It was one of those picturesque mornings in Ponyville with the birds singing and the sun shining down gently to bathe the town in a gold hue. It was the kind of morning where ponies decide to go out for a picnic and foals laugh and play in the fields.
It is on this bright sunny day (a Tuesday) that Applejack and her Big Brother decided to go to market to sell some product. Maybe it was the sun or the good breakfast that morning but for some reason she felt really wonderful, like there was nothing that could go wrong.
“It’s gonna be a good day Big Mac.” Applejack hummed. “Ah can feel it. Nuthin gonna go wrong today.”
“Eeyup.”
Now in most places saying that nothing will go wrong are often grounds for a slap round the back of the head with a lecture on not pushing your luck. Seeing that Luck had once seen fit to punish a purple unicorn after the mare questioned the spirits greatest champion this seemed like good advice.
Luck is a vicious so-and-so after all.
“You sure it ain’t something else making you happy little sis?” Big Mac asked turning his head slightly.
“Whuh? What’dya mean?” Applejack slowed her canter to look at Big Mac.
“Mmm never mind, come on we’re almost there.” Big Mac uttered as he left Applejack slightly confused.
“Whats got into him?” She thought to herself.
==========
This early in the morning the market was quiet as most of the participants were still arriving or in the process of setting up their stalls. After pulling into the allotted space for the apple stall Big Mac began to unpack the various products. Once they had been setup he moved over to find Applejack examining the other stalls
Already some were setup and peddling their product, like Freddy Leek who was the town’s only leek and potato grower, his stall was always busy with ponies.
Bon-bon and Lyra were early setting up their stall that sold sweets and souvenirs. The couple made quite a bit as Bon-bon was famous for some the hard boiled candy she made. Alongside her was her best friend and business partner Lyra who often would play the lyre to entertain passers-by.
Then of course, just like clockwork, the Carrot Twins arrived and began to setup. Applejacks eyes narrowed at the pair of mares that ran the carrot stall. It was well known around Ponyville that the Carrot and Apple families were always feuding. It had been going on since Ponyville had been founded and most knew to just stay out of the way when both families were at each other’s throats.
Before Big Mac could stop her Applejack snorted and then meandered over to the twins.
“Carrot Top.” Applejack sniffed. “Golden Harvest.”
“Applejack.” Both mares said as one barely holding their distain.
Both mares had a coat of butter yellow, a carrot themed cutie mark and a bright cheery orange mane that always seemed to be cleaned and lush. It was this that rankled Applejack so much about them for how could they be real farmers if they can keep their hair that pretty and groomed.
Not that she thought they were pretty mind you.
“Come to sample some of the superior crop?” Golden Harvest uttered while examining her hoof.
“Pfft. As if ah could ever eat one of those things over a good healthy apple.” Applejack retorted.
“Too many apples are bad for your tummy little Applejack.” Golden Harvest spoke.
“That’s why you’ll always find more ponies buying good old fashioned carrots.” Carrot Top concluded.
“It’s better for you!” Both mares said with a shake of their rumps and a giggle.
Applejack snorted before speaking. “Yeah well we’ll see what’s better for who when ah sell twice as much as you two…two…bimbos!”
Both mares gasped and glowered as the Apple farmer smirked and walked off with flick of her tail and her head held up in the air. Once she had returned back to her big brother she found him with a disapproving look on his face.
“Ya’ll shouldn’t do that little sis.” Big Mac spoke with a frown. “It’s not nice.”
Applejack had noted a long time ago that her big brother never seemed to be interested in the family feud.
“Why not? We shouldn’t be friends with them hussies when they take our customers?” Applejack said with a nicker.
“This feud ain’t never gonna die away if you keep picking at it.” He commented.
“Feud? There ain’t no feud Big Mac everypony knows that apples are better than carrots.” She said with a confident grin. “Ya’ll just let me handle the selling Big Mac and I’ll prove it to ya and those…twins…”
Seeing that his sister was set in her ways Big Mac sighed and headed off back to the farm.
“How much longer are ya gonna wait AJ? Them are pretty mares and will be snapped up soon.” He thought glumly.
==========
For the first few hours Applejack did quite well with a bit of her produce being sold to her regular customers who always came for their favourite brands of apple. She noted after a while though that the carrot stall was receiving more custom and fearing that her previous boast will be proved false she decided to pick up her game.
Adopting a posh Manehatten accent she had been taught as a filly she leapt atop her stall and loudly proclaimed.
“Come one, come all and buy some quality apples from Sweet Apple Acres! All our apples are home grown and picked the very day they are sold to give them that crisp taste and juicy feel.”
Seeing that drew some attention from the crowd Applejack jumped back down and went to serve her next customer when a voice broke through the murmur of the crowd.
“Yeah go and buy one of those apples and get stomach trouble!” Golden Harvest shouted as she approached the apple stall followed closely by Carrot Top.
“S’cuse me?” Applejack glowered as she reverted back to her normal tone.
“You see these apples are not clean, look this one still has dirt on it.” Carrot Top said as she examined a bright red apple.
Seeing the crowd waver Applejack cut off the yellow mares.
“Now that just ain’t true folks. Granny Smith is the head of the apple clan and cleans each one personally to ensure that they are all tasty and good to sell.” Applejack said with triumphant smirk.
“Really, what does she use?” A pale blue colt asked.
“A classic apple family method, a good ole fashioned spit shine!” Applejack said happily.
Now in times past lots a ponies would have shrugged that off due to their hardy nature. However in today’s Ponyville most were considerably more concerned with frou-frou things like health and proper manners.
Only after she had said it did Applejack realize her mistake as upon hearing this happy declaration from the apple farmer the crowd began to circle with a collection of whispers that questioned the health of Granny Smith.
That and how gross spitting was.
“She spits on them!?” A mare whispered.
“Eww.” Uttered another.
Picking up on the opportunity both the butter yellow mares piped up.
“Well at the carrot stall we sell our produce that has been cleaned in the local spring waters. We find that it gives them a refreshing taste.”
Hearing this most of the crowd decided they didn’t want apples anymore and wondered over to the carrot stall, leaving a red faced and fuming apple farmer behind.
==========
A few hours later and Applejack was feeling really down as she hadn’t sold a single apple.
Rumours travel fast in Ponyville being a small town and all.
Hearing a rummaging sound Applejack looked up to see one of her best friends looking at some of the pale green apples.
“Hey’a RD!” She said perking up out of her dark mood.
Rainbow looked up from her saddlebag and smiled.
“Oh hay AJ. I was just after something for a snack.”
“That’ll be two bits then please.” Applejack said happy that she finally had a customer.
After buying two green apples and a juice box Rainbow turned to Applejack and spoke.
“Why’s it so quiet today? Usually you’re really busy.”
Feeling her dark mood return Applejack slumped back down onto the counter.
“*Snort* Yeah well ah were doin well until those twins over there stole my customers.”
Rainbow turned to the direction indicated and saw a pair of yellow and orange mares selling a unicorn couple some carrots.
“You mean Carrot Top and Golden Harvest?”
“Mmm-Hmm.”
“What they do?” Rainbow asked as she took a bite out of her apple.
“They gone and told the ponies here that my apples are dirty!” Applejack said with a stomp on the counter.
Rainbow suddenly stopped chewing and began to examine her apple very closely.
“They ain’t dirty!” She bellowed causing Rainbow to yelp and jump back.
Seeing the apple farmer glare angrily she took the apple and devoured it in one go and after swallowing the fruit Rainbow gave a fake grin to try and avoid retribution.
“Oh I’m sorry RD.” Applejack said with a sigh. “I’m just having a bad day.
Feeling a bit sorry for doubting her friend Rainbow brought a hoof to her friend’s withers and patted it gently. After a moment an idea arrived in Rainbows mind.
“Well, if the carrot twins are giving you trouble why don’t you just make them leave?”
“Make them leave? How?” Applejack glanced at the twins.
“Well what do you normally do when you want to settle something?”
Applejack thought for a moment before a very evil smirk twisted onto her lips.
“Hoof wrassle.”
==========
Walking through the bustling crowd Applejack approached the carrot stall while being followed by Rainbow Dash. Seeing her walking to them both the twins adopted a smirk and had a malicious glimmer in their eyes.
“Man, it’s like somepony put a mirror between them. I can never tell who’s who” Rainbow commented in a hushed tone.
Applejack walked right up to the counter and pushed a young colt out of the way.
“Hay!” He shouted and went to give the apple farmer a piece of his mind.
Well until he saw her face.
You see all males across all races have one very similar defence mechanism and they are all focused on getting away from or hiding from angry females. Not in any mood to have his face trampled the colt quickly bolted through the crowd.
“Ah, do you mind? You are scaring our customers!” Golden Harvest shouted.
“Those are my customers you stole from me!” Applejack retorted.
“Really? I didn’t know you could steal common sense.” Carrot Top said voice dripping with sarcasm. “Someone must have stolen yours a long time ago.”
Anger blossoming Applejack roared. “Now ah fer one have had enough of this. Let’s settle this once and for all.”
“Uh AJ I thought you said a talk not a shout-“ Rainbow said trying to calm the angry mare down.
“Hush up RD” Applejack said with a swat to the snout of the Pegasus.
“Ow. That’f hurt” Rainbow said with a foreleg to her muzzle.
“What do you want AJ?” The twins said in unison.
“Ah want you two bimbos off my turf and I hereby challenge you to a hoof wrassle!” She said with an accusing hoof gesture.
“Hoof wrestle?” Both mares now looked very worried.
“Yes! If ah win you both swap to Thursday for market day.”
Now in the town of Ponyville Thursday was a day that was used for community events and as such not much shopping was done. By moving to Thursday Applejack was going to get her revenge and then some for the rumours they spread.
“A-and if we w-win?” Carrot Top stuttered.
“Yeah w-what do we get?” Golden Harvest stammered.
“Uh well ah suppose if ah lose then I’ll move to the Thursday market!” Applejack declared with a confident smirk.
As the feeling that the opportunity to outdo one another was great to miss both parties agreed and setup over a box with the rest of the crowd watching. As applejack sat down Golden Harvest sat down in front of her.
“You’re going down Golden Harvest…” She growled.
Golden Harvest looked surprised by something but sat down and brought her hoof to Applejacks. A strange feeling suddenly shot through Applejack as they touched hoofs. She almost didn’t hear Rainbow shout go.
“Hmmfpt!” Golden Harvest groaned.
“Grrr!” Applejack growled.
Amidst this most of the market had come over to watch the action and a lot of bets were now being taken by Rainbow Dash.
“Come on Apple clan I got twenty bits riding on you!” Some stallion bellowed.
“No! Don’t give up Carrot girl! You can do it!” A haughty mare shouted.
Applejack was very surprised by the carrot twin’s strength.
“Huh, guess they are farmers after all.” She thought.
Still it wasn’t enough and after a few minutes back and forth Golden Harvest began to lose strength and buckled. The sudden shift in position caused her hoof to slam down with a loud crack.
Seeing that the mare was beaten a loud cheer went up from at least half the crowd and a large whoop from Rainbow Dash as she began reeling in the winnings.
After letting out a cheer and walking off to bow in front of the crowd applejack turned back to see a sniffling and crying mare being comforted by her sister.
“It hurts!” Golden Harvest sobbed.
“Shush its ok let me put a bandage on it.” Carrot Top fretted trying to calm her sister.
As Golden Harvest lifted her hoof up all saw a pained bruise and small cut her foreleg.
Now Applejack may not have liked those pretty mares much but she certainly didn’t want to hurt them or see their dainty hooves damaged.
Not that she thought they were dainty or pretty it’s just that a farmers hooves were her life.
“Oh dear! The poor thing is bleeding!” A mare proclaimed.
“Hay I thought you said a friendly match! I’m not handing money over to somepony that hurts other ponies!” Another mare shouted.
Ignoring all the comments Applejack made to help the twins before Carrot Top noticed and punted her away.
“Just go away Applejack, we’ll go to Thursday so just buck off and leave us alone!” Carrot Top was trying hard not to cry and it was easy to tell.
Applejack just took another look at the crying mares and swished off back to her stall before anypony could stop her.
==========
Of course this entire endeavour had a very bad effect on the apple stalls sales as now no pony would approach let alone buy anything. As the market closed and most ponies packed up to leave Applejack was still there with her head resting on the counter.
“I think you went a bit over board AJ.” Rainbow said while leaning against the stall.
“Eeyup.” Applejack uttered.
“You really hurt them.”
“Eeyup.”
“Maybe you should apologize.” Rainbow had now turned to her friend and was looking very concerned.
“*Sniff* what good would that do?” Applejack sniffled.
“Are, are you crying?” Rainbow asked as she brought her face closer to the apple farmer.
“OF COURSE IM CRYINGGGG!” Applejack wailed as she looked up with great tears rolling down her face.
“Whoa!” Rainbow stumbled back onto her haunches.
“How am ah supposed to apologize now after what I did!” She continued to sob.
“Well ah suppose a good start would be to go round their house and say “I’m Sorry”” A deep male voice spoke.
Big Macintosh was now walking towards them from the market square.
“B-big mac.” Applejack sniffled again as she tried to move over to her big brother.
Suffice to say that most ponies would not have expected that instead of bringing her into a loving hug he brought a hoof to her face with a hearty slap.
“Jacqueline Apple! Ah thought Ma and Pa raised you better. Hurting another mare why Pa would’ve tanned yur hide!” He yelled.
“But they-“ She tried to counter
“Don’t ya talk back to me missy! Ah heard what you did and ah told you that this feud wouldn’t die away if ya’ll kept picking at them.”
“I didn’t mean-“
“What did ah just say!”
Rainbow just watched in dumb fascination as Applejack lowered her head and became quiet as Big Mac continued.
“AJ ah want you to go and apologize right now.” He said as he picked a bag of bits out of his saddlebag. “Here go buy them a bunch of flowers.”
As she picked up the bag and turned to trot off he called again.
“Ah heard they like roses.”
Nodding she doubled her speed and shot off to the flower store before it closed.
“How’d you know they like roses?” Rainbow asked as she turned back to see Big Mac begin to pack the cart away.
“Well…uh ah just heard is all.” He stammered with a blush rising.
Seeing that she wouldn’t leave him alone he relented.
“Fine…them are some pretty mares alrite.”
==========
Well after managing to ply some roses out of the flower store owner on the grounds that she was going to apologize to the two hurt carrot girls Applejack now stood in front of their farmhouse door.
“C’mon AJ! Just knock say you’re sorry and that you’ll go to the Thursday market.” She thought.
Biting down and summoning the courage she knocked on the door. After a few moments a yellow mare with a beautiful mane and shining eyes opened the door.
“Oh. It’s you. What do you want?” Carrot Top said in a venomous voice.
“Uh…Ah c-came to a-apologize…” Applejack managed to wrangle out of her now rapidly constricting throat. “Can…can ah come in?”
“Mmm, fine but be quick.” Carrot Top said as she stepped back to let Applejack enter.
Applejack had always thought that the Carrot family were well off and lived in a big mansion of a farm house. That wasn’t really the case though as she now examined the living room of the house. There were cracks in the dry wall and a few wallpapers were peeling down.
“Sorry for the state of the house but ever since your apple cider competition carrot sales have plummeted. No one wants carrots when they can have cider.” Continued Carrot Top.
“Uh…ah see.”
At this point the other twin limped into the living room and began to scowl as she lay down onto the sofa.
“What do you want?” Golden Harvest uttered.
“Ah…um came to apologize to ya’ll both.”
With that the apple farmer brought out a bunch of roses and placed them into an empty vase on the table in the middle of the room.
Turning back and lowering her head to look at the floor.
“I’m sorry.” Applejack began to feel pain in her chest and talking in a clear accent. “I never meant to hurt you, either of you. Seeing you bleeding was the worst thing in my life. *Sniff* I just always end up saying the wrong things whenever I see either of you.
Taking a breath Applejack took a step forward. “You’re both just so beautiful and I get jealous because you both manage to look nice and I always look like I’m just a country bumpkin. I just want you to know that I will go to the Thursday market and you won’t have to see me again.”
As she turned toward the door both twins called out.
“Applejack wait!”
“Whuh?” Startled by the noise Applejack stumbled back to them. She saw them both red faced with Carrot Top looking at her hoof while Golden Harvest was taking a great interest in the ceiling light.
“Um…”
“…Uh.” Both mares stammered.
“You think we’re pretty?” Golden Harvest whispered eventually.
“Well…uh…ah mean…uh” Applejack was now choking on her own embarrassment and felt heat flash across her face. Taking a moment to come up with a valid reason for saying something like that she was struck with a thought.
They are pretty.
Buck it.
“Yes. Yes I think you’re both very beautiful and that when I see you both together it makes my heart race.” She managed to say while keeping her eyes on the floor again. “I think I love you both and I have for a very long time.”
The reaction on the mares was quite profound as Carrot Top suddenly went red as a cherry with steam rising out of ears and Golden Harvest nearly fainted from too much blood to her face.
“See. I told you.” Golden Harvest said to her sister. Nodding Carrot Top slumped forward began to giggle.
“What?” Applejack was now becoming very worried about this situation.
Both mares turned to look at each other before walking (and limping) over to stand in front of Applejack.
“We…uh…well we were wondering if you were interested or just…well…being mean.” Golden Harvest said.
“We often thought that you would ask us out…well we were hoping you would.” Carrot Top said.
"You always did know which one us was which just by looking at us." Golden Harvest said.
Applejack blinked, you see this was all new to her as she was a hard working pony and looking for love just wasn’t in her – oh never mind.
Applejack moved over to Golden Harvest and picked up her damaged hoof. Brining to her lips and giving it a soft kiss she whispered.
“Can ya’ll forgive me for this?”
Golden Harvest went even redder and nodded with a silly grin on her face. Carrot Top moved forward and brought a gentle nuzzle to Applejacks ear.
“Stay here tonight.” She whispered into the blond mane. “We have business proposition for you but let’s talk about it in the morning.”
==========
Next week on market day the town of Ponyville saw something it never expected to see.
“Come one, come all! Come to The Apple & Carrots Coop!” Applejack loudly proclaimed as many shoppers moved to see this new stall and its owners.
In the middle stood Applejack with the carrot twins flanking her either side. Twilight Sparkle had been out for a few items when she stepped up to see her friend alongside her friends supposed enemies.
“Hey’a Twi!” Applejack spoke in a happy manner.
“Hello Twilight.” Both the twins said in unison.
Instead of saying anything Twilight Sparkle burst into chuckles and giggles leaving all three mares a little bewildered.
“*Snort* Took you three long enough, Haha” She giggled.
“You knew?” Applejack managed to say.
“Knew? Hell all of Ponyville knew about you three we’ve even had bets on how long it would take for you all to hook up.” Twilight slowed in her giggled to bring a hoof to her face. “Hmm, I better go collect my bits from Rainbow.”
Applejack became very red faced as both twins giggled and began to nuzzle her sides.
“Well I hope you’ll be very happy together.” Twilight said earnestly. “How about we have Pinkie setup a party tonight for you three?”
“Sorry Twi but not tonight ah got some DIY to do at my marefriends house.” Applejack said with a kiss planted on each of the twin’s cheeks.
As Twilight giggled again and went to find a certain colourful Pegasus Applejack noted that today was looking to be a very good day.
She had a new business.
A love fulfilled.
A large amount of bits coming in.
“Eeyup today is a good day.”
