Appleworm Season

Applebuck Season from the point of view of one of the worms that gets baked into a Baked Bad

Appleworm Season

by Pokeypierce

Sweet Apple Acre’s bustled with activity. Applebuck season was quickly approaching; soon, thousands of apples would be harvested and sorted by the Apple family. The good ones would be sold at the market, and the bad ones would be fed to the pigs. A few would fall into the grass where it would rot and become soggy.

        Rotten apples were highly sought after by the critters that lived on the farm. The insects would swarm to an apple in a feeding frenzy. This would bring the birds who scattered the bugs. The apples would then be left to completely rot out.

This has been the way its been done for years, but that was going to change. Little did they know is that they weren’t the only ones who worked the farm. The worms of Sweet Apple Acres also plowed the fields. They aired the roots of the trees, composted dead leaves, and mixed the soil. But for all their hard work, they seldom found a rotting apple. Many of the worms felt that they deserved a bigger cut of the fruit they worked so hard at cultivating. They were also upset with the ponies. When the ponies brought a heavy rainstorm, many worms lost their lives to drowning, predation, or dehydration if they became stranded on hard surfaces. It was borderline genocide. The worms had had enough. They were going to take what was theirs.

        Jim and Lenny finally burrowed up to the top of the biggest hill in the orchard. The trip had taken them most of the morning. They were blinded by the sun as they came out of the ground. As their eyes adjusted to the light they looked around. From the hill they could see the surrounding countryside; white, fluffy clouds rolled across the sky. Off in the distance they could see the town where the ponies lived. Turning around they saw the edge of the Everfree forest. From the hilltop they had a commanding view of the farm. Hundreds of apple trees dotted the fields. Big, juicy, red apples hung from every tree. This must be the biggest crop in the history of Sweet Apple Acre's. There couldn't be a more perfect year to extact their revenge.

        Jim looked around at the branches of the apple trees and spotted two sparrows. Jim was just about to call out to the birds when Lenny interrupted him.

“This whole idea is just insane, Jim,”

“Sometimes you have to take a big risk to get a big reward,” Jim shot back.

"Hey you birds! Down here!" Jim called out, bracing for the worst. Lenny was frozen in fear. The birds looked around and spotted the pair on the ground. “I have a deal you’ll be interested in” said Jim.

They swooped down from the tree and landed next to them. The thought of a free meal crossed their minds, but curiosity held their stomachs in check, at least for now.

"Birds,” Jim began. “I need you to get me some rope. I'm willing to make it worth your time." The birds eyed the worm with suspicion. "If you bring me some rope and drop it off at the base of the tree here tomorrow, I'll tell you when the caterpillars are crossing the road to go into the south field. Why try to catch and eat two worms now when you could have a feast in the future?"

The birds looked at each other for a moment and then back and the two. "We want collateral," one of them said. Jim swallowed. He knew this might happen. He had spent most of the morning going over various scenarios in his head.

"Take Lenny," Jim said, after pausing for a few moments. Lenny, looking terrified, did not get back into the safety of his hole. One of the birds snatched Lenny in its beak and flew off. The other curtly said "deal" and took off after his friend.

        Jim wished that had played out better, but Lenny would be an acceptable loss. At least Lenny didn't have any immediate family to miss him. I wonder what I’d tell his family, Jim thought. Realizing that he was wasting time, Jim dug back into the ground and made his way north. The trip would take him all day, but if he hurried, he could make it to the cottage near the forest before dark.

        Evening came, and the sun had almost set when Jim reached his destination. Popping out of the ground, Jim looked around searching the tops of the trees. In the branches of a massive oak sat a falcon.

"Hey falcon!" Jim called out at the tops of his lungs. The falcon looked around. "Down here by the rock!" Jim cried as he wriggled his body, trying to catch the falcon’s eye. The falcon spotted the worm and flew down.

"What do you want, worm?" the falcon asked in a rough tone.

"I need some rope tied, and you’re the only one who can do it. I can cut a deal with you that will make it worth your while."

The falcon thought it over for a second. "Go on."

“The caterpillars will be crossing the road between the  western and southern fields. They'll be sitting ducks,. But why should they be the only ones to eat? Those birds will be out in the open, busy catching caterpillars. I'll tell you when the caterpillars will be crossing the road if you tie some rope for me."

The falcon considered his options. "All right.”

"Great! meet me at the top of the the tallest hill in the north field of Sweet Apple Acre's tomorrow afternoon."

The falcon nodded, and took off back towards the tree. Jim dug back into the earth and went back down south. It was getting late. Jim decided to stop for the night and sleep before he made it halfway back.

        Just after sunrise, Jim crawled out of the ground to take in the morning air. The grass was soaked in dew and glistened in the morning sun. A fog was rolling away into the distance. Digging back into the cold, moist ground Jim set back out towards the orchard. It was going to be busy day, he thought to himself. Jim felt worn out by the events of yesterday. He could not allow fatigue to interfere with his plans. Taking in a deep breath he burrowed on. Within a few hours, he made it back to the hill. Popping out of the ground Jim saw the birds. At the base of their tree was a coil of rope.

The birds saw him approaching and flew down from the tree. "Perfect,” Jim said as the birds landed next to him. “The caterpillars will be crossing the road in two days. Bring Lenny." Without saying anything, the birds took off. Now Jim just had to wait for the falcon.

Jim looked down the hill. A gentle breeze swept over the orchard and softly rustled the leaves of the apple trees. The aroma of nearly ripe apples hung in the air. Jim’s mouth watered at the thought of digging into an apple. To him, it didn't matter what condition an apple was in: Ripe, rotten, or bruised, they were all delicious. I must stop the harvest, he thought.

Looking towards the horizon, Jim spotted the falcon off in the distance. Jim sighed. All this planning and timing was starting to drag on too long. He wished it could be over with, and he could be enjoying a nice rotten apple. Eventually, the Falcon made it to the hill and landed in a tree. The falcon looked around but didn’t seem to notice Jim squirming in the shade.

Jim had to strain his voice to grab the falcon’s attention. "Didn't you see the rope? Get down here!" The falcon flew down and landed next to Jim. "Ok," said Jim, "I need you to take this rope and I to the barn. We also need to stop by the pig pen for a second." Jim crawled onto the rope and secured himself in the cords.

The falcon grabbed the rope and took off. The wind slapped Jim in the face. He was used to the slow, steady pressure of the dirt. The wind felt weird as it constantly changed the direction it rushed over his skin.  He tried looking down at the ground, but vertigo sent his mind spinning. His stomach followed suit. The result was not pretty. When they landed on the pen cage Jim crawled out of the rope, swearing to himself that he'd never fly again.

        The pig pen would be a worms paradise, if it wasn’t so dangerous. Rotten pieces of organic matter laid strewn about over a carpet of soft, upturned dirt. The smell was overwhelmingly wonderful. If only those massive beasts didn't stomp around and eat everything in sight.

Gasping heavily and still trying to regain control of his body, Jim finally managed to blurt out, "Pig."

The pig was nose deep in slop and so preoccupied with his meal that it didn't notice. The falcon let out a screech. The pig jumped and began running circles around the pen, squealing in fright. "Pig, stop!" Jim commanded. It was no use. The pig ran until it stumbled to the ground in exhaustion.

The pig took a deep breath as it gathered its wits. It looked at the pair curiously. "What's the big idea going ‘round scaring folk half to death?" the pig yelled.

"I need to call in that favor for the apple I showed you last week," Jim responded.

"Fine," the pig said grumpily, "I was almost done with my lunch anyways."

"Meet us at the barn right away," said Jim crawling back onto the rope. The falcon watched Jim crawl on and then flew off. Jim wanted to brace himself, but falcon took off before he was settled in. He held on for dear life and screamed.

The falcon landed near the barn. Jim jumped off the rope and burrowed straight into the ground. He was glad to be back in his element. He wanted to go for a nice ground swim, but he remembered that he had work to do. Jim crawled towards the open doorway of the barn and looked in. The barn was dimly lit by a couple of sunbeams that broke through the roof. The air was stiff a filled with a thin cloud of dust. On the walls were an assortment of saddles, ploughs, and other useful farming instruments. In the corner were large sacks of grain. A gentle breeze rolled by and disturbed the dirt. Above, hay from the loft fell softly to the ground. This just might work.

        The pig trotted up to the falcon. "See those large sacks?” Jim pointed out to the pair. “I need the rope tied around one for hoisting." The falcon flew over, and with the help of the pig, tied the rope around the sack. "Ok, Falcon,” Jim said, “I need you to fly the rope around the beam near the hay loft so Pig can hoist the sack up." The two stared at Jim.

"This smells fishy," said the falcon.

"I'm not liking where this is going either," the pig agreed.

"Falcon, a couple of sparrows will be eating the caterpillars crossing the road in two days. But if you follow my instructions here, sparrows will flock here from all over Equestria. And Pig, I know where three more apples are hidden, but if you do as I say, you won't have to hunt any more. Apples will litter the ground."

The two stood there and thought for a moment. The promise of more food for some labor didn't seem too far-fetched. The falcon was the first to decide to go along with the Jim’s plan. He flew up to the hay loft and wrapped the rope around the beam supporting the ceiling. He dropped the rope which landed near the pig. The pig shrugged and starting hoisting the sack up.

Jim gave them their next instructions, "Now, when the sack is at the top I need the falcon to take the rope and loop it around the blade of the scythe on the wall. Then take the rope to the opposite side of the barn and tie it around the beam holding up the hay loft."

The falcon followed his instructions as the pig held the rope, keeping the sack from falling. "Ok, Pig, I need you to slowly head towards the scythe while holding onto the rope so you don’t cut the rope on the blade." The pig started advancing towards the scythe. He was visibly strained, and beads of sweat began to roll down his face. With each step the sack dropped lower and lower. "Pig,” said Jim. “Pull the sack back up. Falcon, take the slack and retie the rope around the loft beam."

When all this was done the rope was taught and stretched across the room only an inch or two above the dirt floor, blending in.

"Thanks, that's all I needed.” said Jim. He turned to the pig, “Pig, there are three apples in the north field along the stream." The two left Jim in the barn.

        It was just after lunchtime. A door creaked open and slammed shut. "Big Mac, I need you to go into the barn and grab the cart" a voice called out. "Eeyup" another voice replied.

It was nice to see things move along quickly for a change. Jim hid in the corner of the barn. He was excited to see his plan in action. He could feel hoofsteps coming towards him. Each step flooded Jim with anticipation. If he had to wait much longer he felt that he would burst.

A big red stallion entered through the doorway. He stopped for a moment and looked around. Spotting the cart in the back corner, he took a step forward. His leg caught the hidden rope and he tripped, landing on his chin. The rope dug into the blade of the scythe. The weight of the sack became too much for the rope, and it snapped. The sack fell and landed on the his ribs.

"Oof!" the stallion grunted. The sack slid off him and he began panting heavily. After a few pants, he started to scream out in pain. After the scream his breathing slowed. After a minute of slow, shallow breathing he took in a deep breath and cried out in pain, "AJ!"

An orange pony ran into the doorway and gasped. "Big Mac are you okay?" the pony cried. "I'll get the doctor! Don’t move” The orange pony ordered. “Applebloom get ocer to the barn and watch your brother!" The orange pony ran off away from the barn towards town. That was all Jim needed to see. Big Mac won't be harvesting any apples this year. Jim was overjoyed to see everything go so smoothly. He wondered why he hadn’t thought of doing this before. He dug into the ground and headed toward the orchard.

Phase one went off without a hitch. Phase two, however, will be a bit harder.As he approached the treeline Jim had an idea that was sure to work.

Over the next four days, Jim went through the fields and gathered every worm in the orchard. On the second day Jim went to the southern field. He burrowed to the road between the western and southern fields. Crawling out of the ground he looked down the road, and spotted the two sparrows.

Jim approached them and called out, "The caterpillars should be here any moment. Where's Lenny?"

The sparrows looked at him and shrugged. One of them replied "I left him with my kids the other day while we were bringing you the rope. When I came back he was gone."

By all that is damp and dirty those birds would pay, Jim thought. Fortunately Jim had planned to backstab them ahead of time. He had thought about warning them if Lenny was safe, but they broke their end of the deal. Jim looked down the road for the caterpillars and the falcon. Neither were in sight.

        The first few caterpillars crawled out of the grass and started crossing the road. The birds watched and waited, hidden in the leaves of an apple tree. Soon, more and more caterpillars began crossing the open road. They constantly looked left, right, and up searching for danger as they made their way across. When the first pair had almost crossed the road the birds sprang from the tree.

They barreled towards the pack leader. In a blink of an eye, two of the caterpillars were snatched from the road. Screams filled the air. Jim hoped the falcon would strike now before the birds could… too late. A caterpillar was tossed in the air and caught in the birds mouth. The bird took a second dive at the panicked pack of caterpillars. It broke its dive over a caterpillar. Just as it was about to grab the caterpillar the falcon flew by and snatched the sparrow in his talons. The other sparrow squawked in fright and flew off. Jim felt justified. He was proud that he got the falcon to deal with the birds. With a smile on his face he burrowed away and continued his mission of gathering the worms.

        On the third day Jim had a sizable host gathered. Many of the worms were still out looking for others. Jim had not told them of his plans quite yet. All they knew was that it was urgent to get the worms gathered near the road leading to the west field.

Jim stopped to take a break while in the north field. Out of the ground he squirmed to look around. It was a warm, sunny day. A light breeze swept over the trees. Wait a minute, Jim thought to himself, some of the trees don't have any apples on them. Jim looked around and saw the same orange pony bucking the apple trees. She looked exhausted. Yet somehow she managed to knock every apple from the tree in a single kick. "She has got to go" Jim said to himself. With that he burrowed back into the ground and continued his search.

        The next day the worms gathered near the west field. There were hundreds of them from all over the farm. Jim was sure that with these numbers they could complete his plans and take over the farm.

"Brothers," Jim began, "it is applebuck season and the red pony is injured. This year is the biggest crop we've ever seen. With some work the apples can be ours! The plan is simple, but will take some work. We will dig a pit that the orange one will fall into. Trapped, the apples will rot on the trees and fall down onto the ground. We will feast all day every day! Help me brothers. Let us claim this year as Appleworm Season!"

The host of worms cheered. When the cheering subsided Jim spoke again. “The pit will be dug in the middle of the road leading to the west field. The pony will come back this evening from harvesting and fall in." The worms gave out another cheer. Jim crawled over into the middle of the road. “We grew this orchard and this year we will have the harvest we deserve” he shouted. With that he burrowed in the ground. The worms followed suit and started digging the pit.

The next hours were spent clearing out the earth just beneath the road. When it was finished Jim inspected the hole. He figured it was wide enough for the pony to fit into and twice as tall as the pony. To Jim, the pit was massive. The pit was a triumph of their hard work and his genius. "Yes," he cackled maniacally, "this will be perfect."

        The earth shook, Jim could feel something approaching. Bits of dirt fell to the bottom of the pit. Jim was ecstatic. The apples were going to be his. The steps grew closer and closer. Light flooded the pit as a massive leg crashed through the ceiling. A purple figure fell to the bottom.

"Umph… what in Equestria is this hole doing in the middle of the road?" the pony said.

“A purple unicorn?” Jim blurted out. “Now what am I going to do?” Jim said to himself. Fragments of various thoughts crossed his mind as he began to form a new plan. Moments later, there was a flash of light. When Jim opened his eyes the unicorn was gone. Jim looked around, flabbergasted.

"I'll have to tell Applejack that there's a sinkhole in her road," said a voice from above. "Unicorns can teleport?" Jim yelled out in anger. Jim’s mind was racing. “This ruins everything!” he said. “This called for drastic action!

        We must drive the orange pony off the farm! We cannot allow her to harvest all our apples! Who's with me?" A few worms crawled to Jim. The rest were tired and upset that their hard work had been wasted. Jim and the others went out into the fields. "Now if you'll excuse me I got to go help Pinkie Pie" said a voice.

"That's the voice of the orange pony. Follow her," Jim ordered. Jim and company chased the pony towards the town. The worms took turns keeping track of the pony above while the others dug underneath the ground.

When they reached the town Jim saw Applejack go into a giant gingerbread house. The worms were a block away from the pony when she entered the building.

"We will swarm her inside the building” Jim began. “She will freak out and run away, never to return. We will sneak in from the back." The worms burrowed into the ground and headed towards the building.

When they reached the backdoor they popped out of the ground. Just then the orange pony burst through the door. "Charge!" cried Jim. But then the pony did something Jim did not expect. She gathered all the worms in her mouth and brought them inside.

The room was pink and filled with cooking utensils. In the middle of the room stood a pink pony. On the counter top was a bowl filled with a green paste. The orange pony brought the worms to the bowl and dropped them in.

"Now that's going to be delicious." said a voice.

"If you say so" said a voice directly above.

The bowl was picked up and the contents poured into a tray. The tray was grey with pits lined up in a row. Each of the pits had a colorful wrapper. Jim was poured out into the center of the tray. The tray was picked up and stuck in a giant white box. It was roasting hot and Jim shrunk back into the paste. He was frightened and angry. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. Jim dug into the center of the paste where it was the coolest and coiled himself up. He then went in circles and spread slime all over the goop. With luck it would stay cool and have enough moist enough for Jim to live.

        As time went by it grew hotter and hotter and Jim was unsure if he'd make it. The paste began to dry and it Jim found that it was harder to move. After what seemed like an eternity Jim heard a *ding*.

"Oooh, done!" said a voice. Jim heard a massive creaking sound. He could feel the tray being lifted up.

I hope I can escape, Jim thought to himself. He felt the tray finally come to rest.

"Free muffin sample sepectacular!" a voice chimed

"Yeah muffin spectacles, get em' while they're hot." said another voice.

Jim felt that he was moving again. He dug his way towards what he guessed was down but ran into a barrier. "What sort of cruel joke is this?" Jim cried out. The sounds of gagging filled the room. "I guess the attack is going well at least" he said sarcastically.

"Pinkie Pie what did you put in these muffins?" Said a voice.

"I dunno, Applejack was the one pouring everything." Pinkie replied.

"Oh you know, chips, a cup of sour, bakin…." The voice trailed off and began to snore.

"I feel sick. I think I need a doctor" a new voice said weakly.

A fifth voice shouted "Bring the muffins!"

Jim felt his muffin being handled yet again. When it stopped Jim would make a break for it.

        "We came as fast as we heard" said a voice when Jim stopped moving.

This was it. Jim went towards the top of the muffin and burst out. Just as he breached the muffin it was picked up. Jim found himself face to face with a purple figure. Jim could see monstrous fangs and rows upon rows of scales. The creature took a sniff of the muffin and its jaw opened.

"No! No! Noooooooooooo!" Jim screamed as his world went dark.

A/N: I would like to thank Corejo for bearing with my terrible grammar and helping me hammer out this insanity.