My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Applebuck Season
A/N: Hello and welcome back to the first installment of my latest story! So, like I said last week, I do my best to post new chapters on Thursdays, and the only time that won't happen if I have work or something else going on, but that shouldn't happen too often like it did during the holidays.
Read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from My Little Pony: Magic is Friendship. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.
CHAPTER ONE: APPLES AND PROMISES
It was another bright sunny day in Ponyville, and over at Sweet Acres Farm, Applejack and her big brother, Big Macintosh, were standing on a hill that overlooked the vast apple orchards, and every single tree was filled with brilliant red, gold, and green apples.
"Boy howdy!" Applejack remarked, glancing at her brother, whose ribs had been bandaged for the past week after bruising them in an accident. "I got my work cut out for me. That there is the biggest bumper crop o' apples I ever laid eyes on."
"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed, eying the apples. "Too big for you to handle on your own."
"Come on, big brother!" Applejack protested. "You need to rest up and get yourself better. I haven't met an apple orchard yet that I can't handle." And she accidentally bumped his sore ribs, making him wince in pain. "Oops, sorry. I'll take a bite out of this job by day's end," she promised.
Big Mac gingerly rubbed his sore ribs with one hoof while looking at her skeptically. "Biting off more than you can chew is just what I'm afraid of."
"Are you sayin' my mouth is makin' promises my legs can't keep?" his sister challenged, frowning.
Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup."
"Why of all the…" Applejack growled, glaring at her big brother. "This is your sister Applejack, remember? The loyalest of friends and the most dependable of ponies?"
"But still only one pony, and one pony plus hundreds o' apple trees just doesn't add up to-" Big Mac began.
"Don't you use your fancy mathematics to muddy the issue!" Applejack interrupted, annoyance etching itself across her face. "I said I could handle this harvest and I'm gonna prove it to you. I'm gonna get every last apple out of those trees this applebuck season all by myself." She looked back at the apple trees while her brother sighed and went back to the house to rest up. After he was gone, she gulped.
'I hope that I didn't bite off more then I can chew,' she thought, heading down to the nearest trees that already had basket set up to catch the apples. "Well I better get kickin'. These apples aren't gonna shake themselves outta the trees." She raised her back legs to start kicking when the Earth suddenly shook and she nearly fell over. "Hey!" she protested, looking around and her face paled when she saw what was causing the shaking. "Oh no."
Meanwhile in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash was flying around when a faint rumbling reached her ears. Flying up a ways, she saw a massive cloud of dust heading toward the town, and she saw through the dust cloud a large herd of cows. "STAMPEDE!"
The moment they heard that word, the ponies began panicking and running away for their lives. "Stampede!"
Well, most of the ponies were panicking and running around, Pinkie Pie, however, was letting the vibrations of the incoming stampede bounce her around and she was laughing. "Hey…! This makes my voice sound silly!"
"Pinkie Pie, are you crazy?!" Twilight Sparkle yelped. "Run!"
"Get to the top of the buildings!" Sunrise Blossom ordered while trying to move Pinkie Pie to the nearest building for safety. "Come on, Pinkie! Move!"
Mayor Mare ran out of town hall, having been monitoring the situation and issued an order of her own. "Everypony calm down. There is no need to panic."
"But Mayor, whatever shall we do?" Rarity asked fearfully.
It was Rainbow Dash, who'd been keeping an eye on the stampeding cows, who answered and pointed toward the fleeing herd. "Look there!"
Coming up from behind the cow herd was Applejack and her collie dog, Winona. "YEEHAW!" she called out, running alongside the herd while in the town, the ponies all cheered. "Move aside, Winona," she instructed and her dog ran around the herd until she was on the opposite side. "Put 'em up, girl!" And Winona barked as they went to work on compacting the herd to make it easier to redirect them.
Down in Ponyville, the ponies watched and poor Rarity was moaning with fear. Pinkie pie, on the other hoof, was eating popcorn and watching with excitement.
"This is the best rodeo show I've ever seen," she announced, getting an eye roll from Sunrise Blossom while Twilight Sparkle sighed in an exasperated manner.
Meanwhile, Applejack and Winona were still working on stopping the stampeding cows. "Come on, little dogies! Turn!" She then whistled. "Winona, put 'em up!" And while she went leaping onto the nearest cow, the collie ran ahead until she was in front of the lead cow. Applejack leap-frogged from cow to cow until she was directly behind the lead cow. "Ha hah!" she laughed as she landed on the ground, keeping pace with the herd and then lassoed the lead cow with her rope. "Gotcha," she grunted.
Winona barked again as she shifted directions and Applejack steered the cow with her rope, moving away from the bridge that lead into Ponyville and over to a nearby pasture. "Attagirl. Yee haw!" And in the distance, the ponies cheered. Soon Applejack and the herd came to a stop and she tossed aside the rope. "Whoaaa. Hooie. Now what was that all about?" she demanded of the cows.
A cow named Daisy Jo first mooed and then she coughed once before answering. "Oh my! Begging your pardon, Applejack, but Mooriella here saw one of those nasty snakes," she explained while the other cows all shivered. "And it just gave us all the willies, don'tcha know."
"I completely understand," Applejack agreed, having been started by snakes herself from time to time. "Just next time, try and steer clear of Ponyville," she suggested.
"We certainly will, Applejack," Daisy Jo promised. "So long, Winona!" And she lead the cow herd back to where they belonged.
In town, the ponies cheered again as Applejack and Winona appeared on the hill and they chanted the pony's name. "Applejack!"
"Yee haw!" Applejack called back before heading back to the farm with Winona at her side.
Pinkie Pie went bouncing and kicking around. "Yee haw! Ride 'em, cowpony!"
"Applejack was just…just…" Mayor Mare said, trying to find the right word to describe what Applejack was.
"Appletastic!" Pinkie Pie squealed before face-planting in the dirt.
"Exactly," Mayor Mare agreed. "We must do something to thank Applejack for single-hoofedly saving the town."
Immediately Pinkie Pie bounced back onto her hoofs. "I know. A party!"
One week later, the ponies of Ponyville were getting ready to celebrate and thank Applejack for saving the town. Thanks to both Rarity and Pinkie Pie, the outside of Town Hall was decorated with banners, balloons, streamers, and Rarity was tying a red ribbon around a tree when Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Sunrise Blossom came over to check on everything.
"We all ready?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"Just one last thing." Rarity used her magic to lift up and positioned a large golden banner with green swirls and a big red apple in the center. "Now we're ready."
"Is Applejack all set?" Sunrise Blossom asked, looking forward to the celebration and was hopping it would go better then the Summertime Celebration.
Rainbow Dash flew down to join them. "Actually, I haven't seen her all week," she admitted.
"Not since the stampede," Pinkie Pie added, also joining them.
"But she'll be here for sure," Rainbow Dash said confidently. "Applejack is never late."
Soon enough, it was time for the celebration and Twilight Sparkle stood behind the podium that'd been set up in front of Town Hall, organized the cards that her speech was written on, and she began speaking. "Welcome, everypony! Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small. A pony whose contributions to-"
Rainbow Dash suddenly knocked both her and the cards aside. "Did you see Applejack's slick moves out there?" she asked eagerly. "What an athlete. This week she's gonna help me with my new flying trick, and I know it's gonna be so awesome."
Getting up, Twilight Sparkle nudged her aside, retrieved her cards, and tried to resume her speech. "Exactly. And…"
Pinkie Pie suddenly popped up in front of her. "This week, I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time," she announced.
"What does that have to do with Applejack?" Twilight Sparkle asked, annoyed as she peered around her friend.
"Oh," said Pinkie Pie. "Applejack, one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me. Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for everypony!" And the gathered ponies cheered.
Twilight Sparkle shoved her aside, hoping to get through her speech. "Oh-kay, that's great," she said. "Now if I could just make a point without being inter-"
Fluttershy slid up next to the podium. "Twilight?"
"-rupted," Twilight Sparkle grumbled, moving aside.
"Twilight, I'm so sorry," Fluttershy apologized, "but I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny census, where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season. She's gonna help gather them using her wonderful herding skills." She then softly smiled and rejoined the crowd.
Twilight Sparkle stepped back up to the podium and looked around, annoyed. "Anyone else? Anyone? No? Well then, as I was trying to say…" she began and then trailed off when she saw that the mayor was standing nearby with a hopeful smile. "Urgh! Never mind." She tossed her cards aside and stormed off.
Mayor Mare took her place behind the podium and cleared her throat. "Ah-ahem. And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the prize," and she gestured to a large gold trophy with a blue ribbon attached to it, "Pony of Ponyville Award, to our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend: Applejack!"
The curtains opened and the crowd cheered for several seconds before they realized that there was no sign of the pony.
"Cool!" Spike cheered and jumped up and down. "Way to go Applejack, that was awesome!" He then realized that every pony was staring at him and his face went a dark purple with embarrassment. "I mean- heh." And when no pony said anything, other then the mayor clearing her throat, his face darkened further. "Awkward."
`"I'm here. I'm here,"` Applejack's voice called out and she appeared as the crowd parted for her. She had two baskets of apples that were falling to the ground as she yawned and sighed, moving through the crowd. "Sorry I'm late – whoa – I was just…whoa…Did I get your tail?" She reached the front steps. "Miss Mayor. Thank you kindly for this here…award thingy," she said to the crowd, looking like she hadn't been getting a lot of sleep and she yawned again as she went to look at the trophy. "It's so bright and shiny and, heh, heh heh," she giggled at her reflection in the gold surface "I sure do look funny heh. Ooo-ooo." She was joined by Pinkie Pie and they made silly sounds at their reflections.
"Okay," said Twilight Sparkle after this went on for a full minute. "Well, thank you Applejack for saving us from that scary stampede, and always being there for everypony."
Applejack yawned. "Yeah. I like helping the ponyfolks and" she yawned "and stuff." She then drifted off and snored a little before waking up with a start. "Oh, uh, yeah. Uh, Thanks." She then clamped one of the handles in her teeth and dragged the trophy off as she headed back to the farm.
Twilight Sparkle watched her friend leave, and she was immediately concerned. "Was it just me, or did Applejack seem a little-" she began.
"Tired?" Rainbow Dash suggested.
"Dizzy?" Fluttershy offered.
"Messy?" Rarity guessed and earned a few looks. "Well, did you see her mane?"
"She seemed fine to me," said Pinkie Pie. "Woo! Woo!"
Twilight Sparkle and Sunrise Blossom shared a look, since they both were positive that something was off about their friend. "Hmm."
A/N: And that's a wrap for the start of this story. See you all next week! R&R everyone!