Applejack Appreciation Day
It was an odd day in… the human world? Well, regardless, there seemed to be something big going on as creatures of sorts began to roam around, they appeared to be themed after orange with aspects of a centaur, roaming around a city. This creature seemed to laugh maniacally as it began to attack people left and right, when suddenly…
=BUDOU!=
=LOCK ON!=
=HAI~!=
=BUDOU ARMS!=
This caused the Kaijin to turn and see a green and gold chinese warrior with a grape motif, jumping in firing a grape-themed pistol at it.
=RYU! HOU! HA HA HA!=
“Who are you?!” the kaijin roared, as the warrior rushed forward, continuing to blast the kaijin.
“...Ryugen. Koke kare wa… ore no stage da!” the warrior, Ryugen, shouted out as he rushed forward and began to blast at the kaijin.
The kaijin grunted as the blasts impacted against it, that is until it used the orange like armor around itself to stop the blasts and send them flying around, possibly risking innocents. This forced Ryugen to stop, grunting a bit before rushing in, trying to punch the kaijin when suddenly… he began to slow down, almost coming to a total halt.
“Nanda?! What’s going on?!” Ryugen gawked, his words coming out at normal speed despite his body moving in slow-mo.
“Interesting…” the kaijin muttered, before trying to make his escape, seeing he was slowed down as well…
“AGH!” a familiar pony orange furred, blonde maned, earth pony gasped, waking up suddenly, panting from the odd dream she just had, looking around the room with her green eyes, “Whew! It was just a dream. A very… weird dream at that. Wonder if those critters were those things that unicorn Lyra constantly talks about?”
“Sis?” a young girl’s voice asked, “Are ya awake?”
“Huh? Oh… yea, Applebloom. Jus’ a bad dream is all,” the mare sighed.
“Well… I wanted to be the first ta tell ya, happy birthday,” the young girl, Applebloom, smiled, walking in with a small tray on her back, was a small yellow earth pony filly with a red bow in her red mane, smiling as she looked at her sister with a pair of orange eyes.
“Thanks a lot Applebloom,” her sister smiled, as Applebloom put the tray down, showing it was an attempt for a breakfast in bed, and it was done rather nicely.
“Nothin’ but the best for mah fav’rite sister, Applejack,” Applebloom smiled, as Applejack just hugged her sister and smiled.
“Yer the best, sis,” Applejack smiled before looking at her breakfast, seeing it was some hay bacon, eggs and apple juice. Applejack noticed the hay, bacon and eggs were done in a way of a smiley face.
“Ah worked hard to do it like that… cause Granny said that’s how you did it for Ma when you were mah age,” Applebloom admitted.
“Aw shucks,” AJ smiled at that, as she began to eat, but her mind turned back to the dream every now and again.
Later, AJ decided to go out for a little trot on her own, since her older brother, Big Mac, and Applebloom promised to pick up the slack while she was out, however, she couldn’t really think of what she wanted to do on her birthday, since her thoughts still were on the dream.
Why did Ah have that sorta dream? What was it all about?’ she thought to herself.
“It was no dream,” a new voice said, making Applejack stop in her tracks to look for the voice.
“What the...?! Who said that?!” she gawked, looking around confused. Suddenly, her train of thought was put onto an emergency breaking, as she was pulled to Sugar Cube Corner, without any warning.
“Pinkie… it’s a surprise party…” a voice muttered to another pony.
“Whoopsie! Sorry,” another voice, presumedly Pinkie’s, responded, as Applejack’s eyes were covered thanks to her hat. She moved it back to where it should be, and looked up find, to her surprise, the place was decorated just for her.
“Surprise!” several voices announced, causing AJ to look up to see many ponies there, smiling “Happy Birthday Applejack!”
She looked around to see a pink earth pony with a poofy curled mane and blue eyes with a triple balloon mark on her flank, a yellow pegasus with a long pale pink mane partially covering her teal eyes, a pegasus with a mark on her flank consisting of three pink butterflies. Along with them were a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, magenta eyes, and a mark of a cloud with a tri-colored lightning bolt on her flank, a white unicorn with a neatly curled violet mane having blue eyes and a triple blue diamond mark on her flank, and a violet alicorn with light purple eyes, a dark violet mane that had pink and purple streaks in it, and a six-pointed magenta star mark on her flank. With them was a white unicorn mare with an electric blue mane, glasses with purple lenses, and a musical note mark on her flank. And, joining Applebloom were two other fillies, was a white unicorn, green eyes and a pale lavender and pink mane along with an orange pegasus with a purple mane and purple eyes.
“Ya’ll did this… for me?” Applejack gawked.
“That’s right,” the pink mare smiled widely, “Come on! Let’s enjoy your birthday, western style!”
Applejack giggled a little at this, before glancing over to the white unicorn, “And you're okay with this Rarity?”
“Well, I may not have to much interest in this… country stuff, but… if it’s for a friend’s birthday, I guess… Ah’m all in,” Rarity giggled, trying to mimic AJ’s accent.
“Don't ever do that again…” Applejack told her.
“Noted,” Rarity nodded as the group then decided to enjoy the party.
Later, Applejack and the others were just getting through presents, when Pinkie noticed something odd.
“Hey… who’s this gift from?” Pinkie asked, moving over a box with silver wrapping paper and cyan ribbons and bow.
“Not sure,” the alicorn admitted, as Applejack took the box and saw the part saying who it’s from read in strange symbols, which Fluttershy translated to read: From, A friend.
“Uh… hey. Is that the last one?” Applejack asked to make sure, and sure enough, it was indeed. Applejack took it, before she walked off to open it out of sight, feeling as though she should.
She opened the present to find two of the oddest things inside, which somehow reminded her of Ryugen from her dream. They included an odd looking navy blue device with a silver trim, and a silver and yellow knife-like handle on one side, and the center having an indent of sorts. The other item being a black lock of sorts, with a blue arm, and the front having the design of a silver apple with blue trim, and the code “LS-Silver” on it.
Applejack picked the sort of buckle up, and then the lock, turning the lock to the back, seeing that the shape of the lock matched the indent. “What the…?”
“You need to listen, young Applejack,” the voice from earlier informed, as Applejack looked to her left to see an odd looking unicorn who had silver-gray fur, a blue mane, brown eyes, and a silver apple for a Cutie Mark.
“Who… are ya?”
“My name is Lapis… and I have come to this world to ask for your help…” the unicorn, Lapis, informed.
“Mah help? What fer?” Applejack gawked.
Lapis walked over, and then, using some magic, made a zipper appear before the two of them. “This world… is in danger. And it’s defender isn’t enough to handle the threat…”
“...Ah still don’t understand why ya askin’ me.” Applejack admitted.
“...there’s something special about you that’s… hard to explain… but I’m quite certain you can handle this gift I have given you. Please…” Lapis told her, with Applejack again looking at the items, before she adjusted her hat with a smile.
“Well, if’n y’alls need mah help now, I’d be glad to offer it. As long as Ah can get back once it’s all done,” Applejack smirked, hanging onto the lock and odd object before leaping through the zipper, with the unicorn smiling before closing it for a bit.
Later, in the human world, AJ had gotten used to her new body, which was now very much human. While still having her same eye and hair color, her skin was rather fair, and she wore a shirt in the color of her normal fur colors, and she wore a pair of blue overalls with her Cutie Mark on it, and a pair of cowboy boots. After walking around the city for a bit, she saw a group of people dancing, and couldn’t help but watch, simply due to curiosity.
‘Well, ain’t dat somethin’,’ she thought to herself, when suddenly, the orange centar monster from the ‘dream’ rushed up, and began to attack innocent bystanders. One of the dancers quickly rushed over and kicked it away.
“Hurry up and get outta here!” he shouted to people, as he took out a buckle similar to the one that Lapis had given to AJ, except on one side, it had a profile of Ryugen’s helmet against a green background.
“Wait a minute… is that…?” she started when the person put it on.
“Not this time Ryugen!” the kaijin shouted, kicking the boy away.
“Uh oh,” Applejack gawked, running over quickly before managing to kick the kaijin right in the head, with the boy getting up and dusting himself off, “You alright there, fella?”
“As okay as I can be. What’s with the… accent? Go on and get outta here, I can handle this,” the boy informed.
“First off, don’t make fun o’ the way I talk. Second, Ah can handle mahself jus’ fine, thank ya. As for how…” Applejack started before she looked around and began to kick the kaijin around.
“...whoa,” was all the boy could say, as he reached for a lock. “Henshin!”
=BUDOU!=
He quickly placed the lock into the device, which he put onto his waist, turning into the buckle of a bright yellow belt, a chinese eru sound began to admit from the device, a sort of standby tone.
“Micchy,” he informed AJ, setting the Lock in place.
=LOCK ON!=
“Huh?” AJ responded to the boy mentioning “Micchy”.
“That’s my name,” he responded, before he walked forward, “Henshin!”
=HAI~!=
=BUDOU ARMS!=
Suddenly, a metallic bunch of grapes dropped onto Micchy’s head, which caused Ryugen’s armor to appear on his body.
=RYU! HOU! HA HA HA!=
Micchy, now Ryugen, readied his gun before charging forward, blasting at the kaijin, but it easily dodged the attacks, before charging over to kick Ryugen down. Just then, Applejack jumped in, attacking the orange centaur with everything she had, however, the kaijin just kicked her away, and into some nearby boxes, causing the buckle to land by her. Getting up, she saw a bunch of rope and quickly set it up into a lasso before she used it to wrap the kaijin’s legs and arms together.
“Wait… that buckle’s…” AJ noted, as she looked to the buckle, seeing it was the same as the one Micchy used to turn into Ryugen, “That’s it!”
She quickly grabbed it and set it on her waist, causing the yellow belt to form, a shogun’s helmet to appear, with a rainbow visor and a crystal like background appearing on the blank side before she pulled out the Silver lock.
“What was it he said… what was it he said…” Applejack muttered, holding the lock in her hand, “Uh…”
“She’s gonna… henshin? And… where’d those come from?!” Ryugen wondered, as the kaijin snapped out of the ropes.
“Kuso!” the kaijin growled as Applejack realized what to say.
“Oh yea! That’s right! Henshin!” she announced, and she unlocked the Lockseed.
=SILVER!=
She quickly put the lock into position in the belt, not seeing the silver and blue apple appear above her.
=LOCK ON!=
A Japanese horagai began to play, as she noticed the armor part above her. The kaijin rushed forward to try and attack her, but the armor part lowered itself down to protect AJ.
“So… this?” she said, slicing the Lockseed open.
=SEIYA!=
Suddenly, to AJ’s shock, the apple fell down right on her noggin, but it formed a suit, similar to what happened to Micchy.
“Wow…” AJ gawked.
=SILVER ARMS! HAKUGIN NEW STAGE!=
“What in tarnation?!” she gawked, not noticing the white, silver, and cyan suit over her body before an apple slice floated down, her head covered in a helmet similar to the one on her buckle, the slice falling into place, forming the visor as the apple opened up forming extra armor over her body. The armor then set itself into place, and a weapon appeared in AJ’s hand which looked like some sort of staff.
“What in tarnation?! What just…” she gawked, looking at her armor in confusion.
“Hmm…” Ryugen muttered, as he blasted the kaijin back a bit, before going over to AJ’s side, “Mind helping me out?”
“No prob, pardner,” AJ nodded, charging forward, and smacking the kaijin around a bit with the staff.
AJ was able to deal some impressive damage to the kaijin up close while Ryugen blasted at it from a distance. Things were going very smoothly, too. That is until the kaijin roared so loud it almost made the two deaf, he then began to kick them like nuts, incredibly fast as well. This caused both Riders to get knocked aside into a wall. Then, out of no where, a red, black, and white sports car drove up, ramming right into the orange centar, sending it flying. The driver walked out to check on the two.
“You okay?” he asked, being a police officer of sorts wearing a black suit with a white shirt and red tie, helping the two up to their feet.
“We’re okay,” Ryugen assured.
“That thing almost blew our ears off…” the Rider AJ responded.
=The first appears to be Armored Rider/Kamen Rider Ryugen, Kureshima Mitsuzane, younger brother of high up Yggdrasil member, Kureshima Takatora.= the belt… spoke?
“Nani?!” Ryugen gawked as AJ nearly panicked.
“That thing… just… talked…” AJ spoke, pointing to the belt.
=I prefer to not be called a ‘thing’ young miss.= the belt chastised, a frown clear on its face.
“Uh… sorry. But… Ah’ve never seen nothin’ like you before,” she admitted.
“Don’t worry, Belt-san is fine,” the driver spoke with a smile, “Yosh… ikuzo, Belt-san!”
=Hai, Shinnosuke!=
The man nodded as he prepared an odd device on his wrist before turning the “key” on Belt-san.
=START YOUR ENGINES!=
“Henshin!” the man, Shinnosuke, declared, holding up a small red car, somehow turning the tail end of it around before sliding it into the wrist device, then cranking the car like it was a lever of sorts.
A suit of red and black armor appeared on his body, and the car shot out a wheel of sorts, with it attaching into him.
=DRIVE: TYPE… SPEED!=
On the wheel, it read ‘Type Speed’, as Shinnosuke turned into a Rider as well.
“Another one?! But… who are you?!” the kaijin demanded.
“Ore wa… Kamen Rider Drive!” the Rider Shinnosuke declared.
“...Kamen… Rider?” AJ said in confusion, as Ryugen and Drive charged forward to attack the kaijin.
AJ pondered what that meant for a moment while Drive attacked the kaijin at super speed while Ryugen blasted it as best as he could. After a bit, the kaijin kicked Drive away, knocking him into Ryugen.
“Gomen,” Drive apologized.
“Get off me!” Ryugen shouted, as Drive did so.
=It appears we need to use range combat against this guy. Shinnosuke, use Midnight Shadow!=
“Wakatta!” Drive nodded, pulling out a violet car, quickly turning Belt-san’s key, and then swapping the red car for the violet one in a similar fashion.
=TIRE KOUKAN: MIDNIGHT SHADOW!=
The black tire was soon replaced by a violet one that resembled a shuriken, with the phrase ‘Midnight Shadow’ on it’s side.
“Oi! Apple Rider-chan, we’ll give you an opening, take it and finish this guy off!” Drive told Applejack.
“...okay,” she nodded, as Ryugen sliced his Lockseed, and Drive pressed a button the brace on his wrist.
=HAI~! BUDOU SQUASH!=
=HISSATSU!=
As Ryugen aimed his gun at the kaijin, Drive flipped the lever of a car on the brace, preparing to strike.
=SHADOW!=
Finally, AJ figured out how to prepare her own finisher, slicing her Lockseed twice.
=SILVER AU LAIT!=
Drive and Ryugen then shot their weapons forward, keeping the kaijin in place, allowing AJ to charge up her staff with a silver aura before using her staff to jump up, and then kick the kaijin, destroying it.
“Nice!” Drive smirked.
“Jaa ne!” Shinnosuke waved when the trio reverted to normal, and the cop drove off.
“Thanks for the help, uh… you know, I never caught your name,” Micchy replied.
“Applejack,” AJ smiled, “Thanks for yer help Micchy.”
“You’re welcome,” Micchy smiled back before he waved and decided to leave, leaving AJ alone until she saw someone somewhat familiar, who had brown hair, was wearing blue and silver, and simply looked at AJ with his brown eyes.
“Lapis?” she asked.
“Yea. Look… this monster… it was some mythological beast, whose origins were from your world. Knowing the Riders of this world, they couldn’t stop it, so that’s why I had to bring someone from your world here to help. But… really, I’m greatful for your help,” Lapis informed.
“No problem, so uh… can Ah go home now?” AJ asked, as Lapis then re-opened the crack back to Ponyville.
“Yes. Your friends and family are waiting for you. Plus, I think you may be surprised with what they have set up for you,” Lapis informed AJ, who just nodded, looking at the Driver and Lockseed.
“So… do Ah keep these?”
“Keep them, hide them, do whatever,” Lapis responded, as Applejack walked into the portal to head for home.
Later, once AJ got used to her hooves again, she rushed to her barn and hide the Driver and Lockseed so nopony could get to them. Then, she decided to return to Ponyville, giving her some time to think. She does a lot for the small town, and the only ponies who gave her any credit for being much help were her friends, the CMC, the Princesses, and, today, Lapis. Yet they only expressed their appreciation for her when real trouble arises, and she worked to help Ponyville every single day of her life tending to the Apple farm. She didn’t have to have a magical armor to be something special, she was special in and of herself.
Then, to her surprise, when she looked up, she noticed most of the ponies in Ponyville weren’t there, confusing her. So she rushed over to Twilight’s castle to find out what was going on. She found her friends there, thankfully, allowing her a sigh of relief.
“Twi. What in tarnation is going on? Ah leave for a short while, and when Ah come back, almost ever’pony is gone!” AJ responded.
“Well… they’re doing something super special for your birthday,” Rarity began.
“Huh?”
“Before I even came to Ponyville, AJ, you’ve done so much for everypony, and so they decided that on your special day, they wanted to show you how much they appreciate you for all you’ve done,” Twilight informed, “And… it’s not just your birthday anymore.”
“Ah’m still lost…”
“AJ, today’s a day dedicated just for you,” her rainbow-maned friend, Rainbow Dash, informed AJ, surprising her.
“From here on out, your birthday, darling, will be celebrated throughout Ponyville as a truly spectacular holiday,” Rarity added.
“Congratulations,” Fluttershy smiled.
“It’s Applejack Appreciation Day!” Pinkie cheered, opening the gate, showing the entire town set up a special parade to start off, with a float having a seat reserved for the hard-working apple bucker.
“Oh mah… thank you all,” she smiled, as she headed over to the float, but tripped. She then noticed a gray hoof extended to help her out, this belonging to a stallion with black hair, a brown jacket, and a Cutie Mark that was a bundle of grapes.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yea… Ah’m fine,” she assured as she accepted the help from the unicorn stallion, helping her up, “...You look familiar… have we met?”
“Not that I’m aware of, I’m new around here. Name’s Micchy,” he smiled, as Applejack got up onto the float.
“Glad you could make it, pardner,” AJ smiled as the other ponies got into position for the parade, Pinkie pointing towards the unicorn with the electric blue mane, Vinyl Scratch, aka DJ Pon-3.
“Hit it, DJ!” Pinkie shouted, getting a nod from the unicorn, who set up a record.
(Insert Song, Apples to the Core (Kitsuneyu Remix))
Hearing this remix, AJ didn’t know what song was playing, until she heard her voice in it, recognizing it as the special song she and her family would sing every so often. She just bopped her head up and down as the parade went on.
Her heart feeling a flutter at what was happening, she smiled wider than she had ever done before as everypony began to sing along to the song when the chorus came on. Today, she felt more special than ever before. It wasn’t just any ordinary birthday anymore. Today, was her day, her appreciation day.
“Thank ya everypony… thank ya,” AJ smiled when the town grew silent during a break in the song, and then she heard the entirety of Ponyville cheer when she said it before they returned to singing the song for her special day. Applejack looked up to the sky, seeing two stars twinkle in the sky, before waving to them.
Eeyup. This was one year AJ would never forget, no matter how much she tried. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. She tossed her hat into the hair, smiling widely, it was her day.
Author's Note
Whew! Sorry for the lack of updates folks, but I've been busy on Fanfiction. But now, in celebration of Applejack Appreciation Day, I wrote this up with my aibou, Pikatwig. Feel free to check this out here, and on my DA account (TKNRKRGaim) and my Fanfiction account (KKD Silver). Hope you all enjoy this no matter where you see it. As usual, I own nothing, not Kamen Rider, not MLP, not even the remix of the cued song . But I hope you enjoy them regardless of where you are. Until next time, Jaa ne.
