Suri hummed softly to herself as she trotted through the halls, the only sounds in the factory being the sound of her hoofsteps and the birds tweeting. Those mornings where she'd wake up early and the roaring of the machines didn't cloud her thoughts and make it hard to think were the best days. As she made her way to the office, she spotted a blue mare already there through the doorway. She layed on the couch, her drool rolling off the leather. Suri rolled her eyes and stormed in.
"Trixie Lulamoon you get off your plot right this instant!"
The blue unicorn rolled off of the couch, whimpering softly as her chin collided with the hardwood floor. "Suri, it's too early to get to work..." She whined, slowly rising to her hooves.
"Too early for any other mare in Appleton, but we can't have the other lower class towns go without milk, can we?" Suri smiled, putting her hat onto Trixie's head, as she already was busy straightening out the rest of her outfit.
"Of course not, not like they're homemade milk is any better than ours anyways," Trixie scoffed, straightening the bracelet around her neck. She head for the door, "Want me to check on the cows before I go dear?"
Suri nodded, looking over her paper work, "Please and thank you," She smiled.
She smiled back and trotted down the hall to the barn.
-
Rarity groaned softly, as the ringing of bells filled her ears, signalling it was time for work. She lifted herself off of her bed of hay, shaking strands of wheat out of her mane. She trotted over to the mirror hanging on her wall and sighed, looking at herself in the mirror. Her face was plump and withered, her cheeks sagging down past her chin. She had a fat bottom lip, her nose a bit more square shaped than the average mare. Her lower body was just as fat and wrinkly, her hooves hardened and worn from years of hard labor. She couldn't even believe she was only twenty nine.
She pulled her mane back into a bun, though it was a bit messy as she was prohibited to using her magic within Lulamoon's property. She trotted out of her stable, wrapping a cloak around her body, glad she was at least able to cover the dark spots on her rear. She followed the other mares to the barn; mostly unicorns and earth ponies, only one or two pegasi here and there. Each with similar cow spots on their rear, but unlike Rarity they weren't afraid to show it. Still, equally as old and ugly. There were even some youngins in there who already were sporting pot bellies and jowls. She was just glad they sold Sweetie Belle as a foal before the curse could take effect.
That was the curse of backstabbing the Lulamoon family - and now the Polomares since their master got engaged to the royal tailor. Live the rest of your life with one meal a day as an old ugly milk mare.
She finally made it to the barn, though was shocked to see Master Trixie was already there. She stood before the rest of the mares, busy milking the cows, glancing sadly at Rarity. The blue unicorn seemed unarmed, but she could see the tail of a whip peaking from under Trixie's cape.
"M-Madame Trixie," Rarity bowed, her knees wobbling under her weight.
Trixie sneered at the mare as she approached her. "You're late, Rarity."
"I know Madame."
"And why is that?" She rose a brow.
"Well, you see, I-I was just," As she grabbed a pail for milking, she felt a sharp pain in her side as the blue aura that surrounded the pail and her horn faded, the bucket falling to the ground with a clatter. Rarity looked to see a long cut in her stomach, Trixie holding a whip firm in her aura.
"No magic, remember Rarity?" She asked, her voice sickeningly sweet.
She bowed her head, whimpering, "Y-Yes Madame Trixie."
"Clearly you don't, or else I wouldn't have to use this," She showed off her whip, threatening to strike her once again. Seeing the milk mare flinch, she broke out into laughter.
"It's only been ten years of since you've started working for me, Rarity, you must have toughened up a little since then?" She tucked the whip back under her cape and trotted out of the barn. "Always be a stupid little noble mare, no matter what."
Rarity sighed and approached one of the heifers, about to set her pail down and get milking when the cow seemed to expand. In seconds, she went from the size of any other old cow to ten times the size of a pregnant beef cow. Turning her head, Rarity spotted Trixie snickering from the entrance.
Still, she wrapped her shivering hooves around one of the bloated udder's nipples and started to squeeze.
-
Applejack hummed softly to herself as she stood in front of the mirror, straightening out her cyan sash and medals. She was awfully boyish for a mare, but still quite a beauty. Beautiful enough to be the king's wife at least. Well, she used to be.
She looked at the photo of Prince Blueblood, his coat still as white as it had been at his funeral and hair just as gold and wavy. Right down to the loose strands of hair he'd never bother combing back. She gently stroked his picture and sighed softly, "Oh Blueblood, why couldn't you have fought a little longer...?" She whispered, getting teary eyed.
"Applejack!"
The blonde jumped, quickly putting the photo face down onto the nightstand, before the little filly could see. Applejack turned, seeing the little unicorn bounding in, still in her nightgown and slippers. "S-Sweetie Belle! What're you doing up so early?" She asked, her tears quickly drying up.
"You said we'd go looking for my real family today, so I wanted to get up bright and early for it," Sweetie said proudly, slipping off her gown, making sure not to shift her tiara or scratch her coat as she had been taught by Blueblood.
"Alright, but you do realize how many files and documents there are to go through, it may take more than a morning to find them," AJ said, walking over, "Besides, I can't guarantee they even live in Appleton,"
"They have to have lived here, I will find them, I can feel it in my horn," She said proudly, tapping her little horn making her step-sister laugh.
Patting her on the head, the earth pony led Sweetie out of her bedroom, "Let's at least have some breakfast first." She said.
"Can I help the chefs cook today AJ?"
"Don't even think about it."
"Rarity!"
The white unicorn looked up from her work, as she poured her eighteenth pail of milk into the vat. She had managed to squeeze that cow dry of all the milk it had, knowing that meant more meat would be sold to the griffon kingdom this month. She almost felt a little bad about it, but that was nature, and after a while you get used to it. Just like how you get used to ponies disappearing after they get promoted, doesn't faze you after a while.
She turned, seeing Suri Polomare at the entrance, holding a clipboard to her chest. Swallowing the lump growing in her throat, she trotted over. "W-What can I do for you, Mrs. Polomare?" She asked, bowing lightly before the pink mare.
"I need you to send these jugs of milk to the market, Carrot Top's grocery just ran out, and Mr. and Mrs. Cake ran out of dairy for their sweets," Suri said, motioning to the cart stacked with milk cartons practically a mile high.
"O-Of course, ma'am, I'll get on it," She bowed her head once again before hooking herself up to the cart.
"Good girl, now run along before I take away your bathroom privileges again," She said, recalling many a time Rarity had such a wonderful thing as the outhouse banned from her, all because she delivered two orders of soy milk fifteen minutes late. Then again, many of these ponies were waddling in their own filth in there like cows, it was rather normal for them to be slow and filthy. But Suri knew Rarity, she may look like a hag, but she had her issues with cleanliness like any other mare.
Rarity nodded, and started her way down the dirt road, but stopped in her tracks. Looking over her shoulder, she called out. "Mrs. Polomare?"
Suri didn't even look over, busy writing on her clipboard, "What is it Rarity?"
"What happened to Berry Bunch and Derpy, don't they usually do deliveries?" She asked.
She chuckled, as she looked up from her clipboard and to said grey mare at the way back of the barn, still young and average looking aside from her lazy eye. Derpy hummed merrily, as she scrubbed a particular magenta cow down with soap, the heifer mooing and groaning sadly. "Oh, they've been promoted, don't worry about them," Suri assured Rarity, her grin widening as she heard the rickety wheels of the cart start squeaking, slowly getting fainter till they were barely audible. Finally, she was gone.
Running a hoof through her mane, she cleared her throat as she approached the rest of the mares, each pausing from milking to look at their master. "Bon Bon, Cloudkicker, would you come over please?"
Two large mares waddled over, both looking surprised to be called over by their master.
"Congratulations, you two have each earned a promotion," Suri smiled sweetly, taking in the gleeful looks on their faces that wouldn't last for long.
-
Applejack grumbled softly, her head resting on a stack of documents she was using as a pillow, her drool smudging up the ink. Her face was stained with coffee, many mugs of joe laying around the desk. She opened her eyes, seeing Sweetie Belle zip and zoom around the file cabinets, looking through every piece of paper and information there was. It warmed her heart seeing the little filly so determined on finding her family, but AJ knew that all that hard work would eventually turn up nothing.
She heard a set of heavy hoofsteps coming from behind her, slowly turning her head to see who it was.
"Macintosh!" Sweetie Belle grinned, bouncing over and onto his back, hugging him tightly.
He smiled and petted her on the head, "What're you doing up so early, Sweetie?" He asked.
"Me and Applejack are looking for my family," She smiled, motioning the the ocean of papers and coffee that covered the floor. Big Mac chuckled softly, walking up to Applejack, "AJ hasn't been that much help though, she's been sleeping the whole time," Sweetie pouted, watching the orange mare close her eyes once again, starting to snore loudly.
"Well it is only five in the morning," Bic Mac said, sitting next to his sister. Taking a half empty mug, he took a long swig of coffee.
"That's no excuse for being a lazy butt!" Sweetie whined, going through more papers. So far I've only found info on my great great grandpa and my great aunt, and that just led to more info on my sixth cousins and eight cousins," She explained, "I mean, it's nice knowing I have cousins, but I want to find my immediate family - a sister, brother, parent, anyone!"
"I'm sure you will, Sweetie, you keep looking," The red stallion smiled, letting her go back to looking through the countless amount of documents the kingdom had to offer. He turned to Applejack and frowned, lightly shaking her shoulder. "AJ wake up," He said softly.
She yawned loudly, looking up at him. "What is it Mac? I'm tired..." She whined.
"Applejack, are you really okay with letting Sweetie Belle do this? She's gonna be so sad if she finds nothing on her family," Macintosh whispered.
"We at least have to let her try, figure it out on her own," Applejack sighed, "Besides, what's the chance she finds her family in Appleton?"
"I found something!" The two earth ponies turned, seeing Sweetie Belle hold up a picture of a white unicorn with a diamond cutie mark, grinning triumphantly.
