The Little Appleloosa
Everypony in Equestria has a hobby. Pinkie likes collecting different rocks with her sister Maud, hailing from their time growing up on a rock farm. Fluttershy likes the simple, calm pleasure of reading a good book. Rainbow Dash does too, though she’d never admit it. Twilight has her science experiments that foster her intelligent mind. Rarity enjoys listening to good music.
And then there’s Applejack, whose hobby first started a few months after Twilight came to Ponyville…
If you were to ask an apple farmer what was the worst thing about being an apple farmer, they might say it was blights, fruit bats, poor weather control, or anything else that might impede the progress of their trade.
If you asked Applejack, it was the downtime.
There were plenty of chores to be had around Sweet Apple Acres, that was true, but it was nothing the family couldn’t handle. Or hadn’t done numerous times before, making them dull from repetition.
So that’s how Applejack found herself wandering the streets of Ponyville, seeking someone or something to cure her of her boredom. She was a simple mare, so even if there was some big city a stone’s throw from her farm, she wasn’t interested in the hustle and bustle.
Instead, she found herself meandering through the common sights of Ponyville. Sugarcube Corner, Golden Oaks Library, Carousel Boutique, even that Quills and Sofas place, odd of a combination as it was.
Finally, she stopped in front of a new store. It must have just moved in as Applejack knew Ponyville like the back of her hoof.
And, of course, there was the big “Grand Opening” banner over the door.
Applejack paused outside the establishment, looking up at the sign. She’d never heard of “Kitbash Hobbies,” but if there was anything she could use to cure her boredom, it was a hobby.
Sure, she did lasso tricks and performed in rodeos, but she filed that under the same skillset as her apple-growing skills: strictly professional. What she needed was something recreational. Something she could enjoy without it getting overly competitive.
Opening the door, a little bell rang out her presence as Applejack stepped inside. The store was full of aisles and aisles of boxes and smaller goods on hooks. A portly Earth pony with a bushy mustache and balding mane waved at her from behind the counter next to the door.
“Welcome to Kitbash Hobbies. Name’s Soapbox, looking for anything in particular?” he asked.
“Howdy, I’m Applejack, and… I’m not rightly sure. Can’t say I’ve ever had a hobby before,” Applejack remarked.
“Really?” Soapbox raised an eyebrow. “Well, feel free to take a look around. I’ve got a large selection of hobbies to choose from. Anything from kites to models.” He gestured grandly to the store’s shelves.
“Thank ya kindly, I’ll let ya know,” Applejack said with a nod, cautiously stepping down one of the aisles.
The aisle she chose was stacked high with boxes, each with an image of some sort of vehicle or building painted onto the front. Plucking one up that claimed to be Canterlot Castle, Applejack read the back. She frowned at the idea of “some assembly required”—she’d put together enough stuff on the farm to know what that was like.
Putting the box back, she carefully made her way to the end of the aisle, where assorted paper, string, and sticks of wood promised to assemble together into a perfect kite. It was a neat idea, especially something to tease Rainbow Dash with, but there were too many trees at Sweet Apple Acres. It’d get stuck too easily.
A constant clattering sound caused Applejack’s ear to flick. She stepped past several aisles until she came to another one with a gap in the middle that held a large, rectangular table.
On the table were a series of tiny railroad tracks, looping around and switching off into sidings. Racing around the outermost loop on the table was a small Friendship Express, clattering away as it made its laps.
Something about the way the little train kept chugging along the track hypnotized Applejack, her mind in awe of the small wonder. She squatted down till her muzzle was level with the tracks, eyes following the train as it went. She wanted to reach out and pick the train up and see it up close, but she was worried about derailing it.
Surveying the rest of the aisle, she found the Friendship Express’s box, the engine and cars on display through the packaging in a foam mold. Looking up, Applejack noted several other boxes, each displaying a completely different set of trains.
Applejack set the model on her back and carried it to the front register, setting it on the counter.
“Soapbox, could ya tell me what this is?” she asked, sliding it over to him.
“Oh that? That’s a recent thing from Canterlot. A model electric train set,” Soapbox said, picking up the box and looking it over. “Lion Yell makes some good ones.”
“How’s it work?” Applejack asked.
“Oh, well, you set up the track, plug the controller onto the track and then plug in the controller, set up the train and… well, watch it go,” Soapbox explained. “This is a basic model, just the train and tracks, but I’ve already heard there’s some pretty expansive layouts out there already.”
“’Layouts’?” For something so fascinating, Applejack was getting déjà vu to one of Twilight’s scientific lectures. At least it sounded that complex.
“That’s a step up from this,” Soapbox admitted, patting the box. “Seeing as you’re just starting out, I’d say stick to this for now if you want to try it.”
Applejack looked down at the train in its box. There was something mighty appealing about watching that little thing zip around. And it wasn’t like she had anything better to do.
“Sure,” Applejack said. “I’ll take it.”
“Ya bought a toy?” Apple Bloom remarked, watching her sister read through the instructions. The box was open in Applejack’s bedroom, as safe a place as any to try out her new hobby.
Applejack’s muzzle scrunched as she frowned up at her sister. “It ain’t a toy, it’s a model electric train and it’s fancy. Supposed to be new from Canterlot,” she replied.
“I didn’t know ya liked fancy,” Apple Bloom said, picking up one of the train’s passenger cars and looking it over. “How’s it work?”
“I gotta get the track out first,” Applejack explained. “Once that’s set up, I plug in this here controller.” She picked up the admittedly heavy black box from its packaging, adorned with a simple knob and some wires. “And then we set up the train.”
“Sounds fancy alright,” Apple Bloom said, pulling out some pieces of track. “How’s this supposed to go?”
“Something like this,” Applejack said, starting to place track down. Apple Bloom watched her as she formed an ovular shape, with two straight lines of track, two sweeping curves connecting them, and a little two-way siding on one of the straightaways.
When it was done, it was Apple Bloom’s turn to scrunch her snout. “That don’t look anything like a real train track,” she said.
“It ain’t real, it’s a model,” Applejack retorted. “I saw a model castle up there at the store, and it sure as heck wasn’t going to be as big as Princess Celestia’s. They’re supposed to be small.”
“I mean, why a loop like this? It doesn’t go anywhere,” Apple Bloom said, gesturing to the loop. “Trains are supposed to go places.”
“Maybe I’ll work on that later,” Applejack said, gently working the controller’s wires into place on a special section of curved track with the leads for it. “Now I just need to plug it in.”
“Can I set up the train then?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Sure thing, just be careful touching the tracks,” Applejack said, crawling on her belly, the controller’s plug in hoof and on the hunt for an outlet. “This thing’s supposed to be electrified.”
Applejack finally found an outlet under a nearby table. She plugged it in and scooched back over to the tracks. Apple Bloom had set out the engine, its tender, and all but one of the passenger cars. She was working on lining the last one up on the tracks and connecting it to the rest of the train when Applejack rejoined her.
“Here goes nothing,” Applejack said, gently turning the controller’s knob one click to the right. A little indicator light lit up green.
The engine’s wheels gave one little spin before the train began moving, already making that continuous clattering sound Applejack had heard at the store. It paced itself around the first bend and then the second before Applejack clicked the controller back off. The train rolled to a stop.
“Neat, isn’t it?” Applejack asked with a grin.
Apple Bloom seemed less than impressed. “Can it go any faster?” she asked.
“Well sure it can, but you’d probably risk derailin’ it,” Applejack said, turning the knob again, but this time three clicks to the right.
The train took off like a shot, wheels pumping and clattering loudly. It careened around the first turn and fell off on the second, skidding to a halt as its wheels slowed down to a halt.
“Is this all it does?” Apple Bloom asked as Applejack shut off the controller and set about replacing the train back on its tracks.
“It don’t have to do anythin’ fancy for me to like it,” Applejack remarked, setting the controller back to one and watching the train putter along the track yet again.
Apple Bloom huffed and got up. “Well, hope ya enjoy it, sis,” she said before trotting out of the room.
Apple Bloom was right, of course. This little train on this little loop of track wasn’t doing much. It certainly didn’t remind Applejack of that whole table of loops and switches she saw in the hobby store.
Shutting the controller off again for the night, Applejack hummed to herself and tapped her chin, looking down at the train as it slowed to a stop.
Was there something more she was missing?
Soapbox looked up as the bell over the hobby store’s door rang out and smiled as Applejack entered.
“Hey there, Applejack. How’d the train handle yesterday?” he asked.
“Howdy Soapbox. It worked well, but, uh, I was wonderin’…” She scratched the top of her head under her Stetson.
“Yeah?”
“Ya know how you got that table set up back there, with the train on it?” Applejack pointed vaguely in the direction before turning to Soapbox. “How’d y’all manage to do that?”
“The size, you mean? Well, you can get more track to go along with your set to make bigger routes for the train. You can even get different sets and combine them, they’re all compatible,” Soapbox explained.
Applejack’s eyes widened and her jaw went slack. “I can combine ‘em?” she asked. Soapbox grinned and nodded.
“Remember that ‘layout’ I mentioned yesterday? It’s sorta like that. Multiple trains on different lines of track and so on. Some of the fanciest layouts have models along with them. Landscapes, buildings, little figurines.”
“Well, I’ll be…” Applejack muttered. “I gotta try that.”
“Careful, Applejack. The more trains and tracks you get, the more space it takes up. I’d make sure you have plenty of room to work before working on something big,” Soapbox cautioned.
“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind,” Applejack said, heading back towards the model train section. She was reminded of a few other box sets that had caught her eye, and now that she knew that she could combine them, possibilities started coming to mind…
Applejack surveyed her accomplishment with a giddy grin and a proud nod.
Tracks looped around her bedroom and under furniture. A trio of controllers lay at her hooves, ready for her to control the three trains on their different lines.
Joining the Friendship Express, to her delight, was the Appleloosa Limited. It was more barebones looking than the Friendship Express—its engine was bare metal and its coaches plain, wooden, and painted, complete with a crimson caboose at the end.
And on another track sat the Canterlot Sunrise. It was some sort of fancy schmancy royal train that belonged to Princess Celestia. It was similar in design to the Friendship Express, save it was mostly white with golden trim. Applejack believed the manufacturer was putting her on because she had never seen of nor heard of the train in real life, but it looked mighty pretty for her layout.
Leaning down, with a flick of the three controllers’ knobs, the trains began moving. Applejack sat back on her bed and watched as they traveled around her room, venturing under furniture when the clearance allowed it. They switched tracks often and sometimes even ran parallel alongside one another at times.
There came a knocking at the door, barely heard over the cacophony of clattering model wheels. Applejack quickly leaned down and flicked off the controllers before getting to her hooves. She tiptoed over the trains and tracks and cracked open the door.
“What in tarnation are you up to in here, girly?” Granny Smith asked, squinting up at her.
“Just fiddlin’ with my new hobby, Granny,” Applejack said. “Didn’t mean to cause a ruckus.”
“Land sakes, just what is your hobby? Ridin’ a bull?” Granny asked peering around Applejack to get a better look. “Ain’t you a little old to be playin’ with toys?”
“They’re models,” Applejack protested. “I liked the first one I got, so I got a couple more.”
“Well, can’t you find somewhere else for them there models?” Granny asked. “The attic maybe?”
“Don’t think there’s any outlets up there,” Applejack huffed, looking down at her creation with a frown.
“How about the cellar? Needs cleanin’ anyway,” Granny said. “Just try and keep your hobbyin’ to a minimum, alright?”
“Will do, Granny. Sorry again,” Applejack said, gently shutting the door as Granny Smith left.
With a sigh, she turned to her model trains and scratched the top of her head. “Now what am I gonna do with you all…” she muttered.
Applejack clicked on the lone lightbulb that illuminated the dark and dusty cellar.
It was full of old, discarded things the Apple Family had that they didn’t want to throw away. Everything from old cider barrels to busted pieces of hoof-me-down furniture. Everything was covered in such a layer of dust that it seemed like it had snowed. Cobwebs hung from every corner of the room.
Outside of that though, the cellar took up a good portion of the house above’s square footage. It was spacious, and had been treated as such up until now—now it needed cleaning to make it spacious again.
“Right,” Applejack sighed. “Granny wasn’t kiddin’ when she said this place needs cleanin’. But… it might just be what I need for my trains.”
Pulling a bandana up around her muzzle to keep out the dust and gripping a broom in both forehooves, Applejack bravely marched towards the looming piles of dust-gathering junk that sat before her.
It was long, tedious work.
The less broken things, such as old family albums or still good pieces of furniture, Applejack took upstairs. Some found their way into the attic, some were placed about the house. The more broken stuff was harder—not just in hauling it all out of the cellar, but convincing Granny Smith it was worthless.
In the end, there was a large pile of rubbish ready for the trash collectors to haul off, though Big Mac had said he could haul some of the stuff away himself. Dusting her forehooves off, Applejack returned to the cellar.
Under all the junk, she had found a series of large tables, still in good condition. Aligning them together, she set them against the wall in a large U-shape and made sure they were thoroughly dusted off.
Wheels were turning in the young farmer’s head as her eyes slid across the tables. In her mind, she was already seeing where tracks would go, as well as the controllers for the trains she had. But then she paused.
Soapbox had mentioned those layouts before. Complex things full of models and landscapes alongside the trains, most likely in an effort to bring some small-scale realism to the model trains.
Though she was too exhausted from the chore of clearing out the cellar, she knew exactly where she was heading tomorrow.
It was time to try her hoof at making a layout.
Applejack returned to the cellar, several handbooks and magazines on making model layouts in hoof. Along with her, in a little wagon borrowed from Apple Bloom, was the entirety of her train sets so far.
In the dim light of the cellar, she read her way through the manuals, all the while trying new configurations and circuits of tracks for her trains. Fetching some scrap wood from the tool shed out back, Applejack was able to experiment with raised platforms and making inclines out of the tracks.
Applejack mused to herself: if she had known so much hoofwork went into these model layouts, she would’ve tried them a long time ago!
The first thing she did after the experiments with the scrap wood was to figure out what she wanted where in her layout. She had a general configuration for the track layout itself, but now she needed scenery: terrain, buildings, infrastructure for the tracks, and maybe some plant life.
The layout took months to complete. When she wasn’t doing her farm chores, Applejack was fiddling with making terrain. Her layout was mostly flat, but she felt like adding a tunnel or two and some hills to give the trains a tougher grade to go up. The base was made of wood, but she found foam was easier to sculpt and paint for anything steeper than a sheet of paper.
Painting the terrain was harder than sculpting it. Flat-out painting rarely worked, save for base coats. She read through some of the magazines and tried different methods of watering the paint down, or using varnish in some cases. A little watered down glue and some sand, and she had herself a neat little desert section.
The buildings and track infrastructure came next, and at a slower pace. Often she would have to wait for some bits before she could get what she needed, but Soapbox always made sure to keep what she needed for her to buy when she could. Always with the promise from Applejack that she’d show him her layout when it was done, of course.
Applejack had found a broken mirror amidst the junk he had thrown out, and used one shard to make a small lake. Sanding down the edge of it, she had embedded it in the terrain and then placed a lovely steel suspension bridge over it. She’d even added some rust details to the bridge to give it some realism. When it was done, she grinned with pride.
A few towns popped up, along with another train set or two’s-worth of trains, and some spare rolling stock.
When it was all said and done, she nodded in approval and flicked on the controllers she’d set up for the first test run of her new layout.
By the time the layout was done, Nightmare Night had rolled around. Deciding to fit in with her new hobby, Applejack assembled together an engineer costume, complete with a cap from Soapbox’s hobby store.
The day after, Applejack led Soapbox to her model layout, all set up and ready to run in demonstration. The hobby pony’s jaw dropped as he surveyed it.
On one branch of the U of tables was the desert area, complete with cacti and an up-and-coming western town, mid-construction. The Appleloosa Limited sat idly by the barebones station, a short line of freight cars behind it.
The middle of the U was thicker than the branches and had a mostly grassy landscape. Tracks ran in the foreground and in the background, the latter having the rusty bridge over the mirror lake. Some cottages were sprinkled here and there, as well as plenty of trees and shrubbery.
The opposite branch of the U from the desert was a town much like Ponyville—not too urban, but hardly underdeveloped to be considered rural. Here sat a train yard with its engines and rolling stock, and a larger station where the Friendship Express sat, its original carriages undisturbed.
“This looks fantastic, Applejack,” Soapbox said, getting a closer look at the smaller workings of the model layout. “Not bad at all for someone just starting out.”
Applejack grinned. “Why thank ya kindly,” she said, switching on two of the controllers for the layout.
The Appleloosa Limited and Friendship Express started making their rounds on the track at a steady pace, often passing by one another near the middle of the U. The two ponies watched with appreciation as they clattered along.
“You got a name for this layout?” Soapbox asked.
“Name?” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “You name these?”
“Well, some ponies do. Kinda like a work of art—and this definitely looks like a work of art,” Soapbox explained.
Applejack hummed, tapping her chin in thought. Her eyes followed the Appleloosa Limited as it made its way along the foreground track back to the desert town. A smile crossed her muzzle.
“I think I’ll call it… ‘The Little Appleloosa.’”