An Apple Over A Berry Barrel
An Apple Over A Berry Barrel
Prologue
___________________________________________________________
“What in the world is it?”
“I like it’s clothes. Rarity would be impressed.”
“What in the hay is it doin’ on mah family’s farm?”
What the…? Aw, man. Tell me I didn’t fall asleep with the TV on again. I’ve work in the morning and whenever that happens, it takes an extra hour at best just to get back to sleep… and I’m usually unlucky enough that it’s maybe two hours before I’ll need to get up on those occasions.
Though, I think this is the first time I’ve done that with MLP. And during a CMC focused episode, judging by the voices.
But… why do they sound so close? I didn’t have the volume that loud, did I?
“I’m more interested in what it is, more than how it got on your family’s farm, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo’s voice says… causing me to inwardly frown.
What episode is that dialogue from?
I’ve seen all nine seasons and in none of the episodes where the CMC play any role did Scootaloo ever say that.
Sure, I don’t have the transcripts memorized or anything, but I’m pretty sure I’d remember an episode where Scootaloo says something like that… especially because it honestly sounds kind of offensive, calling something an “it”.
“Huh. Now that Ah’m lookin’ closer… it kinda looks like those things mah sister says Princess Twilight went t’ help. Ah didn’t believe her at first, but, looking at this thing… maybe she wasn’t treatin’ me like Ah hit mah head on a crate of cider after all.”
“Hey. Yeah! Rainbow Dash mentioned something about that too. it does kinda look like what she said Twilight said they look like.”
Okay, what in the world are these fillies talking about?
Best I could make heads or tails of that statement, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were just talking about the events of Equestria Girls.
But, until season seven, anything remotely related to EQG wasn’t even mentioned in the show before the Sirens were banished by Star Swirl and the Pillars.
Heck, Sunset doesn’t even get shown to be canon proper until a final few frames in the last episode of the whole show.
Wait a minute.
Last I remember, I was on a bus heading for the cinema to watch a movie.
How did I get from that to being asleep in bed with My Little Pony playing in the background with dialogue that never happened in the show?
I need some answers here.
I move to push myself up… when I’m suddenly very aware that I’m not lying in my bed, the feeling of dirt between my fingers a clear indicator that I’m not even in my bedroom… and that’s not all.
My body is suddenly hitting me with a ton of signals that do not make any sense at all.
Snapping my eyes open, I quickly sit up, startled cries making me turn my head to see three fillies, an Earth Pony, unicorn and Pegasus, yellow, white and orange respectively.
My brain is getting way too much information at once to properly process it all.
I quickly look myself over, doing my best to ignore the feeling of something that was there being nowhere at all and something being there that wasn’t there before.
My hands move quickly around me as I observe I am definitely not wearing the MLP pyjamas I went to bed in.
Instead, I’m wearing red and white sneakers over white crew socks with frilly edges, white pants with a green and pale yellow stripe just above the end of them, a pale yellow shirt with a green edge around the neck area under a red jacket with white cuffs, white around the bottom and a white apple blossom pin on the right side of the chest.
And, if that is a hat I’m feeling atop my head, I have no doubt it’s yellow with apple patterns on top, with a white brim with a red stripe going all the way around.
Shifting and grabbing my hair with hands I know are way too small to be mine, I see my hair is a bright orange and far longer than it was when I was in bed.
I glance to the fillies, Sweetie Belle’s eyes lighting up. “Hey, you’ve green eyes, just like me.”
That confirms it.
That was the last detail.
How in the flying fuck did I end up in Equestria as the older version of Apple Dumplin from the 2003 Strawberry Shortcake episode Cooking Up Fun?
___________________________________________________________
The creature (Applejack said Twilight said they’re called some weird thing, “hee-you-man”, was it?) stared at the three of them with a confused, horrified look.
Was it scared of them? Why? It was clearly bigger than any of them.
Apple Bloom blinked, chastising herself. It? This hee-you-mam was not an it. They were… well…
Apple Bloom looked the biped sitting before them up and down… not really sure which gender they were.
Applejack said Twilight said most of the female humans wore skirts, like mares and fillies who bother to wear clothes do… but this hee-you-man was wearing pants.
By logic, that would mean they were a colt… but something about the face and eyes side filly to the farm pony.
“Urm,” Apple Bloom began, then shook her head to clear it and smile. “Hi, Ah’m Apple Bloom. This here is Scootaloo,” she indicated to the Pegasus, “and this here is Sweetie Belle,” she indicated to the unicorn. “What’s yer name?”
The filly hee-you-man opened her mouth to answer, then seemed to pause, a confused look playing across her snout free features, before they morphed into absolute terror.
“I… I don’t remember my name!” she put her claws— no, wait, Applejack said Twilight said they were called hands, on either side of her head, her eyes wide with panic. “I don’t remember my real name! What’s going on here?! Why do I only remember her name?! It’s the only one that pops up in my mind!”
Apple Bloom did not fail to notice Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had backed up two steps as the hee-you-man was clearly heading towards a panic attack.
What would mah sister do? the yellow filly thought to herself, before her expression firmed and she walked over to the hee-you-man, putting a hoof on her shoulder.
The filly’s eyes flew towards her own and Apple Bloom felt pained at the clear and utter terror she could see in them, tears having started forming.
This poor hee-you-man. She didn’t know what was going on any more than they did and it was terrifying her.
“Okay,” the farm filly said slowly, using the same calming tone Applejack and Granny Smith used for her whenever she needed help settling down. “It’s alright Miss Hee-you-man. It’s alright. Just calm down. Fretting won’t get us anywhere. Ya need to calm down and then we can try goin’ over this and figure out what’s goin’ on. That okay with you?”
The filly stared back at Apple Bloom for several long, tense moments, before something other than fear flickered in her eyes and, little by little, her body eased until Apple Bloom was sure the filly had calmed down enough.
“Feelin’ better?” she asked once the look of terror was no longer visible.
The biped sighed, not looking happy, but not sad or scared either. “No, but… but I am calm now. Thanks, Apple Bloom.”
“No problem,” the yellow pony said, puffing her chest out proudly. “Any other Apple would do the same.”
The other filly stared at her for a moment, before a sad smile formed and she gave a dark chuckle. “Ain’t that funny?”
Apple Bloom wasn’t sure what that meant… but felt it best not to pry. Instead, she decided to ask a simple question. “So, if’n ya can’t remember yer real name, what do ya want us ta call ya?”
The somewhat sad look did not leave the filly’s face as she looked away, chuckling again, before sighing and leaning back, propping herself up with her arms and hands.
“Well, I guess, since I don’t have any better options right now, you can call me Apple Dumplin.”
At once, all three Crusaders’ eyes widened.
“Apple Dumplin?” Sweetie Belle’s jaw hung open. “Are you the hee-you-man filly version of Apple Bloom’s cousin?”
“Wait. Isn’t Apple Bloom’s Apple Dumplin a mare?” Scootaloo looked to the unicorn, an eyebrow raised. “If what Rainbow Dash said about what Twilight said was true, this filly is younger than us, even if she’s bigger. Plus, she doesn’t leave the G off the end of her last name.”
“Girl.”
Scootaloo glanced to this Apple Dumplin at the sighed word.
The filly sighed again, sitting forward, wrapping her arms around her legs. “A human my gender is a girl, not a filly.”
“Is there a difference?” Sweetie Belle cocked an eyebrow.
The girl frowned for a moment, before sighing and shrugged. “Technically, no, I guess. It’s a culture thing, I suppose is the best way to explain it. Like how a male cow is called a bull instead of just a male cow.”
“Huh,” Scootaloo frowned, glancing up to the sky, before nodding. “Yeah, alright. I guess that makes sense.”
“So… Ah get the feelin’ ya ain’t mah cousin, are ya?” Apple Bloom asked, deciding they should get back on topic.
Apple Dumplin shook her head. “Nope. I’m not even from that world.”
“Wait. Ya know about that world Princess Twilight went to, but ya ain’t from there?” Apple Bloom was very confused now.
The girl sighed, standing up and dusted the dirt off her clothes, which took a bit, since her pants were white. “It’s a very long story, Apple Bloom. One I’m not even sure how to tell.”
“Well, if you’re not from that world, but a different one with hee-you-mans, maybe you can tell us on the way to speak with Princess Twilight?” Sweetie Belle suggested. “She might know why you ended up here. And… not you?” the filly looked confused at that last part of her own words.
Apple Dumplin seemed to think for a moment, before she sighed and smiled. It was a very small smile, but at least it was something. “Sure. Why not? Not like I’ve any better options right now.”
___________________________________________________________
“Wait. A show? Like, something made up for a play?” Scootaloo asks incredulously.
I can’t help inwardly smirking at the irony of her asking that, but keep it to myself and nod.
“Yeah. Apple Dumplin’s fictional. How I wound up as her when she’s not even real, I couldn’t even begin to guess.” I frown, rubbing my chin in thought. “I guess the berry best way I could explain it to you three, since you don’t have TV proper in this world, is comics. You do have those, after all.”
The three nod as they walk beside me.
“And you really can’t help but say “berry” like that,” Scootaloo shakes her head. “Weird.”
We’ve been walking for a few minutes, myself explaining what I can, which isn’t really much, as best I can.
They, in turn, have unintentionally been giving me enough information to figure a few things out myself about their world.
From a comment Sweetie Belle made about how we should make sure not to disturb Fluttershy because she’s looking after the Breezie’s, I know where I am right now in the MLP timeline: It Ain’t Easy, Being Breezies.
That does worry me, since I don’t know how I ended up Apple Dumplin in Equestria and, if we’re in the middle of season four’s timeline, I would rather find a way to get back to my old self and sent home before Tirek shows up.
Granted, that’s probably a good couple months away, but I’d still rather be gone sooner before his arrival rather than later.
And, as Scootaloo just pointed out, like in the show, instead of using “very” most of the time, I’ve apparently got a subconscious tick that makes me say “berry” instead.
That’s gonna get old, way too fast.
“Anyway,” I say, thinking about how best to describe the events of a show from a comic book perspective, “Apple Dumplin is the little sister of Strawberry Shortcake. The two of them live in a place called Strawberry Land. It went on for four… not issues. What would it be called? A miniseries. There were four miniseries.”
“Which one are you from?” Scootaloo asks, before cocking an eyebrow. “Or, were you in all of them?”
“Well, Apple Dumplin was in all the miniseries… though, now that I think about it, she pretty much got shafted in the last one.”
“What do you mean shafted?” Sweetie Belle asks, looking uncomfortable. “Sounds painful.”
I glance at her, blinking, then shake my head. “Oh, I mean she barely gone any attention. Throughout the first, second and third miniseries, she was in almost every issue. In the last miniseries, though, where all the characters were a bit older, Apple Dumplin pretty much wasn’t even in it. She had maybe one appearance in the background of one issue, several times in promotional material and only once got a speaking role in a single issue and she wasn’t even being herself in that issue, but a fairy tale version of herself.”
“Wow,” Scootaloo frowned. “That’s just harsh. Did the publishers just not like her or something?”
I shake my head, shrugging. “Never could figure it out myself, Scootaloo.”
“So… are you that older version of Apple Dumplin now?” Sweetie Belle asks, cocking her head curiously as we pass a very confused looking Doctor Whooves and Derpy, the former with a look of recognition and confusion.
I laugh, folding my arms and shake my head again. “Nope. In fact, the older version of Apple Dumplin from that miniseries looks quite different to what I do.”
Apple Bloom frowns in confusion. “Wait. Then, is she older than you are in that miniseries.”
I shake my head once more. “Same age, actually.”
The three fillies glance at each other, before looking to me, Scootaloo deadpanning. “Can you please explain?”
I nod, grinning. This is actually kinda fun. If not for the whole being turned into a fictional little girl character in a different fictional world, I would be having the time of my life, here.
“See, in the second miniseries, there’s an issue called Cooking Up Fun. It had two stories. The first was… actually, I don’t remember the name of the first story. I always just thought of it as Cooking Up Fun. I dunno if each story even had a separate title.”
Apple Bloom clears her throat, making me realize I’d veered off topic.
I blush, them cough and continue.
“Anyway, in the first story, Apple Dumplin is upset Strawberry and the other big kids won’t let her help them cook and she takes a nap, dreaming that she’s the older kid, while the other four are the ones who are babies.”
I keep walking, Twilight’s library now in view, expecting a follow-up question… when I notice the other three have stopped following me.
Glancing back, I see the three of them are looking at me in confusion.
“What’s up?” I ask, genuinely puzzled.
Scootaloo answers, frowning in confusion. “Why would Apple Dumplin dream the big kids are babies. Wouldn’t them being her age be enough to make herself the big kid in the dream where she’s there age?”
I stare for a moment, before I realize where I messed up… and actually find myself laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Apple Bloom cocks her head.
I don’t answer at first, just trying to get my laughter under control.
Once I can actually breathe again, I explain how, until the fourth season, Apple Dumplin is a baby (well, more a toddler, but everyone in the show referred to her as a baby, for whatever reason).
Once I’ve finally gotten everything straight, the fillies all look to each other and then me, Sweetie pointed to me. “So… this version of Apple Dumplin you’ve turned into…?”
I fold my arms, nodding. “Is the version from that dream, yeah. The older Apple Dumplin from the fourth miniseries has a berry different appearance from me.”
Before any of the three fillies can say anything, a very familiar loud gasp from behind makes me whirl around to see a purple Alicorn standing in the open doorway of her library, her eyes fixed on me and wide.
Aw… crap.
“Twilight?” an annoyed voice from behind the Alicorn says as her left wing is pushed aside. “What’s the hold up? I wanna get… out… too?”
Now there’s a purple and green dragon staring at me with just as much shock as the pony.
“A human? In Equestria? What’s going on?” Spike looks from Twilight to myself, his head moving so fast I’m scared he’s going to break his neck.
“Well, funny you should mention that,” I twiddle my fingers as the CMC rush to stand beside me. “It’s… kind of a long and not really that long story?”
___________________________________________________________
“I see,” Twilight says as she paces back and forth in the front room of her library, multiple scrolls floating around her as she scribbles notes, though I feel it’s a bit redundant with Spike doing the same just off to her side.
We’ve explained as best we can to Twilight what’s going on, myself reiterating everything about Strawberry Shortcake’s 2003 cartoon series in comic book terms that I did to the CMC on the way here, as well as things I didn’t get to say due to all the other questions they’d asked that caused us to go somewhat off topic.
“I can definitely believe you’re not from the world Sunset Shimmer’s staying in without much difficulty,” the Alicorn says, passing Spike one of her finished scrolls, not noticing the eye roll he gives her as he sets it aside, returning to his own. “After all, the portal to that world is still closed for another thirty moons and there’s no other way to that world.”
“Well, unless you count the portal in the Everfree—” I realize my mistake too late, my hands flying to my mouth, but the sudden stop Twilight made tells me I’m screwed either way.
Slowly, her neck cranes in my direction, her eyes promising doom for revealing information she had been unaware of that would prove scientifically important.
I glance at Spike, silently pleading with him to stop the demon that’s about to be unleashed upon me for such a simple slipup.
He must quickly pick up on the situation, because he coughs very loudly, drawing Twilight’s attention.
“I think Miss Apple Dumplin’s problem is more important right now, Twilight, hmm? She’s in a different world from her own, in a body not her own? I think she’d be more comfortable once a solution is found before answering tons of science questions?”
There’s a very long pause as Twilight stares at Spike, my not being able to see her expression and honestly fearing the worst.
After what feels like hours, Twilight’s body sags slightly and she sighs, nodding. “You’re right, Spike. I know from personal experience what it’s like to be in a body different from my own and the stresses it can cause.”
Not quite the same, Sparkle, since I’m technically still the same species as I used to be… just not the same gender, age or from the same reality.
Twilight takes a moment, before looking to me with a kind and reassuring smile. “I promise, Apple Dumplin, I’ll do my best to figure out how this happened to you and why.”
She blinks, then frowns.
“Discord better not have anything to do with this.”
“Why, I’m shocked and offended.”
I feel a conflicting mix of emotions as I realize I feel a sudden weight atop my hat and something drops onto my lap, revealing a miniature Lord of Chaos himself.
“I’ll have you know I had nothing to do with this,” he waves his lion’s paw dismissively. “Bringing an American Greetings character here, with the wrong mind or otherwise, is hardly my idea of fun.”
I open my mouth to ask… then close it, deadpanning.
There is no point asking how Discord could know Apple Dumplin is from an American Greetings cartoon.
It’s Discord. Like Pinkie Pie, don’t question it.
“And, no, before you ask, I cannot send her back,” Discord disappears from my lap, reappearing next to Twilight, arms folded. “Whatever reason she ended up here, she’s not supposed to just be sent back.”
Twilight blinks, before narrowing her eyes at the daconequus. “What do you know?”
“Sorry. My lips are sealed,” his lips literally seal as a zipper appearance over his mouth, doing itself up, though another mouth forms on his goat horn. “Ask her when she feels like talking.”
He finishes by pointing at… me?
I point at myself. “Huh? Ask me? Ask me what? I don’t know how or why I’m here. What in the world are you talking about, Discord?”
He holds up his hands in surrender, then snaps his talon and disappears with a pop.
Twilight is fuming, while Spike has a tired expression. “That’s Discord for you.”
Twilight heaves a loud, drawn out sigh, before rubbing her forehead with a wing and sighing again, looking to me.
“Well, in any case, Apple Dumplin, it seems, for the time being, you’ll be staying here in Equestria until we can sort things out. I apoligize we couldn’t solve this right away.”
I sigh too, resting my head in my hands as I prop my arms on my lap. “Yeah. Truth be told, part of me knew I was being too hopefully, expecting you’d be able to send me back right away.”
I sigh again, pouting, moving one arm away, my head now resting on just my right hand.
“Now what am I gonna do? Where am I even supposed to live for the time being?”
“Well, given the convenient circumstances, I was thinking of asking Applejack and Granny Smith if you could stay with them,” Twilight says, looking to the youngest member of the Apple Family. “Your name would fit right in, after all.”
I facepalm. I really should’ve seen that coming.
After a few more minutes of talking (and Spike thankfully vetoing any of Twilight’s attempts to start a conversation regarding the other EQG portal I let slip about), the CMC and I leave the library, myself suddenly feeling very drained, despite it clearly still being early afternoon.
“Well, since ya’ll be staying at our farm fer the time being,” Apple Bloom says as we start walking, “want us ta show ya around the farm? Get ya familiar with yer surroundin’s an’ all?”
I sigh, folding my arms, my head leaning slightly to my right. “Yeah, guess I may as well. And, knowing your sister and grandmother, I get the feeling, even as a guest, I’m berry likely going to be expected to help out around the farm.”
“Yeah. Probably,” Apple Bloom chuckles nervously, rubbing her neck with a hoof. “Sorry ’bout that.”
We get to the farm and Apple Bloom and her fellow Crusaders show me around, helping me get a lay of the land.
As we’re passing through a field I think isn’t too far off from the borderline between the Apple’s orchards and the start of the Pear’s, I suddenly get a whiff of something foul and have to hold my nose.
Best I can describe the smell is rotten wood mixed with cooked Brussel sprouts.
Gag me.
“Apple Bloom, I think one of the trees around here needs to be chopped down,” I turn around. “It smells like it’s gone… rotten…?”
I trail off as I notice the three fillies are looking behind me in absolute terror.
I deadpan, pointing my thumb over my shoulder. “There’s a monster from the Everfree Forest behind me, isn’t there?”
They whimper as they nod.
I take a deep breath, putting my hands together. “Well, then. I say our best course of action is to RUN!”
We book it as a number of howls come from behind us.
I glance back, only for my heart to leap into my throat when I see five Timberwolves are chasing after us.
Does the multiverse just hate me right now or something?
First I’m turned into Apple Dumplin, then I’m sent to Equestria pre Tirek attack and now I’m being chased by freaking living wood with teeth!
We round a corner, only to panic as we realize we’ve hit a dead-end in the orchard, as several trees have grown too close together, blocking off the direct path forward.
“Go left!” Scootaloo yells, only for a Timberwolf to leap in front of the path she was turning towards, causing her to yelp and backpedal like crazy.
“No, right!” Sweetie Belle cries, before screaming as said path is blocked by another Timblerwolf.
We all slowly back up towards the bunched trees as the whole pack boxes us in, licking their chops eagerly.
I stand in front of the fillies, just as terrified us I am.
I glance back at their scared faces, feeling guilt wash over me.
“I’m… I’m sorry, girls. This is all my fault,” I shake my head, gritting my teeth. “If I wasn’t here, you wouldn’t have been showing me around and we wouldn’t be in the mess.”
“N-no, Apple Dumplin,” Apple Bloom nervously shakes her head. “It-it ain’t yet fault.”
“But it is!” I cry-growl, bitting my bottom lip. “Why’d I have to turn into Apple Dumplin? If I were her fairy self, I could at least protect us with magic. Cast a spell like, I dunno, you wooden wolves of this land, stop where you are, and now heed my command.”
At once, my body suddenly feels hot, weel, really warm, I guess is more accurate, and I feel something appear in my hand as well as my clothes feeling like they’re on firing, but not burning me as a bright light blinds us.
When my eyesight returns, I… I honestly am not really sure what’s going on.
The Timberwolves are sitting in place, looks on worried concern on their faces.
They’re… they’re not attacking us. They’re just… sitting there. The heck?
“Apple Dumplin?”
At Apple Bloom’s questioning tone, I turn to look at them, to see all three fillies are staring at me in awe.
“What?” I ask, waving my hands… noticing I’m holding something.
Focusing on it, I frown.
It looks like a long red stick. Like a… a wand?
Suddenly, I feel movement on my back that causing my brain to bluescreen.
No. Not on my back, attached to my back.
Wings. Freaking wings!
They kinda look like butterfly wings, only with three sections instead of just two. The outer rims are red, while the rest is pale-yellow.
In glance back, my hair shifted and I realized it had changed too.
It was now tied in two pony tails that went down either side of my head.
Quickly looking myself over… that’s not all that’s changed.
Instead of my previous clothes, I’m now wearing a red sleeveless shirt with a white collar designed like four white apple blossom petals, a skirt made of a several large leafs, white leggings and red slipper-like shoes topped with more apple blossoms,
Patting around atop my head, I feel a hairpin shaped like an apple bloom with two leafs behind it.
I just stare blankly, my brain not understanding what’s going on.
I’ve somehow now turned into Apple Berry, the fairy Apple Dumplin was in place on in the Sleepy Beauty segment during the Strawberry Shortcake Happily Ever After episode?
What the hell is going on here?
Author's Note
Yep. Here we go again.
I really wanted to focus on my stories that I've already got published, but i decided to listen to some Strawberry Shortcake songs from one of my CDs two weeks ago and the idea for thiis suddenly popped into my head and hasn't left me alone since.
nagging in the back of my mind so much.
So, i'm publishing this now so it will leave me alone for a while and let me focus on other things.
Now, i'm sure this is certainly not the kind of story you'd have expected to find.
A Strawberry Shortcake MLP story? Those aren't exactly a regular thing now, are they?
Truth be told, i've been a fan of the 2003 Strawberry Shortcake cartoon since before even MLP came out.
I've all the DVDs and most of the CDs. hoping to score one next week, if possible.
Honestly, my enjoyment for Strawberry Shortcake was one of the reasons i wasn't actually too surprised i found myself enjoying MLP when i gave it at chance.
like FiM, the 2003 Strawberry Shortcake was designed for a young audience, but also for a slightly older audience too, with endearing characters, berry good animation, wonderful designs and some banger songs.
Any other 2003 Strawberry Shortcake fans? Who was your favourtie character? and who was your least? Let me know in the comments. i genuinely wanna know.
And what the MC says about Apple Dumplin is honestly my own feelings.
Why the heck did Apple Dumplin basically get shafted to the side in the final season?
after the Cooking Up Fun episode, soon as i realized she'd be a kid instead of a baby in the final season, i was looking forward to Apple Dumplin getting more screen time... and yet, she didn't.
Aside from a few background appearance during the song Hope You Like It during the second half of Rockaberry Roll and a handful of music videos, her only actually speaking roll throughout the entire final season of that interation of Strawberry Shortcake was in the first half of Happily Ever After and, like the MC points out, Apple Dumplin didn't even get to be herself in that episode. She was the fairy Apple Berry.
She wasn't even living with Strawberry anymore, so she'd basically been erased from the show.
She didn't even get to be in the final version of the theme song. you'd think, off all those Strawberry cares about, her own freaking sister would be in the final theme song, but she wasn't anywhere in sight.
And she didn't even show up in the next version of Strawberry Shortcake, Berry Bitty Adventures, until near the end and she wasn't even Strawberry's sister anymore in that version, she was her cousin.
The only good thing there was Sunset Shimmer herself, Rebbeca Souchet voiced her.
JusticeFor2003AppleDumplin.
Anyway, despite the ending's likely implications, Apple Dumplin isn't going to become like a lot of characters in these types of stories who find themselves in Equestria as characters from totally different franchises.
Yes, she might play a part here and there, but, for the most part, she's... wow, this feels kinda hypocritical of me considering and that blustering i was doing a moment ago
.
She's going to be in the background, just enjoying life in Equestria and any other adventures that come her way.
There's a reason Discord referred to her the way he did, after all, though i'll say no more than that to leave you guessing 
.
So, Apple Dumplin might be living with the Apples for the time being as they try to figure out why she ended up in Equestria... and she can turn into Apple Berry, with magic that seems to give her control over Timberwolves?
Just when the kid thought she could wrap her head around things and take it easy.
What adventures await our berry confused friend?
Could the magic she wields allow her to go home? Or is there some other trick to her magic?
And what of poor Strawberry Shortcake? What is going on on her side in Strawberry Land?
Did Apple Dumplin just suddenly vanished without a trace in front of her? Was she as old as she is now, or was Strawberry's last sight of her as a baby?
Questions to be answered another time... and certainly not now.
Not only was i not intending to do more than get this posted so it stops nagging me so much, I've been at this for I'm not sure how many hours, but it's already almost 11pm and i still have things i wanted to watch on YouTube and to hunt for a Shiny Alolan Raichu with a mark in Pokémon Violet AND not end up going to bed after 2am because of it.
So, i'll leave this here so i don't end up rambling until AFTER 11pm and say, hope you enjoyed this chapter, hope the story is posted soon enough and, til next time, stay safe, stay clean and goodnight everybody
An Apple Over A Berry Barrel
Chapter 1
___________________________________________________________
“Yer serious about this, Twilight? Ya ain’t just messin’ with me?” Applejack asked the Alicorn standing before her.
Twilight shook her head, giving the orange mare standing by the Apple’s cart in the market a firm look. “I promise you, Applejack, I’m not joking around here.”
The farmer just blinked, then shook her head. “Hard to believe it, a human winding up as a fictional character in our world? What’re the chances o’ that?”
Suddenly, a frown came to the orange mare’s face and she looked to her Alicorn friend.
“Twi, she didn’t say she’s actually from a comic book, right?”
Twilight nodded, blinked in confusion, then shook her head. “No. She says the origin of her current form came from what humans called TV back in that world Sunset Shimmer’s in, but she used comic book terms since I wasn’t too experienced. It looked difficult for her too, like, if she hadn’t had to use comic book terminology, it would’ve been less of a struggle for her to properly articulate her words. She had to pause many times, looking like she was struggling to figure out how best to phrase whatever she was about to say.”
Applejack rubbed her chin, before looking to Twilight with a wary expression. “Is it possible she’s actually from a comic book fer real an’ she was struggling ta figure how ta say so without revealing the truth?”
Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “Huh?”
Applejack sighed, giving Twilight a firm look. “Twilight, we know there is at least one comic book store out there that sells enchanted comics. Isn’t it at all possible this Apple Dumplin came from one of that store’s comic books?”
Twilight opened her mouth, then paused, thinking it over. “Well, I suppose, if you were to present all possible outcomes, that is one possibility… but, who would be that cruel?”
Applejack sighed, nodding. “Ah’d rather not think it possible either, that a pony could intentionally write a comic book character who thinks they’re real, only to be further thrown into that delusion by being from an enchanted comic book that brings them ta the real world… but, it is possible, right?”
“I… I don’t want to think it…” Twilight trailed off, before shaking her head, her expression firming. “But, Applejack, aside from us, our friends and the princesses, nopony else should know about humans, at all.” She narrowed her eyes. “Well, aside from a certain trio you, Rarity and Rainbow Dash felt it fine to tell about my adventures into the human world.”
Applejack’s face immediately went from orange to a pink more akin to a pony she’d learned recently was a distant relative. “Well-well, we did make em all Pinkie Promise not ta tell anypony else unless we said it was okay… right?”
Twilight continued to frown in disapproval at the farm mare.
“Sis! Sis!”
The cries from one of the trio being talked about thankfully ended the uncomfortable staring match with the Alicorn Applejack was suddenly uncomfortably aware of was still technically royalty and she turned as the fillies came through the market, stopping in front of her, panting.
Had they been running? Why?
“Oh, howdy there, Sugarcube,” Applejack said, thankful to change the subject, before becoming concerned by the worried looks on the trio’s faces. “Is sumthin’ wrong?”
“Uh…” Apple Bloom looked to Scootaloo.
“Well…” Scootaloo looked passed Apple Bloom to Sweetie Belle.
“Kinda…?” the unicorn shrugged, grinning uncertainly.
Before either mare could inquire as to what they meant, the sound of faint shouts of confused worry and hesitation reached their ears.
Glancing up… the two were met by a very odd sight.
Flittering in the air, as if completely unsure how to move while in flight, was whom Twilight recognized as clearly Apple Dumplin… but she’d changed since she’d seen her a few hours ago.
For one, Apple Dumplin now had wings on her back, somewhat reminiscent of butterfly wings, if Twilight had to compare them, though there were three curves instead of just two either wing, each being red with a pale-yellow outer rim.
However, the addition of wings to her back were not all that had changed about Apple Dumplin since Twilight had seen her last.
Instead of the clothes she’d been wearing when the Crusaders brought her to Twilight’s library, she was now wearing a red sleeveless shirt with a white collar designed like four white apple blossom petals, a skirt made of a several large leafs, white leggings and red slipper-like shoes topped with more apple blossoms,
Her hair style had changed too. Now, instead of her hair being out, it was tied in two ponytails, the ends each tied with a ribbon with an apple broach.
Atop her head, no longer did she have her apple patterned hat, just a hairpin shaped like an apple blossom with two leafs behind it.
Apple Dumlpin was moving very erratically through the air, it clear she had no real experience in controling the two new limps on her back.
Twilight couldn’t help but feel sympathy, easily being able to relate.
“What in the…? How did that happen?” Applejack pointed to the girl as she lurched up and down in the air, the farmer directly her gaze to her younger sister and two friends.
“We-we dunno!” Sweetie Belle cried with a loud squeak to her voice.
“We were running from Timberwolves that got on the farm and she said something that rhymed, like how Zecora speaks and-and—”
“An’ there was this bright flash o’ light an’, when it faded, Apple Dumplin looked like that,” Apple Bloom indicated towards the girl flailing through air.
“Wait a minute!” Applejack’s eyes widened. “Timberwolves, on the farm?” then her eyes narrowed. “If’n that’s so, how’d the four o’ ya’ll escape?”
“Apple Dumplin!” Scootaloo pointed to the girl. “Somehow, whatever she said worked like a spell. It made the Timberwolves obey whatever she said.”
“She controlled the Timberwolves?!” Twilight cried in shock.
“Well, kinda?” Sweetie Belle cocked her head to the side, looking confused. “From the way they acted, it seemed like it was a temporary thing, but she ordered them to go into the forest and never bother ponies again.”
“Though, if her spell was temporary, there’s no telling if they’ll keep obeying that order or just ignore it from now on,” Scootaloo pondered.
“Look out!”
All five ponies look up, only to cry out in alarm and run as the winged human came falling from the sky, crashing into the Apple’s cart, it breaking into piece and the remains of the apple items to be sold toppling to the ground.
Once the dust had settled, they all came from behind another, more fortified cart to see the human sprawled out on top of what used to be the Apple’s cart.
She had some cuts and bruises, though looked fine overall.
The five moved cautiously over, Twilight being the first to speak.
“Apple Dumplin? Are you injured?”
The girl groaned, before opening her eyes and giving the mare standing above her a deadpan stare.
“I just fell from the sky and crashed into a wooden cart. What do you think, Bookhorse?”
Twilight chose to ignore that insult (and the snickers from Applejack and Scootaloo), as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom helped the human out from the wreckage of the cart and stand.
As she turned around and her eyes fell on the splintered wood everywhere, however, her eyes widened in horror.
“Oh my gosh! Applejack, I’m so sorry!” she said frantically, looking from the wreck to the farmer and back. “I-I-I swear, I’ll fix this!”
“Don’t you worry none, Sugarcube,” the orange mare said, looking to the shattered remains of the cart with a slightly wistful expression. “Dang thing was on its last legs fer a long while anyhow. Needed replacin’ eventually. Though, how we’re gonna afford it presently, Ah’m unsure o’.”
“No-no! I promise, I can fix it!” the girl said more frantically, though with a bit of firmness that took Applejack by surpise… though not so much as what the human girl did next.
Apple Dumplin flicked her right hand and a long red stick seemed to just come into existence.
The girl tapped the stick against her chin, frowning in anxuious thought.
“Okay. I don’t really know how it worked last time, but I rhymed, so maybe I’ll give that a go again and hope it works.”
She started waving the stick back and forth… Applejack very puzzled as to what that was meant to do, before the girl spoke… it clear she was thinking her words through very carefully.
“Cart of the Apple Family… strong and true! Rebuild yourself, like brand new!”
Any questions about the rhyming Applejack might have had were halted as sparkling lights seemed to emanate from the tip of the red stick, before the broken pieces of wood were covered in similar sparkles.
Before everypony’s eyes, the pieces of wooden floated into the air and reassembled themselves, exactly as if the crash had never happened… but it didn’t stop there.
For years, the green and red paint of the cart had been faded, since as long as Applejack could remember.
However, right before their eyes, the paint regained its lost colour, even getting a glistening to it, as if freshly applied.
When the sparkles faded, all five mares just stared at the cart, their mouth hanging open.
The cart looked as if it had just been made, freshly crafted by Applejack’s great grandfather so many moons ago.
Applejack had only ever seen it looking this pristine in old family photos, where the colour wasn’t clear due to the pictures being black and white.
The five ponies turned their heads to stare at the human girl, who fiddled with her red stick in both hands nervously.
“Well… this is a bit complicated to explain, huh?”
Suddenly, there was a faint flash that ran up her body and Apple Dumplin looked like Twilight remembered her from earlier, even the red stick had disappeared.
The girl blinked, looking herself over, then glared up at the sky.
“Really? Now I change back? Really?”
Author's Note
Yeah... this wasn't the update I was originally expecting either.
Sufficed to say... IRL has been kicking me in the nads constantly over the last 4+ weeks.
i'd had plans for several different updates but, every day, literally every day i planned on doing something the next day, but the time i woke up, i'd lost all the will to write.
Granted, it probably didn't help that, for the last 3 or so weeks, we've been having major problems with the pluming, it being so bad our shower drain wouldn't drain so long as the water was still running, meaning showers were having to be cut shorter and made more problematic as the water rose, spilling out onto the floor if we weren't careful.
then our shower started leaking, the toilet started rarely flushing properly, it was just getting worse by the day.
then, to top it off, last week, after i'd learned the chances of my getting to go back to Japan won't be for 3-5 years at the least, combined with weather on Monday reminding me so much of my mornings in Japan, it felt like i'd been hit by an emotional bullet train and had to go home from work early because i just couldn't focus on my work at all.
and, obviously, that meant writing was definitely out of the question.
Thankfully, while everything did kinda come to a head Monday, the week before HAD actually started the process of getting my head back on my shoulders.
For starters, in relation to this update, my copy of Strawberry Shortcake Let's Dance on CD finally came in the mail the Wednesday before last and i've been listening to it every night since because, as the weeks kept kicking me in the nads, the idea of writing at least one more chapter for this before moving on to other fics was the only thing really helping me keep my thoughts together, but, with my writing mojo constantly getting ripped away from me, i couldn't get it done and so it festered in my head, keeping me from focusing on writing any other stories.
What changed was, due to that emotionally bullet train hitting me Monday and leaving work early, i didn't something i realized i hadn't in ages that tended to always make me feel a tiny bit better about not being able to go back to Japan anytime soon: exploring Asian markets and buying foods from them, like unique Asian snacks and sweets and drinks, including some yuzu and ramune dai fuku.
This gave me enough mental fortitude to pull my head in enough that i was at least able to get through this week without too much trouble.
this in turn gave me the confidence to do some exploring of a Savers store at Tea Tree Plaza on Wednesday and, to my Suprise, i found decent condition secondhand copies of 3 DVDs from the 90s X-Men cartoon, specifically season 2 disc 2, season 3 disc 2 and season 4 disc 1.
and, interestingly, several episodes from the seasons 2 and 3 DVDs were also on my Legend of the Wolverine DVD, which, as the title implies, was a DVD with a compilation of X-Men episodes specifically focused on Wolverine, the episodes in question being Out of the Past parts 1 and 2 and Nightcrawler.
Watching all of them throughout friday and yesterday somehow gave me the push to write this chapter down, so i can move forward with my other stories, specifically i intend to focus on updating (if possible with the first) My Pony Hero Academia" New Generation, I'm Peni Parker. What the Fuck?, Equestria's Heir of the Wolverine and, if i can, either my WTICH story or Unexpected Aftermath.
the first one i'm hoping to get back to because, with the Horikoshi having finished the MHA manga, there are no hidden surprises that will make me have to do any major rewrites like the final battle against All For One resulted in.
as for the Peni Park and X-23 stories and why i plan on updating them soon?
Well, it should be obvious if you've watched season 2 of X-Men. the Pheonix Saga happened in season 2 and, while it doesn't show him fully on screen, Spider-Man was there helping those in New York during the problems the events of that saga was causing and as for X-23's story?
I have literally been watching X-Men. have could i NOT get the drive to give that a bit of an update in the near future?
Anyway, I also hope to get back to not only Twilight's Twinlight and Unexpected Aftermath soon, but I also wanna try to get at least one new update up for Accidental Soulmates, because that story NEEDS to move forward and Twilight's budding relationship with Cadance needs some meat on them bones.
So, I will leave it here for now and try to enjoy the rest of my day in a relaxing way, as i have to return to work tomorrow.
Maybe i'll relax with finally rewatching David Attenborough's Life In Cold Blood (like I've been meaning to the last 3 days but couldn't because i was trying to freaking hard to find that damn elusive LEGIT Shiny Gimmighoul in Pokémon Viollet).
So, hope this chapter can tied you over a little til i can get back to those others fanfics and, til next time, stay safe, stay clean and see you later everybody
