• Published 18th Apr 2013
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Ponywatching - ThunderTempest



Stories from TMP prompts

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Prompt #542-Half-life

Candied Apple trotted alongside Barrel Binding, her husband and the greatest love of her life, as she watched the orchards pass her by on her walk.

“Good bumper crop this season, I reckon,” murmured the large stallion, a switch from an apple tree shifting around his mouth, “We’ll have plenty for the harvesting, and even some left over for extra barrels of cider.” Try as he might, the stallion couldn’t keept the grin from his face, and was rewarded with a hoof shoved into his side, and a smirk from his wife.

“They’ll be none of that for you, iff’n ya keep that up. Come on, ya big lug,” said Candied Apple, her Apple ‘accent’ in full swing, “ya said ya’d teach Mac t’buck this season. Celestia knows Granny can’t keep up with the chores round the house. ‘nother bucker would help us out. And little Applejack is gettin’ old enough to start helpin’ out.”

“Eeyup,” agreed the barrel maker, beginning to trot down the hill, Candied Apple having to keep to a light jog to keep up with her husbands’ longer strides. About half way down the hill, Barrel Binding stopped, waited for Candied Apple to catch up, and then swept her off her feet and onto his back.

“You shouldn’t be runnin’, not with our newest bloom inside you,” said Barrel, motioning to Candied’s pregnant form, and Candied had to suppress a blush. She was remined why she fell in love with the Canterlot barrel maker-he was such a gentlestallion. Even despite her best efforts, Candied’s face went even redder than it already was.

“Oh, stop it, you big lug,” she smiled, and leaned forwards to kiss him, and for a moment, everything was perfect. Leaves drifted past on the gentle breeze, plucked from their branches, and the midday sun shone down through the canopy, dappling the path to the farmhouse on Sweet Apple Acres with thin shadows. A perfect moment in time, frozen forever in husband and wife’s memories.

*****

Outside the pods, changelings gathered, siphoning love from the ponies trapped in the intricate illusions within. These two pods had been regular and reliable producers of the precious emotion known as love since the ponies contained within had been captured.

Had the changeling drones had enough thought to look inside, or even if they cared, they would have seen a pregnant mare, her face frozen in horror, her fourth child long since dead within her, and a stallion, his face set into an expression that was part fear, part bravery.

But the changeling drones cared not for what the life-giving pods contained, and even if they did, they lacked the intelligence to take initiative. And so they lay, draining the love from the pods, and the hundreds of others like them.

*****

Candied Apple trotted alongside Barrel Binding, her husband and the greatest love of her life as she watched the orchards pass by on her walk.

Author's Note:

Written for Prompt #542: “Shooting Stars”
The prompt: Applejack’s parents are alive.

Creepy story is creepy, I think.

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