Raising a Human in Equestria

by Flame6666

Chapters

Ch 2: A New Apple In The Tree
Ch 3: Play Time
Ch 5: Freedom!
Ch 6: Busted!
Ch 7: The Ticket Manipulator
Ch 8: Season’s End
Ch 9: The Best Laid Plans
Ch 1: What in the World?
Ch 4: Shoulda Seen That One Comin’

Ch 2: A New Apple In The Tree

A New Apple In The Tree

Editor: The “Special” Pegasus

"Just forget about it Dash, ya know how Pinkie is." Applejack told her mildly confused friend.

"Yeah, I guess so." Rainbow said, rolling her eyes.

"So what are you guys going to do? Huh, huh, huh!?" Pinkie asked while bouncing around the group.

The three mares looked at each other, waiting for the others to talk, but as the staring continued they heard the baby start giggling yet again. All five of the mares looked over at the infant and saw that Apple Bloom was playing with him again. Apple Bloom noticed them staring, trotted to the group and asked, "Please Applejack, can we keep ‘im!? I always wanted a little brother or sister ta play with!"

Applejack scratched the back of her head, "I dunno, Sugarcube..." At those words Apple Bloom gave AJ the biggest puppy eyed stare she could muster. "Uh...N-now Apple Bloom, takin’ care of a baby is a big responsi-" Apple Bloom stuck out her bottom lip. "Now don't you do that lip thing, y'all know I can't say no ta that!" Her bottom lip started to quiver. "Oh... dagnabbit Apple Bloom, fine!"

The smile on little Apple Bloom’s face could rival that of even Pinkie’s. Overcome with joy, she started to hop around the five mares chanting, "Ah'm gonna have a little brother! Ah'm gonna have a little brother! Ah'm gonna have a little brother!"

After a few rounds of hopping, Pinkie joined in the chanting, "You're gonna have a little brother! You're gonna have a little brother! You're gonna have a little brother!"

"Now, don't count yer chickens before they hatch, sugarcube. I still have ta see if it's okay with Big Mac and Granny Smith." AJ stated.

Apple Bloom stopped hopping and looked down saying, "Okaaay..."

“Don’t look so down dear.” Rarity said, “I’m sure they will say yes. I mean, just look at him! He’s the cutest little, eh... creature I’ve ever seen. They are sure to let him into your family.”

Rainbow flew close to Apple Bloom, “Yeah squirt, don’t worry! Keep your chin up!”

A few more attempts at encouragement were met with Apple Bloom lifting up her head and saying, “Alright. Thanks, everypony. Now, come on! We have ta ask Granny Smith if it’s okay!”

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!!!” Pinkie Pie shouted.

Applejack sighed, “Yeah, Pinkie?”

“We never discussed the most important part!”

“And that would be?” Dash asked.

“When do we throw the PARTY!? We need to get the cake, the balloons, the streamers, the cake, the party guests, the punch, the games and the CAKE!” Pinkie listed.

Rarity stepped up and said, “Uh, Pinkie, dear. I don’t think we should have a party-”

“What do you mean ‘no party!?’” Pinkie cut her off.

“Yeah Rarity, why can’t we have a party?” Rainbow inquired.

“Well think about it, have any of you ever seen one of these before?” All of them shook their heads. “Exactly! What if word of him got out? What if Celestia sends her guards to take him? What if they take the poor thing to a lab and perform tests on him!? I would hate to see anything happen to the poor dear.” She explained.

“Oh, I don’t even want to think about what they might do...” Fluttershy said, worry and fright tainting her innocent voice.

The silence in the room was deafening after that and it was only broken by the gentle whimpering that was coming from the infant. Apple Bloom noticed this and quickly went over to him and give him a gentle nuzzle. Rarity spoke up again, “I apologize for ruining the mood like that, everypony, but we do have to be careful here. If word about him spreads, who knows what might happen?”

Applejack shook her head, “No need ta be sorry, Rarity, you’re right... if we’re gonna take care of this creature, we need ta do it carefully.” they all nodded in agreement. “Alrighty then, let’s go tell Big Mac and Granny Smith what we're doin’, we’re gonna need all the help we can get.”

With a nod Rarity levitated the infant over to her, the group left the barn and went off to the farm house.

* * *

While they were walking to the farm house, Pinkie and Apple Bloom were making funny faces at the baby while it was floating, encased in Rarity’s magic. Simultaneously, the others were pondering the future of this creature.

“So AJ, what are you going to do about the baby?” Dash asked.

“Whaddya mean, Dash?”

“Well the last time I checked, he’s not a pony. What does he eat? Can he even do anything besides cry and laugh? We don’t know anything about this thing! For all we know he could be a spy!”

The other three mares stared at Dash until Rarity finally spoke up, “Well, that was quite insightful of you, Rainbow Dash.”

She just shrugged, “Meh, I have my moments.”

“Well, she does have a point. Uh, Fluttershy, you know yer way around animals, do you have any idea what he eats?” Applejack asked the timid pegasus.

“Oh, uhm... Well, it’s not much but, I did see his teeth for a little bit and I can’t say for sure. I don’t even think the rest of his teeth will grow out anytime soon. He’s still a baby though, so I know he needs plenty of milk. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.” Fluttershy replied solemnly.

“Don’t worry about it dear, you were more than helpful.” Rarity gave her a smile.

“Well, good thing we milked the cows just a few days ago.” Applejack announced.

The group arrived at the farmhouse shortly after that. Granny Smith was still sitting in the same spot as before, only now a puppy resembling a border collie was sitting by her side. The group walked over to the pair and the first to speak was Applejack. “Hello Granny, Winona, how’re ya doin’ this evenin’?”

“I’m doin’ fine, Applejack, and I think Winona is happier than a group of roosters at sunrise, ain’t that right, Winona?”

Winona replied by barking happily, while her tail started wagging.

Applejack walked over to be in front of Granny Smith and said, “Good ta know. Anyway, Granny, I need ta ask you somethin’ important and-”

“I got a new brother!” Apple Bloom shouted, cutting off her sister’s question.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack scolded.

“What’s this about a new brother?” Granny Smith asked.

“Oh, well you see Granny, we found this,” Rarity levitated the infant down in front of the old mare, “out in the farm and we were wonderin’ if it’s alright ta-”

“Sure, he can stay!” she blurted out.

The group was taken aback at the eagerness that she showed. “Wait wait wait, just like that?” Rainbow asked.

“Yer darn tootin! Like I always say, the more Apples, the better!” Granny cheerfully exclaimed.

Apple Bloom proceeded to hug Granny’s leg while squealing, “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!”

“Now Apple Bloom, you still have ta ask Big Mac if he’s fine with the idea.” The older sister pointed out.

“Well why don’t ya ask him now, young ‘un?” Granny pointed a hoof past the group at Big Mac, who was just now pulling in a carriage filled with baskets and buckets that housed a multitude of different apples and apple based products.

Apple Bloom was the first to react and quickly galloped to her big brother yelling, “Big Mac, Big Mac, c‘mere! We got somethin’ ta show ya!” Once she got over to the big stallion she started pushing behind him saying, “Come on! Hurry!”

Big Mac continued at his own pace and smiled at his youngest sister’s antics. He stopped a small distance from the farmhouse, unhitched himself from the carriage and walked over to the group of mares.

“Howdy, Big Mac, did ya sell all the apples ya could? Applejack asked.

“Eeyup.” was all he said, as per usual.

“Good. Uh, anyway Big Mac, I just needed ta ask ya somethin’ an’-”

“I got a new brother!” Apple Bloom shouted, cutting off her sister again.

Mac raised a brow as the older sister facehoofed. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, Apple Bloom!” she sighed and said, “Yeah, uhh... we found this little guy out in the farm today,” The group parted to show the stallion said little guy. “and we’ve decided ta raise ‘im... if that’s okay with you, that is.”

Big Mac walked over to the creature and moved his face close to the baby’s. Big Mac proceeded to glare at it, but to the surprise of the others, instead of looking away or crying, the infant glared back. This continued for a few silent minutes until the infant reached up and honked his muzzle. Mac brought his head up a little with a smile, faced the others and exclaimed in approval, “Eeyup!”

“You're going to let him stay? Just like that?” Rainbow asked.

He nodded and said, “Whatever he is, I can tell he’s nothin’, if not good natured. Besides, I like ‘is guts.”

”Well, with that settled and done with, I will take my leave. Ta-ta for now!” Rarity said with a small pony equivalent of a curtsy and left the farm.

“Yeah, I better head out too. I need another nap after all this.” Dash said before taking off like a rocket into the forest of apple trees.

“Are you leaving too, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked.

“Oh no, I don’t have to be anywhere right now, so I could stay a bit longer if you need the help.” she said with a smile.

The orange mare smiled back, “Thanks a bunch, Fluttershy! Now let’s see what we can feed this little guy. It’s almost five and who knows how long it’s been since he’s had somethin’ ta eat.”

Fluttershy’s wings shot up in surprise and she gasped in shock, “It’s already five!? Oh no, oh no, oh no! I’m so sorry Applejack but I need to get home right away. Little Angel Bunny gets so mad when his bottle isn’t ready.”

“Little Angel Bunny?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, he’s a newborn bunny rabbit, for some reason he and the other bunnies don’t get along all too well and so I let him stay in the house with me so he doesn’t feel lonely.” she told her. Fluttershy started to hover in the air and said, “I’m sorry I have to go after saying I could stay but... well, you’ll know soon enough. Bye!” she flew off.

“Huh, I wonder what she meant by that... oh well, let’s go see if we can get ya some grub!”

Applejack picked him up by his nighty with her teeth and went inside, with the other Apples in tow. Going straight to the kitchen, she placed the baby on the floor, went over to the icebox and grabbed the milk and went back to the baby. “Right! Got the milk! Now, I just need the bottle...” As soon as Applejack turned around, a none too small crash sounded from the kitchen pantry.

One mad scramble toward the crash site, made no easier by the participation of a young stallion, revealed a veritable amount of groceries sprawled around the place. In the middle of all this mess was an infant happily gobbling up what could very well have been edible foodstuffs that had somehow found its way on top of his head. After a minute or so of dumbstruck silence, accompanied by babblings and giggles of happiness, the sister spoke up. “Big Mac, clean up this mess. The little guy’s comin’ with me.” All she heard after that was a less than enthusiastic “Eeyup.” as she grabbed the infant and went to work.

“Ah’ can’t believe that ya got the applesauce in yer hair... well, at least ya ate most of it.” AJ said through her teeth while opening the door to the bathroom. “Now then, let’s get ya cleaned up and not too sticky.” She set the baby down on the floor and went to the bath tub and put the plug in place. She then filled the tub with evenly tempered water, up to about two inches.

“Now let’s get ya out of that there suit and get ta work.” She sat the baby up, unzipped his nighty and, with some difficulty, took it off. “That thing’s a lot harder to take off then it looks. Well, maybe that’s because I don’t have those little stubs on my legs like you do. Now then, off with your diaper and into the bath.” she unstrapped the diaper to lift it off... and her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. “What in tarnation!? Augh, that’s just plain disgustin’! Where’s yer sheath!?” The baby just giggled, while Applejack, with great effort, restrained her gag reflex and said, “Alright, note ta self: Tell Big Mac to never let you and Apple Bloom take baths together.”

After getting the applesauce out of his hair, among other places, she took him out and proceeded to dry him up. With him dry as a bone she strapped the diaper back on and, with even more difficulty than before, put the blue nighty back on. She took him in her teeth again, went back to the kitchen and saw that Big Mac was still cleaning the mess, only now Apple Bloom had started helping.

“Still cleanin’ up, I see.”

“Eeyup.”

“What happened anyways?” Apple Bloom asked through the mop she was carrying between her teeth.

“I honestly have no idea, I turned my back for just a sec and then I heard the crash.” she scratched the back of her head, “Anyway, it don’t matter how it happened. Those groceries ain’t gonna pick themselves up, so I’m goin’ shoppin’.” Big Mac nodded and continued to clean up. Applejack nodded back, left the kitchen and went into the living room to find Granny Smith was taking her evening nap. “Oh horsefeathers, did she have ta start her nap now?”

With Big Mac cleaning up and Granny Smith taking her trademark unstoppable nap, Applejack had no pony to watch the infant. She was forced to bring the baby with her or risk another accident. “I guess I have ta bring ‘im with me... but how do I do that without everypony seein’ ‘im?” She looked around the room and spotted a decently large basket, “Ah, that’ll do just fine.” She went and grabbed the basket and started to fill it with the essentials. “Let’s see, I should probably put one of Apple Bloom’s toys in here for him and a few diapers. Heh, good thing Apple Bloom finally stopped needing them only a month ago; still got a few.”

She lifted the baby into the basket and covered him with a small blanket. “There ya go, nice an’ comfy.” She put the basket on her back and went back into the kitchen, “Hey Big Mac, I’mma goin’ ta the market, I should be back in a couple o’ hours.” he nodded without a word and she left on her way to Ponyville.

As she got to the edge of the town she was starting to have second thoughts, Maybe I should’ve thought this through... what if somepony sees him!? Oh horseapples, why did I have ta bring ‘im along? As she made her way deeper into the town she spotted Carousel Boutique. Maybe I can ask Rarity ta watch ‘im fer me. I don’t think she’d mind.” With that sorted out she hurried to the shop.

* * *

Arriving at Carousel Boutique, Applejack walked through the door and the bell jingled above, after which Rarity sang, "Just a moment♪" a minute or two of waiting later, Rarity called from atop the stairs, "Oh, hello Applejack, to what do I owe this honor for?"

The farmpony tipped her hat, "Good evenin', Rarity, I just came over ta ask a favor, is all."

"And what sort of favor would that be?" The unicorn asked.

"Well, uhh..." Applejack reached behind her and grabbed the basket off her back and set it down before taking the cover off. "Could you watch ‘im ‘til I'm done shoppin'?"

"You put him in a basket!?" Rarity accused.

"Hey! It ain't my fault ya wanted ta keep him a secret to the rest o’ Ponyville! Besides, I was in a hurry."

"Be that as it may, a basket, really?"

"Well, it's not like I could just put him in a stroller, that’d bring too much attention ta us. If anythin’, the basket was the best way to hide ‘im right now."

Rarity sighed, "I see your point, but what do you mean, you were in a hurry? Going shopping isn't something you don't plan for, so why couldn't you have Granny Smith or Big Macintosh look after him?"

Applejack reached back and scratched the back of her head, "Well that's the thing, Big Mac an’ Apple Bloom are cleanin’ up the mess that this one made, and Granny Smith... well, once she starts her nap it's part near impossible to wake her up."

Rarity sat on her haunches in order to pick up the baby and said, "Now Applejack, how could this little angel cause anything bad to happen?

"That's another thing, I have no idea. One minute I was watchin’ ‘im, then I look away for one second and the next thing I heard was a crash in the kitchen and a bunch o’ the food in the pantry was on the floor smashed ta bits. I have no idea how he did it either, I locked the pantry myself and now I need ta get more groceries."

Rarity hugged him a little tighter, "Well in that case I would be more than happy to look after him. Maybe I can even design some clothes for him!"

The earth pony put on an honest smile, "Thank ya kindly, Rarity, yer a lifesaver. So then, I put a toy in the basket for ‘im, and a few diapers. Oh, and a bit a warnin’; changin’ ‘im ain't for the faint of heart."

Rarity looked confused, "And what do you mean by that, Applejack?"

Applejack stifled a laugh, "You'll see fer yerself in good time, Rarity. I should be back in about an hour, see ya then." With that Applejack left Carousel Boutique.

Rarity pondered her friend’s words for the better part of a minute, until the baby snapped her back to reality by grabbing hold of her mane and giving it an impatient tug. “Ow! No no no, Sweetums, I work really hard to make my mane perfect and we do not pull on it.” The baby was engulfed in the blue aura of Rarity’s magic and lifted into the air, “Now come along, we have so much to do and so little time to do it!”

Rarity walked up the stairs and into one of her workrooms. Fabric of just about any color imaginable was littered around the room in what the fashionista referred to as ‘organized chaos’. The sewing equipment ranged from the simplest needle and thread, all the way up to the latest edition of the sewing machine. Half finished dresses hung from the mare-equins that lined the outer edge of the room. In the middle of all of this, was a fabulous unicorn and a curious infant, member of an entirely unknown species.

Rarity walked over to her work table and lowered the infant onto a nearby work stool. “Now, just wait right there, sweetums. I simply need to find everything we’re going to need.” She turned around and started talking to herself, “Okay Rarity, think... what would look best on the little dear? Maybe something red with a little white, or should it be turquoise and sapphire with some white trimmings?”

She scratched her chin with a hoof and said and came to the most common conclusion. “Oh, I just can’t decide! What do you think, sweetums?” She looked back and, to her shock, the baby was gone. “Sweetums? Where did you go!?” Rarity looked around the room, but in her panic, she found no sign of him anywhere. “Oh no... if I don’t find him, who knows what the others will do to me!”

She ran out of the room and hysterically searched the entire building. She looked under every couch, every table, every nook and cranny that she could think of. She even looked through every cabinet, but the baby was nowhere to be found. Feeling exhausted and desperate, Rarity went back into her workroom to look around one final time. “Oh, this is hopeless! Now I understand what Applejack meant. Maybe I should go ask one of the others for help?” Just then, at the corner of her eye, Rarity noticed a small amount of movement coming from pile of her fabrics. As she got closer she asked, “Sweetums? Is that you?” Then she pulled the fabric up and found that the infant was snuggled into some cloths.

In her relief, she immediately grabbed him in her hooves and hugged him. “Oh, thank Celestia I found you! You almost gave me a heart attack with your little disappearing act! Hmm? What’s this?” She looked at the small bits of fabric that he was holding and something sparked in her mind. “Forest and spring green... oh, why didn’t I think of that!? They would look perfect on you! I can see it now... oh, let’s get started right away, my little fashion genius!”

Rarity levitated the baby back over to her table and went straight to work. “Now, how am I going to get your measurements? Would you please hold still, dear?” The baby was fidgeting on the table, clumsily avoiding the equipment Rarity had suspended in mid-air. “Oh, this will never do... if I use my magic to hold you still, I just might scare you to death.” She tapped her chin in thought, “Oh, I know! I’ll just take off the clothes you’re wearing and copy those! Simple.” Once again Rarity levitated the infant into the air and proceeded to strip him of his blue nighty. She lowered him back onto the table and paused.

“Wait... what is that horrid stench?” Rarity sniffed the air to pinpoint the source of the awful odor. She quickly found him and immediately turned her head away. “Oh Celestia... Applejack was right!” Rarity trotted over to the other side of the room and took a deep breath of fresh air to calm herself. “Alright, deary, let’s get you changed out of that filthy diaper and clean you up.”

She went out of the room with the baby levitating behind her when she stopped in her tracks and headed for the entrance. “Goodness, I nearly forgot the diapers!” Levitating the basket containing said diapers next to the infant, she went to the bathroom. “Alright, now let’s get that dreaded thing off you.” Using her magic, she undid the diaper... and immediately stopped. “Wait... i-is that w-what I think it is!? What kind of creature would have that out in the open!? I-it’s so... barbaric!” She let out a disgusted retch and brought a gleam determination to her mind. “From this day forth, so help me, I will see to it that you are dressed appropriately at all times! Oh, just think of all the poor foals!”

After that, they went back into the work area. “Now with that nightmare behind us, we can get back to designing your clothes!”

* * *

As Applejack went inside Carousel Boutique after carrying her groceries to Sweet Apple Acres, she was met with a surprised exclamation from the resident unicorn. “I’ll be with you in but a moment!” True to her word, Rarity entered the main hall of the boutique after a moment of sounds suggesting fabrics folding and stretching. When she went down to meet who was at the door she let out a sigh of relief, “Oh Applejack it’s only you. I thought you might have been a customer.” she then motioned her to come upstairs, “Come along, he’s right up here.” Her acquaintance from the farm followed the seamstress up and into her work area. She quickly started levitating the infant into the basket, covered him up and cautiously held him away with her magical aura, as if repulsed by their presence.

The fashionista hoofed the baby and basket over to the farmer. “Thanks for helpin’ me out, Rarity. He wasn’t too much, was he?” She began putting the baby into the basket as Rarity spoke up.

“Whatever do you mean, Applejack? Of course, I had no problem with him whatsoever. In fact, he was, er, completely cooperative the entire time! I don’t see how you could possibly have any problems with him, he is such an angel!”

Now, Applejack wasn’t exactly friends with the unicorn, but she knew enough about catching lies to be able to recognize when she was covering something.

“C’mon, Rare, I know what that stutter means. Spit it out.”

Rarity didn’t expect to succeed in her efforts and she knew how stubborn the earth pony could be, so she relented in order to save time and patience, sacrificing some dignity and pride in exchange. “You were right. He really knows how to disappear when you’re not looking and I almost fainted from the smell while I was changing him! But, there is a silver lining to all of this: I have, at the very least, pinned down how his clothes should be made. Come back tomorrow and you will see for yourself. I’m certain that they will look magnificent on little... Actually, come to think of it, does he even have a name yet?”

The sudden change in topic took Applejack by surprise, and after putting the basket on her back with practiced ease, she replied hesitantly. “Uhh, no. No, he doesn’t. I’ll think about it when I get back home though, don’tcha worry.” Before anything more could be said, Applejack noticed that sunset was closing in and hurried on her way home.

* * *

Arriving back at the farm just after sundown, Applejack and the baby entered their home. Waiting for them was a very tired Apple Bloom and Granny Smith who was still sleeping like a rock, if not heavier than one. “What‘re ya doin’, Apple Bloom, stayin’ up at this hour? Ya know we go to bed before sundown.”

“I know Applejack but, I was worried that somethin’ bad happened...” she looked down with a tear falling down her cheek.

“Now don’t cry, sugarcube, nothin’ bad happened. See?” AJ brought the basket down off her back and removed the cover, revealing the baby to be sound asleep. “He’s just fine, looks like he’s sleepin’ to. Now, go ta bed.”

“W-where’s he goin’ ta sleep?” Apple Bloom asked through a sniffle.

“Well I guess he’ll be sleepin’ in my bed fer tonight.”

“Can... can I sleep in yer bed tonight, too?” she asked sticking her bottom lip out, just in case.

“Now, sugarcube... ya’ll don’t have ta do that poutin’ thing fer that, I don’t mind at all.” Applejack smiled and nuzzled her sister.

Apple Bloom put on a small smile and returned the nuzzle. The two sisters and the infant went up the stairs and into the older sister’s room. Lifting the blanket up she allowed Apple Bloom to hop in first, then she put the baby in the middle of the bed, to which Apple Bloom replied by snuggling herself up against him and falling asleep straight away. “Aww, if that ain’t the cutest thing I ever did see.” She took off her hat, hung it on the wall, then laid down on the side of the bed and watched as her little sister peacefully slept next to her newest family member. I still feel a bit uneasy about takin’ care o’ this creature, but seein’ my li’l sister this happy... it just melts my heart, and all my worries. Applejack closed her eyes and went to sleep, dreaming about how this new addition to her family would change their lives forever, whether it would be for the better, or for the worse. She would never know, but right there, right now, all she knew is that all this creature could bring was happiness.

AN: Well, that chapter was fun to write up! Here I thought that the baby years were going to be boring. I hope that you guys enjoyed it, The “Special” Pegasus and I had a lot fun writing it, you guys should thank him by the way, without him this chapter would have been crap. Anyway, I feel like I should answer a few questions before they are asked, so here we go!

1- “Why so much Rarity? Didn’t Applejack win the vote?”
Yes she did, the main reason for there being so much Rarity this chapter was because I wanted to get the clothes thing out of the way ASAP. Also don’t worry too much about it, AJ won the vote so you guys will see a lot more of her throughout the story than the others.

2- “We voted for Kid Genius so why isn’t he super smart?”
Because Genius is a broad term. It doesn’t just mean that he is smart, the word “Genius” more or less means you’re really, REALLY good at something or thought of something that NO ONE else has thought of. And again don’t worry, you guys will be able to pick what kind of genius he is in chapter 6 if everything goes as planned.

3- “Why aren't there any choices this chapter?”
Because you guys will only get to choices when we skip years or when an important decision has to be made. The next list of choices will be at chapter 4.

And that’s it! If you guys have any other questions feel free to ask in the comments and the next chapter should be up by next Friday. ‘Till then readers.

EN (Editor’s Notes): I just feel I should point out that I don’t know what I’m doing, making my own notes. Am I even allowed? Anyway, I’d like to say that this has been a blast, and I hope you appreciate the significant decrease in grammar and spelling errors. Remember, just because I’m the editor doesn’t mean I’ll always know the answer to your questions, so yeah.

Ch 3: Play Time

Play Time

Co-Author: The “Special” Pegasus

The sun was peeking over the mountains, signalling the roosters to start their morning routine, which in turn, signalled the start of the Apple family’s morning routine. Applejack was the third pony in the house to wake up, with Apple Bloom and their newly adopted baby brother still cuddled up against each other, holding onto each other like they were each other’s favorite plushies.

She walked over to her stetson, placed it on her head and walked back over to the bed to wake up her siblings. As she got closer, she noticed a familiar, but no less bearable, odor emanating from the infant. “Ugh... Rarity sure wasn’t kiddin’ about the smell... come on, let’s go an’ get ya changed.” She then pried the child out of the grip of her little sister, with far more difficulty than one would expect from an equine toddler, and carried him into the bathroom.

Applejack placed the baby on the counter and reached for a new diaper. She undressed him, undid the diaper and cleaned him up. She was just about to put the new diaper under him , but then Apple Bloom drowsily walked into the bathroom. “Howdy, Applejack... good mornin’.” she said whilst rubbing her eye.

Applejack immediately threw her forelegs over the bottom half of the infant. “A-apple Bloom! What in tarnation are ya doin’ in here!?” she yelled in the midst of her panic.

“I was just goin’ ta the bathroom and uhh... uhm, AJ, why’re ya coverin’ ‘im like that?” she asked, waking up a little bit more in direct proportion to every passing moment.

“O-oh uhh...” The orange mare’s out of shape poker face took over as she rapidly fumbled over one excuse after another. “I-I’m... keepin’ ‘im warm! That’s it, keepin’ ‘im warm. He was feeling a bit chilly an’ this was the fastest way ta warm ‘im up.”

“Oh... well in that case, can I help!?”

“NO!” Apple Bloom shrunk at her sister’s response, “I-I mean, no thanks, sugarcube, don’t wanna crush ‘im now. Uh, Apple Bloom, can you go and use the downstairs bathroom so that we can get done up here?”

“Okay.” Apple Bloom turned for the door and left. Applejack let out a sigh and looked back at the baby, “This is gonna be a regular thing, ain’t it?” The child’s only response was a look that spoke clear as day. What are you asking me for? Applejack got off of him and started putting the diaper back on.

“Hey, Applejack! Granny Smith was already downstairs an-”

Once again the elder sister threw her forelegs over the bottom half of the baby, “Consarnit, Apple Bloom!”

* * *

After a much needed lecture about knocking first and getting the infant some milk, Applejack was on her way to Carousel Boutique. After explaining to Big Mac that Rarity had made some new clothes for the little one, he left her to it and resumed ploughing the fields. It wasn’t above the stallion to send a well meaning “Don’t be late, sis.” as she trotted off to town, her destination already in mind.

With the basket on her back, she set off toward Ponyville.

* * *

Rarity had once again invited Fluttershy for tea, “I’m so sorry about yesterday dear, however necessary it was.” she said after in between sips of her homemade tea.

“It’s okay, I really appreciate it. Actually, I was going to come here either way, there’s... something I need to talk about. I mean, that is, if you, umm... if you don’t mind.” Said the ever so timid guest.

“It’s quite alright, darling. I’m all ears, so to speak.” the unicorn replied. “After all, what reason is there to deny a good friend’s request?” She took another sip of tea as the pegasus responded, a bit more hesitant than usual.

“Well, uh, I-I’m really worried about Angel. He doesn’t get any less grumpy no matter what I do! I was hoping you could give me some advice, since well, Opalescence doesn’t seem to give you any trouble.” This was worth paying heed to, since usually the animal caretaker was so bashful she always had trouble asking others’ assistance. This was a new record.

“Now, don’t get ahead of yourself, dear. I too, have my skirmishes with dear Opal. But I shan’t let that stop me from reaching out to you. Let’s see...” having noticed some subtle changes in her pet’s demeanor before, as she is want to do, she posed a question, hoping she was on the right track. “Has he been feeling under the weather, perhaps?” After a matter of moments, the seamstress smiled as she saw the telltale signs of an epiphany manifest in her friend.

“Oh my goodness, that’s it! Oh, the poor thing, no wonder he doesn’t get along with the other bunnies. He wants a friend! I never thought he would be that lonely. Well, do you think Opalescence would like to... o-oh, that’s right, umm, sorry.” As fragmented as her message was, Rarity knew exactly what Fluttershy was thinking. So with that, they spent the better part of five minutes brainstorming over the solution to Angel’s predicament until a knock on the door told them to save it for later. “Oh, that must be Applejack. This won’t take long, I assure you.”

Sure enough, standing outside the door was Applejack, with the expected basket delicately perched on her back. “You’re just in time, Applejack. Come in, come in! You’re going to absolutely love what I have in store for the little fellow!” Her curiosity piqued, Fluttershy decided to tag along to see just what the fashionista has concocted this time. They were eventually led to the workroom where she provides the final touches and details. Rarity proceeded to open a nearby cupboard and levitated a strange costume of sorts. That would be the case if one didn’t know who it was for. As Applejack put the basket on the floor and opened it, Rarity let the baby have a look at his newest clothes.

It was a good fit for the little guy. It was elegant, or rather, as elegant as an alien infant could get. It had its own pockets, its limbs had length and width adjustment and it even had extra space for wearing diapers underneath, something that any baby clothing ought to have. As Rarity gave it to the earth pony, she noticed the baby and stopped.

If one were to listen closely, they would hear the nearly silent clinking of multiple gears, grinding themselves together as if a puzzle piece was being aggressively shoved in the right space at just a slightly off angle. Mere moments before the orange mare could question the designer’s actions, or rather, lack thereof, said designer suddenly sang out a loud, high pitched “Idea!” startling not only the pegasus, but the earth pony as well. “I’ve got just the thing for little Angel! Fluttershy? You simply must hear this!” Having just now noticed the caution the timid pony was displaying in the face of her revelation, she immediately adopted an apologetic tone to coax her friend back out from her hidey hole in the cupboard.

“I do apologize, Fluttershy, but as I said; I’ve got just the thing for Angel’s problem. Come on out and I’ll tell you. Oh, and Applejack?”

The mare in question faced the unicorn with an expression that she couldn’t be blamed for having, considering she didn’t have a sense of context at the situation beforehoof. “Uh, yeah? Ya’ll mind tellin’ me what just happened? An’ what’s this ‘bout Angel?”

“Oh, yes, well... perhaps Fluttershy should be the one to inform you, hmm? Fluttershy, do you remember our prior conversation?” she received a nod in response. “Well, I do believe I have found a solution.” As she spoke, she walked toward the infant in the basket and gestured to him. The eyes of the other two mares widened slightly at the revelation, the farmer having to take more time than the pegasus.

“Oh, Rarity, that’s a fantastic idea! Thank you so much!” In her gratitude, Fluttershy gave her friend a ‘tight’ hug and then, spoke to the earth pony. “Umm, well, you see Applejack, Angel has been a bit lonely lately and um, if it’s not too much trouble, I mean if there’s no trouble at all, heh, I would love it if the baby could come to visit and cheer him right up! Uh, that is, if you don’t mind.”

The farmer’s face lit up in realization and she responded. “Oohhh, ya’ll mean like a play date? Well, sure, that oughta be good fer ‘em. How’s right now sound?”

“That sounds wonderful! Thank you, Applejack!” At this point, the happier than ever pegasus was bouncing in place in a manner that was comparable to a certain hyperactive baker. “Now what are we standing here for!? The sooner Angel feels better, I’ll feel better! Let’s go, quick!” Chuckling quietly, the farmer snagged the new clothes, put them in the baby’s waiting arms, closed the basket, put it on her back and followed her yellow friend.

* * *

Applejack and Fluttershy finally arrived at her cottage near the edge of the Everfree Forest. A multitude of animals gathered and greeted them as they arrived at the pegasus’ residence. Fluttershy smiled in return and said, “Hello everyone, I brought a new friend for Angel today. Do any of you know where he is?” The mass of animals pointed to the door.

She nodded her thanks and went inside with her friend close behind, only to be greeted by a carrot flying into her face. “Ow... now Angel, you know that that isn’t nice. Now say you’re sorry.” Angel simply crossed his arms and shook his head, “Oh, okay then.” Fluttershy looked down and traced abstract shapes across the floor with her hoof, until she remembered why Applejack was here and she looked back up at Angel, “Angel♪,” she sang, “I brought over a new friend for you to play with.” Applejack set the basket down on the floor and took the infant out. Their eyes met, one with innocent curiosity, the other with nothing but shock, scorn and hatred.

“I think they’ll be havin’ fun in no time, Fluttershy. How ‘bout we go someplace else an’ leave ‘em to it, huh?” Fluttershy nodded in agreement and they left the two babies to their play time. Once they exited the room, Angel turned his gaze to his foe, while said ‘foe’ still looked at the small bunny with playful curiosity. The child started to crawl toward the little bunny rabbit.

* * *

The giant started to charge at Angel! He threw his massive hand toward the small warrior in order to squeeze him to death, but Angel was fast on his feet and hopped out of the way. He hopped over to where his caretaker placed his food. The bunny sharpened a few carrots with his teeth, took them in his paws and threw them at his enemy.

* * *

Angel threw his carrots at the infant and hit him in the chest. The child fumbled a bit to pick up one of the carrots before trying to chew on it.

* * *

The little warrior was mortified. Not only did his spears just bounce off, but this giant creature was eating them! Only Angel could eat those! Now, the monster was gonna get it, big time! He hopped as fast as he could over to his opponent and started to climb it. The beast moved into action. It started to rise to its highest, creating some difficulty for the bunny attempting to scale it.

The giant clumsily reached behind him to grab the bunny, but Angel used this to his advantage and jumped over, grabbing hold of his arm. As the giant moved his arm back in front of him to look at his foe, Angel started to hop up his arm and jumped atop his head.

As Angel finished his ascent, he felt a soft spot under his feet. This was most likely the beast’s only weak spot. Angel held the last of his spears in his paws and took aim.

At the last possible moment, Angel heard a vile laughter from below, his toes started shaking with fear at the giant’s anticipation. He was forced to grab on for dear life, as the colossal beast started swinging and shaking its arms and head frantically, doing everything in its power to render the little hero’s efforts null and void. There was nothing to do but close his eyes and grab onto the little fur there was on the summit of his nemesis, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t be tossed off like a ragdoll and reduced to a pile of broken bones and blood-coated fur.

But it wasn’t enough. Angel was now face to face with the great terror he was perched on top of not a moment ago. As he gazed into those hideous eyes, he could sense the sadistic joy that he was being regarded with. The behemoth batted him off its nose after a second’s delay, sending Angel up into the air and knocking his weapon out of his grip. Right then, the bunny was gifted with one final dose of adrenaline, one that he swore to use wisely. He entered the peak of his ascent, the upward momentum coming to an end. He took a diving position and aimed right for the creature’s head, determined to emerge victorious for his efforts.

Success! Angel had once again reached his destination. After a few seconds of heavy breathing, the valiant warrior started quickly searching for the weak spot in its cranium before it could shake him off again. Finally, he found it! He fumbled for his spear, but in his fright, he hadn’t realised he lost it. With no hope of conquering the threat, he started cursing himself for his weakness. Well, he wouldn’t just go down so easily! Not without fighting to his last breath! His determination rekindled, Angel dished out all that he had to fight with, his strong hind legs stomping vigorously, his front paws tearing mercilessly at the beast’s fur, but to no avail. As he prepared to use his teeth for the potentially killing blow, he heard something. Something he thought he would never have to hear again as long as he lived.

“AWWWWW!”

* * *

Fluttershy and Applejack walked in and saw Angel on top of the child’s head. As a result, they couldn’t help but express their unprecedented delight at the cuteness of the scene before them.

“Are you two having fun?” Fluttershy asked.

“They sure look like they are.” Applejack said, “See Fluttershy, nothin’ ta worry about, Angel made a friend an’ I’m sure he won’t be lonely anymore.”

Fluttershy nodded, “I’m sure that he’ll be much happier now, isn’t that right Angel?”

Angel’s eyes simply twitched has a response.

The earth pony walked over to the pair and said, “Well I guess we should head on home, don’t wanna make Apple Bloom worry again.”

“Oh, how is she liking him, by the way?” Fluttershy asked.

Applejack laughed a little, “Oh, she’s lovin’ ‘im, ‘Shy! Honestly, I ain’t ever seen her this happy since... well, y’know.” she ended on a sad note.

Fluttershy covered her mouth with a forehoof, “Oh Applejack, I-I didn’t mean to-”

The farmer looked back at her friend and cut her off, “It’s alright, Fluttershy... I’ve gotten over it fer the most part.” Suddenly she felt something wrap around her. She turned her head to look and saw that the baby was on his hind legs, giving her a hug. “Aww, thank ya, sugarcube.” she whispered and wrapped her foreleg around the child.

She let go, “Well, we’d best be headin’ out, lemme find that basket.” She was about to turn around and walk out of the room, but she saw Fluttershy’s eyes grow and her mouth drop. “What’s wrong, ‘Shy?” Applejack turned her head and saw that the baby was starting to wobble toward her on its hind legs. “Uh, Fluttershy... how’s he doin’ that?”

“I-I have no idea... normally creatures that stand on their hind legs have a tail to balance themselves out. The only other creature I can think that walks like that are monkeys and such, but even they slouch a bit.” They were silent until the baby fell on its rump. “Applejack... I’m starting to think that this creature is a lot more advanced than we give him credit for.”

The earth pony raised a brow, “Whatcha talkin’ ‘bout, ‘Shy? Look at ‘im, no claws, small eyes, he can’t run, he’s just a big ol’ squishy ball. Everythin’ about him says that he’s the easiest prey a hunter could wish for.”

Fluttershy looked down, “Well... what if his species doesn’t even need any of those things? What if they found better ways to defend themselves? Oh, just thinking about it is starting to scare me.”

The farmer smiled, “Oh, c’mon, Fluttershy, how can you be scared of somethin’ like that?” She pointed a hoof at the baby who was looking at the two mares, sucking his thumb with Angel still on his head, now chewing on a carrot.

The pegasus slowly calmed down, “I’m sorry, Applejack, I don’t know what came over me. I guess I just... I don’t know. I still feel nervous around him. I’m so sorry.” she started cowering behind her mane, the way she always does.

“T’ain’t nothin’ ta worry ‘bout, Fluttershy.” Applejack tipped her hat. She found the basket again after a few moments and started packing. With that out of the way, she placed the baby into the basket, bid her goodbyes to Fluttershy and Angel before heading to the farm.

* * *

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was making her way to the farmhouse when she heard someone yell, “LOOK OUT BELOW!!!” she quickly galloped out of the way, knowing exactly what was about to happen. Just missing them, Rainbow crashed into the ground, making a cloud of dust and dirt.

After the dust settled, the farmer walked over to the pegasus and helped her up. Once she got her on her hooves she asked, “Are ya’ll okay, Rainbow?”

“You ask me that after you help me up?” she challenged.

“Well this does happen a lot, Rainbow.” the farmer shot back. Rainbow just shrugged. “So why’re ya’ll here anyway?” The apple farmer asked.

“What? I can’t come here to take a nap?”

“It’s that time already? Huh, must’ve lost track of time at Fluttershy’s.”

Dash raised a brow, “Why were you at Fluttershy’s?”

“Oh, well I went to Rarity’s to pick up the clothes she made for the little guy and Fluttershy was there. She asked if he could come over an’ play with Angel.”

Dash nodded, “Cool, cool, uhm... is he with you now?”

“Yep! Just a sec.” she reached behind her, grabbed the basket in her teeth, set it on the ground and removed the cover. What they discovered however was that the baby had his eyes closed and was calmly breathing.

“Ha, now this guy knows when it’s a good time for a nap!” Rainbow smiled. Then she had a thought, “Hey AJ, can I watch him for a bit?”

“Why would you want to do a thing like that?”

“What, are you saying I can’t handle it?”

“I didn’t say that Rainbow... I was just askin’ why is all.”

“Well he is sleeping already, so how hard can it be? Plus... I kinda wanna help out. You know, I was the one who found him in the first place, after all.”

Applejack scratched her chin, “Well... alright. Just make sure to never, ever leave ‘im outta yer sights, Rainbow. He may not look it, but the little guy can disappear on ya in a second.” she warned.

“Oh please, how hard can it be?” She took the basket in her teeth and flew off.

Applejack watched as her friend flew deeper into the orchard, “I hope ya know what yer doin, Rainbow.” she shook her head and continued on her way to the house.

* * *

Rainbow Dash flew through the trees, trying to keep the basket as still as possible. After a while, she found her favourite napping tree and set the infant down. She proceeded to lie next to him. “You know,” she started “you didn’t scare me the first time I saw you! I was just... surprised is all! Yeah, surprised.”

She looked at his sleeping face for a few moments, before a smile grew on her muzzle. “Y’know, you’re not so bad. Sure you’re loud like Tartarus, not to mention you look weird. Don’t tell the others but, I admit you’re pretty cute when you’re quiet. Like, baby cute, I mean.

The baby yawned and turned over.

Rainbow smiled further, “Yeah, you’re right! No more of this stupid stuff, time for that nap.” She curled up, closing her eyes and waiting for sleep to take over.

* * *

As Rainbow began to wake up, she slowly opened her eyes and let out a yawn, “How long was I out?” She looked around and saw a basket next to her, “Huh? Why is this here?” She stared at the empty basket for a minute longer and her eyes slowly grew as she remembered what was supposed to be in there.

“Oh, Celestia! The baby is gone!”

AN: Now I know what you’re thinking... and yes, I am a little bit of a douche. I always hated it when I’m reading a story and the author leaves it on a cliffhanger... but it’s sooo much fun to be on the other side of that, lol.

There’s really only one thing I think I need to explain this chapter and that’s Angel’s parts.

Mostly for the fun of it really. I wanted to do something different with him, throw a monkey wrench into the gears, so to speak. Hopefully that part didn’t throw you guys threw a loop and killed the story for you. The Angel parts won’t happen too often, but they will appear throughout the story. Or not if guys don’t like it, I want this to be a community story, so if you guys don’t want that type of thing in the story then there won't be anymore.

One more thing, there will be voting next chapter, yay!

And now I think I’ll let the Co Author say some stuff if he wants to. Yeah, Co Author, pretty sure you guys can tell what parts he wrote. Anyway, ‘till next time readers... enjoy the torture of not knowing about what happened to the baby for a week.

C-AN: Just so you know, you’re not the only ones who hate the ending. Anyway, it seems I have been promoted. Huh. Well, I like the way I did the end of the Angel part, but I know the context could be tons better. I just had to mention that idea, didn’t I? Oh, well. The laughs we had will not be forgotten. I still don’t know the answers to all the questions you will have, though, but I can still answer some things. I am well aware that this chapter wasn’t as long or as... I dunno, good as you might have hoped? Still, this isn’t even close to the end. So, hang in there, baby!

Ch 5: Freedom!

Freedom!

Co Author: The “Special” Pegasus

Once again the roosters contributed to the local farm family’s morning with gusto. Today was especially important however, since not only would they be providing the food for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration, but they were also hosting this year’s Apple Family Reunion. Knowing full well how important it was to keep their youngest addition a secret to Equestria, they planned for young Jonathan Apple to spend the day somewhere safe from the public eye. In short? Another play date.

“Rise ‘n’ shine, Johnny!” hollered an orange-coated mare. As she entered her little brother’s room, with a red stallion right behind her, she made sure to remind little Jonathan of what day today was. “It’s time ta get ta Fluttershy’s, Johnny! Up an’ at ‘em! Don’t wanna be late now, do ya?” Knowing how much the young colt agreed, she watched Johnny practically jump out of his mattress, nearly tripping in his enthusiasm. “Yeah, I thought so.” said Applejack, unable to hold back a fond smile at her adopted brother’s expense.

“C’mon, let’s go!” the colt squealed, before bolting over to Big Macintosh and attempting to jump onto his back. Still too small for such a task, he merely slipped from his grip on his older brother. After a moment’s thought, Jonathan climbed back onto his bed and hopped toward the stallion, successfully this time. “I wanna see the cute li’l critters!” Having grown used to this routine, Big Mac simply let his little brother get himself comfortable before heading out to the cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest, the bell around Johnny’s neck jingling all the way.

* * *

The day of the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration was approaching its second half. In the distance, a royal chariot carrying a purple unicorn and a young dragon was approaching the town of Ponyville. “...doesn’t that make you happy?” said the reptilian child. As he listened to the pony’s response, he took the opportunity to take in the view. By a stroke of coincidence, he managed to spot a large red speck in the ground who, for some strange reason, was carrying something weird looking on their back. A moment of thought led to the drake dismissing it as his imagination. Regardless, the time he had spent living with the biggest egghead in Equestria had rubbed off on him and the thought would not leave his mind that easily. Oh well, I’ll think about it later.

* * *

The trip from Sweet Apple Acres to the cottage on the other side of town was always a long one regardless of how one would get there, be it galloping, flying or even teleportation. Jonathan Apple knew very well how long this would take, especially out of the nearby town’s line of sight and tried to coax his brother into conversation, which both of them knew to be a difficult task. That didn’t stop the youngest of the two from speaking his mind to keep the boredom to a minimum.

“I can’t wait ‘til we get there! It’s gonna be so much fun! I hope Angel is awake this time, do ya know how it feels to have a cute critter on top o’ ya? It’s amazin’!”

The stallion let out a smile, knowing exactly what the child meant. “Eeyup.”

“And then maybe I can play “Hide ‘n’ Seek” with all the critters. And Fluttershy too!” Johnny took a look at his brother for any reactions, simply seeking to know that the stallion was acknowledging his excited rambling. What he didn’t expect was to see his brother’s cheeks turning light. “Wow, what happened to your cheeks? Are they burning? But the sun ain’t shinin’ on ya, that don’t make no sense.”

“...”

“Are you alright, big brother? You look kinda, what’s that word, nerfus? Is it havin’ ta carry me all the way to Fluttershy? I’m sorry, big brother. I didn’t mean ta make ya tired. Should I get down? I can walk just fine, ya don’t have ta worry ‘bout me.” said Johnny apologetically.

“Nnope.”

“Ya sure?”

“Eeyup.”

“Okay, then. Hey, ya know the Summer Sun, uhh, Celebwayshun?”

“Eeyup.”

“The princess is gonna be there, right? Ta raise the sun?”

“Eeyup.”

“What’s she like?”

“Dunno, never met ‘er.”

“Really?”

“Eeyup.”

“Are ya gonna go see her?”

“Nnope.”

“Why not?”

“Because somepony’s gotta keep an eye on th’ farm.”

“Why can’t Granny Smith take care o’ the farm?”

“You know how Granny is; she never wakes up from ‘er nap an’ she started when we left. Either that or, she’s just sleepin’ in.”

“Oh, right.” The boredom was swiftly increased by at least eleven notches, the only noises in the vicinity coming from the stallion’s hooves, the wildlife around them and the bell attached to Jonathan. It wasn’t until at least ten minutes had passed that something noteworthy occurred. “Hey, look, big brother, we’re here, we’re here!”

Indeed they were. Wasting no time at all, Johnny dismounted Big Macintosh and ran the rest of the way to the cottage. Upon arriving, he eagerly knocked on the door with his clenched fists. “Fluttershy, Fluttershy! We’re here!” A matter of moments later, the door was opened by a cream colored pegasus mare casting her adoring gaze upon her guest for the day.

“Hi there, Johnny! My goodness, look how much you’ve grown! You’ll be bigger than Big Mac at this rate!” Said the animal caretaker, lowering herself to the child’s height and playfully ruffling his hair with a wing. Her response was the foalish giggling that she always loved to hear, followed by a deep “Eeyup.” from the distance. Fluttershy and Johnny looked toward the noise, smiling at the stallion’s support.

“So what’re we gonna do today, Fluttershy? Is Angel up yet?”

“No, not quite. We can always do something else, though. Oh dear!”

“What is it?”

“I almost forgot! I’m supposed to conduct the bird choir for the Summer Sun Celebration! I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go practice. Oh, but I can’t just leave you here...” It was a tough decision, but in the end, her caring instincts emerged victorious above her sensibility. Not without justification, though.

“Johnny, would you like to come and watch the birds and I practice for the Summer Sun Celebration?” she asked.

“Ya mean outside?” Fluttershy nodded and his eyes widened as he rushed over to her and hugged her, “That’d be swell! Thank you so much!”

After hearing that, Big Mac had to ask, “Are ya sure ‘bout that, Fluttershy? Ain’t it a tad bit dangerous?”

She raised her head, “Well, yes, but ever since he got this big he hasn’t been able to see a lot of the outside... all he ever sees now is Sweet Apple Acres and hardly anything else. Besides, the spot we practice in is still outside Ponyville and pretty much nopony is there, so I’m sure it’s safe.”

Big Mac looked towards his younger brother and noticed that he was attempting to perform Apple Bloom’s famous puppy dog pout, though it wasn’t as cute as when a pony did it. However, Big Macintosh only took a few moments to figure out where Fluttershy was going with this. Nopony to disturb them, a seldom visited location... it would have to do. Johnny had yet to be capable of taking care of himself for the day, anyway. “Eeyup.”

“Thank you. I won’t let you down, I promise.” Fluttershy said as Johnny let go, jumped up cheering and gave Big Mac a hug. “I’ll just make us a few snacks and leave a note for Angel. Would you like to stay for lunch, Big Mac?” After receiving an affirmative from the stallion, she left to the kitchen. A while later she made some daffodil sandwiches for herself and the farmer, along with a tuna fish sandwich for Johnny and some oranges. She finished her note for Angel and with that, they were ready to take their leave.

The three of them left the cottage and arrived at the fork in the road, parting with a few waves. After taking the road to the practicing spot, Fluttershy turned to her feathery friends, “Okay everyone, if you could all take your places on that tree we’ll get started in just a second.” They all landed in the branches while Fluttershy turned to her audience of one, “And as for you Johnny, could you please hide in one of those bushes, that is, if you don’t mind?”

He nodded, “Okay Fluttershy.” and obeyed.

Once Fluttershy was certain that Johnny was completely hidden she turned back to her feathery musicians and nodded, “Okay everyone, from the top.” Fluttershy flew a few feet into the air and started to direct the birds with her front hooves and the bird started to sing. From his hiding spot, Johnny couldn’t focus on anything but the sound of the nearly angelic chirps and whistles that the birds were emitting. It was so hypnotic that he didn’t even notice that another pony was coming this way.

“Hello!” The new pony said, knocking Johnny out of his trance, scaring the birds away and almost giving Fluttershy a heart attack. As the pegasus turned around, the new arrival said, “Oh my, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten your birds, I’m just here to check up on the music and it sounded beautiful.” Fluttershy landed without saying a word and scratched her hoof on the dirt, her shyness kicking in. As the silence continued the purple mare started to smile awkwardly and attempted to introduce herself. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, what’s your name?”

Fluttershy started to hide behind her hair before saying, “Um... I’m Fluttershy.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Um...my name is Fluttershy.” she mumbled, backing away.

“Didn’t quite catch that.”

“I’m Fluttershy.” she squeaked timidly. After getting over the situation, the birds slowly returned to their respective places in the branches.

“Well, it looks like your birds are back. So I guess everything's in order, keep up the good work!” Fluttershy merely squeaked in response. “Oookay...” The purple mare walked away and started talking to a small creatures covered in scales, “Well, that was easy!”

Both Fluttershy and Johnny looked to who the unicorn was talking to, “A baby dragon!” exclaimed the yellow mare while the child moved in closer for a better look, jingling his bell.

The two new arrivals noticed the sound, “Wait, Spike, did you just hear that—” the purple mare would have completed her question, if it weren’t for the fact that she was flying through the air due to Fluttershy's overexcitedness.

The rest of what happened was lost to Jonathan, as he was too busy observing this new creature. He was looking at a green and purple lizard-like creature which was apparently called a dragon, if Fluttershy were to be believed. He didn’t really care, for the only thing that he noticed, was the fact that it was standing on two legs, just like him. A little while later, the three were starting to leave and once they were out of view Johnny crawled out of the bushes before standing up.

He was all alone now. He was outside the farm and no one was watching him. For as long as he could remember, he’d been told rather strictly to never, ever go even close to the town known as Ponyville. Otherwise, he would be in deep enough trouble to even make Discord shudder in sympathy. That was only if he were caught by his family, if somepony from town saw him then... well, the Apple Family never really told him anything about that, which of course, made him unbearably curious about it. It would never leave his mind! With that thought sparking something in his foalish mind, he let his imagination burn free.

He started pacing and thinking. I’ve always wondered what Ponyville’s like. Maybe I could go find out! Yeah! I could just make sure they don’t see me, and see what the town’s like. How big is it? What’s everypony doin’? I gotta see! And maybe have some good ol’ fun too! He couldn’t stifle the giggle that followed, his anticipation was killing him! Determined to get away with the biggest crime that he had ever been told of, Johnny took his first step toward the nearby village... and stopped when he heard a rather bothersome noise. Oh, right. What do I do with this, though? Clutching onto the bell attached to his clothes, he tore it right off, but not without straining himself for a few attempts. As a result, the part of his outfit where the bell used to be was rather nastily ripped up, opening by at least an inch. “Rarity’s gonna be real mad if she finds out...” The very last jingle that the bell ever made finally sounded as it landed inside the bush that Jonathan Apple had just occupied.

The town of Ponyville was a tad busier than usual, considering the circumstances. Not only that, but a Pinkie Party was about to be held and nopony could resist the cause to celebrate their work and take a break. Not all of them were there yet, though, so the town wasn’t completely asleep.

It was with great curiosity that Jonathan Apple looked out upon the town from one of the alleys. The occasional pony would come into view, all of them trotting toward the same destination, none the wiser to the strange creature watching from the shadows. Quite a few times, he shimmied and sidled his way from hiding spot to hiding spot, avoiding the citizens’ gazes along the way. He was on his toes the entire time, riding on a rush of fright and the resulting bouts of adrenaline. The excitement was unlike anything he had ever felt! This was gonna be great!

One of the townsponies was on her way to the nearby oak tree. She had been working hard all day and Celestia help her, she was gonna go to that party! So absorbed was this unicorn in having a good time with her roommate and friends, that she only barely took notice of a foreign shape darting through the almost empty street, bumping into a couple of crates and emitting a series of giggles in its blind excitement. She stopped in her tracks, eyes darting across the street, trying to find out what exactly had happened. Dismissing it as her exhausted mind playing tricks on her, the light green coated mare resumed her trot toward the glorious collection of snacks and fun games.

To be continued...

AN: First things first ladies and gents. Fan art WOOOOT! A HUGE thank you to ForestOfSpring for this awesome piece of art. If you somehow haven’t seen it yet it’s the new cover art!

Second- The tuna fish sandwich will be explained in two or three chapters, just so you know.

Third- Yes this is a two parter. To be 100% honest we got a little lazy this week and only got half of it done, so sorry about that. On the bright side you do get something this week yay!

See you guys same time next week, ‘til next time readers.

C-AN: We apologize for how things turned out here and by that I mean the fact that this actually split up in segments. Hopefully it’ll take less than another week to get the next part out.

PS: Happy Birthday, Mom! You’re the best!

Ch 6: Busted!

Busted!

Co Author: The “Special” Pegasus

This is boring. Where did everypony go? Unspoken or not, the inquiry was one worth considering as not one single hoofstep could be heard in the outdoors. Johnny explored this mystery further for awhile, only to be distracted by the muffled music and conversations emanating from what must have been the biggest treehouse he’d ever seen.

It was unlike anything Johnny had ever set his eyes on. He never imagined a massive tree with windows and even balconies to be part of the town. First the huge candy house, then the place that looked like a funny hat and now this really huge tree? How somepony could make a residence out of a large flora was beyond little Johnny’s mind and in his astonishment, he looked toward the top balcony with more than a little curiosity. Then his gaze shifted to the tree right next to it. Walking towards it, he hastily concocted a plan, before clinging to the branches and beginning his ascent.

He finally reached the same altitude as the balcony the tree was parked by and looked inside its window, determined to learn the secrets of the mighty treehouse. What, or rather who he saw would eventually change his life forever.

A familiar purple unicorn ducked into view of the window. Then she looked at the tree Johnny was situated upon. Then she saw something that caught her eye. Something that, though she didn’t know it, would change her life forever.

“What in the world is that?” She said to herself as she opened the window for a better look.

What’s she doin’? Oh no, did she see me!? Deciding that he could learn the tree’s secrets some other time, he started to climb down the tree. With only five feet to go, he decided to risk the fall. Once he landed, he ran in top speed and around the closest corner he could find.

But it was too late; the unicorn had a full view of him when he landed and now her curiosity was unstoppable. She ran back downstairs to start following this new creature. This isn’t the kind of scientific opportunity that you just let go of.

*Back Downstairs*

The party was back in full swing after the unicorn’s discovery of the effects of drinking hot sauce. All the partygoers were happily talking and dancing, all but Applejack. As she watched Fluttershy talking with Rarity, until something clicked in her head, eyes widening as she galloped over to her in panic. “Fluttershy!”

The timid pegasus shrank back from the shock of Applejack’s sudden yell, “Y-yes, Applejack?”

“Is Johnny alright!? He’s still at yer cottage, right!?” she whispered, her voice brimming with hysterics.

Fluttershy had a blank look on her face for just a second before she covered her mouth with her front hooves whispered, “I-I left him at my bird choir rehearsal!” she started to shake in fear before Rarity put a comforting hoof on her back.

“Now now, Fluttershy, there is no need to worry. Little Johnny may be young, but that doesn’t decide his intellect. Why, knowing him, there’s no doubt that he’s back at your home, having a positively merry time with Angel—” Just then the purple mare whom this party was thrown for raced down the stairs and pushed her way through the partygoers, leading to a series of yelps and mildly injured ponies.

She was about to reach the door but stopped when a familiar voice called out to her, “Twilight where are you going?”

She turned around, went straight to the voice’s source and lifted him into the air with her front hooves, “I saw an alien Spike! It walked on two legs and it was wearing some weird clothes! It was climbing a tree and I think it was trying to spy on us or, or maybe it was trying to make first contact!” she squealed with more excitement than she’d ever felt before she dropped Spike and ran outside to look for this strange alien.

The three mares looked on in silence as they were joined by Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. After half a heartbeat the five of them bum rushed for door and raced out to find their youngest friend.

* * *

Night had fallen over the town of Ponyville and Johnny was more or less, running for his life. After sneaking a peek at the party and only being seen by one of its patrons, Johnny’s heart was racing and adrenaline was pumping into him. He ran in random directions, constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure that nopony was following him. As he was passing a rather unique, rounded building, he started to hear voices, so he jumped into one of the bushes that ran along the towering building.

“Did ya see him Dash?” Was that Applejack!?

“No! I looked all over for him but the guy’s really good at hiding.” Rainbow Dash too? Oh Celestia, I’m doomed.

“Can’t you find him Pinkie?”

“Nope! I’m trying to find the new pony! She shouldn’t miss her own party after all, that’s just silly!” she said with a smile.

“Why not!? Aren’t you even a little worried about Johnny!?”

“Of course I am, Dashie.”

Applejack spoke up, “Listen, all this standin’ around is gettin’ us nowhere fast. We need ta find Johnny before the other ponies start comin’ here for the celebration. We got an hour at most before they start makin’ their way here. Now then, while Fluttershy gets her animals to help, let’s start lookin’ again.” The other two nodded and went their separate ways. “I’mma tan that colt’s hide when this is all over.” she said more than loud enough for Johnny to hear and then left to go searching for him.

I am so dead. After that thought he realized what they had said, “Wait... this is where the Summer Sun Celebration is goin’ to be? I’ll just hide out here an’ wait for it to start.” So he waited... and waited... and waited... until the sun had just finished its descent and successfully pulled Johnny to the world of sleep.

* * *

Johnny started to stir himself awake as the sound of hooves clopping on the floor reached his ears, “Ugh, what time is it?” he looked out of bushes and saw that ponies were starting to gather into the town hall he had spent the past several hours next to, It’s almost time! He waited until all the ponies were inside to stick his head out of his bush to look through the window. He was amazed to see so many ponies in one place, he could even see all his friends. “They must be worried sick about me.” he let out a sigh of regret, “Oh well, I’ll say I’m sorry later.”

Moments later the ponies in the town hall started panicking, “Wait, what’s going on in there?” A great blue smoke swirled on stage and out came the biggest pony that Johnny had ever seen. Is that the Princess!? She’s even bigger than Big Mac! She’s even cooler than I ever thought she’d be! Wait, what’s she doin’? The Princess’s mane was swirling around the room and causing lightning to to shoot down towards a few guards that looked to be attacking her. Why are they attacking the Princess!? All she’s doin’ is makin pretty lights! The Princess turned back into blue smoke and flew out the door with Rainbow Dash following close behind, only to stop shortly after in defeat.

Rainbow hovered there in the air until she saw that new mare and the dragon running out of town hall, “Where’s she going?” Then out the corner of her eye she saw a bush move, “What was that?” She flew down and landed near the bush.

Oh no, she saw me. I’m gonna be in so much trouble. Gotta think, gotta think, gotta think! Johnny jumped out of the bush and hugged her as hard as he could.

“J-Johnny!? Oh, you are going to be in so much trouble—”

“Rainbow! I finally found one of ya! Fluttershy left me alone and I uh... I tried ta make it back to the farm but I-I got lost.” Johnny looked pleadingly into her eyes.

Rainbow let her anger aside as she patted Johnny on the back and returned the hug, “Hey it’s okay, these things happen. I’m going to take you back to Fluttershy’s place and then we have some stuff to do okay?” He nodded and then Dash grabbed him in her hooves, flying him to the cottage.

When they arrived, she let him down and tried to wrap things up. “Alright Johnny, you go right to bed and I’ll go get the others and talk to that new pony. I think she’s hiding something.”

“What’s she hidin’?” Johnny asked.

“Uh, y’know what, never mind. You just get to sleep, okay? We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“Okay. G’night, Rainbow Dash.” Johnny let out a yawn as he went inside the cottage, closed the door and went straight to bed.

*Dawn of a New Day*

It was the early morning and Johnny was still sound asleep in Fluttershy’s guest room, where he was surrounded by the five ponies that raised him, plus two.

“I-I can’t believe it... it’s a real life alien!” Twilight whispered, barely containing her filly like excitement.

Applejack eyed her new friend with a little annoyance, “First off, Twi, he is my li’l brother an’ second, how do ya know he’s an alien? Couldn't he be some critter from the Everfree?”

Twilight tore her eyes from the new specimen to face Applejack, “While it’s true that some believe that not all the creatures from the Everfree Forest have been documented, I believe that nopony has discovered anything like him before, I’ll have to look through all the books related to the Everfree to confirm but whether he’s an alien or a native creature, I think that you guys have discovered an entirely new species!” she said bouncing in place.

Rarity stepped closer to the ecstatic mare, “That’s all well and good, dear, but I must ask, what has gotten you so excited?”

“I’m just thinking of everything I have to do now! I have to learn everything about him, how his body works, what he eats, what he thinks, what he does! Oh, this is a dream come true, just think of the possibilities! There’s so many tests to perform!” she said, loud enough for Johnny to stir a little.

While Twilight had the biggest smile plastered on her face, the others had a look of worry, “You're going to e-experiment on him?” Fluttershy squeaked out and Twilight nodded, a confused expression taking over her features.

“Well, yeah... is that a problem?” Twilight was getting a bit uneasy at this point.

“Twilight,” Applejack started, “The main reason why we kept ‘im hidden all this time was because of ponies thinkin’ of takin’ ‘im away an’ doin’ tests on ‘im. Which is exactly what ya’ll were thinkin’. Sorry, Twi, yer a good friend, and we might even be connected by the Elements of Harmony, but if ya’ll do anythin’ ta my li’l brother, I’ll applebuck ya so hard that it’ll send ya to next year.”

Twilight’s ears, along with her scientific ambitions, flattened at the farmer’s discouragement. “But... but—”

The dragon next to Twilight sighed and interrupted her, “Twilight, do you really want to lose your best friends over something like this?”

Her eyes darted back and forth as her mind was in turmoil, passing up on a once in a lifetime opportunity or losing the best group of friends that she has ever had. After the storm in her head was settled she finally sighed and whimpered out, “No...” she looked up at Applejack, “Can I at the very least write down observations on him?”

Applejack scratched the back of her head, “Well... I guess that’d be fine, so long as ya leave ‘im be.”

“Good luck with that.” Said the dragon, his arms crossed in a gesture of cynicism.

A smile instantly returned to Twilight’s face as she squealed like a little filly, which woke up the child occupying the bed. He slowly opened his eyes as the light from the open window assaulted his eyes. As his ocular startup completed he noticed that he was surrounded by his family along with the mare that saw him along with her dragon. Silence filled the air as Johnny’s eyes shifted from pony to pony, finally landing on the new face and saying, “Uhm... hi?”

The mare gasped, “He can talk!” she then pulled out a paper and quill and started writing, “Subject: Johnny, appears to be capable of Equestrian speech. Oh, this is going to be so exciting!” she said, bouncing in delight again. Twilight then remembered the question she was asked, “Oh sorry hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle, what’s your name?”

Johnny looked at Applejack to check for permission, she nodded, “Uh, my name is Jonathan Apple, but everypony calls me Johnny Appleseed.” he said as he lifted the covers off of him and sat up on the bed.

Then a loud gasp came from Rarity, making him jump, “Johnny, what happened to your clothes!? Why is the bell missing!?”

“Wait, a bell? Didn’t we hear a bell yesterday when we met Fluttershy, Twilight?” asked the dragon.

“Hey, you’re right, that must have been Johnny we heard.” she answered back.

“I uh... I-I.” Johnny’s eyes looked at Applejack. He knew full well that no one, pony or otherwise could lie to her and get away with, so he let out a sigh, “...I ripped it off, Rarity.”

“Why would you ever need to rip it off, dear?” Rarity asked.

“W-well if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to sneak around Ponyville.”

“Um, Johnny... why didn’t you just come back to the cottage?” Fluttershy asked.

“I got lost.” Applejack glared at him, “I mean... I-I wanted to explore Ponyville.”

“Wait, so you lied to me!?” Rainbow shouted. He nodded, his head turned away from her in shame. “Not cool, Johnny. Not cool.”

“Oh leave him alone, Dashie, it’s not like it mattered anyway.” Pinkie said with an optimistic smile, as would be expected from the baker.

“I’ll never lie to you again, Rainbow.” Johnny said, looking down.

“Pinkie Promise me.”

Johnny’s eyes grew wide, he knew exactly what a Pinkie Promise meant for anypony who made it, but first, he thought for a minute and grinned. “I Pinkie Promise to never lie to you, Dashie.”

“My name isn’t Dashie, Johnny!”

The group shared some well meaning laughter at Rainbow’s outburst until Applejack spoke up, “Alright, enough o’ that. So Johnny, ready to go home? Everypony that came for the reunion left this mornin’.”

“Sure, Applejack.” he looked toward Twilight, “It was nice ta meet ya, Miss Twilight and uh—”

“Spike.” the baby dragon said.

“Spike.” Johnny nodded and climbed off the bed. “Well, see ya around. I’m ready to go, Applejack.”

The farmer nodded and the two left the cottage. Along the way, all Johnny could think about was everything that happened yesterday and adding two more to his small list of ponies that he knew. Little did he know that this list would grow exponentially by the end of the week.

AN: Finally we can start having this story start moving! Oh man, you guys have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to get past this part, so much stuff is going to be happening after this point!

Yep that’s all I got to say, enjoy and hate the hype I just gave you because a TON of stuff is about to happen for the next few chapters, ‘til next time readers.

C-AN: Sorry about the late update folks, but hey, try writing at midnight with a headache and see how that feels. Now then, hopefully things get better as time goes, but I don’t think the schedule is too reliable as is.

Ch 7: The Ticket Manipulator

So... it's been awhile, sorry for that. Since it's been so long I STRONGLY suggest going back to reread the story, nothing has changed but having it fresh in your mind will help.

The Ticket Manipulator

Author: Antojo Pony
Editor:Alticron

It was the early hours of dawn before Princess Celestia even contemplates raising the sun. Twilight Sparkle was sitting at her desk, her snout firmly planted within the pages of a book. She remained still like a statue as she eyed the contents of the book. Her only occasional movement was the twitching of her eyes as she scanned the pages. When the lavender mare reached the end of each page she groaned in frustration. Then she flipped the page with her hoof her frustration so great that she did not bother to use magic.

“Where is it?” she mumbled. “I’ve searched all night to find something on... whatever the thing Johnny is!” She lifted her jaw from the book and shook her head. A dull aching pain began throbbing in her head. “Ooh!” she protested. “I haven’t found anything!”

She began to lash out as the pain of her headache increase in intensity. She knocked down the book on her desk down with a swipe of her hooves. It landed on the floor revealing two pages with a very peculiar image.

Twilight moaned in aggravation as she walked to the book. She stared blankly at the picture for a few moments trying to process the contents of the picture. The purple unicorn blinked a few times and then looked again, on the picture was a slightly blurred image of a bipedal creature walking across a field. Twilight’s eyes widened as she took in a deep breath. She tried holding it in but soon the excitement became too much.

“YES! Yesyesyesyes!” Twilight began prancing about the room. “I found something!” she hollered.

“Twilight, what’s with all this excitement first thing in the morning?” The little assistant mumbled from atop the stairs.

The excited mare looked up at her assistant with a Pinkie size smile and levitated him down. “I found it Spike! After searching for it all night I finally found something that looks like Johnny!” She smashed his face into the book, “Look at this! Doesn’t it look like Johnny?”

Spike, still in his morning daze, pushed away from the book to take a look. “Umm, Twilight, that kinda just looks like a small minotaur.”

“B-but.” Twilight protested as she began to visible deflate.

The little dragon sighed, “Listen Twilight, I know you’re really excited about learning about Johnny but you can’t let this one take control of you for who knows how long! You promised your friends you wouldn’t treat him like an experiment.”

“But Spike!” the messy unicorn whined, “He’s a brand new species!”

“Then why are you looking through all these books?” He gestured to all the books that littered the floor. After a moment of silence in which the unicorn didn’t’ answer, Spike continued, “You don’t even know, do you?”

“T-there might have been something...” she said as her ears deflated on her head and hung her head.

Spike facepalmed, “There are no books on him Twilight! I bet that your new friends are the closest things to experts on whatever Johnny is.”

Twilight sat back up and rubbed her chin, “They are, aren't they...” She levitated the baby dragon onto her back, “Come on Spike, we’re going to Sweet Apple Acres, I have to talk to Applejack!”

“What! But I didn’t— can we at least have breakfast first?”

“Oh I’m sure that Applejack wouldn’t mind letting you eat a few apples.”

* * *

The Sun was peeking over the horizon as the Apple family finished up their breakfast. Granny Smith was humming a simple tune has she washed the dishes with young Apple Bloom on a stool helping her old grandma as the other three Apples sat at the table planning out their chores for the day.

“Alrighty then,” Applejack began “Big Mac, you’ll be plowing the southern fields ta’ make room for the new saplings’.” He responded with a nod. “And Ah’ll be applebuckin’ in the east fields. Our bet is still on?”

“Eeyup,” replied the red stallion.

“Now as for Johnny,” said Applejack in stern voice “You’ll be helping out Big Mac with the hard work as punishment for yesterday.”

Johnny's eyes grew in surprise, “What?! B-but Applejack, that just ain’t fair!”

“Oh it ain’t is it? What is the number one rule that ya have Johnny?”

Looking down at the floor he replied, “Don’t go wandering out into Ponyville...”

“And what did you do yesterday?” AJ asked.

“I went in ta Ponyville, but it’s not like anything bad happened.” he tried to counter.

The farm mare sighed, “That ain’t the point Johnny. The point is something might have happened. We don’t know how the ponyfolk will react if they see you.”

“But,” Johnny looked around distraught, “I miss looking around Ponyville. I haven’t seen it since back when ya’ took me on trips to visit Rarity in that saddlebag back when I was a baby! I’ve never got to see any of the really cool things there before yesterday! There was—”

“I don’t wanna hear it Jonathan Apple!” she interrupted, “The point is ya’ll broke the most important rule yesterday! What if somepony saw you!? What if they formed a mob and chased after ya!? What if... w-what if they took ya away?” Tears were threatening to start as they formed at the corners of her eyes.

Johnny was shocked to see Applejack was never one to cry. He quickly got up and went to hug his big sister, which she happily accepted. “Would... would they really take me away?” he asked still hugging her.

“Ah’m not gonna lie Johnny. I don’t know what they’ll do, they might.” she said holding him in tight embrace. It was then that the pair felt a third join them. Apple Bloom had tears rolling down her face. Applejack quickly threw her hoof around her and started to nuzzle the top of Apple Blooms head. “I know I’m strict with ya’ Johnny, I don’t to do it to be mean. I just don’t want to lose my little brother.”

The three sat there in silence when Granny Smith suddenly spoke out, “If der was one thing Ah learned in my time, it’s ta not worry too much about what might and might not happen.” The four other Apples looked at the old mare in surprise. It wasn’t often that their granny would say her words of wisdom so... straightforward. “Sides,” she started again “if they touch one hair on his head, Ah’ll buck them so hard they’d go straight to the mooooon!” she finished with a sweet old laugh.

They laughed with their granny. “Ya know, she’s right,” Applejack said wiping her eyes, “Let’s stop worrying about it fer now.”

“Okay AJ. Can I work with Apple Bloom instead?” Johnny asked still giggling.

AJ says still giggling herself, “He, he he... no. You’re still being punished Johnny.”

“Heh, worth a shot.” he shrugged.

“You’ve been hanging around Rainbow haven’t ya?” she asked. Johnny only smiled in return. She sighed, “Alright everyone, enough of this family time, it’s time ta get working!”

* * *

Twilight was trotting through the front gate of Sweet Apple Acres with Spike atop her back when he started up again, “Do you really really think it’s a good idea to ask her about Johnny?”

She sighed then looked back at her assistant. “For the twelfth time Spike, yes!” she yelled. All his constant questioning was starting to get to her. Twi looked back to her front and continued, “Johnny is a new species and needs to be documented. It’s almost a crime not to do this!”

Spike shook his head, “But Johnny isn’t just some random test animal, he’s Applejacks brother!” he yelled.

“And as his older sister, Applejack should want this!” she returned, “If what I’ve gathered is true then they’ve never taken him to the doctors. What if something really bad happens and they have no clue how to help him? While it’s true I want to know more about Johnny, what I learn now might even save his life one day.”

“Well I guess you have a point, but just promise me you won't ask anything to personal.”

Twilight looked back with a smile, “Don’t worry Spike, I’ll only ask what I think is right.” looking back ahead, “Now then where will Applejack be?”

“I don’t know. Maybe try the house—“

BANG!!

They both jumped from the sudden noise. “O-or maybe try the orchard,” Spike finished.

“I think we’ll try the orchard.” she said as she turned. They walked under the shade of the apple trees, following the sound of the banging until they found the farm pony they were looking for. “Hello Applejack!”

“Oh hello Twilight and Spike, what brings you two here this early?” AJ asked as she took off her hat to wipe off the sweat that was starting to form.

“Oh you know…” she said casually, “Just looking around— OW!” Twilight yelped as Spike pinched her ear, “What was that for!?”

“Just tell her why we’re here Twilight. No need to lie about it.” Spike told her.

“Lie about what?” AJ asked, narrowing her eyes.

Twilight sighed, “Alright… I’ll just come out and say it. Applejack, can you answer some questions I have about Johnny?”

“And why should I? Didn’t I tell you not to treat him like a lab rat?” AJ said with a little anger.

“Yes you did, but that’s not what I’m asking. Yes I want to document Johnny, he’s an undiscovered species and it should be a crime to let this opportunity go to waste. But more than that, it’s the fact he’s a new species that puts him most at risk. Have you ever taken him to the doctors AJ?”

“Well no, but Shy has looked into his health. ‘Cording to her he’s fit as a fiddle.” she told them.

Twilight shook her head, “That’s all well and good Applejack, but I doubt that Fluttershy had the proper equipment to do a thorough check up.” Applejack responded with a glare. Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “Listen Applejack, I just want to do a few tests on Johnny, if only to make sure that you can know what to do in case of an emergency. If Johnny gets sick or really hurt you might make it worse by not knowing what our medicine will do to him.” she finished.

Applejack looked as if she was burst out yelling, but quickly looked away with a sigh, “Ya know… Fluttershy said bout’ the same thing when we first found him.” she looked back at them, “Tell you what Twilight, Ah’ll think about it. Till then, wanna give me a hoof with the apples? Ya can ask a few of questions if you want to.” she said with a forced smile.

* * *

Twilight spent the rest of that morning helping out Applejack. It was almost lunch time when they finished and trotted towards the barn to store their last batch of apples. Spike was sitting content on Twilight’s back munching on a large juicy apple. “Why thank you kindly, Twilight. I made a bet with Big Mac that if I could manage to get all these apples in the barn by lunchtime, he’ll walk down the main street wearing one of Granny’s griddles.” She chuckled at the thought. “So, what was it that ya’ wanted to ask about Johnny? But remember this, I don’t have ta’ answer if I don’t want to.”

“Well I guess I should start at the beginning,” said Twilight, “Where did you find him?”

“I reckon’ I can answer that,” Applejack responded putting her hoof at her chin in thought, “Now that I think it of it wasn’t us that found him. It was Ra—”

BURP!

Spike belched out a scroll that he unrolled and read to himself, “Her Grand Royal Highness…yadda yadda… Invitation… blah blah blah... Grand Galloping Gala… Twilight Sparkle plus one guest.” Once he finished reading the letter he tossed away the scroll without any interest.

“Did ya’ just say the Grand Galloping Gala?” asked the astonished Applejack.

“Yeah,” said Spike as he searched a basket for another large apple. Before he could bite in, he belched another burst of green flame and two golden tickets to the Gala appeared in his claws.

“It’s just some formal event Applejack,” said Twilight, “I’ve never actually bothered to attend one, never seen the point of it.”

“But Twilight, sure ya’ joking?” Applejack asked with shock, “Why the Gala is the biggest events of the year. Every year ponies from all round Equestria show up there. I don’t care much ‘bout the dance, but I can get a stand to sell appletastic treats… just think about the opportunities! With that money, I would be able to get Granny that hip replacement and buy a new plow. Why I would give my hind leg just to go.”

The inside of Twilight’s brain began to turn. “Well AJ you don’t have to be that barbaric,” she said in a sly voice, “I’ll be glad to give my ticket to you… if you would just let me perform a few tiny little tests on Johnny.”

Before Applejack could respond, a voice coming from above shouted, “Look out below!”

Rainbow Dash came crashing down, narrowly missing Spike. “Hey, sorry about that,” she chuckled, “Decided to try this new move after taking a long nap. So what you guys up to?”

“Well Twilight here was about to ask me some questions on Johnny—“Applejack began.

“She’s still on that!?” Rainbow Dash interrupted. She glared at Twilight, “But why, can’t you just let Johnny be?”

“It’s not like that Rainbow Dash,” Twilight defended herself, “Applejack agreed to it and she can refuse to answer any questions if she didn’t want to.” That seemed to calm Rainbow down. “Well then before I was interrupted by the tickets I was going to ask—“

“Tickets?” asked Rainbow Dash, “Tickets to what?”

“The Grand Galloping Gala,” replied Twilight not happy that she was interrupted. “I received an extra ticket for one guest.”

"The Grand Galloping Gala!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “The Wonderbolts are going to be there, if they see some of my sweet moves I know they’ll let me in. Twilight, you have to let me have that ticket!”

“Hey!” shouted Applejack, “She was going to give me that ticket!”

“Hoof-wrestle you for it,” challenged Rainbow Dash.

“GIRLS!” shouted Twilight, “These are my tickets, and I’ll decide who I take. But right now I was asking some questions about Johnny.”

“Well go right ahead,” said Applejack asked.

“Now like I was asking before, where did you find Johnny?”

“I can answer this one!” Rainbow Dash leapt and shoved Applejack out way to face Twilight face to face. “I’m the one that found him five years ago. So I was taking a nap over the orchard—“

“And ya’ still as lazy now as back then,” Applejack butted in.

“So like I was saying, I was taking nap,” Rainbow continued while ignoring Applejack’s jab. “I was woken up by this loud crying and boy was it loud. So I flew down to investigate it when I found this strange creature crawling towards me. But I wasn’t afraid of him—“

“Oh really?” Applejack scoffed. “Ya’ came flying to mah house screamin’ like a frightened filly about some monster.”

“Okay so it wasn’t my best moment, yeah I may have overreacted,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “So I flew to get Fluttershy since she was an expert on all sorts of creatures. So Fluttershy and Rarity came over to the farm to help sort the whole thing out. When we got there we found that Johnny was missing.”

“Then Pinkie Pie showed up outta nowhere,” Applejack added. “We went back to the barn and found him playin’ with little Apple Bloom, that’s when we realized that we was being silly. Johnny wasn’t a monster but a little baby, so the Apple family decided to adopt him.”

“Just like that?” asked Twilight. She was levitating a notebook and was scribbling notes throughout the entire story.

“Just like that,” Applejack replied with a serene smile, “I thought about ya’ offer Twi, and I won’t sell out mah little brother. Even if we was in dire need of ta’ money I wouldn’t do it.” With that thought she turned and headed toward the barn.

“So does that mean I get the ticket?” Rainbow inquired her excitedly with a large grin. Her smile fell apart as realized what Applejack had said. “Wait…Twilight what the offer that Applejack was talking about?”

Twilight gulped for a moment before answering, “Oh that, It was nothing Rainbow... OUCH!“ Spike had pinched her again.

“Don’t lie Twi, just tell the truth,” he said.

Twilight took a deep breath, “Okay, so I might have told Applejack that I would give her the ticket if she let me performed some experiments on Johnny—don’t you give me that look!” She turned her face from the glare that Rainbow Dash was giving her.

“That’s totally not cool Twilight,” Rainbow said as she turned and spread her wings.

“WAIT!” shouted Twilight after her but Rainbow had taken off and flown away at the distance. “I only want to perform some little tiny tests.” she told the air.

“Twilight, don’t you think that you are letting this whole Johnny thing get to you?” said Spike. “Well yeah, I think it’s cool that he might be a new creature that has never been seen before. But Twilight, don’t you think you’re getting too obsessed with Johnny?”

…

Twilight and Spike went to Sugarcube Corner. After helping out Applejack she was bit peckish, and she had missed breakfast that morning. It was worth it and a small price to pay to unravel the mystery that is Johnny. When she entered the establishment, she was met with a collision from a pink blur.

“Sorry about that,” Pinkie Pie said after she recovered from the tumbling. “GAH!” she screamed as the tickets landed on the top of her mane, “Spiders, get them off!” She ran in a circle and the golden tickets fell off her head. “Wait, these aren’t spiders,”-she picked up a ticket and examined- “These are tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!”

Pinkie Pie hopped around singing about the Gala and how it would be the most wonderful party ever. When her song concluded she was met with a tremendous applause from Spike as Twilight groaned.

“That’s nice Pinkie,” she said, “That ticket is yours if you tell me about Johnny.”

“What about Johnny? I know a lot about Johnny,” Pinkie Pie said with a wide grin, “Why I am the most knowingest pony there is on Johnny. Well aside the Apple family. But then again they are his family… but now that I think about it—” Pinkie Pie’s train of thought was derailed as she began to talk about things that made little sense to Twilight.

“Pinkie,” said Twilight as she tried to get her attention. Pinkie did not respond but instead starting talking about how cabbages are bad investments. “Pinkie!” Twilight shouted this time but the party pony did not respond. “PINKIE!” she screamed in frustration.

“…and that’s how you turn a potato into a battery. Oh, what was that Twilight?” Pinkie asked when she realized that Twilight wanted her attention.

“I just wanted to know more about Johnny,” Twilight responded. “What’s he like, how does he behave? You know, that sort of stuff.”

“Ooh,” said Pinkie, “Why didn’t you ask me in the first place?”

Twilight groaned in response, “Never mind that, just tell me what you know please.”

“Well then,” Pinkie Pie said as she but her hooves under her chin. “Let’s see, Johnny is a very fun pony to play with. Well he’s not actually a pony; we don’t really know what he is. He’s very athletic, he always racing around with Rainbow Dash. He doesn’t win them of course, but it’s all in good fun. You should hear his singing, it’s all like BLEAH.”-Pinkie stuck her tongue out-“His singing is terrible, never thought I’ll meet a pony, creature thingy-whatever he is that couldn’t sing. Can you believe that? Well maybe there was my uncle; he was a bad singer too. Though I think maybe that was because he was deaf…”

“Uh Twilight?” said Spike, “I think we lost her.”

“Yeah,” the lavender unicorn agreed as she put away her notebook, “Maybe we should try someplace else.” Her stomach gave a roar as it grumbled. “We should probably get something to eat, I’m starving”

“…and then I told my uncle who is allergic to oats, ‘Oatmeal? Are you crazy?’” Pinkie turned around and saw the librarian and dragon had vanished. “Hmm, I wonder where they went,” she said. “Maybe they’re planning a surprise me with the ticket. Or even better, she’s planning to throw a surprise party!”

…

“So where to now?” asked Spike as they traveled through the town square.

“I don’t know Spike,” replied Twilight, “But what’s more important right now is that I learn all I can about Johnny.” She put her hoof under her chin in thought, “So far all I’ve learned is that everypony was afraid of him when they first saw him and that he’s a terrible singer. Perhaps one of my other new friends might tell me more,” –her stomach grumbled- “Right after lunch of course.” she said with a blush.

They decided to eat a small outdoor café close to the center of town. Spike ordered a large order of hay fries and Twilight ordered a daisy sandwich. When their meals arrived, Spike began to dig in into his pile of fries with much gusto but when Twilight tried to take the first bite out of her sandwich, she was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Why Twilight, I can’t believe you would do such a thing.”

Twilight sighted as she put down her sandwich and turned around to face Rarity how was putting up as overly emotional gasp. “Oh hello Rarity, what seems to be the problem?” she asked with feigned smile. She was irritated about the lack of food.

“Pinkie Pie told me that you had two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala and that you invited her!” she exclaimed while putting on a pose that read ‘woe is me’. “How can you give her the ticket so can partying and deny me my chance to find true love?”

“Excuse me?” asked Twilight.

Rarity went on telling her vision for the gala. How she would find her handsome prince and they would fall in love and get married. It was a fantasy straight out of foal’s storybook.

“Well if you put it that way…”said Twilight after Rarity had stopped talking about her prince charming. “I’ll give the ticket if you can do me a favor.”

“What kind of favor?” Rarity asked.

“Well,” said Twilight as thought about what to say. “Well, tell me everything you know about Johnny. I know that he was wearing some of your designs.”

“Ah yes,” said Rarity brightly, “Johnny is delightful young lad. He can be a perfect gentlecolt at times. But if only he’ll pay more attention to me during my proper etiquette lessons.”

“Lessons?” asked Twilight as she scribbled fiercely on her notebook.

“Oh yes, I along with the other girls frequently visit Johnny at Sweet Apple Acres,” Rarity said. “I must be honest that sometimes I feel bad for the poor colt, forced to remain at the confinements of farm with the occasional visit to Fluttershy’s cottage. But it’s for his safety; we don’t know how the other ponies will react to his presence. Personally I think he’ll charm the townsfolk right up, that way he won’t have to ruin anymore outfits whenever he wants to go into Ponyville. ”

“That’s right,” said the purple unicorn, “You made all of Johnny’s outfits. They are quite lovely”

“Yes,” said Rarity with a beaming smile, “It was quite a challenge at first, I was only used to making outfits for ponies. But with much work and research I discovered all about minotaur fashion or rather their lack of it. Johnny’s garments are inspired by minotaur clothing but with my own twist. I think the results are magnificent blend of functionality and style. Oh you should see Johnny in his scout outfit, he looks so adorable.”

Rarity went on to list every single outfit that had made for Johnny. At first Twilight paid deep attention but her focus was lost as her stomach began to ache from the lack of food. She couldn’t take it any longer, “This is so very interesting and informative Rarity, but I must really get back to my lunch. We’ll discuss more about this topic later okay?”

“Why of course Twilight, I’ll set up a spa appointment,” replied the fashionista. “I must get going as well; the weather team is scheduling a quick rainfall for this afternoon.” Rarity gave a farewell nod towards Twilight and Spike and turned around to leave. As she turned the corner, she pulled out an umbrella from her saddlebag.

Twilight’s stomach grumbled again, she lifted the sandwich with her magic. She was about to take a bite out of it when a gush of water drenched her and the sandwich. She looked around and saw the other ponies in the square running around searching for shelter from the rain.

“Eh, sorry about that Twilight-“

The unicorn looked up and saw Rainbow Dash through a hole among the black clouds. “I thought you knew about today’s scheduled quick shower,” said Rainbow Dash with a chuckle. “I told Spike about it yesterday.”

Indeed, Spike was holding small personal umbrella with one of his claws and shoving down the remainder of his hay fries with the other. “What?” he muttered with mouth full of hay fires, “I forgot to tell her about it, okay?”

“I saw you showing off those tickets earlier to Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash said nonchalantly. “Then I see you having a conversation with Rarity, what can Rarity say that’s interesting enough for you to take notes on? No offense, but you don’t look like one to be interested in fashion.”

“Well maybe I’m taking an interest in fashion,” Twilight said defensively. “I’m seeking to expand my horizons.”

“Oh please,” scoffed Spike, “You were practically drooling from boredom when Rarity was listing every outfit she had designed for John-eh!” Spike did not finish those words as Twilight casted a spell and a zipper had appeared over his mouth.

Unfortunately Rainbow had heard enough. She glared at Twilight, “Twilight, I think that you’re alright for a egghead but you’re stepping on thin ice right now. I care about that squirt and I’m warning you to not do anything too reckless, okay?” With that said she sealed the hole in the clouds and disappeared behind the black clouds.

* * *

Johnny was on his way to the house. He had finished his chores with Big Mac and the rain was scheduled to arrive over Sweet Apple Acres within half an hour. On his way he saw Applejack bucking a tree but she seemed distracted, “What’s wrong?” the boy asked.

“Huh... Oh nothin’ wrong Johnny,” said Applejack sheepishly, “What makes you think somethin’s wrong?

“Well ya’ keep bucking the same tree even though it gots no apples,” replied Johnny.

Applejack saw the tree she was bucking indeed had no apples on its branches. She gave a sight turned to face Johnny, “Yer a bright one, all right. I guess there no point in lying to ya’.” She took a deep breath and told him about what happened. “Twilight came by earlier today and offered me a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“Wow!” gasped Johnny, “Ain’t that supposed to be some big fancy event?”

“Yep,” replied Applejack, “It would be a great opportunity for the Apple family if we could have a stand there. We could make a fortune and fix things round the farm. But in return for the ticket, Twilight wanted something.”

“What did she want?”

Applejack took a deep breath and looked at Johnny straight in eyes, “She wanted you.”

“Me?” asked Johnny taken aback by what he just heard.

“Twilight wanted the chance to perform some test and what not in exchange for that ticket,” Applejack murmured.

“What did ya’ say?” asked Johnny with a face half interested and half afraid of what he was going to hear.

“Of course I said no,” Applejack said firmly. “You are mah little brother, I’ll never do that to you.”

“What about the farm?” Johnny asked, “What about all that money you can make at the Gala?”

Applejack took Johnny in a tight embrace and began to nuzzle the top of his head. “Johnny you’re my kin, my family. You’re much important to me that some silly ol’ dance. The Apple family will find a way without sellin’ out on their own.”

Johnny buried his face into Applejack’s chest, enjoying her warmth and security. “I’m sorry for sneekin’ out ta’ Ponyville yesterday,” he blurted out. Sure Applejack could be tough at times, but she did it to look after him.

“And I’m sorry for shoutin’ at ya,” she said as she gave him another nuzzle. They remained in a tight embrace for moment longer until Applejack broke the silence. “Well let’s go back inside ta’ house before the rain comes down,” she said. “We have to find Granny’s silliest girdles, Big Mac still has to do his part of ta’ bet.”

Johnny cheered up instantly and chuckled at the thought of his big brother walking down the street wearing a frilly bridle with laces. “Wish I could see that,” he said as he entered the house.

“I do as well,” Applejack whispered to herself once Johnny was out of sight. “I wish that you could see it as well and much more.”

“APPLEJACK!”

The shout came from above. She glanced up and saw Rainbow Dash heading toward her. She swooped above her and landed with a crash near some bushes. “Eh, sorry about that,” Rainbow said sheepish, “I’m still working on my landings.”

“Now what seems ta’ be the issue that’s getting you all fussed up?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow sprang up and glanced at Ponyville. “It’s Twilight. She won’t stop being obsessed over Johnny. I’ve talked to Pinkie and Rarity, though Rarity mostly doted over the Gala ticket, they told me that Twilight would promise them the ticket if they told them what she wanted to know about Johnny.

Applejack lowered her cowboy hat, “Come on Rainbow.” she said mildly. “I think that’s it’s time to pay somepony a visit. What does it take to get into that girl’s mind that family is not a force to be trifled with?”

…

Twilight was not in good mood by the time they arrived at the library. Her stomach was aching, begging her for food. She had no breakfast that morning and her lunch been ruined by the rain shower that Spike forgot to remind her of. Spike however was happily sitting on her back with a full stomach. “Spike,” she said before she opened the door. “I want you to dust the shelves, clean the windows, then mop and polish the floors. When you’re done with that, I have another list of chores for you to do.”

“Hey,” the dragon complained, “What did I do?”

Twilight did not answer, she wasn’t exactly mad at Spike but rather irritated. “Never mind,” she said before taking a deep breath, “Just dust the shelves, I’m going to be at the kitchen to make something to eat.” Her stomach growled in agreement.

She opened the door to be greeted by the sight of Fluttershy happily humming as she dusted the bookshelves, her small critter friends were helping with the chores. Angel was wielding a large duster in his small paws like a spear. He was busy charging and attacking the evil dust monsters and spider webs that threatened to take over the library.

“Well, that settles my chores.” Spike said with relief that his chores were done.

Twilight merely groaned and buried her face into her hooves. “Fluttershy,” she said with a forced smile, “What brings you to come for a visit?”

“Oh… I um- might have heard from Pinkie Pie that you had tickets for Grand Galloping Gala,” the pegasus responded with a nervous grin. Sweat began to form on her head, “And I was thinking that maybe you invite me…well that’s if it’s okay with you of course.”

“Fluttershy,” Twilight began, “I thought that you weren’t into social gatherings.”

“Oh no, it’s not the actual Gala that I’m interested but rather the wonderful private garden. It’s said that it has the most beautiful and fragrant flowers that only bloom during the Gala. And that’s just the flora… don’t get me started on the fauna.” Fluttershy squealed excitedly. Angel Bunny stuck his tongue out and made a gesture to Twilight not to get her started.

“Uh, no thanks, I’m pretty sure it’s very fascinating.” Twilight told the Fluttershy. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but what are you doing here?”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy began to mutter, “Well I was at the marketplace when Pinkie Pie told me that you had an extra ticket to Grand Galloping Gala, and I was going to come here to ask you might consider for even the slightest of the chance of inviting me… well that’s if it’s okay with you. When I arrived here I saw that the library was still a mess from your welcome party so I decided to call my animal friends to help clean up the mess. I hope it was okay with you. You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“Of course not!” explained Spike, “That was awesome of you, less chores for me to do!”

Twilight gave the dragon an exasperated look and was about to rebuke him but was interrupted by grumbling of her stomach. This time it was loud enough for the entire room to hear.

“Oh my,” gasped Fluttershy. “You must be starving! Don’t worry; I’ll have Angel fix something right away!”

Angel Bunny gave a salute and replaced his spear/duster with a chef’s hat and sped off to prepare a meal for Purple Pony.

“Well thank you Fluttershy, you didn’t have to do this.” thanked Twilight. “I still haven‘t decided who I’m going to invite to the Gala, but if you don’t mind, I have some questions to ask you.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“Well I was taking to Applejack earlier—she told me that Johnny hasn’t had a proper check up. I know that you have examined him in the past but you really think that’s enough? What if he gets sick or worse? Maybe you can convince Applejack to have me give Johnny a full check up?”

“I think that’s for the Apple family to decide. From all my examinations, Johnny is perfectly healthy boy and stronger that he appears.”

“But what if he gets sick?!” Twilight shouted “That’s why I thinks it’s important that I’ve examine him properly.”

“Twilight, everyone eventually gets sick once in awhile. It’s natural. Johnny is no exception; I remember that two years ago he caught a very bad cold. He had us all worried, but I managed to keep everyone calm. I made sure that he got enough rest and he was sufficiently hydrated and in a few days he was all better.”

“Well then, uh what else can you tell me about Johnny?” Twilight inquired, “Does have any strange habits or rituals? Oh you should really convince Applejack to let me have a chance to test on Johnny. Just think about the scientific discoveries Fluttershy.”

“I don’t think I can go through with that. Johnny is like a little brother to me, if the Apple Family didn’t take him in, I would have. I just can’t think of poor Johnny being locked up in test chamber to have all sorts of needles and tests to go through just because he’s different,” Fluttershy gasped. “Oh it’s just not fair-” she began to hyperventilate with each word- “Oh I won’t let that happened. I won’t! I WON’T!”

Twilight and Spike stared in shock at Fluttershy’s outburst. The mare’s rapid breathing began to slow down and eventually she caught her breath. “Was I shouting?” she asked meekly, “I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t mean it like t-that!” stuttered Twilight, “What I meant to say was that uh- well what I meant to say…what I meant-.” Just at that moment Angel Bunny entered the room proudly carrying a fresh salad he had prepared. Hey, that chef’s hat wasn’t just for show. When Twilight saw the salad she decided to quickly change the subject. “So, uh- Fluttershy, does Johnny have any peculiar eating habits?”

“Well when Johnny started growing his teeth, we discovered that he is an omnivore.” said Fluttershy.

“So he eats meat then?” asked Twilight as be once again began to scribble down notes. Fluttershy responded with a nod and Twilight continued asking questions, “And you are okay with that?”

“For the most part yes,” Fluttershy responded, “He’s growing boy and he needs meat in his diet to grow big and strong. Well I’m not a big fan of meat, but I know that Rainbow Dash and some pegasi eat fish. So I arranged a deal with Harry-”

“Harry?” asked Twilight as the scribbled down the new name.

“Harry the bear, he really likes Johnny. He’s even taken Johnny on a few fishing trips.” said Fluttershy with a smile.

“Are you sure it’s okay to have Johnny hang out with a bear?” Twilight asked in shock.

“Oh yes, Harry won’t let anything bad happened to Johnny, he sees him like a little brother.” Fluttershy gave serene smile at the memory of finding Johnny snuggly sleeping cuddled up with the bear.

“Hmm... subject seems to get along with bears,” muttered Twilight as she began to look over her notes. “Perhaps the bear sees Johnny as a fellow predator. I must find out more about his behavior—perhaps if he has any aggressive behavior-”

Splat!

Angel Bunny had flung the bowl of salad at the purple unicorn. He watched with a smirk as it landed on top of her head spilling all over her. He would not have the purple pony insult his fellow monster slayer like that.

“Oh my,” gasped Fluttershy. She quickly flew towards Twilight and began to clean the mess. “Oh, I’m so sorry Twilight, Angel is usually well behaved. I don’t what got into him.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight lied. In truth she was rather irked and her mood was getting worse. She opened the front door of the library and was about to kindly ask Fluttershy to leave when two pink hooves grabbed her and pulled her outside.

“ Twilight is my bestest friend
Whoopie, whoopie!
She's the cutest, smartest, all around best pony, pony!
I bet if I throw a super-duper fun party, party!
She'll give her extra ticket to the Gala to me!”

A group of ponies began to gather around to see what the commotion was about. Pinkie Pie was happily singing while holding a rather irritated Twilight. “Pinkie!” screamed Twilight, “Put me down!”

“Okay,” replied Pinkie as she dropped Twilight and she landed with a soft thud.

“What’s with all the commotion?” asked Spike as he stepped outside.

“I was just singing about how Twilight is cutest, smartest, all around best pony,” replied Pinkie Pie with a wide grin. “Hopefully she’ll give me her extra ticket.”

“Ticket?” asked a pony from the crowd that had gathered. “Ticket to what?”

“Why a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala of course,” exclaimed Pinkie, “Twilight has an extra ticket to the Gala and she’s inviting me!”

“THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA!?” gasped the group in union.

“I really like your mane Twilight,” said a pony in the crowd.

“ I’ll wash your dishes,” said another.

“Do you need any help with your garden?”

“I have cartloads of carrots.”

“I’ll do your taxes!”

“I’ll trade you 49 keys for that ticket!”

“What are we going do?” asked Spike. The crowd of ponies kept shouting offers and compliments and was getting closer to him and Twilight.

“We’re going to run!” shouted Twilight as she levitated Spike and placed him safely on her back. Twilight ran as fast of as she could but the crowd of ponies began to chase after her. She ran down the streets of Ponyville and made twists and turns whenever she got the chance. The crowd kept persisting, they would not let go of the chase. “Why are they obsessing over these tickets? Why is every pony so obsessed over the silliest of things? It’s making them act all crazy!”

“You mean how you’re obsessing over Johnny?” chided Spike.

“Oh don’t be silly,” retorted Twilight. They ran into an alleyway, the crowd was not far behind. It had grown in size as ponies joined the commotion or simply thought that is was a some sort of game. Twilight and Spike reached a dead end, Twilight could hear the approaching steps of the mob. She focused and began casting a teleportation spell. With a flash of light, they had vanished and left the crowd behind and appeared back at the library.

“Warn me next time you’re going to do that.” Spike muttered out feeling unwell from the sudden teleportation.

“I didn't even know I could do that.” Twilight descended down the stairs of to the first floor of the library. She was surprised to see her friends down there with different expressions on their face. Rarity was indifferent, Fluttershy was nervous, Pinkie Pie had a grin, Rainbow Dash and Applejack both and a glare the send shivers down Twilight’s spine.

“Twilight,” began Applejack in a strict tone, “We have to talk.”

“W-what about?” Twilight said with a forced smile.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe how you’ve been BRIBING all your friends to tell you about Johnny!” Rainbow shouted.

Twilight looked around nervously, “I wasn’t b-bribing anyone.”

“You kinda were Twilight,” said Spike atop her back “you’ve been doing it all day.”

“B-but-” Twilight stuttered.

“Now listen here Twilight.” AJ said as she walked over to Twilight, “I don’t mind going around and asken questions, well some questions, but bribing everyone is just wrong, wrong and dishonest!”

“But Applejack, he’s a new species and—”replied Twilight weakly.

“And he’s my little brother, a little brother who ‘am VERY protective of and if this is how you’re gonna behave around him then our friendship is OVER!”

A loud gasp was emitted from the group present, Pinkie Pie collapsed from shock.

“But Applejack, what about the Elements?” asked Rarity, “Without all of us together, they are nothing more than lovely jewelry.”

“Rarity’s right Applejack, w-what if something like N-Nightmare Moon shows up?” Fluttershy stuttered.

“Forget the Elements! The world has gone along just fine without ‘em and even if something like that monster comes round again ‘am sure we could come up with something.” Applejack reasoned, “Besides, it’s all on Twilight.” She stared intensely into Twilight's eyes, “ Can you behave yourself around Johnny Twi? Can stop obsessing over ma’ little brother? Can you stop treating him the some kind experiment or test? ”

“I...I…” she said looking around to all her friends and sighed, “I’ll be honest with you Applejack, it goes against everything I know as a researcher, and it’ll be hard, but I’ll try. I’ll try my absolute hardest to preserve our friendship.”

“Thanks Twilight, that’s all I can ask for. But just so ya know, it’ll take a lot of work for you to work up my trust in you. You’ve definitely lost a lot of it with your actions today.” Applejack turned around and headed to the exit. “I’ll be glad to lend a hoof without hesitation when a need for the Elements arrives. But for now I think it’s best if you keep distance from Johnny and Sweet Apple Acres for the moment.”

Applejack slammed the door and left, soon Rainbow Dash left as well. Fluttershy was near tears and was being comforted by an unsure Rarity. Twilight remained staring at the spot where Applejack had rebuked her earlier. Applejack’s words had stung her more than she could ever imagined. Princess Celestia had ordered her to study the magic of friendship in Ponyville with her new friends and now here she was with at least two damaged friendships. Tears began to form around her eyes soon the began pouring out like a waterfall as she collapsed to the floor. “I-I’m s-sorry, I’m sorry so-sorry-”she began to cry out.

Twilight felt a pair of warm hooves holding her tight in comforting hug. She looked up and saw Pinkie Pie holding her with tears in her eyes as well. “Cheer up Twilight,” Pinkie said sad smile , “I’m sure Applejack will forgive you soon.” Pinkie began to wipe the tears from Twilight's eyes, “Everyone makes mistakes, Twi, I’m sure you and Applejack will the best of buds. Now stop being so frowny downy, we have a friendship to fix.”

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned a very important lesson in friendship and a lot about myself. I learned that you can’t let something seemingly important take over your life. If you do then it can make you do things that you wouldn’t normally and make you blind about how you're treating others. Today I let something like that take over me and I almost lost one of my new friends because of it. In the end I lost a lot of her trust and now I have to work to get it back, but I’m fine with that because the alternative is something I wouldn’t be able to live with. I’m sorry to disappoint you that I messed up so much after you sent me to Ponyville to learn about friendship and I already have almost lost a friend, but from now on I’ll have a level head and won't let something take over my better judgment again.

From your student,
Twilight Sparkle

P.S: I’m sending you back the Gala Tickets. Let’s just say they caused a bit of the problem and if we can’t all go then none of us go.

Dear Twilight

While it saddens me to hear back from you like this, I’m happy that you’re willing to admit your mistakes and move on stronger from them. Also I apologize about the tickets, I didn’t mean for them to cause any trouble for you and your friends, as such I’ll be sending you six tickets for the Gala as an apology.

Your Teacher,
Princess Celestia

P.S: I shall enclose an extra ticket for Spike as well.

Author's Note

So as I said up top it's been awhile, almost 2 years. To be honest no real excuse aside from me just not having a creative drive for all that time, still don't really. There has been a number of times when I've wanted to continue this story and write new ones, but the moment I start typing all my drive is gone. But this isn't a pity party so enough of that and let us get down to business!

I've given the story over to a guy by the name of Antojo Pony. Now then just so we are all clear he has his own stories that he's working on so this won't be his main thing, it'll take time between updates. And before anyone ask, yes, I asked him if we wanted the story transferred to his account, but he wanted it to stay here to make it easier on everyone. Any words Antojo?

I know that my writing style is different from the previous chapters but I hope that that won't deteriorate your reading experience. Thanks to Flame for letting me write the continuation of his story. Shout out to Alticron for editing this chapter. Hopefully I’ll keep continuing on this story and I won’t take two more years for another update.

Next time on D̶r̶a̶g̶o̶n̶ ̶B̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶Z̶ Raising a Human in Equestria: Applebuck Season.

And with that it's time for a vote! Now then I know I've said a few time in the comments that Johnny would never be able to do magic, well after thinking about it there is a moment in the story were he can gain the ability to do so. Now the reason I'm doing this vote now is so you guys won't see it coming later, I want it to be a very slow gain of power, so slow you guys won't notice it when it starts. So here it is, Does Johnny get magic powers later in his life? Vote in the poll, discuss in the comments and the voting will end when the event happens.

‘Til next time readers.

Ch 8: Season’s End

Raising a Human in Equestria
Chapter Eight: Season’s End

Fluttershy woke up feeling miserable. There was a burning pain in her chest and her sleep the previous night had been uneasy. She kept tossing and turning throughout the night trying to drown out the accusing thoughts. The incident from yesterday was still fresh on her mind and sent shivers down her spine every time she thought about it. She could had done something to help, at least try to intervene in some way. But she just stood there, still like a statue, watching as two of her friends argued and possibly ended their friendship. No matter how much her conscious kept screaming at her to do something, she did not.

Fluttershy took a deep breath, she knew that the cold sensation and her conscious wouldn't leave her alone until she at least tried to fix things. Years of being friends with Applejack had taught Fluttershy how stubborn the farm pony could be. Fluttershy decided it was best to let Applejack calm down before approaching her. Twilight seemed like the more reasonable pony at the moment and she decided it was best to talk to Twilight first.

After feeding the animals in her cottage, she put Angel Bunny in charge and headed toward the library. It was still early morning and the vendors were just setting up their stands in the marketplace. However she noticed that Applejack was missing which was indeed strange considering how Applejack was always early to set up the Apple family’s apple stand. When she arrived at the library she was surprised to see that she wasn't the only one there.

Pinkie Pie was camping in front of the library. She had a small pink tent and small fire pit set up and was sitting on lawn chair while sipping a cup of coffee. Pinkie Pie eyes widened once she noticed Fluttershy approaching and with a wide grin, greeted her, “Hiya Fluttershy, how you doing this morning?!”

“To be honest not so well,” Fluttershy admitted, “I feel awful about yesterday and want to see if there’s some way I could make it up to Twilight.”

“Yeah, it was pretty bad,” said Pinkie Pie as she poured herself another cup of coffee from her beverage container. “The library doesn’t open for another two hours. Do you want coffee? I got tea if you like.”

“Tea would be nice,” Fluttershy responded.

Pinkie Pie pulled out a pot from her tent and filled it with water and placed it over the fire. “I also have marshmallows and crackers so we can make s’mores.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit too early for s’mores?” asked Fluttershy.

“Are you kidding? It’s never too early for s’mores,” responded Pinkie Pie as she began to roast marshmallows over the fire. “So yesterday left a bad taste for you too?”

“You can say that,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“I stayed for a while after you girls left,” said Pinkie Pie as she placed a tea bag in a cup of hot water. “Twilight cried for hours after Applejack stormed out all mad. I couldn’t sleep knowing that one of my friends was feeling so blue. So I decided I’ll cheer Twilight up!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed while taking a large gulp of coffee. Fluttershy could see steam coming out of Pinkie’s ears. “But I can’t throw a cheer Twilight up party if I don’t know her favorite kind of cake, unless she’s the pony that prefers pie. In that case, I can’t throw a party if I don’t know what her favorite kind of pie is!”

***

It was business as usual at Sweet Apple Acres. All appeared to be well or at least it seemed like it. The previous day had been a shock to Applejack. The past days had brought back fears she hadn't felt in years. The very thought that she might not be able to keep Johnny a secret had frightened her. Only just a few days ago she found herself to be the bearer of the Element of Honest and here she was now trying to fool herself. Applejack had always considered her be an honest pony. There had to be some merit to that. Why else would she be chosen to be the bearer of the Element of Honesty and help defeat the Nightmare Moon along with her friends and... Twilight Sparkle?

Just the thought of the name of that mare filled Applejack with indignation that made her blood boil. Her actions were complete justified. What right did Twilight have poking her nose in things that were none of her business? How hard had they worked in trying to keep Johnny for five years and now here Twilight comes and tries to change everything. Not even the other Apples outside of Sweet Apple Acres knew about Johnny, they had made sure that Fluttershy took care of him during the Apple Family reunions.

It might seem harsh, but they were for his safety. They simply didn’t know how the public would react to Johnny. Applejack would do everything she could to protect her family. Apparently that was something Twilight Sparkle didn’t understand even with all her fancy edjamacation.

A loud knock interrupted her thoughts as Johnny entered the barn with a look of confusion and concern. “Uh Applejack, are ya’ all right?” he asked.

“I'm fine and dandy,” responded Applejack with a forced smile. Inside she felt a cold shiver travel down her spine. “Why do ya ask?”

“Well it’s that usually at this time ya are already halfway to the marketplace to sell apples,” Johnny responded. “Big Mac wants me to help him fix something up in the barn for Applebuck season and ah was just surprised to see that ya where still here.”

Applejack smiled warmly at her little brother, “Don’t worry none, everythin’s fine,” she lied, “Just got a little behind schedule that’s all. How about you help out with the last batch of apples?”

In less than five minutes they had finished loading the cart and Applejack was ready to head towards the marketplace. “Uh, Applejack,” said Johnny nervously, “Ah know that I’m still in trouble, but I was wondering if I could on the fishing trip next weekend.”

“Next weekend?” Applejack asked. “Applebuck season begins in a few days, I’m not sure I can take you on a fishing trip. It’s going to be very busy around the farm.”

“Oh Big Mac said he’ll take me. Told me that he’ll manage to fit the trip in his schedule for applebuck season,” responded Johnny, “We’re going to have an all boys fishing trip, Harry and Angel are going too.”

“Why would Angel want to go fishing?” asked Applejack, “Last time I checked, rabbits don’t eat fish.”

“Sometimes you just have to get outside the house,” said Johnny, “Angel doesn’t’ like being cooped up in Fluttershy’s house all the time. Well that and he doesn’t want to babysit after a bunch of baby bunnies during the bunny census. And I think he and Big Mac have a competition on who can catch the most fish. I think Angel is winning at the moment.”

Applejack chucked briefly before saying, “Fine you can go, but only on the condition that you wear your life vest.”

“Okay,” said Johnny grumpily, “But that thing is so silly, why couldn’t Rarity choose some cooler colors?”

“Now there,” said Applejack as she grabbed Johnny and placed her hoof on his head, “It’s for your own safety. I-we don’t want ya to get hurt, do we?”

“Ah guess not,” said Johnny.

Applejack chucked briefly as she placed the last crate of apples on the wagon. “Well I’m off to the market. You behave now Johnny,” she said as she gave the Johnny a tight hug that he tried to wiggle out of.

Johnny glanced at Applejack as she walked out the farm. He couldn’t help to notice that she was acting rather… different. She was a bit more huggy than usual. Applejack had given him a bone crushing hug when she arrived home yesterday. She hugged him twice more during that evening, and even gave him a good night hug and read him a bedtime story, something that she hadn’t done since he was a baby. He knew that his sister loved him dearly but usually she wasn’t the type that hugged him every moment she had the chance; that would be Aunt Pinkie Pie.

…

Spike was not in a happy mood that morning. Twilight had stayed up crying all last night and by the time she fell asleep it was past three in the morning. Spike was tired and he really didn't want to open the library that day. But since it was a public library and Twilight was unable to fulfill her duties as librarian, that meant that he was in charge.

He decided that he would take an early nap. According to the previous librarian, not many ponies visited the library and those that did usually arrived past eleven. He tried to snooze past the alarm clock but groggily got up ten minutes later to turn it off. He went to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. By the time he unlocked the front door of the library it was five minutes past opening time. Immediately after opening the door, he was tackled by a pink blur.

“Oh good you're okay, I was beginning to worry that something was wrong,” blurted out Pinkie Pie. “Do you know that you open five minutes late today? You really have to work on opening on time. It's a good habit you know."

Spike grumbled inwardly but nonetheless kept a calm composure. "I'll keep that in mind." he muttered. "So what brings you girls here today?" he asked them in a more formal tone.

"Well-uh... you see... it's uh, it’s about uh-" Fluttershy began to stutter, she was rather nervous about seeing Twilight.

"Is this about yesterday?" Spike asked bluntly as he glared at them with his arms crossed. He never had seen Twilight so sad in his life, well apart that one time when her favorite book series was cancelled. In second thought, that incident had been worse.

"Yep!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie with a wide grin, "We’ve come to cheer Twilight up and make things right!"

Spike gave Pinkie Pie a skeptical glance but couldn't find any malice in her wide goofy grin. With a sigh he said, "Okay, I'll go check on Twilight. If she wants to see anyone at the moment, I'll let you girls see her."

Spike knocked softly on the door before entering the room. He shivered at the sight of Twilight. She was a complete mess; her mane was even more unkempt than it is usually was during the mornings. Her eyes were red and were still watery. She had an empty look on her face and simply stared at the wall ahead.

"Twilight," Spike called with deep concern. "How are you feeling?"

"I- I don't know," she responded weakly. Twilight then gave Spike a longing look, "I don’t know what I did wrong. It wasn’t until a few days ago did I discover the importance of having friends and now here I go and manage to lose them in a single day. What did I do wrong, what did I do wrong Spike?"

"I don't know," Spike said honestly. "But maybe you can still fix it.”

“I’m not so sure if I can Spike,” said Twilight, “Didn’t you see their reaction yesterday? Rainbow Dash and Applejack probably hate me and I won’t be surprised if the rest of them do so too.”

“Come on Twilight you have to cheer up,” said Spike with a weak smile. “I’m pretty sure that your new friends don’t hate you. Okay maybe Applejack doesn’t want to see you but that doesn’t mean the rest of them do. The fact that Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are downstairs and want to cheer you up has to mean something.”

“Are they really?” Twilight asked in a soft voice.

Spike gave her a reassuring nod. “Well you don’t want to keep your friends waiting do your?” he asked.

With those words Twilight felt rejuvenated, she leapt out her bed and quickly made herself look presentable with some quick spells. Maybe Spike was right, maybe she can still fix things with Applejack. It won’t be easy, but she will have to face the issue sooner or later. Right now however she had two friends waiting for her. Taking a deep breath, Twilight slowly descended down the stairs.

…

“Twilight, you have to understand that Johnny is a very sensitive issue for us,” said Fluttershy. An hour had passed and the conversation had reached its climax. It had started out rather awkwardly. At first it was small talk ranging over various different topics. Once the ice had broken, Pinkie Pie asked Twilight a lengthy series of questions about her favorite foods and things.

Pinkie Pie’s fast note taking skill came as a great surprise to Twilight, mostly due to the fact that Pinkie was writing them down on pieces of toast with cake frosting. Pinkie’s mood greatly turned serious when she asked if she preferred cake or pie. Upon hearing that Twilight greatly enjoyed pecan pie, Pinkie’s mood returned back to its cheerful self and gulped down the entire stack of toast that she wrote her notes on. Twilight had never seen such a feat before, she didn’t think that it was even possible to stretch a body to those proportions. She made a mental note to examine Pinkie Pie’s abilities at a later time.

Once she was finished with her questions, Pinkie handed the conversation over to Fluttershy, who squeaked at being put under the spotlight. Nonetheless Fluttershy bravely led the conversation to its main topic: Johnny and yesterday’s incident.

“Yes, I know he’s important to you,” Twilight said with a shiver remembering Applejack’s and Rainbow’s reaction. “But why, why are you all so keen on keeping him a secret?” she asked.

“Well…tha-that may be…” Fluttershy stuttered. Her face began to turn red and she began to mubble. “It’s uh…”

“Oh, oh I know this one!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she waved her hoof like an impatient student waiting to be called upon. “I remember it like it was five years two months and five days ago! Rainbow Dash was napping when she found little baby Johnny, well more like woken up by him. He wasn’t called Johnny back then. I don’t know if he even had a name at the time. So there was a voting period when we chose the name Jonathan Apple. But I like to call him Johnny Appleseed, I don’t know why but it’s kinda catchy.”

“I thought Applejack came up with his name,” said Fluttershy.

“That’s what you think,” Pinkie Pie said with an aura of mystery.

“Uh girls, what does this have to do with keeping Johnny a secret?” a flustered Twilight asked once again.

“I was just getting there,” said Pinkie Pie, “You see once the Apple family decided to adopt Johnny, Rarity wanted to keep Johnny a secret and Applejack agreed.”

“But why?” asked Twilight.

“I don’t really remember,” said Pinkie Pie nonchalantly, “You have to ask her about that.”

Twilight grumbled in frustration, “But you just said that you knew the reason!”

“Well I do. The only reason we are keeping Johnny a secret because Applejack wants us to still keep Johnny a secret!” said Pinkie Pie with a grin.

A loud groan filled the library as Twilight buried her face into her hooves. “That’s the reason for all the secrecy!? Why? It just doesn’t make any sense. He’s a new creature that we have never seen; just think about possibilities, the discoveries, all going to waste.”

“Um Twi, maybe you’re looking at this the wrong way,” Spike spoke out for the first time. The dragon had been entering and leaving the room throughout the conversation. Once the subject had shifted to Johnny he sat quietly next to Twilight taking in every word.

“What you mean?” asked Twilight.

“Well Applejack considers Johnny to be family,” said Spike.

“Johnny is family,” said Fluttershy as boldly as she could. Twilight and Spike stared at the shy mare in shock, who had, once realizing that she was the center of attention, hidden behind her mane.

“Yep Fluttershy is right,” said Pinkie Pie, “Johnny is family and Applejack is very protective of her family. And she’s especial protective of Johnny. You should have seen her panic every time Johnny decided to play hide and seek. He’s quite good at it, but it’s just not the same with him having to wear a bell collar.”

“But then why is keep him a secret?” asked Twilight in frustration. “I mean what if he gets sick or injured? What happens then? Yes I admit that the possibility of new knowledge interests me. Please understand that the things we learn from him does not only help us understand him more, but could benefit him in the future as well.”

“Twilight, Applejack does care very much about Johnny,” said Fluttershy in an unrecognizable tone that was surprising cold. “Applejack doesn’t want Johnny to be taken away,” she said in her softer normal voice, “None of us do.”

“Yeah,” said Pinkie Pie in agreement. “We don’t want Johnny to be taken away to some wacky lab where a bunch of strangers do crazy experiments and stick needles in him.”

“Stick needles in him?” Twilight said shock. “The only reason they would stick a needle in him is to either give him a vaccine or take a blood sample, and even then there are procedures that have to be followed. I would nev- they would never take Johnny away from his home for the sake of science, it’s extremely unethical. I just wanted permission to give Johnny a few basic tests, that’s why I tried to do what I did with the tickets.”

“Well how are we supposed to know that?” asked Pinkie Pie defensively.

“I thought you knew,” said Twilight. “There’s a guideline when it comes to these kinds of scenarios. Every researcher and scientist knows them by hea…” –Twilight froze for a brief moment in sudden realization—“Every researcher and scientist… oh.” Twilight bowed her head and said in a soft voice, “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m not very good communicating with other ponies besides the Princess and professors. Of course they would understand what I meant by performing experiments and tests. But you girls don’t work in that field. Pinkie, you’re a baker.”

“I’m also a party planner, fortune teller, and Ponyville’s Hide and Seek champion for seven years in row!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

“Right,” said Twilight, “But I at least expected Fluttershy to understand some of what I mean. Well you being a veterinarian and all.”

Fluttershy blushed and squeaked, “I’m not a veterinarian. I’m more of an animal caretaker, but sometimes I help ponies with pets.”

“Really?” asked Twilight in astonishment, “But with all those animals that you take care of, I thought that… well you know…”

“It’s okay,” said Fluttershy softly.

“No,” said Twilight strongly, “I’ve been making too many assumptions lately and look where it got me with Applejack. Perhaps trying to use those tickets to manipulate you girls may have not been the best course of action yesterday. I’m deeply sorry about that. But you have to understand I thought that using the tickets was the only way to get you to listen to what I had to say.”

“Well we’re listening now,” said Pinkie Pie, “So what sort of science stuff do you want to perform on Johnny?”

“Well I guess it would be just the basics for now,” Twilight explained as she began enter her lecture mode. “Right now the only thing I’m comfortable with is giving him a physical exam, perhaps a few medical scans. We need to figure out his basic anatomy. How is his anatomy similar and different to that of a pony? Once we have a foundation down, we can build on that…”

…

The sun continued on its daily journey across the sky as the day progressed. Down in the marketplace Applejack was in a very good mood, today had been an exceptionally good day and had brought record sales. Yet business began to slow down after the post lunch rush and Applejack’s mood began to falter as fewer customers came to distract her from her dark thoughts.

Her mood wasn’t getting better with the pesky humming bird that kept chirping. It had been bothering her for the past five minutes and wouldn’t leave her alone. She tried to shoo it away and tell to go pester someone else yet the hummingbird remained.

“Ah told ya’ to shoo,” she shouted at it, “What part of that don’t ya understand?”

Yet the bird kept chirping and flying in circles around the farm mare. The bird too was getting impatient in trying to give his message to the stubborn pony. Fortunately at that moment, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy decided to visit the marketplace at that moment.

“Applejack!” shouted Pinkie Pie in greetings. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going fine, would be better is this fella’ stopped pestering me,” said Applejack.

“Hummingway!” Fluttershy scolded the bird. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Hummingway flinched at Fluttershy’s words but regardless continued to chirp. This time however Fluttershy listened to him and understood the chirp. He had an urgent message to deliver and proceeded to give it.

“Two…two,” said Fluttershy as she began to interpret the birds movements.

“Oh are we playing charades!?” Pinkie jumped with glee, “I love charades! Let me try—two, two legs. Two legs… uh two legs… Johnny!”

The bird nodded and continued with his message, he began pointing at crate of apples. Applejack was now playing close attention to him.

“Apples?” Fluttershy asked, “Apple crate? Apple tree uh apple field?”

“I think he means Sweet Apple Acres,” said Applejack. The bird chirped to indicate that she was right. “Well what about Johnny and Sweet Apple Acres?” she nearly shouted.

Hummingway continued with a signal that Fluttershy understood for hurt or injured creature. “Hurt?” she muttered softly.

“So Johnny, Sweet Apple Acres, and hurt: what does it mean?” asked Pinkie Pie. “I think I got it!” Yet before she could finish her thoughts, Applejack was a blur running out of the marketplace heading straight towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“STAMPEDE!” they heard Rainbow Dash shout in the distance. “Oh never mind…False alarm everypony! Wow she’s fast…though not as fast as me.”

“I think I’ll go after her,” said Pinkie Pie. “Fluttershy, you look after the stand.”

Before Fluttershy could protest, Pinkie Pie vanished with a cloud of pink dust. Fluttershy was left alone with the apple stand. A large bulky grey stallion walked to the stand and asked in a deep voice, “So how much is a basket of apples?”

Fluttershy squeaked and quickly cowered behind the stand. The stallion stared at the stand in confusion. “Um, okay? I’ll think I’ll come back later.” He left the stand confused asking himself if it was something he said that frightened the mare.

…

Two days had passed since Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie’s conversation with Twilight and much had happened since then. It turned out that it wasn’t Johnny that was hurt but rather Big McIntosh. There had been an accident while they tried to fix to the barn. It was fortunate that the injury wasn’t serious and Big Mac was allowed to go back home later that evening. The doctor had given him strict orders that he should rest and not strain himself.

Everyone was relieved when they heard the news that Big Mac was fine. The only one that remained shocked was Applejack who took it to heart to make sure that Big Mac followed the doctor’s orders, even if that meant that she had to pick every apple during Applebuck season all by herself.

Applebuck season is what the Apple family called the harvest occurs during mind to late summer. It one of the two main harvests that occur in Sweet Apple Acres, the other being cider season with occurred during autumn. Then there was the zap apple harvest that varied year to year and the only one who could accurately predict it was Granny Smith.

It was a tall order but Applejack considered herself more than capable for the task. Her schedule was already jam packed yet somehow Pinkie Pie had managed to convince her to take the time to help her, Rainbow and Fluttershy with various tasks throughout that week. It was very early in the morning, just moments before the sunrise. She sat alone in the kitchen eating a quick breakfast. Today was the first day of the season.

“Yar biting more ya can chew,” said a voice as Applejack walked past the living room.

Applejack felt her back shiver and nearly jumped. She turned around to see Granny Smith sitting on a living chair glancing at an old photo album. “Whoa, Granny ya nearly startled me,” said Applejack.

“Yar biting more than ya can chew,” Granny repeated. “Ya aren’t the first to do so,” she said sadly as she glanced over a particular photo in the album, “Ah know that you will refuse any help that comes your way.”

“Of course not,” Applejack said stubbornly. “Ah don’t need no help, ah can pick every apple all by myself.”

Granny Smith smirked, “Apple Family Pride, both a boon and a curse. It allowed our family to do many great and marvelous deeds. Like found this great town, yet if not controlled it can consume you, like your great Uncle Crabapple. Applejack, don’t be afraid to ask for help when aya need it.” Granny Smith stretched from her chair and began to head towards the stair. “I’m not just talking about picking apples,” she said in enigmatic tone before she entered her room.

Applejack stared at the spot where Granny Smith was in utter confusion. She had no idea what she was talking about. Her eyes fell on the old photo album that Granny Smith was looking through. A cold chill traveled down Applejack’s spine. It had been years since she looked through that very same photo album. The last time she looked at the contents of that album she broke down crying, for that album contained the last known photographs of her parents during the final days of their lives.

Applejack shook her head and took a deep breath. “Never again,” she said coldly as the apple orchards began to appear in front of her. “Never again, so as long as ah can help it,” she muttered as she positioned herself in front of a tree. “Ah will do everything I can to protected them,” Applejack nearly screamed as the first apples of the season fell down towards the ground.

…

“And that’s how Equestria was made!”

The rest of the ponies stared at Pinkie Pie in confusion as she finished with whatever it was that she was saying. She had started with retelling the conversation she had with Twilight alongside Fluttershy. However she had gone off topic halfway in and managed to confuse everyone listening to her.

“Pinkie Pie what the heck are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked as she took a sip of her drink. The girls, sans Twilight and Applejack, were having lunch at one of the cafes in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie had invited them to discuss what she called a very important issue.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I am quite confused as well darling,” said Rarity. “Fluttershy, you were also there, what did you three talk about?”

Fluttershy blushed as she was put under the spotlight, “Oh not much, we apologized to each other and Twilight explained more in detail what she meant when she wanted to perform tests and some experiments on Johnny.”

“And what kind of freaky experiments does Egghead want to perform on Johnny?” Rainbow Dash asked fiercely.

“Rainbow, Twilight only wants help Johnny in her own way,” said Pinkie Pie. “Give her a chance; she’s not a bad pony.” She gave Rainbow Dash the look of wide puppy eyes. Rainbow tried to resist those eyes bust just couldn’t once Pinkie Pie started whining.

“Fine, fine I’ll give her a chance,” Rainbow Dash said reluctantly, “But only one chance and she better not screw it up.”

“Well that’s the best I can ask for,” said Pinkie Pie sadly. “But right now we want to make things right between Applejack and Twilight. Applejack has agreed to help me this Thursday when the Cakes leave me in charge of Sugarcube Corner.”

“Wait, the Cakes trust you to look after the shop?” Rainbow asked in shock as if the Cakes lost their mind.

“Yep,” Pinkie said proudly, “And Applejack is going to help run the bakery. She also agreed to help Fluttershy for the bunny census this weekend. Fluttershy and I have agreed to use these opportunities to our advantage in helping ease tensions between Applejack and Twilight!”

“We did?” asked Fluttershy as it was the first time she heard about the plan.

“Yep,” responded Pinkie cheerfully, “We are going to explain to Applejack what we learned from Twilight.”

“But you haven’t even explained to us what you learned from Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Yes, I am quite confused as well darling,” said Rarity. “And even if I did, you must forgive me, I must disagree with this plan.”

“What?” gasped Pinkie Pie; she could not believe the words she was hearing.

“I believe that in the end it’s up to Applejack and Twilight on whether or not they want to resolve their differences.” Rarity explained. “Also I am quite busy at the moment. My parents and little sister are moving from Trottingham to here in Ponyville and I am quite occupied at the moment to make sure that it goes down smoothly. They were starting to have second thoughts after the whole Nightmare Moon business during their short visit.”

“You have a sister?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes her name is Sweetie Belle,” said Rarity, “I think she’s about Apple Bloom age.”

“Oh! Can I throw their welcome party?” Pinkie interrupted.

“I wouldn’t ask any other pony,” Rarity replied with a smile. Her smile vanished as she continued speaking in a more serious tone. “But I must refuse to this little scheme of yours, Pinkie. I believe than in trying to interfere we might make things worse, and I have enough drama for the moment.”

“Rarity, you worry too much,” said Pinkie Pie, “I have this situation all under control. What’s the worst that can happen?”

…

“We came as soon as we could,” Twilight said to Nurse Redheart as she arrived to medical tent that was set up.

“Thank goodness you came,” said Nurse Redheart with a sigh of relief, “We need all the help we can get.” She opened the flap to the entrance of the tent. There were rows of cots filled with sick ponies. Some of them were rather pale or green and others were groaning and moaning.

“What happened?” asked Twilight. She stared at shock at the scene, what could have caused such a thing.

“There was a slight mishap in part of the baked goods…” said Nurse Heart.

“No, not baked goods,” interrupted a sickly green Pinkie Pie, “Baked bads”. She grabbed a nearby bucket and emptied the contents of her stomach into it. Twilight looked away in disgust while Spike stared in amazement.

“Whoa!” he said, “I didn’t even know ponies could do that!”

“Spike!” scolded Twilight.

“Sorry Twilight, but look at her go, she’s like a fountain!”

“SPIKE!”

“Okay, okay,” said Spike, “I’ll stop.”

“Spike stop, just stop,” said Twilight. “Nurse Redheart, how can we help?”

“We are lucky that we don’t have any severe cases of food poisoning. But nonetheless we can ease the symptoms for these ponies. Just make sure that they are hydrated, I sure that most of them will be fine by tomorrow and will be released within a few hours. I want you to help me overlook these ponies to make sure that no complications occur.”

“How did this even happened in the first place?” Twilight asked, “I thought that the Cakes were responsible ponies.

“They are,” answered Nurse Redheart, “But today they had out of town business and left Pinkie Pie in charge of Sugar Cube Corner.”

“They what?” said Twilight who was now dumbfounded, “But- I, how?” Twilight tried her hardest to comprehend how someone like Pinkie would allow such a thing to happen. She knew that Pinkie Pie was a skilled baker and wouldn’t bake something that made ponies sick, not even for a cruel prank. Maybe somepony else had poisoned the ingredients, but who would do such at thing? After Nurse Redheart resumed looking after other ponies, Twilight decided to get at the bottom of this. “Pinkie Pie, what happened?”

“It was an accident?” Pinkie answered weakly. Once she saw Twilight approaching her she hid behind her blankets.

“Accident? Pinkie, ponies are sick with food poisoning!” Twilight lectured her, “We’re lucky none of the reported cases are severe but still... Pinkie, how could you be so careless!”

“I was distracted okay!” said Pinkie at the verge of tears, “I just wanted to make things right. So I invited Applejack to help me with looking after the bakery. We were supposed to bake muffins! I was reading the ingredients while Applejack mixed them up. Then I was supposed to talk to Applejack while the muffins were baking but she was being all funny and I got distracted.” It was then when Pinkie started crying, “I’M SORRY! I didn’t mean of any of this to happen! I’m not a bad pony; I didn’t want anyone to get sick!”

It was a strange and surreal experience for Twilight to comfort the crying pony. It was the first time in her life that she was experiencing it from the other end. As strange as it felt, her efforts accomplished what they were intended, Pinkie Pie calmed down and ceased crying. “I’m sorry,” Twilight said weakly, “I guess we all make mistakes.”

“No,” said Pinkie Pie, “You’re right. I should have paid more attention. I guess it’s going to be while until the Cakes decide to leave me in charge of anything again.”

“Hey,” said Spike not noticing that he was interrupting the moment. He was holding a plate of some of the most disgusting looking muffins Twilight had ever seen. They were green and brown, Twilight could have sworn that she saw half a worm wiggling in one of them. “These things aren’t that bad.”

“Spike!” Twilight scolded, “Throw those away!”

“But they’re pretty good,” Spike said with a mouthful of the vile food. “You should try one,” he said as he presented Twilight a muffin. Now Twilight was sure that there was in fact a worm wiggling its way through the muffin.

“Okay Spike,” said Twilight, “First, dragons have different digestive systems than ponies, meaning that you can eat things ponies can’t and vice versa. Two, what you are eating is disgusting and revolting. And finally three, why is there half a worm in this sorry excuse for the muffin?”

“The real question should be ‘how did that worm survive the oven?’” asked Pinkie Pie.

Twilight grunted in frustration, “That’s beside the point. Spike, throw those things away and let’s start with what Nurse Redheart asked of us.” Twilight picked up the checklist that Nurse Redheart had left hurt. She took a deep breath, right now her priority was task given to her. Once she was done here then she would probably check on Applejack, something was definitely up with that pony if she was acting in such a way that even a pony like Pinkie Pie would describe as acting funny.

…

Johnny woke up to the loud crow of the rooster. It was still dark and the sunrise wasn’t until a couple of more hours. Johnny had asked Mr. Rooster to wake him up early today. His ears were ringing from the noise when quickly got out of bed. A quick look around his room and he saw that Mr. Rooster was crowing loudly just outside of his window.

"Kay, Kay, I'm up," he grumbled. He really couldn't be mad at the rooster, after all he did ask him for the early wake up call.

A loud knocking from his door told him that he wasn't the only one that was woken up by the rooster. "Wat in tarnation is that racket? Nearly gave me a scare," said Granny Smith.

"Sorry Granny!" Johnny responded, "I asked Mr. Rooster ta wake me up extra early today!"

"Couldn't ya just use an alarm clock? No need in waking up the whole farm."

"Sorry Granny, I won't do it again."

Johnny could hear Granny Smith sigh and chuckle, "I know how you young 'uns can be. Why I was quite a whipper snapper when I was your age. Well you best get packed an' ready if you want to on your little fishing trip."

Johnny got dressed his blue tunic and packed his bag with supplies that he would need for his fishing trip. When he arrived to the kitchen, Big Mac was already there spreading jam on a piece of toast. However there was another pony there that surprised him and made him stutter, “Applejack?”

Sure enough the farm mare was at the table with her head nested on the table as she nursed a cup of coffee. “Uh-wha?” she muttered in confusion. “Oh, Johnny what are you doing up so early?”

“Today’s is our fishing trip,” Johnny replied, “But why are you up so early, are you going on our trip too?”

“Nah,” Applejack answered with a yawn, “Got be up and early if ah want to finish the east field. I’ll do a big chunk of it this morning then I’m off to help Stuttershy with the apple census. That will give a few hours to manage the old bunny stand in the marketplace. And if everything goes to plan, I’ll finish the east field by the end of today.”

“Applejack, don’t you think that ya should at least take a break?” Johnny asked with concern. In truth, his elder sister’s appearance frightened him a little. Applejack was never a pony to care about her she looked, but her dark circles and bags underneath her eyes were a worrying sight.

“Ah said I’m going to buck down each all by myself and that’s what I intend to do,” said Applejack stubbornly. “Once I finish the east field then I shall prove that I am capable of picking every apple without any help.” She gulped the rest of the coffee in her mug, gave Johnny a very tight hug and headed outside. Johnny and Big Mac flinched when they heard a loud crashing noise. “Nothing to worry about,” said Applejack in a reassuring voice. “Just tripped on a bucket—Ah uh, meant to do that.”

Johnny and Big Mac continued to eat their breakfast in an awkward silence. It was Johnny that spoke first, “Um, Big Mac?”

“Eeyuup?” he responded.

“The south field is still full with apples isn’t it?” Johnny asked.

“Eyuup,” Big Mac responded stoically.

“Shouldn’t we tell her that?”

“Enope.”

“I thought so too,” Johnny said in agreement.

“She needs to take a break,” said Big Mac, “But more importantly, she needs to learn that there is no shame in asking for help. There’s no point in trying to carry a heavy load alone especially when they are out of yer hooves.”

“Right,” said Johnny in agreement, though he had a feeling that Big Mac was referring to more than just picking apples.

Half an hour later they were outside of Sweet Apple Acres and with a cart packed with two ice chests, a picnic basket, fishing supplies, a first aid kit that Applejack had insisted they take, and other random assortment of things that they might need on their fishing trip. Big Mac helped Johnny put on his blue fishing vest. He wouldn’t mind it if Rarity hadn’t given the vest frilly ruffled edges with bells. He had to admit that Rarity did make him a nice fishing hat to go with it. Well at least he didn’t have to wear his collar; of course Rarity was still quite mad that he tore it up in the first place.

A light appeared in the distance and began to slowly approach them. It’ appeared to be floating in midair. As it got closer Johnny could make out that the light was coming from lantern being held by a towering figure. Eventually the light revealed that figure was a bear and on top of the bear was a white bunny, holding the lantern, dressed in stereotypical yellow fisherman’s jacket and hat. The bear stopped in front of them and gave a roar of greeting while the bunny just simply nodded as acknowledgment their existence.

“Harry, Angel, just on time!” Johnny greeted them as Harry lifted him up for a bear hug. It was tight and firm but wasn’t enough to crush him. “Um Harry, can you pull the cart today? Doctor says that Big Mac has to avoid heavy lifting.”

“It’s not that heavy,” said Big Mac.

Harry the Bear however flexed his muscles and lifted the cart as it was a light picnic basket. He gave roar of amusement at Big Mac’s reaction while Angel Bunny began to attach the cart to him.

“Now you’re just showing off,” grunted Big Mac. The bear gave him a cheeky smile.

“Well that fish ain’t going to catch itself,” said Johnny as he hopped on the bear and took a spot behind Angel Bunny. “Let’s go!” And so they ventured on past Sweet Apple Acres and around the edges of the Everfree Forest, away from any carved path. They passed over tiny hills and patches of trees scattered around until they arrived at their destination. It was a small lake located an hour away from Ponyville near the edge of the Everfree. It was secluded and far away from any paved road, so there was a very good chance that nopony would stumble across the lake unless they were looking for it.

Rainbow Dash often used this area when she wanted to practice alone, sometimes she gave private showings of her new moves to her friends. Johnny was amazed when he saw the Buccaneer Blitz for the first time.

The air was crisp, fresh, and cool. The sky was lighting up but there still was no sign of the sun. Harry was the first to cast the line of his enormous fishing line, he was a civilized bear after all, and rested against the trunk of a large tree. Johnny attached a small piece of cheese to his fishing hook, Fluttershy was strongly against them using live bait, and he too cast his line.

Big Mac and Angel Bunny glared at each other as their rivalry surfaced. They both chose spots far away from each other and each set up their respective rods. Today was the day they settled the feud once and for all. Today was the day they answered a very important question: do fish prefer apples or carrots?

…

It wasn’t even noon yet, but Twilight Sparkle was in a very bad mood. She had spent her entire morning fixing a giant mess caused by a stampede of scared baby bunnies. According to Fluttershy, Applejack was supposed to help her with the yearly bunny census. Things quickly felled apart when Applejack foolishly decided to round up the bunnies like they were herding animals and scared them into a frenzy stampede.

This wasn’t the first time this week that Twilight had to clean an incident that was somehow related to Applejack. The baked bad incident was still fresh in her mind. There was also a rather uncomfortable incident that involved Rainbow Dash landing on her balcony. It looked like she was trying to say something but couldn’t find the words. There was a strange tension between them that was accompanied with a few awkward minutes were neither of them spoke but kept glancing at each other. Eventually Rainbow Dash muttered something about Applejack gave a weak apology and flew off.

“Hey Twilight, are you okay?” Spike interrupted her thoughts.

“Yes Spike I’m fine, a bit irritated, that’s all,” answered Twilight. “I really need to talk to that mare.”

They arrived at the marketplace with was now back to normal and ponies resumed what they were doing. Twilight headed straight towards the apple stand that the Apple family usually set up and noticed that some things about it were quite odd. Some of the signs were either crooked or upside down. The display was a mess and the overall presentation of the stall was that it appeared to be set up by a young foal. There snoring behind the counter was made by the pony Twilight wanted to talk to.

“Applejack,” Twilight said in voice loud enough to wake up the snoozing pony, “We have to talk.”

“W-what?” Applejack muttered groggily as she woke up from her nap, “Care ta repeat that?”

“We need to talk,” Twilight repeated.

Applejack yawned as her body woke up. She glanced at Twilight for brief moment before her brain reminded her who the pony in front of her was. Her eyes narrow almost instantly and her face became hostile. “Oh it’s you, ah believe that we have nothing to talk about.”

“Yes we do,” said Twilight whose mood was worsening each passing moment.

“No we don’t, now git!” hissed Applejack.

“I won’t leave until you listen to what I have to say,” said Twilight.

“We’ll I’m not interested in what you have to say.”

“You should because it pertains to your actions this past week.”

“Ah thought I made myself clear last week when ah told you to steer away from mah brother and Sweet Apple Acres!”

Across the apple stand a group of mares were interested in listening to the conversation unravel in front of them. They were sitting around a café table, sipping their drinks and sharing gossip before they started eavesdropping. It wasn’t that hard to overhear the conversation between Applejack and Twilight, Applejack wasn’t exactly being quiet.

“Did you hear that?”

“Looks like the new girl has the hots for Big Mac.”

“Feel sorry for her, she has to face the fury of a protective sister.

However this gossip went by unnoticed by either Applejack or Twilight how were now glaring at each other. Spike was sensing that things would soon turn sour and quietly and cautiously proceeded to put as much space as could between him and the two mares.

“I understand your concerns, but this isn’t about him!” said Twilight furiously, “This is about you and your actions this past week. You are partially responsible for poisoning a considerable number of ponies and as well as terrorizing newborn bunnies into a riot that caused quite a bit a damaged. I managed to minimize the damage but I don’t think I could go any longer helping fix your problems.”

“I am a hardworking and responsible pony! The most dependable of ponies.” shouted Applejack, “Ah don’t need your help. The only problem here is that certain pony can’t mind her own business.”

“Well when ponies are put in danger, it becomes my business,” said Twilight.

Applejack ground her teeth, she knew that Twilight had a point and would have even acknowledged it if she were in a right state of mind. However, her clouded judgment wanted to best Twilight. At that moment, Twilight personified her frustrations. The effort to keep Johnny a secret gone to waste on a single mare that discovered the secret on her very first day, the fear of an unknown future that awaited them, the uncertainty that no matter how hard she worked it may not be enough to keep her family together.

Something broke within Applejack. Her anger and fears burst from the corners of her mind where she tried to keep them in check. Twilight represented everything that was wrong at the moment and Applejack did not mind unleashing her anger on Twilight. “I said that your mind your own business,” she growled, “Why don’t ya just do me a favor and pack your bags and LEAVE!”

Twilight was shocked from Applejack’s sudden outburst. She tried to come up with a response but no words came to her. Applejack took the moment to continue with her verbal assault. “I worked so hard to keep him secret, to protect him, and here you come all high and mighty and want to take him away! I won’t allow it!”

Twilight took a few steps back from Applejack. A crowd had gathered around watching the events unfold in front of them. Never had the ponies of Ponyville seen Applejack in such as state of rage. “I’ll tell you this only once. Stay away from our farm, stay away from my family, stay away from mah little brother. LEAVE JOHNNY ALONE DON’T YOU DARE PUT A HOOF ON HIM!”

Applejack was breathing deeply as her anger began to cool down. Twilight was dumbfounded and was left speechless. The crowded around them began to murmur about what they had just witness. A cold chill came over Applejack as she realized what she had just shouted out loud. She lifted her ears and with a look or horror began listening to the crowd’s murmurs.

“What was that about?”

“Did she saylittle brother?”

“Johnny? Who’s Johnny?”

Applejack felt as if she was suffocating and found it harder to breathe every time the crowd mentioned the name Johnny. She felt her heart beating in her, trying its hardest to circulate blood; it kept beating faster and faster. Sweat began pouring down her head and a feeling of impending doom overcame her. Spike, having seen it before, immediately recognized the symptoms of the hyperventilating pony.

“Twilight!” he shouted, snapping Twilight out of her trance, “I think she’s having a panic attack!”

Twilight rushed into action. She levitated Applejack and placed her on her back. “Make way!” she ordered the crowd. “MAKE WAY!”

“Where are we taking her?” Spike asked, “The hospital, the library?”

“No,” Twilight responded as she began to pick a pace and left the confused crowd behind, “We’re going somewhere closer; hopefully she’s there at the moment.”

They were fortunate that the building they were heading towards was currently open. They burst through the door and entered. “Gentle please!” came a voice from upstairs, “No need to be so rough with the doors.” Rarity descended the stairs, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique where everything is—“

“No time for that!” shouted Twilight, “Rarity, do you have a couch or somewhere to place Applejack?”

Rarity lit her horn and a red fainting couch appeared in front of them. Twilight did not hesitate to place Applejack on it. She was still hyperventilating and Spike began massaging her back in effort to calm her down.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” said Rarity, “But what is going on?”

“She’s having a panic attack,” Twilight explained while recovering her breath.

Rarity gasped in shock. She looked had a look of utter shock when she looked over Applejack’s current condition, “What happened, how is she in this state? Just look at her. Her hair is a complete mess, there are dark bags under her eyes, she sweating up a storm and she’s shivering like she has a very bad cold.”

Twilight did not answer, partly because she didn’t know what to respond and partially because she was more preoccupied with Applejack. “I don’t know Rarity,” she said. “Spike keep massaging her, I think she’s calming down a bit. That’s it Applejack, take nice slow relaxing breaths, that’s right, everything is going to be all right.”

Applejack hesitantly did what Twilight told her and felt the choking sensation fade away. It became easier to breath and she began to take nice deep breaths. Though the majority of the pain was gone, she still felt miserable and couldn’t brush away that cold feeling of doom. Twilight and Rarity watched Applejack with great worry. She was very still, barely even moving, looking at nothing in particular.

Spike waved his claw in front of her eyes but got no reaction from Applejack, “Hey Applejack, you all right?” But she did not respond, “Well that’s all I got.”

Twilight walked up to here and spoke softly to her, “Applejack it’s all right, everything is going to turn out just fine—“

“No, it’s not,” Applejack interrupted in sad voice. She was now emptily staring at the ceiling. “It’s not going to be all fine and dandy. Did you not hear what ah said in front of all them ponies?” Applejack positioned herself on the couch and stared at Twilight straight at her eyes. They say that eyes are window to the soul, at that moment as Twilight stared into Applejack’s eyes, she saw a peek of what was going through Applejack. Twilight immediately took a step backwards, unsure what she had felt for that moment. “Ah guess I’ll go home now,” she said in a deflated voice as she left the boutique.

Twilight had nothing to say, she was lost in what to do. All her studies, her education, her books had never prepared her for something like this. She watched out the window and saw how Applejack was practically crawling her way home. She glanced at Rarity in hope that she knew what to do, but she merely shook her head.

It was Spike that broke the silence, “Twilight, why don’t you go after Applejack?”

“I-I don’t know Spike,” said Twilight, “I’m just confused. Applejack just suddenly burst out at me and the next moment she has a nervous breakdown. I guess I know why, she started panicking the moment she realized that she accidentally shouted out Johnny’s name to the crowd.”

“She did what?” muttered Rarity. “No wonder she’s acting the way she is. Oh dear, I didn’t think it would this bad. ”

“Please tell us,” said Twilight.

“Well, alright,” said Rarity. “Well not long after we found Johnny, after the Apple family decided to adopt him. Applejack started to have second thoughts. No, not like that,” she quickly added when she saw Twilight’s and Spike’s confused faces. “Applejack was having second thoughts about exposing Johnny to the open. Of course I didn’t help much on that matter.”

“You’re the one that suggested that they should keep Johnny a secret,” said Twilight, “Pinkie Pie told me.”

Rarity took a deep breath but kept herself calm, “Yes I did. We had never seen anything like him and I- well we were worried about what would happen if word got out of him. We didn’t know what would happen; maybe Princess Celestia would send her guards…”

“She would never do such a thing!” Twilight shouted out with great indignation.

“I know that,” said Rarity defensively, “We didn’t know that back then, we let our fears get the best of us and decided it was best that we kept him a secret.”

“For how long?” asked Twilight.

“Excuse me?”

“For how long were you planning to keep him a secret?”

There as pause as Rarity thought for a moment, “We really never actually talked about it,” she confessed. “Pinkie Pie was always opposed to it. Although she also had the same fears as we did, she was more willing to expose Johnny and take a risk. And as a few years passed –never thought I would ever say this- but I began to agree with Pinkie.

“But yet we all still agreed to follow the original plan. I kept telling myself it’s for his own safety, but really I thought we were doing him more harm than good and we were just isolating the poor colt. Looking back, we couldn’t really keep him hidden forever. It kept getting harder and harder to hide him as he kept growing, eventually he would simply be too big to hide. I honestly believe that there would come a time when even Applejack had to come to terms with that fact. But things took a massive step backwards with the events of the past week.

“The morning after we defeated Nightmare Moon, in Fluttershy’s cottage, you gave us quite a scare. You were hopping around excited about all the different tests and experiments you would perform on the boy. It didn’t help that you kept looking at him as if he was some scientific curiosity rather than someone dear to us. At that moment you practically represented what we feared of all these years: some strange official coming in and taking away Johnny to perform who knows what on him.” Rarity took sat on the fainting couch that Applejack had previously occupied. “Out of all us, I think Applejack was frightened the most,” she added in an afterthought.

“Well I guess that would explain why you and the others reacted they way you did,” said Twilight after some thought. “I think that I somewhat understand your point of view. But that still doesn’t explain why Applejack burst out like that me.”

“I don’t understand that either,” said Rarity, “But did you look at the state of her? Clearly she has been going some rough times. She looks like she’s been suffering from sleep deprivation.”

“Sleep what-now?” asked Spike.

“It means that she hasn’t been getting enough sleep,” explained Twilight.

“Oh you mean like the one time you tried that Sleep-be-Gone spell back in Canterlot?”

“SPIKE!” Twilight shouted with embarrassment. She wasn’t particularly fond of that incident.

“Princess Celestia had to get involved and then—“ but before he finished that sentence, Twilight stuffed her hoof in his mouth.

“We do not speak of that, do you understand?” Twilight whispered to him a harsh tone.

“Fine, fine,” said Spike. “But doesn’t sleep deprav-whatever like cloud your judgment?”

“Yes, impaired judgment can be an effect of sleep deprivation. That would explain why she reacted the way she did in the market place. But that does not excuse the incident at Sugar Cube Corner or the Bunny stampede.” Twilight stomped her hoof as hard as she could before saying, “Ponies could had been hurt!”

“But luckily they weren’t,” said Spike. “Weren’t you supposed to talk to her about that before she, well you know?”

“Yes, but in her current state I think it’s best if I wait a while for her to calm down. I guess the same goes with wanting to perform tests on Johnny. I really want to study him but it’s going to be counterproductive to try that at the current moment.”

“Well you don’t have to wait long then, Applejack did blurt his name out loud in the marketplace,” Spike.

“Spike I don’t think any pony is going to take it that seriously, Applejack wasn’t in the right state of mind. I’m sure other ponies will be reasonable and not think too deep about it.”

It was then when Rarity interrupted and said, “With all the drama that occurred today, I think we should all relax and have a nice cup of tea. What do you say?”

“Tea would be nice,” said Twilight.

“Oh, I have some muffins that would go nice with it,” said Spike as he reached into his pockets and pulled out a platter of the baked bads . They were still as revolting as ever and Twilight was sure some of them were now covered in mold.

“I thought we got rid of those, where did you get them?”

“I found them in the trash,” said Spike as he swallowed one, “They’re not bad. Come on, try one.”

“SPIKE!” Twilight roared for the eighth time that week.

“I think I’ll add extra honey to my tea,” said Rarity as the librarian and dragon bickered.

…

Tea time with Rarity went by smoothly despite its rough start. Twilight felt relaxed and refreshed when she left Carousel Boutique. Spike had stayed behind and volunteered to help Rarity with an order that she supposed be working on. Twilight was having suspicions that something was up with the dragon.

She arrived at the library that also served as her home. However before she could open the door, she heard someone shout her name. It was Rainbow Dash. She was flying straight at her and landed just inches away from her.

“Twilight!” she shouted, “I need your help. We have a problem at Sweet Apple Acres and Applejack has locked herself in and won't come out. I don’t know anyone else to ask!”

“What’s the problem?” Twilight asked.

“Good you agree,” Rainbow said with relief, “Hurry up and get to Sweet Apple Acres as fast as you can!”

“Wait, what—“but she was cut off as Rainbow Dash took off and flew towards the direction of the farm.

Twilight arrived at the farm so discover that there were around twenty to thirty ponies gathered around the entrance. They were chatting to each other, some of them exited and others had expression of disbelief. Overall the sight was enough to dampen Twilight’s mood.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked one of the ponies.

“Well just nothing but what has to be one of the biggest scandals that Ponyville has had in years!” she said.

“Yeah,” said another pony, “I heard that Applejack blew her fuse in that marketplace and said more that she should’ve. She said something about a little brother.”

“Really?” Twilight asked in horror.

“She totally did,” answered a stallion that had joined in the conversation. “We know what she really meant by’ little brother’, Applejack has given birth to a foal and is hiding it.”

Twilight froze, once again she was speechless. The whole absurdity of what she had just heard was too much for her to handle.

“I know,” said a mare, “It’s quite the scandal. But what I really want to know who the father is.”

“Well I know for fact that Applejack isn’t involved in the dating scene,” said another mare. “And no pony has ever seen her on a date.”

“Yeah,” said the stallion, “Some ponies are saying that they think that Big Mac is the father.”

At that moment Rainbow Dash had arrived, she glared at the crowd and shouted, “There’s nothing to see here! Go on, leave! Go bug some other ponies!” But the crowd did not move. Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a look in hope that she had a plan. Twilight just shook her head and Rainbow Dash faltered.

“Hey I know you!” shouted a mare that Twilight recognized from the marketplace, “You’re the mare that Applejack was screaming at earlier. What’s your problem with her?”

“Isn’t she that one pony that works for the Princess?” asked a stallion. “So is it true that you work for child protection? In that case I must assure you that Applejack is a responsible and model citizen…”

Before Twilight could respond there was the sound of ringing bells. Rainbow Dash froze; she knew what those bells meant. The ponies gathered around heard the bells as well and began staring at the direction to where the noise was coming from. Big Mac appeared from behind some trees followed by a bear. Some of the ponies present screamed at the sight of the bear. But the bear was nothing compared to the sight of strange creature that was riding on top of him.

Johnny had never seen that many ponies gathered together in his life. He had never attended the Apple family reunions, and wasn’t sure he liked large crowds. They were all staring at him and were making him feel uncomfortable.

“Um, hello?”

End of Chapter eight.

Author's Note

Author Note from Antojo Pony: Okay let me get this out of the way.

“OMG WORST CHAPTER EVER!!111 Characters are so OOC….. totally jumped the shark. The new author guy sux so much. Story ruined FOREVARR!!11 New guys fails so hard in life….BTW: FIRST!”

In all seriousness this chapter was a nightmare to write. I know it’s not perfect and there a number of mistakes in it (Besides grammar, structure and syntax), and there are plenty of people that would do a better job than me. That’s why I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this story (Unless you jumped straight towards the author comments for some weird reason), please don’t be afraid to leave any comments and criticism. I welcome criticism (it helps me improve as a writer) and by that I mean constructive criticism (I can take a comment that says that this chapter sucks as long as you have an argument why: if you are disliking and unfaving, please tell me why).

That said… whew this chapter was really a nightmare. And it didn’t help me that it was also heave in dialogue and emotion. Emotions are not rational; they do not follow logic. Maybe some of the choices made by characters in this story are wrong but remember that they were fueled not by reason but rather feelings and emotions. Of course some of you are not going to agree and argue otherwise…hey you are welcomed to think whatever you want.

Over 10k words, this chapter if officially the longest thing I’ve ever wrote. It’s also one of the hardest thing I ever wrote, even more than some college essays. The next chapter won’t be as long. Don’t worry I hope to resolve this story arc within the next chapter or two then we can go back to slice of life.

-Antojo Pony

Ch 9: The Best Laid Plans

Raising a Human in Equestria
Chapter Nine: The Best Laid Plans

“Uh, hello?”

There was was absolute silence at the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres. The ponies that gathered to gossip and share exaggerated tales were speechless, some of them for the first time. Johnny remained still and remained on top of Harry, the bear gave him a feeling a safety. Angel Bunny glared at the crowd with great dislike but even he knew not to make a sudden movement, but that didn't stop him from thinking of nasty plots to unleash. No one dared to move, Everyone was waiting for the other to make the first move. Twilight felt the tension in the air as it grew thicker and thicker with each passing moment. She knew that she had act quick before things erupted beyond her control.

“Attention everyone!” she shouted in an effort to grab the crowd’s attention. Only a few of them paid attention to her. Twilight groaned in frustration. During her studies she discovered that there was a spell once used by Princess Celestia and Luna to amplify their voices when they wanted to command authority. It had fallen out of practice over time, but Twilight felt that the moment was right to test out the spell. She lit her horn and spoke, “ATTENTION EVERYONE!”

Twilight now knew why the spell had fallen out of use but it did sure managed to grab the crowd’s complete attention. It’s hard to ignore a loud booming voice that could rupture your ears, especially when it sends a shockwave that shakes the air and ground. “Sorry about that,” she apologized in her normal voice, “but I need your attention. I know that you have many questions and I shall answer what I can. First of all Applejack is not pregnant, nor does she have a foal. Secondly, allow me to introduce you to Johnny. He is the youngest member of the Apple family, in other words, he is Applejack’s little brother. He’s is the very one that you were all gossiping about.”

Some of members of the crowd looked ashamed, others looked at Johnny with great interest, but the majority simply looked confused. “What is he?” asked a pony. Her question was followed by murmurs of agreement.

Twilight had to think quickly with a response. In truth she had no idea what Johnny was but she wasn’t going to tell the crowd that Johnny was an alien. She decided that it was best to play it safe. “I already told you, he’s a member of the Apple family. They adopted him years ago.”

“Then how come we never seen him before?” asked stallion that looked hurt about the fact that Apple family would keep such a thing a secret. “I never even heard the Apples talk about him before either.”

It wasn’t Twilight that answered but rather Big Mac, “Because we were afraid about how you ponies would react when you saw him.” He took a long glance at the crowd; none of them were frightened about Johnny’s appearance. Some of them even looked hurt or irritated at the reason they were left in the dark. “Clearly we were wrong.”

Big Mac’s comment sparked a flood of questions and comments among the crowd. Twilight couldn’t even comprehend half of them. Yes the questions kept flooding. “QUIET!” Twilight’s amplified voice boomed over the crowd. “Look I know that you have a lot of questions but please give us some time and space. So much has happened over the past week and I’m sure that the Apple family is under a lot a stress at the moment.”

“She’s right,” said Rainbow, “Big Mac is injured at the moment. Applejack is burned out from trying to do all the work around the farm. They both need some rest so if you can all just leave now and never come back, it will be awesome.”

“What Rainbow means,” said Twilight while giving the pegasus a glare, “Is that please give us some time to recover from this past week. Three days will be enough. I promise you that we will have the answers to your questions then.”

“Well that seems fine,” said a pony. The rest of the members of the crowd talked to each other and the majority voiced their agreement to her suggestion.

“Good, we shall call a town meeting in three days. Until then I ask for you to please have some courtesy and give the Apple family much needed space for them to recover.”

Some of the members of the crowd parted and went on their way back to Ponyville. Yet others remained. “But I want answers now!” a mare shouted.

“You heard Twilight,” Rainbow Dash shouted at the crowd. “We will answer your questions in three days. Until then scram!” She flew over them, giving them intimidating stares. “Well go on, move. Shoo! Scram and don’t come back until three days!” The ponies grunting agreed and left, though some of them didn’t look happy with being asked to leave in a rude manner.

Once the last pony was out of sight, Rainbow Dash gave a deep breath of relief. “That could have gone much worse. That was some nice thinking Twi.”

“Don’t thank me just yet,” said Twilight. “I only just bought us time. We have three days to make a case for Johnny.”

“Well yeah, but that would be a breeze,” Rainbow Dash boasted as she took off the ground. “Those ponies will be in awe with Johnny’s awesomeness they won’t know what hit them. Of course he had me as a mentor.” She scooped down and grabbed Johnny, “Hold on tight squirt,” and few toward the farm with Johnny in her arms and Angel Bunny holding tight to Johnny’s tunic..

“The way you’re talking,” said Big Mac after a while, “It’s like Johnny is being put on trial.”

“In a way, he is,” responded Twilight, “He’s going to be presented in front the entire town. All those ponies are going to be judging them. But from the reactions of the ponies just now, all I can guess is that they don’t know how to react to him. That’s good, if they have no prejudice against him, then we can persuade the town to accept him.”

“Do you think that would work?”

“Yes, if we can convince just a small portion of the crowd then we are good,” said Twilight. “But we have five years’ worth of questions to answer for and only three days to come up with an answer.”

“You know, this wasn’t how ah pictured Johnny being revealed to the townsfolk. Ah thought that some pony would spot him just like you did. Depending on how that pony reacted then we could slowly introduce Johnny to more ponies and he’ll eventually blend with Ponyville. Well that’s not the case now, is it?”

“That’s actually a reasonable idea,” admitted Twilight, “But yet sadly that is not the case. We have what we have and have to work with that.”

Harry the bear roared. It was then when Twilight noticed that she was standing close to a bear, much closer than what her nature guidebook called a safe distance. “Don’t mind Harry,” said Big Mac, “He’s a nice fellow but I guess that I better hurry and start gutting the fish.”

“Do what?” Twilight asked for clarification.

“Gut the fish,” explained Big Mac. “Fish spoil real quickly so we have to gut them so they can last longer. We use the guts to make fertilizer.”

“So Johnny does need meat in his diet then?” asked Twilight. Thought she was sure of the fact it didn’t do much harm to ask for more conformation.

“From what we can tell from his teeth and Fluttershy, yes, he needs meat in his diet. Is that a problem?” Big Mac asked rather defensively.

“No of course not, from what I gathered Johnny is an omnivore. It’s nothing strange really, we ponies have are omnivores too, our modern diet is definitely not completely vegetarian. The issue with Johnny and other omnivores is that there body needs certain nutrients that they can’t produce and can be found in meat and animal products.” Twilight said now reaching lecture mode. “Actually that’s something that we have to look into. What does he eat and even more does his diet include milk and eggs in addition to fish?”

“Johnny can eat most of what ponies eat. However he can’t eat hay, we learnt that the hard way. But yes, he does eat eggs and drink milk, most ponies do that too.”

“So he can’t eat hay… maybe it has to do something with his digestive system?” Twilight thought out loud, “So much we don’t know that it’s irritating. This is why I want Johnny to go through medical exams and tests. So we can learn more about him and makes sure he’s healthy. What if milk, eggs, and fish are not enough to cover his needs? Then we could look into nutrition supplements that we can add to his diet.”

“Well, it’s for his own health,” said Big Mac a hint of hesitation in his voice. “Ah, as the eldest Apple sibling, give you permission to perform tests and exams on Jonathan Apple so as long as you keep his safety I account.”

“The last thing I want to do is hurt him,” said Twilight. “Well, I need to go back to the library. I have to come up with a schedule for the next three days that makes the most of the little time we have. Have a good afternoon Big McIntosh; I shall be here first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Call me Big Mac,” the stallion replied, “All my friends and family call me that.” With that they parted ways, Big Mac and Harry went inside Sweet Apple Acres to start the smelly task of gutting that days catch.

Dawn of the First Day: Three days until Judgment Day

Apple Bloom yawned loudly. She had no idea why she was up so early. School did not start until next month and even then she wouldn’t be up at this time. She rested her head on the coffee table along with Johnny who was also doing the same. Spike was fast asleep and snoring rather loudly. It was around six in the morning and Big McIntosh and Granny Smith were wide awake chatting with that new unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. Apple Bloom had no idea what to think about Twilight Sparkle. She seemed a decent enough pony at the Apple family reunion last week.

“Is Applejack awake?” Twilight asked.

“Ah knocked at her door an’ opened it,” said Apple Bloom groggily. “She’s awake for sure, didn’t hesitate to kick me out.”

“Something’s wrong with Applejack alright. I have this itchy feeling about it!”

Johnny and Apple Bloom nearly leaped into the air. Pinkie Pie had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and was now sitting in the couch in between them. “Pinkie Pie, where’d ya’ come from?” asked Johnny who was now recovering from the shock.

“Through the front door, it was unlocked,” said Pinkie Pie like her sudden appearance was completely normal.

“But how did you manage to sneak in unnoticed and place yourself between us?” asked Apple Bloom.

“They don’t call me hide-and-seek champion for nothing,” said Pinkie Pie. “But if you really want to learn the secret and ancient concealment and vanishing arts, Pinkie sensei can teach you the noble art of hide-and-seek.”

Johnny and Apple Bloom stared at each other and shared the same look of confusion. They had no idea what Pinkie Pie was talking about. They simply dismissed it as Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Twilight however took down mental notes and was now sure that one of these days she had to investigate Pinkie Pie’s unusual abilities.

“Well then,” said Twilight, “I hope you got the message on why we are gathering here.”

“Nope!” Pinkie responded rather cheerfully. “Rainbow Dash just flew into my room and told me that there was an emergency meeting at Sweet Apple Acres. I came as soon as I could, but not without bring a batch of breakfast muffins!” Pinkie Pie pulled out a large silver platter with a wide assortment of muffins. They were still rather warm and the fresh aroma of the baked goods was enough to wake up the sleepy dragon.

“I guess I’ll have to tell you when everyone is here then,” said Twilight.

Fifteen minutes passed before Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash arrived. It took another thirty minutes for Rarity to arrive. “I’ve heard the most outrageous rumors and gossip,” Rarity said as took a chair, “What is exactly going on? Don’t tell me that the rumors are true?”

Twilight told the girls everything she knew about the past few days and the incident that had occurred the previous day. When the girls heard that a group of ponies had actually seen Johnny their reactions were mixed though they were better than what she expected. Johnny however began shaking and was being comforted with a tight hug from Pinkie Pie

“It comes down to this. We have only three days until the town meeting. That means that we have less than seventy hours to prepare a case for Johnny in front of Ponyville.”

“Well what are we supposed to do?” asked Rarity. “How do we convince all of Ponyville that Johnny is a sweet boy that isn’t a threat? Also, where is Applejack? Shouldn’t she be here?”

“Don’t ya worry none’ bout her,” said Granny Smith, “Ya have enough ta worry about. I’ll talk to Applejack soon enough an’ knock some sense into that girl.”

“Well pertaining your first question,” said Twilight, “We don’t exactly have convince everypony, only just some.”

“How many?” asked Rainbow Dash in voice that sounded more forceful than she intended.

“I don’t know,” said Twilight. “Maybe half of them or it’s less than that. I’m not a psychologist; I’ve only read books on the subject. But I do know that ponies as a whole have a herd mentality that is very evident when it comes to crowd. Ponies are easily influenced by their peers and surroundings. That’s why we don’t have to convince every pony in the crowd. If we convince just a few ponies, then there is a chance that they will convince their peers. Of course this can also work the other way, so that’s why we need to come with a strong case.”

“What exactly do you have in mind?” Rarity asked.

“I’m thinking about learning everything I can and present a lecture…”

“Come on Twi,” Rainbow Dash said in irritation, “Not everyone is an egghead like you. We want the ponies to accept Johnny, not bore them to sleep. I say that we pull something straight from Rarity’ book and put on something dramatic that will hit them right in the heart and straight at their feels.”

“Excuse me?” said Rarity indignantly.

“I think that we should stick to the facts instead of manipulating ponies by using their emotions.” replied Twilight.

“Why can’t we do both?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I agree with Pinkie Pie,” said Fluttershy. “We can make strong emotional argument and support it with facts.”

“I guess that works,” said Twilight, “Now that we got that out of the way, we have so much to do and so little time. I need to have your schedules for the next three days so I can arrange times to interview each of you and we’ll take it from there.”

…

The rest of the morning proceeded with Twilight making a schedule for the next three days. The rest of the girls, sans Pinkie Pie, left and continued on with their daily routine. Twilight proceeded to have a lengthy interview with Pinkie Pie followed with another interview with Big McIntosh. By the time she was finished with the interview with the eldest Apple sibling, it was lunch time.

Johnny was unsure what he thought about Twilight. While he knew that she meant him no harm, he couldn’t help but feel intimidated by the mare. He didn’t feel any better after lunch as he found himself sitting in the same room as her as she looked over a stack of books, notes, and various other documents. His only comfort was that Big McIntosh was sitting next to him in the room.

“Well,” Twilight said with an apologetic look. “I know that I haven’t exactly given you the best impression when we met, but I want to tell you that I don’t want to bring you any harm. In fact, I want to help you. As you know, you were seen by a crowd of ponies yesterday and they have never seen someone well like you. Right now they have a lot questions and we are trying coming up with the answers. If all goes well, then you will be able to come out of hiding and enjoy life as a member of community. Does that sound good?”

“I... guess?” Johnny answered hesitantly.

“You have nothing to worry about,” said Twilight in reassuring voice. “Your brother will be by your side the whole time and if there is a question that you don’t want to answer, you can just say so. We’ll skip it and I won’t force you to answer it, okay?”

Johnny noded that he understood.

“Good,” said Twilight with relief, “We can begin.”

Twilight began with a series of basic questions about Johnny’s favorite things such as his favorite color (green) or flavor of ice cream (cookies and cream). The questions then progressed to Johnny’s hobbies and daily schedule which Johnny talked about with enthusiasm. Their question session was interrupted when Rainbow Dash arrived that afternoon.

“That’s enough questions for now,” said Twilight. “So how about we take a short break?” Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash, “So what were their responses?”

“Well the doctor said that he would be glad to give Johnny a basic medical exam, but he told me that some of his equipment it too big to bring here. The pedra-pedri-attic or whatever said the same thing. We have to take Johnny to them.”

“But we can’t do that,” said Twilight in frustration, “Well not without having him seen. It’s not like we can sneak in into Ponyville General without him being seen.”

“Yes we can!”

Everyone in the room jumped in shock. Pinkie Pie was sitting on a chair next to them.

“Pinkie,” gasped Twilight once she caught her breath, “You startled me. What are you doing here? I thought you left after the interview.”

“Nope!” said Pinkie, “I never left Sweet Apple Acres. I was helping out in the south field. It’s still applebuck season and someone needs to pick those apples. But enough about me, let’s focus on you! So you were talking about having to sneak Johnny into the hospital without him being seen?”

“Yes, I’m thinking that best opportunity would be during the night,” said Twilight.

“And have him spend the night there?” Pinkie asked indignantly. “While I’m all in favor of sleepover parties, the hospital is one of the worse places to have a sleepover. They make you keep all quiet, the food is terrible and they won’t even let you make s’mores. They say it’s fire hazard to keep an open flame.”

“Pinkie!” shouted Twilight in frustration. “This isn’t about sleepovers; this is about taking Johnny to the hospital so he can get a physical examination so we can learn about his body structure. Right now the issue is how to take Johnny there without being seen. I can’t teleport him there and it would take too long to come up with an invisibility spell or potion.”

“I can do that!” shouted Pinkie Pie.

“You can make an invisibility potion?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Nope, but if you want to be sneaky-sneaky with Johnny, then I’m the pony for that job!”

“Are you telling me that you can escort Johnny to the hospital without being seen by anypony?” asked an astonished Twilight.

“Yep,” Pinkie chimed.

Twilight took a deep breath; while she was skeptical, she decided to give Pinkie the benefit of the doubt. “Okay Pinkie, I trust you. But can I have your word that you will take this seriously?”

Pinkie Pie made strange gestures as she recited, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Seeing the confused look on Twilight’s face made Rainbow Dash chuckle before she explained the situation to her, “Pinkie Pie just made a Pinkie promise. It’s pretty much guaranteed that Pinkie will keep her word. Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise.”

“That’s right,” Pinkie shouted. “No pony breaks a Pinkie promise. NOPONY! Tell me when and where and I’ll have Johnny there on time and unseen or else my name isn’t Pinkamena Diane Pie!”

“Pinkamena?” muttered Twilight.

“Please dont’ call me that.”

...

It took a while for Twilight to finally agreed with the plan to have Pinkie Pie escort Johnny. She made a mental note to study Pinkie Pie’s abilities when she had the time. Twilight’s interview with Rainbow dash turned out to be the longest one so far. By the time they were done it was dinner time. After the instance of Granny Smith, Twilight left Sweet Apple Acre with at a full stomach. As she trotted on the path towards town, Twilight didn't notice that she was being watched by a pair of weary eyes.

Applejack stood in silence in her dark room as she watched Twilight fade in the distance. She had no idea what to think of that mare. She wanted to hate her, scream at her, blame her for all her current problems, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Once Twilight faded in the distance, Applejack returned to her bed and delicately held a small picture frame in her hooves. She stared at the old photograph in silence until she fell asleep, dreaming of days and memories long gone.

Author's Note

Yay an update! The previous chapter taught me that I'm not ready to tackle 10k chapters yet. I apologize for all the errors and mistakes for the previous chapter and boy where there a lot a them. So for now I'll write chapters shorter and hopefully with fewer mistakes.

-Antojo Pony

Ch 1: What in the World?

Just to clarify, this story takes place five years before the Nightmare Moon incident. Also, the human is one year old.

What in the World?

Editor: The Special Pegasus

Out in the great expanse of Sweet Apple Acres, a foreign creature crawls about. Equipped with nothing but its one piece blue nighty and diaper, it explores its new environment. Trees all around with great big shiny red apples filled the creatures eyes, a single dirt path just in view, and a loud snoring barely reaches its ears. As it crawls, trying to find the noise that it hears, an apple falls from one of the trees and hits the creature on its backside.

"WAAAAAAAAAAA W-W-WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" the creature cries.

Off in the distance a cyan Pegasus mumbles in her sleep, "F-Five more minutes..."

"WAAAAAAAAA!!!"

She tosses in her sleep and mumbles again, "I said five more minutes..."

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The Pegasus shoots up and yells, "I said FIVE MORE MINUTES!"

"W-W-WAAAAAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAA!!!"

"For the love of..." She flew down from the tree and started to follow the crying. When she finally found what was making all of the racket she stopped in her tracks. When the creature spotted the Pegasus it stopped its crying and just stared at it. After a minutes or so of the staring contest the creature started to crawl to the cyan Pegasus. "No... no no no stay! Staaaay! Stop coming closer!" but the creature just kept coming. "A-A-AJ!!!" She flew off down the dirt path with the small creature slowly following.

* * *

A stetson wearing pony came trotting out of a big red barn. She just got done with all the apple bucking for the day and needed some down time, so what better to do then go back inside and have some of her granny’s homemade apple juice. As she was about to open the door to her home, she heard a familiar voice cry out her name.

"AAAAAPPLEJACK!!!"

Applejack turned just in time to see her friend shoot out of the trees and fly toward her, "Rainbow! What's got you so excited?"

"There’s this... this THING in your farm! And it's coming this way!" Rainbow yelled.

"What kinda "thing" is it?"

"Well it's small, no bigger then a new born foal. I think it was wearing something because its face and body were two different colors and from what I could see it had no fur besides like, a tiny bit on the top of its head. But that's not the worst part! It was sooooo loud, AJ! It was like being in middle of a thunderstorm!"

"Ya mean that thing over there?" Applejack pointed over to where Rainbow came out of.

"Oh Celestia there it is!" she turned back to AJ, "We have to trap it somehow."

"How do ya reckon we do that?"

"Uhm..." She looked around the farm frantically and spotted the barn. "Oh! We can trap it in the barn! Okay you go and hide behind the door and I'll lure it inside." Rainbow flew off closer to the creature and AJ went to the barn and opened the door for the trap.

The creature crawled toward the pair but stopped when Rainbow got close, "Okay little... thing... follow m-me." She started to slowly fly toward the barn with the creature almost in reach. With the creatures speed it took about seven to eight minutes but as they finally got close enough Rainbow rushed in and the creature playfully followed.

"Hurry on out Dash before it gets ya!" Applejack yelled as she closed the bottom half of the barn door.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Rainbow yelled back, but as she flew over she accidentally flew just in reach of the creature and was grabbed by her tail. "Oh no! It’s got me AJ, help!"

"Oh horse apples, I'mma comin' Dash!" Applejack jumped over the bottom half of the door and rushed to Dash's rescue. She grabbed Dash's fore hooves and pulled, setting Rainbow free and making the creature fall face first into the dirt of the barn. The creature got up and started to hiccup and tears ran down its face. "Uhm Dash... what do ya think it’s doin'?"

"Wha?" Rainbow turns around and see the creature crying, "Oh no! It’s going to start with the loud crying!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA W-W-W-WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Both fillies covered their ears in an attempt to block out the crying, but to no avail. Dash made her way toward AJ and yelled, "We need to go and find Fluttershy! She might know what to do!" Applejack nodded and they made their way out the barn with the creature left behind. They ran and flew with panic in their hearts as they made their way to Fluttershy's cottage on the edge of the Everfree Forest.

As the cottage came into view Rainbow Dash picked up the speed and went straight for the door. "Fluttershy open up! We have an emergency... there's a monster at Applejacks farm and we need your help to get rid of it!" she yelled as she banged on the door. After a minute or two with nothing happening she tried again, "Come on Fluttershy! If we don't hurry who knows what kind of damage that thing can do!" Again nothing happened.

By then Applejack was at the front with Rainbow and she asked, "Anything yet?" Dash responded with a shake of the head. "Maybe she's not home? Come on, let’s go ask that Rarity girl, those two seem closer than two peas in a pod nowadays. She might know where she is." With that the two ponies made their way back to Ponyville.

* * *

"Thank you for inviting me over for tea Rarity, it was really thoughtful of you." A butter yellow pony told her friend.

"Oh think nothing of it darling, I just love some company whenever I have some tea and no other pony would make for a better companion then you would." Rarity responded after a sip from her tea.

A blush appeared on Fluttershy's face that she tried to cover up with her mane. "I'm sure that there would be plenty of over ponies that would make better company... what about Rainbow Dash?"

Rarity rolled her eyes, "Oh please Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash would be some of the worst company out of everypony in Ponyville! Honestly I can't figure out why you are even friends with that brute. And that mare she's always competing with, Applejack I think it was... well she's just as bad. Oh but don't get me wrong dear, they’re both good ponies, it's just that they are just soooo... uncouth." she grimaced

"Oh Rarity, I'm sure that they can act civil. I bet that the next time you see them they will act-" Fluttershy was cut off by a loud crash at the door. Both fillies turned their heads over to the entrance of the kitchen just in time to see Rainbow flying in the doorway with AJ close behind, both breathing heavily.

"Why did you two crash through my door!" Rarity yelled.

"No time to explain... there is... there is a monster on AJ's farm!" Rainbow said through gasps of breath.

Fluttershy started shaking, "A m-m-m-monster! What k-k-kind of monster?" she squeaked out.

"The loud kind, now come on before it starts trouble." the farm pony said and ran out the building with the others close behind.

* * *

Back at the farm the group trotted along the main path. As they were walking an old looking green mare sitting at the front porch of the house waved them over. "Hello dearies, what’re a bunch young ‘uns like yerselves doin’ this fine day?"

Applejack took a step closer and said, "Good evenin’ Granny, we got ourselves a situation here on the farm that we need their help with. Ya wouldn't happen to know where Big Mac and Apple Bloom are would ya? We could use him in case things get out of hoof and I wouldn't want Apple Bloom ta get anywhere near the thing."

Granny put her hoof to her chin and looked deep in thought, "Well... Big Mac is out at the market place selling and Apple Bloom went to the barn ta play I think."

AJ's eyes grew to saucer plates, "She’s at the barn! Come on girls we need ta hurry!" Applejack made a mad dash to the barn with the other four ponies following close behind.

"Wait, Pinkie Pie!? Where the hay did you come from!?" Rainbow yelled at the pink pony after noticing that she was with them.

"What? I want to see the baby." Pinkie sang while bouncing.

"What are you even talking about!" Dash yelled at her again.

"Don't question it Dash! We need all the help we can get!" AJ yelled. The barn was close now, just a few more yards to go. When Applejack got close enough she pivoted on her fore hooves and bucked the barn doors open. Turning back around she yelled, "Apple Bloom! We’re here ta... save ya?" What they saw left AJ and Dash slack jawed. Over in the middle of the barn was Apple Bloom and the creature both... giggling as little Apple Bloom tickled the creature with her tail. The five ponies walked in and Applejack asked, "Uhm... sugarcube, what is it that y'all are doin'?"

"Oh hi, AJ! I was just playing with this little guy. He was crying real bad and I had ta try and help him." Apple Bloom said after she stopped tickling the creature.

"Him? How do you know it’s a him?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, what else would he be?"

"I thought you two said it was a monster." Rarity started, "But to me it looks like a newborn."

Rainbow scratched the back of her head, "W-Well you didn't hear the thing-"

"Him." Apple Bloom corrected.

Dash rolled her eyes, "HIM crying. Now that it-"

"He." she corrected again.

"Now that HE stopped, he ain't so bad."

"So uhm..." Fluttershy said.

"Yes dear, what is it?" Rarity asked.

"Oh it’s just... Uhm... now that we know he's not a monster, what do we do now?"

"What do ya mean, sugarcube?"

"Well we can't just leave him alone. He's only a baby after all.

"Are you suggestin’ that one of us should take him in?"

"Well I can't take him. I'm pretty sure he would just fall through the floor." Rainbow stated.

There was a explosion of giggling that came from the baby. Pinkie was holding a puppy shaped balloon and was bumping it against his face. "I would take him," she started, "But I'm sure that the Cakes wouldn't want a baby running around the store just yet."

"Well that just leaves Rar, Fluttershy, and me." Applejack stated.

"Well I would love it if he came with me." Rarity said, "Just think of all the new types of clothes I can make for him! Plus I'm sure that he would be able to keep Sweetie Belle out of my hair whenever she comes to visit."

"I wouldn't mind if he stayed with me. I'm sure that all of my animals would help me if I needed it." Fluttershy said.

"Well, he and Apple Bloom seem ta get along pretty well and Ah'm sure that Granny wouldn't mind looking after him when I go out applebuckin’." Applejack added.

Just then Pinkie Pie jumped next to the group and looked at the wall and said, "So who will take the baby home with them? Will it be the seamstress Rarity! The caretaker Fluttershy! Or the apple farmer Applejack! I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that you do."

"Uhm... Pinkie, who the hay are you talking to?" Dash asked.

"Oh, no one Dashie, no one at all." *wink*

To be continued

First chapter is done and with that your first two decisions. Now how this will work is simple, you will pick one thing out of each group, put it in your comment, and Sunday night I'll count all the votes and the story will change depending on said vote.

Now then, what you will be voting for will range from his personality to his future job. Every choice you make will change the story drastically, so make sure to really think about it. One more thing, his personality choices will have a little tidbit that will give you an idea of how it will effect him without straight up telling you (for the most part). With that done let’s get to the votes!

Who will he live with?
Applejack
Fluttershy
Rarity

Personality
Little Angel- "Awwww, what a well behaved little baby you are!"
Problem Child- "♪I don't want to set the world on fire♪... But I will anyway >:)"
Kid Genius- "H-How did you get out of the house! All the doors were locked!"
Normal- "Why would you pick this? What is wrong with you?"

*This first Personality choice will have the most effect on the story, so really think about how this will turn out in the long run, because this will be his base personality throughout the story and will open up different choices.

VOTING HAS ENDED, check out the results here.

AN: And to clarify a few more things, the mane 6 are about 16 years old right now and I know what you’re thinking: "Aren't they a bit young to raise a baby" or "Why aren't they living with their parents?"
And the answers are: I like to think that in pony society it is perfectly fine to leave the house at the age of 15 or so. Why? Because at that age they would have learned their basics at school and would know what their talent is. So they could be a productive part of society and would be able to find a job at that point.
And if you think about it 4 out of the 5 more or less have already got a place to live for free, AJ lives with family, Dash made her home, Pinkie works for a room, Rarity's parents paid for her place. Fluttershy is the only one that might have paid for hers, then again I like to think her place was just a hole in the ground and the animals helped make it what it is today.

Thank you reading this chapter and remember... let’s have fun with this :3

Ch 4: Shoulda Seen That One Comin’

Shoulda Seen That One Comin’

Co-Author: The “Special” Pegasus

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Rainbow Dash repeated as she flew around the orchard, fast as always. “If I don’t find him, AJ will have my wings for sure!” She continued to fly through the orchard, but in her panic, no matter where she looked, there was no sign of the little green clad infant.

“Oh, ponyfeathers, where the hay is he!?” she yelled in her frustration. After another few minutes of frantic searching, she slowly started to concede to the idea that she couldn't find the baby, “Buck it, the little guy is lost!” she finally swallowed her pride. “I can’t do this alone!” Preparing for a heckuva dressing down, she flew toward the farmhouse to notify Applejack.

Soon enough she spotted the house and made her way down. She landed right outside the door and knocked. After a few moments Applejack opened the door, “Oh, thank Celestia, I was startin’ ta get worried! Where’ve ya’ll been fer the past two hours!”

Then the farmer noticed the absence of her little brother’s basket.

“Dash... where’s the baby?” She asked, looking around in worry.

Rainbow started to look around nervously, avoiding Applejack’s eyes. Then she remembered what she came for and put the spine she’d been growing to its proper use, looking her friend in the eye. “I lost him, AJ. I just dozed off for like, a minute and then he was gone.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. Of course she’d lose him. With a deep sigh she started, “Alright, Dash... this is what we’re gonna do. First, you go get Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. Tell ‘em that th’ baby is missing and ta come help looking. When ya’ll are here, come look fer me, alright?” Rainbow nodded in an affirmative. The two left the house, the earth pony going indoors and Rainbow flying off to get the rest of their friends. However, in her rush, she didn’t notice that a little filly overheard the whole thing from atop the stairs.

“This is awful!” the filly would have screamed, were she not risking detection. She never would have thought something like this would happen so fast and so suddenly. Without hesitating, she snuck her way outside and made for the closest part of the orchard. At least, she would if she didn’t feel a pressure on her tail preventing her movement. As she expected to get her ‘Busted!’ lecture, she heard, not angry older sister, but whimpering that not even Fluttershy could pull off. Turning around, she was greeted by a brown puppy dotted in white looking at her with pleading worry and a guardian’s determination.

“Winona! What’re ya doin’, let go of me!” She said, shaking her way out of her pet’s grip. It was for naught however, as her pet wouldn’t let her go that easily. “Knock it off, I gotta find my little brother! Lemme go, lemme go!” At the mention of ‘little brother’, Winona slowly dropped her jaw in perplexion. A baby brother? And he’s gone? The pup was giddy over the prospect of a new pony to play with, but also mortified that he was lost in the woods somewhere.

After letting the information sink in, the dog started searching for a scent she wasn’t familiar with. Luckily, a scent does not disappear that fast after having all of the night before to accumulate, which the canine took advantage of when she detected the scent on her as of now, second youngest master. Overtaken by what a pony would call ‘protective instinct’, she grabbed Apple Bloom’s tail again, this time to communicate her intentions. It was a confusing minute and a half, but the point was made and the filly couldn’t be more grateful.

“Ya’ll wanna help find im’? Really?” After receiving a response in the form of an affirmative nuzzle, she gave the dog a great big hug and galloped off into the orderly gathering of trees with Winona following close behind.

* * *

“Granny Smith!? I gotta tell ya somethin’! It’s real important!” Applejack rummaged through her home in search for the elderly mare. Unfortunately, telling her grandmother would have to wait, as yet another nap had started in her absence. Either that, or the nap from last night never stopped to begin with. This was strange though, even for Granny. This hasn’t happened in a while. “Aw, shoot. Big Mac! I gotta tell ya somethin’ an’ it’s real important!”

“Hmm?” the stallion in question inquired as he heard his sister’s exclamation. He gently dropped the basket he was carrying to the cellar and as she arrived, gave Applejack his attention. “Big Mac, I’ve got some bad news.” The stallion simply waited for the mare to finish. “The baby’s gone missin’ in the farm somewhere, so I won’t be doin’ any chores now. Alright?” The older Apple replied with a worried but understanding, “Eeyup.” after which the mare went outside to begin her search.

* * *

A certain pink earth pony finished making sure the coast was clear and headed straight for the barn. She had packed a bulging briefcase filled with Discord-knows-what that she was having extraordinarily much difficulty carrying, or rather, dragging over from the bush she had used to cover herself. Proceeding into the structure, she opened up the briefcase and got to work, wearing a great big smile in her anticipation.

* * *

Applejack had been galloping through the orchard for half an hour, looking for the child. The only thing that stopped her, even for a second, was Rainbow Dash calling her name. She stopped and looked toward the sky and spotted her friend’s trademark rainbow mane. “Rainbow! Did you gather up the girls!?”

Rainbow flew toward her and answered, “Yeah they're waiting at the house, come on!” After that, the two ponies went full speed to the farmhouse.

Upon their arrival, the first thing that Applejack noticed was a certain pony’s absence. “Hold up. Where’s Pinkie?” said the farmer glaring at the cyan pegasus.

“Hey, don’t blame me! She wasn’t even there when I went to find her!” Rainbow Dash countered.

“Whatever! Alright, ya’ll know what happened, right?” said Applejack, now directing her attention to the other two mares present. She was met with urgent nods.

“Alright, now what we-” It was at this point that the farmer realized something vital. “Oh, Tartarus, I fergot ta tell Apple Bloom! Hold on for just a minute!” upon arriving in her sister’s room she knocked and opened the door. “Apple Bloom, I’m sorry fer not sayin’ so before, but the ba-” again she was stopped, this time by the fact that her audience was not even there. “Oh no, oh no! Not her too!” Galloping outside, she relayed the icing on the ‘bad news’ cake to the three mares. “Apple Bloom’s gone too! We gotta hurry! Follow me!” With no time to lose, they all followed Applejack’s trail while unbeknownst to them, a filly and her dog were doing just the same thing thousands of yards away.

* * *

“Winona, wait up!” shouted Apple Bloom as the puppy started running into the immediate distance. When she caught up, the dog let out a triumphant bark before sniffing the area again, her head slightly cocked in confusion. “The basket! Thanks Winona!” She looked into the basket and was consumed with panic once again at what she saw. “He’s not there!? What in the hay is goin’ on, Winona!?” To her subsequent chagrin, her canine companion looked up at her and beckoned her right back to where they came from. “Are ya’ll kiddin!? Ugh, hold on a sec!” She grabbed the basket in her teeth and shouted a muffled “Okay, let’s go!” before following Winona’s lead once again.

After that waste of energy, the dog directed Apple Bloom toward the barn rather than the household. Shrugging, the filly went in and started searching. Finally, she discovered her little brother hiding in a pile of hay. Happier than ever, she immediately embraced the infant, tears flowing from her eyes. “Oh, I was so worried about ya, li’l brother! Don’t ya ever do that again! Ya’ll done gave me a heart attack!” The baby simply laughed, reveling in the joys of hide and seek.

“Ooohhh, so that’s where he went.” Another pony said from the ladder she was situated upon. Apple Bloom turned around and took in her surroundings once again, confusion all over her face. “Uh, Pinkie, what’re ya doin’?”

“It’s a secret!”

* * *

The four mares continued to search the orchard, still in vain. As the hours passed and darkness fell, they were forced to come to the terrifying decision of going back to the farmhouse. “Oh, this is positively hopeless, how are we ever going to find them in the dark?” Rarity asked.

“We ain’t leavin’ ‘em out here, Rarity.” said said the earth pony leading them all.

“But Applejack... what if they're already back at the house?”

“An’ what if they’re right at the next turn! We ain’t goin’ back ‘til we find ‘em!” she asserted.

Having dealt with enough for one evening, Rainbow flew in front of her orange coated friend, “Listen AJ, as much as I hate to say it, Rarity is right. Trust me, I want to look for them too, but this is just too much. Let’s just go back to rest and tomorrow we’ll be ready to look for them all day.”

Applejack looked at the ground for the better part of a minute, “Alright Dash... let’s go back.”

They went back the way they came and finally got back to the main area of Sweet Apple Acres. As they got closer to the farmhouse they noticed something off about the barn. The group headed to the entrance and as they get closer they notice a clicking noise from the inside, followed by a lack of light. “W-why did the lights turn off?” Fluttershy asked, her fright rising.

“I’m not sure.” The group got to the front of the barn and slowly opened the door. They were met with nothing but the total darkness that plagued the inside of the barn. The mares braved the dark, with the exception of Fluttershy having to be dragged in, and once they were inside the doors slammed shut behind them. Panic started to fill the group, then suddenly the lights turned on and they were assaulted by a loud-

“SURPRISE!!!”

It took the group a minute for their eyes to adjust, but when they did they were greeted by an amazing, and rather confusing sight. The barn was full of party supplies, streamers hung all around, balloons filled the corners and floated about, all sorts of party foods were on the side table, and the best looking cake that the group had ever seen was sitting at the middle of the barn. More or less, the basics of any Pinkie party, but the thing that stood out the most was the small amount of party goers. The only ones that were there was Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, Winona and for some reason or another, Granny Smith, who was sleeping in her rocking chair with a party hat on her head, a party horn in her mouth and a pair of fake glasses equipped with loose hanging, springy eyes, with a very confused Big Mac next to her.

Pinkie appeared right next to the group and asked, “Were you guys surprised!? I know I would have been surprised if there was a random party being thrown in a barn, so do you like it!?”

Rarity was the first to recover, “Eh, Pinkie, dear, if this is about the baby, did we not agree that there would not be a party?”

“Well yeah, but then I wouldn't have my perfect record of having thrown a “Welcome to Ponyville” party for every single pony in Ponyville! I just had to throw one, even though he’s not a pony, and besides, I only invited ponies that know him already.”

Applejack heaved a sigh of relief, “Well, as long as we’re the only ones here I don’t see why not. Where is he anyway?”

Pinkie looked around for the child, “Huh, that’s weird, he was right next to Apple Bloom before the lights turned off.”

Rainbow Dash started glaring whilst hovering in front of her, “Wait, wait, wait! Are you saying that he’s been here the entire time!?” Pinkie grinned and nodded, oblivious to the flying mare’s frustration. “Why didn’t you tell us!? We were worried sick!”

“If I told you it wouldn’t have a surprise, now would it, Dashie?”

“Well if he was here earlier, then where is he now?” questioned Rarity.

“Oh, he’s under the table silly.” Pinkie answered.

“How do you know that, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked.

Pinkie giggled, “Everypony knows I’m the best at hide and seek.” She went over to the table, reached under its tablecloth, and grabbed the elusive baby, as he started giggling.

Rarity leaned over to Applejack and whispered, “The next time I make clothes for him, I’m going to put a bell on it.” the farmer simply nodded without taking her eyes off the two.

Apple Bloom went over to the group who were now distracted by the party pony as she repeatedly tossed the baby about six feet in the air. She tapped her sister’s leg in order to get her attention, “I’m sorry that we made you worried, Applejack, but when Winona found ‘em in the barn, Pinkie was already getting the party set up and she said that she wanted to surprise everypony.” she said while looking down, coating her face with an expression of guilt and pleading.

Applejack simply nuzzled her, “It’s alright, Apple Bloom. It gave us a mighty big scare, but in the end, nopony was hurt and that’s all that matters.” she looked at the others, “Come on girls, we shouldn’t let this party go ta waste.”

“Wait, you’re just gonna go with it? Shouldn't you yell at her or something!?” Dash yelled.

“Oh, don’tcha worry ‘bout that, Rainbow... I’ll have words with ‘er later, they just ain’t very nice words for a time like this.” she said with a little anger.

After that, the party really began. They played the many games that Pinkie prepared, ate the wonderful food that she made, and put even more stuff on the snoozing Granny Smith. After all was said and done, there was just one last thing to do to make the welcome party complete. “Okay everypony,” the party pony began, “it’s time for the cake!” They all gathered around and were more than happy to start digging in, until Pinkie stopped them, “Wait! You guys can’t eat it yet!”

“But you just said it was time to eat it, Pinkie!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Yes, but it’s missing the most important part!” she said as she pulled out a icing pipe from her mane. “His name! I mean, It’s not like we can have a Welcome to Ponyville cake that says, “Welcome to Ponyville Strange Creature Baby Thing”. It wouldn't fit on the cake if we did that!” she said with a smile on her muzzle.

All eyes turned to Applejack, “Alright, alright, hold yer horses, I’m thinkin’.” She put her hoof to her chin in thought while looking at the half asleep baby. After a minute she smiled and said, “How ‘bout Jonathan Apple?” The group rolled the name in their heads and they all nodded in agreement, all but Pinkie.

“Blugh.” she stated with her tongue hanging out, “That sounds like some old pony’s name, I’m gonna call him Johnny Appleseed!”

“You know, now that she mentions it, that name does sound a bit too grown up for him.” Rarity added.

“Yeah, plus, Johnny Appleseed sound so much cooler then Jonathan Apple.” Rainbow agreed.

“Fine.” Applejack grumbled, “You can call him whatever y’all want, but his name is still Jonathan Apple and that’s how it’s gonna stay.”

“Aaaaaaand done! Alright everypony, dig in!” Pinkie shouted as she finished putting his new name on the cake.

* * Five Years Later * *

It was the day of the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration. In the distance, a royal chariot carrying a unicorn and a young dragon was approaching the town of Ponyville. “...doesn’t that make you happy?” said the reptilian child. As he listened to his sister’s response he took the opportunity to take in the view. By a stroke of coincidence, he managed to spot a large red speck in the ground who, for some strange reason, was carrying something weird looking on their back. A moment of thought led to the drake dismissing it as his imagination. Regardless, the time he had spent living with the biggest egghead in Equestria had rubbed off on him and the thought would not leave his mind that easily. Oh well, I’ll think about it later.

To be continued...

VOTING IS OVER

It’s the time to make your choices! This time around the choices will determine his personality and will unlock/block some paths in the future. The rules for voting-
1- You pick from three of the five groups below.
2- In the groups you pick, you choose one of the two options.
Example- (Shy Shutin, Too Smart, Deva)

OutGoing- "Where my peeps at!."
Shy Shutin- "Oh great... another Fluttershy."

Hey Good Looking- "What a handsome young man."
Hey... Not so Good Looking- "W-What a...a h-handsome young ma- I just can't do it!"

Too Smart- "NERD!"
The “Special” Child- "You must of been dropped on your head off screen."(Think Dil Pickles from “All Grown Up”. Trust me it’s not nearly as bad as you’re thinking, it won't make him brain damaged.)

Athlete- "Stop running!"
Couch Potato- "Start running!"

Diva- "?Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do?"
Tone Deaf- "It's like a cat scratching a chalkboard!"

The top three choices will be the ones that will be the most prominent, while the other two will act like the middle ground of their group (let’s say the last group doesn’t pass, he won’t be good at singing but won’t be terrible either.)

VOTING IS OVER

AN: First things first, gotta give a big thank you to MrDenim for suggesting the name “Jonathan Apple” and Ambassador_Derpius for suggesting the name “Johnny Appleseed” In my opinion those names fit him perfectly, so thank you gentlemen, my metaphorical hat goes off to you.

Not that much to say about this chapter really, have no reason to explain my thought process for anything. Well then, see you guys next time.

C-AN: Well then. I gotta say, fantastic name. I just thought of something, this might be fun. Try telling the difference between the parts I wrote and the parts that Flame wrote. You know, for the lulz. I got nothin else, see ya.