Chapter One: Pest Control
It was a few weeks after the annual Summer Sun Celebration, which had gone pleasantly well this year after the disaster of last year’s interruption by Luna. Luckily, there were no more powerful ponies trying to take over the land, so all the ponies in Equestria had been given the pleasure of relaxing afterwards. Though of course, not all ponies enjoyed using their free time to relax…
“Where where where is it…?” Inside the tree library of Ponyville, the lavender unicorn was racing around frantically among the shelves, tilting her head in all directions, horn aglow with magic. Twilight Sparkle was searching for a book that would help her fix a problem that had befallen her friend Applejack. Earlier that week, Applejack had approached Twilight at Sugar Cube Corner with a request, which was unusual for the mare. She generally preferred to take care of her own problems.
“We’ve been havin’ a pest problem with the apple trees down on the farm, and Ah can’t for the life of me figure out how to get rid of them pesky critters. Little bugs eatin’ the apples before they ripen. So Ah was wonderin’ if you could check your books for any information on apple bugs?” Of course Twilight had agreed, and had spent the last few days looking.
“Ugh. Spike, have you found anything yet?” Twilight called out to the young dragon, shaking her head with annoyance at the multitude of books that floated around her head. She knew that there would be something here that could help, it was just a matter of finding it.
“Nope. Y’know Twilight, maybe you should slow down a bit. I’m sure it’s not so urgent that you can’t take a break from looking?”
“Well considering that those apples are their livelihood, I’d say it’s pretty important.”
“Yeah I guess so.” Spike agreed, picking up a shiny red apple from the table next to him and spinning it on his claw. They’d been searching through all the shelves trying to find something that would tell them how to get rid of crop pests, though nothing so far had yielded any result. Then came a yell of triumph, and the dragon chucked the apple in his mouth and dashed around the corner, narrowly avoiding knocking the table over. He found Twilight standing, a glowing book hovering in front of her while she turned the pages. It was labelled ‘The Farmer’s Guide to Protecting Crops’.
“Hah. This looks like it has what Applejack needs. Brilliant, let’s go give her the book, Spike.” The mare headed for the stairs, leaving Spike to run after her and jump up on her back. Together, they headed out the door and started down the road towards the Apple Family farm.
Out to the South-West of Ponyville, amongst the trees of Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack could be found hurrying between the trees, collecting the ones that were ripe before they could be contaminated by the spreading pests.
“Gosh darn it, why’d this have’t happen so close to Applebuck season?” She panted, turning and kicking what felt like her thousandth tree for that day. The Acres were many times the size of Ponyville itself, and while Big Macintosh was somewhere out there helping, it still felt a very lonely and difficult task. Not that she was about to complain, Applejack had earned the title of being the most resilient of her friends, and she wasn’t about to let a few bugs change that. Crouching, she crawled under the pole that connected the filled baskets and picked them up over her back, setting off at a steady speed towards the cellar by the farm. If they could store enough of them in there, then hopefully they’d at least be able to earn enough bits till next season.
“Ah sure as sugar hope that Twilight managed to find someth’n for me…”
As the pony opened the cellar and trotted down the steps, the corner of her eye caught a rainbow in the distance. Rainbow Dash racing again, no doubt, while here Applejack was working. Not really any different than usual though, the cyan pegasus never seemed to do much other than kick clouds about and race. Applejack shrugged and emptied the apples out of the baskets, turning and heading back up the steps. It was then that she saw the direction of the rainbow had changed and was heading her way. The orange mare stopped for a moment, watching till she could see her rainbow-haired friend angling towards her. The rainbow stopped abruptly however as it vanished into the trees, and Applejack began galloping in that direction.
“Now what is she doin’? Better not be sleepin’ in my trees again.” The area was in an unharvested section of trees, so she could pick the apples while she was there.
“Rainbow! Where’re ya hidin’?” The earth pony called out to her friend, keeping eyes peeled on the trees around her. It would be just like the pegasus to be hiding in one of them, waiting to jump out and try and frighten Applejack.
As a matter of fact, it wasn’t till Applejack had gone a fair way into the trees that she spotted Rainbow Dash, up on her hind hooves with her head against the tree.
“What in tarnation... Rainbow, what’re ya doin’ out here?” Applejack asked loudly, trotting up to the pony.
“Ow! Hey not so loud, I got this headache that’s driving me… ugh.” Rainbow Dash replied, then proceeded to smack her head against the tree in annoyance, causing Applejack to wince.
“Well shoot, that ain’t gonna help! And it ain’t too good for the tree either. C’mon, Ah’ve got a special mix of apple juice that cures headaches. How did ya get it anyway?”
“Uh.. I’m not sure.” Rainbow replied with a shrug, backing up and falling away from the tree. She turned to follow Applejack who was heading for the farmhouse again. “Lack of water or something...”
“Have you been drinkin’ again?” The orange mare asked suddenly, looking at Rainbow with one raised eyebrow. She kept walking though, avoiding the trees that she knew were in her path.
“No! Well maybe. A bit. That’s it though.” Rainbow Dash replied with a huff, stripy tail flicking. “What’s it to ya?”
“Well ya know that makes your head hurt. Just go a bit easier on the drink, that’s all.”
“Ahh whadda you know? You never drink with us! You should totally join in some time.”
“Now Rainbow, you know Ah got a lot of work to do around here. Ah can’t risk bein’ hung over.”
Rainbow Dash snorted, shrugging, and began climbing the hill that the Farmhouse rested on. “Oh come on. Just once? Pinkie’s gonna throw a party for the six of us tomorrow night, you gotta come then, and you can have some with us. Ouch, my head...”
Applejack rolled her green eyes, but thought about this while they climbed. She kept silent till they’d reached the door, and she opened it for Rainbow. “Huh. We’ll see. No promises though, y’hear?” She said, trotting in after her friend and shutting the door.
Moments later, Applejack heard a hoof on the door, and she left Rainbow at the table with a glass of the juice she had promised. It was one of Granny Smith’s recipes for curing headaches, and it was a really good one too.
I’ll bet Twilight doesn’t have that in any of her books. She thought smugly, and reached out to open the door with her teeth. To her surprise, there stood Twilight.
“Ohey sugar cube, hey Spike. What d’ya need?”
“I found what you asked for, a way to get rid of those bugs!” Twilight said excitedly, and the glowing book floated forward into one of Applejack’s apple baskets.
“Gee, thanks hon. Ah’ll get right on reading this. Yer a star.”
“No problem. Oh by the way, will you be joining us tomorrow at Pinkie Pie’s place?” The lavender unicorn asked brightly as she turned to leave. From behind Applejack, Rainbow’s snorting laugh could be heard, followed by an ‘ow’.
“For the love of… Oh all right. Ah guess if everypony is gonna ask me that, Ah might as well.” Applejack said with a resigned sigh, but smiling all the same.
“Excellent, I’ll let Pinkie know on my way home.” Twilight beamed. “See you then!” And she turned and cantered off, Spike bouncing on her back.
“Applejack didn’t seem too excited about the party.” Spike said observantly to Twilight as they made their way home. The little dragon wasn’t alone in having noticed her less than enthusiastic approach though.
“Yeah I saw… Wonder why. Well she’ll enjoy herself. I always said that pony works too hard, she needs to let go sometimes.”
“She’s not the only one.” Spike muttered, thinking back to his earlier words to Twilight.
“Pardon?”
“Nothing.”
Party Time!
“C’mon c’mon, you know Pinkie doesn’t like it when we’re late. Remember what happened last time.” The rainbow pegasus said to the yellow one, nudging her along the dirt path with her hoof. The dusk sky had enough light left for them to see clearly, and even if it had been otherwise, their destination had enough lights on to be visible no matter what.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to step on the snails.” Fluttershy replied, looking away and quickly stepping around the group of tiny creatures. Her seemingly extraordinary ability to sense even the smallest of animals could sometimes be a hold up, as she wanted to stop and help them all. Impatient Rainbow Dash was as impatient as ever though, and refused to let her, instead hurrying her towards Pinkie Pie’s house.
“Applejack better have ponied up and shown herself this time.” Rainbow said loudly, stretching out her feathery wings while Fluttershy tapped on the door. They waited for a few moments, but received no answer, so Rainbow knocked more harshly. This time there was a scraping, the door flew inwards, and both the pegasi were dragged inwards as if they’d been sucked in by a giant vacuum. It slammed behind them, and Pinkie let go of them both.
“Hi guys! I’m so glad you could make it! I mean of course you could make it, why wouldn’t you be able to? But all of you are here now which is awesome cause it means we can start partying! Cake?” The pony babbled excitedly, before spinning around and pointing a hoof at the table that was laden with a large pink frosted cake.
Rainbow and Fluttershy both looked at each other, then back at Pinkie Pie.
“Lemme at it.” Dash declared, springing towards the table and grabbing a plate.
“I’ll pass, thanks. Thanks for the offer though.” Fluttershy declined, and moved towards the others. Twilight, Rarity and Applejack were talking among themselves on what Pinkie had designated as the ‘Dance Floor’, while her little pet alligator, Gummy, floated past, the strings of several inflated balloons in his mouth. Nothing unusual for Pinkie’s place then. Twilight and Rarity were both laughing with drinks next to their feet, but Applejack lacked one. The moment Rainbow noticed that, she grabbed one off the table and slid it over the floor towards Applejack, knocking against her hoof. The orange mare looked at it, but otherwise ignored the implication.
“Aw come on Applejack. It’s a lot of fun; trust me when I say that, I know what fun is after all, right?” Pinkie said, jumping over to her. “We’re all having some! Don’t be a party pooper pants.”
“Now Pinkie, you know how Ah feel about that stuff. Ah’m a workin’ pony, and Ah can’t afford mornin’ headaches.”
“Well how did the bug problem go anyway? Was the book any help?” Twilight asked suddenly, looking away from Rarity curiously.
“Yer, we’ve managed to save most of the apples. Who’da guessed that they’d be scared’a hot water? Show us what we get fer ignoring the basics.”
“Hot water can cure any problem, dear, I could’ve told you that.” Rarity said gently, taking another drink from her cup. Applejack watched as the unicorn shuddered, then shook her head.
“You really must try this though. It’s not much different than that juice your grandmother makes.”
“Her juice cures headaches. This stuff gives you em. How’s that the same?” But she gave in, and picked up the cup. It did smell like apples to tell the truth, which was encouraging, though it had an odd twang to it that was citrusy. The first taste made her green eyes water, though no one seemed to notice; they had all gone back to their own conversations once she’d agreed. It wasn’t that bad, and it had a nice after-taste.
“What d’ya call this anyway?” Applejack asked Pinkie Pie, putting the empty cup down.
“Ciderrrr! Apple cider. It’s made from apples that I got from you!” She replied happily, swaying around to some music that was no doubt playing inside her own head. Only Rainbow Dash, who had already finished two cups of her own, was watching with a grin from near the table.
“Hey everybody, I’ve got some music that I managed to grab off DJ P0N-3 last time she was in town and it’s really good too!” Pinkie called, bouncing over to her stereo. For some reason, it was known that she had the best sound system in town. Indeed, possibly the best in all the lands. But then, she was Pinkie Pie. Things were often unexplainable with her. The CD slot opened, she placed one of them in, and then hit play. It all went quiet as the other ponies turned to watch and listen. At first, they couldn’t hear anything, but as a catchy electronic pop beat faded in, each began to dance to it.
“What was that, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked suddenly, twirling to face the pale pegasus.
“Um, no, I didn’t say anything.” Fluttershy said, looking taken aback for a moment. She too couldn’t help but slide her hooves to the beat.
“Oh, my mistake. Odd, sounded like she said ‘yay’.” The unicorn shrugged to herself. “Hmm. Where’s Spike?”
The dragon had slipped away from Twilight the moment they’d arrived at Pinkie’s house, but to where she was unsure.
Maybe he’s gone home. He generally doesn’t like staying up late. Oh well.
“So Applejack, what do ya think of the drink? Pretty cool eh?” Rainbow strutted casually over to the mare, who finally seemed to be enjoying herself and forgetting about her work. It was about time too, really.
“Yuh… Ah guess t’aint too bad.” Applejack nodded, giving the pegasus a small smile.
“Not too bad? You’ve had five already! So I’m gonna take it that you like it, and I was right, hah.”
“If ya say so Rainbow. Ah don’ wanna argue.” Applejack replied, swinging her head around. Removing the cowboy hat she always had donned and placing it down near the table, the work-pony headed over to the rest of them to join in the dancing. The alcohol had slowly loosened them up, and they all seemed to be having a great time. Fluttershy in particular was moving around more boldly than was usual for her. Rainbow turned to grab yet another drink and join her friends. While it was true that they were a generally sensible bunch, it was nice to let go from time to time. And whoever knew that Pinkie could brew up something like cider?
“You’d be amazed at aaalll the different recipes that Mr and Mrs Cake know. I got this one off them, see, I wanted something new that we hadn’t tried yet, so I thought, why not some kind of drink that lets us all get along even BETTER than we already do? I asked Mrs Cake about it, and she told me how to make this stuff.” Pinkie Pie said suddenly, appearing in front of Rainbow out of nowhere.
Dash gave the pink pony an odd look; what had brought this on? She hadn’t asked… had she? No. Well that was strange. Dash wouldn’t put it past Pinkie to be a mind reader though. She seemed to be able to do almost everything else.
“Fluttershy, darling, you must come around to my store tomorrow. I noticed yesterday that your Gala dress has a tear in the side, and we can’t allow that.”
“Ohh… Um, that’ll probably be from last year’s Gala… Sorry about that. Sure, I’ll be there.” Fluttershy nodded, spinning on her hooves. As she spun, she accidentally knocked into Twilight, who was dancing with Pinkie. The group of them fell over laughing. Further off, Rainbow had managed to pull Applejack into dancing around, and the rest stopped to watch them. It was an amusing site, the orange mare swinging her blond ponytail around, nearly hitting Rainbow Dash in the face several times.
“Hey watch it!” Dash laughed, and pushed Applejack with a front hoof. Applejack blinked, swaying for a moment, then toppled onto her side, eyes rolling.
“Uhh… Woopsa daisy. Think Ah mighta drank a bit too much… Ah toldja this’d happen.”
“Pfft, you’re fine. Come on dude, get up.” Rainbow snickered, reaching out and pulling Applejack to her feet.
“Maybe that’s enough though… For all of us.” Twilight said thoughtfully, noticing her own legs wobbling as she stood. The same could be said for all the others, except Pinkie, who was bouncing around like normal. How much could that pony drink and still be standing? They’d have to find out one day.
“I think I’m going to head off home now… If you guys see Spike, tell him I’ve gone will you?” Twilight said suddenly, her horn giving off a sputtering spark. She didn’t want to get much more tired, or it would combine with the effects of the alcohol and she’d start turning ponies into pot plants again.
“Okay sure! I’ll be sure to tell Mrs Cake that you liked her cider recipe!” Pinkie said, beaming, and shot over to open the door for Twilight. Her sapphire blue eyes betrayed no hint of any exhaustion. The lavender unicorn suddenly felt jealous of her excessive energy, but waved in a friendly manner all the same as her hooves carried her out of the building. The library wasn’t that far away, she’d make it home.
The door closed with a light clunk behind her, and the lit path became dark again.
“So guys, who wants- ” Pinkie began, turning back around to face the others, but stopping mid-sentence. Fluttershy and Rarity had fallen asleep against each other during the lull of the dance floor music, with peaceful looks upon their faces. Rainbow and Applejack were nowhere to be seen.
“Hm. I guess I’m the onlypony left. I win!” Pinkie said to herself, and started dancing around, picking Gummy up off the table where the balloons had landed him and twirling with him on her back.
--
“Hey silly filly, get over here!” The cyan pegasus called out behind her, crawling over the dark grass, her rainbow tail picking up the night dew and becoming damp as a result. Further back, Applejack stood at the edge of the light that poured from the windows of the party house. Her vision was slightly blurred from her intoxication, and she felt a bit unsure about following Rainbow Dash out where she could possibly lose her way.
“Ya shure ‘bout this Rainbow? Ah feel blinder than a sleepin’ bat.”
“Sure I’m sure. When aren’t I?” Came the confident reply, slowly getting more distant as the pony moved away from her friend.
“Well… What’re we doin’?”
“I don’t have a clue. Now come on!”
“Awright, hold ya horses, I’m comin’.” The mare took a few steps onto the grass, doing her best to focus on the moving image of Rainbow Dash. It wobbled a bit in her vision, but she found that if she moved straight ahead, it was easier to ignore the movements. The pale moon provided enough light for her to see, but she grew confused when Rainbow vanished down the hill. Since when had that hill been there?
“Huokay, where’d ya go?” Applejack said to herself, carefully placing her hooves one in front of the other.
“Boo.” Came the reply from behind her, the pegasus popping up and shouting. Applejack spun around in surprise, rearing up on her hind hooves. But she went too far and began to wobble backwards, green eyes wide in surprise. Rainbow jumped forward to try and steady the mare, but her weight was more than she could handle, and ended up getting pulled forward, sending them both rolling down the hill.
This was all observed by the pink party pony, who had stuck her head out the door at just the right moment so as to see them fall. She gave an unusually quiet laugh, then closed the door and dashed to her stairs. Up Pinkie went, heading straight for her drawers, and she began pulling paper out.
“Now where did I put those letters? Ah here we go! A and P and P and L..”
Downstairs, Fluttershy and Rarity slept peacefully against each other, unaware of the commotion.
At the library, the baby dragon sat on his bed, a book in hand. It was rare that he bothered to actually take an interest in the collection of writing that he lived in, but occasionally he found something good. Spike’s reading was interrupted by the scraping of the door opening, and upon investigation, found Twilight returned home.
“There you are, Spike. I was unsure if you’d gone home or not.” The unicorn said, wobbling slightly, her amethyst eyes wide from the night walk.
“I’m fine Twilight. Uh, are you?” The purple dragon replied, scratching the scales on his head with one claw.
“Oh I’ll be fine. I just need some sleep.” Twilight reassured him with a smile. “Stand back will you?”
“What? Why?”
The unicorn’s horn began to spark, and suddenly she vanished to the accompaniment of a small explosion.
“TWILIGHT?” Spike yelped, waving his hands and coughing at the smoke. Where had she gone to now? Damn that pony, teleporting when drunk!
From her bed upstairs, Twilight yawned and laughed to herself at the dragon’s loud panicking. She was perfectly fine. The pony had learned her lesson from past nights out, and hadn’t drunken enough to lose her magic tonight.
“Good night Spike.”
