A normal day bucking will turn out to be anything but!
our heroine will find something far from ordinary lurking somewhere close to her heart and home, and this will lead her on a trail of discovery that would make anypony envious!
It was a hot summer sun that beat down upon the deep red fur of big Macintosh, his sister's vibrant orange coat glistened in the dazzling light, her three-apple cutie mark bobbing up and down. "are y'okay with that big Mac?" "Eeyup " "that new harness still chafin'?" "Nope" They trundled along in a happy silence, his wagon already piled high with apples, hers yet to be filled with the fresh, ripe cider apples from the south field. The south field had not been quite the same since Flim & flam's disastrous visit a year earlier. Applejack loved the south field... It was where she'd bucked her very first apple tree, and the place where she sought refuge when things got tough. They clambered up the familiar hill, coming to the top of the atoll. In a few steps, they would see it. Applejack's whole body tingled in anticipation. She found herself already there, remembering other hot days spent there when she was just a filly, her flank as blank as a canvas. Now you jus' cut that out, Applejack! she told herself silently. You know ya oughtn't get so attached to thangs! Now c'mon! There's cider apples to be bucked!! They topped the hill, and there, Spread beneath them lay... Nothing... Absolute nothingness, save for a whole field of dirt and a few wisps of grass... Applejack reared up, whinnying in disbelief. "What in tarnation..? Where's all the trees, the apples?! I mean they're just gone!" "Eeyup" big Mac mumbled in horror. Applejack settled herself, and began to think. "I don't get it... A whole field of apples can't just disappear, can it?!" big Mac considered that thought. Confusion flashed, briefly, across his face. At last, he gave a doleful "nope" and sat down and did the most surprising thing- he began to cry, bawling his eyes out in the mud. "oh c'mon now big Mac... 'T ain't that bad... Jus' a few trees gone 's all..." offered Applejack hopelessly. "ain't it? this ain't 'Jus a few trees' its the whole field! There ain't never been nothin' this bad on sweet apple acres since the drought... We ain't gonna have enough apples to make cider for the town... Its awful....” “awful? I’ll tell ya what it is, it’s jus’ plain impossible! T’ain’t no-one what knows ‘bout the south field ‘cept members of the apple family, but none of them’d do somethin’ like this... and the hired farmhands... nah, we trust ‘em too much... but someone’s to blame!” “Eeyup” snifed big Mac. Applejack wandered, dumbstruck, down to what was left of the field. All around Her lay roots and huge lumps of wood. Everything else, Trees, leaves AND apples was just gone. Gargantuan piles of dirt rose like mountains from the ground. Applejack gazed at them in awe. “what the... these must have somethin’ to do with what happened here...”she mused silently. She stood looking and thinking for a few moments. Then with a sad resignation tinting her voice, she said “c’mon big Mac, we’d better tell the rest of them the bad news...” “Eeyup” he agreed solemnly. Then, in a gloomy, almost mournful silence, they walked back to the farm buildings. Dejectedly, Applejack took one final look at the field, and continued on her way; the shine having seemed to have disappeared from her tarnished copper body.
Applebloom hummed to herself noncholantly, scrubbing at a particulariy stubbon, greyish-brown stain; her small hooves moving in a mechanesque way. Any other day, her family would have been treated to a large amount of complaining and whining at her being asked to perform this simple chore, but today wasn't any other day, today was anything but! On this day, she, simple, little Applebloom had been selected. Out of all of them, she had been chosen to set the bar. Ah still can't believe it! she thought. ahm gonna give the first ever speech at the first ever meet of both the ponyville and manehattan branches of the crusaders! she paused in her scrubbing, staring out of the window, envisaging herself in front of hundreds of foals of all kinds and colours, each one of them hanging, enraptured, on her every word. ah'll bet there'll be hundreds, or maybe even thousands of 'em (babs having mysteriously 'forgotten' to mention the actual numbers). She resumed her mundane task, lost in her dream. Y'know, she mused I might jus' get mah cutie mark in public speakin'!
Applejack and Big Mac stormed through the heavy wooden door, trotting in an annoyed but desponant fashion. Applebloom whirled around, jolted fom her reverie. "well hey there, what took you so long?" she stopped, noticing the expression on their faces. "what's up?" Applejack paused for a moment, planning her sentence. "well, you see sugarcube... I aint sure how to put this but... somethings happened, somethin bad." "eeyup" big mac said, smiling reassuringly at his little sister. "what is it?!" she waild, her little eyes beginning to fill with tears. "is it granny Smith? or maybe winona?! Ah knew it was to quiet! is it bad, has sh-" she was cut off by Applejack thrusting a hoof in her mouth. "It ain't Winona. Or granny Smith. It's worse. the farm itself is the one in trouble... The Whole South field to be precise!" she detailed her findings to Applebloom, and after her tale was complete, Applebloom just stood looking at her, dumbstruck. "The whole field? the trees, the apples... even the dirt?!" "Eeyup" "not even a trace of 'em?" "No Applebloom, no trace... Jus' these huge piles of dirt..." "but... who'd do this? or what, and How?" "We don' rightly know" "Nope" Big Mac shook his heavy head, his shaggy mane following the movement. "well, if y' don' know, find out!" "but how? there ain't nothin' to use! We'm jus' gonna have to get use to it..." "Eeyup" "But... But I..." "Ah'm sorry, But theres nothin we can do... The trees are gone, so we gonna hafta work even Harder to make up for it!" Applebloom stood there for a few moments, trying to think of a way to somehow make the situation better, but her mind drew a blank. finally, she had to agree. "Ah guess you're right" she said hoplessly. And with that, she wen't upstairs to bed, her eyes downcast the whole way. AppleJack looked to her older brother for help, but he just shook his head, before he too went upstairs. She sighed, and sat down, her head in her hooves, trying to think of a plan to work around this catastrophe. After many hours, she gave up, and followed her siblings upstairs. As she plodded along the way to her room, a thought struck her: whatever did this was big, and powerful. But what was it? or who was it? how did they manage it? but the most important thing she could think was simple. What happens next?
That night, Applebloom didn't sleep. She tossed and turned, she pondered paradoxes and counted apples, but try as she might, her thoughts kept returning to the missing apples, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding their disappearance. ah've got it! she thought to herself, the beautiful, brilliant gem of an idea already forming in her mind. firs' thang tommorrow, ah'll get the g- she stopped short, as the sudden realisation hit her. ah'll be on mah own.... this is apple family business, no other ponies allowed, its tradition.... oh, they'll be crushed if'n they think i done had an adventure without 'em. Aww hay, what'm ah 'sposed to do about it? she sat there thinking for a while, before she finally fell into a fitful sleep.
The next morning, Applebloom trotted downstairs, to find her elder siblings sat at the table, tired, troubled and hopeless. "Mornin'!" she said cheerily "hey now... Why so grim? ah' Jus had the greatest idea!" At these words, her sister turned to face her, brightening a little. "really Applebloom? You got a plan that'll get them apple-thievin' varmints, get us our apples back, unharmed mind, an' all in time fer cider season?" "Well... Yeah, that's the idea!" she laughed. Applejack thought. "ah don' know sis. Seein' how your cutie mark plans have gone..." "You doubt me?" Applebloom asked, tears forming in her eyes. "how 'bout you Big Mac? d'you think ah can do it?" the stallion studied his sister. He knew her determination, gutsy resolve and sharp mind. He knew she could do anything she wanted enough. "Eeyup" he said with a decisive nod. "Tell ya what: you do this, an' ah'll let you lead in this years sisterhood social." Applejack offered "Yer on! or as Scootaloo would say, challenge accepted! An' I might get mah cutie mark too!" Applejack looked at the exited little filly. "Ah thought you crusaders agreed to only crusade together?" "we did, and I was worried about that at first, but then ah realised- this ain't crusadin', this is apple family duty!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- once she was outside, she quickly reveiwed her plan of action.she reached over, as pinkie had taught her, and pulled a grey detective hat and matching magnifying glass from thin air. "here ah go- Detective Applebloom, off to find clues!" with that final remark, she trotted off, up the hill to the south field. when she arrived, however. she was greeted by the same horrific sight as AJ; nothing but mounds of dirt with occasional roots sticking up. "oh mah gosh!this is... horrible"she looked around, and all the time, something was niggling at her. "these look familiar, but ah can't think where from! It's infuriatin'." she hung around for a while, before calling it a day. her stomach grumbled loudly. "p'haps a trip to sugarcube corner 'll help..." she scampered off, her order already forming in her mind.
