Apple Seedsby ChocovichChaptersChapter 1: Double the Fun?Chapter 2: Time With FriendsChapter 3: FamilyChapter 4: Fate of the FarmChapter 5: Plan CChapter 6: Why?Chapter 7: Apple Stand BrawlChapter 8: Early ArrivalChapter 1: Double the Fun?Chapter 1: Double the Fun? Applejack woke up early in the morning to a kick in the stomach. As she climbed out of bed she felt another kick, that made her jump slightly. From downstairs she could smell Big Mac preparing hay bacon and eggs, making her mouth water. Big Mac's hay bacon and eggs were something to die for some mornings, and this was one of those mornings. "Hi sis!" Applebloom said happily as she ran past Applejack in the hallway, eager to get her breakfast so she could go out and play with the Crusaders. "Hey Applebloom" Applejack said with a smile as she walked over to the bathroom so she could check how big she was getting. When she looked into the mirror she felt her heart drop slightly. For the past three months she had been growing bigger and bigger, becoming more and more selfcounscious every day. She let out a sigh before she turned around to go down to the kitchen. "Morning Applejack" Big Mac said as he slid the hay bacon onto a plate that he had set on the table, most of them being grabbed quickly by Applebloom. "Mornin'" Applejack said as she pulled up a chair, noticing somepony missing, "Where's Granny?" "She's still laying down, she didn't wake up when I went in there earlier" Big Mac said as he put the frying pan in the sink, turning the water on so the grease wouldn't stick to the pan. Applejack shrugged before taking a few pieces of hay bacon with her eggs, digging in as soon as she was comfortable. Applebloom was finished first so she put her plate in the sink before running back upstairs, coming down a few seconds later with her saddlebags on. "Bye Applejack, bye Big Mac!" Applebloom shouted as she ran out the door, her two friends walking up the path right then. Applejack looked out the kitchen window in time to see the three of them share a hug before running off to the clubhouse with a long day of trying to get their cutie marks ahead of them. "How much trouble do you think they'll get into today?" Applejack asked as she went to make herself some coffee, getting a laugh from Big Mac. "No more than usual" Big Mac replied as he began eating his own breakfast, a long day of work a head of him. Applejack smiled as she sat back down with her coffee in hoof, sipping it calmly as she thought about what her day would be about. After breakfast she would be heading to Ponyville Hospital for a check up, then she would come back home and Granny would give her a check up of her own, and then she would talk to the Crusaders about what it's like to be pregnant. All in all, it was a pretty normal day for her, or at least, what has been normal for the past four months. "Ok, I'm heading out now" Big Mac said as he got up from the table, placing his plate in the sink next to Applebloom's. "See you later Mac" Applejack said as she sipped her coffee, glancing up at the clock to see what time it was. Half past eight? I got some time, Applejack thought, giving the remaining hay bacon a look before she headed to the front porch so she could get the mail. One letter stuck out among all of them, from a certain stallion Applejack knew very personally. "Dammit Flim, why do you keep sending me mail!" Applejack said angrily as she tossed the letter from Flim into the garbage. Ever since the incident a few months ago he had been sending her letter after letter, trying to get her to take him in and become his wife. When the news had broken out him and Flam had gotten into a fight, the two of them cutting ties and heading their separate ways almost immediately. On Applejack's end it had been rather calm, except for how pissed Applejack had become about all of it. She had spent most of the last four months thinking about stopping the pregnancy, but Granny and her friends managed to calm her down. "Applejack, is that you stomping around down there?" Granny asked from her room upstairs, making Applejack come back to reality. She hadn't even realized that she was stomping around. "Sorry Granny" Applejack apologized, quickly looking at the clock, surprised by the time. Without hesitation she ran up stairs to say goodbye to Granny before running out of the house so she would make her Doctor's appointment, which was at ten. Thirty minutes from now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So Applejack, how have you been the past few weeks?" Doctor Monitor asked as he looked over Applejack's file. "Good, I guess" Applejack answered, "Couldn't really complain given how everypony's been treating me" "That's good to hear" Doctor Monitor said as he put the file down, a smile creeping across his face. He got up and moved towards the door, nodding for Applejack to follow him. She got up after him and followed him out of the room, knowing exactly where they were going to go. As they came into the examination room she prepared herself to be magically scanned by the doctor's assistant, who had been waiting patiently in the room for the two of them to arrive. "Are you ready Applejack?" Doctor Monitor asked as his assistant got ready to scan her, his horn glowing a bright blue color. With a nod from Applejack the examination began, the familiar tickling feeling washing over her body as the magic washed over her, an image appearing next to her belly after a few passes. "Well, looks like we have a surprise for you Applejack" Doctor Monitor said as he looked at the image, "It's twins, two fillies by the looks of it" "Two fillies?!" Applejack said quickly, her eyes opening wide as she thought about it. If she brought two fillies home there wouldn't be enough room in the farmhouse, which meant that either they would have to build an expansion, or she would have to... "Doctor, are you sure it's twins?" Applejack asked worriedly, not wanting to believe the news. "I'm afraid so Applejack" Doctor Monitor said calmly as the magic scanning finished. Applejack's eyes dropped to the ground as the doctor updated her file, anything he said passing over her entirely for the rest of the time that she was there. Once she got back to the farm she felt like crying, but the Crusaders managed to cheer her up enough that she was able to put the thoughts of twins for the rest of the day. "Hey Applejack, did they say anything new today?" Big Mac asked that night at the dinner table, taking a moment to take a large bite of his rose sandwich. "Well, they said that they were, um..." Applejack trailed off as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to say, but Big Mac had figured it out from what she had already said. "They?" Big Mac asked, already knowing the answer, "They means twins, right?" "Uh, eeyup" Applejack said shyly, a loud squeal coming from Applebloom. "I'm going to have two nieces!" Applebloom shouted as she started to bounce around the table, making Granny laugh happily. "Looks like the Apple family is only going to get bigger!" Granny said happily as Applebloom continued to circle the table, the other two ponies in the room however, were not in as high of spirits. Both of them knew this would only lead to more troubles in the future, many of them involving the well being of the twins. Chapter 2: Time With FriendsChapter 2: Time With Friends Applejack was making her way into town when the foals kicked, almost making her loose her footing on the gravel road. She never knew why they kicked so hard, but it was just something she's gotten used to, she had to or else this would have been a very short pregnancy. Today, rather than going to see Doctor Monitor, Applejack was heading into town so she could meet with her friends and talk about the foals, among other things, but they usually just talked about the foals the entire time. It was usually Rarity who kept them talking about it, finding it "un-lady like" and "unrefined" that Applejack had managed to get pregnant before marriage, but it's not like she really had a choice in the matter. When you don't have a choice in the matter it's pretty hard to say no. "Good morning Applejack, how's the foal?" Miss Cheerilee asked as she came trotting up the trail on her way to school, always happy to see Applejack in the morning. "They're good, how about you?" Applejack asked, passing over the fact that she actually had twins in the hopes of avoiding a long, boring, conversation with her. "Well, things are going good, but I gotta run, see you later Applejack!" Cheerilee said as she quickly started trotting towards the school, pausing when she realized what Applejack had said. She was obviously tempted to go back to see what Applejack meant, but her duty as a teacher was calling for her, and she couldn't just ignore it. Applejack allowed herself to giggle as she watched Cheerilee debate her options in her head before finally choosing her job over her curiosity. Now that a conversation with Cheerilee had been avoided Applejack was free to continue on her way to the library uninterrupted. Once she arrived at the library though, it was an entirely different story. Apparently Applebloom had managed to tell Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo that Applejack had twins now, and the two of them then told their respective sisters, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. "You actually have twins?!" Rarity cried as Applejack stepped hoof into the library, nearly jumping back and slamming the door shut in front of her in surprise. Twilight noticed her surprise however and held the door open with her magic, saving Rarity the embarrassment of running full speed into a door. Applejack sighed before she moved forward again, meanwhile Rarity was nearly bursting at the seams with excitement about the news. Sweetie Belle had made her swear to not tell a soul unless Applejack said it was okay, and the suspense was killing her! "So dear, you're going to tell us about the twins, right?" Rarity asked, her excitement showing in both her face and voice, making Applejack let out a loud sigh. "Ok fine, I'll tell ya" Applejack said in a somewhat annoyed way, not really happy to be talking about the situation again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So that's all that he said?" Rarity asked, finding Applejack's explanation of the previous day to be rather boring and uninteresting. "What were you expecting him to say?" Rainbow asked sarcastically, "That she was growing a three headed pony with horns inside her?" "Oh come on Dashie, we all know that would never happen" Pinkie said with a laugh before freezing on the spot, "Right?" "What if that did happen?!" Fluttershy squeaked as she jumped behind Pinkie, the two of them holding each other as they shook, the idea of a three headed pony with horns being too scary for them to bear. Twilight face hoofed before looking back to Applejack. "Do you still plan of keeping Flim away from all of this?" Twilight asked, genuinely worried that keeping him away might cause Applejack more problems than it's worth. "Of couse I do, I never wanted to have this happen in the first place" Applejack said angrily, any mention of Flim's name always managed to piss her off nowadays. Twilight sighed before heading for her kitchen, the sound of a tea kettle whistling drawing her away. "You know this all could have been avoided if you had just acted more lady like" Rarity said from her seat, making Applejack turn to her in anger. "You try and keep things lady-like after you've had eight full mugs of cider!" Applejack said defensively, making everypony look at her in surprise. It wasn't like her to snap like that, especially not at one of her friends for saying one little comment. What Rarity said wasn't anything new either, she said it almost every time they met up, but this was the first time Applejack had ever really reacted to it. "Um, Applejack, are you okay?" Rainbow asked as she gently floated over towards Applejack, who now had a hurt expression on her face. "Yeah, I'm just..." Applejack trailed off as she looked at the floor, "I'm sorry for snapping like that" "Oh don't worry dear, mood swings perfectly understandable" Rarity said with a warm smile, "You are pregnant after all" "Yeah, thanks for reminding me" Applejack replied sarcastically, making everypony laugh. Twilight came back into the room a few minutes later with the tea she had been making levitating just a few inches in front of her, and then served them out to everypony, except for Rainbow, she opted for a warm cider. After the big blow up Applejack had, things were rather calm, save for the occasional spat between Rainbow and Rarity, but things were calm. Seeing her friends acting like nothing was really wrong put Applejack's mind at ease, and she liked it, even if it was only for the day. It was times like this that made Applejack really appreciate her friends, even Rarity despite all the times they've fought. Without them, this pregnancy would be a whole lot harder. "Rainbow, how much cider have you had?" Twilight asked worriedly as Rainbow suddenly flew into the floor with a loud thud, stopping all conversation. "Just enough to forget how to fly obviously" Rarity quipped, making everypony laugh except for Rainbow. "Shut up, I can still fly!" Rainbow said, obviously drunk as she tried to fly back up, her wings flapping out of sync, causing her to sway from side to side, eventually colliding with Rarity, causing the two of them to tumble to the floor in a heap. "Nice flying there Rainbow Crash" Applejack said jokingly, much to Rainbow's dismay. "Eh shut up Preggerjack!" Rainbow said before passing out, the full force of the cider hitting her like a rampaging bull. Everypony giggled as she snored happily on the floor, not knowing at the time that her peaceful sleep was just a gateway to the most pain she would ever feel. Once everypony said their goodbyes Applejack helped Fluttershy carry Rainbow home, quickly saying goodnight once Rainbow was sleeping soundly in her bed. Fluttershy lingered for a moment after they said goodnight, wanting to ask if anything was bothering Applejack, but she left before Fluttershy could muster up the courage to say anything. Chapter 3: FamilyChapter 3: Family As Applejack sipped her morning coffee she could hear everything that was going on in the house. Big Mac was fighting to get his yoke on while Granny shouted at him to help her get out of bed. Applebloom was running throughout her room attempting to find her favorite ribbon, which she had somehow lost again before going to bed the previous night. After a few minutes the entirety of the Apple family was down in the kitchen with Applejack, all three of them talking loudly to each other as they all attempted to do what they needed to do. Meanwhile Applejack had finished her coffee and was now slowly eating some apple tarts that Granny had placed on the table the night before. All in all, it was a fairly normal morning in the Apple house, except for the fact that Applejack was now eating for three, so most of the tarts were already gone by the time Applebloom went to get some. "Sis, you ate all the tarts again!" Applebloom whined as she looked at the empty plate, her bottom lip pushed out just a bit. "Granny will make more tonight, you know that" Applejack replied after she swallowed the last piece of tart, liking her lips so she could make Applebloom jealous for fun. Applebloom grunted angrily and walked away, her bottom lip still pushed out, making Applejack laugh. "So, got any plans for today sis?" Big Mac asked as he sat down with his own cup of coffee and some toast. "Not really, I was just thinking about staying at home and helping Granny wi-" *KNOCK, KNOCK* "What in tarnation?" the entire Apple family asked as all of their heads shot to the door. Applejack got up first to go see what it was, finding it extremely unusual that somepony would be at the house this early in the morning. As she tentatively reached for the door nob Applejack felt a wave of uneasiness come over her, as if the pony on the other side of the door was... "Applejack, I know you're in there, please let me in" the pony said in a sickening way to Applejack, "It's me, Flim!" Without thinking Applejack opened the door, turned around, and bucked Flim right in the face,the force sending him flying off the deck. "STAY AWAY FROM THE FARM YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Applejack screamed as loud as she could, causing even Big Mac to be afraid of her for a minute. Applejack slammed the door shut as hard as she could, causing both the door and the frame to splinter, making her even angrier. She didn't care about anything now, she was going to go back up to her room, climb into bed, and stay there for the rest of the day until Flim left, like he always did. As she laid her head down all Applejack could think of was that sick bastards face when he... "I would kill him if I could..." Applejack mumbled angrily as she closed her eyes, expecting the next few hours to give her the silence she now wanted so dearly. *tink* ... *tink* "Urgh..." *TINK* "Oh for the love a'..." *SMASH* "WHAT IN CELESTIA'S NAME IS GOING ON?!" "I WANT TO TALK TO YOU!" Flim shouted from outside the farmhouse, his voice going through the window he just smashed in Applejack's bedroom, "PLEASE COME DOWN HERE!" "NO!" Applejack shouted back before she shoved a pillow into the hole in the window, sealing it back up for the time being. From outside she could hear him shouting some more, despite her efforts to ignore him. A few minutes later Big Mac came up to her room and looked at the window, his expression quickly turning sour. Without saying a word Big Mac left the room and headed outside, evident by the loud stomping and the slamming of the front door again. "Go away you bastard, she doesn't want to see you" Big Mac said angrily, his usually calm voice now sounding menacing. Flim laughed, making Big Mac angrier with every second. "Sorry Mac, but if you didn't know..." Flim said quietly, breathing in before shouting, "It's my foal she's carrying around!" Applejack removed the pillow for a second so she could throw one of the rocks back, managing to nail Flim right in the head, making him sway back and forth before he shook his head from side to side. "Oh you bitch" Flim muttered under his breath, making Mac grunt as he dug his hind legs into the ground. Before he could charge Applebloom came running out of the house, stopping just in front of him. "It's not your foal!" Applebloom shouted angrily, "They're hers!" Everypony froze for a moment as they all processed what Applebloom had just shouted out. "They're?" Flim echoed, a devious smile appearing across his lips, "Looks like you now have another reason that you should be with me, Applejack" "She doesn't need you, she has us!" Granny shouted from the porch, making Big Mac turn around in surprise. It was rare for Granny to be outside the house this early, being up for an argument too was surprising to everypony. "What happens when you croak you old hag?" Flim asked, making Big Mac's temper flare higher than it's ever been, "Who would take the farm in that case?" Everypony looked at Granny as she thought about the will that she had, and that her son had created with his wife... "The first of the foals to be married inherits the farm..." Granny said sadly, her eyes dropping to the floor as she realized what it meant for them. Before Flim could make another snobbish remark Big Mac charged forwards, pushing him and his partner clean off the farm, making sure that he was not going to come back for a long while by giving him a good old fashioned hoofsandwich, with extra pain. Until Big Mac came stomping back up the path Applebloom looked at Granny, hoping that she was wrong about the farm, but she wasn't. If he manages to marry Applejack, then the farm would be... Chapter 4: Fate of the FarmChapter 4: Fate of the Farm A few hours after Flim left the farm Applejack came out of her room, still angry, but more worried about what Granny had said earlier. When she finally found Granny she was sleeping in her chair, making it seem as though nothing had happened earlier in the day. Knowing that it would be a while before Granny woke up Applejack decided to look around the house for something to do, finding plenty of dishes sitting in the sink from the past two days. Once those were finished Applejack decided to join Granny in the living room for a nap, only for the elderly mare to be awake when she got there. "Hey Granny" Applejack said as she climbed onto the couch, laying herself down so she would be comfortable. "Applejack" Granny said calmly, making Applejack think that Granny was unfazed by the morning's events. "Granny, what you said earlier, about the farm..." Applejack started to ask, but Granny hushed her. "It was true" Granny said seriously, "In your parents will it says that they wanted whomever of the three of you that got married first to have it" "But you're still here, don't you still own the farm?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow towards Granny. "Nope, my husband, your grandfather, owned the farm" Granny said, looking towards a picture on the wall of an old stallion standing next to her, "When he passed he handed the farm down to your father, and when he..." "It's okay Granny, you don't have to say it" Applejack said, knowing that the memory of how her father died hurt Granny. Granny was silent for a moment as she looked at the picture of her with her husband, an overwhelming urge to cry growing inside her, but she managed to stay calm. "I have to follow what you're father put in his will" Granny said with a sigh, "I just wish there was another way..." Applejack watched Granny as she got out of her chair and headed up the stairs to her room, being reminded of her husband and son's passing had taken a toll on her. After a while Applejack had managed to fall asleep on the cough, her own mind plagued with the memory of her parents' passing... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Come on sis, dad wants us to go into our rooms right now" Big Mac said as he started to pull Applejack towards her room, which she was currently sharing with their newborn sister, Applebloom. "But why?" Applejack asked, confused as to why her parents would do that during a storm. Normally when a storm got this bad their parents would take all of them into the living room and they would all play games until it was over. Why would they change it tonight? "I don't know why, but even Granny wants us to go there, so we're going" Big Mac said seriously, making Applejack feel a little angry. He's never acted that way towards her before, and with everything that was going on it only made Applejack more confused. When he finally got her into her room Applebloom started to cry, making Big Mac stay in the room so he could calm her down. After almost an hour the storm started to clear up, but Big Mac made Applejack stay in the room to watch Applebloom while he and Granny went to find out where their mom and dad were. "Momma?" Applebloom asked as Applejack lifted her onto her back so they could go down to the living room. "No Applebloom, I'm not momma" Applejack said as she closed the door to her room, having to walk slowly down the stairs so that Applebloom wouldn't fall off. Once they were downstairs she looked out the window, a giant smoke cloud slowly rising into the sky where the Pegasi were kicking it apart. From the orchard she saw Granny, Big Mac, and some unknown filly running towards the house. "Applejack, go get the bath started" Big Mac ordered as he came into the house. Applejack quickly complied and ran upstairs to turn on the bath, and once it was ready she ran back downstairs to see Granny crying as Big Mac cleaned up some cuts the filly had on her legs. "What's going on? Where's mom and dad?" Applejack asked as she looked around the room, not seeing any sign of them. Big Mac coughed so he could talk, but the filly on the couch suddenly spoke up. "I saw them trying to put out the fire, so I tried to help them, but then..." the filly coughed as tears started to come down her face, "A branch that was on fire came down onto them..." Big Mac started to pat the filly on the shoulder to try and calm her down, but she just kept crying. "I tried to save them, but all I did was hurt myself..." the filly said as she looked at her forelegs, burns and cuts running up and down them. "It's okay, now come on, let's get you cleaned up" Big Mac said as he helped the filly to her hooves and then up the stairs into the bath. Applejack decided to sit down on the floor next to Granny, the shock still not setting in yet as she thought about what the filly said. A few minutes later Big Mac and the filly, who Applejack could now tell had a rainbow mane and wings, came down from the bath, with the filly leaning up on Big Mac for support. "I don't know how I could ever repay you for saving my life back there" the filly said as they sat down on the couch. "No need to, I couldn't just leave you to die in there" Big Mac said, trying to be humble. "Hmm..." the filly said as she tapped her chin, a devious smile growing on her face, "What if I became your wife!" Big Mac gave her a confused look, but quickly smiled, thinking it was only a joke. After some time he walked the filly home, coming back with redder cheeks than he usually had. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hey look, she's awake" Rainbow said as Applejack opened her eyes, the evening sun blinding her at first. "What are you doing here Rainbow?" Applejack asked tiredly as she rubbed her eyes. "Just came by to see Mac, why?" Rainbow asked, finding it odd that Applejack didn't know she was coming by. Rainbow always came by on a Friday for food, it was when Big Mac went all out and prepared a feast to end the week. As Applejack woke up completely she remembered her dream, and came up with a plan to keep Flim from getting the farm. "Hey Rainbow, do you remember what you said to Big Mac when you first met?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow as she smiled evilly at Rainbow, making her back away slowly, "You know, about you being his wife?" "Woah, woah!" Rainbow said quickly, her forelegs coming up defensively, "Just because me and Mac are together doesn't mean I want to marry him right away!" "You two are together?" Applejack asked, being caught off guard by the news. "It's a long story..." Rainbow said as she blushed, "Anyways, why are you bringing up something I said as a kid?!" "Well, I'd rather see the farm go to you two rather than it go to Flim" Applejack said angrily, making Rainbow remember that Mac had told her about what Flim had done that morning. Rainbow sighed loudly and then trotted off to the kitchen to get Mac, wanting him to be included in the conversation given that it involved his future as well. Once the two of them came back and had sat down on the couch Applejack began. "So, about what Granny had said this morning..." Chapter 5: Plan CChapter 5: Plan C "Applejack what are you talking about?" Big Mac asked suddenly, cutting off Applejack's explanation of why him and Rainbow Dash getting married would be a good idea. Rainbow got up and nodded her head to show her support of Big Mac in this situation, making him blush slightly because of it. Applejack just gave the two of them a confused look, her crazy plan making completely and total sense to her. "All I'm saying is that if you get married then Flim won't have any chance of getting the farm from us" Applejack explained again, in a shorter and simply way this time around. Big Mac sighed angrily before taking a step towards Applejack, making her back away slightly. "We do care a lot about each other, that's a given," Big Mac said, looking back at Rainbow for support, which she gave with a nod, "but we are not going to get married because of that stupid reasoning" "How is this stupid reasoning?!" Applejack asked angrily, her brother's stubbornness was starting to annoy her past the point of no return, "All you two have to do is go get the town hall to say you're married and things will be fine" "We're not ready for something like that AJ" Rainbow said, almost begging Applejack to just drop the subject since it was a touchy one for her. Whenever Mac brought up the future she would dodge the question, but to be literally forced into talking about it made her upset. If she was as loyal as she was Rainbow would have left the farm before the talks could even begin. "What about me, Granny, and Applebloom?!" Applejack asked angrily, trying to pull on Mac's deep rooted family first values that she knew he had, but he still managed to shake his head no without any thought. Before any of them could say anything else Applebloom burst through the front door with an excited look on her face. "You guys gotta come quick, Winona just had pups!" Applebloom shouted happily, the mention of Winona's pups snapping Applejack and Big Mac out of their anger entirely. The two members of the Apple family quickly ran out of the farmhouse and into the barn, where an exhausted Winona laid with a litter of pups gathered around her underside. Applejack quickly rushed over to Winona's side, putting a hoof on her neck to make sure she was still breathing and was going to be okay. Once she had given Winona a clean bill of health she checked each of the pups, all of them getting a clean bill of health as well. "I'd almost forgotten she was pregnant too..." Applejack said sadly as she got up to walk away from Winona. Big Mac put a hoof on her shoulder to let her know he felt the same way as she did, and now he also understood why Applejack had wanted him to marry Rainbow so quickly. All she had wanted to do was protect her own foals, knowing that she was a tough enough mare that she could keep them safe alone, but without the farm she wouldn't have anywhere to keep them safe at. "Applejack, about what we were arguing about..." Big Mac said slowly as he thought of the right words to explain himself, "I love Rainbow, I really do, but to marry her so soon, it just ain't right" Applejack lowered her head as she finally realized how crazy her idea had been, making her feel ashamed of herself for even suggesting such a thing to her best friend and her brother. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier" Applejack said with her head still down, but Big Mac lifted it up with his hoof so he could look her in the eyes and smile. "It's okay" Big Mac said, just as Rainbow came into the farmhouse. "What's up?" Rainbow asked, getting the feeling that things were going to be less weird now. "Nothing much, but Rainbow, do you know of any other way I can keep Flim off this farm?" Applejack asked, knowing that her rainbow maned friend knew quite a bit about the Equestria legal system given her constant run ins with them. Rainbow tapped her chin thoughtfully before coming up with an idea that she liked. "Well, since we're elements of harmony, wouldn't Celestia come to our aid in times like this?" Rainbow asked rhetorically, pausing to giggle as Applejack nodded with a confused look on her face, "What if we got a court order on Flim so he can't be on the farm, or else he'll get jail time" "What about when he follows me when I'm in town?" Applejack asked, having noticed Flim's ugly mug being around many street corners for the past few days. "I'm sure a small restraining order wouldn't hurt, now would it?" Rainbow asked, laughing slightly to herself. Applejack thought it over, and when she weighed the pros against the cons, she made her decision. Celestia knows if Rainbow is right about what she said, and that she knew what she was talking about, and as if one cue, a certain lavender Unicorn and her humble purple Dragon came into the barn, having heard the news of Winona's pups from Sweetie Belle who had been on her way back to Rarity's. "Ah, looks like the whole thing is already done, oh well, let's go examine them Spike" Twilight said as she started to move towards Winona and her pups, which were still happily drinking some of her warm milk. Twilight looked closely to see what had happened, and what was going on, but wasn't able to figure it out. "I wonder where Applejack is, she probably knows about all this stuff" Twilight said sadly before turning to head out the barn, coming snout to snout with Applejack, "Ah, just the mare I was looking for" "I could say they same for you Twi..." Applejack said with a mock smile on her face, making Twilight back off for a time before she was able to speak again, having been freaked out by her new look, "Do you know if Celestia is able to make it so Flim can't be around the farm, or even around me on a day when I leave?" "Well, yes it is possible, but why" Twilight said as she gave Applejack a confused look. "Oh, no reason..." Applejack said as she started to giggle menacingly, "No reason at all..." Chapter 6: Why?Chapter 6: Why? As Twilight, Spike, and Applejack headed towards the library they were completely silence, the only noise being am occasional whistle from Spike whenever he tried to talk. He had been trying hard for the last little while, but every time he opened his mouth he quickly changed it to either a yawn or a whistle because he was afraid to talk. Eventually Twilight decided to speak, saving Spike from his torment. "Applejack, why do you want to get a restraining order against Flim, why don't you just go with him for the foals?" Twilight asked, followed by a happy sigh from Spike. "Because he's a no good lying cheat, that's why!" Applejack said angrily, making Spike hold his breath in fear. Twilight sighed and shook her head in frustration. "Applejack, I know you don't like him, but why is this all happening?" Twilight asked, "What started all of this?" "Well, I guess I could tell you..." Applejack trailed off as she remembered what had happened. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Applejack was heading to town hall to get her farming license renewed as it had been almost five years since she got it. Since she had been busy all day with work on the farm she was going over later in the evening, planning to get in just before they closed. When she finally got to town hall she saw a light in the upper floors was on, so she thought they were still open. Heading inside she found nopony at the front desk, so out of curiosity she headed up the stairs heading to the room where she saw the light on. As the got closer she heard a pair of ponies talking to each other in hushed tones. "Did you find anything yet?" one of them asked, his voice sounding very familiar to Applejack. "Not yet, y-" the other pony said, suddenly stopping after Applejack heard some papers hit the floor, "I think I found something" "What is it?" the first one asked as he walked over to the other. Applejack now had her ear pressed up against the door, eager to hear what was going on inside the room, having the feeling that whatever was going on wasn't good. "It's a will for someone called Tex" the other pony said as he read the will out, "and this is just what we were looking for!" Applejack could hear the ponies move the will around so they could both read it, an excited shout coming from both of them. When Applejack heard the shout she finally managed to place the voices. Slamming the door open she stepped into the room, the stallion freezing when they saw her. "FLIM AND FLAM!" Applejack shouted, making the two lanky stallions cower, "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!" "We, were just um..." Flim tried to explain. "Looking for something!" Flam finished, getting a strange look from Flim. Applejack moved forwards and snatched the will from his hooves, reading it closely, seeing her own name on it. "Is this my fathers will?!" Applejack screamed as she dropped the will, instead deciding to use her hooves to hold Flim and Flam by their necks. The two brothers looked nervously at each other before a guard came into the room, quickly pulling Applejack off of the twins... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "After that I got sent home and they were forced out of town hall, and threatened with jail time if they stayed around it" Applejack finished, just as they arrived at the library's front door. Twilight gave Applejack a confused look before she opened the door to the library, heading inside first to turn the lights on for them. "So what lead to you getting pregnant?" Twilight asked, her eyes wandering down to Applejack's stomach. Applejack sighed angrily, making Twilight give her a strange look, watching her closely, which eventually made her speak up. "I don't know what happened, I got a sandwich from in town, took it back to the farm and ate it, then..." Applejack trailed off with a pained look on her face, "Then I woke up with them standing over me" Twilight looked at her in surprise and moved forwards to put a hoof on her shoulder, but she pushed Twilight's hoof away. "I don't want any pity for it, it's already been said and done" Applejack said angrily, the memory of opening her eyes to see Flim... "Okay, I'm sorry for bringing it up Applejack" Twilight apologized as she reached for her quill and paper, preparing to write a letter to Celestia. Twilight gave Applejack one more look before starting the letter that was going to ask Celestia in order to get Applejack a restraining order of Flim so he would stay off of her farm, and far away for her. When the letter was finished she handed it off to Spike so he could send it off. "Are you sure you want me to send it?" Spike asked, getting an angry glare from Applejack which made him quickly send the letter out of fear for his life. Twilight sighed quietly so she could get a drink of coffee. She gave Applejack a look to ask if she wanted a cup as well, and Applejack gave her a slow nod of her head. Applejack sat down at the table in the room and waited for Twilight to return, coming back rather quickly with one cup of coffee, which made Applejack give her a confused look. "Aren't you having one?" Applejack asked as Twilight sat down across from her. "Yes, this is mine" Twilight said as she took a sip, "Pregnant mares shouldn't have coffee" "Then why did you even ask?!" Applejack asked angrily, feeling angry that she wasn't getting a coffee that she was promised. "Because I had forgotten about it for a moment" Twilight said as she took another sip, "Sorry about that, but I couldn't still give you a cup knowing that" "I have to head back to the farm now Twilight" Applejack said flatly after a sigh, "I'll see you another time" "Ok" Twilight said, surprised by Applejack's sudden decision to leave, "Bye..." Applejack quickly left the library, wanting to get back to the farm as soon as possible so she could try and forget about what had happened to her yet again. Chapter 7: Apple Stand BrawlChapter 7: Apple Stand Brawl It was early morning when Applejack opened the apple stand and prepared for a long day ahead of selling apples in the hot sun. When the stand was finally set up Applejack looked around and saw no pony around, then looked down to make sure her water bottle was down underneath the stand, so she wouldn't become dehydrated during her work. As she looked back up she saw a giant crowd of ponies forming right in front of her stand, all of them eager to buy their bushels of apples. Once the first bushel was sold she stood up on a box that was next to the stand so she could see more of the ponies that were waiting for apples. "This is going to be a very long day..." Applejack said tiredly as she climbed back down to continue selling apples to everypony that was waiting for her. As the day went on everypony was trotting away happily with a bushel or two of apples on their backs. One mare decided to buy five bushels and had a few stallions carry them for her, reminding Applejack immediately about Rarity, which managed to make her giggle. A few hours later Rarity did come to the stand, but only with Spike walking beside her. "Hello Rarity" Applejack said happily as Spike pulled Rarity's bits out of her saddlebag. "Good morning Applejack" Rarity said as Spike placed fifteen bits on the stand, telling Applejack that she had to give Rarity five bushels. "What's with all the apples?" Applejack asked, finding the number of bushels being strange for somepony like Rarity. "Oh, they're for me and my parents, they're out of town and are out of apples according to Sweetie Belle" Rarity said as Spike took the bushels off of the stand, struggling with them because of his small hands. Applejack gave Rarity a happy nod as her and Spike left, heading off towards the boutique. When they were out of sight Applejack turned back to the stand, seeing two ponies that she never wanted to see again before she died. "Hello Applejack" Flim and Flam said at the same time, receiving an angry glare from her when she saw their faces. Applejack decided to turn to the next customer, happily taking their bits in exchange for a hoof of bits. As the two twins stood in front of the stand Applejack continued to give out bushels to ponies on either side, working fast so she could pack up the stand and head back to the farm where Big Mac would keep them away. "You can't ignore us forever Applejack" Flim said as Flam put a piece of paper down on the stand. "I can sure as f-" Applejack froze when she saw the paper Flam had put on the stand, "What is this?" "It's a marriage certificate" Flim said, "You need to sign it" "And why in Luna's white moon would I sign that?" Applejack asked angrily, her eyes squinting as she glared at the two of them. While she stared a few stallions came up to her side, working with Flim to try and keep her behind the stand. Quickly realizing what was going on Applejack picked up some of the bushels of apples and tossed them up into the air, distracting the stallions on her side long enough for her to pick up two more bushels and whack them in the side of the head, knocking them out cold. A few mares that were there in the crowd gasped loudly, somewhat afraid of the storm that was coming. "Great, now you've knocked out our help" Flam said unhappily as the final stallion passed out, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, "We paid good money for them" As Applejack turned to look at the twins the two bushels she had thrown into the sky came down, landing on their heads, causing most if not all of the colts and fillies in the crowd to start laughing as entire apples got stuck on their horns. "Ok that's it!" Flim shouted as he jumped over the stand, his hooves reaching for Applejack's neck. Using his brother as a distraction while he ran around the stand, making sure to step over his help before he went to grab Applejack's forelegs so he could hold her up. Once he got a hold of her hooves Flim reared a foreleg back, and let loose. At this point he was angry enough that he being pregnant didn't matter at all to him. With every punch Applejack let out a shout of pain. As he punched away he ended up falling forwards slightly, just enough to punch Applejack right in the gut, making her shout at the top of her lungs, grabbing the attention of somepony that was flying by "HEY ASSHOLE!" the pony shouted from far away, getting the attention of everypony that was watching in horror. "IT'S RAINBOW DASH!" one of the young colts shouted from somewhere in the crowd, making Flim and Flam look up as quickly as they could. "OH SHIT!" They both shouted as they let go of Applejack, eager to get out of there, but Applejack managed to grab Flam's hooves while Rainbow shot down at Flim, hitting him like a rocket. The two of them tumbled through the crowd, throwing dirt high into the sky, causing many of the ponies that had been watching to scatter. Meanwhile Applejack threw Flam over her back and into the apple stand, smashing it in the process. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Rainbow shouted as she jumped onto Flam from Flim, punching them repeatedly in their face. Flam was crying in pain as the splinters of wood dug into his back, and Flim was wailing in pain from his broken ribs. As they were being pummelled them into the ground some guards came by, rushing over to pull the angry mare off of Flam "What's going on over here?!" the guards shouted as they skidded to a stop by Rainbow dash "THEY PUNCHED THE FOALS!" Applejack shouted in pain as she held her stomach. "What?" both guards said as they looked around for any foals, both of them managing to see Applejack's swollen stomach at the same time, their eyes widening. Now they were being caught between the two fighting parties. They had to stop the twins from being beaten to a pulp, but they also couldn't let the twins get away after punching the pregnant mare in the stomach. At that moment Rainbow threw both of Flam and Flim's bloody and broken bodies at the guards. "ARREST THEM NOW!" she shouted, storming up to the guards angrily. The guards immediately freaked out and picked up the two Unicorns, carrying them on their backs as they ran away from the angry mare. When the guards were far away from them the two mares looked at each other, happy, yet pained, smiles on their faces. "Thanks for the help" Applejack said as she lifted a hoof up towards Rainbow Dash. "No problem" Rainbow said, accepting the hoof bump, "But, uh, you might want to get that checked out" Applejack looked down to her stomach the impact of the punch she had received finally hitting her, and she almost immediately took off towards the hospital, her fear of the foals being hurt giving her the ability to run insanely fast. Chapter 8: Early ArrivalChapter 8: As Applejack came up to the hospital she felt herself become very weak in the knees, nearly collapsing as she got in the front doors, a sharp pain coming from her stomach as well. The nurse that was sitting behind the front desk watched her as she tried to go up to the desk, slapping her hoof down onto it in pain. "Doctor Monitor..." Applejack managed to say through the pain, "Get. Him..." The nurse quickly ran away from the desk so she could find Doctor Monitor, eager to try and help the mare in pain that was currently curled into a ball on the floor in front of the desk. Within minutes Doctor Monitor and an entire group of nurses were at the front desk preparing to carry Applejack into a room to see if she was okay. "Uh, doctor?" one of the nurses said nervously as she went to pick Applejack up up by her hind legs, "I think we have a problem..." Doctor Monitor quickly moved next to the nurse, his eyes opening wide as he saw what the nurse did. "Go get a stretcher now!" he shouted as he went over to Applejack's head, looking to see if she was still conscious. When she didn't respond to him tapping her face with his hoof. When the nurses came back with a stretcher he had them quickly lift her onto it, running her towards the maternity ward. Once they had her on a bed Doctor Monitor ordered one of the nurse to go to the farm and get the rest of the family. As soon as she was gone he put on rubber gloves and checked if Applejack was awake yet, and she was. "Where am I?" Applejack asked hazily, "Am I at the hospital?" "Yes, and now I'm going to need you to listen to me" Doctor Monitor said in a serious tone, "You've gone into labor an entire month early" "What?" Applejack asked, somewhat more awake now. "Something happened to you, and it caused you to go into labor prematurely" Doctor Monitor began to explain, "Now, are you going to be able to do as I say?" "Yeah, yeah" Applejack said, her mind filling with rage as she remembered what had happened in the market. As Doctor Monitor moved down to her hind legs she felt a sharp pain come from her stomach. She felt as if her body was being ripped apart from her hind legs. "Push!" Doctor Monitor said, his voice barely audible to Applejack as the pain was almost making her black out. In the hopes that it would end the pain she was currently feeling. When she began to push the pain increased tenfold, making her entire body tense up so she would stay awake. She could faintly hear Doctor Monitor tell her to push again, and without thinking this time she pushed again, the pain increasing again. This continued for almost three hours until Applejack passed out, her body continuously pushing automatically. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Applejack, can you open your eyes?" Doctor Monitor asked, his voice sounding far away and muffled as Applejack came back to. Her eyes slowly opened, her vision blurry for the first few seconds until her vision corrected itself. When she looked around she saw Big Mac, Granny and Applebloom. "What's going on?" Applejack asked tiredly, trying to figure out what was going on, and what had happened while she was out. "You gave birth sis!" Applebloom said happily as she`bounced up to the side of the bed, her eyes wide with happiness. Applejack quickly tried to remember what had happened before she passed out, but all she could remember was running up to the front desk of the hospital and then she fell to the floor. "When did I give birth?" Applejack asked, her memory not getting any clearer despite how hard she thought about it. "Just about an hour ago actually" Doctor Monitor said, right as two nurses came into the room with a small foal in their hooves. They came up to Applejack's bedside and offered the foals to her, and she took them mindlessly without asking who's they were. When she looked at the foals she realized that they were almost identical, both having light yellow coats, and gold hair that faded into pink. The only way to tell them apart was that one of them was a Unicorn, and that the other was an Earth pony. "Congratulations" Doctor Stable said with a smile, making Applejack look at him in confusion. "These are..." Applejack trailed off as she looked into the foals' pink eyes, now noticing the freckles that were on their faces, "Mine?" "Eeyup" Big Mac said as he leaned in, the Earth pony reaching out and grabbing his mane happily. Applejack watched as Big Mac nuzzled the foal's face, feeling something tug at her heart. When she looked back at Doctor Monitor he was writing down on two different forms, and from what she could see it was the birth certificates for the two foals. "So, does that mean I have to name them now?" Applejack asked, still finding the entire situation to be completely strange. "Yes, and both of them are fillies" Doctor Monitor said as he continued to fill out the forms. "Well..." Applejack trailed off as she looked at the two foals that she was holding, "Pink Pearl for the Earth pony, and Pink Lady for the Unicorn. Those are good names right?" Applejack looked over to Granny for confirmation, which the elderly pony gave with a happy smile and nod. With a quick nod towards Doctor Stable their names were written down on the forms, which were quickly handed to a nurse. In a few minutes she came back with two small cards, confirming both of the small foals name. "Congratulations sis!" Applebloom said as she leaned up close to Pink Lady. Applejack smiled happily as she looked down at her two foals, snuggling them close to him as they looked around trying to take in their surroundings. When she looked back up she saw Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway, her mouth hanging open slightly as she stared at the foals in amazement. "Are those...?" Rainbow asked slowly, her eyes completely focused on the two tiny foals that were now playing with each other in Applejack's hooves. "Eeyup" Applejack replied happily, her own eyes still focused on the foals. Without thinking Rainbow came over and placed a hoof next to Applejack on the bed, and Pink Pearl leaned out to touch it. Seeing what was going on Rainbow lifted her hoof up to the foal, which she happily took and hugged tight, making everypony in the room, including Big Mac, sigh happily.
Chapter 1: Double the Fun?Chapter 1: Double the Fun? Applejack woke up early in the morning to a kick in the stomach. As she climbed out of bed she felt another kick, that made her jump slightly. From downstairs she could smell Big Mac preparing hay bacon and eggs, making her mouth water. Big Mac's hay bacon and eggs were something to die for some mornings, and this was one of those mornings. "Hi sis!" Applebloom said happily as she ran past Applejack in the hallway, eager to get her breakfast so she could go out and play with the Crusaders. "Hey Applebloom" Applejack said with a smile as she walked over to the bathroom so she could check how big she was getting. When she looked into the mirror she felt her heart drop slightly. For the past three months she had been growing bigger and bigger, becoming more and more selfcounscious every day. She let out a sigh before she turned around to go down to the kitchen. "Morning Applejack" Big Mac said as he slid the hay bacon onto a plate that he had set on the table, most of them being grabbed quickly by Applebloom. "Mornin'" Applejack said as she pulled up a chair, noticing somepony missing, "Where's Granny?" "She's still laying down, she didn't wake up when I went in there earlier" Big Mac said as he put the frying pan in the sink, turning the water on so the grease wouldn't stick to the pan. Applejack shrugged before taking a few pieces of hay bacon with her eggs, digging in as soon as she was comfortable. Applebloom was finished first so she put her plate in the sink before running back upstairs, coming down a few seconds later with her saddlebags on. "Bye Applejack, bye Big Mac!" Applebloom shouted as she ran out the door, her two friends walking up the path right then. Applejack looked out the kitchen window in time to see the three of them share a hug before running off to the clubhouse with a long day of trying to get their cutie marks ahead of them. "How much trouble do you think they'll get into today?" Applejack asked as she went to make herself some coffee, getting a laugh from Big Mac. "No more than usual" Big Mac replied as he began eating his own breakfast, a long day of work a head of him. Applejack smiled as she sat back down with her coffee in hoof, sipping it calmly as she thought about what her day would be about. After breakfast she would be heading to Ponyville Hospital for a check up, then she would come back home and Granny would give her a check up of her own, and then she would talk to the Crusaders about what it's like to be pregnant. All in all, it was a pretty normal day for her, or at least, what has been normal for the past four months. "Ok, I'm heading out now" Big Mac said as he got up from the table, placing his plate in the sink next to Applebloom's. "See you later Mac" Applejack said as she sipped her coffee, glancing up at the clock to see what time it was. Half past eight? I got some time, Applejack thought, giving the remaining hay bacon a look before she headed to the front porch so she could get the mail. One letter stuck out among all of them, from a certain stallion Applejack knew very personally. "Dammit Flim, why do you keep sending me mail!" Applejack said angrily as she tossed the letter from Flim into the garbage. Ever since the incident a few months ago he had been sending her letter after letter, trying to get her to take him in and become his wife. When the news had broken out him and Flam had gotten into a fight, the two of them cutting ties and heading their separate ways almost immediately. On Applejack's end it had been rather calm, except for how pissed Applejack had become about all of it. She had spent most of the last four months thinking about stopping the pregnancy, but Granny and her friends managed to calm her down. "Applejack, is that you stomping around down there?" Granny asked from her room upstairs, making Applejack come back to reality. She hadn't even realized that she was stomping around. "Sorry Granny" Applejack apologized, quickly looking at the clock, surprised by the time. Without hesitation she ran up stairs to say goodbye to Granny before running out of the house so she would make her Doctor's appointment, which was at ten. Thirty minutes from now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So Applejack, how have you been the past few weeks?" Doctor Monitor asked as he looked over Applejack's file. "Good, I guess" Applejack answered, "Couldn't really complain given how everypony's been treating me" "That's good to hear" Doctor Monitor said as he put the file down, a smile creeping across his face. He got up and moved towards the door, nodding for Applejack to follow him. She got up after him and followed him out of the room, knowing exactly where they were going to go. As they came into the examination room she prepared herself to be magically scanned by the doctor's assistant, who had been waiting patiently in the room for the two of them to arrive. "Are you ready Applejack?" Doctor Monitor asked as his assistant got ready to scan her, his horn glowing a bright blue color. With a nod from Applejack the examination began, the familiar tickling feeling washing over her body as the magic washed over her, an image appearing next to her belly after a few passes. "Well, looks like we have a surprise for you Applejack" Doctor Monitor said as he looked at the image, "It's twins, two fillies by the looks of it" "Two fillies?!" Applejack said quickly, her eyes opening wide as she thought about it. If she brought two fillies home there wouldn't be enough room in the farmhouse, which meant that either they would have to build an expansion, or she would have to... "Doctor, are you sure it's twins?" Applejack asked worriedly, not wanting to believe the news. "I'm afraid so Applejack" Doctor Monitor said calmly as the magic scanning finished. Applejack's eyes dropped to the ground as the doctor updated her file, anything he said passing over her entirely for the rest of the time that she was there. Once she got back to the farm she felt like crying, but the Crusaders managed to cheer her up enough that she was able to put the thoughts of twins for the rest of the day. "Hey Applejack, did they say anything new today?" Big Mac asked that night at the dinner table, taking a moment to take a large bite of his rose sandwich. "Well, they said that they were, um..." Applejack trailed off as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to say, but Big Mac had figured it out from what she had already said. "They?" Big Mac asked, already knowing the answer, "They means twins, right?" "Uh, eeyup" Applejack said shyly, a loud squeal coming from Applebloom. "I'm going to have two nieces!" Applebloom shouted as she started to bounce around the table, making Granny laugh happily. "Looks like the Apple family is only going to get bigger!" Granny said happily as Applebloom continued to circle the table, the other two ponies in the room however, were not in as high of spirits. Both of them knew this would only lead to more troubles in the future, many of them involving the well being of the twins.
Chapter 2: Time With FriendsChapter 2: Time With Friends Applejack was making her way into town when the foals kicked, almost making her loose her footing on the gravel road. She never knew why they kicked so hard, but it was just something she's gotten used to, she had to or else this would have been a very short pregnancy. Today, rather than going to see Doctor Monitor, Applejack was heading into town so she could meet with her friends and talk about the foals, among other things, but they usually just talked about the foals the entire time. It was usually Rarity who kept them talking about it, finding it "un-lady like" and "unrefined" that Applejack had managed to get pregnant before marriage, but it's not like she really had a choice in the matter. When you don't have a choice in the matter it's pretty hard to say no. "Good morning Applejack, how's the foal?" Miss Cheerilee asked as she came trotting up the trail on her way to school, always happy to see Applejack in the morning. "They're good, how about you?" Applejack asked, passing over the fact that she actually had twins in the hopes of avoiding a long, boring, conversation with her. "Well, things are going good, but I gotta run, see you later Applejack!" Cheerilee said as she quickly started trotting towards the school, pausing when she realized what Applejack had said. She was obviously tempted to go back to see what Applejack meant, but her duty as a teacher was calling for her, and she couldn't just ignore it. Applejack allowed herself to giggle as she watched Cheerilee debate her options in her head before finally choosing her job over her curiosity. Now that a conversation with Cheerilee had been avoided Applejack was free to continue on her way to the library uninterrupted. Once she arrived at the library though, it was an entirely different story. Apparently Applebloom had managed to tell Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo that Applejack had twins now, and the two of them then told their respective sisters, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. "You actually have twins?!" Rarity cried as Applejack stepped hoof into the library, nearly jumping back and slamming the door shut in front of her in surprise. Twilight noticed her surprise however and held the door open with her magic, saving Rarity the embarrassment of running full speed into a door. Applejack sighed before she moved forward again, meanwhile Rarity was nearly bursting at the seams with excitement about the news. Sweetie Belle had made her swear to not tell a soul unless Applejack said it was okay, and the suspense was killing her! "So dear, you're going to tell us about the twins, right?" Rarity asked, her excitement showing in both her face and voice, making Applejack let out a loud sigh. "Ok fine, I'll tell ya" Applejack said in a somewhat annoyed way, not really happy to be talking about the situation again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So that's all that he said?" Rarity asked, finding Applejack's explanation of the previous day to be rather boring and uninteresting. "What were you expecting him to say?" Rainbow asked sarcastically, "That she was growing a three headed pony with horns inside her?" "Oh come on Dashie, we all know that would never happen" Pinkie said with a laugh before freezing on the spot, "Right?" "What if that did happen?!" Fluttershy squeaked as she jumped behind Pinkie, the two of them holding each other as they shook, the idea of a three headed pony with horns being too scary for them to bear. Twilight face hoofed before looking back to Applejack. "Do you still plan of keeping Flim away from all of this?" Twilight asked, genuinely worried that keeping him away might cause Applejack more problems than it's worth. "Of couse I do, I never wanted to have this happen in the first place" Applejack said angrily, any mention of Flim's name always managed to piss her off nowadays. Twilight sighed before heading for her kitchen, the sound of a tea kettle whistling drawing her away. "You know this all could have been avoided if you had just acted more lady like" Rarity said from her seat, making Applejack turn to her in anger. "You try and keep things lady-like after you've had eight full mugs of cider!" Applejack said defensively, making everypony look at her in surprise. It wasn't like her to snap like that, especially not at one of her friends for saying one little comment. What Rarity said wasn't anything new either, she said it almost every time they met up, but this was the first time Applejack had ever really reacted to it. "Um, Applejack, are you okay?" Rainbow asked as she gently floated over towards Applejack, who now had a hurt expression on her face. "Yeah, I'm just..." Applejack trailed off as she looked at the floor, "I'm sorry for snapping like that" "Oh don't worry dear, mood swings perfectly understandable" Rarity said with a warm smile, "You are pregnant after all" "Yeah, thanks for reminding me" Applejack replied sarcastically, making everypony laugh. Twilight came back into the room a few minutes later with the tea she had been making levitating just a few inches in front of her, and then served them out to everypony, except for Rainbow, she opted for a warm cider. After the big blow up Applejack had, things were rather calm, save for the occasional spat between Rainbow and Rarity, but things were calm. Seeing her friends acting like nothing was really wrong put Applejack's mind at ease, and she liked it, even if it was only for the day. It was times like this that made Applejack really appreciate her friends, even Rarity despite all the times they've fought. Without them, this pregnancy would be a whole lot harder. "Rainbow, how much cider have you had?" Twilight asked worriedly as Rainbow suddenly flew into the floor with a loud thud, stopping all conversation. "Just enough to forget how to fly obviously" Rarity quipped, making everypony laugh except for Rainbow. "Shut up, I can still fly!" Rainbow said, obviously drunk as she tried to fly back up, her wings flapping out of sync, causing her to sway from side to side, eventually colliding with Rarity, causing the two of them to tumble to the floor in a heap. "Nice flying there Rainbow Crash" Applejack said jokingly, much to Rainbow's dismay. "Eh shut up Preggerjack!" Rainbow said before passing out, the full force of the cider hitting her like a rampaging bull. Everypony giggled as she snored happily on the floor, not knowing at the time that her peaceful sleep was just a gateway to the most pain she would ever feel. Once everypony said their goodbyes Applejack helped Fluttershy carry Rainbow home, quickly saying goodnight once Rainbow was sleeping soundly in her bed. Fluttershy lingered for a moment after they said goodnight, wanting to ask if anything was bothering Applejack, but she left before Fluttershy could muster up the courage to say anything.
Chapter 3: FamilyChapter 3: Family As Applejack sipped her morning coffee she could hear everything that was going on in the house. Big Mac was fighting to get his yoke on while Granny shouted at him to help her get out of bed. Applebloom was running throughout her room attempting to find her favorite ribbon, which she had somehow lost again before going to bed the previous night. After a few minutes the entirety of the Apple family was down in the kitchen with Applejack, all three of them talking loudly to each other as they all attempted to do what they needed to do. Meanwhile Applejack had finished her coffee and was now slowly eating some apple tarts that Granny had placed on the table the night before. All in all, it was a fairly normal morning in the Apple house, except for the fact that Applejack was now eating for three, so most of the tarts were already gone by the time Applebloom went to get some. "Sis, you ate all the tarts again!" Applebloom whined as she looked at the empty plate, her bottom lip pushed out just a bit. "Granny will make more tonight, you know that" Applejack replied after she swallowed the last piece of tart, liking her lips so she could make Applebloom jealous for fun. Applebloom grunted angrily and walked away, her bottom lip still pushed out, making Applejack laugh. "So, got any plans for today sis?" Big Mac asked as he sat down with his own cup of coffee and some toast. "Not really, I was just thinking about staying at home and helping Granny wi-" *KNOCK, KNOCK* "What in tarnation?" the entire Apple family asked as all of their heads shot to the door. Applejack got up first to go see what it was, finding it extremely unusual that somepony would be at the house this early in the morning. As she tentatively reached for the door nob Applejack felt a wave of uneasiness come over her, as if the pony on the other side of the door was... "Applejack, I know you're in there, please let me in" the pony said in a sickening way to Applejack, "It's me, Flim!" Without thinking Applejack opened the door, turned around, and bucked Flim right in the face,the force sending him flying off the deck. "STAY AWAY FROM THE FARM YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Applejack screamed as loud as she could, causing even Big Mac to be afraid of her for a minute. Applejack slammed the door shut as hard as she could, causing both the door and the frame to splinter, making her even angrier. She didn't care about anything now, she was going to go back up to her room, climb into bed, and stay there for the rest of the day until Flim left, like he always did. As she laid her head down all Applejack could think of was that sick bastards face when he... "I would kill him if I could..." Applejack mumbled angrily as she closed her eyes, expecting the next few hours to give her the silence she now wanted so dearly. *tink* ... *tink* "Urgh..." *TINK* "Oh for the love a'..." *SMASH* "WHAT IN CELESTIA'S NAME IS GOING ON?!" "I WANT TO TALK TO YOU!" Flim shouted from outside the farmhouse, his voice going through the window he just smashed in Applejack's bedroom, "PLEASE COME DOWN HERE!" "NO!" Applejack shouted back before she shoved a pillow into the hole in the window, sealing it back up for the time being. From outside she could hear him shouting some more, despite her efforts to ignore him. A few minutes later Big Mac came up to her room and looked at the window, his expression quickly turning sour. Without saying a word Big Mac left the room and headed outside, evident by the loud stomping and the slamming of the front door again. "Go away you bastard, she doesn't want to see you" Big Mac said angrily, his usually calm voice now sounding menacing. Flim laughed, making Big Mac angrier with every second. "Sorry Mac, but if you didn't know..." Flim said quietly, breathing in before shouting, "It's my foal she's carrying around!" Applejack removed the pillow for a second so she could throw one of the rocks back, managing to nail Flim right in the head, making him sway back and forth before he shook his head from side to side. "Oh you bitch" Flim muttered under his breath, making Mac grunt as he dug his hind legs into the ground. Before he could charge Applebloom came running out of the house, stopping just in front of him. "It's not your foal!" Applebloom shouted angrily, "They're hers!" Everypony froze for a moment as they all processed what Applebloom had just shouted out. "They're?" Flim echoed, a devious smile appearing across his lips, "Looks like you now have another reason that you should be with me, Applejack" "She doesn't need you, she has us!" Granny shouted from the porch, making Big Mac turn around in surprise. It was rare for Granny to be outside the house this early, being up for an argument too was surprising to everypony. "What happens when you croak you old hag?" Flim asked, making Big Mac's temper flare higher than it's ever been, "Who would take the farm in that case?" Everypony looked at Granny as she thought about the will that she had, and that her son had created with his wife... "The first of the foals to be married inherits the farm..." Granny said sadly, her eyes dropping to the floor as she realized what it meant for them. Before Flim could make another snobbish remark Big Mac charged forwards, pushing him and his partner clean off the farm, making sure that he was not going to come back for a long while by giving him a good old fashioned hoofsandwich, with extra pain. Until Big Mac came stomping back up the path Applebloom looked at Granny, hoping that she was wrong about the farm, but she wasn't. If he manages to marry Applejack, then the farm would be...
Chapter 4: Fate of the FarmChapter 4: Fate of the Farm A few hours after Flim left the farm Applejack came out of her room, still angry, but more worried about what Granny had said earlier. When she finally found Granny she was sleeping in her chair, making it seem as though nothing had happened earlier in the day. Knowing that it would be a while before Granny woke up Applejack decided to look around the house for something to do, finding plenty of dishes sitting in the sink from the past two days. Once those were finished Applejack decided to join Granny in the living room for a nap, only for the elderly mare to be awake when she got there. "Hey Granny" Applejack said as she climbed onto the couch, laying herself down so she would be comfortable. "Applejack" Granny said calmly, making Applejack think that Granny was unfazed by the morning's events. "Granny, what you said earlier, about the farm..." Applejack started to ask, but Granny hushed her. "It was true" Granny said seriously, "In your parents will it says that they wanted whomever of the three of you that got married first to have it" "But you're still here, don't you still own the farm?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow towards Granny. "Nope, my husband, your grandfather, owned the farm" Granny said, looking towards a picture on the wall of an old stallion standing next to her, "When he passed he handed the farm down to your father, and when he..." "It's okay Granny, you don't have to say it" Applejack said, knowing that the memory of how her father died hurt Granny. Granny was silent for a moment as she looked at the picture of her with her husband, an overwhelming urge to cry growing inside her, but she managed to stay calm. "I have to follow what you're father put in his will" Granny said with a sigh, "I just wish there was another way..." Applejack watched Granny as she got out of her chair and headed up the stairs to her room, being reminded of her husband and son's passing had taken a toll on her. After a while Applejack had managed to fall asleep on the cough, her own mind plagued with the memory of her parents' passing... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Come on sis, dad wants us to go into our rooms right now" Big Mac said as he started to pull Applejack towards her room, which she was currently sharing with their newborn sister, Applebloom. "But why?" Applejack asked, confused as to why her parents would do that during a storm. Normally when a storm got this bad their parents would take all of them into the living room and they would all play games until it was over. Why would they change it tonight? "I don't know why, but even Granny wants us to go there, so we're going" Big Mac said seriously, making Applejack feel a little angry. He's never acted that way towards her before, and with everything that was going on it only made Applejack more confused. When he finally got her into her room Applebloom started to cry, making Big Mac stay in the room so he could calm her down. After almost an hour the storm started to clear up, but Big Mac made Applejack stay in the room to watch Applebloom while he and Granny went to find out where their mom and dad were. "Momma?" Applebloom asked as Applejack lifted her onto her back so they could go down to the living room. "No Applebloom, I'm not momma" Applejack said as she closed the door to her room, having to walk slowly down the stairs so that Applebloom wouldn't fall off. Once they were downstairs she looked out the window, a giant smoke cloud slowly rising into the sky where the Pegasi were kicking it apart. From the orchard she saw Granny, Big Mac, and some unknown filly running towards the house. "Applejack, go get the bath started" Big Mac ordered as he came into the house. Applejack quickly complied and ran upstairs to turn on the bath, and once it was ready she ran back downstairs to see Granny crying as Big Mac cleaned up some cuts the filly had on her legs. "What's going on? Where's mom and dad?" Applejack asked as she looked around the room, not seeing any sign of them. Big Mac coughed so he could talk, but the filly on the couch suddenly spoke up. "I saw them trying to put out the fire, so I tried to help them, but then..." the filly coughed as tears started to come down her face, "A branch that was on fire came down onto them..." Big Mac started to pat the filly on the shoulder to try and calm her down, but she just kept crying. "I tried to save them, but all I did was hurt myself..." the filly said as she looked at her forelegs, burns and cuts running up and down them. "It's okay, now come on, let's get you cleaned up" Big Mac said as he helped the filly to her hooves and then up the stairs into the bath. Applejack decided to sit down on the floor next to Granny, the shock still not setting in yet as she thought about what the filly said. A few minutes later Big Mac and the filly, who Applejack could now tell had a rainbow mane and wings, came down from the bath, with the filly leaning up on Big Mac for support. "I don't know how I could ever repay you for saving my life back there" the filly said as they sat down on the couch. "No need to, I couldn't just leave you to die in there" Big Mac said, trying to be humble. "Hmm..." the filly said as she tapped her chin, a devious smile growing on her face, "What if I became your wife!" Big Mac gave her a confused look, but quickly smiled, thinking it was only a joke. After some time he walked the filly home, coming back with redder cheeks than he usually had. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hey look, she's awake" Rainbow said as Applejack opened her eyes, the evening sun blinding her at first. "What are you doing here Rainbow?" Applejack asked tiredly as she rubbed her eyes. "Just came by to see Mac, why?" Rainbow asked, finding it odd that Applejack didn't know she was coming by. Rainbow always came by on a Friday for food, it was when Big Mac went all out and prepared a feast to end the week. As Applejack woke up completely she remembered her dream, and came up with a plan to keep Flim from getting the farm. "Hey Rainbow, do you remember what you said to Big Mac when you first met?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow as she smiled evilly at Rainbow, making her back away slowly, "You know, about you being his wife?" "Woah, woah!" Rainbow said quickly, her forelegs coming up defensively, "Just because me and Mac are together doesn't mean I want to marry him right away!" "You two are together?" Applejack asked, being caught off guard by the news. "It's a long story..." Rainbow said as she blushed, "Anyways, why are you bringing up something I said as a kid?!" "Well, I'd rather see the farm go to you two rather than it go to Flim" Applejack said angrily, making Rainbow remember that Mac had told her about what Flim had done that morning. Rainbow sighed loudly and then trotted off to the kitchen to get Mac, wanting him to be included in the conversation given that it involved his future as well. Once the two of them came back and had sat down on the couch Applejack began. "So, about what Granny had said this morning..."
Chapter 5: Plan CChapter 5: Plan C "Applejack what are you talking about?" Big Mac asked suddenly, cutting off Applejack's explanation of why him and Rainbow Dash getting married would be a good idea. Rainbow got up and nodded her head to show her support of Big Mac in this situation, making him blush slightly because of it. Applejack just gave the two of them a confused look, her crazy plan making completely and total sense to her. "All I'm saying is that if you get married then Flim won't have any chance of getting the farm from us" Applejack explained again, in a shorter and simply way this time around. Big Mac sighed angrily before taking a step towards Applejack, making her back away slightly. "We do care a lot about each other, that's a given," Big Mac said, looking back at Rainbow for support, which she gave with a nod, "but we are not going to get married because of that stupid reasoning" "How is this stupid reasoning?!" Applejack asked angrily, her brother's stubbornness was starting to annoy her past the point of no return, "All you two have to do is go get the town hall to say you're married and things will be fine" "We're not ready for something like that AJ" Rainbow said, almost begging Applejack to just drop the subject since it was a touchy one for her. Whenever Mac brought up the future she would dodge the question, but to be literally forced into talking about it made her upset. If she was as loyal as she was Rainbow would have left the farm before the talks could even begin. "What about me, Granny, and Applebloom?!" Applejack asked angrily, trying to pull on Mac's deep rooted family first values that she knew he had, but he still managed to shake his head no without any thought. Before any of them could say anything else Applebloom burst through the front door with an excited look on her face. "You guys gotta come quick, Winona just had pups!" Applebloom shouted happily, the mention of Winona's pups snapping Applejack and Big Mac out of their anger entirely. The two members of the Apple family quickly ran out of the farmhouse and into the barn, where an exhausted Winona laid with a litter of pups gathered around her underside. Applejack quickly rushed over to Winona's side, putting a hoof on her neck to make sure she was still breathing and was going to be okay. Once she had given Winona a clean bill of health she checked each of the pups, all of them getting a clean bill of health as well. "I'd almost forgotten she was pregnant too..." Applejack said sadly as she got up to walk away from Winona. Big Mac put a hoof on her shoulder to let her know he felt the same way as she did, and now he also understood why Applejack had wanted him to marry Rainbow so quickly. All she had wanted to do was protect her own foals, knowing that she was a tough enough mare that she could keep them safe alone, but without the farm she wouldn't have anywhere to keep them safe at. "Applejack, about what we were arguing about..." Big Mac said slowly as he thought of the right words to explain himself, "I love Rainbow, I really do, but to marry her so soon, it just ain't right" Applejack lowered her head as she finally realized how crazy her idea had been, making her feel ashamed of herself for even suggesting such a thing to her best friend and her brother. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier" Applejack said with her head still down, but Big Mac lifted it up with his hoof so he could look her in the eyes and smile. "It's okay" Big Mac said, just as Rainbow came into the farmhouse. "What's up?" Rainbow asked, getting the feeling that things were going to be less weird now. "Nothing much, but Rainbow, do you know of any other way I can keep Flim off this farm?" Applejack asked, knowing that her rainbow maned friend knew quite a bit about the Equestria legal system given her constant run ins with them. Rainbow tapped her chin thoughtfully before coming up with an idea that she liked. "Well, since we're elements of harmony, wouldn't Celestia come to our aid in times like this?" Rainbow asked rhetorically, pausing to giggle as Applejack nodded with a confused look on her face, "What if we got a court order on Flim so he can't be on the farm, or else he'll get jail time" "What about when he follows me when I'm in town?" Applejack asked, having noticed Flim's ugly mug being around many street corners for the past few days. "I'm sure a small restraining order wouldn't hurt, now would it?" Rainbow asked, laughing slightly to herself. Applejack thought it over, and when she weighed the pros against the cons, she made her decision. Celestia knows if Rainbow is right about what she said, and that she knew what she was talking about, and as if one cue, a certain lavender Unicorn and her humble purple Dragon came into the barn, having heard the news of Winona's pups from Sweetie Belle who had been on her way back to Rarity's. "Ah, looks like the whole thing is already done, oh well, let's go examine them Spike" Twilight said as she started to move towards Winona and her pups, which were still happily drinking some of her warm milk. Twilight looked closely to see what had happened, and what was going on, but wasn't able to figure it out. "I wonder where Applejack is, she probably knows about all this stuff" Twilight said sadly before turning to head out the barn, coming snout to snout with Applejack, "Ah, just the mare I was looking for" "I could say they same for you Twi..." Applejack said with a mock smile on her face, making Twilight back off for a time before she was able to speak again, having been freaked out by her new look, "Do you know if Celestia is able to make it so Flim can't be around the farm, or even around me on a day when I leave?" "Well, yes it is possible, but why" Twilight said as she gave Applejack a confused look. "Oh, no reason..." Applejack said as she started to giggle menacingly, "No reason at all..."
Chapter 6: Why?Chapter 6: Why? As Twilight, Spike, and Applejack headed towards the library they were completely silence, the only noise being am occasional whistle from Spike whenever he tried to talk. He had been trying hard for the last little while, but every time he opened his mouth he quickly changed it to either a yawn or a whistle because he was afraid to talk. Eventually Twilight decided to speak, saving Spike from his torment. "Applejack, why do you want to get a restraining order against Flim, why don't you just go with him for the foals?" Twilight asked, followed by a happy sigh from Spike. "Because he's a no good lying cheat, that's why!" Applejack said angrily, making Spike hold his breath in fear. Twilight sighed and shook her head in frustration. "Applejack, I know you don't like him, but why is this all happening?" Twilight asked, "What started all of this?" "Well, I guess I could tell you..." Applejack trailed off as she remembered what had happened. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Applejack was heading to town hall to get her farming license renewed as it had been almost five years since she got it. Since she had been busy all day with work on the farm she was going over later in the evening, planning to get in just before they closed. When she finally got to town hall she saw a light in the upper floors was on, so she thought they were still open. Heading inside she found nopony at the front desk, so out of curiosity she headed up the stairs heading to the room where she saw the light on. As the got closer she heard a pair of ponies talking to each other in hushed tones. "Did you find anything yet?" one of them asked, his voice sounding very familiar to Applejack. "Not yet, y-" the other pony said, suddenly stopping after Applejack heard some papers hit the floor, "I think I found something" "What is it?" the first one asked as he walked over to the other. Applejack now had her ear pressed up against the door, eager to hear what was going on inside the room, having the feeling that whatever was going on wasn't good. "It's a will for someone called Tex" the other pony said as he read the will out, "and this is just what we were looking for!" Applejack could hear the ponies move the will around so they could both read it, an excited shout coming from both of them. When Applejack heard the shout she finally managed to place the voices. Slamming the door open she stepped into the room, the stallion freezing when they saw her. "FLIM AND FLAM!" Applejack shouted, making the two lanky stallions cower, "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!" "We, were just um..." Flim tried to explain. "Looking for something!" Flam finished, getting a strange look from Flim. Applejack moved forwards and snatched the will from his hooves, reading it closely, seeing her own name on it. "Is this my fathers will?!" Applejack screamed as she dropped the will, instead deciding to use her hooves to hold Flim and Flam by their necks. The two brothers looked nervously at each other before a guard came into the room, quickly pulling Applejack off of the twins... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "After that I got sent home and they were forced out of town hall, and threatened with jail time if they stayed around it" Applejack finished, just as they arrived at the library's front door. Twilight gave Applejack a confused look before she opened the door to the library, heading inside first to turn the lights on for them. "So what lead to you getting pregnant?" Twilight asked, her eyes wandering down to Applejack's stomach. Applejack sighed angrily, making Twilight give her a strange look, watching her closely, which eventually made her speak up. "I don't know what happened, I got a sandwich from in town, took it back to the farm and ate it, then..." Applejack trailed off with a pained look on her face, "Then I woke up with them standing over me" Twilight looked at her in surprise and moved forwards to put a hoof on her shoulder, but she pushed Twilight's hoof away. "I don't want any pity for it, it's already been said and done" Applejack said angrily, the memory of opening her eyes to see Flim... "Okay, I'm sorry for bringing it up Applejack" Twilight apologized as she reached for her quill and paper, preparing to write a letter to Celestia. Twilight gave Applejack one more look before starting the letter that was going to ask Celestia in order to get Applejack a restraining order of Flim so he would stay off of her farm, and far away for her. When the letter was finished she handed it off to Spike so he could send it off. "Are you sure you want me to send it?" Spike asked, getting an angry glare from Applejack which made him quickly send the letter out of fear for his life. Twilight sighed quietly so she could get a drink of coffee. She gave Applejack a look to ask if she wanted a cup as well, and Applejack gave her a slow nod of her head. Applejack sat down at the table in the room and waited for Twilight to return, coming back rather quickly with one cup of coffee, which made Applejack give her a confused look. "Aren't you having one?" Applejack asked as Twilight sat down across from her. "Yes, this is mine" Twilight said as she took a sip, "Pregnant mares shouldn't have coffee" "Then why did you even ask?!" Applejack asked angrily, feeling angry that she wasn't getting a coffee that she was promised. "Because I had forgotten about it for a moment" Twilight said as she took another sip, "Sorry about that, but I couldn't still give you a cup knowing that" "I have to head back to the farm now Twilight" Applejack said flatly after a sigh, "I'll see you another time" "Ok" Twilight said, surprised by Applejack's sudden decision to leave, "Bye..." Applejack quickly left the library, wanting to get back to the farm as soon as possible so she could try and forget about what had happened to her yet again.
Chapter 7: Apple Stand BrawlChapter 7: Apple Stand Brawl It was early morning when Applejack opened the apple stand and prepared for a long day ahead of selling apples in the hot sun. When the stand was finally set up Applejack looked around and saw no pony around, then looked down to make sure her water bottle was down underneath the stand, so she wouldn't become dehydrated during her work. As she looked back up she saw a giant crowd of ponies forming right in front of her stand, all of them eager to buy their bushels of apples. Once the first bushel was sold she stood up on a box that was next to the stand so she could see more of the ponies that were waiting for apples. "This is going to be a very long day..." Applejack said tiredly as she climbed back down to continue selling apples to everypony that was waiting for her. As the day went on everypony was trotting away happily with a bushel or two of apples on their backs. One mare decided to buy five bushels and had a few stallions carry them for her, reminding Applejack immediately about Rarity, which managed to make her giggle. A few hours later Rarity did come to the stand, but only with Spike walking beside her. "Hello Rarity" Applejack said happily as Spike pulled Rarity's bits out of her saddlebag. "Good morning Applejack" Rarity said as Spike placed fifteen bits on the stand, telling Applejack that she had to give Rarity five bushels. "What's with all the apples?" Applejack asked, finding the number of bushels being strange for somepony like Rarity. "Oh, they're for me and my parents, they're out of town and are out of apples according to Sweetie Belle" Rarity said as Spike took the bushels off of the stand, struggling with them because of his small hands. Applejack gave Rarity a happy nod as her and Spike left, heading off towards the boutique. When they were out of sight Applejack turned back to the stand, seeing two ponies that she never wanted to see again before she died. "Hello Applejack" Flim and Flam said at the same time, receiving an angry glare from her when she saw their faces. Applejack decided to turn to the next customer, happily taking their bits in exchange for a hoof of bits. As the two twins stood in front of the stand Applejack continued to give out bushels to ponies on either side, working fast so she could pack up the stand and head back to the farm where Big Mac would keep them away. "You can't ignore us forever Applejack" Flim said as Flam put a piece of paper down on the stand. "I can sure as f-" Applejack froze when she saw the paper Flam had put on the stand, "What is this?" "It's a marriage certificate" Flim said, "You need to sign it" "And why in Luna's white moon would I sign that?" Applejack asked angrily, her eyes squinting as she glared at the two of them. While she stared a few stallions came up to her side, working with Flim to try and keep her behind the stand. Quickly realizing what was going on Applejack picked up some of the bushels of apples and tossed them up into the air, distracting the stallions on her side long enough for her to pick up two more bushels and whack them in the side of the head, knocking them out cold. A few mares that were there in the crowd gasped loudly, somewhat afraid of the storm that was coming. "Great, now you've knocked out our help" Flam said unhappily as the final stallion passed out, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, "We paid good money for them" As Applejack turned to look at the twins the two bushels she had thrown into the sky came down, landing on their heads, causing most if not all of the colts and fillies in the crowd to start laughing as entire apples got stuck on their horns. "Ok that's it!" Flim shouted as he jumped over the stand, his hooves reaching for Applejack's neck. Using his brother as a distraction while he ran around the stand, making sure to step over his help before he went to grab Applejack's forelegs so he could hold her up. Once he got a hold of her hooves Flim reared a foreleg back, and let loose. At this point he was angry enough that he being pregnant didn't matter at all to him. With every punch Applejack let out a shout of pain. As he punched away he ended up falling forwards slightly, just enough to punch Applejack right in the gut, making her shout at the top of her lungs, grabbing the attention of somepony that was flying by "HEY ASSHOLE!" the pony shouted from far away, getting the attention of everypony that was watching in horror. "IT'S RAINBOW DASH!" one of the young colts shouted from somewhere in the crowd, making Flim and Flam look up as quickly as they could. "OH SHIT!" They both shouted as they let go of Applejack, eager to get out of there, but Applejack managed to grab Flam's hooves while Rainbow shot down at Flim, hitting him like a rocket. The two of them tumbled through the crowd, throwing dirt high into the sky, causing many of the ponies that had been watching to scatter. Meanwhile Applejack threw Flam over her back and into the apple stand, smashing it in the process. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Rainbow shouted as she jumped onto Flam from Flim, punching them repeatedly in their face. Flam was crying in pain as the splinters of wood dug into his back, and Flim was wailing in pain from his broken ribs. As they were being pummelled them into the ground some guards came by, rushing over to pull the angry mare off of Flam "What's going on over here?!" the guards shouted as they skidded to a stop by Rainbow dash "THEY PUNCHED THE FOALS!" Applejack shouted in pain as she held her stomach. "What?" both guards said as they looked around for any foals, both of them managing to see Applejack's swollen stomach at the same time, their eyes widening. Now they were being caught between the two fighting parties. They had to stop the twins from being beaten to a pulp, but they also couldn't let the twins get away after punching the pregnant mare in the stomach. At that moment Rainbow threw both of Flam and Flim's bloody and broken bodies at the guards. "ARREST THEM NOW!" she shouted, storming up to the guards angrily. The guards immediately freaked out and picked up the two Unicorns, carrying them on their backs as they ran away from the angry mare. When the guards were far away from them the two mares looked at each other, happy, yet pained, smiles on their faces. "Thanks for the help" Applejack said as she lifted a hoof up towards Rainbow Dash. "No problem" Rainbow said, accepting the hoof bump, "But, uh, you might want to get that checked out" Applejack looked down to her stomach the impact of the punch she had received finally hitting her, and she almost immediately took off towards the hospital, her fear of the foals being hurt giving her the ability to run insanely fast.
Chapter 8: Early ArrivalChapter 8: As Applejack came up to the hospital she felt herself become very weak in the knees, nearly collapsing as she got in the front doors, a sharp pain coming from her stomach as well. The nurse that was sitting behind the front desk watched her as she tried to go up to the desk, slapping her hoof down onto it in pain. "Doctor Monitor..." Applejack managed to say through the pain, "Get. Him..." The nurse quickly ran away from the desk so she could find Doctor Monitor, eager to try and help the mare in pain that was currently curled into a ball on the floor in front of the desk. Within minutes Doctor Monitor and an entire group of nurses were at the front desk preparing to carry Applejack into a room to see if she was okay. "Uh, doctor?" one of the nurses said nervously as she went to pick Applejack up up by her hind legs, "I think we have a problem..." Doctor Monitor quickly moved next to the nurse, his eyes opening wide as he saw what the nurse did. "Go get a stretcher now!" he shouted as he went over to Applejack's head, looking to see if she was still conscious. When she didn't respond to him tapping her face with his hoof. When the nurses came back with a stretcher he had them quickly lift her onto it, running her towards the maternity ward. Once they had her on a bed Doctor Monitor ordered one of the nurse to go to the farm and get the rest of the family. As soon as she was gone he put on rubber gloves and checked if Applejack was awake yet, and she was. "Where am I?" Applejack asked hazily, "Am I at the hospital?" "Yes, and now I'm going to need you to listen to me" Doctor Monitor said in a serious tone, "You've gone into labor an entire month early" "What?" Applejack asked, somewhat more awake now. "Something happened to you, and it caused you to go into labor prematurely" Doctor Monitor began to explain, "Now, are you going to be able to do as I say?" "Yeah, yeah" Applejack said, her mind filling with rage as she remembered what had happened in the market. As Doctor Monitor moved down to her hind legs she felt a sharp pain come from her stomach. She felt as if her body was being ripped apart from her hind legs. "Push!" Doctor Monitor said, his voice barely audible to Applejack as the pain was almost making her black out. In the hopes that it would end the pain she was currently feeling. When she began to push the pain increased tenfold, making her entire body tense up so she would stay awake. She could faintly hear Doctor Monitor tell her to push again, and without thinking this time she pushed again, the pain increasing again. This continued for almost three hours until Applejack passed out, her body continuously pushing automatically. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Applejack, can you open your eyes?" Doctor Monitor asked, his voice sounding far away and muffled as Applejack came back to. Her eyes slowly opened, her vision blurry for the first few seconds until her vision corrected itself. When she looked around she saw Big Mac, Granny and Applebloom. "What's going on?" Applejack asked tiredly, trying to figure out what was going on, and what had happened while she was out. "You gave birth sis!" Applebloom said happily as she`bounced up to the side of the bed, her eyes wide with happiness. Applejack quickly tried to remember what had happened before she passed out, but all she could remember was running up to the front desk of the hospital and then she fell to the floor. "When did I give birth?" Applejack asked, her memory not getting any clearer despite how hard she thought about it. "Just about an hour ago actually" Doctor Monitor said, right as two nurses came into the room with a small foal in their hooves. They came up to Applejack's bedside and offered the foals to her, and she took them mindlessly without asking who's they were. When she looked at the foals she realized that they were almost identical, both having light yellow coats, and gold hair that faded into pink. The only way to tell them apart was that one of them was a Unicorn, and that the other was an Earth pony. "Congratulations" Doctor Stable said with a smile, making Applejack look at him in confusion. "These are..." Applejack trailed off as she looked into the foals' pink eyes, now noticing the freckles that were on their faces, "Mine?" "Eeyup" Big Mac said as he leaned in, the Earth pony reaching out and grabbing his mane happily. Applejack watched as Big Mac nuzzled the foal's face, feeling something tug at her heart. When she looked back at Doctor Monitor he was writing down on two different forms, and from what she could see it was the birth certificates for the two foals. "So, does that mean I have to name them now?" Applejack asked, still finding the entire situation to be completely strange. "Yes, and both of them are fillies" Doctor Monitor said as he continued to fill out the forms. "Well..." Applejack trailed off as she looked at the two foals that she was holding, "Pink Pearl for the Earth pony, and Pink Lady for the Unicorn. Those are good names right?" Applejack looked over to Granny for confirmation, which the elderly pony gave with a happy smile and nod. With a quick nod towards Doctor Stable their names were written down on the forms, which were quickly handed to a nurse. In a few minutes she came back with two small cards, confirming both of the small foals name. "Congratulations sis!" Applebloom said as she leaned up close to Pink Lady. Applejack smiled happily as she looked down at her two foals, snuggling them close to him as they looked around trying to take in their surroundings. When she looked back up she saw Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway, her mouth hanging open slightly as she stared at the foals in amazement. "Are those...?" Rainbow asked slowly, her eyes completely focused on the two tiny foals that were now playing with each other in Applejack's hooves. "Eeyup" Applejack replied happily, her own eyes still focused on the foals. Without thinking Rainbow came over and placed a hoof next to Applejack on the bed, and Pink Pearl leaned out to touch it. Seeing what was going on Rainbow lifted her hoof up to the foal, which she happily took and hugged tight, making everypony in the room, including Big Mac, sigh happily.
