Orange light flooded the town. The sun had begun its final descent towards the horizon before night finally spilled over Ponyville, and this perhaps was one of the most beautiful times of day. The air sighed and cooled, beginning to nip at the flanks of the citizens of the small country town. Summer was fleeting; the ponies all rode its coat tails, trying to enjoy the last few strains of sun and warmth before fall and winter whisked away all their fun. The escaping light brushed through the buildings, casting long shadows that striped across the streets. When it finally came to rest on the snout of a dark red stallion, there came a loud huff.
The stallion stood just out of reach of the small town, trying to ignore the buzz that had bothered him all week about Harvest Eve. Tonight would be celebrated by a huge dance, started off by all the young fillies and colts as they danced and tripped over the hooves and lanky legs they had yet to grow into. Soon after they would be ushered home by relieved parents to cuddle in bed, dreaming of the cider and further festivities tomorrow would hold. That’s when all of the ponies his age would join in, milling and dancing to music he could never find the beat to. He had made enough excuses to get out of going this year, much to his friends’ disappointments. He had too much to concern himself with, too many burdens to simply lightheartedly shake them off and join in a night of fruitless dancing and nonsense. He tipped his head down, blocking the light from his eyes with the wide brim of the western hat he wore.
“Apple Snap!”
The sound of his own name broke him from his sulking. He jumped a bit, his hat falling from his head. He turned a bit, just enough to see the pale green form of his mother walking over. Her eyes were tired, her blonde hair frizzled, with small flyaways poking from her braids. “Apple Snap, what are you doing? You should be getting ready for the Harvest Eve dance.” Her voice was strong, unbroken, and dipped in the slightest of a country accent. A small smile crept over her lips, and she reached up a hoof to brush the vibrant yellow hair out of her son’s eyes. He dipped his head to make it easier for her, as he towered over her small frame. She gingerly picked up his head, and placed it in its rightful spot atop his head.
“Well, ma,” he began, sharing her accent, “I know there’s a lot of work to be done and all, we still have a whole lot of jam to jar and apples to bake. And with all the apples we got from our kin out in Appaloosa, we can’t wait another minute or else I recon they’ll be food for the fruit flies.” Apple Snap looked behind the small cottage him and his mother called home. Several crates filled with apples stood stacked up, just waiting to be baked and jarred. He scowled a bit, frustrated. They had once grown their own apples out in the fields, but a bad few summers had left their trees dead. They had family across Equestria that were willing to help them, but there was only so much they could do. His mother was at risk of losing their home, since the ponies didn’t want to buy pies that weren’t made with the freshest fruit anymore. The cider was still good, but with just Apple Snap and his mother, there was never enough to fully go around. They weren’t making enough to make ends meet, let alone hire more ponies to lend a helping hoof.
“Now, now, you don’t worry about a thing, my little Snap,” she reassured, a smile forcing itself upon her face. “Your mama didn’t earn herself a fancy apple cutie mark by sitting around and crying about how the apples aren’t red and green enough. We’ll figure it all out. But you need a night off. Go, I’m sure you can catch Thunder Hoof before he gets too far ahead.” Apple Snap looked at his mother, hesitant and frustrated. But he looked at her cutie mark, an apple pie, and sighed. She was right. She had always been the best apple baker in town, making her pies and cakes and fritters. He just needed to trust her that everything would fall into place.
“Fine. But I’ll be back nice and early, so we can get on all this work. Because I sure as hay didn’t earn my mark by being a lazy worker.” On his flank rested a shiny green apple with a bite taken out of it. Some ponies made fun of it, saying he had a special talent in eating apples. But those who really knew him, knew it was because he grew some of the tastiest apples around. Well, back when the trees actually budded and produced their succulent gems. He then turned and left at a brisk trot, hoping to catch up to Thunder before he got too far out of town. His mother sighed, shaking her head, knowing that no matter how early he got home, there was no way out of the hole they were in.
Thunder Hoof shouldered roughly against his friend. “Hey, Snappers, why the long face? Just enjoy the time, have a nice cup of cider… Hey, I heard once all the fillies and colts go home to their mommies and daddies, they’ll be breaking out the apple pie moonshine. It’s the same thing every year – same food, same cider, same mares, nothing exciting ever happens in ol’ Ponyville.”
Thunder continued to jabber on, and Apple Snap just nodded in agreement. Perhaps a bit of apple pie moonshine would help him shake his bad attitude, help him forget about all of these problems. But Snap knew that by the end of the night, Thunder would be a mess, getting nice and touchy with the ladies, and Snap would be in charge of babysitting and getting his friend home. “Yea, yea, that’s great,” Apple Snap interrupted, and made his way across the dance floor to find himself some punch. The Harvest Eve dance was held in the same place every year. The building was a huge barn, nestled in the hills a bit away from Ponyville. The building was in poor shape, and with the group of ponies growing bigger and bigger every year, he couldn’t imagine the barn lasting for much longer. He wouldn’t have been surprised if by next year they picked a bigger spot for the dance.
A pair of young mares walked past him. One caught his eye, and gave a small giggle. He gave a small nod, dismissing her. He then caught the eye of his friend, who gave him a disapproving look. Thunder came over, scowling.
“Why must you do this? All these mares look you up and down and practically throw themselves at you, and you just walk away. You have no idea how frustrating that is!”
Apple Snap rolled his eyes. Girls, girls, girls. That’s all he thought about. His friend was attractive enough, sure, a tall black stallion with a white mane and tail, and a lightning bug mark on his hide. But the mares ignored him because of his bad, pushy attitude. “Well,” Snap began, “Maybe if you had a few more manners, they would look at you, too.”
“Hey,” Thunder snapped, spinning to face Apple Snap, “I can get any girl I wa—“ Thunder’s jaw fell agape, eyes wide.
“What are you looking at?” Apple Snap said, turning his head towards the door. That’s when he saw her.
Two delicate mare’s had walked in the door. Both held their heads high, noses flared. Neither looked like they belonged in a dusty old barn on the country side. But one of the pair stood out to Snap, and he couldn’t bring his eyes away. Her coat was the cleanest, brightest shade of cream he had ever seen, with a brilliant burnt orange mane that was streaked with a lighter shade of pumpkin. Her eyes flashed emerald. She looked intrigued, curious, while her friend who was a shining shade of teal with a pink mane just looked disgusted. Apple Snaps’s ears perked up straight, and he watched her cross the room and stand in the corner, watching the little fillies and colts try to get their last few moves finished before their parents ushered them away from the dance floor. It was time for the kids to leave, and the older ponies to take over.
A whistle broke the silence, and Apple Snap swung his head around and landed a harsh nip on Thunder’s shoulder. “What’s your problem?” Apple Snap growled, eyes flashing angrily. “Those are two real honest to goodness ladies. We best approach them with respect, they look like big time fancy ponies.”
Thunder glared at his friend for a moment, then tossed his head back with a laugh. “You’re so stuck up. Just relax. You get the blue one, I call the white one. Alright, Snappers? Snappers? Hey, wait, where do you think you’re going?”
Apple Snap had already made his way about halfway across the dance floor towards the ladies before he fell back. A big stallion by the name of Cherry Cobbler had cut his way in, introducing himself to the two ladies. A deep sadness flooded him and he turned around, finding his place next to Thunder once again. “Hey, pal,” Thunder began, never having seen this kind of hurt, “There’s always the next one. She was probably too snooty and good for you anyways.” Snap gave a small nod in agreement, and turned, not wanting to expose himself to any more of this loss. He had never felt this way before, especially not about a mare. As he threw back a cup of cider, he heard someone behind him call out, “Who’s ready for some apple pie moonshine?”
Things had grown rowdy and crazy real fast. Thunder twirled and tripped over himself while dancing with the blue mare that had shown up with Cherry Cobbler’s new date, and she had loosened up quite a bit since downing several shots of liquid apple pie. Few ponies remained sober, and Apple Snap counted himself among them, even though he had had enough of the moonshine to take the edge off. Drinking wasn’t all that important to him, he would rather keep his friend out of trouble than get drunk himself. One of his mare friends jabbed him in the flank, and he smiled as she forced him into the milling pit of ponies dancing and throwing themselves about. Thunder’s laugh bubbled over, and Apple Snap found himself actually enjoying a bit of line dancing. After a few minutes of dancing, Snap pulled himself from the group, panting and smiling. He trotted to the door, hoping to escape the heat for a minute and get a breath of fresh air.
The coolness of the night swept over him, chilling the sweat upon his flank. He looked up at the moon, laughing at the spots that seemed to imitate the figure of a unicorn trapped in its glowing surface. Snap snorted at the old mare’s tale, and turned to go back to the party. But before the sound engulfed him, a smaller sound caught his attention. His ear flicked, and he turned, walking a bit down the path that lead to the barn. Soon he froze, peering around a large rock, watching a scene unfold.
“Get away from me, you big oaf!” The cream colored mare from before hissed, lashing out with her back hooves. Cherry’s hulking white formed seemed to glow in the bright moonlight as he circled around the tiny mare, easily shying away from her blows.
“Oh, come on, you came out here with me, and since, well, I am the most handsome stallion out of everyone in this little dust biter town, it seems most fitting that you end up with me, here, tonight. You are by far the prettiest mare here. Now come, give me a little bit of your city sugar.” He leapt towards her, trying to sneak in for a rough kiss. She reared up, one tiny front hoof catching his snout. Blood dripped from his nose, and he snarled. “Oh, you little…. You’ll be sorry for that.” He lunged in again, his red eyes wide with fury. The cream pony cowered, head bent down, afraid for her life. He knocked her to the ground, and she let out a tiny whimper as he stood over her, a sickening smile on his face.
From seemingly nowhere, the hulking red form of a stallion caught Cherry Cobbler short. Cherry Cobbler was knocked away from his target, and his head swung back. Apple Snap stood between the small city pony and her attacker. Cherry let out a rough snort, which grew into a laugh. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? A dumb hick pony, trying to play knight in shining armor?” Snap felt heat flush his cheeks. Almost nothing made him angrier than being called a dumb hick. “Now, now, I know that it seems you’ve found a liking to this pretty female, but she’s mine. Did you really ever think she would fall for you? Look at me, I’m strong, handsome, and we have the money to hire help to pick our cherries. And then we have you, dirty and rundown, with your fur bald down to the skin from your yoke, and I doubt you can ever totally get that dust out of your mane. You barely deserve any of the mares we have in town, let alone a fancy city pony. No, why don’t you run along home, to your mommy and your wittle farm cottage. Oh! Yes, that’s right, you can’t, because rumor has it your mama’s selling the house and moving out, since you can’t grow an apple tree to save your life.”
“Git over here and say that to my face, you pompous mule!” Apple Snap yelled, anger burning through every nerve.
“With pleasure,” Cherry smiled, “I’ve been waiting to kick your teeth out for a while now. Walking around like you own the place. You may be bigger and muscled, but it’s because you do farm rat work.” With that, Cherry Cobbler broke into a gallop, ready to throw his full weight into Apple Snap.
Apple Snap met him halfway. His shoulder dipped down, and it was when Snap stooped down to be level with Cherry that the white stallion truly realized what a shocking form Snap really possessed. Snap knocked him off balance and he spun, powerful hind legs meeting the ribs of the white monster. Cherry Cobbler collapsed in a broken heap, a pitiful cry escaping from his lungs that lay cradled in a broken ribcage. “Get up!” Apple Snap thundered, “Get up, and leave here. Go back to town, go back to hell, go wherever, but I swear to Celestia, if I ever see you near this mare again, I will leave you wishing I had killed you right here.” Cherry Cobbler lifted his head, seeming to wish to make some sly remark, but his mouth snapped shut. Snap stood, towering over him, every muscle quivering in rage under his dark crimson coat. Even though Snap still wore his hat, the moon seemed to still manage to glint softly on his narrowed eyes. Apple Snap, the stallion that grew apples and lived with his momma, the stallion who was known to be shy and kind hearted, who would never harm a fly, had a killing hate in his heart and in his eyes. “Get up and go, before I kick every last tooth out of your foul dirty mouth.”
Cherry Cobber dragged himself to his feet, a sob bursting from his pained sides. He limped his way up the trail, falling to his knees several times, before disappearing from sight. Apple Snap stood, panting, the hate slowly melting from his bones, before he remembered that he still held audience with the small cream mare. But, as he turned to apologize for his actions, he realized she was gone. All he had for company yet again was the darkness and his thoughts.