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

Applebuck season was quickly approaching. Soon hundreds, if not thousands of apples would be harvested by the Apple family. Then they'd be sorted and the good ones would be sold at the market and the bad apples would be fed to the pigs. But sometimes an apple wouldn't make its way into the cart bur rather fall off to the side and be lost in the grass. There it would become soggy and rot. Those fallen apples were feasts fir for a king, or at least a worm.

This had been the way its been done for three pony generations but this year it was going to change. The worms deserved a bigger cut of the fruit they worked hard at cultivating. Tilling the earth for hundreds of generations so the trees would grow big and strong. Not to mention the score they had to settle with the ponies for making it rain so often. It was borderline genocide every time the fields were watered.

Lenny and Jim finally made it up to the top of the biggest hill in the orchard. It took them most of the morning but that had given Lenny time to think. They burst from the ground, the light of the sun nearly blinding them. From the hill you could see the entire farm. 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 extract their revenge.

But Lenny ad Jim didn't come up for sight seeing, there was business to attend to. At the top of one of the apple frees were two sparrows. When Lenny was about to do was no doubt dangerous but sometimes risks had to be taken to reap the rewards. "Hey you birds! Down here!" Lenny called out, lowering himself back into his hole and braced for the worst. Jim was stricken in fear and couldn't bring himself to sliding back down his hole. The birds looked around and spotted the little pink wrigglers on the ground. They swooped down from the tree and landed next to them. The thought of a free meal crossed their minds but curiosity helped their stomachs on check, at least from now. "Birds, I need to get some rope and I'll need your help. I'll be 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 and I'll tell you when the caterpillars are crossing the road into the south field. Why try to catch and eat two worms now when you could have a feast in the near future?" The birds looked at each other for a moment and back and the two.

"We want collateral" one of them said. Lenny had already planned this out. He spent most of the morning going over various scenarios in his head. "Take Jim" Lenny said after pausing for a few moments. Jim, still stricken with fear, could not get back into the safety of his hole in time. One of the birds snatched the earthworm in his beak and started flying off, the other curtly said "deal" and took off after his friend.

Lenny hoped for the scenario to play out better but Jim would be an acceptable loss. At least Jim didn't have any immediate family to miss him. But enough worrying. Lenny didn't have time to dwell on Jim or what could happen to him. There was still a lot of preparations to be made if his plan was to work.

Lenny dug back into the ground and made 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.

Evening came and the sun had almost set when Lenny reached his destination. Pipping out the ground Lenny looked around searching the tops of the trees. In the branches of a massing oak say a flacon. "Hey falcon" Lenny called out at the tops of his lungs. The falcon looked around but couldn't see who was talking to him. "Down here by the rock" Lenny cried, as he wriggled his body in an attempt to catch the falcons eye. The falcon spotted the worm and flew down. "What do you want worm?" the falcon said in a rough tone. "I need some rope tied and our the only one who can do it. I can cut a deal with you that will make it worth your while." The falcon thought the beginnings of the proposal over for a second. "Go on." The caterpillars will soon be crossing the road into the southern field. They'll be sitting ducks and some will sure to be eaten by the birds. But why should they be the only ones to eat? Those birds will be out in the open and be occupied catching caterpillars. I'll tell you when the caterpillars make their move if you tie some rope for me." The falcon considered his options for a moment. "All right" he agreed. "Great, meet me at the top of the tallest hill in the north field of Sweet Apple Acre's tomorrow afternoon." The falcon nodded and took off back towards the oak tree. Lenny dug back into the earth and went back down south but decided to stop and sleep before he made it halfway back.

The next morning Lenny made it back to the tree. The birds were waiting there with the rope. "Perfect, the caterpillars will be crossing the road in two days. Bring Kim." Without saying anything the birds took off. Lenny had to wait the rest of the day for the falcon. The sun beat down on Lenny and he wished he could burrow into the ground, he could eel his skin drying. The best he could do was to crawl over into the shade and dig back into the ground for short breaks. It was a beautiful day over the rest of sweet apple acres. A gentle breeze swept over the orchard and softly rustled the leaves of the apple trees. Big, juicy, red apples hung from the branches almost ready for bucking. To a worm it didn't matter what condition an apple was in: Ripe, rotten, or bruised they were all delicious. But the apples had to hall off the trees first, which they would do naturally. All Lenny had to do was stop the harvest.

The falcon flew into view. By this time Lenny's body ached, his wet skin nearly completely dried out. It would take the falcon some time to get to the tree and every second that passed would bring more and more agony. Lenny dug back into the dirt and tried to pick up as much moisture as he could. For the first time in Lenny's life he wished that the pegasus had decided to make it rain today. When he popped out of the falcon was still a ways off. Lenny sighed. All this planning and timing was starting to drag on too long. Lenny wished it could be over with and he could be back in the ground or enjoying a nice rotten apple. Eventually the Falcon got to the tree and landed on one of the topmost branches and looked around. Lenny had to strain his voice again to grab the falcons attention. "Didn't you see the rope? Come down here!" The falcon flew down and landed next to the worm. "Ok," said Lenny, "I'm need you to take this rope and I to the barn. We also need to stop by the pig pen for a second." Lenny crawled into the rope and secured himself in the length. The falcon grabbed the rope and took off. A rush of air hit him. Lenny could feel a scream and his lunch coming up his throat at the same time. The result was not pretty, a dreadful gurgling belched from Lenny's mouth. The falcon didn't seem to notice as it flew on towards the pig pen. They reached the pen just after Lenny regained just enough control to swear that he'd never o that again.

The pig pen was a worms paradise, if it weren't so dangerous. Rotten pieces of organic matter laid strewn about over a carpet of soft, upturned dirt. The smell was wonderfully overwhelming to Lenny's senses. If only those massive beasts didn't stop around and eat anything that didn't taste like dirt. Gasping heavily and still trying to regain control his body Lenny finally managed to blurt out "Pig". The pig was nose deep in slip and so preoccupied with his eating that he didn't notice. The falcon let out a screech which startled the pig. The porker jumped and began running in circles around the pen. "Pig, hold on!" Lenny commanded. But it was no use. The pig ran in circles until he was winded. When the pig finally gathered his wits he looked at the pair curiously. "What's the idea going round scaring folk half to death?" Lenny responded "I need to call in that favor for the apple I led you to last week". "Fine" the pig said "I was almost done with my lunch anyways." "Meet us at the barn right away" said Lenny. With that the falcon took off. Lenny wanted to brace himself before the bird took off again but it happened so unexpectedly and suddenly Lenny could do nothing but close his eyes and scream in his head.

When the falcon had landed Lenny jumped off the rope and burrowed straight into the ground. He was glad to be back in his element. Still, he had work to do. Lenny burrowed into the barns doorway, popped out of the ground and looked in. The inside of the barn was dim, a couple of sunbeams broke through the roof. On the walls were an assortment of saddles, ploughs, and other useful farming instruments. In the corner were large sacks of hay. Above Lenny, hay from the loft softly fell. This just might work Lenny thought to himself.

"See those large sacks? I need a rope ties around it for hoisting." The falcon flew over and with the help of the pig tied the rope around the sack. "Ok, now falcon I need you to fly the rope around the beam near the hay loft so that pig can hoist the sack up." The two stared at the worm. "This smells fishy" said the falcon. "I'm not liking where this is going either" the pig agreed. "What we are doing here is increasing the amount of food available fro everyone here. 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 swarm 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 for them. You'll walk out of your pen and they'll be there, waiting for you." The two stood there thinking 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 worms plan. He was already content knowing where a meal would be in two days. He flew up to the hay loft and wrapped the rope around the beam supporting the ceiling. The falcon dropped the rope which landed near the pig. The pig shrugged and starting hoisting the sack up. "Good, 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 around to the opposite side of the barn and tie it around the beam holding up the hay loft." The falcon followed the worms instructions as the pig held the sack hanging from the beam. "Ok, pig, I need you to slowly head towards the scythe while holding onto the rope. Don't let go or the scythe might break." The pig started advancing towards the scythe, his face was visibly strained and a sweat began breaking over his face. With each step the sack of gain dropped lower and lower. "Pig, pull the sack back up and 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 and inch or two across the floor. The color of the rope blended in with the floor of the barn. "That's all I needed. Pig, there are three apples in the north field along the stream coming from the pond." The tow left Lenny in the barn.

It was just after lunchtime and a door could be heard slamming shut. "Big Mac I need you to go into the barn and grab the cart" a voice called out. "Eeyup" another voice replied. The timing was too perfect. Lenny had waited long enough for his plans to come together. It was nice to see things more along so quickly for a change. Lenny hid right inside the barn by the door. He wanted to see if his plan would work. A big red stallion entered through the doorway. He stopped for a moment and looked around. Then he spotting the cart in the back corner of the barn. With his next step he tripped over the camouflaged rome. The tension caused the pony to trip and fall. 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 to the ground and landed on the ponies midriff. "Oof!" the stallion grunted. The wind was knocked out of him and he started panting heavily trying to regain his breath. After a few short pants he started to scream out in pain. The slowed down his breathing and he put all his effort into controlling his breath. After a minute of slow, shallow breathing the pony took in a big breath and cried out in pain "AJ!". An orange pony ran into the doorway. "Big Mac are you OK?" the pony cried. "Nope" Big Mac responded. "Stay still and I'll get the doctor. APPLEBLOOM GET OVER TO THE BARN AND WATCH YOUR BROTHER!" With that the orange pony ran off towards town. That's all Lenny needed to see. Big Mac won't be harvesting the apples this year. Lenny dug into the ground and headed toward the orchard.

Phase one went off without a hitch. Phase two however will be a bit harder. But Lenny had an idea that was sure to work. Over the next four days Lenny went into the field and gathered every worm in the orchard. On the second day Lenny went to the southern field. He borrowed to to the road between the western field and the southern field. Looking down the road Lenny spotted the two sparrows. Lenny approached them. "The caterpillars should be here any moment. Where's Jim?" The sparrows looked at him and shrugged. "I left him with my kids the other day while we were bringing you the rope. When I came back he was gone" one of the birds said. By all that is damp and dirty those birds would pay. Fortunately Lenny had planned to backstab them ahead of time. He might have warned them if Jim was safe. Lenny looked down the road for the caterpillars an the falcon. Neither were in sight. Lenny wanted to scream. Justice needed to come faster.

The first few caterpillars started crossing the road. The birds watched and waited, hidden in the leaved of an apple tree. Soon more and more caterpillars began crossing the open road. They constantly looked left, right, and up searching for danger and made their way across as fast as their little legs would carry them. When the first pair almost crossed the birds sprang from the tress and barreled towards the frontmost crawlers. In one swift motion two of the tree worms were snatched from the road. Lenny could hear their screams. He hoped the falcon would strike now before the birds could… too late. One of the birds tossed a caterpillar in the air and caught him in his mouth. The bird took a dive second dive at the panicked pack of caterpillars on the road. The bird broke his dive and hovered over a caterpillar. He was about to drive his talons into the frightened insect when the bird found irony had played a cruel trick on him. The falcon snatched the sparrow in his talons an flew off. The other sparrow, gripped by fear, squawked, and dove underneath the trees and flew off under cover of leaf and brach. Lenny couldn't tell which was the bird who let Jim be eaten but it didn't matter. Justice had come and irony helped.

One the third day Lenny had a sizable host gathered. Many of the worms were still out looking for others. Lenny had not told them of his plans quite yet but said that it was urgent the worms gathered near the road leading to the west field. Lenny stopped to take a break while in the north field. He popped out of the ground and looked around. It was a warm, sunny day. A light breeze swept over the trees. "Wait a minute," Lenny thought to himself "some of the trees don't have any apples on them". Lenny looked around and saw an orange pony bucking the apple trees. She had dark circles under her eyes and looked exhausted. Yet somehow she managed to knock every apple from the tree in a single buck. "She's got to go" Lenny said to himself. Wit 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 worms from all over the farm. Lenny was sure that with these numbers they could complete his plans and take over the farm. "Brothers," Lenny 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 outs! 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 and claim this year as appleworm season!" The host of worms cheered in agreement. "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." Lenny crawled over to the spot where the pit was to be dug and burrowed in the ground. The worms followed Lenny and dug into the earth. The next five hours were spent clearing out the earth just beneath the road. On the sixth hour Lenny inspected the hole. It was wide enough for the pony to fit into and twice as tall as the pony. To Lenny the hole was massive. "Wes," he cackled maniacally. "This is perfect"

Lenny could feel something approaching. It's steps made the earth shake. Bits of dirt fell from the ceiling of the hole. Lenny was ecstatic. The farm was soon to be his. The steps grew closer and closer. Sharking the earth violently. Light flooded the pit as a massive purple leg broke the ceiling. The ceiling collapsed as the purple figure fell to the bottom. "Umph… what is Equestria? What is this hole doing in the middle of the road?" A purple unicorn??? Lenny had trapped the wrong pony. Now what would Lenny do? The thought of another pit to trap both began forming in Lenny's head but before he could finish the thought there was a flash of light and the unicorn was gone. Lenny looked around, flabbergasted. "I'll have to tell Applejack that there's a sinkhole on her road" said a voice coming from above. "Unicorns can teleport?" Lenny yelled. His plans were completely ruined by the sudden turn of events. This called for drastic action.

"We must attack the orange pony directly. We cannot allow her to harvest all our apples. Who's with me?" Seven worms accepted Lenny's call. The rest were tired and upset that their hard work had just been wasted. Lenny 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 to the orange pony. Follow her." Lenny and company chased the pony towards the town. The worms would take turns keeping track the pony above while the others dug underneath the ground. When they reached the town Lenny saw Applejack run into the a building  that looked like a giant gingerbread house. The worms were a black away from the pony when she entered the building. "We attack from the back." The worms burrowed into the ground and headed towards the building. When they reached the back they un-burrowed. Just then the orange pony burst from the doors. "Attack!" cried Lenny. But it was no use. The orange pony gathered the all up 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. Beside her was a countertop and on the countertop was a bowl filled with some sort of a 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 Lenny/ The bowl was picked up and the contents poured into a tray. Lenny found himself in the center of the tray. The tray was picked up and stuck in a giant white box. The box was roasting hot and Lenny shrunk back into the paste he found himself in. Knowing his doom approached Lenny dug into the center of the paste where it was coolest and coiled himself up. He then went in circles and spread his bodies slime all over the inside of the goop. WIth luck it would stay cool and moist enough for Lenny to live.

As time went by it grew hotter and Lenny was unsure if he'd make it. After what seemed like an eternity Lenny heard a *ding*. "oooh, done!". Lenny heard a massive creaking sound. Lenny could feel himself being lifted up. "I hope I can escape" Lenny thought to himself. He then felt the world moving around him and finally come to rest. "Free muffin sample spectacular!" a voice chimed "Yeah muffin spectacles, get e' while they're hot." said another voice. Lenny could feel the world move again. He dug his way to what he guessed was down but ran into a barrier. "What sort of cruel joke is this?" Lenny said to himself. The sounds of gagging filled the room. "I guess the attack is going well at least" Lenny said to himself sarcastically. "Pinkie Pie what did you pit in there muffins?" Said a voice. "I dunno, Applejack was the one pouring everything." replied another voice. "Oh you know, chips, a cup of sour, bakin'…" The voice trailed off and began to snore. "I feel sick. I think I need to see a doctor" a new voice said weekly. "Bring the muffins." Lenny felt his world move yet again. When it stopped Lenny would make a break for it.

"We can as fast as we heard" said a voice when Lenny stopped moving. This was it. Lenny went towards the top of the muffin and burst out. Jest as he breached the muffin he was picked up and was face to face with a purple figure. Lenny could see monstrous fangs on the creature and it was covered in scales. It took a sniff of the muffin and its jaw opened. "No! No! Noooooooooooooo!" Lenny screamed as his world went dark.