Love Is The Most Powerful Thing

Smiling, Vinyl trotted down the road.

"Let's see...Sweet Apple Acres."

She came to a large arch leading into a rural farm area.

Her abrasive knock at the door was answered by a cute little earth pony filly.

"Hey, my name is Vinyl Scratch."

The filly peered at her angrily.

"Y'all wouldn't be trying ta do sum'tin' ta our Apple Trust?"

"No," she said with genuine confusion, "why would I?"

"We've gotten lotsa vis'ters lately...tryin' to topple our apples."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Vinyl.

"Alrighty...y'all looks safe enough."

She moved over, letting Vinyl pass.

In the house were three ponies.

One, an older earth pony, said, "Dang nab y'all youngsters! Ya're talkin' all the tahme, not letting yahre gramma sleep a moment!"

Another said, "Well, what with all these apple-thieving villains, we've been tryin' to protect y'all's Apple Empire!"

The third, "Eeyup."

Noticing the strangers, she scowled.

"Ah suppose ya're here ta try an' bargain fer apple-sellin' rights?" she asked in an angry country tone.

"No, I'm here to talk about the Greatest Love Celebration. I'm the overseer," Vinyl was utterly confused.

"Y'all are the overseer?"  asked the mare in a completely different tone.

"Yeah...I am," she said, her voice drifting a little.

"Well then, wha don't y'all sit down and we can have a li'l chat?" she sounded almost friendly now.

"Um...okay," Vinyl said, taking a seat.

"Well, let's begahn with introductions. Ah'm Applejack."

She was an earth pony, with an orange coat, and a brown Stetson sitting jauntily on a blond ponytail.

"This here is Applebloom," she gestured to the filly who had let Vinyl in. She had a pinkish red mane, curling around her yellow coat and topped with a pink bow.

"And mah brother Big Macintosh," a red stallion with a short, choppy orange mane and a haystraw sticking out of his mouth.

"Last but certainly naht least, our Granny Smith!"

The elderly earth pony mare scowled at Vinyl, her white mane gathered up in a bun and contrasting with a light emerald green coat.

"Well, that's our li'l family! Now, what's y'all's name?"

"I'm Vinyl Scratch, Queen Cadence's personal student," she said.

"Aah, a fanshy-smanshy unicorn!" cheered Applebloom.

"I'm not fanshy smanshy!" cried Vinyl.

"Now Applebloom, we don't make comments based on race,"said the stallion in a deep voice, somewhat lacking in the southern accents of the others in the family.

"Sorry, big brother," moaned the filly.

"Now, Vinyl Scratch, what y'all wanna talk about?" asked Applejack.

"What? The Queen sent me to check on the preparations for the Greatest Love Celebration. I'm don't even know what the Apple Trust is," she commented.

"Alrighty, let us give y'all a histery of our gran' Apple Empire," said Granny Smith.

"Well, it all started with Granny Smith. When sh' was jus' a li'l filly, sh' dee-scovered the Zapapples. Sh' decided ta grow a harvest of apples, against her own familys wishes. The apples grew a' record speed. In a few months, sh' had a full crop of apples. Using her apple-growin' and sellin' talen's, sh' grew crop after crop of her famous apples. Sh' soon became the most good apple seller in all o' Equestria!  Sh' grew the Apple Empire, monopolizin' all apple sales!"

As she finished this tale, a giant smile grew on her face, disturbingly.

"Well, that's very nice. I need some proof you have enough wares to support this...?" she asked nervously, these 'Apple Empire' ponies were creeping her out.

"Don't ya worry ya're pretty little head about it! We've gaht it all taken care off!"

Vinyl, really creeped out at this, turned, and with a hasty goodbye, cantered out of there.

* * * * * *

Vinyl trotted down the road. As she walked, she noticed her stomach rumbling.

"Aagh...I need to get some food," she moaned.

Noticing a small resturant with a banner titled, "Lemony Perfection," she perked up.

"Aha! It's lemon themed, but lemons are better than nothing."

She pushed open the door, her stomach growling violently.

A red tinge spread across her white cheeks, but she was too hungry to go somewhere else.

When she got up to the counter, she looked in her bits sack. She cringed when she found only the black fabric.

"Um...heh heh, I seem to have misplaced my bits," she stammered.

The pegasus behind the counter smiled.

"Ah, you've been visiting the Apple family?"

Vinyl nodded.

"Yeah, they're notorious thieves. Not just of money," a hint of bitterness crept into her voice as she said this.

"What does that mean?" cried Vinyl.

"Well, no matter how great they may tell you the Apple Trust is, it just means that whenever some important holiday comes up, the only crops are apples. More specifically, Apple family apples."

"That's horrible!"

"I know, right? I grow my own crop of lemons, something the Apple family doesn't, but I never get to sell any of my wares."

"So, you own this restaurant?" asked Vinyl.

"Yeah, it's just a little roadside stand," she gestured offhoofedly to the almost-empty room.

"Don't you want something better?" asked Vinyl.

"Well, sure, but the Apple family has such a monopoly on food sales..."

"That's not fair, I don't even think Cadence likes apples," said Vinyl.

"You know the Queen?" cried the mare.

"I'm her student," said Vinyl, blushing.

"Well then, good morning your Highness!" said the mare, curtsying.

"Oh, I'm not royalty," exclaimed Vinyl.

"You aren't? But then, how?" she asked, confused.

"Well, my parents died when I was little, I met this really nice mare, she took care of me, once Cadence rose to power she sort of adopted me," said Vinyl.

"Wow, that's amazing!" exclaimed the mare.

"Thanks, you're the first pony who's ever said that," said Vinyl.

"Really? It seems that you'd be famous," said the mare.

"Well, most ponies just stare at me, either 'Oh, please!' or 'Really? You?'" said Vinyl a bit remorsefully.

"That's sad. I have a question?" asked the mare.

"Sure, go ahead," said Vinyl.

"Well, how'd you become the Queen's student? Only powerful unicorns are..."

Vinyl laughed.

"Trust me, I fall under the category of a powerful unicorn," she giggled.

"Really? You seem...just a normal unicorn," she remarked.

"Um...not really?" she pawed the ground.

"This might be out of context, but what's your name and cutie mark?" she asked.

"My name's Vinyl Scratch, what's yours?" asked Vinyl.

"Lemon Hearts, my cutie mark is harvesting and baking lemons," she smiled.

"Aah, I love lemons!" exclaimed Vinyl.

"Really?" asked Lemon excitedly.

"Yeah! They're great, much better than apples," she giggled.

"Thanks! So what does yours mean?" she asked happily.

"Well, when I was eight, I used magic in a way it's never been used before: to form literal 'sound waves' that are visible, you can actually touch them. It's more complicated than that, but..." she said.

"Cool! Can you do it now?" asked Lemon Hearts.

"Okay!"

Vinyl stood up a little taller. Her alabaster horn glowed purple, the glow growing steadily brighter. She panted, as she gathered up more and more energy in her horn. Finally, a black musical note hovered in midair, the air around it rippling like an ocean. A quarter note of sound filled the air, once it was over the sound waves disappeared.

"Wow!" exclaimed Lemon.

Vinyl played a short riff, her horn glowing ever brighter. Finally, she stopped, exhausted.

"Like it?" she asked.

"Oh sweet Cadence! That was amazing!" shouted Lemon.

"Glad you like it! I can also just play regular music. I'm basically an extremely powerful musical prodigy," she said 'modestly.'

"So, what'll you have?" asked Lemon.

"Huh?" Vinyl stared.

"Well, what do you want to eat?" asked Lemon, giggling.

"Um, weren't you listening? I lost my bits!" she exclaimed.

"You got your bitsstolen! Plus, how'd I look in the Queen's eyes if I didn't give her personal student a free meal?" said Lemon.

"That's really nice of you," said Vinyl.

"Well, it's really nothing," said Lemon.

"Oh, trust me it's more than nothing."

"Well, what'll you have?" asked Lemon.

"Aah...a lemon bar," said Vinyl.

"Coming right up!" said Lemon with a huge grin.

Ten minutes later, Vinyl was sitting back in a seat, moaning.

"Oh Cadence, that was so good!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks!" said Lemon, brightening.

"Seriously, you're a lot better than the Apples," said Vinyl.

"Not really," said Lemon.

"They don't care about anypony! You're nice, honest, kind...all-around better than they are!" said Vinyl.

"Thanks!" said Lemon, her wings ruffling.

"Oh buck!" cussed Vinyl.

"What's wrong?" asked Lemon urgently.

"It's almost twelve, and I've only finished one item on my list!" she exclaimed.

"Your list?" asked Lemon.

"My Greatest Love Celebration Overseer's Checklist," said Vinyl, running to the door.

"You're the overseer?" asked Lemon, a bit hopefully.

"Yeah. Hey, I've got a great idea! I'll talk to Queen Cadence about being able to sell you stuff at the Celebration!"

Lemon grinned.

"Oh, would you? That'd be so awesome!" she exclaimed.

"Well, gotta go, but I'll make sure to mention it!" said Vinyl, running out the door.

"Bye! Thanks!" shouted Lemon.

"Next item: Weather."