Fallout: the Return

Chapter 9: Party

<>~Applejack’s PoV~<>

It was morning at around six thirty when the rooster crowed, causing me to open my eyes slowly. My sleep faded some more as the rooster crowed again, giving me enough energy to shift in bed. The smell of cooking eggs, fresh brewed coffee, and the crackle of a frying pan woke me up completely. Looking to my right, I let out a sigh at the empty place next to me.

For almost four years since my daughter was born, I had been waking up to a bed without a stallion to act as her father. Big Macintosh was just fine, but he was my brother.Rolling out of bed, I landed on my four hooves and walked over to my bedroom mirror. My long blond mane and tail were let down from their usual ponytails, and needed to be combed from tossing and turning, my dreams ranging from sweet as sugar to horrid as Hell.Ignoring the bad dreams - they weren’t really nightmares - I asked myself something important… Could I do it today? Make myself presentable, go outside without my clothes, and try to find a stallion to help raise my daughter?My exposed orange coat in the mirror only made me look down with a pained wince. I couldn’t… no stallion would ever want me after what Orion did to me.A few steps over to my dresser, I pulled out a pair of pink panties, jeans, and a blue button-up shirt, courtesy of Rarity. Without clothing, I just felt exposed, like anypony could see under my tail and tell what happened. Worse, not only was I the toy for Orion’s pleasure; I had failed to protect Fluttershy. My failure ended with both of us in that same cage.I had been ashamed of myself every day since then. Every time I look in the mirror, I only see a pony who failed miserably to defend herself, and her friend.I had already dressed in my panties and jeans by the time Tigris opened the door. My daughter slowly trotted in, unsure if I was awake. She spotted me and ran while I was partially done buttoning up my shirt, hugging my bright orange forelegs with her own rust-colored reddish-orange forelegs.“Mornin’ Mommy,” Tigris said in her cute accent, almost sounding like Applebloom at her age. For that moment, I forgone my self-loathing and smiled.“Good mornin’, Tigris,” I said, my mood brightening with every second she was with me. Tigris was probably the only thing keeping me together; reminding me that I wasn’t a total failure. So far, everypony – especially Granny – was telling me I was raising her up right. Granny might not have approved of me having Tigris out of wedlock, but after I broke down and told the truth about what happened, Granny understood and set her stubbornness aside to help me with my daughter.The heavy clip-clop of hooves outside my door alerted me to Big Macintosh’s presence, and my old door creaked open once more as Macintosh entered.He nodded and spoke, “Sis, breakfast is ready.” He looked down and smiled at his young niece before leaving. Words couldn’t describe how shocked, horrified, and excited he was to be an uncle after I returned home. He also was angry with Jason for obvious reasons, but then the anger towards him turned to seething hatred for the Legion.Finishing with buttoning my shirt, I crouched low, Tigris hopping on my back for a ride with a smile inducing giggle. Fluttershy was right about family, they help make the pain bearable. She deserves Jason, and I know he wants to help raise his daughter. A selfish part of me wanted a stallion as well. Somepony to wake up beside and know that no matter what happened to me, he’d love me.Shoving those thoughts to the back of my mind, I left my room, went down the stairs, and entered the kitchen. In our kitchen we had a large dining table and five chairs. Applebloom was already in her chair, dressed in that brown duster coat and fake Ranger armor Rarity had made for her. Granny and Big Macintosh were humming together, working at the woodstove cooking what smelled like pancakes.I didn’t have to tell Tigris to get off my back. When there’s food around, she moves faster than lightning. My daughter hopped off my back, ran and climbed in her chair, patiently awaiting her food. Even though she was running a mile-a-minute, her hooves didn’t even make a sound on the wooden floor.She may not speak that well, but she learned fast how to move quickly and quietly.As I sat at the table, Big Macintosh and Granny set the plates down. Each one held scrambled eggs and grits, along with two pancakes, so my sense of smell told me right. Tigris’ plate only had one small pancake, covered in butter and syrup.We didn’t speak while eating breakfast; we had to go ahead and chow down our food to beat the coming daytime heat. Well, most of us didn’t speak. “Uncle Mack, drink coffee?” Tigris asked, holding out her forehooves like she was reaching for the mug my brother held.Big Macintosh chuckled and took a sip from his mug, “Enope.”“But-”“Nope,” Big Macintosh restated. Tigris looked down, pursing her lips in an almost cute pout.“Big Macintosh,” I asked, catching his attention before I continued, “why don’t we let her try it? She might not like it.”My brother rolled his eyes and slid Tigris his half empty mug across the table. He liked it black as tar, but me, I prefer iced-tea over that bland mug of bitter that he calls a suitable drink.Tigris took the cup in her hooves, taking a big sip; she made a spitting sound as she scrunched her face at the bitter taste. Then she drank the rest down and asked for more.“My great granddaughter is a country girl through and through,” Granny commented with a few chuckles, taking her own seat at the head of the table behind an almost literal mountain of pancakes.

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Breakfast was finished shortly after I discovered Tigris liked coffee. We all headed outside to do the day’s work, Applebloom running off towards my old treehouse ready to try and earn her cutie mark again with her crusader friends. For land’s sake I hoped she didn’t try and get her cutie mark as an NCR Ranger again.Still, they no longer had trouble getting called Blank Flanks by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Shortly after donning their Ranger Armor for the first time, Sweetie Belle broke Diamond Tiara’s nose after she made a snide comment about Rarity’s scars.I’m not one to promote violence, but the filly had it coming after all the grief she gave my little sis. Still, they’re fifteen, they should have had their marks long ago.Ignoring the notion my sister may never get her cutie mark, I neared the barn, there Tigris and I began dragging out buckets to take to the orchard as Macintosh loaded the apple cart. It was his turn to stock and run the stall in town today. After dragging out twenty buckets, we set them in groups of five under different trees.Shortly after placing the last bucket, Tigris did something she never done before. Spinning on her forehooves, she bucked, completely missing the tree and falling flat on her belly. “Whoops,” she giggled, “I misted, Momma.”“You missed,” I corrected with a humourous grunt. According to Nurse Redheart, her speech was developing at an average pace, but not as fast as Leo who was speaking in fluent sentences. Fluttershy was supposed to be bringing him around twelve today, so the party could get set up and started around four o’clock and end a few hours later.“I missed,” Tigris said correctly. Planted her little forehooves on the ground, she bucked again, hitting the tree. A single apple fell, hitting me square in the hat. The reason it was ready to fall from the soft buck was because it was rotten, and splattered to applesauce when it hit me. The result was Tigris rolling on the ground in a giggling fit.“Apple hit you, momma.”“Yes, an apple hit me,” I laughed, shaking bits of rotten apple off of me and smiling with pride, “My daughter, a true Apple to the core.”Together under the hot summer sun, we bucked the apple trees, every one of the red fruits falling down and collecting into the buckets we had placed around. Midway through finishing up our second tree, Tigris stole an apple from a bucket and took a large bite of the fruit.My heart jumped when she started hacking, having bit off more than she could chew. Thankfully by the time I reached her, she coughed up the wad of apple.“Slow down,” I warned, “Take small bites, ya nearly gave me a heart attack.”She nodded, catching her breath after all the coughing, “Yes, momma,” she responded. Then she took a smaller bite. A really small bite; almost to the point I wouldn’t consider it a bite, having broke the skin of the apple and barely bringing any of the fruit with it.

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After half an hour and ten buckets of apples later, Granny walked up with glasses of iced tea on a plate she carried, Winona following her and barking happily. Four years ago she was a playful puppy. Now she was an even bigger, playful goofball the size of my daughter, which was smaller than the human world’s dogs. Twilight figured up that ponies averaged waist height when compared to a human, and the now adult Winona was only knee high to me.“I brought some drink for my grand-fillies,” Granny said with a motion to the plate resting on her back.“Thanks, Granny,” I told her as I took a glass.“Thanks, Granny,” Tigris said, taking her own glass in hoof.Granny nodded, “That’s some mighty fine work young’uns. Do ya’ think you could go ahead n’ paint the barn?”Aw shucks, that was on today’s chore list? If I go ahead and stop picking apples, since we have more than enough for tomorrows cart to town, I could get the barn painted.“Okay,” I said with a nod. “I guess we can since you went through the trouble t’ bring us this delicious iced-tea,” I said jokingly.Granny rolled her eyes and laughed, letting us finish our tea before taking the glasses back inside.

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Two or three hours later, it was hard to tell since we had no clocks outside, our coats were a different array of colors. It varied from our natural coats, to red, white, and a bit of yellow. Even after our new coats of paint, we were only quarter-way finished by the time Fluttershy arrived with Leo and that Nightstalker.Fluttershy trusted it, and with her ability to talk to animals, as well as Leo’s ability, I had no reason not to. Still, I kept a watchful eye on the thing.Upon our two kids seeing each other, screaming, playing, and all around chaos happened as they ran around the barn.“Howdy, Shy,” I greeted with a wave, Leo flying over my head to tackle Tigris. She retaliated by kicking him off with her hind legs, sending the pegasus into a tailspin that landed him in a pile of hay.Fluttershy winced at the roughhousing but greeted me, saying, “Hello, Applejack. I’m so sorry I forgot to mention you’d have to keep Rattles as well,” she shrunk to hide behind her mane, ears splaying back.I looked at the Nightstalker, who yawned and rolled on his back, showing me his fleshy belly while scratching his scaled back on the grass. The thing could be cute, if you could ever call the slap together of two varmints cute. All the dangerousness of a rattlesnake, and the tendency to eat your chickens of a coyote, all shoved into one animal. Nightstalkers, I realized, were an animal derived from a farmer’s worst Nightmare.Still, it somehow managed to look maybe possibly a-little-bit cute.“I don’t mind, Shy,” I said, waving my hoof. The still somewhat shy mare looked back from behind her mane, her old scar showing slightly before she could cover it over with mane, “How’ve you been?”“Leo kept me up half the night on a cupcake fueled ceiling crawling spree. He used to do that when he was a little colt, but he got too heavy for his wings. Now I created my own personal monster,” She giggled, “I loved every minute of it. At first it was annoying, but as soon as he started giggling, it turned into a fun game of upside-down chase. Jason, being the heavy sleeper he is, slept through it all.”The bright, motherly smile on her face was contagious, showing on my face as I told her, “Tigris tried apple bucking today. She knocked one apple off the tree.”“Oh my, that’s wonderful!” Fluttershy exclaimed in joy as her eyes went wide.“Well,” I said blushing and rubbing the back of my head, “It was a rotten one, and splattered on my head.”“Oh,” Fluttershy said, her smile fading slightly. It returned along with giggles, “But you have to admit, that’s so adorable.”If she thought a single rotten apple was adorable, she should see Tigris trying to paint. She had put almost as much paint on herself as she did the barn.Fluttershy looked down and shook her head slowly, “Sorry, Applejack, but I have to go help set up the party. Sugarcube Corner at four, I’ll come and pick up both Leo and Rattles… oh, and he can turn invisible.”“What?” I asked, arching my brows, but Fluttershy took off in a hurry. I swore she said – Rattles appeared out of thin air – invisible.Did Fluttershy just pull a Rainbow Dash so she wouldn’t have to explain the question?I shook my head while grinding a hoof against my forehead, “This is gonna be one of those day’s ain’t it?” I asked the Nightstalker.Rattles just flopped over and presented his belly to me again, Leo and Tigris were still playing in circles around the barn.I sat on the grass a few minutes, absentmindedly scratching the Nightstalker’s warm belly while watching Leo occasionally fly to get an edge over his faster sister. For a full blooded earth pony, Tigris was built for speed: fast as well as powerful.“Hey, Momma,” I jumped in surprise, turning to face Tigris. She was also built for stealth, easily sneaking up on me on multiple occasions.“Hey, little sugarcube,” I said. I was too focused on Leo’s almost graceful flying to notice her sneak up behind me.“Tag!” Yelled Leo as he tapped his sister on the head, flying off at high speed. He attempted to turn mid-flight. He failed spectacularly with an almost filly-like squeal of shock, and landed in the same pile of hay Tigris kicked him into. Tigris ran past me, dove into said pile of hay, yelled ‘Tag’, and ran back out.

<>~Fluttershy’s PoV~<>

“So Fluttershy,” Pinkie said with a smile, “You want this party to be great, or abso-positutely-beyond-all-shadow-of-a-doubt the best-gosh-darn party ever?” She had to pant upon finishing the entire sentence, Raul chuckling and patting her on the back.“Dios mío,” Raul groaned, “Hablas Pinkie rápido.”“I do not talk fast,” Pinkie shot back, her smile growing impossibly wide, cluing me in on what Raul had said, “I just get super excited.” Pinkie was practically bouncing with enthusiastic energy, “This is Leo’s one and only cute-ceañera, and in the words of a neurotic Twilight, ‘Everything, must be,perfect.’”“The second option please,” I said with a nod, “If that isn’t too much trouble.” I let some of my old timidness resurface for effect.“Okie-Dokie-Loki!” Pinkie Pie beamed as she leapfrogged over Raul, eliciting a chuckle from the ghoul. Now standing beside me, Pinkie pulled out her party cannon, pressing the oversized pink button on top with a hoof. The relatively large cannon roared with the sound of party horns as confetti and other party supplies landed perfectly on tables.It took only minutes for the entire party to be set up. Pinkie was a flurry of movement with her cannon, Mr. and Mrs. Cake started baking new treats for the coming party, all the while Raul and I stood with nothing really to do but talk.“So,” I began, “How are you and Pinkie doing?”“Well,” Raul started, smiling at the question, “So far, I feel better with her than I felt in over two hundred years. Pinkie actually manages to make me feel like I’m the young man I used to be. Last night, we sat for hours in one of the booths talking about everything. I have no doubt in my mind we can work as a couple.”“That’s great,” I said, looking down to the floor to see Chrome curled up.“Hey Chrome, how are you feeling?”The silver colored ex-Legion Mongrel didn’t even regard me, making Raul chuckle at my dissapointment.“Don’t fret about Chrome. Pinkie told me he sleeps half the day. He’s old and worn out, a bit like me,” Raul chuckled at his own remark about his age.Pinkie zipped over to us, giving raul a light kiss on the cheek, and whispering quickly in his ear something Spanish. I couldn’t understand it, but from Raul’s blush, I could tell I didn’t want to know.Going back to her party cannon blasting, Pinkie had the entire decorations of the party set up in minutes instead of the hour or so I thought it would take.

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Walking into the farmhouse of Sweet Apple Acres, I looked to the couch beside the door and gasped. Applejack was clothless, covered in dry red paint, and caked in dirt. All the while my son and his half-sister were chasing each other around the house, occasionally stopping to fight.They did a lot of that, tackling and grappling unlike other foals their age I knew of. My best guess for their constant tussles was that it was the human in them showing.Looking down at Applejack, I started giggling. I was going to say something witty…“Please don’t start with me,” she said, both tired and annoyed, “I had a long day.”I wasn’t offended by her tone of voice, I knew what it was like to be worn out and have your temper on a hair trigger. The terrible twos with Leo was the most stress I had ever felt, even going above the stress of participating in the tornado to get water from the reservoir to the clouds.Applejack let out a groan, and the retelling of all that happened began, “First, their tag game lasted a solid five minutes before I was trespassing in the land of King Rattles. Leo and Tigris used a few empty apple baskets and Applebloom’s wooden wagon to construct some sort of a hasty fort against the side of the barn. I don’t know which young'uns idea it was, but Leo crowned Rattles king with a old metal lunch pail.”I let out a laugh, Leo was in the fort building stage of foalhood, constantly stealing covers, pillows, and couch cushions to form plushy walls and barricades to defend Baron Daddy from Mrs. Eagle. I was the villain responsible for tearing down the walls, my son running away from me in a screaming and laughing fit.As I was reminiscing, Applejack continued, “Then they started playing tag again, deciding to drag me into the game. I tripped over one of the paint buckets we had set to paint the barn, accidentally coloring myself red even through my clothes.”I had to suppress a giggle so I wouldn’t make the tired mare angry.“After that, it was hide-and-go seek, which was extremely difficult since we added Rattles to our little game. I only found him by tripping over him, which the still-then wet paint collected a gosh-darned absurd amount of dirt and leaves.”“Where is Rattles?” I asked, arching my brow when I realized he wasn’t in here.Leo overheard my question and ran over to me, “With Winona Mommy; I played preacher so they can be mommy and daddy now.”I let out an “eep,” that matched my priceless look of of horror. Tigris and Leo ran off again to play some more.“Eeyup,” Applejack said in the trademark style of her brother, “Be careful what you say and do ‘round your son. Kid’s got an imagination on him.”I shook the dumbfounded look off my face and rolled my eyes, “I know. Why don’t you think I haven’t brought him to Rainbow’s cloud house?”“Other than the fact that when Rainbow and Nolan ain’t ruttin’, they’re sleepin’,” Applejack’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “I have no idea.”It was extremely awkward when Rainbow began giving me ‘tips’ on how to do certain things; but hey, Jason’s not complaining.I winced at the crash of something heavy sounding, running off to catch the kids, all the while Applejack tried to peel herself off the couch with a grunt.

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I couldn’t find Winona and Rattles, so Leo, Applejack, Tigris, and I had to run to Sugarcube Corner without them, which disappointed both Leo and Tigris.Opening the door to the sweet shop, the inside was dark, but not for long.The lights snapped on with a loud clack, followed by the cliche, “Surprise,” from everypony already in attendance. A banner attached to one of the decorative interior archways read, “Congratulations on the Cutie Mark, Leo!”“Wow,” Leo exclaimed in awe as he looked around at all the balloons, bright colored boxes, and ponies, smiling like the colt he was.Leo ran past me to hug Jason, laughing and smiling. I noticed a small grimace from Applejack, but she tried to hide it by smiling.Also in attendance were Rainbow Dash and her husband Nolan Dash – they both decided to keep Dash as their last names – were talking. I nearly gasped upon seeing Rainbow’s combed and evenly cut mane and tail, along with a simple dress for social events. To me it seemed that the girliness Rarity lost on becoming a Marked Mare – she often referred to herself as one – found the normally tomcoltish Rainbow.Discord also made an appearance while disguised as a normal pony, and apologized about leaving after Leo was taken. I, of course, forgave him and Leo’s shout of uncle could be heard over the sound of the crowd and music.My eyes then landed on Rarity. Even with half her face torn down to muscle, she was unafraid to be seen, and was talking with Christine, as well as Twilight.I stayed near the wall, watching my son enjoy himself with his hard working father. Being an mailpony without the aid of wings requires a lot of walking, meaning a lot of times Jason was too tired to play with Leo, but he did his best. A few minutes in the door opened and I cast a glance towards whom it was, gasping as Princess Celestia stepped inside.The music cut off, stopping the party as most ponies bowed low and respectful, leaving Jason, Raul, Christine, and Twilight standing. The former three had no idea it was custom to bow to Celestia, and the latter was of equal status.“There is no need to bow, my subjects. I am here to enjoy the company of my wonderful little ponies,” Celestia said as she waved a hoof, allowing Luna to enter.The party started off full swing again shortly after Celestia and Luna’s arrival. Leo was smiling and dancing as the CMC’s congratulated him, Tigris keeping close to Leo.Applejack was sitting on a barstool, sipping a glass of punch as she kept a watch on Tigris.Music and games were had, Pinkie playing the same song she performed on a phonograph when parasprites came to town, and danced with Leo, his giggles of joy their own music to my ears.Walking closer to Rarity, Twilight, and Christine, Princess Celestia joined us. I wanted to cower away from Celestia, but I knew I didn’t need to fear.“Hello, you must be Christine,” Celestia said. Her eyes didn’t read judgement or curiosity, they held the same love she shown all of us. Even with Christine’s horrible facial scars, her eyes passed no judgement.Christine gave a nod, even with her shorter than average stature, she held no fear in her tone, “Yes. I am honored to speak to you, Princess, Twilight wouldn't stop giving me every little detail about you.”“Oh, I’m sure she has.” Celestia asked with a chuckle, “I nearly helped raise her from the amount of times she refused to leave school grounds to sleep. If I am not mistaken by Twilight’s almost constant stream of letters the last few days, you yourself have taken a grasp to magic quite quickly.”Christine nodded, “I wanted to help her try and understand why I appeared in this world, so I learned magic. Surprisingly, I haven’t had too much difficulty understanding the basics under Twilight’s tutelage. It’s all concentration and focus.”Celestia nodded, “Good. Are you enjoying the kingdom?”Christine shrugged, “It’s strange seeing the sun again, but I’m adapting. Your subjects are very well mannered and unconcerned with my scars.”“LET US PARTAKE IN THE DANCING!” Luna bellowed with a raise of her hoof, making me cover my ears. Celestia rolled her eyes and apologized, making her way over to Luna to teach her how to act in public.

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It was almost an hour into the party when everypony froze in shock. Out of nowhere, a blue light, like that of a firefly, appeared hovering almost a meter off the floor.Princess Celestia and Luna scanned the blue light with their magic, coming up with the only conclusion of it being solely magic in origin.Squinting to get a better look, the blue light grew rapidly in size, making me - and most of the other ponies - gasp as it shifted to an eerie blue glow. For the briefest of seconds, I saw a strange human turning to white-blue ashes. The ashes shifted as if a wind had caught them, sending them flying toward the blue. The ghostly blue light winked out just in time for the newcomer turned pony to slam into Applejack, pinning her in a compromising looking position.With a pained grunt, the human I saw turn to ash and reform like a phoenix blinked, looked at Applejack with dark brown eyes and spoke in a low, rumbling voice, “What in the name of Joshua Graham’s God just happened?”“You tell me, but first, get off’a me!” Applejack yelled, pushing against the stallions chest with her hooves. He looked down, seeming to notice for the first time that he had her pinned. His black and white striped cheeks turned red as he hastily backed away from her.Wait... black and white?The human turned zebra got off of Applejack quickly, but had trouble trying to move his legs. His long, sleeveless black duster bore saddlebags: one had a black respirator - like a painter would wear - attached to it, and the other bore a golden bull against a red flag.Sweetie Belle - I guess Rarity had told her who she fought - noticed the symbol just as soon as I did, gasping in shock and pointing.“Legion,” she seethed as she pointed a hoof threateningly at the golden bull plastered to the saddlebag.A dark blue aura ripped the zebra into the air by his neck, Princess Luna staring him right into the eyes. The zebra clawed at the aura of magic with his hooves, desperately trying to breath. Luna barely gave his struggles a glance, tightening her hold if anything.Her voice came out low, seething with barely contained hatred. I could almost imagine Nightmare Moon speaking the words Luna spoke as her eyes narrowed to slits, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t trap you in an endless nightmare for all the pain your Legion has caused.”“Sister, calm down!” Celestia warned, stepping towards Luna, “There are children here. Withhold your temper.”Luna grit her teeth and I could see the zebra’s skin clamp tighter around his neck as he struggled for air. She blinked, and let go of him with a heavy sigh. The zebra fell to the ground, coughing loudly as he massaged his neck with a hoof.“The rage in you burns like fire,” the zebra wheezed, breathing hard as he glanced up to Luna, his eyes holding regret, “and it is true that I deserve it.”“I know that voice,” Rarity said, walking through the crowd of ponies with a look of astonishment, passing Luna to stand a few feet away from the zebra.The zebra weakly faced Rarity, staring at her for a moment. “The half-marked from the Divide,” he noted with a grunt.“Darling,” Rarity spoke slow and coolly, a small smile forming, “It’s been far too long… Ulysses.”