The Apple And The Frogby An Angry Green BossChaptersA New HomeThe Hoptron 2000Begone, Prenchie!!A New HomeIt was midday in Equestria, the land of ponies and several other creatures alike. Out in the fields there laid a small town community called Ponyville, (in)famous for having some very huge happenings, as well as being next door neighbor to Canterlot, home to the princesses of the sun and moon, Celestia and Luna. In the field between these landmarks...laid the Equestria Railroad, and rolling down the tracks...was the Equestria Train itself. The train was coming from the great mountain that the Canterlot City was mounted on to the flat fields, its rich dirt being a welcoming best friend for a farmer. Despite the train being simple and small, it carried all kinds of travelers, each coming from all over the land. It helped carry the good, the bad, and the weird to their chosen destinations. Today, it carried a reasonable amount of passengers that were headed to Ponyville, each with their own reason to travel to the small yet important landmark. One stallion in particular was traveling to Ponyville not just to see or visit it, but to make it his new home. He was currently just sitting alone with nothing but a bag on his back, and a glass cage beside him. Nothing was interesting about him, aside from his bald head, which was rare for any pony to have as they prefer to have a mane to go with their tail. If he did have a mane, it would've been dark bluish green, if his tail was any indication of course. He was in his late 40s, but, he had an aura of child-like happiness and eagerness, with bright brown eyes and a cheerful smile on his dark, red furred face. In the cage beside him was a little frog. He was a simple tree frog with red eyes, green skin, white underbelly, and matching red feet. The passengers who were curiously glancing at the frog couldn't help but notice something off about the frog. Nothing disturbing, but odd, as the frog didn't seem to have the blank stare all frogs have. Their attention was suddenly diverted, because up ahead... ...Ponyville was coming into view, nearing the end of their trip. It was clear and easy to see the giant crystal castle that towered over all of the buildings in the village. The stallion was ecstatic upon seeing the castle. He joyfully lifted the frog's cage up to the train car’s window so that his pet can see the home of Ponyville's own royalty. "Why look there, Theodore! It’s Princess Twilight's castle. This is absolutely smashing!" he cheered. "Ribbit!" the frog acknowledged his owner. Those close by, could've sworn that they just heard the frog sounding just as cheerful as his owner. "Just you wait, Theodore,” The pony said, “ A whole new life is going to start for us in good ole Ponyville!” The Apple And The Frog The Stallion and his frog stood near a fireplace, which was in the living room of their new home. It was a simple two story cottage that laid west of the Ponyville park, a location that the stallion was quite happy with. The pegasi from the moving company had already brought in the boxes that traveled by air, unlike their owner who traveled by train. Most of the boxes were still unopened but that was unimportant to the earth pony, as he was too busy admiring his new home. "Quite a splendid cottage, eh Theodore?” The stallion questioned his frog, “And just a hop away from the park as well. The perfect place to try out our inventions." At that last sentence, Theodore gave his owner an uneasy glance. It should be mentioned that the stallion was also an amateur inventor who mainly based his invention on frogs like Theodore. Unfortunately, while his owner was a smart cookie, his inventions always seemed to cause problems for them in the end. “But for now, lets get to unpacking our things out. We have a big day ahead of us." Theodore’s owner said, not noticing his frog's worried look. The stallion headed over to some of the boxes next to the couch. He opened one small box full of tools: hammers, wrenches, and a small flashlight. He was about to pulled them out of the box when he noticed something on the ground. He picked up what looked to be a bit bag. "Oh dear. It seems one of the movers dropped their bag. I better head over to the moving company to return it.” The stallion said to himself. He put on his saddle bags, and called to his frog “Theodore! Watch the fort while I'm gone.” His frog gave him a determined salute. His owner galloped out the door, leaving the frog alone in the living room. He looked around the place, seeing tons of unopened boxes lying around. With some hopping, he headed over to a box to unpack, nothing but silence surrou- “Hello?” The sudden sound was so startling to Theodore he leapt up in fright and dove under the couch. He waited there, terrified because he thought the house was haunted. From the safety of underneath the couch, he scanned the house for who or whatever belonged to the unexpected voice. "Is anypony there?" The voice came again. Theodore suddenly noticed that the voice sounded female “Hello?” The voice called again, this time helping Theodore note that it was coming from the fireplace. Confusion replaced fear as Theodore grabbed a flashlight from the open box. He hopped towards the fireplace. When he got there, he turned his flashlight on and shined it up the chimney. What he saw baffled him. Stuck up the chimney was a pegasus mare with light grey fur and a blond mane. She was carrying a mailbag in her hooves, so Theodore assumed she’s a mailmare. Her eyes were crossed, but it was probably due to the flashlight in her face. So, Theodore moved the flashlight away. The mailmare saw who was holding the flashlight and was surprised to see it was a frog. They stared at each other for a few moments, the mailmare’s eyes still being crossed for some reason. "Umm, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask if you can get your owner to help me, little froggy?" she asked, hoping for the small chance the frog understood her. Theodore did understand, as he was no ordinary frog. However, the problem still remained in getting his owner. He had no idea where the moving company was, and he didn't want the mare to be stuck any longer in the chimney. Suddenly, an idea emerged in the frog's head. "Ribbit! Ribbit!" He assured the mare, even though she couldn't understand him. He hopped to the pile of boxes. He hopped on the couch and pushed away the tool box. It gave a loud crash after falling, which made Theodore wince and the mare yelp in surprise. "Are you okay?" The mare asked in concern. "Ribbit!" Theodore answered, planning on dealing with it later. He opened the carton that the tool box was on. In the box was jars filled with pale green substances. He picked one up and dragged it toward the door. Then, he jumped up on the door handle and easily opened the door. He dragged the jar outside, and stopped a few feet away from the patio. He looked up on the roof, the chimney perfectly in his view. His plan was to pour the substance down the chimney so that the mare could slide down. It’s a smart plan except... How was he gonna get on the roof with the jar? The jar was too heavy for him to jump up on the roof with. He looked around, hoping to find another pegasus who could help him get up there. To his relief, he saw a pair of pegasi up on a low cloud. He hopped over and tried to call them down, but they were so high up, they couldn't hear him. Frustrated, he looked around to see if he could throw something to get their attention. In his line of sight, he found a small unicorn colt with light blue fur, dark orange mane, and a cutie mark depicting a pair of scissors. In his saddle bag, lied a slingshot. "So, how was weather patrolling, Cloud Chaser?" Flitter, the bow wearing pegasus, asked her friend as they sat together on a cloud near the park. The wild, spiky, maned pony shrugged. "Eh, nothing I would write home about.” Then, she started looking around as if checking to see if anypony else was nearby. She turned back to her friend and confessed. “Although, every time I fly over Sweet Apple Acres, I get vibes something weird is going on over there.” "Yeah. Have you seen Applejack's cart at the market? I don't know if you noticed, but, she seems to have less apples than her usual stock amount.” Flitter said. “Really?” Cloud Chaser said, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah. You don't think the parasprites have come back, do you?" Flitter asked, worried for Applejack. "If it was parasprites, we would've known by now. Besides, if they are back, Pinkie Pie’ll just lead them away with her one-mare band like last time." Cloud Chaser assured her friend. It worked, "I suppose you’re right. Sometimes, I don't know if she’s either a sugar-crazed pony or a secret genius." Cloud Chaser laughed as the mental image of Pinkie Pie, in a smart looking suit, lecturing in front of a group of students, appeared in her head. "I can see it now. Professor Pinkie Pie, P.D.H.D in parasprite busting and party planner!" Cloud Chaser exclaimed with laughter. It didn't take long for Flitter to join in on the laughter, resulting in both of them laughing at the joke. "Speaking of parties, did you hear that Pinkie Pie is gonna have a surprise party at Sugercube Corner? It’s for a new pony moving into town." Flitter said. "Really? Who is it?" Cloud Chaser asked. Before Flitter could answer, she got hit in the head by a small pebble. She screamed in pain, and looked down to the ground with an angry glare. "Who did that?!" She yelled, before seeing a unicorn colt holding a slingshot. The unicorn colt flinched when he heared the yell. Flitter flew down toward the unicorn colt, with Cloud Chaser close behind. The two pegasi landed in front of the panicking colt. "What’s the big idea, Snips? You could've poked my eye out with that thing.” Flitter scolded him. "I-I-It wasn't me, it was the frog! It stole my slingshot!" He pointed at the frog. Just now, the mares noticed the frog. But, they quickly focused back on Snips, not believing him at all. "Really, Snips. You expect us to believe that that frog somehow used your slingshot to hit me? I’m gonna tell your parents about this." Flitter threatened. Cloud Chaser rolled her eyes in exasperation as Snips kept insisting that it's all the frog's fault. Her attention however was suddenly diverted when she felt something poking at her legs. She looked down to find the frog, poking at her legs to try to get her attention. "Ribbit! Ribbit!" The frog's ribbits sounded frantic. Cloud Chaser was unsure what to make of it. She turned to Flitter who was still giving Snips an earful. She turned back to the frog, who was now pulling her leg and pointing towards a house, also looking like he’s becoming frustrated. To her surprise, he was becoming more forceful, like a dog could get around its owner when wanting something. Curiosity growing, she decided to listen to the frog instead of hearing more of Flitter’s scolding. “It’s okay, little fella,” she said, getting the frog’s attention. She also saw him wiping his head in relief, “What’s the matter?” Theodore immediately hopped to the house, with Cloud Chaser following behind. He leaped toward a jar full of some green stuff. The frog pointed at her, then to the roof, and then, to himself and the jar. Somehow, Cloud Chaser understood. Hesitantly, Cloud Chaser went along with what the frog wanted and let him hop on her. They flew up to the roof near the chimney. Theodore jumped up near the chimney, and gestured to Cloud Chaser to give him the jar. She handed the jar to him. Curious, she looked down the chimney to see the rear end of a pony. She recognized that bubbles cutie mark anywhere. "Derpy? Is that you?" Cloud Chaser yelled down. Her yell startled the stuck mare. "Ah! Who's there?" Derpy screamed "It’s me, Cloud Chaser." Cloud Chaser responded "Oh. Hey Cloud Chaser, how are you doing?" The mail mare cheerfully asked. "How am I doing? You’re the one stuck in the chimney!" "Oh yeah. I dropped my mail bag over the chimney, so I swooped down to grab it. But, then I got stuck. Luckily, a frog came by to help me out." Cloud Chaser is stunned that Derpy was placing her hope of freedom on a frog. She even blinked just to show her stunned state. Then again, she remembered that the frog had a plan, and a jar of something, so maybe Derpy’s trust wasn't misplaced. "Well, he is right here with me with a jar of..whatever stuff is inside it. So, hold on in there!” Cloud Chaser told Derpy. She turned to the frog, unsure about what he was going to do. "The stuff in the jar will get her out of there, right?" She questioned the frog. He nodded confidently. "Cloud Chaser!" Somepony yelled, startling Cloud Chaser and the frog, as well as almost causing the frog to drop the jar. The pair turned around to see Flitter flying towards them, with a small frown on her face. “Oh, hey Flitter.” Cloud Chaser greeted. Flitter landed in front of them on the roof. "What are you doing here?" She questioned Cloud Chaser. "I was helping this frog. He's trying to help Derpy get out of this house’s chimney." Cloud Chaser just realized how insane the whole thing sounded. Flitter confirmed it with a look of disbelief. "What? Cloud Chaser, how is some frog gonna help Derpy get out of…" She trailed off as the pair put their attention on the frog. Theodore opened the jar and poured the contents into the chimney, the contents being green and slimy. The ponies reacted in disgust. "EWWWW!" their faces scrunched up in disgust. He ignored them as he continued pouring the green stuff into the chimney. After he was done pouring, he put the jar aside. He looked down the chimney, satisfied that his plan was going along well. He jumped in the chimney. "Ribbit!" He cried out. He landed on the rump of the mare, and jumped up and down to push her down the chimney, the slime making the mare slippery enough to squeeze through the long passage. Then, he used all his strength for a final leap. "Theodore! Where are you?!" A voice yelled in the middle of the process. Theodore didn't notice the voice calling for him. His final jump finally pushed Derpy down the chimney. Unfortunately, now that she was unstuck, gravity came in. The frog and pegasus fell down the chimney, before rolling out of the fireplace and crashing into some object. Upon the impact, Theodore saw images pegasi flying around his head. He shook his head to clear them out, and lookd down to see that he was on the snout of his equally dazed owner. Theodore’s owner regained his composure and stared at his frog. "What on earth is going on here, lad?" He said with a demanding look. Before the frog could explain, they turned toward the pained mumbles of the mare. Derpy came to her senses, and when she did, she realized that she was finally out of the chimney. Joyful of this revelation, she fluttered to the frog and gave him a bone crushing hug. "Oh, thank you so much, Froggy!” She said to the frog, the latter getting crossed eyed due to the strength of the hug. The Stallion's confusion only grew when Cloud Chaser and Flitter barged in with worried looks. "Derpy! Are you okay?!" Cloud Chaser asked, she and Flitter having heard that loud crash moments ago. Derpy, thankfully for Theodore, ended her hug to acknowledged the mares. "I am now. Thanks to this cute little frog." Her comment caused Theodore to blush at the word ‘cute’. The three mares suddenly noticed the confused stallion staring at them. "Oh dear. I'm so sorry for crashing into you, Sir. I got stuck in the chimney, and this frog got me out." Derpy explained. The stallion faced the two purple pegasi for their explanation. "I helped the frog get on the roof with his jar of, bleh, whatever was in it." Cloud Chaser explained, with a hint of disgust at the mention of the jar. The Stallion perked up at the mention of the jar. "Oh, that is part of my frog mucus collection. Slimy stuff that is. I knew it would come in handy someday." The purple mares gagged at discovering what the substance really was, now preferring not to have known. The Stallion turned to Theodore. "That is quite brilliant of you, Theodore. Using your mucus to get this mare out of the chimney." The frog felt proud by the praise. The stallion bonked his head with his hoof, before turning to the mares, "How rude of me, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Taddison Hopper. I’m new here to Ponyville." The purple pair quickly got over their disgust and became pleasantly surprised. “Oh, you must be that new pony that Pinkie-" Cloud Chaser said, but got interrupted when Flitter quickly covered her mouth with her hoof. "I’m Flitter, this is Cloudchaser, and that’s Derpy." She quickly saod with a point of her hoof. "Well, me and my friend have to get going. Welcome to Ponyville, Mr. Hopper. See you later." Flitter saod with a nervous smile as she dragged her friend out of the house, leaving Derpy alone with Taddison and Theodore. The crossed eyed pony turned toward the frog. "So, your name is Theodore? That sounds like a smart name for a smart frog. Thanks for your help." She thanked the frog, who was blushing. She turned to Taddison. "It’s nice to finally meet you too, Mr. Hopper. However, now that I'm free, I better get back to work. I must be way behind schedule,” she grabbed her mail bag. “Welcome to Ponyville you two." She flew out the door. The froggy pair faced each other. “Well, those were some nice mares.” Taddison commented. Theodore nodded his head in agreement. “Well, Theodore, now that business with the missing bit bag is done, we can get to decorating our house. But first, you need to clean up the mess you made from helping Miss Derpy." Taddison said sternly. The frog looked at the mess of tools he made. With a bashful smile to his owner, he went to clean the tools up. Taddison shook his head with a smile on his face, and got on with decorating their home. The Hoptron 2000It had been busy at SugerCube Corner, what with the party decorations and food being set at the tables for the upcoming party. The food was mainly the sweet kind, with cupcakes and sugar drinks galore along with the classic charm of Pinkie Pie, the main head overseer of the party. While Sugercube Corner belonged to her bosses, the Cakes, they always allowed her to have free reign of the building and set up a party as she saw fit. While the party, one of the surprise kind, was being set up, some ponies who were invited came early to help with the party and chat with each other about the day. Some of those ponies were Flitter and Cloud Chaser, who were talking to Rainbow Dash and Rarity, two of the six Elements of Harmony. Spike had also come along, currently in the kitchen helping Pinkie with the food. The four mares in the main room were talking about the pony that Pinkie was setting the party for. “…And we left before Cloud Chaser could ruin the surprise with her big mouth.” Flitter told the other two mares, giving a deadpan glare to Cloud Chaser who blushed in embarrassment. Rarity had a look mixed with horror and disgust when told about Taddison’s frog using mucus to get Derpy out. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was holding her stomach, trying to calm herself from all the laughing she had been giving out. “Oh Man! I gotta meet this pony. His pet sounds awesome! Stealing a slingshot and using it on you guys to get your attention, and then pouring mucus down a chimney to get Derpy out.” Rainbow said excitingly, before continuing her laughing fit. Flitter gave the multi-colored maned mare an unamused glare, as she had been the victim of Theodore’s slingshot aiming. Rarity coughed into her hoof. “As much as I disapprove of this frog’s way of sorting problems, I cannot deny that he certainly has a surprising intelligence” She said, admitting genuine curiosity on the frog’s intellect. “Yeah, he also didn’t look like any of the frogs around Ponyville. He was way more colorful than the ones at Fluttershy’s house. Maybe wherever he came from, the frogs are smarter?” Cloud Chaser suggested. To the slight surprise of the group, Pinkie popped out of nowhere next to Rainbow and Rarity. “Oooh, I wonder if Mr Hopper is an explorer. Maybe he came across Theodore in some faraway land.” She said, while imagining what kind of stallion Taddison was. “Pinkie, darling? Have you been listening in on our conversation this whole time?” Rarity questioned her. “Not all the time. Spike and I just got done with baking some cupcakes, so we sorta took a break and I just came along,” Pinkie responded, “But yeah, I’ve been listening the whole time.” The rest couldn’t help but roll their eyes upon Pinkie’s explanation. Rainbow Dash joined in. “But yeah, like Pinkie said. Maybe he came from some dark mysterious jungle that‘s home to a secret tribe of frogs who trapped unaware explorers to cook ‘em in mucus. But Mr. Hopper, oh no, he must’ve recovered one of their ancient treasures and kept himself from not becoming fly food, and in return, was given a frog warrior as his pet.” She claimed her bizarre scenario. The other four mares stared at the pegasus with a deadpan expression. Pinkie’s expression was the same, only she smiled at Rainbow. “You’ve been reading the latest novel of Daring Do last night haven’t you.” Flitter stated, as everyone knew how Rainbow Dash came up with her own fantasies. Rainbow Dash gave a slight pink blush and rubbed the back of her head. “Maybe?” She weakly said. The group shook their heads in amusment and smiled at Rainbow Dash's obsession with Daring Do. Suddenly, a loud crash came from the kitchen, scaring the daylights out of everypony in the corner. The present Element bearers rushed in to see what the crash was and came upon a wreck. Cakes and cupcakes of many flavors were squished and smeared all over the area. On the cabinets, the windows, some even got on the ceiling. The victim of the mess was an annoyed looking Spike with a chef’s hat covered with green frosting on his face. The cause of the mess was a nervously smiling Derpy on the floor near the door to the kitchen. From the angle of her body, she apparently flew through the open window above the sink. The girls gave a tired sigh together at the reoccurring situation with Ponyville's clumsiest mail pony. "Heh, I keep missing the front door." Derpy nervously chuckled. Spike wiped the frosting off his face. “And that would probably be the 66th time that happened" he tiredly muttered. Derpy shakily got up off the floor and wiped the frosting off of her. She then looked apologetically at Pinkie Pie, who despite the mess, still had that big smile on her face. "I'm so sorry about the mess Pinkie. I just came to tell you that all the invitations have been sent for the party." She informed the pink pony. Pinkie Pie, as usual, jumped all around the frost covered kitchen, spouting on about her excitement of the party and the guests coming. Her friends looked with amusement on how even a mess caused by Derpy would do little to damper the party pony. Her happiness didn't quite reach Spike though, as he was too busy wiping off the rest of the frosting on him. When he was finally done, he noticed Derpy's mailbag on the floor next to him. While at times a sarcastic quipper, he was still well mannered enough to pick up the mailbag for Derpy. When he picked it up, he noticed a single pink envelope in the bag. A letter for a "Taddison Hopper". Pinkie was still going on in her excitement. "-And then maybe Hopper will share his adventure stories of frog warriors. That will sure cheer Applejack up from-" "I think that may not be happening for a while.” Spike interrupted, grabbing the attention of the girls. “What do you mean?” Pinkie asked with confusion while jumping. Spike showed the envelope in his hand, “He doesn't even know about the party.” And that he was right. Derpy went wide-eyed with dismay upon seeing the envelope, Rainbow Dash facehoofed with exasperation, and Pinkie Pie broke the laws of reality by freezing mid jump. Pinkie Pie, still in the air as if she had invisible wings holding her in place, went into a thinking pose with a hoof under chin. "Hmm...That is a really, really big party pooper." She stated, as if she came to a simple collusion in school. She was then grabbed by Derpy, who looked more troubled by this than the party pony was. "I'm so sorry, Pinkie! I completely forgot about giving Mr. Hopper the letter when I was at his house! I'll give it to him right away!" She frantically apologized and let go of Pinkie Pie. Apparently, the contact with another pony was enough revert the laws of gravity back to normal, because Pinkie dropped to the floor as if she was a rock. Quickly, Derpy grabbed the letter from Spike, and before the other girls could stop her, she was already rushing out the door with the letter in her mouth. She flew away so fast that her speed almost gave Rainbow Dash pause. ======****====== Derpy was so ashamed of herself. There were times where Derpy wasn’t aware of what she had done wrong. Even though the results were pretty obvious, like the event of townhall. But this time, there was no excuse. She completely missed giving an invitation! To the pony of the hour even! She would never forgive herself if Mr. Hopper missed Pinkie Pie's party. Her parties were something everypony should experience. Derpy finally arrived at Mr. Hopper's new home, and while in a rush, she still politely knocked on the door, albeit urgently. "Mr. Hopper! Mr.Hopper! Are you home?!...Theodore?! Are you there too?!" Derpy cried to the door. She looked through the windows, only to see no pony or frog in the living room. She then thought they were probably upstairs, so she flew up to the upper floor’s windows. Still no sign of the odd pair. She landed back on the ground and started to pace nervously, wondering where on Equis Taddison Hopper was. She stopped when she heard faint noises coming from the side of the house. She went over to the area and the sounds became a bit more clear. The noise sounded like something was being built as noises of wrenches tightening bolts and drills drilling nails was heard. Then she heard a voice she recognized. "Alright, this goes here....and that goes there." Mr. Hopper said, a bit of strain in his voice as if he was trying to make sure everything was tight. She then heard a sound of relief. "Whew. I tell you lad, this will be my greatest invention yet!" Mr. Hopper claimed proudly. "Ribbit, Ribbit." said what was no doubt Theodore. Derpy swore it sounded like he wasn't agreeing with his owner. "Oh come now, lad. Have a little faith. This time it will be absolutely smashing for us." Taddison assured. "Ribbit, Ribbit, Ribbit?" It sounded like Theodore had a sarcastic tone. "Oh, that was supposed to be figurative, not literal like the last time I said that." Taddison defended himself, although Derpy wasn't sure from what exactly. She then found that the conversation was coming from a basement window, which was slightly open. Made sense to her as it was very warm outside. "Ribbit, Ribbit!" Apparently the amphibian wasn't done arguing with the inventor. Mr. Hopper gave out a sharp gasp. "You watch your tone young colt-Er, tadpole. Or...uh" The stallion trailed off confusingly. Derpy looked through the window to see if she could see the pair. But apparently, the window went both ways, because she fell through with a startled yelp, landing on a table that broke her fall, the table even literally breaking in half. This completely earned the attention of the pony and frog. Derpy, knowing what had happened, was almost on the verge of tears. "Oh I’m so sorry, Mr. Hopper! First the letter, and now-" She stopped her apology as she looked around the room. Her grief turned into amazement. The basement was filled with doohickeys and gadgets that resembled frogs. Some looked complete, and others...well, not so much. The walls were filled with tools and incomplete blueprints. In the middle of it all was Mr. Hopper and Theodore. who seemed to be working on a strange contraption that looked like pony overalls, only the legs resembled that of a robotic frog. Everything reminded Derpy of her friend Doctor Hooves and his work. She even thought about how similar the two ponies were, with Taddison having a similar-but-slightly-different accent compared to Doctor Hooves. "Mrs. Derpy. What an unexpected surprise." The inventor greeted, not at all bothered by the mess that her entry brought. Derpy put her attention back to Taddison. “Mr. Hopper, did you invent all of this stuff?" She asked. Taddison beamed with pride. "Oh yes, I have been inventing ever since I was a young colt." Theodore had a deadpan look on his face. "Ribbit, ribbit." he said with a still sarcastic tone. Taddison coughed in his hoof to hide his embarrassed look from whatever Theodore had said. "Right now, we are finishing my latest invention." He informed the mail pony. He then showed Derpy the metal trousers that he and Theodore were working on. "I’d like to introduce ‘The Hoptron 2000’. The newest way to travel." He claimed. Curious as a cat, she examined the overalls. "Wow!" She exclaimed, "...What does it do?" Seemingly ecstatic at explaining to her what the machine does, Taddison put the metal overalls on himself as if they were ordinary pants. "It's quite simple, really. These overalls are powered by tightening gears in the frog-like legs, giving it power large enough for it to leap. The power level to control how high you leap comes from this little knob here on the front." He gestured to a little red knob with levels of power. "Simply push the big green button next to it, and presto! You're leaping where you need to go like Theodore here." He gestured to his frog for emphasis. The words 'where you need to go' reminded Derpy of why she was here. "Oh, Mr. Hopper, I came here to tell you that you need to come to Sugarcube Corner. A...ah...a…a meeting is being organized by Princess Twilight for you and her to meet face to face." She said, trying not give away the surprise of Pinkie's party. Taddison, noticing the mare’s urgency, comforted the distressed mare. "Don't you worry Miss Hooves. This is actually the perfect opportunity for me to test out the Hoptron. With this machine, I’ll be there before you can say tea and cakes." He then tried to walked up the stairs to go outside. Unfortunately, he failed to notice a hammer on the floor and tripped on it. The impact of the fall damaged the chest of the overalls, causing it to send sparks and make noises that were obviously not normal. All three of occupant's faces grew into horror on what's happening with Taddison, the only one to voice his dread. "Oh, dear." he managed to say, before the machine spluttered out of control. Taddison started to leap all over the basement. His hopping took him to a couple of his other inventions, and with one hop, smashed them to bits, sparks and bits flying everywhere. It then took him to a red tool box, and with another hop, it sent his tools flying and crashing everywhere, a wrench almost hitting Theodore had he not hopped out of the way in time. Then, the hopping trousers lead Taddison to Derpy and Theodore, almost successfully crashing into them had they not rolled out of the way. Taddison then leaped straight up, smashing through the basement ceiling, the main floor ceiling, and then finally the roof of the house. Theodore and Derpy looked up through the holes caused by Taddison's out of control overalls. "THEODOOOOOORE!!!!" The frog's owner cried out for help. ======****====== Applejack was not having a good week. The reason why was because Sweet Apple Acres was losing more and more apples by the day. She searched high and low for the reason why. She checked the trees to see if they were healthy, which they really are. She searched for any varmints that could be eating her apples, like fruit vampire bats and parasprites, but she couldn’t find any apple-eating pests either. She even had Twilight come over to see if magic was involved, but there wasn't. This was making Applejack madder then a cragadile with a toothache, metaphorically speaking because cragadiles have very bad tempers. Because of this crisis, Applejack had to skip time with hanging out with her friends and helping Applebloom with school. Her patience was wearing thin and she didn’t want to lose her temper, especially in front of her friends and family. A large memory she could recall was the one time when Rainbow Dash tried to get an extra drink of cider. Even Applejack's ears were still ringing from her own yelling. Even through her tense mood, ponies could tell that Applejack was scared. And with good reason too. It scares a farmer when they do not know why their harvest is isn’t giving enough as it should. Big Mac helped her get through the worst of it. While he too was greatly concerned about the lack of good harvest, he still had a steady head and faith that they'll figure out what's going on. When he saw how sad his sister was getting today, he forced her out of Sweet Apple Acres to attend Pinkie Pie's Surprise Party for a new pony in town. He claimed that Applejack needed be around her friends, maybe even befriend the new pony. Applejack was hesitant...alright she was holding tight on the fence when her brother was dragging her out of the acres like a stubborn foal. Her brother, however, was the winner in strength. Applejack finally complied to go while her brother watched over the farm. She was currently walking through a pretty empty Ponyville, the reason for it being barren because everypony was going to the party. While walking, Applejack started to looked forward to the party. “Maybe bein’ with mah friends and family is just what Ah need,” Applejack said to herself, feeling brightened up already, “Yay. Spendin’ time with ‘em has always helped cheer me up, and once Ah go back home after havin’ some fun the party, Ah could take mah harvest problems head on like a bull in a ring.” Her positive line of thinking was violently crashed, because suddenly, a middle aged stallion wearing a strange contraption leaped in front of her, and just as quickly as he appeared, he leaped away. This had caused Applejack to give out a frighten yelp that she prayed to Celestia that Rainbow Dash wouldn't hear about. "PARDON ME MADAM!!" The leaping pony yelled apologetically. Applejack looked dumbfounded at the stallion who was leaping all over Ponyville. The weirdness didn't stop as she then saw Derpy frantically trying to catch him. But, despite her efforts, Derpy was constantly missing him because of his limitless leaping. The last attempt failed completely when Derpy went into a speed almost on par with Rainbow Dash to catch the stallion only to miss. She couldn't stop herself from heading straight toward Applejack. Seeing what was coming, Applejack quickly backed away from the incoming Pegasus who was desperately trying to slow herself down by scraping her hooves and rump on the ground. She succeeded before coming to a jerking stop, which flung something green on her mane toward the apple pony. It splatted right on Applejack's chest, which didn't hurt thankfully, as she then saw that the green thing was a little frog. The frog, in a state of daze, fell off of her chest and onto the ground. Applejack examined the frog to see that it was brightly colored, what with its red eyes, bright green skin, blue underarms, red feet, and white belly. This was the strangest looking frog she had ever seen. “You alright little critter?” She asked the frog, not really expecting anything from him. The frog gained back its sense, almost as if her voice was able to trigger something in it. It looked up toward Applejack, only to gain a face of utter awe. "Ribbit Ribbit" the frog croaked, almost as if it was in awe and reassuring the mare he was okay. Applejack, confused by the frog's attitude, looked up to Derpy. "Can somepony tell me what in tarnation is goin’ on?!" The crossed eye pony smiled sheepishly despite the occurrence of the out of control stallion smashing a vacant stand. "Well, Mr. Hopper had a machine called the, uh...Hop Krom 9000... or something, and it went out of control! Now he’s hopping all over the place." She explained while gesturing to Taddison, who know smashed a cart full of furniture. This brought Theodore out of his dreamy look, and he shook his head to clear his mind. "Ribbit! Ribbit!" he croaked out loudly and started to chase after Taddison. Derpy followed him, and Applejack, still the dependable pony, went after them to help however she can. The trio chased the leaping Stallion all around town. Although their attempts to try and catch him were pathetic, as most of the time they ended up catching each other after Taddison leaped out of the way. It was embarrassing for Theodore when he used his legs the best he could to catch his owner, only to land on Applejack's forehead. Later on, Applejack had enough of going nowhere, so she grabbed her lasso out of her stetson hat and waited for the right moment to rope Taddison. Then, she threw it when he was on the ground and successfully roped the target. "Gmmt mm!" the farmpony said through gritted teeth on rope. She tried to keep a good grip on the rope while holding her ground at the still leaping stallion. He dragged her around the town until she wrapped her hooves around a lamp post. She held on with all her might, not budging an inch. Theodore was watching and became even more struck by this mare, only this time it was by how incredibly strong she was. Derpy, while also amazed by Applejack's strength, swore she noticed hearts in the frog’s eyes. Soon the tug of war ended when suddenly, Taddison’s mechanical frog legs were ripped off after the strain became too much. He noticed this and whooped in excitement. "Jolly Good!!" The trio on the ground also cheered at this...for about three seconds. It was then that Taddison noticed he was still high in the air. "...Knickers." He said, before gravity set in. ======****====== Everypony in SugarCube Corner was waiting for Derpy to bring Taddison over. It had been over 40 minutes and there was still no sign of them. Rainbow Dash, never one for patience, sprung up in the air in frustration. "UGH! That's it! I'm going to go see what's taking so long." But before she could rush out there, Pinkie Pie's tail started to twitch. Her famous Pinkie sense was on. "INCOMING!!!" She yelled out in alarm. She and everypony else jumped out of the way. They jumped just in time, because something crashed down into the floor and created a hole in the middle of it. The ponies slowly walked toward the hole to see what it was. Before they could identify it, Derpy, Applejack, and Theodore rushed in and looked at the hole in concern. "Mr. Hopper! Are you okay!? Please tell us you're okay!" Derpy shouted with great concern. A hoof then came out of the hole, and following it was Mr. Hopper halfway out of the hole. He looked like he wrestled an angry bull and lost...four times. Still, he gave a smile...a smile that was missing a few teeth, but it was still a friendly smile. "Oh, don't you worry, Miss Hooves. I’m as jolly as a schoolboy." He said, trying to ease the concerned trio. He then turned his attention to Theodore. "If you’ll excuse me lad, I'm about to experience unconsciousness." Without another word, he passed out back into the hole, with Theodore and the herd of ponies feeling absolutely scared for Taddison. Author's Note Hello Boyz and Gurlz, I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. It has been what?... A...Year...I feel really sad. But anyway, Hopefully the next chapter wont take nearly as long and I want to thank my editor, A Man Undercover for his help and encouragement of this story. Hope to see ya soon even though the show will be over soon. Take Care and God Bless Begone, Prenchie!!Taddison was immediately sent to Ponyville hospital after he clocked out in unconciousness. Pinkie had canceled the party before checking him into the hospital, as even the fun loving pink pony saw that this was a serious situation. She and the rest of the Main Six (aside from the yet-to-be-present Twilight and Fluttershy), along with Derpy, Cloud Chaser, Flitter, and of course, Theodore, were all in the hospital waiting room, hoping for some good news. Applejack, perhaps feeling the most guilty for stopping Taddison's machine while he was twenty feet in the air, couldn't help but notice the expression on Theodore. He was rubbing his head, almost tiredly with an equally tired look. “Frog sure is a confusin’ little critter,” she thought to herself, “He doesn’t seem to act like any other frog Ah’ve seen in mah life.” Her thoughts were interrupted when Doctor Horse came in, earning all the attention of the worried mares in the waiting room. Theodore stared at the doctor's ridiculous mane, as to him, the stallion looked more like a wacko TV character than a real doctor. "Is Mr. Hopper alright, Doc?" Derpy asked worryingly "Well, he has several broken bones, and he received multiple fractures from the fall." He replied, his statement causing the mares to wince. "But give him plenty of time and rest, and I'm sure he'll be up and about in no time." He said with a reassuring smile. Already, everypony present was feeling relieved. However, Applejack was skeptical. "Are ya sure, Dr. Horse?” She asked him with a raised brow of uncertainty, “Ah mean, Ah saw Mr. Hopper fall twenty feet from the air." "Well, that's the thing,” the Doctor said, before explaining, “From your description of what happened, the injuries should have been more severe. But when I looked at the x-rays, the bones were in no way as damaged as we feared. Heck, if I had to wager a guess, I’d say this wasn't the first time this sort of thing happened to Mr Hopper." There was a slight pause from the mares. The girls and doctor all then turned toward Theodore for some form of an answer. However, the frog looked like he was trying to be aloof, even whistling to avoid the glances of the mares, earning a couple of astonished blinks from Applejack in particular. “Now Ah’m really sure he isn’t like any other frog Ah’ve seen.” Applejack thought in astonishment. "That's because this isn't the first time this sort of thing happened." a voice stated from behind the group. The doctor and mares looked to see that it was Princess Twilight Sparkle, along with Spike. The former was giving a friendly but tired look. "What do you mean by ‘This isn't the first time’..uh, Your Highness?" Cloud Chaser asked the princess. Even though everypony in town acknowledged that Twilight was the former librarian of Ponyville, they still offered their respect as they did with Celestia and Luna. "Because Princess Celestia warned me about Mr. Hopper arriving here in Ponyville. She asked me to help make sure that his inventions don't cause any severe damage." Twilight explained to the group. She then looked over at the door that lead to the hospital patient rooms, before sighing and saying with sadness, "Although it seems I was too late for that." "Hold on a sec, Sugarcube,” Applejack said, catching Twilight’s attention, “Why would Celestia warn ya about Mr. Hopper? He’s a pony like the rest of us, and him comin’ here doesn’t seem like something worth her attention.” “Well…” she hesitated to answer, before showing a sheepish look to her farming friend, "Mr. Hopper may have caused a little bit of mayhem at Canterlot with his inventions. Unintentionally, of course.” "Like what?" Rainbow Dash asked. Spike then unrolled a long scroll. So long, that it unfurled itself past the rest of the group before hitting the wall. “Let’s see,” he said, before reading from the top, “He accidentally released a horde of bullfrogs at some china shops, along with what appeared to be some spray he claimed can help frogs survive in the winter. Terrified some mare models when frogs started to steal their dresses to make their nests, having been altered to build homes for their tadpoles. And recently, a Canterlot soldier by the name of Firebrand accused Mr. Hopper of making a mockery of the Royal Guard by scaring them with glowing frogs, the glow causing the frogs to look like floating skulls.” He dragged his eyes away from the paper, directing his attention to the group, “There is a little note saying that the record keeper couldn't quite understand Firebrand because he was crying loudly, and rocking back and forth while whispering ‘why’ over and over again. My only guess is that he probably got tired of the guards being embarrassed like that." After the mares, outside of Twilight, heard the reports, they gave dumbfounded looks, their mouths gaping open with shock. They turned toward Theodore again, who now was looking at a magazine, peaking part of his face from it and showing he was steaming red in embarrassment. When he saw everyone looking at him, even the newcomers, he covered himself with the magazine again and tried to take his mind off of everything by doing some reading. “Gee. Reminds me of the time I accidentally put too much yeast in the cake batter.” Pinkie said. Twilight shook her head to refocus on the subject at hand while Spike rolled the scroll up. "With Mr. Hopper recovering, I’m going to have to put a hold on the procedures for now." Twilight stated. "What about Theodore?” Cloud Chaser asked, “With Mr. Hopper outta the game, who’ll be taking care of him?" Twilight looked over at the frog, whose attention was caught at the sound of his name. "I’m sure that Fluttershy would be happy to take care of Theodore until Mr. Hopper is well." She said, assuring Cloud Chaser, “I can take him over to her house right away with just a simple teleportation spell.” But as Twilight was relaying her plan, Applejack’s mind was not in the game. She was continuously thinking about Theodore, and her burning curiosity towards him only grew as she saw him listening in on what Twilight was saying. A thought suddenly came into her mind, and it just refused to leave. It was both a blessing, and a curse, as it kept her from being a quitter. So, deciding to go with her gut, she gave in to the thought. "If ya don’t mind, Sugercube, Ah’d like to bring Theodore to Fluttershy." She said to Twilight. That simple statement made Theodore's eyes widen to almost Pinkie Pie sized, and the rest of the mares looked at her with surprise. “Are you sure, Applejack?” Twilight asked her, “I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.” “Ah’m sure,” Applejack assured her concerned friend, “Besides, Ah’m the one who lassoed his owner at the wrong time before he fell through that roof, it’s only fair that Ah make up for mah mistake. I can even show him more of Ponyville as long as we’re out.” It was only through one blink that Twilight suddenly understood. Applejack was an honorable pony, and whenever something happened that she blamed herself for, she’d want to make up for it. “Well, okay Applejack,” Twilight said to her, “Thanks for stepping up.” “No problem,” she replied, before turning to Theodore, “Hop aboard my back, Little Critter. No thanks are necessary.” Theodore didn’t need to be told twice. Right away, he made a few hops towards the farm gal, before making a high leap and touching down on her back. He crawled a little bit on her back, adjusting himself to get comfortable and taking in the feel of her fur. He even rubbed himself against it, the feel of it being as soft as a warm blanket. Meanwhile, Applejack was giggling and chuckling because Theodore’s webbed feet and skin were tickling her as he moved. “Okay, okay, no need to be thankin’ me that much.” Applejack said while giggling. The rest of the gang couldn’t help but giggle with her, mostly because of Applejack doing it and because of how cute the site was. ======****====== Applejack, with Theodore on her back, was walking through Ponyville. With the party canceled, ponies were going back to doing their chores and hobbies. Theodore felt as stiff as a statue. Not long after the two of them left the hospital, he realized that he was being escorted by the mare he immediately considered to be a beauty upon first seeing her, as well as having the strength to match it. Her sturdy yet feminine form reminded Theodore of Taddison's stepmother, who was a pure shireland pony. Meanwhile, Applejack was having thoughts about the frog on her back. Constantly, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was more to this frog than meets the eye. Call it her apple intuition, but this frog was unique. "So...how’s yer first impression of Ponyville." Applejack asked the frog, hoping to start some conversation. She just realized that she was trying to talk to a frog. No doubt she was looking like a crazy pony as others were passing by. However, she took those thoughts and crushed them to the ground. She had conversations with Winona whenever they were together, albeit one sided. She also remembered that Fluttershy talked to animals all the time and nopony called her crazy. Back to the conversation at hand, Theodore looked around town, studying the various activities that were going on. "Ribbit, Ribbit." He said, giving a satisfied and happy nod. Despite not knowing exactly what he said, Applejack knew the frog was liking the town "Ah’m glad,” She told him, before comforting the frog by saying, “And don’t worry about yer owner's mess, we’ve had crazier things happen here, so a runaway hoppin’ contraption is nothin’ new." Theodore nodded his thanks. AJ was again surprised with how pony-ish the frog was being. She really wanted to ask the frog about how he was like this, but decided not to as it seemed rude to just go up to somepony and say ‘Howdy, why ya so weird?’. She learned to be honest, but not be brutally honest. She instead decided to share something about the town. "Ya know, my grandmother, Granny Smith, and her family settled in this here land long time ago. If not for ‘em, we wouldn’t be where we are now, and as ya can tell, a busy little town is up and about." She informed the frog proudly. The frog gave an awestricken look. "Ribbit." he said, to which Applejack could tell that was frog for ‘wow’. Before she could share more, though, she was interrupted by a polite cough. Attention caught, she turned to see that it was that prench stallion that served at one of the restaurants. Applejack sadly couldn't remember his name. "Pardon me, Mademoiselle. But, did you happen to zee a stallion run off? He seemed to have forgotten to pay the check after his meal. Pony these days." He finished with a grumble under his breath. She turned her body directly to where she could see him. "Sorry partner, can’t say Ah have." She answered the waiter. The Prenchie looked at her back with a strange look. "Um, iz there zomething wrong with your frog?" Immediately, Applejack looked back to Theodore to see if there was anything wrong. She was shocked to see the frog standing on his legs, holding two sticks in a cross shape. As Theodore stood on his hind legs, he was yelling out, “Ribbit, Ribbit!! Ribbit, Ribbit!!" Flabbergasted at the frog’s attempts to exorcise the prench pony, Applejack then turned to the baffled stallion with a sheepish smile. "Oh, probably just the flies he recently ate, obviously made him a little touched in the head. ‘Scuse me, partner." She then walked away from the prench pony, with Theodore meanwhile still chanting at the prench pony. Once they were far enough, rounding a corner into an alleyway, Applejack bucked the frog upwards off her back like a bull would a rider, and grabbed the frog with her teeth, something she instantly regretted as mucus was now in her mouth. She threw him onto the ground, the frog landing back first as Applejack was trying to spit the taste of mucus out of her mouth. She lolled her tongue out to see how it looked. Not finding any mucus on it but still tasting it, she rolled it back into her mouth, and turned her attention to Theodore, who was apparently watching her while still laying on his back. "Now what in tarnation has gotten into ya, Theodore!? Ya acted like that stallion was from Tartarus or somethin’." She angrily said to the frog. The frog brought himself up from the ground. He then gave out several gestures and ribbits to explain himself, but Applejack just gave a confused glare at him, obviously not understanding him. Theodore then looked around, hoping to find anything that could possibly help him explain. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a clothing stall that was in front of a store, run by a mare who appeared to be getting things out front organized. As if a light bulb turned on in his head, he came up with an idea and immediately hopped over to the stall. When he was close enough, he leaped up on the stall, startling the mare because his sudden appearance was like he appeared out of thin air. Ignoring the mare, Theodore grabbed a black beret, a black and white striped shirt, and a red scarf. Despite the clothes being massively oversized, he was able to carry them all the way back to the alleyway where Applejack was. Once he was in front of her, he got himself into the clothes despite how big they were, and made himself look like a stereotype prench pony. He turned to Applejack and tried his best to give out a prench laugh, before taking the clothes off and gesturing to himself. Then, he grabbed his legs and pretended to munch on them. While still confused, Applejack started to somewhat understand the frog's fears, until it finally clicked to her. Frog legs were a delicacy among prench ponies. "Alright. Ah think Ah understand. Ah git now that you were just scared, but that’s still no excuse for actin’ like a bat out of Tartarus to that Prench pony,” She reprimanded, before lowering herself to his height, “Not all Prench ponies are like that. All he wanted was to know where some freeloader ran off to. Not to chop off yer legs." "Ribbit, Ribbit." Theodore croaked shamefully, standing up on his hind legs and rubbing his arm in shame. Applejack gave out a sigh, because it became clear to her that he was just scared and wasn’t trying to cause any problems. “Why don’t we just head on over to Fluttershy? Ah think you’ll be a lot more secure there.” Applejack said to him with a comforting smile. The frog nodded yes to that, thinking it was a good idea to head on over there. And with that, Applejack turned her side toward Theodore, offering him another ride on her back. Theodore perked up and jumped back on the farm pony's back. Once he got on, he began cuddling in her apple scented fur, just like at the hospital. Applejack couldn’t help but smile. Even though it tickled her and she was able to suppress herself from giggling and chuckling this time, her heart got warm at the sight of the frog enjoying her fur. She didn’t know why, but she thought that the way he was trying to get comfortable and the fact that he was relishing in it was cute. It didn’t take long for them to move on, exiting the alleyway and being in the clear view of the rest of the town’s residents. The only thing they had forgotten about was those clothes that Theodore took from the clothing stall, which were still laying on the ground. ======****====== 20 minutes later… The odd pair finally arrived at where Flutthershy's cottage was, which was surrounded by a forest. Animals, who were either friends of Fluttershy or visitors, were lounging about around the cottage and front yard. They perked up when they saw Applejack with her frog passenger, eager to see a new face. Once Applejack stopped in front of the wooden door, she knocked on it with a few taps of her hoof. For a few moments, they waited, with Theodore taking in the surroundings and how serene everything was. He saw a pair of birds flying together, a family of raccoons going about their day, and even a bear...who was filing his claws, much to Theodore’s amazement. A creeking sound suddenly caught his attention, and he turned to see that the front door was opening. The door opened all the way to reveal Fluttershy, the element of kindness. "Oh! Hello, Applejack,” she greeted with her friend with a shy, yet happy, smile, “What brings you here? Have you come to bring Winona in?" Applejack gave her own smile. "Ah did. But, it’s actually a whole different breed of animal." she said. She turned her side to show Theodore to the pegasus, the frog still cuddling in the farm pony's fur on her back. Fluttershy's eyes widened in delight, and she gasped, "Oh my Celestia! A tree frog!” And she flapped her wings excitedly, before leaning in to get a closer look, “I didn't know they migrated up here." Applejack chuckled at her friend’s excitement, “Well, it’s actually a whole different case.” “Oh?” Fluttershy said, her curiosity high. “Yay. Remember hearin’ the news about a new pony comin’ to town?” Applejack asked. “Of course.” Fluttershy said with a nod. "Well, this here critter is the new pony’s pet. But some...problems happened on the first day, and Theodore here is in need of a place to stay for awhile." Applejack explained. "Oh dear,” Fluttershy moved to the side of the door, inviting her friend and the newcomer in, “Please, do come in. I'll get some tea for us and some crickets for Theodore." Theodore instantly sprang up at the offer of food, not hesitating to head inside as Fluttershy and Applejack watched him hop on in. ======****====== A few minutes later... The mares were sitting at the kitchen table with their tea, while Theodore was with the other animals in the living room, eating his crickets. He was currently being watched by Fluttershy’s bunny, Angel, who gave looks of disgust because of Theodore using his tongue to eat. Meanwhile, Applejack was explaining to Fluttershy about the events that lead to their current situation. The gentle pegasus was shocked and horrified when she heard about Mr.Hopper's injuries. "Oh...My." Was all she said at hearing about the insane events. Applejack agreed with her quiet friend, ashamed of herself again because she felt responsible for the stallion’s injuries. "Ah tell ya, Fluttershy, this week hasn’t been pretty for me,” She relayed, “First, barely an apple has grown on the farm. Then the stress of that made me blow up on Rainbow Dash for just takin’ an extra cider. And now, just when Ah was about to try and have some fun with the others, Ah help a stallion break his legs and spine because Ah was trying to help." Applejack didn't meant to vent on Fluttershy, but the events of this week almost made her want to cry. She won’t, though, as she just wanted Fluttershy's ear, not to cry on her shoulder. "I know it’s been a tough week for you, Applejack. But don’t be too hard on yourself. If you hadn't intervened, something much worse probably would have happened to Mr. Hopper from all his jumping around. I’m sure he’ll also be happy that you delivered little Theodore here until he recovered." Fluttershy comforted the blonde maned mare. At the mention of Theodore, Applejack looked over Fluttershy's shoulder to see how the frog was doing, only to witness a confusing scene. Both Theodore and Angel were hopping around madly after a still alive cricket in the living room. It got more bizarre when the pair grabbed tools and tried to smash the cricket, only to sometimes hit each other accidentally. The scene reminded her of that cat and mouse cartoon Applejack watched as a filly. Fluttershy was simply unaware of what was happening behind her. It also reminded Applejack of another question she had. "Ah actually wanted to ask ya somethin’, Fluttershy. Does yer animal expertise have anythin’ on what kind of frog Theodore is?" She questioned the animal expert, while also trying not to gesture toward the mentioned frog and the comedic scene that was still going on. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked. "Well, it’s just...Theodore seems different from other frogs. He expresses himself like a pony. He seems to think like a pony. And despite the language barrier, Ah think he even talks like a pony." Fluttershy put her hoof on her chin in thought. "I’m not sure. I may not be as good at memorizing books as Twilight, but I read that while tree frogs are rare, they don't seem to have higher intelligence than any other frog. Your guess is as good as mine AJ." She answered her friend. Applejack frowned, as this had only confused her more. What makes Theodore...well, Theodore? Is he some truly unique frog that’s smarter than the average frog? Is he an experiment? Or could he be a pony that was transformed into a frog, like that prince in that movie she saw with Rarity one time, where a princess had to kiss him in order to change him back. The thought of kissing Theodore made Applejack blush and cringe in disgust if that were the case. "Is something wrong, AJ?" Fluttershy asked, having noticed the redness on Applejack's freckled orange cheeks AJ shook her head to clear herself of her thoughts. "Nothin’! Its nothin’-" But she was then interrupted by a crash from the living room. The mares quickly rushed into the living room and gasped with shock. Theodore and Angel were laying on top of a broken table, looking dazed, bruised, and tired. Theodore then lifted up his front foot, and in it...was the cricket, now dead. "Ribbiiiiiiiiiiit" The frog croaked out, seeing stars flying around his head and passing out from exhaustion. Applejack stared at the collapsed frog and then facehoofed.
A New HomeIt was midday in Equestria, the land of ponies and several other creatures alike. Out in the fields there laid a small town community called Ponyville, (in)famous for having some very huge happenings, as well as being next door neighbor to Canterlot, home to the princesses of the sun and moon, Celestia and Luna. In the field between these landmarks...laid the Equestria Railroad, and rolling down the tracks...was the Equestria Train itself. The train was coming from the great mountain that the Canterlot City was mounted on to the flat fields, its rich dirt being a welcoming best friend for a farmer. Despite the train being simple and small, it carried all kinds of travelers, each coming from all over the land. It helped carry the good, the bad, and the weird to their chosen destinations. Today, it carried a reasonable amount of passengers that were headed to Ponyville, each with their own reason to travel to the small yet important landmark. One stallion in particular was traveling to Ponyville not just to see or visit it, but to make it his new home. He was currently just sitting alone with nothing but a bag on his back, and a glass cage beside him. Nothing was interesting about him, aside from his bald head, which was rare for any pony to have as they prefer to have a mane to go with their tail. If he did have a mane, it would've been dark bluish green, if his tail was any indication of course. He was in his late 40s, but, he had an aura of child-like happiness and eagerness, with bright brown eyes and a cheerful smile on his dark, red furred face. In the cage beside him was a little frog. He was a simple tree frog with red eyes, green skin, white underbelly, and matching red feet. The passengers who were curiously glancing at the frog couldn't help but notice something off about the frog. Nothing disturbing, but odd, as the frog didn't seem to have the blank stare all frogs have. Their attention was suddenly diverted, because up ahead... ...Ponyville was coming into view, nearing the end of their trip. It was clear and easy to see the giant crystal castle that towered over all of the buildings in the village. The stallion was ecstatic upon seeing the castle. He joyfully lifted the frog's cage up to the train car’s window so that his pet can see the home of Ponyville's own royalty. "Why look there, Theodore! It’s Princess Twilight's castle. This is absolutely smashing!" he cheered. "Ribbit!" the frog acknowledged his owner. Those close by, could've sworn that they just heard the frog sounding just as cheerful as his owner. "Just you wait, Theodore,” The pony said, “ A whole new life is going to start for us in good ole Ponyville!” The Apple And The Frog The Stallion and his frog stood near a fireplace, which was in the living room of their new home. It was a simple two story cottage that laid west of the Ponyville park, a location that the stallion was quite happy with. The pegasi from the moving company had already brought in the boxes that traveled by air, unlike their owner who traveled by train. Most of the boxes were still unopened but that was unimportant to the earth pony, as he was too busy admiring his new home. "Quite a splendid cottage, eh Theodore?” The stallion questioned his frog, “And just a hop away from the park as well. The perfect place to try out our inventions." At that last sentence, Theodore gave his owner an uneasy glance. It should be mentioned that the stallion was also an amateur inventor who mainly based his invention on frogs like Theodore. Unfortunately, while his owner was a smart cookie, his inventions always seemed to cause problems for them in the end. “But for now, lets get to unpacking our things out. We have a big day ahead of us." Theodore’s owner said, not noticing his frog's worried look. The stallion headed over to some of the boxes next to the couch. He opened one small box full of tools: hammers, wrenches, and a small flashlight. He was about to pulled them out of the box when he noticed something on the ground. He picked up what looked to be a bit bag. "Oh dear. It seems one of the movers dropped their bag. I better head over to the moving company to return it.” The stallion said to himself. He put on his saddle bags, and called to his frog “Theodore! Watch the fort while I'm gone.” His frog gave him a determined salute. His owner galloped out the door, leaving the frog alone in the living room. He looked around the place, seeing tons of unopened boxes lying around. With some hopping, he headed over to a box to unpack, nothing but silence surrou- “Hello?” The sudden sound was so startling to Theodore he leapt up in fright and dove under the couch. He waited there, terrified because he thought the house was haunted. From the safety of underneath the couch, he scanned the house for who or whatever belonged to the unexpected voice. "Is anypony there?" The voice came again. Theodore suddenly noticed that the voice sounded female “Hello?” The voice called again, this time helping Theodore note that it was coming from the fireplace. Confusion replaced fear as Theodore grabbed a flashlight from the open box. He hopped towards the fireplace. When he got there, he turned his flashlight on and shined it up the chimney. What he saw baffled him. Stuck up the chimney was a pegasus mare with light grey fur and a blond mane. She was carrying a mailbag in her hooves, so Theodore assumed she’s a mailmare. Her eyes were crossed, but it was probably due to the flashlight in her face. So, Theodore moved the flashlight away. The mailmare saw who was holding the flashlight and was surprised to see it was a frog. They stared at each other for a few moments, the mailmare’s eyes still being crossed for some reason. "Umm, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask if you can get your owner to help me, little froggy?" she asked, hoping for the small chance the frog understood her. Theodore did understand, as he was no ordinary frog. However, the problem still remained in getting his owner. He had no idea where the moving company was, and he didn't want the mare to be stuck any longer in the chimney. Suddenly, an idea emerged in the frog's head. "Ribbit! Ribbit!" He assured the mare, even though she couldn't understand him. He hopped to the pile of boxes. He hopped on the couch and pushed away the tool box. It gave a loud crash after falling, which made Theodore wince and the mare yelp in surprise. "Are you okay?" The mare asked in concern. "Ribbit!" Theodore answered, planning on dealing with it later. He opened the carton that the tool box was on. In the box was jars filled with pale green substances. He picked one up and dragged it toward the door. Then, he jumped up on the door handle and easily opened the door. He dragged the jar outside, and stopped a few feet away from the patio. He looked up on the roof, the chimney perfectly in his view. His plan was to pour the substance down the chimney so that the mare could slide down. It’s a smart plan except... How was he gonna get on the roof with the jar? The jar was too heavy for him to jump up on the roof with. He looked around, hoping to find another pegasus who could help him get up there. To his relief, he saw a pair of pegasi up on a low cloud. He hopped over and tried to call them down, but they were so high up, they couldn't hear him. Frustrated, he looked around to see if he could throw something to get their attention. In his line of sight, he found a small unicorn colt with light blue fur, dark orange mane, and a cutie mark depicting a pair of scissors. In his saddle bag, lied a slingshot. "So, how was weather patrolling, Cloud Chaser?" Flitter, the bow wearing pegasus, asked her friend as they sat together on a cloud near the park. The wild, spiky, maned pony shrugged. "Eh, nothing I would write home about.” Then, she started looking around as if checking to see if anypony else was nearby. She turned back to her friend and confessed. “Although, every time I fly over Sweet Apple Acres, I get vibes something weird is going on over there.” "Yeah. Have you seen Applejack's cart at the market? I don't know if you noticed, but, she seems to have less apples than her usual stock amount.” Flitter said. “Really?” Cloud Chaser said, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah. You don't think the parasprites have come back, do you?" Flitter asked, worried for Applejack. "If it was parasprites, we would've known by now. Besides, if they are back, Pinkie Pie’ll just lead them away with her one-mare band like last time." Cloud Chaser assured her friend. It worked, "I suppose you’re right. Sometimes, I don't know if she’s either a sugar-crazed pony or a secret genius." Cloud Chaser laughed as the mental image of Pinkie Pie, in a smart looking suit, lecturing in front of a group of students, appeared in her head. "I can see it now. Professor Pinkie Pie, P.D.H.D in parasprite busting and party planner!" Cloud Chaser exclaimed with laughter. It didn't take long for Flitter to join in on the laughter, resulting in both of them laughing at the joke. "Speaking of parties, did you hear that Pinkie Pie is gonna have a surprise party at Sugercube Corner? It’s for a new pony moving into town." Flitter said. "Really? Who is it?" Cloud Chaser asked. Before Flitter could answer, she got hit in the head by a small pebble. She screamed in pain, and looked down to the ground with an angry glare. "Who did that?!" She yelled, before seeing a unicorn colt holding a slingshot. The unicorn colt flinched when he heared the yell. Flitter flew down toward the unicorn colt, with Cloud Chaser close behind. The two pegasi landed in front of the panicking colt. "What’s the big idea, Snips? You could've poked my eye out with that thing.” Flitter scolded him. "I-I-It wasn't me, it was the frog! It stole my slingshot!" He pointed at the frog. Just now, the mares noticed the frog. But, they quickly focused back on Snips, not believing him at all. "Really, Snips. You expect us to believe that that frog somehow used your slingshot to hit me? I’m gonna tell your parents about this." Flitter threatened. Cloud Chaser rolled her eyes in exasperation as Snips kept insisting that it's all the frog's fault. Her attention however was suddenly diverted when she felt something poking at her legs. She looked down to find the frog, poking at her legs to try to get her attention. "Ribbit! Ribbit!" The frog's ribbits sounded frantic. Cloud Chaser was unsure what to make of it. She turned to Flitter who was still giving Snips an earful. She turned back to the frog, who was now pulling her leg and pointing towards a house, also looking like he’s becoming frustrated. To her surprise, he was becoming more forceful, like a dog could get around its owner when wanting something. Curiosity growing, she decided to listen to the frog instead of hearing more of Flitter’s scolding. “It’s okay, little fella,” she said, getting the frog’s attention. She also saw him wiping his head in relief, “What’s the matter?” Theodore immediately hopped to the house, with Cloud Chaser following behind. He leaped toward a jar full of some green stuff. The frog pointed at her, then to the roof, and then, to himself and the jar. Somehow, Cloud Chaser understood. Hesitantly, Cloud Chaser went along with what the frog wanted and let him hop on her. They flew up to the roof near the chimney. Theodore jumped up near the chimney, and gestured to Cloud Chaser to give him the jar. She handed the jar to him. Curious, she looked down the chimney to see the rear end of a pony. She recognized that bubbles cutie mark anywhere. "Derpy? Is that you?" Cloud Chaser yelled down. Her yell startled the stuck mare. "Ah! Who's there?" Derpy screamed "It’s me, Cloud Chaser." Cloud Chaser responded "Oh. Hey Cloud Chaser, how are you doing?" The mail mare cheerfully asked. "How am I doing? You’re the one stuck in the chimney!" "Oh yeah. I dropped my mail bag over the chimney, so I swooped down to grab it. But, then I got stuck. Luckily, a frog came by to help me out." Cloud Chaser is stunned that Derpy was placing her hope of freedom on a frog. She even blinked just to show her stunned state. Then again, she remembered that the frog had a plan, and a jar of something, so maybe Derpy’s trust wasn't misplaced. "Well, he is right here with me with a jar of..whatever stuff is inside it. So, hold on in there!” Cloud Chaser told Derpy. She turned to the frog, unsure about what he was going to do. "The stuff in the jar will get her out of there, right?" She questioned the frog. He nodded confidently. "Cloud Chaser!" Somepony yelled, startling Cloud Chaser and the frog, as well as almost causing the frog to drop the jar. The pair turned around to see Flitter flying towards them, with a small frown on her face. “Oh, hey Flitter.” Cloud Chaser greeted. Flitter landed in front of them on the roof. "What are you doing here?" She questioned Cloud Chaser. "I was helping this frog. He's trying to help Derpy get out of this house’s chimney." Cloud Chaser just realized how insane the whole thing sounded. Flitter confirmed it with a look of disbelief. "What? Cloud Chaser, how is some frog gonna help Derpy get out of…" She trailed off as the pair put their attention on the frog. Theodore opened the jar and poured the contents into the chimney, the contents being green and slimy. The ponies reacted in disgust. "EWWWW!" their faces scrunched up in disgust. He ignored them as he continued pouring the green stuff into the chimney. After he was done pouring, he put the jar aside. He looked down the chimney, satisfied that his plan was going along well. He jumped in the chimney. "Ribbit!" He cried out. He landed on the rump of the mare, and jumped up and down to push her down the chimney, the slime making the mare slippery enough to squeeze through the long passage. Then, he used all his strength for a final leap. "Theodore! Where are you?!" A voice yelled in the middle of the process. Theodore didn't notice the voice calling for him. His final jump finally pushed Derpy down the chimney. Unfortunately, now that she was unstuck, gravity came in. The frog and pegasus fell down the chimney, before rolling out of the fireplace and crashing into some object. Upon the impact, Theodore saw images pegasi flying around his head. He shook his head to clear them out, and lookd down to see that he was on the snout of his equally dazed owner. Theodore’s owner regained his composure and stared at his frog. "What on earth is going on here, lad?" He said with a demanding look. Before the frog could explain, they turned toward the pained mumbles of the mare. Derpy came to her senses, and when she did, she realized that she was finally out of the chimney. Joyful of this revelation, she fluttered to the frog and gave him a bone crushing hug. "Oh, thank you so much, Froggy!” She said to the frog, the latter getting crossed eyed due to the strength of the hug. The Stallion's confusion only grew when Cloud Chaser and Flitter barged in with worried looks. "Derpy! Are you okay?!" Cloud Chaser asked, she and Flitter having heard that loud crash moments ago. Derpy, thankfully for Theodore, ended her hug to acknowledged the mares. "I am now. Thanks to this cute little frog." Her comment caused Theodore to blush at the word ‘cute’. The three mares suddenly noticed the confused stallion staring at them. "Oh dear. I'm so sorry for crashing into you, Sir. I got stuck in the chimney, and this frog got me out." Derpy explained. The stallion faced the two purple pegasi for their explanation. "I helped the frog get on the roof with his jar of, bleh, whatever was in it." Cloud Chaser explained, with a hint of disgust at the mention of the jar. The Stallion perked up at the mention of the jar. "Oh, that is part of my frog mucus collection. Slimy stuff that is. I knew it would come in handy someday." The purple mares gagged at discovering what the substance really was, now preferring not to have known. The Stallion turned to Theodore. "That is quite brilliant of you, Theodore. Using your mucus to get this mare out of the chimney." The frog felt proud by the praise. The stallion bonked his head with his hoof, before turning to the mares, "How rude of me, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Taddison Hopper. I’m new here to Ponyville." The purple pair quickly got over their disgust and became pleasantly surprised. “Oh, you must be that new pony that Pinkie-" Cloud Chaser said, but got interrupted when Flitter quickly covered her mouth with her hoof. "I’m Flitter, this is Cloudchaser, and that’s Derpy." She quickly saod with a point of her hoof. "Well, me and my friend have to get going. Welcome to Ponyville, Mr. Hopper. See you later." Flitter saod with a nervous smile as she dragged her friend out of the house, leaving Derpy alone with Taddison and Theodore. The crossed eyed pony turned toward the frog. "So, your name is Theodore? That sounds like a smart name for a smart frog. Thanks for your help." She thanked the frog, who was blushing. She turned to Taddison. "It’s nice to finally meet you too, Mr. Hopper. However, now that I'm free, I better get back to work. I must be way behind schedule,” she grabbed her mail bag. “Welcome to Ponyville you two." She flew out the door. The froggy pair faced each other. “Well, those were some nice mares.” Taddison commented. Theodore nodded his head in agreement. “Well, Theodore, now that business with the missing bit bag is done, we can get to decorating our house. But first, you need to clean up the mess you made from helping Miss Derpy." Taddison said sternly. The frog looked at the mess of tools he made. With a bashful smile to his owner, he went to clean the tools up. Taddison shook his head with a smile on his face, and got on with decorating their home.
The Hoptron 2000It had been busy at SugerCube Corner, what with the party decorations and food being set at the tables for the upcoming party. The food was mainly the sweet kind, with cupcakes and sugar drinks galore along with the classic charm of Pinkie Pie, the main head overseer of the party. While Sugercube Corner belonged to her bosses, the Cakes, they always allowed her to have free reign of the building and set up a party as she saw fit. While the party, one of the surprise kind, was being set up, some ponies who were invited came early to help with the party and chat with each other about the day. Some of those ponies were Flitter and Cloud Chaser, who were talking to Rainbow Dash and Rarity, two of the six Elements of Harmony. Spike had also come along, currently in the kitchen helping Pinkie with the food. The four mares in the main room were talking about the pony that Pinkie was setting the party for. “…And we left before Cloud Chaser could ruin the surprise with her big mouth.” Flitter told the other two mares, giving a deadpan glare to Cloud Chaser who blushed in embarrassment. Rarity had a look mixed with horror and disgust when told about Taddison’s frog using mucus to get Derpy out. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was holding her stomach, trying to calm herself from all the laughing she had been giving out. “Oh Man! I gotta meet this pony. His pet sounds awesome! Stealing a slingshot and using it on you guys to get your attention, and then pouring mucus down a chimney to get Derpy out.” Rainbow said excitingly, before continuing her laughing fit. Flitter gave the multi-colored maned mare an unamused glare, as she had been the victim of Theodore’s slingshot aiming. Rarity coughed into her hoof. “As much as I disapprove of this frog’s way of sorting problems, I cannot deny that he certainly has a surprising intelligence” She said, admitting genuine curiosity on the frog’s intellect. “Yeah, he also didn’t look like any of the frogs around Ponyville. He was way more colorful than the ones at Fluttershy’s house. Maybe wherever he came from, the frogs are smarter?” Cloud Chaser suggested. To the slight surprise of the group, Pinkie popped out of nowhere next to Rainbow and Rarity. “Oooh, I wonder if Mr Hopper is an explorer. Maybe he came across Theodore in some faraway land.” She said, while imagining what kind of stallion Taddison was. “Pinkie, darling? Have you been listening in on our conversation this whole time?” Rarity questioned her. “Not all the time. Spike and I just got done with baking some cupcakes, so we sorta took a break and I just came along,” Pinkie responded, “But yeah, I’ve been listening the whole time.” The rest couldn’t help but roll their eyes upon Pinkie’s explanation. Rainbow Dash joined in. “But yeah, like Pinkie said. Maybe he came from some dark mysterious jungle that‘s home to a secret tribe of frogs who trapped unaware explorers to cook ‘em in mucus. But Mr. Hopper, oh no, he must’ve recovered one of their ancient treasures and kept himself from not becoming fly food, and in return, was given a frog warrior as his pet.” She claimed her bizarre scenario. The other four mares stared at the pegasus with a deadpan expression. Pinkie’s expression was the same, only she smiled at Rainbow. “You’ve been reading the latest novel of Daring Do last night haven’t you.” Flitter stated, as everyone knew how Rainbow Dash came up with her own fantasies. Rainbow Dash gave a slight pink blush and rubbed the back of her head. “Maybe?” She weakly said. The group shook their heads in amusment and smiled at Rainbow Dash's obsession with Daring Do. Suddenly, a loud crash came from the kitchen, scaring the daylights out of everypony in the corner. The present Element bearers rushed in to see what the crash was and came upon a wreck. Cakes and cupcakes of many flavors were squished and smeared all over the area. On the cabinets, the windows, some even got on the ceiling. The victim of the mess was an annoyed looking Spike with a chef’s hat covered with green frosting on his face. The cause of the mess was a nervously smiling Derpy on the floor near the door to the kitchen. From the angle of her body, she apparently flew through the open window above the sink. The girls gave a tired sigh together at the reoccurring situation with Ponyville's clumsiest mail pony. "Heh, I keep missing the front door." Derpy nervously chuckled. Spike wiped the frosting off his face. “And that would probably be the 66th time that happened" he tiredly muttered. Derpy shakily got up off the floor and wiped the frosting off of her. She then looked apologetically at Pinkie Pie, who despite the mess, still had that big smile on her face. "I'm so sorry about the mess Pinkie. I just came to tell you that all the invitations have been sent for the party." She informed the pink pony. Pinkie Pie, as usual, jumped all around the frost covered kitchen, spouting on about her excitement of the party and the guests coming. Her friends looked with amusement on how even a mess caused by Derpy would do little to damper the party pony. Her happiness didn't quite reach Spike though, as he was too busy wiping off the rest of the frosting on him. When he was finally done, he noticed Derpy's mailbag on the floor next to him. While at times a sarcastic quipper, he was still well mannered enough to pick up the mailbag for Derpy. When he picked it up, he noticed a single pink envelope in the bag. A letter for a "Taddison Hopper". Pinkie was still going on in her excitement. "-And then maybe Hopper will share his adventure stories of frog warriors. That will sure cheer Applejack up from-" "I think that may not be happening for a while.” Spike interrupted, grabbing the attention of the girls. “What do you mean?” Pinkie asked with confusion while jumping. Spike showed the envelope in his hand, “He doesn't even know about the party.” And that he was right. Derpy went wide-eyed with dismay upon seeing the envelope, Rainbow Dash facehoofed with exasperation, and Pinkie Pie broke the laws of reality by freezing mid jump. Pinkie Pie, still in the air as if she had invisible wings holding her in place, went into a thinking pose with a hoof under chin. "Hmm...That is a really, really big party pooper." She stated, as if she came to a simple collusion in school. She was then grabbed by Derpy, who looked more troubled by this than the party pony was. "I'm so sorry, Pinkie! I completely forgot about giving Mr. Hopper the letter when I was at his house! I'll give it to him right away!" She frantically apologized and let go of Pinkie Pie. Apparently, the contact with another pony was enough revert the laws of gravity back to normal, because Pinkie dropped to the floor as if she was a rock. Quickly, Derpy grabbed the letter from Spike, and before the other girls could stop her, she was already rushing out the door with the letter in her mouth. She flew away so fast that her speed almost gave Rainbow Dash pause. ======****====== Derpy was so ashamed of herself. There were times where Derpy wasn’t aware of what she had done wrong. Even though the results were pretty obvious, like the event of townhall. But this time, there was no excuse. She completely missed giving an invitation! To the pony of the hour even! She would never forgive herself if Mr. Hopper missed Pinkie Pie's party. Her parties were something everypony should experience. Derpy finally arrived at Mr. Hopper's new home, and while in a rush, she still politely knocked on the door, albeit urgently. "Mr. Hopper! Mr.Hopper! Are you home?!...Theodore?! Are you there too?!" Derpy cried to the door. She looked through the windows, only to see no pony or frog in the living room. She then thought they were probably upstairs, so she flew up to the upper floor’s windows. Still no sign of the odd pair. She landed back on the ground and started to pace nervously, wondering where on Equis Taddison Hopper was. She stopped when she heard faint noises coming from the side of the house. She went over to the area and the sounds became a bit more clear. The noise sounded like something was being built as noises of wrenches tightening bolts and drills drilling nails was heard. Then she heard a voice she recognized. "Alright, this goes here....and that goes there." Mr. Hopper said, a bit of strain in his voice as if he was trying to make sure everything was tight. She then heard a sound of relief. "Whew. I tell you lad, this will be my greatest invention yet!" Mr. Hopper claimed proudly. "Ribbit, Ribbit." said what was no doubt Theodore. Derpy swore it sounded like he wasn't agreeing with his owner. "Oh come now, lad. Have a little faith. This time it will be absolutely smashing for us." Taddison assured. "Ribbit, Ribbit, Ribbit?" It sounded like Theodore had a sarcastic tone. "Oh, that was supposed to be figurative, not literal like the last time I said that." Taddison defended himself, although Derpy wasn't sure from what exactly. She then found that the conversation was coming from a basement window, which was slightly open. Made sense to her as it was very warm outside. "Ribbit, Ribbit!" Apparently the amphibian wasn't done arguing with the inventor. Mr. Hopper gave out a sharp gasp. "You watch your tone young colt-Er, tadpole. Or...uh" The stallion trailed off confusingly. Derpy looked through the window to see if she could see the pair. But apparently, the window went both ways, because she fell through with a startled yelp, landing on a table that broke her fall, the table even literally breaking in half. This completely earned the attention of the pony and frog. Derpy, knowing what had happened, was almost on the verge of tears. "Oh I’m so sorry, Mr. Hopper! First the letter, and now-" She stopped her apology as she looked around the room. Her grief turned into amazement. The basement was filled with doohickeys and gadgets that resembled frogs. Some looked complete, and others...well, not so much. The walls were filled with tools and incomplete blueprints. In the middle of it all was Mr. Hopper and Theodore. who seemed to be working on a strange contraption that looked like pony overalls, only the legs resembled that of a robotic frog. Everything reminded Derpy of her friend Doctor Hooves and his work. She even thought about how similar the two ponies were, with Taddison having a similar-but-slightly-different accent compared to Doctor Hooves. "Mrs. Derpy. What an unexpected surprise." The inventor greeted, not at all bothered by the mess that her entry brought. Derpy put her attention back to Taddison. “Mr. Hopper, did you invent all of this stuff?" She asked. Taddison beamed with pride. "Oh yes, I have been inventing ever since I was a young colt." Theodore had a deadpan look on his face. "Ribbit, ribbit." he said with a still sarcastic tone. Taddison coughed in his hoof to hide his embarrassed look from whatever Theodore had said. "Right now, we are finishing my latest invention." He informed the mail pony. He then showed Derpy the metal trousers that he and Theodore were working on. "I’d like to introduce ‘The Hoptron 2000’. The newest way to travel." He claimed. Curious as a cat, she examined the overalls. "Wow!" She exclaimed, "...What does it do?" Seemingly ecstatic at explaining to her what the machine does, Taddison put the metal overalls on himself as if they were ordinary pants. "It's quite simple, really. These overalls are powered by tightening gears in the frog-like legs, giving it power large enough for it to leap. The power level to control how high you leap comes from this little knob here on the front." He gestured to a little red knob with levels of power. "Simply push the big green button next to it, and presto! You're leaping where you need to go like Theodore here." He gestured to his frog for emphasis. The words 'where you need to go' reminded Derpy of why she was here. "Oh, Mr. Hopper, I came here to tell you that you need to come to Sugarcube Corner. A...ah...a…a meeting is being organized by Princess Twilight for you and her to meet face to face." She said, trying not give away the surprise of Pinkie's party. Taddison, noticing the mare’s urgency, comforted the distressed mare. "Don't you worry Miss Hooves. This is actually the perfect opportunity for me to test out the Hoptron. With this machine, I’ll be there before you can say tea and cakes." He then tried to walked up the stairs to go outside. Unfortunately, he failed to notice a hammer on the floor and tripped on it. The impact of the fall damaged the chest of the overalls, causing it to send sparks and make noises that were obviously not normal. All three of occupant's faces grew into horror on what's happening with Taddison, the only one to voice his dread. "Oh, dear." he managed to say, before the machine spluttered out of control. Taddison started to leap all over the basement. His hopping took him to a couple of his other inventions, and with one hop, smashed them to bits, sparks and bits flying everywhere. It then took him to a red tool box, and with another hop, it sent his tools flying and crashing everywhere, a wrench almost hitting Theodore had he not hopped out of the way in time. Then, the hopping trousers lead Taddison to Derpy and Theodore, almost successfully crashing into them had they not rolled out of the way. Taddison then leaped straight up, smashing through the basement ceiling, the main floor ceiling, and then finally the roof of the house. Theodore and Derpy looked up through the holes caused by Taddison's out of control overalls. "THEODOOOOOORE!!!!" The frog's owner cried out for help. ======****====== Applejack was not having a good week. The reason why was because Sweet Apple Acres was losing more and more apples by the day. She searched high and low for the reason why. She checked the trees to see if they were healthy, which they really are. She searched for any varmints that could be eating her apples, like fruit vampire bats and parasprites, but she couldn’t find any apple-eating pests either. She even had Twilight come over to see if magic was involved, but there wasn't. This was making Applejack madder then a cragadile with a toothache, metaphorically speaking because cragadiles have very bad tempers. Because of this crisis, Applejack had to skip time with hanging out with her friends and helping Applebloom with school. Her patience was wearing thin and she didn’t want to lose her temper, especially in front of her friends and family. A large memory she could recall was the one time when Rainbow Dash tried to get an extra drink of cider. Even Applejack's ears were still ringing from her own yelling. Even through her tense mood, ponies could tell that Applejack was scared. And with good reason too. It scares a farmer when they do not know why their harvest is isn’t giving enough as it should. Big Mac helped her get through the worst of it. While he too was greatly concerned about the lack of good harvest, he still had a steady head and faith that they'll figure out what's going on. When he saw how sad his sister was getting today, he forced her out of Sweet Apple Acres to attend Pinkie Pie's Surprise Party for a new pony in town. He claimed that Applejack needed be around her friends, maybe even befriend the new pony. Applejack was hesitant...alright she was holding tight on the fence when her brother was dragging her out of the acres like a stubborn foal. Her brother, however, was the winner in strength. Applejack finally complied to go while her brother watched over the farm. She was currently walking through a pretty empty Ponyville, the reason for it being barren because everypony was going to the party. While walking, Applejack started to looked forward to the party. “Maybe bein’ with mah friends and family is just what Ah need,” Applejack said to herself, feeling brightened up already, “Yay. Spendin’ time with ‘em has always helped cheer me up, and once Ah go back home after havin’ some fun the party, Ah could take mah harvest problems head on like a bull in a ring.” Her positive line of thinking was violently crashed, because suddenly, a middle aged stallion wearing a strange contraption leaped in front of her, and just as quickly as he appeared, he leaped away. This had caused Applejack to give out a frighten yelp that she prayed to Celestia that Rainbow Dash wouldn't hear about. "PARDON ME MADAM!!" The leaping pony yelled apologetically. Applejack looked dumbfounded at the stallion who was leaping all over Ponyville. The weirdness didn't stop as she then saw Derpy frantically trying to catch him. But, despite her efforts, Derpy was constantly missing him because of his limitless leaping. The last attempt failed completely when Derpy went into a speed almost on par with Rainbow Dash to catch the stallion only to miss. She couldn't stop herself from heading straight toward Applejack. Seeing what was coming, Applejack quickly backed away from the incoming Pegasus who was desperately trying to slow herself down by scraping her hooves and rump on the ground. She succeeded before coming to a jerking stop, which flung something green on her mane toward the apple pony. It splatted right on Applejack's chest, which didn't hurt thankfully, as she then saw that the green thing was a little frog. The frog, in a state of daze, fell off of her chest and onto the ground. Applejack examined the frog to see that it was brightly colored, what with its red eyes, bright green skin, blue underarms, red feet, and white belly. This was the strangest looking frog she had ever seen. “You alright little critter?” She asked the frog, not really expecting anything from him. The frog gained back its sense, almost as if her voice was able to trigger something in it. It looked up toward Applejack, only to gain a face of utter awe. "Ribbit Ribbit" the frog croaked, almost as if it was in awe and reassuring the mare he was okay. Applejack, confused by the frog's attitude, looked up to Derpy. "Can somepony tell me what in tarnation is goin’ on?!" The crossed eye pony smiled sheepishly despite the occurrence of the out of control stallion smashing a vacant stand. "Well, Mr. Hopper had a machine called the, uh...Hop Krom 9000... or something, and it went out of control! Now he’s hopping all over the place." She explained while gesturing to Taddison, who know smashed a cart full of furniture. This brought Theodore out of his dreamy look, and he shook his head to clear his mind. "Ribbit! Ribbit!" he croaked out loudly and started to chase after Taddison. Derpy followed him, and Applejack, still the dependable pony, went after them to help however she can. The trio chased the leaping Stallion all around town. Although their attempts to try and catch him were pathetic, as most of the time they ended up catching each other after Taddison leaped out of the way. It was embarrassing for Theodore when he used his legs the best he could to catch his owner, only to land on Applejack's forehead. Later on, Applejack had enough of going nowhere, so she grabbed her lasso out of her stetson hat and waited for the right moment to rope Taddison. Then, she threw it when he was on the ground and successfully roped the target. "Gmmt mm!" the farmpony said through gritted teeth on rope. She tried to keep a good grip on the rope while holding her ground at the still leaping stallion. He dragged her around the town until she wrapped her hooves around a lamp post. She held on with all her might, not budging an inch. Theodore was watching and became even more struck by this mare, only this time it was by how incredibly strong she was. Derpy, while also amazed by Applejack's strength, swore she noticed hearts in the frog’s eyes. Soon the tug of war ended when suddenly, Taddison’s mechanical frog legs were ripped off after the strain became too much. He noticed this and whooped in excitement. "Jolly Good!!" The trio on the ground also cheered at this...for about three seconds. It was then that Taddison noticed he was still high in the air. "...Knickers." He said, before gravity set in. ======****====== Everypony in SugarCube Corner was waiting for Derpy to bring Taddison over. It had been over 40 minutes and there was still no sign of them. Rainbow Dash, never one for patience, sprung up in the air in frustration. "UGH! That's it! I'm going to go see what's taking so long." But before she could rush out there, Pinkie Pie's tail started to twitch. Her famous Pinkie sense was on. "INCOMING!!!" She yelled out in alarm. She and everypony else jumped out of the way. They jumped just in time, because something crashed down into the floor and created a hole in the middle of it. The ponies slowly walked toward the hole to see what it was. Before they could identify it, Derpy, Applejack, and Theodore rushed in and looked at the hole in concern. "Mr. Hopper! Are you okay!? Please tell us you're okay!" Derpy shouted with great concern. A hoof then came out of the hole, and following it was Mr. Hopper halfway out of the hole. He looked like he wrestled an angry bull and lost...four times. Still, he gave a smile...a smile that was missing a few teeth, but it was still a friendly smile. "Oh, don't you worry, Miss Hooves. I’m as jolly as a schoolboy." He said, trying to ease the concerned trio. He then turned his attention to Theodore. "If you’ll excuse me lad, I'm about to experience unconsciousness." Without another word, he passed out back into the hole, with Theodore and the herd of ponies feeling absolutely scared for Taddison. Author's Note Hello Boyz and Gurlz, I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. It has been what?... A...Year...I feel really sad. But anyway, Hopefully the next chapter wont take nearly as long and I want to thank my editor, A Man Undercover for his help and encouragement of this story. Hope to see ya soon even though the show will be over soon. Take Care and God Bless
Begone, Prenchie!!Taddison was immediately sent to Ponyville hospital after he clocked out in unconciousness. Pinkie had canceled the party before checking him into the hospital, as even the fun loving pink pony saw that this was a serious situation. She and the rest of the Main Six (aside from the yet-to-be-present Twilight and Fluttershy), along with Derpy, Cloud Chaser, Flitter, and of course, Theodore, were all in the hospital waiting room, hoping for some good news. Applejack, perhaps feeling the most guilty for stopping Taddison's machine while he was twenty feet in the air, couldn't help but notice the expression on Theodore. He was rubbing his head, almost tiredly with an equally tired look. “Frog sure is a confusin’ little critter,” she thought to herself, “He doesn’t seem to act like any other frog Ah’ve seen in mah life.” Her thoughts were interrupted when Doctor Horse came in, earning all the attention of the worried mares in the waiting room. Theodore stared at the doctor's ridiculous mane, as to him, the stallion looked more like a wacko TV character than a real doctor. "Is Mr. Hopper alright, Doc?" Derpy asked worryingly "Well, he has several broken bones, and he received multiple fractures from the fall." He replied, his statement causing the mares to wince. "But give him plenty of time and rest, and I'm sure he'll be up and about in no time." He said with a reassuring smile. Already, everypony present was feeling relieved. However, Applejack was skeptical. "Are ya sure, Dr. Horse?” She asked him with a raised brow of uncertainty, “Ah mean, Ah saw Mr. Hopper fall twenty feet from the air." "Well, that's the thing,” the Doctor said, before explaining, “From your description of what happened, the injuries should have been more severe. But when I looked at the x-rays, the bones were in no way as damaged as we feared. Heck, if I had to wager a guess, I’d say this wasn't the first time this sort of thing happened to Mr Hopper." There was a slight pause from the mares. The girls and doctor all then turned toward Theodore for some form of an answer. However, the frog looked like he was trying to be aloof, even whistling to avoid the glances of the mares, earning a couple of astonished blinks from Applejack in particular. “Now Ah’m really sure he isn’t like any other frog Ah’ve seen.” Applejack thought in astonishment. "That's because this isn't the first time this sort of thing happened." a voice stated from behind the group. The doctor and mares looked to see that it was Princess Twilight Sparkle, along with Spike. The former was giving a friendly but tired look. "What do you mean by ‘This isn't the first time’..uh, Your Highness?" Cloud Chaser asked the princess. Even though everypony in town acknowledged that Twilight was the former librarian of Ponyville, they still offered their respect as they did with Celestia and Luna. "Because Princess Celestia warned me about Mr. Hopper arriving here in Ponyville. She asked me to help make sure that his inventions don't cause any severe damage." Twilight explained to the group. She then looked over at the door that lead to the hospital patient rooms, before sighing and saying with sadness, "Although it seems I was too late for that." "Hold on a sec, Sugarcube,” Applejack said, catching Twilight’s attention, “Why would Celestia warn ya about Mr. Hopper? He’s a pony like the rest of us, and him comin’ here doesn’t seem like something worth her attention.” “Well…” she hesitated to answer, before showing a sheepish look to her farming friend, "Mr. Hopper may have caused a little bit of mayhem at Canterlot with his inventions. Unintentionally, of course.” "Like what?" Rainbow Dash asked. Spike then unrolled a long scroll. So long, that it unfurled itself past the rest of the group before hitting the wall. “Let’s see,” he said, before reading from the top, “He accidentally released a horde of bullfrogs at some china shops, along with what appeared to be some spray he claimed can help frogs survive in the winter. Terrified some mare models when frogs started to steal their dresses to make their nests, having been altered to build homes for their tadpoles. And recently, a Canterlot soldier by the name of Firebrand accused Mr. Hopper of making a mockery of the Royal Guard by scaring them with glowing frogs, the glow causing the frogs to look like floating skulls.” He dragged his eyes away from the paper, directing his attention to the group, “There is a little note saying that the record keeper couldn't quite understand Firebrand because he was crying loudly, and rocking back and forth while whispering ‘why’ over and over again. My only guess is that he probably got tired of the guards being embarrassed like that." After the mares, outside of Twilight, heard the reports, they gave dumbfounded looks, their mouths gaping open with shock. They turned toward Theodore again, who now was looking at a magazine, peaking part of his face from it and showing he was steaming red in embarrassment. When he saw everyone looking at him, even the newcomers, he covered himself with the magazine again and tried to take his mind off of everything by doing some reading. “Gee. Reminds me of the time I accidentally put too much yeast in the cake batter.” Pinkie said. Twilight shook her head to refocus on the subject at hand while Spike rolled the scroll up. "With Mr. Hopper recovering, I’m going to have to put a hold on the procedures for now." Twilight stated. "What about Theodore?” Cloud Chaser asked, “With Mr. Hopper outta the game, who’ll be taking care of him?" Twilight looked over at the frog, whose attention was caught at the sound of his name. "I’m sure that Fluttershy would be happy to take care of Theodore until Mr. Hopper is well." She said, assuring Cloud Chaser, “I can take him over to her house right away with just a simple teleportation spell.” But as Twilight was relaying her plan, Applejack’s mind was not in the game. She was continuously thinking about Theodore, and her burning curiosity towards him only grew as she saw him listening in on what Twilight was saying. A thought suddenly came into her mind, and it just refused to leave. It was both a blessing, and a curse, as it kept her from being a quitter. So, deciding to go with her gut, she gave in to the thought. "If ya don’t mind, Sugercube, Ah’d like to bring Theodore to Fluttershy." She said to Twilight. That simple statement made Theodore's eyes widen to almost Pinkie Pie sized, and the rest of the mares looked at her with surprise. “Are you sure, Applejack?” Twilight asked her, “I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.” “Ah’m sure,” Applejack assured her concerned friend, “Besides, Ah’m the one who lassoed his owner at the wrong time before he fell through that roof, it’s only fair that Ah make up for mah mistake. I can even show him more of Ponyville as long as we’re out.” It was only through one blink that Twilight suddenly understood. Applejack was an honorable pony, and whenever something happened that she blamed herself for, she’d want to make up for it. “Well, okay Applejack,” Twilight said to her, “Thanks for stepping up.” “No problem,” she replied, before turning to Theodore, “Hop aboard my back, Little Critter. No thanks are necessary.” Theodore didn’t need to be told twice. Right away, he made a few hops towards the farm gal, before making a high leap and touching down on her back. He crawled a little bit on her back, adjusting himself to get comfortable and taking in the feel of her fur. He even rubbed himself against it, the feel of it being as soft as a warm blanket. Meanwhile, Applejack was giggling and chuckling because Theodore’s webbed feet and skin were tickling her as he moved. “Okay, okay, no need to be thankin’ me that much.” Applejack said while giggling. The rest of the gang couldn’t help but giggle with her, mostly because of Applejack doing it and because of how cute the site was. ======****====== Applejack, with Theodore on her back, was walking through Ponyville. With the party canceled, ponies were going back to doing their chores and hobbies. Theodore felt as stiff as a statue. Not long after the two of them left the hospital, he realized that he was being escorted by the mare he immediately considered to be a beauty upon first seeing her, as well as having the strength to match it. Her sturdy yet feminine form reminded Theodore of Taddison's stepmother, who was a pure shireland pony. Meanwhile, Applejack was having thoughts about the frog on her back. Constantly, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was more to this frog than meets the eye. Call it her apple intuition, but this frog was unique. "So...how’s yer first impression of Ponyville." Applejack asked the frog, hoping to start some conversation. She just realized that she was trying to talk to a frog. No doubt she was looking like a crazy pony as others were passing by. However, she took those thoughts and crushed them to the ground. She had conversations with Winona whenever they were together, albeit one sided. She also remembered that Fluttershy talked to animals all the time and nopony called her crazy. Back to the conversation at hand, Theodore looked around town, studying the various activities that were going on. "Ribbit, Ribbit." He said, giving a satisfied and happy nod. Despite not knowing exactly what he said, Applejack knew the frog was liking the town "Ah’m glad,” She told him, before comforting the frog by saying, “And don’t worry about yer owner's mess, we’ve had crazier things happen here, so a runaway hoppin’ contraption is nothin’ new." Theodore nodded his thanks. AJ was again surprised with how pony-ish the frog was being. She really wanted to ask the frog about how he was like this, but decided not to as it seemed rude to just go up to somepony and say ‘Howdy, why ya so weird?’. She learned to be honest, but not be brutally honest. She instead decided to share something about the town. "Ya know, my grandmother, Granny Smith, and her family settled in this here land long time ago. If not for ‘em, we wouldn’t be where we are now, and as ya can tell, a busy little town is up and about." She informed the frog proudly. The frog gave an awestricken look. "Ribbit." he said, to which Applejack could tell that was frog for ‘wow’. Before she could share more, though, she was interrupted by a polite cough. Attention caught, she turned to see that it was that prench stallion that served at one of the restaurants. Applejack sadly couldn't remember his name. "Pardon me, Mademoiselle. But, did you happen to zee a stallion run off? He seemed to have forgotten to pay the check after his meal. Pony these days." He finished with a grumble under his breath. She turned her body directly to where she could see him. "Sorry partner, can’t say Ah have." She answered the waiter. The Prenchie looked at her back with a strange look. "Um, iz there zomething wrong with your frog?" Immediately, Applejack looked back to Theodore to see if there was anything wrong. She was shocked to see the frog standing on his legs, holding two sticks in a cross shape. As Theodore stood on his hind legs, he was yelling out, “Ribbit, Ribbit!! Ribbit, Ribbit!!" Flabbergasted at the frog’s attempts to exorcise the prench pony, Applejack then turned to the baffled stallion with a sheepish smile. "Oh, probably just the flies he recently ate, obviously made him a little touched in the head. ‘Scuse me, partner." She then walked away from the prench pony, with Theodore meanwhile still chanting at the prench pony. Once they were far enough, rounding a corner into an alleyway, Applejack bucked the frog upwards off her back like a bull would a rider, and grabbed the frog with her teeth, something she instantly regretted as mucus was now in her mouth. She threw him onto the ground, the frog landing back first as Applejack was trying to spit the taste of mucus out of her mouth. She lolled her tongue out to see how it looked. Not finding any mucus on it but still tasting it, she rolled it back into her mouth, and turned her attention to Theodore, who was apparently watching her while still laying on his back. "Now what in tarnation has gotten into ya, Theodore!? Ya acted like that stallion was from Tartarus or somethin’." She angrily said to the frog. The frog brought himself up from the ground. He then gave out several gestures and ribbits to explain himself, but Applejack just gave a confused glare at him, obviously not understanding him. Theodore then looked around, hoping to find anything that could possibly help him explain. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a clothing stall that was in front of a store, run by a mare who appeared to be getting things out front organized. As if a light bulb turned on in his head, he came up with an idea and immediately hopped over to the stall. When he was close enough, he leaped up on the stall, startling the mare because his sudden appearance was like he appeared out of thin air. Ignoring the mare, Theodore grabbed a black beret, a black and white striped shirt, and a red scarf. Despite the clothes being massively oversized, he was able to carry them all the way back to the alleyway where Applejack was. Once he was in front of her, he got himself into the clothes despite how big they were, and made himself look like a stereotype prench pony. He turned to Applejack and tried his best to give out a prench laugh, before taking the clothes off and gesturing to himself. Then, he grabbed his legs and pretended to munch on them. While still confused, Applejack started to somewhat understand the frog's fears, until it finally clicked to her. Frog legs were a delicacy among prench ponies. "Alright. Ah think Ah understand. Ah git now that you were just scared, but that’s still no excuse for actin’ like a bat out of Tartarus to that Prench pony,” She reprimanded, before lowering herself to his height, “Not all Prench ponies are like that. All he wanted was to know where some freeloader ran off to. Not to chop off yer legs." "Ribbit, Ribbit." Theodore croaked shamefully, standing up on his hind legs and rubbing his arm in shame. Applejack gave out a sigh, because it became clear to her that he was just scared and wasn’t trying to cause any problems. “Why don’t we just head on over to Fluttershy? Ah think you’ll be a lot more secure there.” Applejack said to him with a comforting smile. The frog nodded yes to that, thinking it was a good idea to head on over there. And with that, Applejack turned her side toward Theodore, offering him another ride on her back. Theodore perked up and jumped back on the farm pony's back. Once he got on, he began cuddling in her apple scented fur, just like at the hospital. Applejack couldn’t help but smile. Even though it tickled her and she was able to suppress herself from giggling and chuckling this time, her heart got warm at the sight of the frog enjoying her fur. She didn’t know why, but she thought that the way he was trying to get comfortable and the fact that he was relishing in it was cute. It didn’t take long for them to move on, exiting the alleyway and being in the clear view of the rest of the town’s residents. The only thing they had forgotten about was those clothes that Theodore took from the clothing stall, which were still laying on the ground. ======****====== 20 minutes later… The odd pair finally arrived at where Flutthershy's cottage was, which was surrounded by a forest. Animals, who were either friends of Fluttershy or visitors, were lounging about around the cottage and front yard. They perked up when they saw Applejack with her frog passenger, eager to see a new face. Once Applejack stopped in front of the wooden door, she knocked on it with a few taps of her hoof. For a few moments, they waited, with Theodore taking in the surroundings and how serene everything was. He saw a pair of birds flying together, a family of raccoons going about their day, and even a bear...who was filing his claws, much to Theodore’s amazement. A creeking sound suddenly caught his attention, and he turned to see that the front door was opening. The door opened all the way to reveal Fluttershy, the element of kindness. "Oh! Hello, Applejack,” she greeted with her friend with a shy, yet happy, smile, “What brings you here? Have you come to bring Winona in?" Applejack gave her own smile. "Ah did. But, it’s actually a whole different breed of animal." she said. She turned her side to show Theodore to the pegasus, the frog still cuddling in the farm pony's fur on her back. Fluttershy's eyes widened in delight, and she gasped, "Oh my Celestia! A tree frog!” And she flapped her wings excitedly, before leaning in to get a closer look, “I didn't know they migrated up here." Applejack chuckled at her friend’s excitement, “Well, it’s actually a whole different case.” “Oh?” Fluttershy said, her curiosity high. “Yay. Remember hearin’ the news about a new pony comin’ to town?” Applejack asked. “Of course.” Fluttershy said with a nod. "Well, this here critter is the new pony’s pet. But some...problems happened on the first day, and Theodore here is in need of a place to stay for awhile." Applejack explained. "Oh dear,” Fluttershy moved to the side of the door, inviting her friend and the newcomer in, “Please, do come in. I'll get some tea for us and some crickets for Theodore." Theodore instantly sprang up at the offer of food, not hesitating to head inside as Fluttershy and Applejack watched him hop on in. ======****====== A few minutes later... The mares were sitting at the kitchen table with their tea, while Theodore was with the other animals in the living room, eating his crickets. He was currently being watched by Fluttershy’s bunny, Angel, who gave looks of disgust because of Theodore using his tongue to eat. Meanwhile, Applejack was explaining to Fluttershy about the events that lead to their current situation. The gentle pegasus was shocked and horrified when she heard about Mr.Hopper's injuries. "Oh...My." Was all she said at hearing about the insane events. Applejack agreed with her quiet friend, ashamed of herself again because she felt responsible for the stallion’s injuries. "Ah tell ya, Fluttershy, this week hasn’t been pretty for me,” She relayed, “First, barely an apple has grown on the farm. Then the stress of that made me blow up on Rainbow Dash for just takin’ an extra cider. And now, just when Ah was about to try and have some fun with the others, Ah help a stallion break his legs and spine because Ah was trying to help." Applejack didn't meant to vent on Fluttershy, but the events of this week almost made her want to cry. She won’t, though, as she just wanted Fluttershy's ear, not to cry on her shoulder. "I know it’s been a tough week for you, Applejack. But don’t be too hard on yourself. If you hadn't intervened, something much worse probably would have happened to Mr. Hopper from all his jumping around. I’m sure he’ll also be happy that you delivered little Theodore here until he recovered." Fluttershy comforted the blonde maned mare. At the mention of Theodore, Applejack looked over Fluttershy's shoulder to see how the frog was doing, only to witness a confusing scene. Both Theodore and Angel were hopping around madly after a still alive cricket in the living room. It got more bizarre when the pair grabbed tools and tried to smash the cricket, only to sometimes hit each other accidentally. The scene reminded her of that cat and mouse cartoon Applejack watched as a filly. Fluttershy was simply unaware of what was happening behind her. It also reminded Applejack of another question she had. "Ah actually wanted to ask ya somethin’, Fluttershy. Does yer animal expertise have anythin’ on what kind of frog Theodore is?" She questioned the animal expert, while also trying not to gesture toward the mentioned frog and the comedic scene that was still going on. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked. "Well, it’s just...Theodore seems different from other frogs. He expresses himself like a pony. He seems to think like a pony. And despite the language barrier, Ah think he even talks like a pony." Fluttershy put her hoof on her chin in thought. "I’m not sure. I may not be as good at memorizing books as Twilight, but I read that while tree frogs are rare, they don't seem to have higher intelligence than any other frog. Your guess is as good as mine AJ." She answered her friend. Applejack frowned, as this had only confused her more. What makes Theodore...well, Theodore? Is he some truly unique frog that’s smarter than the average frog? Is he an experiment? Or could he be a pony that was transformed into a frog, like that prince in that movie she saw with Rarity one time, where a princess had to kiss him in order to change him back. The thought of kissing Theodore made Applejack blush and cringe in disgust if that were the case. "Is something wrong, AJ?" Fluttershy asked, having noticed the redness on Applejack's freckled orange cheeks AJ shook her head to clear herself of her thoughts. "Nothin’! Its nothin’-" But she was then interrupted by a crash from the living room. The mares quickly rushed into the living room and gasped with shock. Theodore and Angel were laying on top of a broken table, looking dazed, bruised, and tired. Theodore then lifted up his front foot, and in it...was the cricket, now dead. "Ribbiiiiiiiiiiit" The frog croaked out, seeing stars flying around his head and passing out from exhaustion. Applejack stared at the collapsed frog and then facehoofed.
