Chapter one: New Neighbours
Honest Apples, Annoying Bats
Chapter one: New Neighbours
As the calling of the rooster echoed across the land of Sweet Apple Acres and the sun rose over the horizon, basking the land of Equestria in its warm glow, its light spreading over the home of the Apple Family and into the bedroom of one gamboge furred mare slowly pulling herself free of her bedding. That mare was Applejack Apple of Ponyville and one of the Six Elements of Harmony.
“‘Nother sunny day in Equestria.” The country mare said with a grin before adjusting the Stetson atop her pale yellow mane. Taking one last look around her simple room, consisting of a bed, nightstand with a lamp and two photos, one of her family and another of her best friends, she nodded to herself before descending the stairs.
Once leaving the house she made her way to the deep red shaded barn, remembering how the whole Apple family built it in what was probably a new record time. Upon entering, she heard rustling behind her. Raising a brow, Applejack turned her head, noticing nothing but a bush in the distance. Shrugging, the mare continued through the doors.
“Probably jus’ mah imagination. Not many folks or critters would be awake this time o’ the day. ‘Cept us Apples, heh.” Applejack chuckled to herself after her quick barn inspection. Once done, she moved out of the building, greeting her elder brother, the red silent stallion, Big Macintosh, or Big Mac as many of the residents of Ponyville called him.
“Alright, gotta finish up those trees in section twenty one, then check tha’ growth on section twenty two. After that, there’s the bushels in section fourteen.” As Applejack spoke to herself, her mind wandered to other thoughts. Mainly the idea that today was the day that Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, would get her first few Night and Day guards, specifically selected by herself and her brother, Captain of the Guard, Shining Armor. And that would mean Bat Ponies would become a mainstay in Ponyville. Sure, they’d had the nocturnal equines in town before, but they’d never stayed for longer than Princess Luna had.
Once arriving at the designated spot, Applejack once more heard rustling. With her curiosity and intrigue becoming annoyance, she looked up in the direction of the sound. The sound coming from a tree just a few yards away. As she squinted her eyes, she caught sight of a dark chocolate coloured tuft of fur sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the vibrant green leaves of the of the apple tree.
Sighing, Applejack moved towards the tree and cleared her throat, causing the unmoving fur to suddenly shift.
“Ah think ya better get outta there, stranger. Unless ya wanna come outta that there tree by a good buckin’.” She said with a hint of amusement as a slight smirk found its way on her lips.
The tuft slowly moved further into the tree before mumbling could be heard. After another moment, the unidentified creature shot out of the tree with speed near on par with that of Rainbow Dash, the towns local speed-demon.
Applejack had to blink twice before what she saw actually hit her. The pony in question was a filly pegasus, probably around Appleblooms age, if not older or younger, with a charcoal grey fur, the aforementioned chocolate mane and tail. But that wasn’t what surprised the orange mare, it was the fact that the filly’s wings were a leathery grey and her eyes a solid yellow with small black slits, not unlike a cats.
‘A Bat Pony…’ Was all Applejack could think before the hovering filly spoke up, a rather annoyed look on her face.
“What? You never seen a Bat Pony before, Orange-Face?” the little equine said with a raised brow and her forelegs folded. Her brow raised as the Earth Pony below her gave an annoyed look, clearly not happy with the nickname.
“Oh Ah’ve seen plenty in mah time, squirt. But never one with a gob as bad as yers. Didn’ yer parents ever tell ya to respect ya elders?” Applejack asked, still rather peeved at the use of ‘Orange-face’.
“Hmph, so what if they did? You can’t do anything about it.” The bat filly said with a toothy smirk, her fangs showing in their pearly white glory.
Narrowing her eyes, Applejack shook her head before moving onwards, deciding it best to ignore the little nuisance.
As she moved towards one of the trees before turning around, she dragged one of the baskets used to collect the apples under said tree. Once doing so, Applejack got into position, her hind legs raised before delivering a powerful smack against the tree, bucking into it as the apples fell straight into the baskets, some bouncing out or around, but it didn’t matter, as long as most got into the basket.
The bat filly watched with curiosity, having never seen a pony doing this to a tree. The whole thing seemed strange to her. But it made sense, not every pony could just fly up and take an apple, unlike herself, her father and the rest of her kind. And pegasus’ but she wasn’t a fan of those ponies. Way to annoying for her taste.
Still, she watched, hovering slightly lower to the ground, something Applejack caught sight of. Once she’d finished with the tree, after coming to the conclusion that most, if not all, of the trees apples had been bucked out, she looked over to the hovering filly and chuckled.
“What? Ain’t never seen a tree gettin’ bucked b’fore?” She asked with a grin and a raised brow. This earned her a blink and a slight blush of surprise to creep over the filly’s face before being shaken off and glared at.
“So what? Canterlot doesn’t have farms and I’ve never seen ‘em. Big deal.” She said before turning her back on the mare. “Orange-Face.” She said again, earning a look of slight annoyance from the pony in question.
“So, you gonna tell me why yer out here an’ not at home? How ‘bout a name? Mines Applejack.” The gamboge mare said as she shifted around another tree, lining up the baskets before bucking into it.
The filly gave her a searching look before speaking.
“Names Sweet Night and I’m out here because my dumb dad had to talk with that ‘Princess Twilight’ or somethin’. So I snuck out, flew around and decided to check out this farm. That good enough for ya?” Sweet Night asked with a venomous tone.
Applejack’s bucking slowed slightly as she processed this information before coming to her conclusion. ‘So, she’s the foal o’ one o’ them new night guards at Twilights huh? Well, I certainly feel sorry for her pa. Unless he’s jus’ like ‘er. Apples never fall far from their trees.’
Shrugging it off, she continued to do her work around the farm, the hovering filly following her every step of the way.
After a while, Sweet Nights’ incessant words and harmless insults really began to grate on the earth pony’s nerves, much to the amusement of the bat filly.
At one point, whilst she was busy attending to the bushels, the young one finally made her crack.
“So, do earth ponies always wake up early? Or is it just a farm pony thing? Do you take breaks? What about breakfast? Do you eat just apples or do you eat other fruits? Like oranges, grapes, berries, things like that? What about nuts? Have you ever tried peanuts? They taste great with salt but they taste bad on their own. “
Grinding her teeth, Applejack looked over to the bat filly with a glare before shaking her head. “Would you quit it already? Ah got serious work to be doin’ an’ yer jabberin’ is really getting’ under mah skin!”
Sweet Night didn’t seem to notice, but if a pony were to have looked closely, they’d spot the growing grin on her face.
“Heh, am I? I’m sorry, I just thought you’d like some company is all.” She responded with an innocent look. One that Applebloom had tried several times with her and failed on most accounts.
“Tha’s it! I’m goin’ ta the castle! Find yer parents an’ tell ‘em what ya been doin’ this entire time! They’re probably worried sick anyways!” With that, Applejack abandoned her work, which really wasn’t too surprising when you take into account the number of times that she’s probably had to just get up and go every time Equestria needed saving.
But, the mention of Applejack finding her father certainly seemed to affect Sweet Night, causing her to gasp and chase after the mare. “N-no! Please! I’m sorry!”