The Striped Apples

"Are ya'll ready ta rock!?", Rockstar yelled from behind the mic, hyping the crowd.  The mob of ponies went insane, chanting, "Rockstar," in unison.

"Rockstar, Rockstar, Rockstar," he was soaking it up on stage, enjoying every moment of it.  "Rockstar, Rockstar, Rockstar,"  Rockstar couldn't tell if it was because of the hearing damage, but the crowd's chant seemed to be focusing into one voice.

"ROCKSTAR!", Applejack yelled, making Rockstar jump out of bed and landed on the floor with a thud.  "C'mon Rockstar, morning comes early at Sweet Apple Acres,"

Rockstar groaned, reaching a hoof up to the bed to grab a pillow.  He threw the pillow in Applejack's general direction, missing by a mile.

"C'mon Rockstar, wake up," Applejack continued to try to coax the stallion out of his sleep as she flicked on the light switch.  This prompted a grow from Rockstar as he rolled over to face the floorboards and retrieve another pillow to throw at his cousin. He missed again, but was getting closer to hitting his mark.  "Fine, I guess you'll miss breakfast."

At the mention of food, Rockstar sprung up and grabbed his saddlebags at a speed unimaginable by most, all while screaming, "I'm up! I'm up."  Rockstar unfurled his wings and took off though the open door, barely missing his cousin.

THUD!

"Ow!", Rockstar was sprawled out on his back. "Hey AJ, there's a wall right there,"  Applejack chuckled as she walked past her strange cousin.

Rockstar squinted his eyes, which had still not adjusted to the light level, and stumbled down the hall.  "Knew I should'a put on my glasses," Rockstar muttered.  As he continued to shuffle down the hall, he did not notice that he was approaching the staircase.

THUD THUNK BAM THUD

After bouncing down many stairs, Rockstar again layed sprawled out on the floor at the bottom. Rockstar staried at the floorboards for a moment.  'Yeah, definitely should'a put on my glasses,' He thought to himself.  He looked up to see a small yellow filly with a big red bow on top of her head staring at him in confusion.

"Who are you?", she asked, still staring at the strange visitor.

Rockstar stood up slowly, now awake due to the blunt force trauma.  "Mornin' Applebloom, I'm your cousin Rockstar,"  he could see that the young filly did not recognize him.  "I met you when you were too you to remember me, I came here to Ponyville ta visit ya'll."

The filly continued to stare at Rockstar.  He put on a small smile and tried to guess which one of his features had her transfixed the most, his mane and coat, his wings, or his strange Cutie Mark.  Rockstar's Cutie Mark was indeed a strange one, as it was two musical notes: one a regular Equestrian quarter note, the other a tribal Zebra musical note.

"Applebloom, you know it ain't nice ta stare at other ponies!", Applejack scolded the small filly from the kitchen.

"Sorry, Rockstar," Applebloom offered sincerely.

"Oh, it's alright, I know I'm weird.  I can't even walk down the stairs right,"  Rockstar replied, getting a small giggle from Applebloom.

A filling breakfast and copious amounts of caffeine later, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Rockstar sat at the kitchen table talking.  Granny Smith had moved to the living room where she was telling old stories to Applebloom and two other fillies who had come to visit.

"So Big Mac, you still play guitar?", Rockstar asked, an idea starting to formulate in his head.

"Nope," Big Mac answered simply.

"Aw, why not, you were good," Rockstar continued as he started digging through his saddlebags for something.

"I'm a farmer,"  Big Mac said simply.  "Apples to be bucked."

"Well I don't remember you as an apple farmer," Rockstar announced, whipping a photograph out of his saddlebags and holding it in his hoof for all the table's occupants to see.  "I remember you as the cross dressing, blood sucking incubus from The Sun Won't Rise."  Rockstar pointed to a red teen aged colt with heavy makeup standing in a group of tree other two other ponies and a gryphon.  Big Macintosh sighed and facehoofed while Applejack was trying her hardest from busting out in laughter at the old photograph of her brother.  "So, whadda ya say, pick up the guitar for old times sake?"  Rockstar asked, putting on a big cheesy smile.

"Nope," Big Mac answered.  "Too many apples needs bucking."

Rockstar thought for a moment.  "If I help you with your apples, will ya help me by pickin' up your old guitar?"

Now it was Big Mac's turn to think.  Finally, he answered with a simple, "Eeyup."

Rockstar was about to jump up in victory and celebrate, but then he realized something: He had signed up for a day of work at Sweet Apple Acres.  'I really should'a thought that'n through before I opened my mouth,'  Rockstar thought.