Somepony could be seen taking a golden letter from the mailbox. What time is it? Apple-Buck Season, of course. Happy about the forthcoming Grand Galloping Gala, and glad about the gift she got from her best friend Twilight, Applejack saw it as a chance to sell her apple desserts. She, as always, started to do her job with passion: Put the basket under the apple tree, charge, buck the tree, wait the apples fall, unload them, and then start again. This job has been done by her since the magical time. The first touch in the tree. The synergy, the feeling that she would love to do that for her entire lifetime... The ponies cannot describe it. They would never realize that.
The right spot, the correct angle, the minimum strength, the are where most apples would fall... They are complex calculus, but she learned it helplessness. This is, listen, the talent everypony has. When the mind of somepony dips into the microuniverse of his/her job, the cutie mark appears. But she didn't learn anything new. She already programmed herself. But something new happened today.
The basket was under the tree. She charged a strong buck, and calculated the minimum strength to not damage the tree or get tired at the long run. Her hooves was about to touch the tree, but as she closed her eyes, something already shook the leaves. She opened her eyes wide.
"What the hay is goin' there?" "Intruders", she thought.
She looke
However, one of her secrets, also learnt by herself(That's what make her so proud) just came in handy. When her feet was about to hit the tree, a shake of leaves made Applejack stop. "What the hay is goin' there?", she thought, turning around and paying attention to every detail around her. "Intruders." The word looped in her mind. She wouldn't get anywhere without having an idea about what was it. Well, it wasn't the first time somepony mysterious did something...
Everything about this started three months ago, with the harvest of rainbow apples. The Apple family made their best to harvest the most possible rainbow apples, but someone had done something awful. Before they could notice, minutes after the apples became ready for harvest, somepony bit a lot of apples, forcing them to reduce production of rainbow jam. The pony couldn't be found, and the damage was irreversible.
Since then, several shakes of leaves and the feeling of being followed by somepony was being noticed by her, visit after visit to the orchard. She didn't give much of an attention, because it wasn't the apple harvest season yet.
However, now it was time to care about intruders. It was Apple-Buck Season. Applejack wouldn't let it go away. After all, whoever is hiding him(her)self is prejudicing the Apples' profit. More than that: "Stealing!", as she thought. Not that she wouldn't share, but that was stealing. Dishonesty. She was still waiting. The day could pass. The night could pass. But she wouldn't stand an entire day, or more, without sleeping. But the friend up there was in home! However, he/she seems to be willing to tease her. Dropped a leftover apple on her head.
Immediately, she turned back, preparing her best buck. Her mind was in ignition, and the mechanics that always ruled the way she bucks apples now was working at full speed and full quality. The tree would curve itself in a way that anypony would be thrown at other tree, and if he/she managed to hold, the tree would curve back, in a unstoppable throw. She closed her eyes. Opened. Crack.
The tree cracked itself with the overwhelming strength applied, making somepony fall behind it. "Ouch", a masculine, adult stallion voice said. Applejack now knew somepony hid there, but although she know most of Ponyville, that voice was not familiar.
Who was him?
Applejack managed to ran around the tree, but somehow he hid himself in other tree or something. But his hooves reported his presence. He wasn't hidden. He was invisible, and his footsteps could make her realize that. She made her best to try to reach for him, but he escaped. She had an idea to find him, and her knowledge about apples would be very useful. What was her plan?
Buck every tree she could. The apples would fall in random locations, and as he couldn't be too far now, after falling from that tree-top, the chances are high. That would prevent him from attacking Applejack from behind, and also prevent him from climbing a tree. Her plan, made in a second, could give such a great advantage... She begun.
Her legs was bucking around three apples in four seconds. Hundreds of apples fell on the ground, but only after ten seconds, our bandit was caught trying to hide himself behind the other side of the tree, screaming "Yeow!". He was no longer invisible now. Applejack could get a clear view of who he was, but that would be possible if she actually knew what was him.
"Oh, mate... I've never seen som'thin' so strange befor'!", she said, surprised. Well, now he didn't see any reason to hide himself. For a second, he stopped. Applejack had a second to get more details: A short, white mane. Orange body and head. A horn. Two teal eyes. Thin pupils. Two ears. Four hooves. A white fur collar. A long, thick tail. His members and tail had a white color in the end, and were very furry. He had a cutie mark, however the second hadn't given her enough time to get more detail. He was going for the escape, however, as if he was trying to tease her but make her chase him, didn't get invisible.
Applejack, as a good racing mare, managed to get really close, but she didn't expect to his strategy: Get invisible. Turn quickly to make her miss you. Turn quickly again to be behind her. Get visible. Push her flank to make her fall on her head. Wait. In fact, he did this. Applejack, angrier than ever, chased him with all her energy. What the unknown, strange pony didn't expect for was his mistake when trying to do the trick for the second time, as he did the invisible spell after changing direction. Applejack charged a heavy blow, certain that it was the last time that miscreant would be on hospital after that.
But missed.
The problem is that as the strange pony got invisible, he managed to suddenly stop to and get visible again, as A.J. could see him while missing her target. He knew it. If she managed to hit him, he would surely lose, but if she missed, she wouldn't be active for less than thirty seconds. The chase and the powerful buck exhausted her. She couldn't stop the apple thief. But instead of escaping, confident of his skills, this thief sat down near her and... Well, showed himself.
"Well, I would show myself earlier, if you weren't so bad to me... But that's all right. My name is Guant. What is yours?"
She was breathing the fastest she could, breathless. She was helpless.
"I know, you need some time to get back to activity. I can wait."
Now Applejack was angry again. She anyway lost a day of work. But as she realized trying to beat him wouldn't fix anything, she just said:
"Oh no... I am too tir'd! I lost a day of workin'!"
Guant got up, and started to walk on circles, wagging his tail. "I got an idea. I can help you. Not that I am feeling like it, but... I now realize what I did. I shouldn't do that to you. So..." He was about to smile.
"Gotcha!" She said, as she got sufficient energy to charge her best at Guant. She actually got the right direction, but what she didn't count for was his trump card: His magic, which forced her backwards. However, Guant's magic wasn't strong as Applejack's worker muscles. Every step was weakening his magic before her strength. He only got an options: Un-focus his magic and run away. Or not.
He un-focused. Applejack jumped over him. He managed to avoid, but she thought faster. Instead of turning and chasing him again, the space between the two was short enough for her to hit him with her legs.
Guant got hurt by the hit. Her right hoof hit his chest, and her left hoof hit his stomach. He fell on the ground, in pain. Applejack bit his tail and went pushing him, as he said "Stop!", "Let me go!", and "I can still walk by myself!"
Applejack managed to bring him to the barn, and tie him there. But there was a problem: His magic. "Well, let's sleep then."
When Guant woke up, he felt a deep headache. Applejack had hit him in the nape to make him unconscious. "Am I alone?", he thought to himself, angry with the fact that he was imprisoned. He lit his horn to un-tie him, but something wasn't working well. He tried harder, with more focus, but he noticed a purple field in his mind. "Is this... A seal?" He asked himself, scared. "I am going to die of hunger!", and started to struggle for his life, forcing the ropes. But he failed.
"The orange mare is back", he thought, as she in fact arrived. But another mare was there. A lilac mare, with a lilac stripe in her black mane. Her tail also had that stripe. And she had a 6-point star cutie mark. The dialogue needed to begin.
