Of Apples and Elders
To say that things have been stressful and tense in Ponyville would be an understatement.
Once everyone got back from Canterlot, there was some serious tension between both Rarity and Alex. Well, more like tense for Rarity, as Alex always had a glare on him every time Rarity entered his field of view. While he was okay and acted okay for the most part, any time Rarity and him were in the same area, Alex would immediately grow irritated and walk somewhere else, no matter the current situation. Everyone noticed this right away and wanted to help the two get along, but whenever they even mention her name around him, his normally jolly attitude would leave, so they decided to leave the topic and let him cool off. While everyone thought he would be able to calm down or at least be able to talk to her after a week, they began to grow nervous as over a month past and he still wasn't able to forgive her. Even more worrying is that Alex hasn't been seen too much around the house as autumn started and continued. It was so uncomfortable that even Xavier wasn't able to enjoy his favorite season.
"This sucks." Xavier blurted out, sipping a cup of coffee as he sat on the couch with Rune on his lap.
"Yeah, you'd think that he'd at least be able to move on from what happened." Cali mentioned.
"He's more stubborn than Miss Applejack." Huston commented (Jasmine simply nodded along)
"You're telling me! At least she was willing to listen to reason within a week!" Xavier yelled out, his patience finally thinning for once.
"U-um, maybe we should ask him again?" Jasmine suggested, everyone simply sighing at her suggestion.
"Sorry, but I doubt that that would go anywhere." Cali said, gently shooting her down.
"W-well, it's worth a try, right?"
"It might, but we barely see him around." Huston added. "I doubt that we could even ask when we don't even know where he is-"
"AY'M BACK!!" Suddenly, Alex burst through the door, yelling out happily and scaring everyone and every pet inside. "Whoa, sounds like a party in 'ere."
"ALEX! What the heck man!?" Xavier called out, irritated at his entrance. "You should NOT yell when you enter, especially like that!"
"Ach, sorry 'bout that lads. Ay was just excited."
"About what?"
"This!" Alex then took the Herschel backpack off him and put it down onto the table. The group looked at it in confusion before Alex opened it, revealing that it was filled to the brim with rainbow-colored apples.
"Erm, what are they?"
"Zap Apples! An' these..." He then reached for a pocket on the front of the backpack and unzipped it, revealing jars of a similarly colored substance inside. "Are jars of jam made o' them." As the humans were looking at the mass of rainbow fruits and jars, they were all wondering one thing.
"Where did you get these?"
"As me first paycheck for working at AJ's farm." When Alex answered, everyone went wide-eyed and stared at him.
"Wait, you got a job?!"
"Yep! Ay'm on a roll 'ere!" As Alex was bragging about his achievement, everyone else looked at each other.
"How did you get one?" Xavier asked.
"Well..."
About a week ago
As of right now, Alex was now leaning on a tree somewhere, eating an apple alongside Pepper, and he wasn't too happy.
"Grr, they just can't leave me alone, can they?" Alex growled as he bit into the apple. "They expect me to get over myself after what that lass did!? She's the victim? We all were her's! Can ye believe that, Pepper?!" The chinchilla on his shoulder was simply nibbling on an apple slice he gave her, but took the time to nuzzle up to him. He calmed down a bit when she did. "Aw, yer the only one who gets me, buddy." As he was coddling his pet however.
"I thought I heard somethin' round here." Alex stood up shocked as he looked behind the tree he was leaning on to see Applejack walking up to him. "What are you doin' here on the farm."
"Erm, farm?"
"Yeah, this is the Apple family's farm. An' so is the apple you're eatin'" As Alex was rubbing the back of his head in guilt, Applejack noticed that all the apples that were in the tree Alex was leaning on were all on the ground. "Hey, how did all these apples get here?"
"Erm, well ay kinda bashed the tree in rage." Alex admitted.
"How exactly?"
"Er, like this." Alex then walked up to a neighboring tree with his bat out and swung. The force was enough for the tree to start shaking a bit as the apples in the tree fell. Applejack watched them fall and before long she had an idea.
"Alex, you mind comin' with me for a bit?" Applejack waved her hoof for him to follow, to which Alex thought he was about to get scolded. As they walked Alex's nerves were getting to him until they reached Applejack's home. There they saw that there were three other ponies there, one was a younger filly, one was a much larger stallion and one was a more elderly mare rocking on a rocking chair. When they were noticed Applejack spoke. "Howdy y'all." After the new ponies greeted them, Alex looked confused.
"Erm, lassie? Who are they?"
"They're my family. Alex, I'd like you to meet my younger sister, Applebloom." Applebloom waved happily. "My big brother, Big Mcintosh." The stallion gave a nod. "And Granny Smith our grandma." Granny Smith simply kept rocking.
"Okay... Nice ta meet ye." Alex waved with uncertainty. "So why did ye bring me 'ere, AJ?"
"Well, I wanted to discuss with them about the thought of getting your help for a while." At Applejack's idea, everyone perked up in interest, even Granny Smith. Though Alex looked in confusion.
"Wait, what? Why?"
"Well, after I saw you knock those apples out of the tree, I remembered that zap apple seasons is almost here." Applejack began, her family becoming more interested. "With them comin' and your strength, I thought you could help out and make this year our best." While the family was contemplating, Alex was confused.
"Ay'm sorry, what's a 'zap apple'?"
"They're are a special crop we grow here on the farm that we grow." Applejack explained.
"How special are we talkin'?"
"Well for one, they're magic." This peaked Alex's interest. "You see, these fruits are special since they have a pattern in how they grow, and the season for them is almost here."
"Right, so why do ye need my help? Ye seem ta have the harvests 'ere under control." Alex questioned.
"Well, like I said, they are magical. Once they finally grow, any zap apples still on the trees will disappear once the day ends."
"Seriously?" Alex questioned, Applejack and her family nodding as a response. "So ye want me ta help ye's harvest these zap apples faster?" Applejack nodded again. "Hmm, Ay'm not exactly opposed ta the idea, but ay don't want'a impose onta yer family's business."
"Don't sweat it, we'll appreciate the help. Right everypony?"
"Darn tootin'" Applebloom cheered.
"Eeyup." Big Mac simply said.
"Sure, I can allow it." Granny Smith said, at least before going on a tangent. With all the good words from the Apple Family, Alex made up his mind.
"If that's the case, what do ay need ta do?"
"An' that's how ay got the job."
After the flashback Alex had, the other humans all looked between him, the backpack, and themselves before speaking.
"Well, you're explanation didn't exactly tell us what these things are." Xavier said as he was inspecting one of the zap apples.
"Didn't the whole 'magic crop' thing tell ye's?"
"Not really." Alex crossed his arms like he was in thought.
"Alright. So basically they're apples that grow differently than regular ones. Fer one, they only grow and bear fruit at a specific time o' year. At this time, there are signs fer stages in growth, and on the fifth one the zap apples are ripe an' ready. These things don't last long however on the trees, as after the day passes, any still on the trees zap away."
"Really?" Cali asked with interest.
"Yeah, it's crazy ta see." As Alex and everyone was talking about the harvest, Jasmine had a question.
"Um, how did the apple family learn about all this?"
"Ooh, that's a good point lass!" Alex then took one of the jars out of the bag and presented it. "This jam 'ere was invented and made by Granny Smith."
"Granny Smith?"
"She's basically an elder to the farm. But she made this, and, get this! This jam is what actually allowed Ponyville to be founded!" This announcement surprised everyone.
"Wait, really?!"
"Yeah! Now let's see, ay kinda got the story off handed so the details are fuzzy, but AJ herself said so, so it is true."
A Few Days Earlier
Now that Alex was helping the Apple family with the harvest, he was given a run-down on the ins and outs of the farm. He was also given the run-down on how the zap apples worked. As Alex was approaching the farm one day however, he saw a large amount of black clouds surrounding the farm. He hurried over only to see everything fine. Applejack explained everything and now they were hard at work.
"Ye know... Ay'll admit that sayin' there are 'magic apples' here was kinda odd. But seeing that lightnin' storm grow leaves was quite a spectical." He said as he was carrying a watering can
"An' you thought I was lying."
"Ach ay know ye never lie an' whatnot, ay'm jest sayin'." As the two were working, Alex continued the conversation. "So, these apples, how much they goin' fer?"
"Oh, we don't sell the apples themselves, we sell jam Granny makes."
"Jam?"
"Yep. She's been making it for as long as she remembers."
"Oh, ay wanna hear 'bout that lassie."
"You will, though right now her and Applebloom are singing to some more water." Alex's interest was immediately replaced with confusion.
"Singin'... ta the water? What?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on." Cali cut the story off with hands waving. "What do you mean by that?!"
"Tit's apparently just as me an' Applejack said. She apparently puts on a bunny costume and hops 'round a circle o' waterin' cans singin'." Everyone simply looked at him like he, more specifically Granny Smith, was crazy. "Ay, not my words, AJ's."
"D'erm, sorry for interrupting. Continue."
"Well, ya cuttin' me off actually helps me out. I'll skip to the next day since that's where ay learned the story."
The next day arrived, and like last time Alex was walking to the farm, he saw another one of the signs. This time, there was a large murder of crows flying overhead the farm's fields. As he was approaching, he also saw that the entire Apple family was there as well. Soon, the zap apple trees began to hum with electricity, and suddenly large amounts of blue flowers sprouted. Everyone there couldn't help but look at it all and be amazed at the display.
"Alright, you lazy daisies, move yer caboose!" Granny Smith exclaimed before turning away along with Big Mac to do their jobs.
"I'm sorry, Apple Bloom, but don't you fret. Granny Smith's got no shortage of entertaining stories to tell." Applejack assured with a grin.
"I know. That's what I'm worried about..." Apple Bloom sighed before walking away. As she was, Alex finally reached Applejack, to which he looked at Applebloom curiously.
"What's wrong with the little lassie?"
"She's worried about Family Appreciation Day at school." Applejack explained. "She was just chosen this week and unfortunately for us, that's the day of the harvest. The only one who isn't busy is Granny Smith."
"An' she's worried 'bout that how?"
"Well, she thinks that Granny will embarrass her."
"That... doesn't make much sense." Alex commented. "Ay mean, all that day is is just someone goin' in and tellin' stories and whatnot 'bout their job or life, right? What's she got to lose?"
"Yeah." Applejack said before looking at the newly-bloomed trees. "You know, this talk of stories under these zap apple trees reminds me of the story of how Ponyville was founded." Applejack's reminiscence managed to catch Alex's attention.
"Huh, ye mean ta tell me these trees were what helped Ponyville grow?"
"Yep. All thanks to Granny Smith." This revelation really got Alex attached to the story.
"Granny founded the town? Oohoho, now ay need ta know the story."
"Well, as long as we work, I can tell you." With a thumbs up from Alex, the two got to work on watering and moving cans for the trees. "Now, to start off, back when Granny Smith was a filly, her and her family were pilgrim folk. They ventured far and wide, collectin' new seeds and sellin' old ones. Turns out, my great grandpa was renowned as the finest seed collector in all Equestria. One day, their travels brought them to Canterlot. While there, Princess Celestia rode by and stopped, interested in their seed collection. While she was looking, she noticed that everypony there were plumb-tuckered and hankerin' to find their forever home. Bein' royalty, she knew exactly the place to let them lay down our stakes. They quickly found that land near the Everfree Forest, and built their first home alongside planting their first crops. But an orchard don't grow overnight, and they were getting mighty short on food. Now mind you, they were cautioned about the forest, and they knew that it was not fit to enter. But Granny thought that, since there were critters livin' there, then there must be somethin' to eat. She entered the forest, scared about every noise. After some time however, she happened to stand right in front of a tree filled with zap apples. As she was picking them however, she heard howling behind her. When she turned, she was face to face with a pack of timberwolves."
"Ay'm guessin' that they aren't average wolves, right?"
"Yep, they are creatures that are made of fallen tree branches, twigs, and logs that only live to hunt. Once she saw them she ran as fast as she could back home. When she got there, she began to bang on a pot outside to get everypony outside. Fortunately though, this noise scared off the wolves, leaving Granny safe. The next day, the family began to plant the seeds of the zap apples, and since they were magic they grew 'lickety split'. Then each year, she paid close attention to the signs of the zap apples' special harvesting times. How the weather affects the Everfree Forest, how the timberwolves howl when the zap apples first start growing, and how they zapped away if you didn't pick 'em all in one day! And the fruits of the labor were the best fruit anypony ever tasted. Soon enough she was mixing up batches of zap apple jam. Just like harvestin' the zap apples had its special rules, so did makin' zap apple jam. She learned that you gotta be extra friendly with the bees, otherwise their honey won't taste rightly sweet to mix in with the zap apples. She also learned that glass jars needed talkin' to to be usable for the jam. She even learned that zap apples like pink polka dots. It's strange, yes, but magic is as magic does. Just funny that way. With jars of jam, ponies started comin' to the farm from far and wide just to get a taste of zap apple jam. Some even of them decided to stay, like Stinkin' Rich, Diamond Tiara's great grandfather. Matter of fact, the first thing he ever sold was her zap apple jam. And before they knew it, a nice little town was founded, bustling with all kinds of ponies." After Applejack finished, Alex stopped his actions and simply stared at her and the trees in awe.
Present Time
Right after Alex told them the story, they all looked at him in amazement.
"T-this isn't a joke, right?" Alex scoffed at Cali's question.
"An' what makes ye say that?"
"Sorry, it's just that it seems quite... Bizarre."
"Ay thought so too, but ay went 'round town, talking to many ponies who's families' have rich history in town, an' they all confirmed it." Alex explained.
"Wow, she sounds incredible." Jasmine commented. As everyone else were talking about the whole story, Xavier asked a question.
"Hey Alex, whatever happened to Applebloom?"
"The little lassie?" Alex thought as he put his chin onto his fist. "Well..."
The Evening after the Story
Turns out, Alex went to take a break a short while after the story to confirm the story. And as another part, it too quite a long time, so long that it was sundown. When he got back he felt guilty about leaving all the work, so the family gave him another task to make up for it, and that was to finish up all the watering and watch over the field for a while as to keep tabs on the fourth sign and make sure everything runs smoothly.
"Granted, ay don't know what the fourth sign is, but ay guess ay'll learn soon enough." As he was finishing up the jobs he was given, he saw it. A flash in the sky, and when he looked up he saw a shower of shooting stars cover the sky. As he was watching, he saw that the flowers in the trees were vibrating, and before long grew apples popped out of them. "Ah, that's the fourth sign. Huh." Alex walked over to a nearby tree to look at the apples. "Now, if ay remember correctly, they can't be harvested right now, or ay'll be 'in fer a shock.' Whatever that means." With a shrug Alex left to go to the barn to grab his things and leave. As he was about to get there however, he overheard a very loud splash nearby. When he looked at what made the splash, he saw that Applebloom and two other fillies were in the pig's stables, all covered in mud.
"Any other bright ideas?" Applebloom asked.
"Ay don't know, do ye?" The three froze up and looked over to the voice, seeing Alex leaning on the fence, a disapproving look on his face. "Inside. Now." The three had no choice but to since A. He was an authoritative figure to them and B. they heard about Alex's rage at Canterlot from their sisters, so they were quite afraid. "When they did get inside however and Alex closed the door, they only heard him sigh instead of growl. "Now, what are ye three doin' out there at this time 'o night? It's a school night fer ye." The three looked between each other nervously. "*sigh* Listen, ay ain't gettin' angry at ye's, just tell me what ye were doin'." After building up the courage, Applebloom began.
"Well, we were goin' to harvest the zap apples."
"ye were, huh. An' didn't ye sister say they were magic?"
"I know, but I wanted to speed up the harvest."
"So that yer siblings could go instead of yer granny?" Alex asked, shocking the three girls. "AJ already told me about yer dilemma, an' ay get it. But ye gotta give her a chance. She actually seems like she's got some nice stories."
"But-"
"An' before ye say anythin', not embarrassin' stories like ye think." Alex cut Applebloom off. "Ay know that she seems weird, but that's just elders fer ye. My grandpa was as well, but he deserved it after all he's been through."
"He did?"
"Well, he did fight in a war." Alex said as he began to reminisce, meanwhile the three fillies looked shocked. "Yeah, he was a veteran back home, so he had respect from many. 'Course, he did have his weird moments, but he had excellent stories from his time servin'." He then walked over to Applebloom and leaned down to put his hand onto her shoulder. "Yer granny's just the same. Ye just need ta get past her weirdness to find an excellent storyteller." A genuine smile was on Alex's face, one that made the crusaders a bit more relaxed, mostly Applebloom. "So, why don't ye stop tryin' ta stop Granny Smith from going to that Family Appreciation Day thing and simply be proud that she is yer family. Who knows, she may prove everyone that the Apples are more important than anyone else in town." At Alex's statement, Applebloom looked up to him with determined eyes and a nod, getting a pleased look from Alex.
"An' with that, she walked to the schoolhouse proudly with Granny Smith the next day." Alex Began to finish off his tale. "I've heard that Granny Smith told the kids there the story of Ponyville's foundin' and Granny ended up becomin' quite popular, but ay was out harvestin' the field, so I only heard from others."
"Good to know that she's okay." Xavier said, happy to know Applebloom learned a valuable lesson. When he did, he remembered the thing that everyone wanted to talk to him about. "Hey, Alex." Everyone looked at Xavier with curiosity, but upon seeing his expression, most of the humans realized what he was going to talk about and looked a bit nervous. "We kinda wanted to talk to you about something..."
"It's about Miss Priss, right?" Alex asked, catching Xavier a bit off guard. "*sigh* Don't worry about it." After some confused looks from the others, Alex began to explain. "Look, ay talked with AJ durin' sales time..."
The Day After Harvest
To say that Alex was impressed at the number of ponies that lined up for jars of zap apple jam would be accurate, since there was a line all the way to town leading to the stand. As Alex as carrying a crate of the jam, he struck up a conversation with Applejack running the stand.
"Wow, what a turnup, ey?"
"I'll say." Applejack agreed. "Seems like there are more here this year."
"Really, sounds like quite the profit." As the two looked out to the line and began to sell the jam, Applejack looked at Alex with a bit of concern.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Huh, what cha' mean?"
"I mean with Rarity." Upon Applejack saying her name, Alex's mood instantly fell.
"Hmph, there's nothin' ta talk about with her." He growled softly as he crossed his arms. Applejack however knew better.
"Don't give me that, I know you're still bitter about what she did-"
"And yer not?!" Alex asked, his tone growing, but he calmed down a bit when he saw that he was alerting the customers. "How could ye of all people forgive what she did?"
"'Cause I know her." Applejack shrugged, earning a raised eyebrow from Alex. "She just likes the finer things in life, so she jumped at the chance of living like those rich folk up in Canterlot. She just got caught up in the moment."
"B-but she-"
"Look, I ain't askin' you to forgive her, what I am askin' is that you stop treatin' her like she's got the plague." Applejack asked, getting a look of interested from Alex. "She's still everypony's friend, so you acting like you have tends to make all of us a mite uncomfortable, so maybe try to calm down if she's around." Alex crossed his arms in thought, deciding what to do.
"Grr, fine. Ay guess ay can tolerate her fer now." Alex finally conceded to Applejack's demands. "But if she does somethin' like this again, ay can't promise ay'll let it go a second time." Even though Alex was giving a glare to Applejack, she was smiling happily, knowing that their friend group was only going to get closer.
"So yeah, ay'll tolerate her fer now, but that doesn't mean ay'll forgive her just yet, ya hear!" Alex finished, crossing his arms to prove his point. The other humans however sighed in relief, happy to know that Alex was willing to let Rarity off the hook for now. Alex saw how they were acting, and his eye twitched. "Ay, what's with those looks! Grr, you know what!? Let's just try this jam out! Ay'll be back!" As Alex stormed off, the others looked amongst themselves and smiled. Even if Alex wasn't going to forgive Rarity just yet, they were okay with the conditions now.
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it's nice that Alex is trying to give Rarity a second chance
And don't forget that Alex did help Applebloom to realise that grannysmith is gong to be amazing at telling stories to the school ponysencrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSzbf_MoceqecxBKut_WLoXEdtcY7IHcoTXCg&usqp=CAU
The fact was it took seeing how selfish she was being just to being to get through her head how bad she was acting and she never totally gave up that attitude.
More good
how's going mate hope your new chapters are still awesome as always👍
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College is chewing time but I'm working steadily
Take your time mate their is no rush like they always say focus on one thing at a time👍
Take your time mate their is no rush one thing at a time👍