What A Deer

Chapter 1

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Bright Macintosh, waved goodbye to his latest customer, and turned to see how his little apple was doing, only to not see her sitting nearby.

Glancing around quickly, he could see no sign of the orange Earth Pony.

“Applejack?” he called out, quickly moving the closed sign over the cart and moving to look around. “Applejack, where are you? Applejack?”

Looking around anxiously, he spotted a white unicorn stallion at another of the nearby stalls. He was talking with the only whilst a white, purple-mane unicorn filly foal, presumably his daughter, played with what looked like an orange fawn.

The apple farmer blinked, surprised. He hadn’t known there were deer in town. He glanced around, slightly curious about where the little fawn’s parents could be, but stopped himself, realizing he was getting sidetracked.

Hurrying over to the stallion, he tapped his shoulder and asked if he’d seen an orange Earth Pony foal.

A shake of the head answered no and Bran hurried off to continuing searching for his daughter, not noticing the little fawn suddenly leave the unicorn foal and try to follow him.

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“Phew. Glad that’s all been settled,” Mrs Cake, or as she was known before her marriage, Chiffon Swirl sighed as she walked back through Ponyville later that evening.

She and her husband had recently started their new bakery here in town and it seemed to be going well. They got customers fairly often and they always seemed pleasant.

However, they’d still been finalizing the deed to the bakery as their work/home and, with her husband not being the best when it came to handling paperwork and talking business outside the selling of their backed goods themselves, she had been speaking with the mayor, going over the last details to make their ownership of the Sugar Cube Corner official.

It had taken far longer than she’d have liked though. The sun was setting, meaning it wouldn’t be long before the night came and she much preferred the idea of snuggling with her hubby at night than walking around town.

As she passed the market area, however, something caught her attention. It was faint, but it sounded like crying.

Curious, the Earth Pony mare moved towards the sound, stopping every few moments to try and pinpoint its exact location.

After several minutes, she’d found the source of the crying and hurried over to pick it up.

It was a little orange fawn, with green eyes.

Holding the little one to her barrel, she looked around to try and spot her parents. She’d not thought there were even any deer in this part of Equestria right now. Didn’t they all live in Deerver?

The little one was still crying, so she tried to hush her, rocking her gently and murmuring soothing words.

It worked after a while and the little fawn looked up at her with interest.

“Where’s your mama, little one?” she asked, leaning down and nuzzling the fawn, to which she replied by cooing.

The fawn looked up at her for several moments, before glancing around, then back at her.

Right, Cup Cake sighed, shaking her head. Like she could just tell me.

“Mama?” she blinked, before looking down at the fawn, who was looking up at her with as much confusion.

Swirl stood for several moments, before closing her eyes and nuzzling the fawn. “It’s pretty late, little one. How about I bring you to my place and we’ll look for your mama tomorrow, hmm?”

“Mama!” the fawn cheered, giggling and grabbing onto the mare’s nose.

Swirl chuckled, then turned and headed back in the direction of her home.

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“Dearie, I home,” Mrs Cake called as she entered the house.

“Honey bun?” Carrot called from the kitchen. “What took you so long?”

“Well, first off, it took far longer to get through all the paperwork than we thought it would,” she replied as she walked in to see him working diligently at the stove. “Also, I... found something.”

“Mhm? What’s that?” The fawn babbled a bit and he turned around, only for his eyes to widen. “A fawn? In this part of Equestria? Wait. Honey bun, why do you have that baby with you?”

Swirl looked down sadly at the fawn as she was looking around the kitchen from her current position with interest. “I found her a little ways from the market area, all on her own.”

“Oh, dear,” Carrot said, his expression falling, before looking to the fawn. “So, where do you think her parents could be?”

His wife shook her head. “I don’t know. I thought we could watch over her tonight and I could look into this tomorrow, report her being found, you know? Maybe her parents are still nearby, perhaps visiting the town?”

He nodded, before frowning and scratched his chin. “So, what do we do for now? Do you think she can eat normal food?”

Swirl looked down to the little fawn, having to giggle as she tried to eat the older pony’s hoof. “Well, I think the milk we have in the fridge should be okay. As for where she’ll sleep, would you be able to try and build a makeshift crib. We should have enough junk lying around to make something. I’ll finish getting dinner.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he nodded, taking off his apron and heading upstairs.

Meanwhile, Swirl lowered the fawn onto the floor. The little one looked up at her with confusion.

“Now, I just need to finish getting dinner. You stay here and behave, okay?”

The little fawn garbled, before beginning to crawl along the floor.

Swirl couldn’t help giggling, then went about finishing dinner for her and her husband, whilst also preparing something for the fawn.

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“She’s surprisingly calm, considering we’re strangers to her,” Carrot noted as they eat, Swirl bottle feeding the fawn, who eagerly drank her fill.

“I suppose, being on her own for however long she was left alone, she’s just happy to have somepony caring for her again,” Swirl said, before moving the bottle back a little to encourage the fawn to drink slower. “Easy, dearie. Drink too fast as you’ll get a tummy ache and we don’t want that now, do we?”

The little fawn paused, glancing up at her, before she continued drinking, though at a slower pace.

“I still can’t help wonder why a fawn is in Ponyville at all,” Carrot shook his head.

Swirl nodded, and continued to help the little one drink her fill.

Once the bottle was empty, she burped the fawn, who cooed, then cuddle into the blue mare.

Swirl couldn’t help smiling down at her.

“I wonder what her name is,” Carrot said, taking an apple from the basket on the table, before glancing over to the window, chuckling. “Looks like Daven’s wagon needs a new wheel.” He bit into the apple and grin. “Mm. Good apple.”

“I suppose we could lend him the jack,” Swirl chuckle.

“Apple... jack.”

They both blinked, before looking down at the fawn, who was smiling up at Swirl.

“What?”

“Apple... jack,” the baby deer said, putting her hooves on her head.

“Is... is she talking?” Carrot gaped.

“I think...” Swirl said, looking closely at the orange baby in her hold. “I think she’s... telling us her name. Is.. is that right... Applejack?”

The baby laughed, before snuggling against the mare.

The two ponies looked to each other, before looking back at the fawn and smiled.

“Applejack it is then,” Swirl chuckled. “At least we have a name to go on, now.” She frowned. “Though that’s an odd coincidence. Bright Mac and Pear Butter’s new foal is named Applejack, too.”

“That is a bit odd,” her husband agreed, before shruggin. “But, aside from their foal, can’t be too many little ones named Applejack around.”

They finished up dinner, then Swirl did her best to bathe the little fawn. Thankfully Applejack hadn’t used her diaper since being found, as the Cakes’ didn’t have any diapers in the house to change her with, so Swirl put the same diaper back on the fawn, hoping one night without powder or cream wouldn’t result in a diaper rash.

Applejack bathed, Cup returned to her and her husband’s bedroom, where he’d created a spot for the fawn to sleep soundly in their bed without fear of being accidentally crushed in their sleep.

Getting into bed, she kissed her husband goodnight and the three rested, Applejack moving closest to Swirl for the extra warmth and all three slept through the night.

Author's Note

A little something i wanted to try after watching Magpiepony's dub of the comic.

So, what do you think will happen? Will Applejack's real family be found? Will the Cakes become parents several years early than planned? Will Applejack remain a fawn and grow up as a deer?

You'll have to wait and see, as i intend to get back to An Apple Far From The Tree now that i've gotten this little idea out.

Hope you liked this and, til next time, later everypony