The Kings of Clopton

"I have had just about enuff of you, you varmint!" Applejack yelled as her hoof collided with Shock's face, sending him flying, yet again, towards a tree. Unfortunately for Shock the tree was filled with apples, and with the force of the buck, they all fell from the tree onto him, effectively burying him in apples.

"Bwahahaha! Oh Applejack, that was hilarious!" Ulfric wheezed, trying to regain his breathing after witnessing such an act, but eventually regained his composure.

"If you ask me, he has it coming every time. He still hasn't changed from Clopton." Traz said, shaking his head in disapproval of his friend's actions. After calming down slightly, Applejack continued her small trek to the farm, with the current duo following. Coming into range of the farm, Traz saw the biggest stallion ever. He didn't even think Ulfric reached his massive size. It was hard not to notice him either, as his coat was a shade of red that showed throughout the now slightly darkening day. Traz couldn't help to feel intimidated by the stallion just by looking at him.

"Applejack, where have ya'll been all day? And who are these folks you brought wit ya?" The humungous stallion said, casting his glance over in their general direction.

"Just some new ponies in town Big Mac, showin' em round Ponyville, probably won't be back home till sundown." Applejack said, responding to the giant. Even Ulfric himself was intimidated, what if this Big Mac was her lover? With all the flirting he had been doing, he'd be as good as dead.

"It's... nice to meet you Big Mac, I'm Ulfric Stronghoof, this is Traz, and over there is Allegro Aftershock, but we just call him Shock for short." Ulfric said, still clearly worrying for his well being.

"It's nice ta meet ya'll, I'm AJ's brother, Big Macintosh. And Applejack, I know ya'll are probably wantin' to introduce these folks to Applebloom, but she's off crusadin' with the others, and Granny Smith just fell asleep not to long ago. Why don't you take em on with ya back to town, I'm sure ya'll got somethin' better to do than sittin' on a farm. If Ulfric hadn't been fearing for his life, he may have noticed that Big Mac winked at Applejack as he said those final words, as if to imply something.

"What do ya mean Big Ma... Ohhh Ohh! Yeah! We got lotsa stuff to do, let's get a move on ya'll!" Applejack said, now visibly nervous about the situation. While Ulfric was still thanking Celestia that Big Mac was only her brother, Traz picked up on her new attitude and got suspicious, but kept it to himself.

"Ughh....My head..." Shock said, finally rousing from his fruit coffin, and noticed his friends and Applejack walking back towards town. "Ohhh Cmon! We like, JUST got here!" But like most of the time, he was ignored and simply sighed in defeat as they headed towards their next location.

Along the way, Applejack thought she heard snoring coming from one of her trees, but let it slide. However, as they got closer to town, the snoring got louder, and finally it was clearly audible from one of the Acre's trees. Applejack, protective as always, immediately fished out her lasso and hogtied the offender from the tree. While the figure was falling, Applejack immediately realized it was Rainbow Dash, who she had told days ago to stop napping in her trees.

"Rainbow! I thought Ah told ya to stop nappin' in them trees!" Rainbow, stunned from being force ably pulled from her nap, and slamming onto the hard ground, simply stared at Applejack for a minute before her brain started working again.

"Ohhh your in trouble!" Shock cackled, happy at the idea of someone besides himself getting beat for once, but this was not meant to be as Ulfric's hoof found it's way to the back of his head.

"Oww! Why do I always get hurt!" Screeched Shock, now clinging to the back of his head as it throbbed repeatedly. Rainbow Dash began to snicker, but then she too received a hoof the the back of the head, albeit this one being orange, and that shut her up.

"Wait a minute, I remember you! You're that pegasus who ran off earlier, I never got to introduce myself, I'm Traz, and this idiot over here is Allegro Aftershock, or just Shock for short." Rainbow for a minute looked puzzled, but then the gears started turning in her mind, and her confused expression soon turned to a scowl of annoyance.

"Yeah, your that stallion from earlier who didn't help his friends when they started fighting! I thought I was clear when I acted like I didn't like you!" Traz looked visibly hurt by this, but Shock didn't seem to give a buck.

"Now Rainbow, it's not like that anymore, wha don't ya just make up with em? He looks mighty sorry ta me." Applejack, as always, was counted upon to console the aggravated Rainbow Dash.

"Ughh, Fine. I'm Rainbow Dash, best flyer in all of Equestria!" Shock immediately burst into a fit of laughter, and received glares from everyone in the group. When he finally recovered, he noticed this, and simply shrugged.

"No offense, Rainbow but I highly doubt that you're faster than the wonderbolts." While his behavior was rude, Ulfric and Traz seemed to at least somewhat agree with his evidence.

"Oh yeah? Can the wonderbolts pull off a sonic rainboom?" Rainbow Dash asked, effectively silencing the entire group.

"What's a sonic rainboom?" Ulfric stupidly asked, but was met with an answer when Rainbow dashed off into the sky, leaving a glowing rainbow trail in her wake. Traz "Oooed' at this wondrous sight, but they hadn't even seen the beginning. As Rainbow reached miles into the sky, she turned, and began to fly down at wonderous speeds. Traz, as a pegasus, thought this meant she was falling and quickly leaped up into the air after her, but was halted by Ulfric grabbing his tail.

"What are you doing? She's falling, I have to do something!" Screamed Traz, not intent on letting anyone die on his watch.

"She's doing it on purpose you nitwit." Ulfric said, his mouth full of tail. Traz was still on edge, but let himself be pulled down. When he finally touched down, there was an explosion of epic proportions of color and noise, and when they looked up, it spread in all directions effectively shining the night sky with beauty. All of them besides Applejack gawked at the sight, amazed by what they had seen. When Rainbow Dash finally touched down, it was with a smug look that simply said, "I told ya so."

"So, gonna question me again Shocky?" Rainbow smugly questioned, but before he could even respond, she beat him too it. "I know, that was the coolest thing you've ever seen, and I'd love to have you all adore me some more, but I've got places to be." And with that, she took off towards Ponyville.

"What. Just. Happened." Ulfric said, after about five minutes of silence.

"That was Rainbow's signature move, the sonic rainboom" Applejack said, still amused at their reactions.

"I think I'm going to hurl, that filly actually did something pretty damn awesome." Shock said, not at all happy with the situation.

"Well ya gotta hold it for a little while longer, we're goin' on to Sugarcube Corner." Applejack proceed to walk down the road, with the trio following her. The trip was made in relative silence, but when they got there, the trio knew something was wrong. No one was outside, not even a mouse, and all the lights in the Sugarcube Corner were off. But before they could question anything, Applejack shoved them all inside, shut the door behind them, and they were bathed in the darkness. Before they could begin to panic, the lights flashed on, and only one word could be heard above the screaming now admitting itself from the crowd that surrounded them, and it came from each of the stallion's minds.

Buck!