HEIRS – HIDE AND GO SEKAI
Applejack finished bucking yet another tree, and sighed, watching the farm. It was not the same. Unlike years ago, the apples fragrance is now mixed with oil smell, and the chirp of the eventual bird was replaced with mechanical noises. Here and there, the natural air was tainted with the faint smell of ozone and the fur of all live things raised a bit, signaling the presence of unicorn magic. Sure, things are better. The farm has no longer bits problems, she was producing enough cider to supply Ponyville and even sell to fancy pubs around the country, everypony was happy, but still…
But still, she haven’t seen those two all morning. What could they be up to? She then started to search the farm for the two rogue ponies
“Congratulations, daughter of mine, you got the movement right. Now, just practice to perform faster. Eventually, you…”
“Flim! Sekai-Ichi! What are you doing?”
“Oh, my, oh my.” The slim unicorn though about hiding the incriminating evidence, but Applejack was already near them. And, worse, the filly was already talking.
“Pa is teaching me a funny game, ma.”
Applejack looked at the earth filly. Yellow body, so pale some mistake for white at first glance, contrasting with the bright red and orange streaks on her mane and tail. The green eyes, like her own, but even at this early age Applejack could see they sparkle for the wrong reasons and subjects. She then looked at the stallion near her kid and raised an eyebrow.
“Is he really?”
“Want to see it?”
“She doesn’t!” said Flim, a bit too fast. “Go play elsewhere, Sekai.”
“Oh, but ah do.”
“Really, Applejack, it’s just a foal gam…”
Beaming with pride, Sekai-Ichi was already at it, spreading three pieces of cardboard on the floor. One of the papers had a figure of a beautifull alicorn. In other words...
“Right, ma, I have two black cards and a red princess card. Now, try to find the princess…”
Applejack needed all her strenght to keep smiling.
“That’s nice, sugar cube, why don’t you go inside and start washin’ the vegetables for lunch? I will be there lickety-split.”
“I will help you, daughter of mine.”
“Y’all stay right there, mister!”
As soon as the filly was out of reach, Flim tried to avoid the coming storm.
“Technically… objectively, love, as long as no bit change hooves, it’s a harmless…”
“Ah will rip that horn of ya and shove where Celestia… How could ya?! We talked about this.”
“Yes, but… you didn’t complain about the three-card trick that other time, remember?”
Roseluck finished putting the daisies on her flower stand and went to the next species: a dark blue rose the seller calls Mirror of Luna. Nibbling on a petal she decided they tasted as good as they look, and proceed to finish the setting. With a satisfied sigh, she looked at the sky. Celestia was going to bless Ponyville with a good day; it was a pity so few ponies were around that early in the morning, enjoying the dawn. Then Roseluck saw something very unusual. Could it be fireworks? Why would anypony launch a firework at such hour? Leaving the flower cart behind, she decided to investigate.
It seemed to come from the outskirts of town. An empty field, with sparse grass and some weeds here and there; since nopony lived there, it was one of those areas the weather team skips when bits get tight; and, despite being a public company, bits seemed to get tight very often. Not the place, not the hour to lauch fireworks. At distance, she saw what looked like a big cart. Maybe a travelling circus, announcing its arrival too early? Getting close, she realized it was a destroyed vehicle and
“The horror! The horror!”
Near the cart, a mare and a stallion who obviously took a beat lied, and a second stallion was barely conscientious.
“Help us.”
But Roseluck already had fainted
“Oh, this is great. Fantastic. Wonderf-.” And the world also became black to him.
The first thing that returned was the hearing. He knew there were ponies talking around him, but he could not understand the words, at first. A fraction of second after that, he started to recognize the smells. Cleaning products, medicines. Next, his muscles told him he was on a soft surface. A bit warm, too. Finally he opened his eyes on a flash and tried to stand.
“Where’s my brother?”
“Flim. You’re awake.”
Around him, some unknown ponies. A medic, he supposed, and the little pony that fainted instead of rescuing him. Here and there, the words started to make sense. Lily Valley saw her at distance and found the group. Injuries. Several splinters on him. Blood loss. He then looked through the window.
“What time is it?!”
“Almost ten, you were out for less than four hours…” This was not an unusual question, the doctor though, but hardly it come so early from recovering patients. Flim was already throwing the sheets away and trying to move.
“My brother. Trixie. We have less than a day to avert a disaster. We…” The dizziness made him wobble.
“Easy, stallion. Your brother and Trixie are still out. You need to rest…”
“No time. What city is this? Is it Ponyville? Did we make it?”
"Yes, you are at the Ponyville Hospital. Just lie on the bed, please”
“Applejack. Doctor, get Applejack. It’s an emergency. A cataclysm. An unusual and dangerous situation that calls for immediate action!”
Some minutes later, the orange pony was at his bedside, together with Twilight Sparkle. Before Flim could open his mouth, Applejack started to talk:
“Mah folks raised me good enough to answer any call for help, ah have my duties as Princess of Friendship’s companion and, shoot, Granny Smith strangely started to fancy you conponies after Applecon. If ah could, ah would forget all this and stay at the farm. But since ah can’t… how can... ah can't believe ah will say that... how can ah help ya, Flim?"
“Believe me, Applejack, if I fathom all the bits you cost me and my brother, the last thing I would want was to get close to you. Nevertheless, by this time, tomorrow, your farm will be no more; add twelve hours more, and Ponyville will be crumbles. A couple more days, and I fear not even the Sisters could stop the destruction of the rest of the Equestria.”
Even pressed with the urgency, Flim could't help but enjoy the faces of everypony on that room on him. "Seems that I have your attention... so, can we start to act to avoid this?"
Author's Note
English is not my first language, and obviously it shows. So, comments are more than welcome. Thanks for reading so far.
Oh, and Applejack's offspring name? Sekai-Ichi translates roughly as "Best in the world" and is the most expensive of the apple cultivars - more than US$ 21 per apple. Flim finds the name fitting.
Both Twilight and Applejack bombarded Flim with questions.
“Right. I will try to summarize this, as time urges. Thanks to Granny Smith, my brother and I managed to make some bits at Applecon (note: see IDW Friends Forever #09), and could travel some. We went to Neigh Orleans, where we befriended this unicorn named Trixie. She was also a bit down on her luck, and we decided to make business together… strength in numbers and all that. Oddly enough, for somepony so street-wise, she insisted on us having a pretty… straightforward and orthodox approach to business.”
“Yes” said Twilight “we had some encounters in the past and she seemed interested on getting her act clean.”
Flim nodded and kept going.
“But I digress. We decided to adapt the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 into an apple harvester and rent its services to farmers all over the land.” He levitated a glass of water and sipped some. “It was a success. Too much a success. We had lines of farmers wanting to use the machine. Trixie, my brother and I used our magic to power it morning, evening and noon nonstop. By nighttime, we were so tired we couldn’t hold our tools to build other machines to meet the demand.”
He lowered his eyes “Fact… matter… bottom line is we were losing possible clients and bits with the situation. Something we could not allow. So we tried to make some research for a spell to speed things up.”
“Y’all remember how well that went the other time.”
“Yes… but we found a possible solution. Instead of moving the big and cumbersome machine around the orchards, we found a spell that would make the trees come to us.
“Come again?”
“Basically, a spell that give mobility to any object… the spell came with a warning, something about a wizard, an apprentice and walking brooms, but we pay no attention to it. The enchantment gave not only mobility, but also a not pleasant personality to the trees. During the night, they destroyed the property and there’s now a patch of destruction behind the trees. Every orchard, every plantation, every garden in their way… gone. The other trees either destroyed or recruited… conscripted… dragooned.”
“Haven’t you tried a counterspell?”
“It didn’t work. The spell… is like a virus. The enchanted tree infect others that infect others…”
“Wait a bucking minute. There are trees attacking ponies right now?”
“No, they don’t seem to move under the sun.”
“So the trees attacked you. That’s where Roseluck tale enters.”
“Quite. We tried conterspells and everything, but the trees were destroying us… until they sensed the approaching morning and went away.”
“Where to, Flim?”
“Hide, I suppose.”
“Hide. And where in tarnation a tree could hi…”
Before Applejack could finish the phrase, she and Twilight looked at each other, knowing the answer. The alicorn turned to the stallion.
“How fast are those trees?”
“We could – and did – trot circles around then.”
“Half the speed of a regular pony?”
“Maybe even a bit slower.”
“Right. We have something. I have to crunch some numbers, and…”
“Excuse me, your Serene Highness. I may have some ideas to help.”
“Just Twilight is fine.”
Applejack shook her head
“And y’all already did too much, creating the mess in the first place. We will deal with it.”
“Let me put it another way. I know the spell, know what does not work, and I am half of the team that designed the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. I know how to stop the trees.”
“And almost killed Granny Smith.”
“Having a whole city after you is also hardly healthy, Applejack.”
“Applejack! I am sorry, but I have to agree with Flim. If the situation is like what he described, we will need every helping hoof. Can we take him to the castle, doctor?”
“Given the circumstances, the physician… the healer… has not much to say” Flim stood on all fours, trying to hide the pain he was feeling. “Just tell me when my brother and that partner of ours wake up, right?”
Soon, the mane six, spike and Flim were around a table in the castle, quills flying over paper, controlled by the magic of the alicorn and of the male unicorn.
“Right” said the Princess of Friendship. Closing a large book. “I think we figured out the trees.”
“So, do you know why they want to destroy mah farm… and every other orchard in Equestria?”
“Oh, no, they don’t want to do that.”
“Phew. That is a relief.”
“Sorry, Applejack, I will say it other way. They will destroy it, they just don’t want to do so.”
“WHAT?!”
“The princess is a scientist, country fellow of mine. You have to make exact questions.”
“First, Flim, ah am nothing ‘of yours’; second, ah know Twilight very well, so keep your big mouth shut.”
“Guys, let’s not lose time arguing. Applejack, it’s simple. The trees - more specifically, the spell - want what every critter wants, to reproduce, to pass itself to other trees. And to do so, they eliminate everything in their way. It’s exciting, actually. First, Luna’s Tantabus, now this. Do you know how much is there to be researched and learned about these self-aware, sentient spells? It’s a complete new field…”
As Twilight kept talking, Pinkie Pie whispered to Flim.
“We’re losing her.”
“… rethink our definition of ‘life’, and everything we know about the environment of magic fields and… OUCH!” said Twilight as Rainbow Dash’s hoof hit her head.
“Hello-o? Menacing trees will destroy Ponyville at nighttime, remember?”
“Oh. Right. Sorry. So, the spell in the trees will actively look for other similar trees.”
“Shoot, and Sweet Apple Acres is the largest orchard in miles.”
“Yes, but it is an advantage. We now know where the trees will go once Luna raises the Moon. Luckily, they were too far away to reach Sweet Apple Acres last night, or things would get really messy. I think Flim and I have a plan that might just work.”
“Allow me to summarize, your Hig… Twilight.” Flim made three cards float out of a pocket. “Sweet Apple Acres is like the Red Princess and we will make traps like these two black numbered cards…”
Orders were given and the group dispersed. All but Pinkie Pie, who stood in the middle of the room, still looking at the card on her hooves and screaming:
“But where did the Joking Discord card came from?!”
Twilight went quickly to her private library and started to write a letter.
“Spike, send this to Princess Celestia, then bring Doctor Hooves here ASAP. After that, make coffee and keep it coming. We’ll need a lot for tonight. I will check if Trixie is available.”
The dragon made a military salute and the letter disappeared in a burst of magical fire.
“…and then the trees will make a cool magic trick, with is amazing, ‘cause Trixie is here, and we are all going to join the red princess to stop the sentient thingee that wants to destroy us all! Destroy us all! Destroy us all!”
At Sugarcube Corner, the Cakes looked at Pinkie Pie and blinked twice. The pink pony opened a shy smile.
“… or let’s just bake what Twilight asked.
Rainbow Dash rallied a group of pegasi over the field spot over the remainings of the wagon of Flim, Flam and Trixie.
“Alright, listen up, pegasi. Yesterday, the trees ran for about an hour before sunrise. Twilight says it gives us a radius of six to seven miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every forest, woods, park, orchard, garden, backyard, gazebo and bonsai maker in that area. Checkpoints from here to Sweet Apple Acres. We are looking for enchanted apple trees. Go find them.”
There is no time to complain, though Flim. Twilight said a pony named Doctor Hooves will be there shortly to help him. So, he tried to forget the pain or the fact he was working alone. Alone, inside a barn that lacks most of the tools that he is used to. And, to top it, the owner of the barn was not exactly sympathetic over him. But reason must speak louder. Sweet Apple Acres was the most logic place to build what they need to stop the trees, knowing they would come to that very place. Still, he certainly was not used to any of those experiences and…
“Why is that machine there?”
A young voice took him out of his thoughts. The little pony was pointing to an intricate collection of cogs and axis around a tube covered in mystical symbols, connected together on a frame a bit larger than a saddlebag.
“That, my curious young filly – Apple Bloom, is it? – is a magical transmission we salvaged from our cart. It converts magical energy to mechan…”
The little brat pushed Flim away “Ah know what a magical transmission is, Twilight showed me on one of our get-togethers. Ah asked why it’s THERE. Wouldn’t be better if it was down here? You could save lots of space and roller chains.”
Flim pondered for a while.
“Ah… it’s kind of the default position on our machines…” Flim bit his lip and didn’t add that they use to put the transmission on top, so ponies on the furthest row could see him and Flam powering the machines. But showmanship should not be a concern now, should it?
“You know, little one, you are right.”
“Ah know you were building several machines to help beat the trees, so ah brought you this.” Apple Bloom gave Flim a small flask.
“What…?”
“A lubricant ah learned to make with Zecora. Makes our carts really go.”
“Say, little one, don’t you have homework to do?”
“Yes…” Apple Bloom lowered her ears “I will go now, sorry bothering you.”
“Because I am sure that sister of yours can make some nice note excusing you. Right now I am naming you junior designer and general assistant… appointee…coadjutor. Grab a tool and come help me.”
“Really?” Flim could see the stars on the eyes of the excited filly. “I mean, sure, Flim. Cutie Mark Crusader coadjutor!”
After some time, Doctor Hooves joined Flim and Apple Bloom and the work really took speed.
“Well, thanks for the help, little coadjutor of mine, but I think is time for you to get inside before Applejack gets worried.”
“Aaawww, but we’re so close to finish it all.”
“And the good Doctor and I can handle it now, thanks to you. Go on.”
“Fine. But only if you tell me more about the Super Squeezy tomorrow.”
“We have an agreement.”
And the filly ran to her house:
“Applejack! Applejack! I build an amazing machine.”
Another hour passes and Doctor Hooves checked a pocket watch.
“This is really amazing, my friend. We finish the construction with almost three hours to spare from the entrapment time. I shall alert the princess, and soon we will be here to pick up our conceptions.”
“You do it, doctor. And have my gratitude.”
Flim went inside and gave a machine some more tweaks, upon hearing another familiar voice.
“Is the doctor gone already?”
“Oh, hello. Applejack. Yes, we are ahead of schedule.”
“Pity. Ah brought something for y’all.” She put a tray with two cider mugs over a hay square.
After some though, she got one of the mugs for herself.
“Just because is impolite to let a guest drink alone. And because ah want you to taste a real cider for a change.”
The stallion took a sip.
“It’s exquisite. Quite enjoyable. Certainly above average.”
“Ya know, your description is right there with Maud Pie’s in disappointment.”
“I wish you could taste the one my brother and I make.”
“How is he, anyway?”
“They said he fractured his leg in two places, and will have to stay at the hospital for about a week. Trixie is fine, she will be staying at Twilight’s Castle during that period.”
“Good to know. Look, Big Mac is with the others patrolling the limits of the farm, so, if y’all want to take an hour nap, you can use his room.”
“Thanks, but I prefer to stay alert until everything is over.”
“Then ah guess ah will make you company.”
“You don’t need to.”
“Nonsense. Ah need to thank y’all about Apple Bloom, anyway; ah think you made her a step closer to her cutie mark.”
“Most likely. You have a very talented… adroit… sister.”
“Yes, that’s she is. A bit of pain on the flank, sometimes, but a very special filly. And totally mark-obsessed. You have no idea how excited she entered home. Trinkets and potions are really her call, ya know”
“How about you?”
“What’s about me?”
“How did you got your cutie mark?”
“Ah.” And Applejack told about the city, the Oranges, and the Sonic Rainboom.”
“Oh, my, that’s quite a tale. I must say it fits you very well. Nice colour combination.”
“Ah have to say ah am also curious about yours…”
They both stopped, noticing they were checking each other flanks with a bit too much of interest. They blushed and turned quickly their heads away.
“Ah mean, why an apple?”
“Well, you see, fifteen years ago, there was this Equestria-wide apple shortage…”
“Flim…”
“I jest. I was trying to make it sound as epic as yours. We used to live in the outskirts of Fillydelphia. Our neighbors had some small orchards, and we started to sell apples to the busy businessponies downtown. They didn’t had time to go out and lunch, and welcomed the apple-selling colts at their office doors. And didn’t mind our huge mark-up. So… my mark is the cost, Flam’s the profit.” He thought for a while, disappointed with his own bland tale, and shrugged “The end.”
“But it has nothing to do with making machine and… sorry, and then tell tales.”
“Oh, it does. In order to sell the most apples, we learned a lot about how to calculate, how to work with tendency, possibilities and percentage…”
“Ah run a farm. Ah know those are important for business, but…”
“Business? No, Applejack, I am talking about finding how many classes we could skip without
failing school. We were colts, remember.”
They both laughed.
“I remember one time…”
And before they could notice, several ponies arrived to put the traps in place.
“Whoa. Ah didn’t noticed it was time already.”
“Quite. It was very nice to have this colloquy… tete-a-tete with you.”
“Same. Now, let’s hunt some trees. YyeeeHaw!”
Author's Note
I pay homage to two movies in this chapter. Can you name them?
Thanks a lot for reading
