Chapter one: New Neighbours
Honest Apples, Annoying Bats
Chapter one: New Neighbours
As the calling of the rooster echoed across the land of Sweet Apple Acres and the sun rose over the horizon, basking the land of Equestria in its warm glow, its light spreading over the home of the Apple Family and into the bedroom of one gamboge furred mare slowly pulling herself free of her bedding. That mare was Applejack Apple of Ponyville and one of the Six Elements of Harmony.
“‘Nother sunny day in Equestria.” The country mare said with a grin before adjusting the Stetson atop her pale yellow mane. Taking one last look around her simple room, consisting of a bed, nightstand with a lamp and two photos, one of her family and another of her best friends, she nodded to herself before descending the stairs.
Once leaving the house she made her way to the deep red shaded barn, remembering how the whole Apple family built it in what was probably a new record time. Upon entering, she heard rustling behind her. Raising a brow, Applejack turned her head, noticing nothing but a bush in the distance. Shrugging, the mare continued through the doors.
“Probably jus’ mah imagination. Not many folks or critters would be awake this time o’ the day. ‘Cept us Apples, heh.” Applejack chuckled to herself after her quick barn inspection. Once done, she moved out of the building, greeting her elder brother, the red silent stallion, Big Macintosh, or Big Mac as many of the residents of Ponyville called him.
“Alright, gotta finish up those trees in section twenty one, then check tha’ growth on section twenty two. After that, there’s the bushels in section fourteen.” As Applejack spoke to herself, her mind wandered to other thoughts. Mainly the idea that today was the day that Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, would get her first few Night and Day guards, specifically selected by herself and her brother, Captain of the Guard, Shining Armor. And that would mean Bat Ponies would become a mainstay in Ponyville. Sure, they’d had the nocturnal equines in town before, but they’d never stayed for longer than Princess Luna had.
Once arriving at the designated spot, Applejack once more heard rustling. With her curiosity and intrigue becoming annoyance, she looked up in the direction of the sound. The sound coming from a tree just a few yards away. As she squinted her eyes, she caught sight of a dark chocolate coloured tuft of fur sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the vibrant green leaves of the of the apple tree.
Sighing, Applejack moved towards the tree and cleared her throat, causing the unmoving fur to suddenly shift.
“Ah think ya better get outta there, stranger. Unless ya wanna come outta that there tree by a good buckin’.” She said with a hint of amusement as a slight smirk found its way on her lips.
The tuft slowly moved further into the tree before mumbling could be heard. After another moment, the unidentified creature shot out of the tree with speed near on par with that of Rainbow Dash, the towns local speed-demon.
Applejack had to blink twice before what she saw actually hit her. The pony in question was a filly pegasus, probably around Appleblooms age, if not older or younger, with a charcoal grey fur, the aforementioned chocolate mane and tail. But that wasn’t what surprised the orange mare, it was the fact that the filly’s wings were a leathery grey and her eyes a solid yellow with small black slits, not unlike a cats.
‘A Bat Pony…’ Was all Applejack could think before the hovering filly spoke up, a rather annoyed look on her face.
“What? You never seen a Bat Pony before, Orange-Face?” the little equine said with a raised brow and her forelegs folded. Her brow raised as the Earth Pony below her gave an annoyed look, clearly not happy with the nickname.
“Oh Ah’ve seen plenty in mah time, squirt. But never one with a gob as bad as yers. Didn’ yer parents ever tell ya to respect ya elders?” Applejack asked, still rather peeved at the use of ‘Orange-face’.
“Hmph, so what if they did? You can’t do anything about it.” The bat filly said with a toothy smirk, her fangs showing in their pearly white glory.
Narrowing her eyes, Applejack shook her head before moving onwards, deciding it best to ignore the little nuisance.
As she moved towards one of the trees before turning around, she dragged one of the baskets used to collect the apples under said tree. Once doing so, Applejack got into position, her hind legs raised before delivering a powerful smack against the tree, bucking into it as the apples fell straight into the baskets, some bouncing out or around, but it didn’t matter, as long as most got into the basket.
The bat filly watched with curiosity, having never seen a pony doing this to a tree. The whole thing seemed strange to her. But it made sense, not every pony could just fly up and take an apple, unlike herself, her father and the rest of her kind. And pegasus’ but she wasn’t a fan of those ponies. Way to annoying for her taste.
Still, she watched, hovering slightly lower to the ground, something Applejack caught sight of. Once she’d finished with the tree, after coming to the conclusion that most, if not all, of the trees apples had been bucked out, she looked over to the hovering filly and chuckled.
“What? Ain’t never seen a tree gettin’ bucked b’fore?” She asked with a grin and a raised brow. This earned her a blink and a slight blush of surprise to creep over the filly’s face before being shaken off and glared at.
“So what? Canterlot doesn’t have farms and I’ve never seen ‘em. Big deal.” She said before turning her back on the mare. “Orange-Face.” She said again, earning a look of slight annoyance from the pony in question.
“So, you gonna tell me why yer out here an’ not at home? How ‘bout a name? Mines Applejack.” The gamboge mare said as she shifted around another tree, lining up the baskets before bucking into it.
The filly gave her a searching look before speaking.
“Names Sweet Night and I’m out here because my dumb dad had to talk with that ‘Princess Twilight’ or somethin’. So I snuck out, flew around and decided to check out this farm. That good enough for ya?” Sweet Night asked with a venomous tone.
Applejack’s bucking slowed slightly as she processed this information before coming to her conclusion. ‘So, she’s the foal o’ one o’ them new night guards at Twilights huh? Well, I certainly feel sorry for her pa. Unless he’s jus’ like ‘er. Apples never fall far from their trees.’
Shrugging it off, she continued to do her work around the farm, the hovering filly following her every step of the way.
After a while, Sweet Nights’ incessant words and harmless insults really began to grate on the earth pony’s nerves, much to the amusement of the bat filly.
At one point, whilst she was busy attending to the bushels, the young one finally made her crack.
“So, do earth ponies always wake up early? Or is it just a farm pony thing? Do you take breaks? What about breakfast? Do you eat just apples or do you eat other fruits? Like oranges, grapes, berries, things like that? What about nuts? Have you ever tried peanuts? They taste great with salt but they taste bad on their own. “
Grinding her teeth, Applejack looked over to the bat filly with a glare before shaking her head. “Would you quit it already? Ah got serious work to be doin’ an’ yer jabberin’ is really getting’ under mah skin!”
Sweet Night didn’t seem to notice, but if a pony were to have looked closely, they’d spot the growing grin on her face.
“Heh, am I? I’m sorry, I just thought you’d like some company is all.” She responded with an innocent look. One that Applebloom had tried several times with her and failed on most accounts.
“Tha’s it! I’m goin’ ta the castle! Find yer parents an’ tell ‘em what ya been doin’ this entire time! They’re probably worried sick anyways!” With that, Applejack abandoned her work, which really wasn’t too surprising when you take into account the number of times that she’s probably had to just get up and go every time Equestria needed saving.
But, the mention of Applejack finding her father certainly seemed to affect Sweet Night, causing her to gasp and chase after the mare. “N-no! Please! I’m sorry!”
Author's Note
Okay, never actually tried my hand at an MLP Fanfic, I've tried others and honestly....I'm glad they have become unknown to the world.....
But anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the read!
And if you didn't....tell me why, please, be as -harsh- as you need to be! It will (probably) improve the story!
Chapter two: A Wingful Of Trouble
Chapter 2: A Wingful of Trouble
If Clouded Night hated anything, it was dealing with his rambunctious daughter. Okay, hate might be a strong word. Disliked? that sounded better. He disliked dealing with his rambunctious daughter.
Thankfully, the filly had seemingly already left their new home, a small home located on the outskirts of Ponyville, to do what, he wasn't sure of. But it did give him time to get himself ready for his first real meeting with the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle. Last night, the mare seemed far too tired to formally welcome the moderate count of Night Guards assigned to her Castle of Friendship.
"Castle of Friendship....sounds like a foals play set...." the grey furred bat pony thought out loud, adjusting the Night Guard helmet upon his head, proudly showing the Captain crest upon the frontal armor. After one last look in the mirror, confirming his slightly sleep depraved mind that he was indeed wearing his purple and black coloured armor, not his night gown. His men would never let him live that down after that day.
Taking one last look around the simple hallway, eyes fixed on the piles of boxes still left to be unpacked, he spread his leathery wings and took off. Hopefully, today would be an easy one. Hopefully.
Applejack, now halfway towards the castle, seemed to have a near permanent frown of annoyance. From both the mornings earlier happenings and the same problem now hovering above her.
"Please, please please don't get my dad! I'll do anything! I'll clean your barn! I'll clean your house! I'll clean your pigsty! I'll clean your barn, house and your pigsty!" The bat filly begged as she tried to unsuccessfully convince the mare to stop her advancements. Unfortunately, this did not deter her.
"Ya ain't getting out o' this missy. Ah know brats like yerself need a stern hoof. Hopefully yer pa has one. An' if not, then Ah guess he's gonna get an earful too! So shuddup an' start thinkin' o'bout how ya behave a little better!" The cowpony responded, flicking her tail in irritation.
After a few more minutes of endless whining and walking, the two finally came across the great front doors of the Castle of Friendship. The two day guards that stood at attention greeted Applejack with a swift salute before their eye brows raised at the sight of the now terrified looking filly hovering over her.
One went to open his mouth until his fellow guardspony looked over to him and shook his head. This was not worth the headache.
Once the doors were opened, Applejack and Sweet Night entered before the mare turned to the filly.
"Alright. Stay right there! Ah'm gonna go find that pa o' yers an' then give him the low down on what you've been like. Capisce?"
Sweet Night simply hung her head and sighed, nodding slightly.
At that moment, some shouting could be heard as both looked outside, seeing a speeding grey blur fly straight into the hallways.
"AH DAMNIT! I SHOULDA TOOK A LEFT FROM THAT CLOUD JUNCTION!" Yelled the unknown night guard, guessing by the armor, as he landed and looked around, trying to figure out which hallway would lead where.
"Damnit! This is not how I wanted this day to go! Where-" As he turned around, his eyes glanced over Applejack before looking towards the filly flapping above her. His eyes then went between Sweet Night, whom gave him a sorry looking smile and a wave, back to Applejack, who's brow rose up, her frown still etched on her face.
He groaned as he brought his hoof to his face. "Sweet, what did you do this time?"
Author's Note
Well.....this took forever to even put on paper/text file. Writers block. 'tis the second worst thing, right behind noticing every single error after you posted a chapter.
Anyways, comment with critiques and what not. Gonna go get me some Dr. Pepper and whiskey.
