Applebuck Season - Real Episode (4)

Applebuck SeasonChapter 2: The Prized Pony

Walking through an orchard path, Applejack viewed the trees around her. She had just left from atop the hill, knowing full well that she needed to get started as soon as possible. “Well, I better get kickin’,” she said, stopping for a moment to look around at the job that needed to be done. “These apples aren’t gonna shake themselves outta the trees.”

Suddenly, the ground beneath her hooves started to tremble, and from above her, an apple began to wobble from its branch. With cruel irony, it landed atop her head.

“Hey!” she exclaimed in surprise, looking to the fallen apple and then behind her. With the sudden realization of what was happening, she cried, “Oh, no,” and rushed off towards town.

Rainbow Dash rose into the air as Ponyville began to shake. She squinted and, from her heightened viewpoint, it didn’t take long to figure out what was causing the shaking of the small town.

“Stampeeede!” she yelled for the town to hear.

Surely enough, dozens of cows were charging towards Ponyville, trails of dust being left in their wake. With the announcement of the stampede, ponies throughout the town frantically rushed about. Some attempted to close themselves into their houses, pulling shutters closed and moving ‘welcome’ mats safely to the other side of the door, while others simply ran and cried out “stampede” in blind worry.

As the ground trembled more violently, a clear sign that the stampede was drawing nearer, Pinkie Pie, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there was a danger to be had, bounced up and down along the ground. “He-e-e-ey!” she said after giggling. “Thi-i-is ma-akes my-y vo-o-oice sound si-i-illy!”

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shouted over the commotion to her absurd friend. “Are you crazy? Run!”

“Everypony calm down!” the mayor stated calmly yet firmly from the center of the town’s havoc.  “There is no need to panic!”

Rarity trotted over to the mayor. “But mayor?” she asked in worry. “What ever shall we do?” Lifting a hoof to her head, the unicorn swooned dramatically.

“Look there!” Rainbow announced, pointing a hoof over to the stampede. Rarity looked over.

Rushing through the stampede was Applejack, with her dog Winona trailing right beside her. “Yee-haw!” she called in exhilaration.

The ponies of Ponyville  cheered.

“Move aside, Winona,” Applejack commanded, knowing they couldn’t do much on the inside of the herd. Barking her approval, Winona did as she was told. Applejack subsequently moved to the outer front-right edges of the stampede to make sure no cows stayed from the pack.  “Put ‘em up, girl!” Applejack shouted to Winona, calling for the dog to move to the outer-left of the herd. Winona did as she was told with ease, barking again to let her owner know she was in position.

As the stampede got  closer to Ponyville Rarity looked away  in fear as Fluttershy watched on in terror. Pinkie Pie, a bag of popcorn in her hooves, said, “this is the best rodeo show I’ve ever seen!” Twilight simply rolled her eyes at her pink friend’s odd antics.

Realizing how close they were now coming to the town, Applejack thought quickly. “Come on, little doggies!” she attempted to say to a traumatized cow on her left. “Turn!” with this command, Applejack  bumped her entire left side into the cow, trying to maneuver its path away from the town. When the cow didn’t respond, she whistled. “Winona, put ‘em up!”

Winona, leaping upon several cows backs to move faster, ran to move in front of the lead cow. Applejack, in order to get a better advantage, hopped upon the back of a cow as well. “Haha! Gotcha!”

Seeing her pet was in place, Applejack spun a lasso around in the air. With impeccable precision, the farmpony snagged the lead cow’s neck and, hopping down, she gave a great pull to the right  as Winona barked to help move the cow in that direction. “Atah girl!” Applejack called as the cow in front began moving to the right. Soon, it was turned fully away from Ponyville and, with the lead cow now taking a new direction, the other cows followed suit. “Yee-haw!” Applejack cheered one last time.

From Ponyville, the on looking ponies cheered, happy that their town was safe from danger.

“Whoooa!” Applejack grunted, digging her hooves into the ground to stop the running cow she had lassoed. Once it stopped, and all the others stopped, Applejack spat the lasso to  the ground with a “hoooie” and walked to the center of where the cows now stood. She asked them kindly, “now what was that all about?”

After hesitating slightly, a nearby brown spotted cow mooed in reply. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “Oh, my, beggin’ your pardon Applejack, but, Mooriella here,” she indicated towards a nearby yellow-spotted cow, “saw one of those nasty snakes.” With the mention of snakes, the rest of the cows of the herd looked suddenly frightened. “And it just gave us all the willies, dont’cha know?”

“I completely understand,” Applejack said, nodding in understanding. “Just, next time? Try and steer clear of Ponyville.”

“We certainly will, Applejack,” the brown spotted cow answered with respect as she and the rest of the heard began their trek back home. “So long, Winona!” she called back happily to the dog.

Winona barked her farewell.

After the cows had departed at last Applejack and Winona came upon a hill which allowed for the ponies of Ponyville to see them both. They all cheered upon her arrival. Rising to her hind legs she cried a “Yee-haw!” before rushing off again to Sweet Apple Acres.

“Yee-haw!” Pinkie Pie imitated with the leave of her friend, bucking her legs as she bounced to the center of the town.  “Ride ‘em, cowpony!”

The mayor was at a loss for words. She looked at Twilight and Rarity. “Applejack was just, just-”

“Appletastic!” Pinkie interjected.

“Exactly!” the mayor agreed, looking pleased. “We must do something to thank Applejack for single-hoofedly saving the town.”

“I know,” Pinkie said, her eyes glittering with an idea “a party!”

In front of the town hall, ponies decorated the area with various balloons, streamers, and flags. Not one inch of the town, even the ground, was missing something on it. Applejack’s thank-you ceremony would begin soon, and everypony wanted it to look great.

With Spike on her back, Twilight walked over to Rarity who was tying a ribbon around a tree. “We all ready?”

“Just one last thing!” Rarity replied. Using her magic, she levitated an enormous banner from the ground at their hooves and hung it on the main hall’s support beams. It was golden-yellow with five apples decorating it, some with stems spreading about decoratively. “Now we’re ready.”

Twilight turned her head back towards Rarity after looking at the banner. “Is Applejack all set?”

Rainbow glided over to the two ponies. “Actually, I haven’t seen her all week.” She landed on the ground, looking worried.

“Not since the stampede!” Pinkie Pie added cheerfully, trotting over.

“But she’ll be here for sure,” Rainbow said confidently, holding one hoof in the air. “Applejack is never late.”

It was the day of Applejack’s thank-you ceremony and all of Ponyville stood in the town square, looking towards the podium while chatting animatedly to pass the time. Twilight walked up to the podium and magically adjusted a tall stack of notes she had prepared for Applejacks’ thank-you speech. Raising the first note card, she spoke to the crowd, “welcome, everypony!” The crowd hushed. “Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small.” She flipped to the next card. “A pony, whose contributions to-”

“Did you see Applejack’s slick moves out there!?” Rainbow Dash interrupted forcefully, driving Twilight to move out of the way. “What an athlete!” she announced, raising her hooves in the air in exclamation and smiling. Twilight scrunched her face in annoyance as  Rainbow continued. “This week, she’s gonna help me with my new flying trick, and I know it’s gonna be so awesome!” She held her hooves to her cheeks, hardly able to contain her excitement.

“Exactly!” Twilight said, pushing her friend off the stage roughly and levitating her papers to begin once again.  “And-”

Suddenly Pinkie popped up in front of Twilight.  “This week, I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time!” she exclaimed excitedly.

Twilight looked at Pinkie curiously from behind. “What does that have to do with Applejack?”

Pinkie blinked in question, a blank look locked on her face. “Oh!” she said after a few seconds. “Applejack, one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me! Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for everypony!” The crowd cheered at the promise of delicious treats.

Twilight gave a laugh of deliberate annoyance and pushed Pinkie out of the way unceremoniously. “Okay, that’s great,” she muttered under her breath. She levitated her notes once more. “Now, if I could just make a point without being interr-”

“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, nudging the unicorn on the side from below.

“-upted,” Twilight finished lamely before dropping her notes to the ground and allowing Fluttershy to take the podium alongside her, although irritated.

“Twilight? I’m so sorry, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny census, where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season.” Twilight rolled her eyes, but Fluttershy took no notice. “She’s gonna help gather them using her wonderful herding skills.” Finished, Fluttershy looked over and smiled at Twilight. She immediately regretted it.

“Anyone else?” Twilight asked the crowd with clenched teeth as Fluttershy shrunk slowly away from the podium. “Anyone?” Nopony spoke up. “No?” Seeing that the crowd wasn’t going to try and interrupt her she levitated her notes again and placed a renewed smile on her face. “Well then, as I was trying to say…” She stopped upon seeing the mayor of the town standing there, an expectant smile upon her face. She tossed her notes in the air, scattering pages everywhere. “Ugh! Never mind.”

Walking up to the podium calmly, the mayor cleared her throat. “And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the prized pony of Ponyville award, to our beloved guest of honor; a pony of the upmost trustworthiness, liability, and integrity, Ponyville’s most capable and dependable friend, Applejack!” Everypony cheered as the mayor pointed to her left towards a pair of dark red curtains. They drew back and  revealed…no one. Everypony, although already cheering ahead of time, stopped and gasped.

“Whoa, way to go, Applejack!” Spike cheered, not noticing she wasn’t there. “That was awesome, I mean… heh.” He shrunk down as he noticed his mistake, blushing. The mayor shifted uncomfortably at the podium, unsure of what to do. She coughed lightly and Spike added unnecessarily, “Awkward…”

“I’m here!” Applejack suddenly called from the back of the crowd. She walked up to the podium with  two saddle-baskets full of apples on her back, so full some were dropping to the ground as she walked. Her mane was a disheveled mess. “I’m here…” She announced again,  yawning loudly. “Sorry I’m late, whoa…” she separated the crowd with rough pushes. “I was just… whoah. Did I get your tail?” she asked a pony  she had bumped into. Coming to the podium at last she looked at the crowd with tired eyes.

“Miss Mayor!” she greeted happily, pushing the mare out of the way before she could reply. “Thank you kindly for this here…heh…award thingy.” Her eyes  squinted, as she tried to understand what was going on around her. She walked over to the trophy that was being presented before yawing once again. “It’s so bright and shiny and…” She looked at her reflection in the curved metal. “heh, heh-heh, I sure do look funny..heh.” She moved her head back and forth in a trance-like motion. “Whoo, whoo!” Pinkie, seeing an excellent opportunity for some fun, moved up and copied Applejack.

“Whoo, whoo!” The two ponies said together, moving their head back and forth in an effort to make their faces look as silly as possible.

“Oookay?” Twilight said uncomfortably, back on the stage once more. “Well, thank you Applejack, for saving us from that scary stampede” she said, before looking to the crowd to say her last bit. “And always being there for everypony.”

Applejack yawned. “Yeah…I like helpin’ the pony folks, and…” she yawned again. “And stuff…”  Before she could help it she  drifted off and began to snore, still standing in front of the entire crowd. Twilight and Pinki looked around nervously. Realizing her mistake she shook  herself awake and  continued, “oh, yeah! Thanks!” Grabbing the  trophy handle with her mouth, she  began dragging it off the stage. Everypony was silent, all that could be heard was the awkward scratch of the metal on wood, and then ground, as the farmpony retraced  her steps, and continued to drag the trophy all the way to the back of the crowd, and then off to Sweet Apple Acres.

Once she was out of sight, Twilight spoke up. “Was it just me, or did Applejack seem a little…”

“Tired?” Rainbow aided.

“Dizzy?” Fluttershy added.

“Messy?” Rarity said, at which Rainbow looked at her with disbelief. “Well! Did you see her mane?”

“She looked fine to me!” Pinkie said, hopping up next to Twilight. She tilted her head back. “Whoo! Whoo!”

After watching Pinkie, Twilight looked concerned. “Hmm…”