3. A Low Rumble
“Kukeleku!” the rooster crowed his morning call, perfectly in sync with the rising sun. A well-traveled pony might notice and comment upon the rooster’s accented call. He was in fact Danish, and thus sounded a bit different from his peers. Heremod (as was his name) prided himself upon his heritage and boasted about his unique call to anypony who would listen. Unfortunately, most ponies don’t speak Cluckish, so his audience was limited to the Apple family’s six hens, three cockerels, and the rare visit from Fluttershy. There were also Fluttershy’s chickens, but they were Prench and therefore didn’t count.
As the rooster finished his vauntful call, the rest of the farm stirred to life. In the hayloft of the dairy barn, the border collie Winona cracked open one eye, smacked her lips, and promptly fell asleep again (much to the annoyance of a family of raccoons who had recently moved in. Dogs do tend to snore rather loudly.). In the stall below the loft, Moo-riella grunted out a good morning while simultaneously snuggling deeper into her hay-bed. It was not milking day, after all. Signs of true arousal were only evident up at the main house, where a wisp of smoke had just begun rising from a pipe in the roof.
THUMP! Macintosh’s hooves hit floor with all the force of a grizzly bear experimenting with gravity. With eyes still closed, the massive crimson stallion felt a peaceful smile grow across his face. The scent of fresh pancakes wafted up through the floorboards, motivating him to shuffle across his bedroom into the hallway. Finally cracking his eyelids, Mac observed a blurry orange blob emerging from a doorway across the hall. Bleary green eyes met equally bleary equally green eyes.
“Beh,” Applejack greeted her brother eloquently, speaking in that oft-used dialect known as morning speak.
“Guh,” returned Macintosh, matching his sister’s level of speech with an equally polished greeting. A sharp DING-DING! halted any further attempts at conversation. Granny Smith’s shrill voice quickly followed, stifling the siblings’ valiant attempt at inventing a new language.
“COOOOMME AND GIT IIIIITT!!”
Mac grinned and shuffled over to the stairwell, the final vestiges of sleep fleeing his mind. “Good ol’ Granny,” he thought, “cookin’ again. Ah’ve no idea how she always manages to get up ‘fore the rest of us. Elderly ponies are spose ta get their rest.” He paused his musings halfway down the stairs to inhale deeply, getting another heavenly whiff of the legendary flapjacks. “Ah ain’t complainin’ though. Nothin’ beats Granny’s breakfasts.”
Finally reaching the kitchen table, Mac was greeted with a sound rap across his muzzle. He hopped back a step and raised a protective hoof in front of his now smarting snozz.
“Eep! What was that for, Granny?!”
Before him loomed the powerful form of a pale green mare, her grey hair done up in a neat bun. Arthritis itself seemed to have fled from the imposing glare that the Apple family matriarch now leveled at her grandson, as she now stood straight and tall.
“Watch yourself now, Macky, ya’ hear? I ain’t old nor elderly. Well-cooked perhaps, just like these pancakes, but even that’s pushin’ it. Now git your tail sittin’ down ‘fore ah send you out to work without breakfast. Time’s a’waistin’!”
Macintosh wilted under his grandmother’s wrath, ears drooping as he sheepishly plopped down into his chair. He hadn’t meant to say all that aloud (and indeed was almost certain he had not verbalized a word of it). With Granny Smith, however, it made little difference. The ancient earth pony had been around since the beginning of Ponyville. Whatever powers kept her alive well past her time had also granted the mare a keen sixth sense. Not a single leaf could fall from one of the farm’s apple trees without her being aware of it. Discerning the inner thoughts of her grandchildren was mere child’s play.
Granny Smith flipped another set of flapjacks on the stove and raised her wrinkled brow to gaze out the window at the brilliant sunrise. A soft smile crossed her face. She snorted in amusement, gaining the attention of her two older grandchildren, momentarily distracting them from devouring the veritable mountain of pancakes already on the table.
“Might wanna finish ya’ chores early today. The sun’s gonna be a bit… hot today. Closer than normal.” She chuckled at her own joke, receiving questioning looks from the brother-sister duo.
“Whatcha mean by that, Granny?” questioned Applejack. “Rainbow Dash promised us plenty o’ cloud cover this week for plantin’ season, some cool breezes too.”
“Eeyup,” Mac drawled, nodding his head in agreement. Unsurprisingly, that was the only thing he said.
Granny hmmed for a moment, wondering if she should say more. Deciding against it, she grumbled in fake frustration. “Young whippersnappers, questioning their elders. Ah git no respect these days, no respect. Figure it ya’selves then. These old bones need their rest anyhoo. Just try an’ finish up early if ya’ can.”
Mac and his sister exchanged a look at their grandmother’s eccentric behavior before shrugging it off and returning to their meal. Eventually they’d figure out what she meant. The Apple matriarch did not make such predictions without reason.
Across town, on the other side of Ponyville, another pony was getting an early start to their day. Sadly, this occurrence was unplanned and thereby unwanted.
“The hay do you think you’re doing, Feathers?!”
Firm Feathers froze, his wings stretched out to their fullest extent. As he paused, so did the miniature twister in the center of the room. The whirling dust and debris it contained experienced a sudden lack in centripetal force. As everypony who has taken a physics class knows, when an object traveling in a circle loses its attraction to the center, it flies outwards in a straight line. In the case of this myriad of dust particles, the change in forces applied caused an explosion of dirt in every direction. This resulted in a hefty amount of irritants flying directly into the face of the recently awakened stallion True Blue. And where dust meets nostril…
“ACHOO! What the blazes—ACHOO!—possessed you to start a mad spring cleaning se—seSHOO!—session at,” Blue took moment to check the watch on his foreleg,”5:42 in the morning?! I thought I told you you could have the day off today?”
The gray-furred pegasus saluted smartly, facing his boss/friend with an eager gleam in his amber eyes.
“Exactly, sir! Since you dismissed me from my normal duties I was at a loss at what to do. Then I recalled how you are always sneezing when you come into the building. Sneezing plus dust equals cleaning time. So I set my alarm early, readied my wind magic, and assaulted the enemy, sir! Death to the dust!”
The disgruntled unicorn gazed in utter bafflement at his subordinate, who was emitting an unholy amount of cheer for this time of day. Utterly clueless to his employer’s aggravation, Feathers grinned and began gleefully bobbing his head from side to side.
“Do you like it, sir? I acted on my own initiative, just like you always tell me to do. ‘Decide on things yourself for a change,’ you always say. ‘Analyze the situation, find a solution, and then act on it.’ So I did. There was sneezing, it was caused by dust, the dust needed removing, and now I’m cleaning the building. Aren’t you proud of me, sir?”
True Blue groaned in exasperation and slammed his head back down onto the couch. A quick use of his royal blue magic summoned a pillow fort around him, this being a last-ditch effort to return to the world of dreams. Sadly, this was a futile attempt, as the use of magic requires a unicorn’s brain to kick into full gear. As was often the case, the ivory stallion had ended up sleeping on the couch instead of in his own personal quarters. Now he was most certainly regretting it.
As much as Blue loved his pegasus friend, Feathers tended to be rather simple-minded when engaged in any activity not involving fighting, mares, or, oddly enough, board games. This was especially true when it came to doing his “duty”. While such commitment was worth its weight in gold when it came to guarding empty hallways for hours on end while remaining completely still (a truly underrated skill, to be sure), it occasionally led to situations like this one.
“Why did this have to happen today?” Blue moaned inside his mind. “Now I’m wide awake with a long day and night ahead of me. Feathers, why are you the way that you are?!” Blue glared from beneath his protective layer of upholstery at the oblivious pegasus who had returned to his task of banishing all the dust in the room with excessive force. “I mean really, what kind of pegasus uses high-level wind magic for housecleaning? That’s just recklessly asking for something to go wrong.” Blue paused for a moment, replaying his thoughts. “On second thought, this is probably normal behavior for a pegasus.”
Blue groaned in defeat and rolled out of his pillow fort, hitting the floor with a solid WHUMP! “Ugh, I guess there’s no helping it,” he grumbled. “I’m awake anyway, so I may as well make the most of it.”
Reaching out with his magic, the blue-maned stallion opened up a closet, summoning a veritable armory of cleaning supplies. Brooms, dustpans, trash bags, cleaner, air freshener, and a few breathing masks marched their way towards him, lining up in a military fashion.
“As poorly as your actions this morning reflect on your emotional intelligence in relation to somnambulant behaviors caused by infractions upon the esteemed REM cycle, I suppose you do have a point, Feathers.”
The confused pegasus blinked several times, trying to process what his boss had just said to him. “Uh, thanks?”
“Anytime, Feathers. Anyway, in lieu of getting my much-needed rest, I shall assist you in ridding this building of our mutual enemy. Together we shall finally put the contents of that cleaning closet to good use! As you have already declared, so I will echo. Say it with me: Death to dust!”
Feathers grinned. “Death to dust, sir!”
And so, the two friends began their day with a flurry of activity, pegasus magic and unicorn magic working in tandem to wage a war so quick that it would be completed by lunchtime. True Blue relaxed his mind, temporarily allowing himself to forget his more trivial duties of the day, like checking his mail.
A few blocks over, another household was experiencing quite the similar scrubbing down. A certain lavender unicorn and her loyal assistant were hard at work preparing for a visit from the esteemed solar diarch of Equestria. Unlike True Blue, Twilight Sparkle never overlooked the small things, such as taking care of the mail. Hence, at precisely 9 o’clock in the morning, five immaculately inscribed letters combusted into green dragon flame.
Applejack,
Late yesterday evening Princess Celestia informed me that she would be visiting Ponyville…today. Can you believe that?! She gave me less than twenty-four hours to get ready! It takes more than a day for me to prepare for ANYTHING, ESPECIALLY FOR A VISIT FROM ROYALTY!
*ahem* That is not to say that the princess made a mistake. Far from it. Princess Celestia can do whatever she wants whenever she desires. I simply wish she had allowed me more time to prepare. That’s all.
Back to the point, she has expressed her desire to see all of us today after she takes care of whatever business she has in Ponyville. Please be at the Golden Oaks Library by 4:00 this evening. Tea and refreshments will be served.
Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle
P.S. I’ve told the others too, so don’t worry about that.
P.P.S. Pinkie is bringing scones. You could bring some of your granny’s apple pie as well. I am sure that would go over quite well with the princess. She loves sweets!
P.P.P.S. Be sure and remember to shower before you come. Apple-scented perfume is perfectly fine, but smelling like literal dirt and apples is NOT an acceptable substitute.
Stats
Page generated in 0.03 seconds
Total duration
665 users online
1,122,561 hits today, 2,151,698 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.®
Nicely done! I can already imagine how that goes.
The start, what about Apple bloom?and the cleaning, made me chuckle.
though, also irony, indirecly
11125087
Apple Bloom is currently asleep in bed, enjoying the blessing of not having a job which requires her to get up at 5:30 in the morning. I don’t know about you, but given the choice between a hot breakfast and sleep, I’d choose sleep every time!
11125100
Of course. And interesting lore you did at the start
Not of sure of that, afterall this is a working farm, Bloom's chores may be closer to the homestead (like feeding the chickens and/or the pigs) but she would have something plus having the entire family up for breakfast does make it easier for Granny ...
That bird is savage.