Dorada Bluebell's 40 Days of Not-Summer

Bluebells was walking through the market, glancing at all the stalls warily. She had never had to go shopping before, as in her old home her mother had taken care of that, and here, Indigo had always done the shopping.

But when she had gotten home from school that day, there was a note taped to a sandwich on the table lying next to Sunny’s purse, stating that Sunny and Indigo were going to be out for a few hours and that they needed Bluebells to take care of the shopping. Underneath, there was a list of groceries.

So, here she was, keeping an eye out for the items on her list, happy that she was being given responsibility but nervous something bad would happen.

The first item on her list was tangerines, and when she looked up she found that she was only a few stalls away. She walked over to that stall and with a confident look on her face, looked up to the pony managing the stall.

“How much for four tangerines?” asked Bluebells as politely as she could.

The tangerine seller, a pony named Tangy Slice with a maroon coat and an orange mane, had never seen this pony before, and saw it as a chance to make a few extra bits.

“Well, it’s normally four bits apiece, but for you, I’ll make an exception. Three bits!” he said smoothly, discreetly scooting over to cover up the sign saying that tangerines were two bits.

Bluebells was delighted. Just wait until Sunny and Indigo hear about this! she thought. She reached down into her saddlebags and fished out Sunny’s purse, searching for 12 bits.

“Psst.”

Bluebells looked up and around, searching for that voice.

“Is… something wrong?” asked Tangy Slice.

“Psst.”

Bluebells furrowed her brow and looked around for the source of the voice, but when she couldn’t find it she shook it off and said, “No, it’s ok.”

“He’s extorting you.”

“What?” Bluebells turned to face the seller again, who was starting to become concerned with this customer.

“Are you looking for someone?” he asked.

Bluebells had to look at the seller in a different way after hearing that remark. Surely he had heard it as well, and was offended by the accusation? But no, he didn’t seem to have heard it.

“Behind him. Over here!”

Bluebells craned her neck to see who might be talking, but all she were rows of tangerines-

“AH!” Bluebells yelped and fell back.

“What’s wrong? Are you ok?” asked the seller, wondering what was going on.

“Your fruit…” stammered Bluebells with a horrified expression on her face.

The salepony panicked for a second, thinking he had been found out.

“Yeah, what about it?” he said calmly. He could be overreacting.

“Talk down the price to two bits, then buy me!” said the voice.

Bluebells swallowed and said, “Any way I can get these for two bits?”

 The vendor talked carefully. “Well, what’s with the sudden change?”

Bluebells racked her brain for ideas, and then came up with something. “W-well, it’s later in the day. The fruit isn’t as fresh. Plus, they look a bit smaller than some from the other stalls.”

“Hurry it up already!”

Bluebells flashed him a sweet smile, and the vendor decided it wasn’t worth the time. She laid the bits on the counter and got her tangerines, making sure to specifically ask for the one that was talking to her.

Once she had gotten to a more deserted part of the market, she grabbed the tangerine out of her bag and found it still had a face. Or, it had large white circles with black dots for eyes and a black line for a mouth.

“Ok, first of all, how do you exist? Last I checked, fruits don’t talk.” asked Bluebells, panicky. She was worried she was losing her sanity.

“There’s no time for questions, it’s just very fortunate you can see and hear me. I am Major Seeder of the Peels Brigade, and I need you to purchase my fellow teammates, First Lieutenant Kaffir, Captain Thompson, and Second Lieutenant Citron.” said Major Seeder, introducing himself and his friends.

Bluebells thought it would not be best to argue with the tangerine, and said, “Alright. Where do I find them?”

Major Seeder smiled -and Bluebells was forever scarred- as he told her, “Go to the lime stand, the lemon stand, and the grapefruit stand. I’ll fill you in on the rest of the details as you’re shopping.”

Bluebells balanced the orange on her shoulder and checked her list, relieved to find that all of those items were on the list. She went to the lemon stand first, and, true to his word, a lemon with a face glanced at Bluebells. Her gaze strayed to Seeder as she gave a shout.

“Major Seeder! Have you came to rescue me?” said a female’s voice.

“That’s the one.” said Major Seeder. As Bluebells bought her, he began to explain.

“The Peels Brigade was helping out some Oranges who claimed they needed help in fighting off the Apple Corps.”

“Mmh.” responded Bluebells as she moved on to the next stall.

“But when we came to fight them, it seemed that they had misinformed us. We were sorely outnumbered and captured, sent to this small town.” continued Major Seeder.

“Oh.” Bluebells had just finished buying Captain Thompson, another girl, who happened to be a grapefruit. She was delighted in being back with her friends.

“We believe that we were set up, perhaps to leave our homeland defenseless. We’d like to interrogate the Oranges again and see what they’re up to. Will you help us?” he asked Bluebells, who was placing Kaffir in the bag.

She left the market so she could talk to them without looking crazy. “Ok, I’ll help. Where do you think the oranges are?” asked Bluebells.

“Well, we think they’re conspiring with the Apples to capture us. They may be hiding out in someplace called, ‘Sweet Apple Acres.’”

Not unlike this afternoon, her heart was in her throat. In a similar fashion, she had to face up to somepony whom she had never met.

Sure she had heard of Applejack, heck she even went to school with her sister. But knowing about somepony and meeting them were very different things.

Bluebells raised a shaky hoof to the door and knocked. After a few noises inside, the orange pony herself opened the door, curious as to who it was.

“Well hello there, miss. What can ah do ya for?” asked Applejack.

“W-well, I was wondering if I might inspect some of your apples.” replied Bluebells.

“Inspect them? Why?” she asked.

“My sister needs some for a treat she’s baking, but she’s really picky about the size and color, so I need to get the right ones,” lied Bluebells.

Applejack smiled, believing the lie. “Well, sure, that's fine. What’s yer name?” Applejack walked out the door and headed towards the barn. Bluebells told her and followed. “Is there a specific kind of apple she needs?”

Bluebells shook the bag once to signal the fruit to tell her something.

“Doesn't matter, just get us inside.” said Kaffir.

“Golden Delicious,” replied Bluebells.

“Alright. Here are the apples,” said Applejack, opening the barn door. She walked over to the Golden Delicious ones, and Bluebells started picking through the apples slowly. She laid down the bag so the assortment of fruit would be peeking out.

“You’ve got to get us alone to give us time to look for the Oranges, Bluebells,” said Citron the lemon.

Sweeping her eyes over the basket, she started to choose the most yellow ones and the smallest. She stuck her hoof out as if to grab one, and mumbled, “How do you suppose we do that?”

Citron scrunched her face up in thought, and lit up. “I’ve got it! Levitate a rock near the door and knock on it. Then, when she goes to check, we’ll look around for the Oranges.”

Bluebells gulped. Applejack would see if her horn suddenly lit up, and levitating an object you couldn’t see was a tough spell to master. She’d need a distraction for her distraction.

She leaned forward as if she was inspecting the basket thoroughly, leaned a bit too much and toppled over the basket of apples.

“Gosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to trip, I’m just so clumsy sometimes!” said Bluebells quickly.

“That’s ok, just be careful.” Applejack turned to back to pick them back up and Bluebells activated her horn, managing to pick up a rock outside the barn and slam it into the door a few times.

“Golly, who could that be? And what’s the rush? Hang on, let me go check.” said Applejack as she trotted over to the door.

Bluebells realized that this wasn’t enough time, and before Applejack knew it, she pushed outside with the door locked.

“Bluebells! Bluebells, I think the door is locked, will ya let me in?” shouted Applejack. Bluebells was frantic, eyes darting in all directions. This was not good. But thankfully, her eyes caught the sight of a barrel of oranges off in a corner who looked like the had eyes, and she scooped up the Peels Brigade and brought them over.

“Ok, is this whom you needed to meet?” she asked, breathing erratically from the stress of this endeavour.

Major Seeder moved his whole body up and down, which Bluebells assumed that was a nod. The Peels Brigade moved towards the basket slightly, and some of the oranges on top rolled down.

“Alright Oranges, I’m going to get straight to the point. Why’d you set us up? What could you gain?” asked Seeder.

The oranges looked mystified, and one at the front said, “We didn’t set you up. That was the data we got. We didn’t know there were so many apples. We're sorry.”

Major Seeder looked glad, if a little disappointed there would be no battle. “But why were you misinformed?”

“We have an informant. They’ve been very good until now, I wonder what went wrong?” said the lead orange.

“Maybe they were threatened?” offered an orange to the left of the one speaking.

“Or maybe they were a double agent.”

Bluebells and the fruit swerved in the direction of the voice. It was an apple, lying on the top of a basket, with two other apples flanking him.

“That’s it! That’s our informant!” said the lead orange.

“Yes, and now you’re to be captured. I can’t believe how easy it was to fool you guys,” snickered the apple.

“You only brought two guards. How do you expect to beat us?” questioned Thompson, who was the grapefruit.

The apple laughed, and said, “Look around. We beat you 100 to one,” smiled the apple.

Bluebells, the oranges, and the Peels Brigade turned to look. All around them, the apples opened their eyes and started to move.

Bluebells, fearing for her safety, grabbed the Peels Brigade and tossed them into the orange basket, along with the other oranges. She tossed the basket on her back and went straight for the window, but the apples had bounced in her way.

“Now,” said the apple to Bluebells, “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. What’s it gonna be?”

She stood there, frozen for a moment, the fruit shouting at her to go, until the doors to the barn were knocked down.

When Applejack finally made her way into the barn again, she saw apples strewn about, Bluebells nowhere to be found, and a stack of bits with one of the bits still spinning.