Part 6: Like it or not.
Sweet Apple Acres in the past was known for many things. The chief distributor of the kingdom's best apples, the sweetest mug of cider you have ever tasted, the only farm to harvest zap-apples, and home to some of the most honest and trustworthy ponies you could find. Not only that, but Sweet Apple Acres has always been a fairly beautiful landscape. At least it is if you avoid the barn. Then again, it hasn't been used as a real barn in years. Ever since the youngest of the Apple Family took it over, it became nothing but a workshop for her. At first, the constant drilling, sawing, and sparks of welding coming from the rustic barn had been a pain to the entire family and even some neighbours. Morning, noon, and night; that barn was filled with nothing but sound and activity. Even now, early in the afternoon on a weekend, that barn was sparking with Apple Bloom's creativity.
The inside of the barn was blackened by the smoke and burn of active tools and spitting fires from welding torches. Where hay used to litter across the barn floor was cleaned up... Only to be replaced by loose nails, sawdust, and plywood chunks. To anypony, these would be a hazard to work around. To Apple Bloom? It was like stepping on sparks of new ideas. Her hooves firmly pressed against the sides of a metal pipe as she led it through a table-saw. Carefully she moved the curved metal against the spinning blade, cutting a fine slit into it halfway before pulling it away and hitting the hoof pump to shut off the saw. She clacked one hoof against the thick, green frame goggles pressed against her forehead to put them over her fascinated eyes. An inch and a half in...
"Juuuuuuust right..." she whispered to herself, her voice a tad low and scratchy at each of her words.
The cut pipe was put along side a few other pipes with similar slits put in them. Apple Bloom knocked her goggles back up towards her knotted, sawdust ridden mane before she clapped her front hooves together. At her second clap, a few high powered factory lights buzzed to life and lit the entirety of her work place. Wall to wall around here were blueprints, works in progress, and even a few failed inventions that she had been picking apart for scraps. Looking around at everything, she felt a small frown come to her. "Sure would'a liked finishin' y'all today..." one of her hooves combed back her mane before she started to chuckle to herself, still a rasp to her tone, "But call a' the Crusader always takes firsts."
Apple Bloom started out towards her workshop door with a little skip to her trot. However, she clocked to a halt when she felt a tickle to her nose. "...Probably should turn the burners off..." she turned back around and went to her welding workplace.
Under the metal table holding the active burners, Apple Bloom pressed her hoof down against a few push-pumps she had made for convenience. One by one, the fires of the torches and burners died into smoke, letting Apple Bloom go back to her exit. When she opened the door to the outside world, she flinched a bit as the sunlight hit her eyes. The smoke and stench of her work over the past few hours flew out along with the door, mingling as fast as it could with the fresh air of the afternoon air. It took Apple Bloom a minute to adjust to the sun, as usual, but she continued to walk with shut eyes in the direction she memorized. Pass the trees, over the hills, across the creek; she could literally find her way to the clubhouse with her eyes shut. When she finally could open her eyes, she was a little surprised to see that she made it to the clubhouse without any trouble.
The clubhouse was looking pretty good if you asked Apple Bloom. Then again, she was the one who repaired it on a regular basis. "Girls!" she shouted up into the tree, followed by a hoarse cough right after.
A little shifting came from the clubhouse as Apple Bloom watched from below. Before long, a familiar Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo poked their heads out from the window. Scootaloo gave a pretty cocky smirk as she let out a little laugh. "I know that wheeze anywhere! You finished with your toys?" Apple Bloom rolled her eyes playfully and started up the walkway to the clubhouse.
"Eeeyup. Well, not really... Just got a good start on ma' next invention. It's gonna be real helpful fer' the fam," Apple Bloom boasted, her voice slowly returning to it's more pleasant tone as the rasp wore down.
"Did you remember to put your toys away?" Scootaloo snickered to herself as she opened the front door for Apple Bloom.
"Ah' ain't stupid..." Apple Bloom said with an almost stern tone before she walked into the meeting room, her hoarse voice completely gone, "Ain't gonna set fire to ma' workshop a secon' time..." Her two friends held in a laugh as Apple Bloom sat down and gave them a quick look. "So, uhh... Meetin'?"
"Oh right!" Sweetie Belle jumped to action and pulled Scootaloo by the grasp of her magic to be put by Apple Bloom, "Like I was telling Scootaloo, as Crusaders, we always try to jump to the next stage of growth. We have our Cutie Marks, we have stable work, blah, blah, blah..." by Sweetie Belle's hoof gesture of spinning against the air as she listed, even she didn't seem to thrilled until she got to her point. "BUT! Now we're at the crossroad of our future... Adulthood."
"Adulthood?" Scootaloo and Apple Bloom chimed in together.
"Adulthood! When you're walking down the street, what do you see all the older mares doing?"
"Throwin' apples!" Apple Bloom shot her hoof up, hearkening herself back to the days in Cheerilee's classroom.
Scootaloo followed suit and threw her own hoof into the air. "Cleaning up messes we made!"
"Uh..." Sweetie Belle paused a moment, tapping a hoof to her chin, "Wow... Those are both true. B-But that's not the point. What you're supposed to see, especially on this time of the year, are ponies getting with their special somepony."
"Oh yeah..." Scootaloo mused a bit to herself, "Now that you mention it..." At that moment, Scootaloo froze up. So many realizations came crashing against her like so many walls she used as the brakes for some of her first stunts. When she turned a look to Sweetie Belle, her suspicious were confirmed. Sweetie Belle looked to Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom by extension, with expecting slim eyes. "Oh no... No, no, no, no, no!"
"Apple Bloom! Hold her down!" Sweetie Belle barked her command.
Before Scootaloo could breaks away towards the door, Apple Bloom locked the pegasi's legs into a vice-like grip. As much as she struggled, Scootaloo couldn't budge her back legs free from the inescapable hold of an Apple. Her wings futilely flapped against her hips before finally going limp along with the rest of her body on the wood floor. Defeated and laid flat against the floor, Scootaloo looked over her shoulder at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom; who had still had a grip around her legs. "You're not even going to ask why she had you do that to me?"
"Don't need ta'. Call of the Crusader always comes first... Even by force," Apple Bloom reminded her winged friend.
Scootaloo mustered a groan as she slapped a wing against her face, sliding it down her muzzle before giving Sweetie Belle an attentive glare. "So, Sweetie... I can tell where this is going. But, against my will, I'm ready to hear... Against my will, again."
Sweetie Belle's face twisted to her sly smirk as she looked back at Scootaloo. Phase one, complete...
I have always wanted you to be a proud, strong stallion... Not as prideful as your buffoon of a father -a term I use loosely-, but still able to look upon yourself and see greatness. You are special, my son... Changelings like myself must change shape and control the feelings of others to get our love. But you? You are able to use a more powerful magic that is able to put a being of chaos, a queen and her swarm, and even fillies kneel before you. I am proud of you, Pip... However...
"'Earts and 'Ooves day!" Pip cheered a little bit as he kept to a spry skip in front of the two he had met not too long ago, "Such a wonderful 'oliday, righ'? Luna! I love it so! So many maps to make for this day. Be surprised 'ow many couples come askin' for us ta' make romantic scavenger 'unt maps. It does me 'eart some good ta' see love birds walkin' about t'is day..." Pip sighed to himself in a loving way, looking around the busy street square and all the busy couples.
However... Must you be as clueless as your dim-witted father!?
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Applebloom is the new engy in my book, sorry dell.
LOL, the queen cannot shut up, and Pip try to take attention to the mares that are out for you
A juicy piece of what?
ummmm...ouch, Queeny.
The cover looks like Egophiliac's work, am I correct?
2122779 ...I thought I put that in the description? BAH!
ADULTHOOD?! Quick CMC run for your lives!
2122813
Oh well, we all forget things.
I approve of this use of CMC
I call dibs on wrench-wench Apple Bloom!
2122993
Digital Devil Saga, PS2
...
i take that with a pinch of salt, cause of your track record.
2141496 Incorrect. The sole I am using refers to "Being the only one". In other words, not soul, but sole.
2143651
No, "sole" is either an adjective (ex. She was the sole dissenter) or a kind of fish.
It can be changed to the adverb "solely", which is similar to only, but it is not a noun.
I think you were thinking of "Not a one" when you wrote that, or you could use "No one" or "Not a soul".
I like this version of the CMC.
Poor Chryssie.