Meeting back at Sweet Apple Acres.
Ponyville had been in effervescence for the last two months. Ever since the town had been selected to host the Equestria Games, Ponyville had been more and more crowded. The streets were full of workers who were busy building extensions for hotels, inns or/and restaurants. The mayor had pulled the big guns, she had set up an entire camp of cloud-made bungalows in the town's sky. She had called on a huge favor from Cloudsdale for those, but, knowing how much the Games will yield, it didn't matter for her.
The Games' start was coming close, and that fact got the town even more crowded. Supporters and participating teams had started to arrive from all Equestria and foreign countries, such as Zebrica or Stalliongrad. The mayor looked pleased that, so far, her 'guests' seemed to appreciate their stay in Ponyville. The mayor had been worried that the local Guard might not be up to the task with Cloud Kicker's absence, but Canterlot's Guard had offered some assistance in that matter.
The Princesses' arrival with the Council of Harmony, along with a great deal of the Nobility, had caused quite a celebration that nearly went out of control when Pinkie Pie chimed in. Luckily, Princess Celestia had managed to stop her before it got serious.
The council of Harmony, minus Rainbow Dash who was training for the up-coming competitions, was walking down the road toward a farm they knew pretty well. A young girl with light purple and pink hair had tagged along with them. The small group was lead by Octavia and Rarity who were both quite angry.
"Rarity! Are we there yet?" The little girl asked pleadingly. "You promised the trip'd be fun and for the moment, walking for miles is not fun."
"Not quite! Sweetie Belle." Rarity answered without slowing down or turning her head at the girl.
"Beside walking can be fun." Pinkie said happily. "If you bounce around like this, it's more funny then walking normally." She added as she started do bouncing steps to demonstrate.
"But my feet hurt." Sweetie Belle complained.
"Oooh. I get it." Pinkie nodded. She grabbed Sweetie Belle and made her sit on her shoulders. "You just wanted a shoulder ride."
"Not really, but thanks Pinkie Pie." Sweetie Belle smiled, happy from not having to walk again.
"Girls! Why are you going so fast?" Twilight asked their two leaders. "The farm's not going anywhere."
"Simple, Darling. Octavia and I have something to say to some members of the Apple family." Rarity explained sharply.
"Exactly. Concerning their recent behavior." Octavia added.
"That's it? Just because they didn't show up at our arrival yesterday night, you're rushing there to make a scene?" Twilight asked rolling her eyes. "They were probably tired because of the work at farm. With all the business there's in town with the games, they must have quadrupled their productivity."
"There's one good counter argument to that little theory of yours, Twilight." Octavia answered sharply. "Vinyl told in one of her letter that quite a few of their cousins had come to help them with the farm work during the Games."
"That means they don't have any extra charge of work, like they had during our stay." Rarity explained. "They have no excuses."
"Woah. They must be really good friends if my sis' and Octavia are so mad at them for not showing up." Sweetie Belle said.
"You have no idea." Pinkie Pie happily replied.
They continued their walk and a couple of minutes later they passed the farm's front gate. Before they could go any further, a man with long blond hair wearing a brown leather jacket and a brown hat came to greet them.
"Howdy Missies! Welcome to Sweeeeeet Apple Acres." He shouted happily waving his arms opened. While he did so, the girls thought having heard a horse whinnying in the background. "Name's Braeburn. What can Ah do ya for?" He asked with a big smile.
"I like him." Pinkie noted with a big smile, earning a tip of the hat from the man.
"Good day, Sir. We would like to talk to Vinyl and Jacquelyn Apple. Could you please tell us where they are?" Rarity asked in a very polite tone. Yes, she was angry at Applejack but it wasn't a reason for her to misbehave with one of her lover's presumed relative.
"Ya're lookin' for my cuzins?" Braeburn asked. "They're at the gym now. Ah can show y'all the way if ya want."
"That won't be necessary, Mr Braeburn. We know the way to the gym." Octavia nodded politely, before storming away toward the gym with Rarity on her heels.
"What did ma cuz's do to upset these two gals?" Braeburn asked with a puzzled look. "It was pretty clear, they were mad at them."
"If you want to get technical, AJ and Vinyl didn't do a thing." Twilight remarked. "We'd better go after them."
Twilight and Fluttershy followed Rarity and Octavia after excusing themselves to Braeburn. Pinkie Pie had stayed behind with Sweetie Belle still on her shoulders. The little girl didn't understand why Pinkie hadn't gone after her friends.
"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie." Pinkie said politely. "You seem to smile a lot."
"Well Ms Pie, Ah have every reason to smile." Braeburn said with, guess what, a smile. "Ah've a good job, a good family, good friends..."
"A good girlfriend I suppose." Pinkie suggested.
"Well not really." Braeburn chuckled.
"Did I mention that I like smiling guys?" Pinkie asked with a serious tone.
"No, Ah don' think ya did.." Braeburn said with a picked interest.
"PINKIE! You'd better not be doing what I think you're doing and get your backside here! PRONTO!" Twilight shouted from afar.
"Woops! Gotta go! Seeya Braeburn." She quickly said before darting off with Sweetie Belle clinging to Pinkie like her life depended on it, which was probably the case.
"Seeya Ms Pie." Braeburn said with a small salute. "What a cute lady." He muttered to himself before getting back to his work.
Rarity and Octavia had come into view of Applejack's gym. They noticed two young women they didn't know sitting outside the gym. One had long blue hair tied up in a ponytail and the other had short raspberry red hair. They were both looking very exhausted. Octavia and Rarity frowned a bit when they saw their outfit. They both were wearing mini shorts with a small sports top.
"Excuse me, Misses. Are Vinyl and Applejack inside?" Octavia asked in a polite tone.
"It depends." The one with red hair said. "Who's asking?"
"Octavia Philharmonica and Rarity Belle." Octavia answered politely.
"Yeah right!" The blue haired one snorted.
"I beg you pardon?" Rarity asked with a crooked eyebrow.
"You think we're stupid or what?" The red haired asked with sarcasm. "You think that using the members of the Council's name will open all doors?"
"We've had our lot of people from others teams trying to spy on our training." The blue haired one said. "But you've reached another summit in fucked up plans."
"I'll admit that the disguises are rather well done." The red haired one conceded. "But it's not like the real Rarity Belle or Octavia Philharmonica would have any business here."
Rarity and Octavia looked at each other blinking. They had been in awkward situations before, thanks to Pinkie Pie's antics or Twilight's experiments, but someone thinking they were people trying to pose as themselves, that was a new one. Before they could try and say something, the gym's door opened.
"Rose, Allie, your break's over. Get back in…side." Vinyl said as she spotted Octavia while passing her head through the doorframe.
Vinyl rushed toward Octavia in the blink of an eye, she grabbed her by her waist and pulled her close for a kiss. Even if she was a bit surprised at first, Octavia started to kiss back with great passion, causing the two women in sportswear to gasp in shock and surprise.
"Oh sweet Epona! I missed you so much, Octavia." Vinyl said as she broke the kiss before kissing Octavia again.
"Missed you too, Love." Octavia managed to reply between two kisses.
"Well, now you know what the REAL Octavia Philharmonica has for business here." Rarity said to the two shocked women with a chuckle before going inside the gym.
When Rarity entered the gym, she noticed it was quite more crowded than what it used to in the summer. Applejack was on the ring with a woman with teal hair. They were both gripping each other's hands in what looked like a strength contest. They were wrestling under the watchful eyes of a tall black woman with white and black hair styled into a mohawk, a man holding a chronometer with short messy brown hair and a pink haired woman wearing a white medical jacket with a red cross on the back.
At one side of the room, they were two blond women getting massaged by two women who looked like twins except for the hair color. One had light pink hair and the other had light blue hair. One of the blond women looked up from her massage table and spotted Rarity.
"AJ, you got someone who's here for a visit!" Cloud Kicker shouted with a small smile.
"What? who?" Applejack asked before turning her gaze away from her opponent, until she saw her lover standing near the entrance of the gym. "RARITY!" Applejack shouted happily, tossing the teal haired woman away like she was nothing other than a rag doll.
"WAAAhaaaa!" The flying woman shouted before landing loudly outside the ring. "Owwwwiiiie!"
Applejack jumped off the ring and went to hug her lover. Rarity wanted to argue, she was still mad at Applejack and, on top of things, Applejack was covered in sweat. But that was before she felt her lover's strong arms around her. She instantly returned the affectionate gesture, her anger vanishing instantly at her farmer's strong yet delicate embrace.
"Raindrops, how many fingers do you see?" The nurse asked presenting three fingers in front of the tossed woman's eyes.
"D'aaw, the cute little fingers." Raindrops said with a drunken smile.
"She's ok!" The nurse said to the black woman who turned toward the man with the chronometer.
"How was her time, Turner?" She asked. "Is she doing any better?"
"Well Zecora, she had surpassed her previous time by ten seconds." Turner said. "And she would have hold longer if Applejack hadn't break her 'limit' rule."
"I told you it was a good idea to train Raindrops with AJ, Coach." Cloud Kicker said from her massage table.
While the coach and her assistants discussed about Raindrops' performance. Rose and Allie entered the gym and almost froze at the sight of Applejack and Rarity, who had started making out near the door. They heard a loud shout from a cracking voice coming from outside.
"Rarity?" Shouted Sweetie Belle. "Where are you?"
"I'm inside, Sweetie." Rarity shouted back, pushing AJ away from her.
The farmer frowned a bit at her lover's gesture but understood immediately why Rarity had done so when a little girl with two tone purple hair passed the doorframe. She had never met the girl before, but Applejack had a good idea of who exactly she was.
"That yar sister, Rarity?" Applejack asked.
"Yes. That's Sweetie Belle." Rarity said with a proud smile. "Sweetie, meet Jacquelyn Apple, a very good friend of mine. Although, she prefers to be called by her nickname : Applejack." Rarity added sheepishly when she noticed the small glare Applejack gave her.
"Why? It sounds like a boy's name." Sweetie Belle asked in genuine curiosity.
"Damn straight, Kiddo." Cloud Kicker chuckled from her massage table.
"If ya want, we can start talkin' about yer name, Cloud Kicker." Applejack retorted.
"Nah! I'm good."
"Say Ms Applejack…" Sweetie Belle started.
"Ya can drop the 'Ms' with me." Applejack assured with a nod, earning a smile from Rarity.
"Is that true what the others said about you? That you're incredibly strong and all?" Sweetie asked with excitement.
"Hehe! They told ya 'bout that?" Applejack chuckled.
"That and that your cooking is delicious." Sweetie giggled.
"Gotta to admit that to her." Cloud Kicker said as she got up from her massage table. "Thank you, Vera." She said to her masseuse, who nodded in silence. "I'm taking Ditzy for a flying practice. That ok with you, Coach?" She asked Zecora.
"Certainly. Flying is her strongest ability." Zecora said matter-of-factly. "But she still needs to work on her 'disability'."
Cloud Kicker nodded and walked toward the door. "You're coming Ditzy?"
"Yeah, I'm comin'." Ditzy said as she tried to get up quickly from the table, only to fall helplessly on the ground. "I'm ok!" She added with her thumb in the air. She stood up and followed Cloud Kicker outside.
"As for you Applejack, Raindrops is back on the ring. How about you continue your wrestling?" Zecora asked Applejack.
"Do Ah have to? Ah'm a bit tired." Applejack asked causing the nurse to laugh.
"You'll not make me believe you're tired now, Applejack. "The nurse chuckled. "It takes Cloud Kicker and Vinyl to double tag you for that."
"Beside, the Games aren't so far away. The lack of practice might cause our dismay." Zecora added.
"Ah reckon." Applejack admitted. "Sorry, Rarity. But Ah gotta go." She said apologetically to her lover.
"It's quite alright, dear." Rarity nodded in understanding.
"Your 'friend' and her sister are welcome to stay and watch, if they want." Turner said casually.
"We wouldn't want to bother you." Rarity said politely.
"It wouldn't be a problem at all." He said with a smile.
Rarity and Sweetie Belle sat on an unused working out bench near the ring, while Applejack got back on the ring. She stretched her limbs before taking her stance at few meters from Raindrops.
"Ready?" Turner asked. Raindrops and Applejack nodded. "Then, Allons Y!" He added before starting the chronometer.
"You're going down this time, Applejack!" Raindrops shouted before launching herself toward Applejack.
"Keep dreamin', Raindrops!" Applejack replied with a smug grin.
Cloud Kicker and Ditzy got out of the gym and found that Rarity wasn't the only one of the Council who had come to Sweet Apple Acres. Cloud Kicker gave Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilitght a light bow, soon copied by Ditzy, even if she didn't understand why Cloud Kicker was doing that.
"My Ladies, it's wonderful to see you again." Cloud Kicker said in a pompous voice.
"Aww. Quit it, Cloudy." Pinkie giggled. "That tone doesn't suit you at all. We're friends, you can drop the Lady thing with us."
"All right then!" Cloud Kicker chuckled.
"Hum! Sorry to bother you, but could you tell me who they are?" Ditzy asked. "I feel more out of the loop than I usually am."
"Sorry, Ditzy! Meet Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle from the Council of Harmony." Cloud Kicker said casually.
"Ooooh. You were the ones at Sweet Apple Acres this summer, right?" Ditzy said in realization. "My name's Ditzy Doo, Ponyville's best mail-woman!" She said cheerfully.
"Excuse me, but what's going on inside the gym? I mean, it seems to be rather crowded. Not that it's a bad thing." Fluttershy asked in her demure voice.
"Oh! That. Well, we're training here for the Games." Cloud Kicker answered simply.
"The town doesn't have a gym?" Twilight asked in disbelief.
"Yes, but it's a lot more quiet down here." Ditzy answered. "Not to mention the wide open space for flying."
"And, let's face it, Applejack's equipment is way much better than what the Town's got to offer." Cloud Kicker shrugged. "Anyway, Ditzy! You mentioned flying, how about an obstacle course?"
"Got it." Ditzy said in determination before conjuring her grey wings and taking off. After a few seconds, she flew down a bit above Cloud Kicker. "Humm! Can you get me the obstacles set, first?" She asked sheepishly, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.
"It would be better, no?" Cloud Kicker chuckled. She conjured her large grayish purple wings and soon after her hands were surrounded by a soft haze. "Give me two minutes." She said, extending her hands toward the open field next to the gym.
"Oh, my!" Fluttershy said in amazement.
The field quickly got covered by large blankets of haze. The haze became thicker in the next seconds, turning itself into a dense fog. The patches of fogs lifted in the sky, becoming more and more substantial as they flew higher. The newly formed clouds started to divided and compacted themselves into various form. They weren't white anymore, they had become dark grey. They positioned themselves into a rather large obstacle course that filled the sky above the gym.
"Done!" Cloud Kicker said rubbing her hands together as her wings dissipated into the air. "All set for you, Ditzy."
"Awesome!" Ditzy said before flying up to the start line.
"Didn't you forget something?" Cloud Kicker shouted playfully.
"Right, Thanks!" She shouted back before pulling a small muffin from her pocket, pecking it quickly and putting it back in her pocket. "Here goes!" She said before starting her course.
"That was awesome!" Pinkie Pie shouted excitedly. "I didn't know Jupitarian magic could do that!"
"Well, the only times you saw Jupitarian magic were with the guards in fighting situations." Fluttershy explained softly. "Cloud-shaping magic is rarely known in the guard."
"That's true!" Cloud Kicker nodded. "Luckily, I'm not like most guard!" She added with chuckle, soon joined by Pinkie and Fluttershy.
"That's certainly true." Twilight whispered to herself, still amazed by the feat of magic Cloud Kicker had displayed.
She had seen lots of things as the Princess' personal student, lots of Jupitarian who bragged their skill in various field of their weather magic. One she remembered particularly had rainbow colored hair. But, one with control so precise he could create, shape and place so many clouds perfectly in only two minutes. That was something she had never seen before.
Twilight turned her head slightly toward Cloud Kicker who was busy watching her teammate flying in the obstacle course she had created. She recalled the night she had passed with the guard, how much they had talked about lot of interesting things, how Cloud Kicker had kissed her at the tavern, how they had almost..... She blushed at those two particular memories.
She shook her head to chase those thoughts away. Nothing would ever happen again, they had agree what they had that night was a one time thing. Twilight was the one who had said stop in the end and Cloud Kicker never argued her decision. Something Twilight found a bit unsettling at first, but had been happy to see it didn't bring any harm to their friendship.
Twilight had heard various stories about the guard after her stay in Ponyville. Mostly from other guards who kept on saying she was a promiscuous woman that should be avoided and kicked out of the Royal Guard. Some rumors even said that she had become Lieutenant thanks to being the Captain's special spice in his relationship with Cadence. Apparently Cloud Kicker and Shining Armor had always been on good terms with each other. She had subtly brought that matter to him by using the incident with the carriage driver.
"Yeah, I know about those rumors, Twily. Just a bunch of stupidities."
"Why aren't you doing anything about them? How come she's still in the guard if she has such a bad reputation?"
"Because she's good. Yes, she has her 'hobby' but her results are undeniable."
"What do you mean by that? It's not like a town peaceful like Ponyville is hard to take care of."
"Couple of years ago, Ponyville had its criminality as well, Sis'. As soon as she entered the guard, the criminality started to decrease. And since she's been Lieutenant, it's barely non-existent. As long as her other activities have no influence on her job, why should she leave the guard?"
"But what about the men who disrespect her? Like the soldier who drove us back? That's got to happen a lot, no?"
"Not really! You should see her soldiers, Twily. They all respect her. Heck, they even respect her more than me.(chuckles)"
"Really?"
"Believe me when I tell you this, .....
"...There's a lot more in Cloud Kicker than what people think..." Twilight whispered to herself.
"DITZY, SLOW DOWN!" Cloud Kicker shouted.
"WAAAAAAAH." Ditzy screamed as she crashed on the ground causing a huge crater.
"Ditzy? Are you ok?" Cloud Kicker asked with concern as she landed next to the crater hole.
A hand holding a small intact banana nut muffin bursted out of the crater.
"I'm all right! And the Lucky Muffin as well!" Yelled the happy, yet muffled voice of Ditzy.
"Aww Ditzy!" Cloud Kicker chuckled.
Vinyl had taken Octavia to the stables. On the way she had explained why she and Applejack were not at the welcoming for the Council and the Princesses the evening before. Having a strict training program for the Games, they had to sleep early and no party allowed.
"You could have said that in your letter, you know!" Octavia reproved. "Rarity and I would have understood."
"Yeah, but you wouldn't have come to Sweet Apple Acres if you had known." Vinyl said with a knowing smile.
"You...You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
"Guilty!" Vinyl said before gently kissing Octavia. "And I regret nothing!"
"You should!" Octavia said playfully. "Why are we here? Don't you have training to do?"
"That's why I'm here!" Vinyl nodded. "A part of the trials I subscribed in, includes horse shows. I'm competing with Alizee in those."
After having saddled Alizee, Vinyl undertook multiples exercises with her : dressage, show jumping, and what not. Octavia, leaning on the fence, kept watching dreamily her lover training with her horse. Knowing first handed how good Vinyl was with horses and that Alizee was a fantastic horse, Octavia knew that Vinyl would obtain the gold in those trials despite the experienced competitors like her brother.
The thought of her brother, brought back the memory of his encounter with Vinyl and the meeting with her parents that had followed when she came back to Canterlot. Like she had thought, her brother omitted a lot of important details when he told about the incident. He had only said that two farmers had assaulted him when he tried to mount one of their horses and that before going away he had seen Octavia kissing one of them.
The conversation with her parents had been unpleasant. She had admitted that she had kissed Vinyl and that she loved her, but she vigorously denied her brother's version of the story. She had explained what Cornelio did to provoke the anger of the two farmers, stressing furiously on the fact he hit Vinyl first in some fit of anger. It had been really hard for her to do so, talking about the incident had brought back the vision of how weak and distraught Vinyl had been after the incident.
Her parents, wanting to believe both their children, had decided that they'd like to meet with Vinyl first before taking a side. They said that they would be the judges to see if Vinyl was either the rude and violent farmer Cornelio pretended she was, or the sweet and loving musician Octavia knew she was. It was up to Octavia to organize the meeting between her parents and Vinyl.
She'd think about it later. Now her lover was busy with the competitions she had to participate to. Octavia had no intentions of disturbing Vinyl with something like that. She kept looking at Vinyl riding Alizee. She sighed with contentment. Now she had a pretty good idea about which team and especially which athlete to cheer for during the Games.
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He never said his name.
THE DOCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
distraught Vinyl had*
Great chapter. Was putting off working till this came up. Now, hopefully, I can finally work.
2288036
SHAME!!
how goody. I had modified the two sentences you pointed and didn't save them
Go ponyville!
2288036
All better now! thanks for pointing them out.
happy I let the doctor in the team?
2288092
2288387
Yes. Yes I am. I fucking love The Doctor.
gah why cant i get the muffin? why? i've searched derpy after derpy looking for it but it still eludes me, all i can find is derpy saying muffin, where are you muffin?
in my belly?
here you go
that doesnt help, i want muffin
wrong muffin
fyi, need muffin emot
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
I can haz mor ppeazzz? ^_^
YEAH! GO TEAM PONYVILLE!
Lucky muffin reference? It's not cool runnings is it?
2298109
Since you got it right the first!
Have a derpy :
H'okay, now that I'm in the current fic, I can start leaving comments for real
like this:
good, keep that going
a smug what? grin? (smug is an adjective, IYDK*)
*If you didn't know* Yes i made that up, no I didn't change it when I realized you wouldn't know what it meant
should be 'more out of the loop', outer should only be used for indirect placement
Ponyville's, needs to be possesive
silly town...
two here: 1) 'Criminality had started' doesn't need the 'had' 2) 'since she's Lieutenant' would flow better as "since she's been Lieutenant"
the word you wanted here was 'experienced', the riders aren't test tube grown
farmers, plural
you're missing a be here: 'they would be the judges'
you're looking for She'd, contracting 'she would'
English tenses are a butt, but they're important in a narrative
good start, can't wait to see where it goes
in the morning, since it's late.
2499253
Editing time
Oh, and for the experimented riders things, it's not a mistake. they're all born from lab experiments
Vinyl being the only natural born horse rider in the land
FAN GIRL OVER DRIVE!!!!!! already......
the "muffin" is an innuendo used in "The Life and Times of a Winning Pony"
Zecora ,Time Turner, Applejack, Raindrops, I'm surprised Big Mac isn't participating, he's even stronger than Applejack, they have a Dan good team.
4413569 it's not yet confirmed in this series whether Big Mac is actually stronger or not.
Seems Pinkie has eyes on a man.