guiltily, but both then proceeded to crouch down in front of the griffon with friendly smiles.
“Howdy, er…”
“Perfect Rose.”
“Right, Perfect Rose! Name’s Applejack!”
“Aplwack?”
“Close enough…”
“She’s still learning, bless her,” Ebony said. “She tries.”
“Ma and Pa are thinking of getting us a lil’ brother or sister,” Big Mac claimed. “Ah don’t know if it’ll be soon, heard ‘em say something ‘bout a few years or so from now. But they are thinkin’ of it.”
“Little sis’, gotta be,” Applejack stated.
“Nnnope, brother.”
Ebony chuckled. “If it happens, you’d just have to wait and see. But, um, I think that’s between your parents. They have to sort that out.”
Applejack nodded. “Right. They need to write a letter to Princess Celestia to allow for a new Apple to come into the world.”
“…What?”
“That’s where Granny says foals come from. The Princess sends ‘em.”
The mare blinked. Then, as hard as she could, she tried to stifle incoming laughter behind a hoof. “Y-yes, dear. That’s… how it happens…”
That was a talk she had no business being a part of.
Perfect Rose just made confusion noises, likewise trying to get the large ponies to pay attention to her again.
“Sorry, Missy. Didn’t mean to ignore you,” Applejack apologised. “Ya like apples?”
“Ums!”
“I take that as a yes. A gal after my own heart,” she said with a chuckle. “Tell you what, we have apples here ah wager you’ve never gone and seen anywhere else?”
“Buh?”
“Granny?” Applejack shouted over at the other.
The green mare glanced towards them. “What is it, Applejack?”
“Can Perfect Rose have a zap apple? Seems a crime not to introduce ‘em young.”
The matriarch of the Apple family rolled her eyes, but she smiled nevertheless. “We still have a couple for personal use in the kitchen, remember? Don’t take any from what’s meant for sellin’, alright?”
“Got it!” she shouted back, turning back to Ebony and Perfect. “Be right back, ya’ll!”
The filly scampered off as fast as her short legs would take her, her tied up blond mane billowing out behind her as she vanished into the house and likely floundered her way into the kitchen.
“Sorry ‘bout my sis’,” Big Mac apologised. “She’s been a might bit eager to prove herself a ‘real’ Apple since getting back. Not so long ago she were saying how the farm was a bore, now she claims she never wants to be anywhere else.”
“I guess that trip she took changed her mind, huh?”
“Eeyup.”
They were only waiting a short while before Applejack came streaking back out of the house, a happy grin on her face as her eyes sparkled in anticipation, a bowl expertly sitting on her back and not falling despite her rushed pace. She reached the three, sliding the bowl onto the ground in front of Perfect Rose. Inside the wooden bowl were the mashed remains of a rainbow coloured apple, the fruit somehow still shimmering with magic despite its sad state.
“Thought to mash it up all nice so she can eat it just fine,” Applejack explained. “Come on, lil’ filly! Eat up, Sweet Apple Acres finest!”
Perfect Rose peered at the apple curiously. She’d eaten apples before, apple was among the best of the yums. But she’d never seen one quite like this. She could feel a strange sense of static from her proximity, kind of like the glow on her parents’ horns but… different. She tentatively reached out a claw, getting hold of a small piece of the once whole apple with her talons and bringing it close enough to sniff.
Smelt like an apple.
Tasted like…
Her eyes lit up, Perfect Rose giving a cheerfully approving squeal of delight as she dug into the rest of it.
Applejack started to jump up and down on the spot, clearly overjoyed at this development. “See! Best there is! Told ya’ll didn’t I? Didn’t I? Didn’t I?”
“Yes, yes you did,” Ebony said to the filly. “Seems you have a fan.”
Perfect Rose had no argument as she happily munched on the apple.
“Just goes to show that we’re the best at apples!” Applejack said gleefully. “Dontcha think there, Rose? Everypony is always up for a zap apple.”
Perfect Rose looked up with a happy expression. “ZAP!”
They all stopped. Especially, Ebony Rose, who just looked at her daughter in bewilderment.
“Um…” she muttered. “What was that, honey?”
“Zap!” she repeated, presenting her now empty bowl proudly. “Zap! Ap-… Apple! Zap apple!”
Ebony Rose sat down onto her withers. She took a deep breath, letting that breath slowly be released as she kept herself calm.
Then she failed, a grin as wide as a grin can be stretching onto her face with an “Eeeeee” that was rapidly ascending in the decibels.
“Eeeeeeeeeee!” she continued to squee. “That was a word! A proper word! She said words! Two! Yes!”
Perfect Rose giggled jubilantly to herself at her mother’s reaction, seeing is as a sign as she’d done something right.
“Zap apple! Zap apple!”
Cash Counter noticed his wife’s explosion of joy, excusing himself from the others and trotting over to see what all the fuss was about.
“Uh… did I miss something?” he asked. “Because I swear that I missed something.”
Perfect Rose gave him a proud, and somewhat smug, look. “Zap apple!”
He stopped, went over those words and all the moments in his life leading up to the exact time of his hearing them, and then found himself somewhat at a loss as to what to do next.
“Huh…” he finally settled on saying. “Was hoping it would be ‘Dada’, but sure. Zap apple. Why not?”
“Oops,” Applejack remarked.
“Don’t feel bad,” Ebony giddily reassured the filly. “It doesn’t matter, she speaks! She’s growing! My little girl so smart!”
“Well, ya’ll seem to be having a good bit of family bonding,” Buttercup noted as she and the others too trotted up to see the commotion.
“Might need to use it as our new slogan, so good it’ll be yer foals’ first words,” Bright Mac joked. “Mind if ah take pride in that?”
“You know, it wouldn’t be a bad slogan…” Filthy Rich mused a little more seriously.
“Enough about that, this requires celebration,” Granny Smith interjected. “Should be nothing less for a moment such as this, I know all too well the joy of seeing it. Join us for dinner, there’s plenty of apples to go around.”
“Oh, we don’t want to impose…” Ebony hesitantly responded.
“Psh, nonsense,” the older mare dismissed. “It’d be a pleasure. Besides, we’ve got a fair bit to talk about yet, and we still need to get on with the harvestin’.”
Cash Counter and Ebony Rose shared a glance, nodding at one another in agreement.
“Alright, we’re in,” the former decided. “How about we continue our discussion inside the house with Granny Smith while the rest of you get on with your work.”
“Sounds fine to me,” Bright Mac confirmed. “Come on, Applejack, Big Macintosh. We got apple bucking to do.”
As they went to do that, Ebony picked up Perfect Rose and held her in a big prideful embrace. They were soon joined by Cash, both parents proudly holding onto their daughter with as much love as they could give her.
Perfect Rose, on her part, accepted with all the glee she could muster.
Two words, a small but significant step.
One ready to propel her into the rest of the young girl’s life.
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Huh. Zap apple. Never expected that to be Rose's first words.
9967633
T'was the point.
Tiny bird-lion's first words, and first trip away from Canterlot. Most adorable.
Oh well there is always divorse as an option for filthy rich
You have an element of the canon from Season 7, but you missed something that was explained in season 6. Specifically, something that was explained in a manner that would make it a believable constant throughout fanon. Sweet Apple Acres sells all their cider locally, on a first come first served basis. It'd spoil if shipped, and part of the promised quality is getting it straight from the press to the consumer so it doesn't have the chance to spoil even a little. As Granny said, 'cider starts to spoil the second it comes out the press.'
Applejack? Bet money on that. Lots of it. You'll win that bet, guaranteed.
Well, at least Filthy himself remained a fairly okay guy for a rich pony. Unlike his wife, he demonstrated repeatedly that he himself wasn't quite as stuck up as some others of the nobility level we could name.
I understood that reference. So far i really enjoy this fic :D