Cider season.

The disclaimer from the last chapter extends to this chapter as well. I'm still saying its a waste of time to sue me, there's little worth any legal battle over the sums in my possession. Note to Hasbro inc. :It's still a waste of your resources and of your lawyer's time to go after me; there's little of interest to get here.

Berry Punch woke up to the morning chirps of the birds singing happily the sonata of day as the sun's ray shone through the pan of her curtain. As if it were not enough, her clock rang an infernal ruckus of metal being struck against metal. Berry, taken away from her dreams of sweet success, was not in the best of moods to deal with her clock. She desperately tried to hit the clock in an attempt to stop its infernal racket. As if it were taunting her, the vibration of the clock made the device go away from the reach of her hoof, forcing her to actually move from her comfy position in her bed. Berry sat up in her bed to give a good and satisfying slap upon her clock, sending it across the room to hit the wall for it to bounce off of it only to plummet back to the wooden floor of her room. The clock had stopped ringing and Berry felt satisfied with her deed until her clock started to ring again.

Ponyville was only beginning to wake up, the market place starting to crowd up and the natural chatter of the market was slowly rising until the crash of a window silenced all voices in the market as the ponies beginning to set up shop admired the rare sighting of a "Volaticus Horologium"; in other words, a flying clock. The clock was living its last moments of flight time as it near the ground and shattered into bent metal, cogs, springs and glass in the middle of the market square. The ponies were somewhat dumbstruck in front of this oddity that was this random event.

"Well, if that's any hint, today's going to be interesting" a dark-gray coated pegasus with a pale-cyan and white Mohawk mane said out loud for everypony to hear.

Content with the punishment she gave her clock, Berry let out a yawn and headed out of her room and into the hallway to the stairs of her home. She had had some trouble with the stair's structural integrity ever since Big Macintosh pulled her house off of its foundations on the last Hearts and Hooves day. She had wanted to get the stairs fixed but the when she had called an ebonist pony to evaluate the damage done and to make an estimate for the repairs but her budget did not allow her to make the repairs done at the moment. She had to be extra careful on the stairs because of that. Finally down the stairs, she headed to her kitchen to start making breakfast for herself. Toast, butter, a bit of cheese and a glass of orange juice was her favorite way to start her day alongside the "Equestria Daily" newspaper. Gossip was never her favorite topic of discussion, she preferred the arts rubrics and the occasionally the finance and politics rubrics.

Her breakfast finished, she headed down to her bathroom to take a shower to trully begin her day. Turning the knob, the shower-head release the water down on her mane and coat. the steam and warm water trully had a rejuvinating effect on Berry, she felt renewed by it. She always took some time to just stand in the stream of water and let her mind be carried by the comforting effects of the shower.Her eyes closed, she willed her mind to drift aloft, to wander the realm of her imagination, to dream, to fantasize, to wish. Satisfied, Berry dried herself, shaking the water off and finish with her towel. It might not be the most civilized way to dry off, but she enjoyed her privacy for the eccentricity that she could afford due to it. No one to tell her how rude it was, no one to complain, no one to tell her what to do. although she was free, loneliness was a burden she bore with bitterness. She tried finding a colt friend but alas, the only stallion she could think of was found to be an absolute arse and completely imbued of himself, knowledge gained from Rarity herself.

She has had a one-niter with her good friend Colgate but it had been driven to that only because they both had a drink or so to many. They both swore to never speak of this again. Secretly, she had not hated it but she did not want to take a further step towards Colgate on the mater in the hopes of preserving her friendship with her.

She was now ready to go through with her day

Berry opened the door and embraced Celestia's sun by grunting and squinting her eyes at the sudden flash of light and warmth greeting her being. the thought of pulling out her sunshades crossed her mind. As she did so, she could not help but feel content and cocky. She looked at the sun through her sunshades and could only thought "deal with it" as a good come back to Celestia's glorious morning sun. She strode into the market place with trot that would make most colts stare at her. She enjoyed teasing stallions once in a while, it was only for the sake of self-enjoyment. as she strode in the market square, she noticed the bits and pieces of her late clock. She giggled at the result of her throw, she knew earth ponies had were physically stronger than most ponies, but she doubted she could have had done so much damage to her relatively sturdy clock, which, she remembered, had been a gift of Doctor Whooves. A pinch of guilt made Berry realize how much the clock meant to her friend, it had been one of his first financial success in his models of clocks.

Berry was now on her way to Sweet Apple Acres, meeting a few ponies here and there and even noticing the Cutie Mark Crusaders on one of their crusades and Fluttershy heading towards the market. Along the path, she kept her eyes on the skies, not for anything in particular until she noticed the trade-mark tail of Rainbow Dash hanging out of a cloud. She laughed a bit at how every time she ever took naps in the skies to avoid her duties, she always forgot to make sure her tail was away from sight. After a while, she was now had Applejack's farm at sight. A ball of nervousness and excitement formed in her stomach, not at all caused by her breakfast.

Her mind raced at the inevitable; it was a "do or die" situation. Okay, perhaps not as intense, but this moment could seal her life to grand marketing success or simply stay at where she stood in life. She had all to gain and so little to lose, it was worth a try in Berry's mind. She did not plan on any subtlety, she hoped a directed approach would make Applejack more inclined to listen to her deal, knowing the country mare was keen on truth, being the avatar of the element of honesty.

She made her way into the Orchard, where she could hear the sound of hooves knocking on trees. She headed to the source of the noise in the hopes of finding Applejack. To her surprise, she found Big Macintosh bucking trees in the stead of his sister. She had not expected to find Big Mac, but she took the opportunity as it was.

"Uhmm, hello" Berry peeped out, only to blush at how her voice was odd. Big Mac had not heard the poor excuse for a salutation and Berry seized the chance yet again at doing things right.

"Hi, I'm Berry-"

"Punch?" The red stallion said as he craned his head in her direction. "Yes, I remember you, you're a good client during the cider season". The large stallion made his way towards the magenta mare. His large features only accentuated by the sweat from his hard labor. Berry could only blush at the sight of such amazing physical attributes, even for an earth pony, he was large.

"What brings you around these parts? Cider season's not unti early fall"

Berry's face deadpanned and she could not help but facehoof. For some reason, someopony had spread a rumor about her being a notorious alcoholic, which was ridiculous. Her friends and herself, countless times, denied these allegations but it seems the scent of alcohol that follows Berry Punch around would give off that impression. Such were the downsides of such refined and under-appreciated talent.

"Well, I'm not a stupid mare, I would know what time of the year we're in. Obviously I'm here for something else now am I?" Berry questioned Big Mac.

"I'm sorry miss Punch, but I ain't interes-" The red stallion started before the magenta mare began to laugh herself to tears

"Aahahahahahaha" Berry dropped to her haunches to keep herself from falling on her side. " Oh you silly, silly colt, why would I come all the way out here this early in the morning just for a flank call?" Berry asked the farmer pony caught with the biggest blush in the history of embarrassments.

"I'm sorry I assumed you were only looking company" the muscular stallion apologized. "How can I help you?"

Berry giggled at the silliness of the situation and

"Could you lead me to your sister Applejack, i want to talk to her about a business proposition"

Mac was confused about this odd request from a pony with such a colorful background.

"Eeeyup"

The duo walk deeper into the orchard until they could not be seen beyond the treeline.