Applejack and Applebloom in Appleoosa

by Metal Pony Fan

plans and place to sleep

"Ding-Dong!"

The orange farm pony, Applejack, sighed as she set her fork down beside her unfinished, or rather unstarted, meal. "Interesting, ain't it?" She reflected on the situation as she removed herself from her chair. "No matter what, the doorbell only rings after ya sit down.

"Cousin Braeburn!" yelled her little sister, Applebloom, "Somepony's at the door!" Her own meal was already well on it's way to being devoured. Once she was sure she was heard, she returned to the task of ridding her plate of its contents.

Applejack sighed, as much at the unnecessary outburst as at her sister's table manners. "Ya don't have ta yell."

The little, yellow filly swallowed a mouthful of food. "Ah know," she pointed her fork at the third pony sharing the table, "but Ah wanted to make sure he could hear me through the bandages."

"Ah'm sure that ain't necessary." Applejack glanced over at her cousin, Braeburn, and quickly revised her opinion on that matter.

Braeburn, the happy-go-lucky sheriff of the small frontier farming town of Appaloosa, was about as bandaged, head-to-hoof, as it's possible for a pony to be. However, despite his injuries, he was dead-set on maintaining some semblance of dignity and thus doing his best to feed himself.

That being said, his best wasn't very good.

The cast on his right hoof prevented him from being able to pick up his spoon and the heavy bandages on his left made his awkward coordination that much worse. It didn't help matters that he was eating soup. Trying to, anyway.

"Ya could use a straw," Applejack offered, knowing full well that the injured pony would refuse.

"Not while company's over," he grunted, still straining to get a single spoonful of soup to his waiting mouth, "Ah ain't lost all my dignity yet." After a few more attempts, never let it be said that Apples don't have a stubborn streak, he sighed and slumped his head, staring at his soup as one would stare at a mortal foe. "Could ya get the door, Applejack?"

"Sure thing Sugarcube," answered Applejack. She promptly walked over and opened the door. Only to be greeted by two familiar pegasi. "Soarin'! Divin'!" She hadn't expected them until much later, so she asked the obvious question, "what're ya doin' here?"

"Hello Applejack." Soarin' offered a nervous smile. He wasn't comfortable with what he was about to ask, but he had little choice. "You told me you were staying at the local apple farm, so I came to see if there was any additional room."

Applejack's expression froze in place. Being the element of honesty, she was completely honest with him. "That's a might bit creepy, Sugarcube. What happened ta stayin' at the hotel?"

"Ain't no hotel anymore," grunted Braeburn from inside, "just a big ol' hole in the ground."

"Yeah," Soarin' scratched his neck with a wing, "it's still smoldering. So I wanted to see if there was anymore room here. Is there? I wouldn't even ask, but..." he gestured back with his head to where his little brother lay on his back, "Divin' needs somewhere to sleep."

At the mention of his name, the blue-on-blue, little pegasus lifted his head and let out a squeaking yawn. "I'm up," he said, smacking his lips before laying his head back down and returning to his slumber.

"There's one bed left," Applejack sighed, "that's all we got."

"That's enough." Soarin' helped his drowsy younger sibling off his back, waking him once more in the process.

"Huh? What is it?" Divin' rubbed at his eyes.

Soarin' nudged him towards the door, "you've got a place to sleep, Divin'. How's that sound?"

Divin' let out another yawn. He tried to walk forward and stumbled a little. He bumped into Applejack's leg, grabbed on, and curled up around the orange hoof. "Sounds good," he mumbled before nodding off again.

"Sorry," Soarin' said, trying and failing to bite back the goofy grin that was appearing on his face, "he get's a little sleepy after traveling."

"Don't ya fret none," said Applejack as she carefully untangled herself from the lightly snoring colt, "Applebloom does the same thing after crusading with her friends. Ah'm just glad he ain't covered in pine sap." The farmer winced at the memory of trying to unstick three sappy fillies from a sofa.

"Where's the bed?" Soarin' asked, gently picking up the sleeping colt in his wings, "I think he'll be sleeping for a while."

"Right this way,Sugarcube." Applejack motioned for Soarin' to follow and led him to a small guest room.

Soarin' tucked his little brother into bed and quietly left with Applejack. "He'll probably wake up a little after sunrise tomorrow."

"Yeah," Applejack sighed, "Ah let Applebloom sleep in too." Well, she didn't let her sleep in today. In fact, she had woken her up a good deal earlier than usual. "Would you like some lunch? We ain't goin' to the restaurant after all."

This confused Soarin' who, for all his nerves, was looking forward to tonight's dinner date. "Why not?"

"The restaurant was part of the hotel." Applejack's voice contained just a hint of dejection, she had been looking forward to the dinner just as much as Soarin' was. She racked her mind for all the details she could remember from her last visit to Appleoosa, there must be another restaurant in town somewhere. Maybe a food cart? Or somewhere we could have a picnic?

When they reached the table, Applejack gestured to a seat and Soarin' sat down in it. He was sitting across from the seriously injured Braeburn who was once more fumbling with his spoon.

"Ah'll go see what we've got." Applejack walked towards the kitchen to see if there was a meal she could throw together.

"Thank you, App- OW!" The pile of bandages somehow managed to launch his spoon at Soarin's face at the exact moment he tried to express his gratitude. It wouldn't have been so bad if the spoon wasn't accompanied by a splash of hot soup.

"Sorry," grunted the gauze-wrapped stallion, "slipped."

"That's ok," Soarin' replied, wiping the soup off me with a napkin he found. "Do you need a straw?"

Braeburn's answer was short and to the point, a far cry from his usual demeanor. "No."

"He does," said Applebloom, absent-minded poking at the few vegetables left on her nearly-cleaned plate, "he just don't want ta admit it."

"Ya know, Applebloom, yer startin' to talk like yer sister," said the injured stallion, "ya oughta try talkin' like yer brother instead."

"But Big Mac doesn't talk much," said Applebloom. "It would be hard to talk like somepony who doesn't ta- She gasped when she realized the hidden meaning behind her older cousin's words. There could only be one response to that. "SIS!" She yelled towards the kitchen. "Braeburn's tellin' me to shut up!"

"Braeburn!" Applejack quickly yelled back. "Quit telling' my sister to shut up!"

"Ah didn't tell'er ta shut up!" Yelled Braeburn.

"He did too!" yelled Applebloom.

"Ah did not!" By this point, the yelling was more for the sake of yelling rather than making sure they were heard.

"He said Ah should be less like you, an' more like Big Macintosh!" Applebloom knew that her sister would take her side in this.

"Braeburn!" Applejack yelled.

Braeburn, unaware of what Applejack's connection is with the pegasus across from him, decided to do some dirt digging while the argument was still in full swing. "Yer just sore that you two lovebirds' plans went up in smoke with the hotel." He didn't notice that, across the table, blue was quickly becoming red.

"Braeburn!" Applejack was seriously starting to lose her patience.

And Braeburn noticed. "What? Ah'm on painkillers." He was hoping to deflect some of the orange pony's ire, but Applejack knew better.

"Yer allergic!"

"So Ah'm not on painkillers! Ain't that worse?"

Applejack sighed as she exited the kitchen. "Applebloom,finish yer carrots. Soarin' and Ah're headed into town. Yer in charge, make sure Braeburn eats his soup." She fixed the bandaged pony in an intense glare. "Even if it means a straw." She started for the door, walking past Soarin'. "C'mon, Sugarcube."

"What should I do? What should I do?!" Panic was starting to set in for Soarin'. He thought he was going to have another few hours to prepare, but it looks like the date's starting now. "Where're we headed?" Soarin' asked as he rushed ahead of Applejack to get the door for her, eliciting laughter from the pony in traction.

"Away from him." Applejack pointed at Braeburn as she walked out the door. "Anywhere away from him."

Comments

[Mayojar77]

Well, that escalated quickly.

[Lucky424]

Ahh Braeburn, always making others feel uncomfortable!!!

[ThePinkiePieEffect]

Okay, so I've read the first eight chapters, but I can't really take anymore. To give you mt honest opinion, I see grammar errors everywhere, commas where they aren't supposed to be, and so, so many plotholes. I mean, you have a good idea going, but in general, I suggest that you get a proofreader, and re-write this whole thing, and try not to have any plotholes. I mean, hell, I can't really understand what happens from one chapter to the next.