Wingless ~ Part One

"How's the gardening going Fluttershy?"

Twilight leaned against the front door facing Fluttershy and her group of animals; the animals consisted of birds, beavers, squirrels, and a few worms, who had specific roles in the gardening. Twilight watched as the beavers helped plant new flowers, using their tails to pat down the dirt. The alicorn smiled a little at the scene.

Fluttershy brushed specks of dirt off her front hooves, "It's going well, we're just finishing up the planting part of the gardening." She said, giggling as one of the birds landed on her shoulder.

Twilight turned to look behind her, and nodded to Spike who was still holding the list; he checked off a box, and followed the princess who walked back inside.

The alicorn headed to the kitchen, catching a whiff of something delicious as she neared. She licked her lips, "Mmm, smells like Apple Fritters are gonna be on the menu."

Pinkie Pie stuck her head out of the entrance to the kitchen. "Eeyupperdoodle! That was Applejack's idea!"

Applejack leaned out of the entrance, holding one of the fritters in her hoof. "Here," the earth pony tossed the fritter to Twilight, "Fresh from the fryin' pan!"

Twilight caught the fritter with her magic, and continued to enter the kitchen. "So how's everything going here?"

Pinkie Pie hopped back to the oven and looked inside, "Great! We have the sandwiches made and the cider almost perfected for lunch. For dinner we're having baked Daisy-Cheese Bread and Crispy-Salted Hay with a salad to the side and two desserts: cake and the apple fritters!"

"Wow! looks like you have everything planned for, Pinkie." Twilight said with surprise, taking a bite of her fritter.

"Well I am a party planner, I always plan ahead for things! Heck, I plan for everything!" Pinkie smiled with a squeal and hopped to the stove, where the apple fritters were being made.

Applejack sat on a nearby stool and worked on the cider, a small barrel next to her on the counter. She leaned towards it and  pumped some already-made cider into a glass. The earth pony handed the glass to Twilight, "Here, have this with the fritter."

The princess graciously took the glass of cider with her magic, and took a sip after finishing the dessert. She coughed a little after she swallowed. Something in the drink tasted... off. The aftertaste was slightly bitter and left Twilight smacking her lips for a bit, trying to get rid of the taste.

"You taste it too, huh?" Applejack queried; she wore an amused expression as she observed her friend.

Twilight cleared her throat, "Yeah, it's good to drink, but the aftertaste is bitter... It's not very pleasant."

Applejack's smile turned into a smug grin as she turned her head to face Pinkie Pie, the pink pony made eye contact with her and immediately began to blush. Twilight saw the exchange and understood, "Did Pinkie forget to add something to the cider?" She asked quizzically.

Applejack chuckled, "She sure did, she forgot to add the 'Apple Family' mark again."

"I thought I did! I tried really hard on this one Applejack!" Pinkie Pie's casual smile looked strained, "I'm sorry, I promise I'll learn it soon!"

The farm pony's expression changed to sympathy, "It's alright Pinkie, it's easy to fix." Applejack slid off the stool and walked up to one of the nearby cabinets, she opened it and took out a green-tinted bottle filled with small, dark flakes.

The farm pony walked back to the barrel and ripped the lid off. She opened the bottle, tipped the top down, and shook it for a few seconds; causing a small amount of flakes to fall out. The flakes dissolved into the cider as Applejack stirred the beverage with a nearby spoon for a few moments. After stirring, Applejack placed the lid back onto the barrel and sat on the stool, "There, wait for about five minutes and it should be good!"

"So the 'Apple Family' mark is the green bottle!" Pinkie realized, "Huh, I keep forgetting that." She tapped her chin with her hoof, thinking. The party pony froze and gasped, "I used the blue bottle! Oh my gosh! Applejack! Please tell me what I did won't affect anything!"

The earth pony chuckled, "Of course it's not! It'll only make the cider a bit stronger than usual, don't worry Pinkie, if you made the cider go bad, I would've stopped you before you did it."

"Oh, okay," Pinkie giggled, "I bet Rainbow Dash will love the cider more than ever now!"

Applejack joined in on the laughter. "I bet she would!... Say... where is Rainbow anyway? Shouldn't she be back by now?"

"I'm sure she'll be back any second now, you know how the weather team is like during the spring. They always forget a rainy day or two. I'm sure Rainbow's behind fixing something like that." Twilight replied. She placed the cup of cider on the counter and walked out of the kitchen. "Great job girls!"

As Twilight made her way through the castle, she caught up to Spike who stood in the middle of the hallway, half-crouching. She caught up to him, taking notice of the small belches the little dragon made.

"Spike?" She asked, placing a hoof lightly on his shoulder. With that touch, Spike opened his mouth and let out a huge burp. A note appeared from the flames that ignited and fell to the ground; Twilight levitated the note to herself and read it.

"The train will be coming in ten minutes." The princess handed the slip to Spike and began to trot away, "I'll have to get going, do you think you could get everything checked off while I'm gone?"

Spike groaned in response, "I think you taught Rarity the wrong spell..."