Hammer & Anvil

Current Time: 10:21 PM, Thursday

Jackboot slowly opened his eyes as he lied in his bed. The bed was really comfortable, so comfortable Jackboot didn’t want to wake up. But unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen.

As his eyes opened completely, they almost popped out.

“Where am I?” He asked frantically.

He then looked over at the opposite wall and saw his suitcase sitting there. The sight of it triggered his memory.

“Oh, right. I’m in Twilight’s castle.”

He then realized what he had just said.

“I’m in Twilight’s castle!” He said with excitement.

As he hopped up and down on the bed with joy, he glanced over at the alarm clock on the night stand. The time was 10:23 in the morning.

Jackboot suddenly did a double take.

“Oh no it’s that late?” He asked with mixture of fear and surprise.

His surprise of the time caused him to hop right off the bed, hitting the floor with a thud.

“I got to get dressed now!”

Jackboot trotted down the corridor of the castle as fast as he could without his jacket or cap.

“Throne room, throne room. Where is it?” He asked.

He then came to a familiar door.

“Here we go.”

He pushed open the door open into the correct room. There at the throne was Twilight with a bunch of papers spread among the table before her with Spike by her side.

To his surprise, there was a second pony present in the room. This pony was an orange mare wearing a hat. Jackboot noticed her cutie mark consisted of several red apples. How did she get that as her cutie mark?

The sound of the doors opening caught all of their attention.

“Good morning Jackboot!” Twilight said from her seat.

“Somepony’s a late riser.” Spike said.

“Did you know that alarm clocks work when you actually set them?” Jackboot asked jokingly.

This caused everypony to laugh.

“So this is the pony y’all were talking about.” The orange mare said.

She then approached Jackboot with a smile on her face.

“Pleasure to meet you Jackboot.” She said. “My names Applejack.”

She then shook Jackboot’s hoof with rapid pace.

“Nice to meet you as well, Miss Applejack.” Jackboot said in greeting.

Jackboot then turned his attention back to Twilight.

“I apologize for sleeping in so late, Twilight.” He said. “I’ll make sure it never happens again.”

“It’s alright Jackboot.” Twilight said. “We haven’t really gotten started on preparations. After all the Celebration won’t be until the Friday after next, so there’s no real rush.”

A thought entered Twilight’s mind, giving her an idea.

“You know, with the amount of time we have, you can go have a look around Ponyville.” She said. She then turned to Applejack. “Applejack, you think you can show Jackboot around town?”

“I would love to, Twilight.” Applejack said. “But I got a lot of work to do. Big Mac and I got to get the harvest underway before the Celebration, and we got a lot of ground to cover.”

This caught Jackboot’s full attention.

“What are these apples going to be used for?” He asked. “Pies?”

“Apple pies, apple fritters, apple turnovers, apple tarts, apple cake, apple cider…” Applejack explained, listing almost every single apple related good under the sun. “…if it’s got apple in it, we’ll make it.”

“How about I help you out?” Jackboot asked.

“Oh, Jackboot you don’t have to.” Applejack said. “Besides, we have a lot of apples to pick. Are you sure you want to help?”

Jackboot suddenly produced a serious look on his face.

“I was sent here by Celestia herself to help with the Celebration.” He said with a just as serious tone. “And I will do whatever it takes to fulfill that order. So yes, I am sure, Miss Applejack.”

Applejack, Spike, and Twilight all looked at one another, all surprised by how serious Jackboot had gotten.

Applejack then looked back at Jackboot.

“Well, ain’t no point in arguin about it.” She said. “Come with me, we’ll see what you can do.”

“Yeah! Woo!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she busted through a cloud.

The weather that day is to be clear, and Rainbow was making sure of it.

As she put both of her back hooves through a cloud, she came up with an idea. She then quickly gathered the lot of the remaining clouds and put them in a row.

“And for the grand finale!”

She then flew as fast as she could at the row of clouds, ramming through each one of them with a loud POOF.

“Yeah!” She shouted, marveling at her handy work. “That’s how it’s done!”

She then looked at the sky around her, knowing that her work was done. She then looked and saw she was near Sweet Apple Acres.

“I wonder what AJ is up to?” She asked herself.

The thought of Apple Cider entered her mind, causing her mouth to water.

“Sweet, sweet cider.” She said with glee. “Yep, I’m going there.”

She then flew over one of the many orchards, searching for the hat wearing mare.

She then spotted Applejack, bringing a bucket full of apples to a wagon, along with a familiar red stallion.

“There you are.” Rainbow said.

She then dove down towards the orange mare, but pulled up just enough so she doesn’t crash into her friend.

“Sup, Applejack?!” She asked, zooming past her friend, almost causing her to lose her hat.

Before Applejack could reply and before the blue pegasus could slow down, she spotted a gray unicorn in a brown vest and cap dead ahead carrying a bucket of apples.

Rainbow, with every fiber in her body, tried to stop.

“Watch out!” She shouted.

The gray unicorn looked and saw the pegasus coming at him. Without a second thought, a large flashed occurred, and he found himself standing right next to Applejack and Big Macintosh, still holding onto the bucket.

“Another bucket of apples, Applejack.”

Applejack had told him earlier that he can drop the formalities, who of which willing complied, although still letting “Miss” slip out couple of times.

“Good job Jackboot.” Applejack said. “Just dump that in the wagon with the rest of em.”

As Jackboot dumped the apples into the large wagon, he saw the blue pegasus hovering towards them with a brown cap over her face.

“Did somepony lose a hat?” She asked.

Jackboot realized that his cap was no longer on his head.

“That would be me.” He said.

Rainbow then took the cap of her face and tossed to Jackboot, the latter which caught the cap out of the air and place it back on his head.

“I never saw you around here before.” Rainbow said. “You a friend of AJ’s?”

Friend. There was that word again. A flash of anxiety came over Jackboot’s face.

“Hey, you okay?” The rainbow haired mare asked.

Jackboot hen shook his head, flinging the anxiety away.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Jackboot said. “My mind was elsewhere.”

He then stuck out his boot covered hoof in greeting.

“Jackboot. At your service.”

Rainbow then shook Jackboot’s hoof.

“I’m Rainbow Dash.” She said, introducing herself. “Maybe you’ve heard of me. The most awesome flyer in Ponyville.”

Funny enough, Jackboot is rather familiar with this multicolored flyer.

“Actually, I think I have heard of you.”

This caught both mares by surprise and Big Mac looked over as he came back from bucking another apple tree.

“Do you know anypony by the name of Spitfire?” Jackboot asked.

“You mean the captain of the ever so awesome Wonderbolts?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes.” Jackboot said. “She told me about you once.”

Before a second passed after those words had left his mouth, the blue mare was about an inch away from his face with the most excited look Jackboot has ever seen.

“You know Spitfire!?” She asked.

“Well, not personally.” Jackboot explained. “I just happened to meet her at the Wonderbolts Derby one time and she mentioned how you almost gave up being a Wonderbolt for your friends. That’s very admirable of you.”

Rainbow, now out of Jackboot’s face, produced a rather proud look on hers.

“Well, just shows how awesome I am.” She said. “But enough about me. What brings you to Ponyville?”

“Well, I was sent by Celestia to help with the Celebration.”

Rainbow Dash was surprised by this.

“You know Spitfire, and Celestia?” She asked. “Do you know Luna as well?”

“Well, not as well as some, but I have met her on several occasions.”

“Jeez, I was only joking.” Rainbow said. “Anyway, what did I come here for?” It then returned to her. “Oh yeah. AJ, how’s it coming with the…?”

“Cider?” Applejack asked, finishing Rainbow’s question. “Don’t worry Rainbow; we’ll have as much cider as you can drink. And that might actually be possible thanks to Jackboot here. We’ve gotten so many apples, Big Mac here actually had to go and grab another cart.”

Rainbow looked over at Jackboot.

“In that case, I’ll make sure Jack gets the first glass.”

“I appreciate it, Miss Dash.” Jackboot said.

“Well anyway, I’m going to go grab a nap. All that cloud busting has got me beat.” Rainbow said. “See you guys later.”

Rainbow Dash then zoomed away, causing Jackboot and Applejack to hold onto their hats.

“She was nice.” Jackboot said. “Anyway, is there anything else you need help with?”

Applejack smiled. Twilight wasn’t kidding about how hard of a worker he was.

“It’s alright Sugercube.” She said. “Me and Big Mac will take it from here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac said.

Big Mac then grabbed an apple and tossed to Jackboot, who, like with his hat earlier, caught it out of the air and took a bite out of it.

“Thank you.” He said. “Well anyway, I’m going to have a look around town. I’ll see you two at another time.”

“Okay, see y’all later.”

Jackboot then collected his jacket and left the two apples, who bid their farewells.

“Fine fella ain’t he?” Apple asked her older brother.

“Eeyup.”

“That was such a good apple.” Jackboot said aloud.

He looked around at the buildings in town. He hadn’t really payed attention when he first arrived yesterday when Spike collected him from the train station, or when he followed Applejack to Sweet Apple Acres earlier that day.

“Maybe I could see what they have at the library.”

He came upon a large hole in the ground, which what appeared to be the remains of a very large tree. It the appeared to be have also been a house of some sort, the evidence being a door. He stepped forward to have a closer look, but suddenly stepped on something. He looked down and saw that it was what used to be a sign that said, “Golden Oaks Library”.

“Sweet Celestia, what happened here?” He asked aloud.

He looked around as if somepony were to give him answer. He then spotted a white pony with blue hair and a pair of large sunglasses.

“Excuse me!” He said to the mare.

The mare couldn’t hear Jackboot as she was wearing a pair of blue headphones, which played music loudly right into her ears.

“Madam! Do you know what happened here?” Jackboot asked.

The mare still couldn’t and continued walking, without noticing him.

Jackboot then gave up.

“Oh well.”

Suddenly his stomach made a loud gurgling sound.

“Guess that apple didn’t do it.” He said. “I wonder if there’s somewhere I can grab something to eat.”

He looked around to see if there were any restaurants around, or any building that looked like a restaurant. He then spotted a building that looked as if it were completely made of baked goods.

Just looking at the building made his stomach rumble even more.

“That must be a bakery.” He said. “Very good design.”

His stomach then growled.

“Okay, stomach, we’ll go to there.”

He walked into the bakery, passing a sign that read, “Sugar Cube Corner.” A nice name, Jackboot thought.

It was rather crowded inside, as there were different ponies of every color and every type. He saw a tall yellow stallion and a short blue mare going in and out of the back. They must be the owners, Jackboot thought.

Jackboot would’ve walked further into the bakery, but he felt a little intimidated by the crowd. Even though he came from a place like Canterlot, he still didn’t like crowds. Then again, he never liked crowds no matter where he was.

“Maybe, I’ll come back later.”

The crowd wasn’t as large as one would think, but it was big enough to send him away.

His stomach growled again, as if to protest Jackboot’s decision.

“Oh, quiet you.”

He then made his way towards the door, only to look back at a mint green unicorn receive a chocolate cupcake.

“That does look good.” He thought. “Hopefully it won’t be too crowded later.”

He made it outside as he turned his head, but ran right into somepony.

As he stumbled back, he saw the somepony he ran into was a pink earth pony with blue eyes and really puffy hair.

“I’m so sorry, Miss.” He said frantically. “I wasn’t looking.”

“Hey, it’s cool.” The mare said, clearly unfazed by what had happened. “I wasn’t looking either.”

Jackboot smiled and nodded as he walked way. As he did so, he heard the mare gasp loudly.

“Hey wait!” She shouted.

Jackboot turned around but saw that no pony was there.

“Where’d she go?”

He then turned back around to continue walking, but found himself looking at the mare he had walked into.

Jackboot almost jumped out of his clothes upon seeing the mare. He then looked back at the entrance of the bakery and then back at the pink mare. Did she teleport or something?

“Hi there!” She said. “What’s your name?”

“Jackboot.” Jackboot answered, still alarmed by the quick moving mare.

“That’s such a cool name!” She said as she bounced up and down. “I’m Pinkie Pie! I know every pony in Ponyville, but at least I thought I did until I ran into you! So what kind stuff do you like? What’s your favorite food? What’s your favorite color? Do you like cake? What’s your favorite cake? What’s your favorite icing? Do you like icing?” Pinkie Pie then gasped again. “I need to throw you a welcome party! That’s exactly what I’ll do! Would you like that?”

Before Jackboot could answer, his stomach growled louder than before.

“Sounds like somepony’s hungry.” Pinkie said, not bouncing anymore. “You want a grab something from inside?”

“Well…” Jackboot said. “…I would, but it’s a bit crowded in there. I don’t really like crowds.”

Pinkie thought for a moment.

“On my way back here I saw that there was barely anypony over at the Hay Burger.” She said. “You want to go there?”

Jackboot’s stomach growled again.

“I think my stomach speaks for the both of us.” He said with a small chuckled.

“Great!” Pinkie said with glee. “I’ll go tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake first and then we’ll be on our way. Be right back!”

Jackboot looked at Pinkie Pie as she walked into the bakery.

It didn’t take long as she bounced out of the bakery.

“Okay, let’s get going!”

Pinkie then grabbed Jackboot’s hoof and practically dragged him along.

“We’ll be friends in no time.”

That word again...

...friend.