The Queen Ponies

Chapter 3 - Ponyville

Apple Bloom awakes on a mattress, she is in an room with solid wooden walls.

Apple Bloom looks around. Scootaloo is sleeping on the other end of the mattress. The room is dark, so Apple Bloom parts the curtains of an adjacent window. She takes a look outside.

There are only a few trees outside, and the area is somewhat different to anywhere Apple Bloom has been. Apple Bloom eyes are drawn to a nearby Twilight Sparkle who is outside greeting an approaching Rarity. Twilight Sparkle speaks to Rarity "So, I see you escaped".

Rarity replies "Yes I did, it was quite a process. That damn prison was overseen by Rainbow Dash and was very secure as a result. But when I tantalised the guards with my best display, they were easy to manipulate. Still... this mission didn't suit me at all"

Tears well up in Rarity's eyes "You see, that horrid cave Fluttershy lives in is dusty! And now I have dust all through my mane!".

Twilight isn't moved at all by Rarity's plight. "I can't believe we're the only ones to return. It was a 12-unicorn squad..... Applejack won't be happy." Twilight walked towards the building Apple Bloom was in. "Luckily, I was able to acquire all of the Fluttershian princess-foals."

Rarity replies "Even the one called Sweetie Belle? I never saw her"

"Yes. It turned out she had been consumed by the Ursa Major. I was perplexed at what to do in the circumstances. But in the end, I used a 'come to life' spell on the Ursa Major's poo. It was my only option".

Hearing that Sweetie Belle had been somehow rescued by Twilight Sparkle comes as welcome news to Apple Bloom "Oh good! It seems that Sweetie Belle is still alive!".

Apple Bloom looks back into the room. Lo and behold, she spots a Sweetie Belle shaped poo laying on another mattress in the room. The poo pony stirred and Apple Bloom trots over to embrace her. "Sweetie Belle!".

The ponies hugged. Sure Sweetie Belle smelt bad, but Apple Bloom wasn't afraid to get dirty.

Scootaloo is there too, she's not into hugging so much and is grateful that there's an interruption as the door to the room swings open. Twilight Sparkle enters the room and asks the Cutie Mark Crusaders to follow her.

After walking through various connected areas of what seemed to be a hastily constructed mansion, the Cutie Mark Crusaders climbed a flight of stairs and arrived at the chamber of Queen Applejack.

Applejack has a large belly, much like Fluttershy. She is flanked by the stallions, Big Macintosh and Braeburn. Applejack observes the three captured princess-foals and smiles. "Job well done, Twilight. I assume you've tasted them all to ensure they are genuine princesses".

Twilight enthusiastically replies "Of course, I'd do anything for you mother". Though Twilight had not enjoyed the entire taste-testing process.

The fat Queen hauls her body over to the three fillies. She closely eyes each one. "I like what I'm seeing, though the brown one could use a bath". Applejack's gaze then turned to Apple Bloom "This one is a real looker, I reckon she'll be a great addition to our orgy tonight. I'm just itching".

Apple Bloom didn't feel too keen on the orgy. Being a fertile princess-pony, Apple Bloom suspected that there was a risk she would get pregnant. Ever since Rainbow Dash had told her that she was destined to become a queen like her mum, Apple Bloom had hoped to steer her fate in other directions.

For the time being the Cutie Mark Crusaders are kept in the adjacent hall, which is occupied by the Applejackian princesses. The Applejackian princesses are gorging themselves on a vast variety of apples from a large trough. An Applejackian servant, named Shining Armour, places more apples in the trough. He turns to the Cutie Mark Crusaders and says "Feel free to dig in".

The Cutie Mark Crusaders take positions around the trough, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo hesitantly begin eating, until they receive a glare from Apple Bloom.

One of the princesses walks up to the trio on his hind legs. "Hi, the name's Spike. I'm the mutant offspring of Applejack. I overheard my mum talking to you about that orgy. I thought I should warn you that when she starts ovulating, she gets pretty frisky and well... it can lead to traumatising situations".

Scootaloo says "I'm not really liking this concept".

Apple Bloom says "Agreed. Tell me Spike, what can we do?"

Spike says "If you can escape, you might be able to pass as an Applejackian, all you need is the correct branding"

Scootaloo says "A branding? That's awful, Applejack is pure evil".

Apple Bloom says "I'm up for it, how do we get this branding?"

Spike replies "I can breath fire."

Apple Bloom says "Okay, are you up for it Sweetie Belle?"

Sweetie Belle had been lost in Spike's eyes "W-what? Uh, sure!"

So Spike uses his fire breath to give the Cutie Mark Crusaders an apple-shaped marking on their sides. They each found it pretty hot and Spike wondered whether he should have just told them where Rarity kept her coat-dyes.

Spike says "Okay guys, I'm going to distract Shining Armour for as long as I can". Spike then waddled over to Shining Armour and held his attention with an improvised comedy act. The jokes were mediocre, but Shining Armour was easy to amuse.

Apple Bloom speaks "Okay Crusaders, a lot of weird stuff has happened to me in the weeks since my birth. And now it's time I made a decision for the better, so let's find a way to escape!". The Crusaders are motivated by Apple Blooms words and work hard looking around the room for a way to escape.

Scootaloo points out an open window and says "Lets jump through that!". Scootaloo begins running towards the window.

Sweetie Belle doesn't have time to bid Spike a proper farewell before she is dragged by Apple Bloom, who then rushes to follow Scootaloo towards the window.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders pour out the window, slowing their fall from the third floor by grabbing at branches. They survive the fall and retreat through the streets of Ponyville until a large number of houses separate them from Applejack's mansion.

Continuing through the streets, the many houses that they run past become less regular. The area is more spread out and fields for growing crops become more common.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders still have a long journey to the border of Ponyville, so they slow down and attempt to be casual while they travel in what they hope is the right direction. There were ponies working in the fields and it was fortunate that many of those workers were covered in soil from their labour, otherwise the poo-composed Sweetie Belle would look out of place. In fact, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were careful to dirty themselves up a bit, hoping to ease suspicion.

Eventually the fillies arrive at Sweet Apple Acres, a seemingly endless plantation of apple trees. Ponies can been seen at regular intervals throughout the orchard, bucking the trees for apples.

A young pony named Diamond Tiara approaches the three and speaks to them "What are you three doing slacking off? We need you all bucking trees if we're gonna meet the quota."

Scootaloo replies "Who made you boss?"

Diamond Tiara says "My dad. He was made the manager of Sweet Apple Acres by Applejack herself."

Apple Bloom puts her hoof in Scootaloo's mouth and says "Well, we'll just get right back to bucking those trees".

In an attempt to be inconspicuous the fillies get right to bucking. So far their fake brands have worked as they were seemingly passing for Applejackians.

Scootaloo sees a small, unattended scooter sitting by a cottage. Scootaloo is a fan of scooters and once convinced the worker ponies back in Everfree to build her one from scratch. Scootaloo waits until Diamond Tiara walks off to terrorise other workers, then she takes the opportunity and grabs the scooter so she can have a ride.

While riding the scooter back and forth, Scootaloo wonders if it would be useful to use the scooter to make a getaway. She gets Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to sit on her shoulders, but when she tries to move she can't even get the scooter to canter pace.

Scootaloo figures she'll have to do something to improve speed and so she goes searching for a wagon to tow her friends with. As she walks around Scootaloo notices several candidate wagons that appear to be for towing apples.

Diamond Tiara spots Scootaloo's suspicious behaviour from some distance away and comes back to talk to her. "What are you doing, disobeying me and trying to take another break?". Diamond Tiara looks at Scootaloo and notices her slightly misshapen brand, she loves to poke at the weaknesses of other workers and jumps on this. "So, I noticed your brand is awfully recent. It's still all charred, were you born yesterday? My brand looks much better". Diamond Tiara rubs Scootaloo's brand to get the dirt off.

Scootaloo pushes Diamond Tiara away "Hey! Don't touch me".

Diamond Tiara looks furious and storms off.

Scootaloo runs to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who are still bucking apples. "I think Diamond Tiara is going to find us out, we need to take her out of the picture quickly".

Sweetie Belle says "How many times do I have to tell you? Killing ponies isn't an acceptable solution!"

Scootaloo grumbles "Okay, well if I can attach one of these wagons to the scooter we can be out of here in no time. It's just that it may be a difficult task".

Diamond Tiara was trotting towards her fathers house, to report the suspicious fillies and on her way she notices a group of soldiers led by Rarity the unicorn. Diamond Tiara ran up to the group "Oh Rarity, I've seen some annoying fillies in the orchards, can you arrest them?".

Rarity replied "I've been trying to track down three fillies for what feels like hours, can you show me where they are?".

Diamond Tiara shows Rarity the way and soon enough Rarity has caught on to the smell of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders see Rarity approaching the area and they flee deeper into the orchard. Rarity's fellow trackers have already positioned themselves to cut off any escape and as the Crusaders look for any possible routes through the trees the circumstances seem dire. Apple Bloom says "Scootaloo, you have to take the scooter and get away, maybe you can find help".

Scootaloo zips off on the small scooter she stole, she passes the trackers who cannot grab her quickly enough. Soon enough Scootaloo is well in the distance, she left with every intention to get help for her friends.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom have nowhere to run, and being desperate to evade the trackers they charge at a cottage built within the orchard. Rarity and the trackers close in slowly and the Crusaders are able to scramble inside with the hope that they'll be able to hide.

Breathing heavily the Cutie Mark Crusaders sit in the dark building and fearfully await as Rarity approaches.