The Book of Friendship

The next target was a little bit of a trek away - but Withania knew that the best time to go after a certain farmmare would be in the mornings, when she would be out doing her apple harvesting. Applejack would show up in town in the afternoon to sell apples and hang out with friends, and then retire to her house with the rest of her family. In the mornings though, if Withania was lucky, she would be able to catch Applejack alone, and spirit her out of the farm with nopony any the wiser.

After a quick trip back to her own cottage to safely deposit Pinkie on a shelf for now, carefully folded up to make sure she couldn’t even so much as wiggle, Withania headed off on the trip just outside of town to Sweet Apple Acres. Being out of the town a little bit suited her just fine, naturally.

When the farm came into view, Withania had to think about her next step. It was tempting to try and be stealthy here, but the truth was that this was a huge piece of farm with only four ponies living on it, and only two actual working ponies from what Withania understood. That meant that unless they were literally working right next to each other all day, stealth would not be required. The plant pony scanned the horizon for signs of activity. There was nopony around that she could see, but she could see a barn nearby, the door left invitingly open. As she drew closer, Withania could hear a voice inside.

“...eighteen, nineteen, twenty… wew, we’re not even a third of the way through and we’ve got twenty barrels already!”

Peeking a green face into the crack of the barn door, Withania’s eyes twinkled happily as she spotted her prey. Applejack had her back turned, busy with her work as she inspected and counted the many barrels of freshly picked apples inside. In her considered opinion as an official royal pony-flattener, Withania thought these conditions could hardly be more ideal. All that was left to decide was how to go about her business. While Pinkie had been very cooperative, that couldn’t be counted on to be the case all the time. And with Big Mac unaccounted for, and possibly even heading back to the barn now, Withania decided that the best approach would be the speedy approach.

She entered the barn, scanning around for something to use. There was a stack of sealed barrels over to one side which looked invitingly heavy, and Withania made a beeline for them. She hoisted one over her head, with such force that she nearly did a backflip. It was empty. Contemplating this with the barrel still raised high above her head, Withania turned her head back around towards Applejack, to see the farmer staring right back at her.

“...Can I help you, sugarcube?” asked AJ, tilting her head and frowning at her.

“Y-yes, actually. I, um…” Withania’s face scrunched up. “I… came to help you!”

“I thought you said I could help you, Miss…”

“Withania. And yes. We’re here to help each other help us,” nodded the plant pony. Applejack’s green eyes stared into Withanias for a moment, then slowly drifted around, going cross eyed, as she tried to process this. Withania decided to press on, aware that she was working in a limited time window. “Big Mac told me to come here. Temporary help. Lot of apples to be picked, you know!”

“Did he now? I don’t remember hearin’ that.”

“If you just follow me out I can confirm it…” said Withania, motioning towards the open, large, heavy barn doors. Applejack took off her hat for a moment to scratch thoughtfully at the blond mane underneath.

“Well…”

“He’s just outside, it’ll only be a moment.”

“Ah, alrighty then. I just wish he’d tell me first before hiring temps…” muttered Applejack. Leaving her apples uncounted for now, she started following Withania towards the door. “So it’s pretty hard work if you don’t know already. You sure you’re up to it?”

“Oh, I’m confident in my strength, don’t worry.”

“You sure sound it. Gonna need good leg strength for all those trees,” continued Applejack, now less suspicious of the new mare as they stood by the entrance to the barn itself. “How ‘bout you give me a demonstration?” The orange earth pony moved to the wall of the barn,standing with her rear to it as she looked around for a nearby tree. Withania couldn’t help but grin, as this was exactly what she had been hoping for.

“Sure thing!” she said, turning around and bucking the barn door nearest Applejack as hard as she could. The sudden sharp thwack of her hooves impacting the wooden door was quickly followed up with a strangely muffled thwump sound, as the door hit against the barn itself. Or rather, it hit Applejack and immediately sandwiched her. Her hat was launched into the air from the force if impact, landing on the roof of the barn. There was no part of AJ herself visible at all now.

Which was just as well, when Big Mac ambled around the corner and saw Withania standing there. The green mare froze and stared back at him.

“...” said Big Mac, a feat only he could pull off. Seeing him up close like this, Withania could appreciate how, well, big he was - a mountain of a stallion, who would probably not be best pleased if he had seen what had just happened. She tried to loosen up and look natural, backing towards the door behind her. Her ears could pick up a faint, indignant mumbling from behind the door, and so Withania got up on two hindlegs and leaned herself against it, pressing it down harder.

“Big Mac, right? Nice to meet you!” she said. “I’m WIthania. I was actually just looking for your sister Applejack about a possible temporary job on the farm. Have you seen her, by any chance?” she asked, praying that Applejack’s hat wasn’t visible from the ground.

“Nnnnope.”

“Ah, a shame. I assumed she would be here, but we must have just missed her.” Withania smiled and shrugged. There was a brief flurry of mumbling behind her, and one of Big Mac’s ears twitched. Withania leaned forwards and then swiftly backwards again- she could feel the soft pony under the wooden planks spread out a little thinner at that. “I think I’ll wait here in case she shows up again, but you’re welcome to go look for her!” The hulking stallion continued to stare back at her, his dirty blond locks blowing in the gentle breeze… then he nodded, turned, and walked off towards the farmhouse.

It was a painful long few minutes as Withania continued to lean against the door, until she was absolutely sure that Big Mac was not turning back. Then she got back down on four hooves again, gave the door a couple more good solid kicks just in case, and then finally let the door swing back into its natural position, revealing Applejack. The unsuspecting mare had been hit face-first in such a way that she had effectively been pancaked. It was like one big orange circle plastered onto the red planks, with AJ’s facial features in the middle. Her eyes were even more crossed than earlier after those last few hits from the door. Withania gave the orange circle a feel. Just like Pinkie, Applejack still felt like a pony should, warm and furry. But if Withania pressed a hoof into her hard enough she could feel the planks behind her.

“I do apologise for that, Applejack,” she said, even though AJ looked pretty out of it now. “I’ll explain later when we get you home, but I’d rather we finish our business here before your brother comes back.”

Pulling at the edges of the circle with her hooves, Withania found a new problem: getting AJ off the wall. She was stuck pretty good after repeated poundings from the door. Her hooves were only able to unstick some of the outer rim parts, leaving flaps of orange dangling downwards but not quite getting her fully unstuck. As a plan B, the plant pony tried grabbing onto a loose bit of Applejack in her teeth and pulling. This did peel off a little more AJ, and had the pleasant bonus of allowing Withania to have a taste of Apple as it were, but it would take far too long.

“Hmmm.. oh, I know. Be right back!” Withania trotted into the barn again, then reemerged soon after with a shovel. Lining up the edge with the bottom of the pancaked pony, With worked it underneath and started easing her off at last. With an audible pop, Applejack was freed, and drooped over the shovel like an oversized orange pizza base. She was surprisingly heavy like this, all her weight now spread out over the metal part of the farmyard tool. Not heavy enough, however, to stop Withania flipping her up and down a few times like the pancake she basically was now. It wasn’t needed, but she just couldn’t resist.

“There we go, one flattened Element of Honesty!” she said proudly, dropping the shovel and letting Applejack flop to the ground. Some quick rolling later and Applejack was now indistinguishable from a rolled-up orange rug, which was promptly draped over Withania’s back. Checking to see if Big Mac was around, Withania saw that the coast was clear, and bolted. The only trace of Applejack left behind was safely tucked onto the roof of the barn. With any luck, it would go unnoticed until Withania had finished her task - she was sure Applejack would explain to her brother why all of this was necessary later, once the elements were brought closer together than ever before...