[Sweet Apple Acres] Adventures in Foalsitting (Closed)

[Hippo]

Reaching around, Applejack was able to eventually connect her hoof with a lantern. Next to the lantern was the usual box matches. She pulled out a match with her mouth, stroked it to ignite it, and lit the lantern. The glow of the lantern illuminated the entire cellar, with its vibrating shadows, as Applejack carried it towards the barn end of the cellar. She could hear the clopping of hooves above her, as the foals apparently scampered their way towards the kitchen. And she also heard a loud periodic thumping, coming from the living room, moving towards the kitchen as well.

Without realizing what she was doing , the lantern heated up the gabbing end, and it caused Applejack to drop it in haste. "Bah!" Applejack burst out as the lamp fell. That moment in time, she fear she may have doomed the barn yet again, in flames again, but this time the ponies would all be inside as a danger. But instead, the lamp was extinguished by its own movement by the time it hit the ground, smashing to pieces with kerosene splashing everywhere. "Argh!" There was no fire, no burns, fortunately. But it was again dark, and Applejack, with a now burnt mouth, found herself in the dark, just underneath the cellar hatch door to the kitchen. She climbed the short ladder and start pushing up on the door. She grunted loudly at her sister as she did it. "Akpul Buhm, yuh wett muh en rot nah!"

​

[QuickLime]

Scootaloo had been guarding the door with the fly swatter diligently in her mouth, when it stopped making noise she bolted back to AppleBloom and Sweetie Bell "I think we scared it off!" She hooted, bouncing up and down happily around the girls, not noticing Carrots absence, glancing around a little bit and tilted her head.. "Where is Mr Carrot...?" Oh dear did the Ferals slip in and grab him!? Scootaloo calmed herself, rubbing her face and pushing her mane back so it wasn't so in her face.

"Did the Ferals get him or what..?" She really needed to pay more attention, but to her credit she was tired and everything was starting to get a wee bit blurry around the edges, the stress, excitement and lack of sleep was making things a wee bit hazy..

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle gasped as she stared at the trap door, and heard the muttering coming up from down below. "oh no oh no oh no!" she whimpered, her pupils shrinking, her eyes widening. "What are we going to do?!" her voice cracked in her terror. She pranced in place, looking around desperately. "They're casting curses! They're casting curses to seize our minds and make us follow their orders, just like Mister Fields! Even if we hide, their curses will find us!"

She spun around in a prancing circle as she sought some way of defending themselves from dark curses, as the honey slowly dripped down through the cracks in the trap door to splat down into the cellar below.

Then Sweetie stopped, straightening up.

Her cape flared around her as she swirled it into place on her back. A steel pot settled into place on her head. Its lid nested at her side as a shield. She seized a broom handle in her mouth and swung it decisively, her cape snapping and waving dramatically behind her in an unseen wind.

"We go in after it... we defeat the monster, and those weak of mind who succumbed to its mind control will be freed. We can save ourselves, and Mister Fields. CUTIE MARK CRUSADER FERAL PONY HUNTERS, GO!"

​

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom had a fleeting moment of triumph as she imagined that for the moment maybe they had the advantage. After all, there so many things they could do to stop the ferals coming from the cellar that her heart raced at the possibilities. They could kick them square in the head, knock out Mister Fields and place his plump body on the top and hope that would bar him, or simply mount up, arm themselves, and fight the intruders at the cellar entrance. They really weren't in such a terrible spot, it turned out, as long as they kept their wits about them. But suddenly the ferals started casting curses! Evil, mind-stealing, far reaching and impossible to evade curses slithering their way through the cracks on the floor and into the cracks of their brains. Sweetie was the first to see the danger and as she laid it all out there, Apple Bloom's pupils slowly dilated until they were amber on amber in horror. Mister Fields hadn't mentioned anything about strange Feral language curses but Sweetie Belle was right! They could stop them all day every day but there was nothing they could do, nowhere they could hide!

It was time to stiffen the sinews and summon up the blood just as Granny's old books said, and Sweetie was the first to take hold of it. Apple Bloom followed suit. Her cape did not flow as gallantly as Sweetie's more marked with tiny cuts and gashes looking like a battle-worn flag rather than her usually amazing cape. Applejack's old leather helmet from her younger hoofball days found it's home on her head- no ringin' in her ears if this turned into hooficuffs. And one of Big Mac's hammers was her weapon of choice, and she clanked it against the wood lightly and ominously rhythmically.

"Cutie Mark Crusader Feral Pony Hunters! Ah'm gettin' real sick of these ferals castin' curses and tryin' ta kidnap us!"

[brianblackberry]

Carrot Fields watched in a mix of awe, horror, and just a little bit of amusement as the trio of fillies continued their panicked defense against phantom intruders, it be adorable if it wasn’t so destructive! Well.. It was still adorable anyway. Still he was tied up, an embarrassing situation under any other circumstance, but now being detained like this was allowing things to get out of control. “Girls, thaur is nae a body haur tryin' tae curse ur seize yer minds, noo if ye please, untie me an' i’ll gang check in th' cellar, i’m sure it’s jist a wee beastie.”

His reassurances seemed all for naught though, he wasn’t even sure if they heard a word he said, as suddenly they decided they would be the ones confronting whatever happened to be down there, and very likely scaring some poor critter out of its wits in the process if he didn’t do something!

Carrot managed to inch his way to the wall and propped himself up. Determined to get to the cellar door before the Crusaders did, he tried to hop his way there, tried and failed instantly. Instead of standing on the door as he had hoped, the gray stallion found himself crashing to the ground and laying face first in the honey Applebloom had spilled. Great, just great, how can this get any worse?

[Lux]

"I ain't afraid of no ferals," Scootaloo said defiantly as she prepared for battle. She darted into the kitchen, grabbed a colander used to wash apples and placed it on her head as an effective yet slightly awkward helmet. She the put on oven mitts for her fore hooves and then grabbed a rolling pin and perhaps the biggest soup label the filly ever saw in her life.

"If there's a feral pony in the neighborhood, who you gonna call? Feral Hunters!"

Scootaloo then saw that Carrot was on the floor with an open jar of honey!

"Mister Fields this is not a time for lying down and eating. We have to defend ourselves from the feral threat."

Scootaloo began to try and push the kitchen table over the trap door every which way she could with her fore legs, back legs, and even her head!

"Come on girls! I need help pushing this table over the trap door!"

[Hippo]

Without any light to be able to see where she was going, Applejack would have to go off of memory of where everything was. She couldn't light another candle, for fear that the kerosene splashed everywhere would cause a barn fire, something Applejack wanted prevent more than anything. She knew that dead ahead there were some wooden steps that lead to the hatch door in the kitchen, if she could only find it.

She walked forward, reached out with her hoof expecting a step at any moment when, "Owwwwhhhooooohhh!" Applejack hit a head board, hanging from the ceiling of the of the cellar, but also the floorboards to the kitchen. Since the ceiling was short enough, Applejack could even look for the hatch by hitting it softly as she walked forward. So she started tapping the ceiling as she neared the hatch. She could feel the grains on the wood and she sensed she was getting closer to the hatch, when finally, she touched the metal hinge to the door. Applejack put a hind hoof on the first step and attempted to climb her way up, putting presser on the hatch, cracking it open.

​

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle brandished her broomstick. "Don't worry about that, Dame Scootaloo! We can't block out their *curses*!" she cried, her voice cracking on the last word. "We're going to have to go down there and vanquish them to save Mister Fields from his en*chant*ment!"

No time to think about how scary this was, or how horribly this could go wrong! She threw back the cellar trap door and charged down with a mighty battle cry, swinging her broomstick mightily! Tripping gracefully! Tumbling for justice! Landing upside down for ... oh, horse apples. She quickly regained her feet and attacked the first big, shadowy figure she saw!

​

[SteelEagle]

Mister Fields went down in a face full of honey, the silly stallion still probably a bit off of his rocker. He didn't sound like he was much of a feral pony sympathizer at this stage, but that could have just been his madness taking a more cunning turn. The scariest enemy was the one you knew well enough to not fear as properly as you should of. Apple Bloom trotted over in a hurry and made a point of pulling his head out of the honey, staring him down and rolling him onto his back as the sweetness on his face settled in. Hopefully June and her hive of bees outside didn't get a whiff of the stuff and come buzzing in through the open window.

"You just stay right thar and don't get any funny ideas. Just get yer mind right 'fore you get those ferals in a good position to gobble us up," Apple Bloom said sternly, rolling him back, face first into the honey. He could sit there and just think about being a bad, feral loving stallion. She had more important things to worry about, like their gallant, Apple family approved counter attack against the evil feral intruders. First step: Help Scootaloo turn that table over the trap door. If that worked, they could further fortify this room for incredible ambushing against the darnable Feral foe. Score one for the good ponies!

"On yer tail, Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom offered, helping her fellow crusader. The two of them started to make good with their dual effort, pushing the table where it needed to go. One final push and-

- WHAT WAS SWEETIE BELLE DOING?

Just as they began the final push, Sweetie Belle appeared like a cute thunderbolt out of their field of vision and launched herself down below in a mad, heroic effort. With that flash, Apple Bloom lost control and the table turned upside down on the top, and the hoof from below that was gently pushing the cellar door open instead was forced through the door and the overturned table.

"Ahh! Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom bellowed, smacking the hoof with the hammer.

[brianblackberry]

Carrot Fields was stunned, instead of helping him out of his predicament, Applebloom plopped him right back into the spilled honey! What is wrong with these fillies?! There are games, and then there is just out of control! The ruddy maned stallion had enough! It took a few seconds, but thanks to a lifetime of farm work and not a little R.E.A training, Carrot managed to roll over to the nearby cabinet and prop himself up, and then preceded to hop as best he could towards the trap door. “'at is enaw ye thee, fa knows whit puir creature is doon thaur scared it ay its wits!”

They weren't listening... Already one of them ran downstairs yelling and making all manner of a fuss, and who knows what a frightened animal may do in that situation! It didn’t take long for Carrot to get his answer, a brown, muddy limb appeared from the cellar door, undoubtedly trying to escape the ranting Sweetie Belle when Applebloom started to smack it with a hammer of all things!

That was the last straw! “Girls!! Enaw!”* Carrot fields used the one part of him still free in an attempt to bring sanity back to a preposterous situation, his head. The gray maned stallion leaned forward and snatched Applebloom by the tail with his teeth, pulling her small form up into air so she would be dangling helplessly, hopefully dropping the hammer, but at the very least unable to hit anything anymore. “Noo see haur, thes is gettin' riddy. Feral ponies ur jist a story Ah made up, ye ur hurtin' some innocent beastie doon thaur! Ye shoods be ashamed!”

*Means "enough"

[Lux]

"Ooo... that feral pony sounds mad," Scootaloo said shaking slightly after hearing the noise coming from the basement. She kept pushing as she saw a shadowy hoof starting to push the trap door open.

"Thanks Apple Bloom," the Pegasus said as she saw her friend come to her aid. It was going to work perfectly: the three fillies would block the trap door with the table and then the house would be safe for the moment. Then Scootaloo realized that something, or somepony was missing: Sweetie Belle. Before she could wonder where the filly went to, Sweetie Belle came rolling in like a white ball and right into the trap door!

"Sweetie Belle! No," Scootaloo said when suddenly Apple Bloom let go of the tipping table taking the orange filly with it with a sickening thud. Scootaloo then lay on top of the overturned table feeling very dizzy. As she tried standing up, she watched Apple Bloom attack the pinned hoof with a hammer.

"Yay! Go get that feral pony. We have to save Sweetie Belle from it."

Suddenly Carrot Fields, who Scootaloo thought was napping or enjoying the honey, suddenly shouted for the three to stop. Scootaloo suddenly froze as she turned to the foalsitter, wondering why he was yelling.

[Hippo]

Applejack was being attacked! A small ferocious animal seemed to be whacking at her with broomstick. "Ah! What!? Ah!" Applejack took a few hard hits to the head, before she grabbed the creature with her free hoof. Her other hoof, which was wedged in the crack of the trap door, was being pressed against on top. Whatever was going on, the ones upstairs did not want Applejack to come up the cellar door. What were they doing? Was Apple Bloom not serving her grounded sentence? Before she could think any further, however, someone started hitting Applejack's hoof with a hammer. It hurt immediately so hard that it caused Applejack to flinch and move her hoof out of the trap door's crack, closing it immediately.

While feeling the pain that everything Applejack had felt to this point, she had enough intuition to feel with her hoof the character in her clutches. It was a soft creature, had a very curly mane, and a horn. It was about the size of... "Sweetie Belle? You AND Scootaloo are here? Oh that little Apple Bloom is going to get it!"

Applejack knew that Apple Bloom must have invited her friends over. But what was all this commotion about. All of the violence that happened to her couldn't have come from Carrot. Carrot was somepony Applejack trusted. He would never let the fillies act out like this. He has siblings of a young age, too. Applejack began to swim thoughts of an intruder. Maybe someone broke into the house and was attacking the fillies, and the enemy was trying to keep Applejack out. What other explanation was there? Apple Bloom wouldn't hit Applejack. And Sweetie probably thought Applejack was an the enemy. It was then Applejack had decided that she needed to save her friend and the fillies from this foe.

Applejack shoved the trap door open, breaking to pieces the table that was holding the door down. Applejack was so mad and her hoof was writhing with pain. She wanted to see who the pony was that was causing all this mischief and give them a piece of her mind, or more accurately, her hoof. Applejack squinted ahead, seeing doubles and without color. She could see a pony in front of her, and he was carrying the hammer. That pony was the attacker! Without any hesitation, Applejack dropped Sweetie Belle and swung a huge fore-hoof punch at the pony's head, right as he turned his head towards her.

​

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle was feeling VERY brave! She'd taken the creature by surprise with her ... ah ... clever maneuvering down the stairs! She wasn't sure what had happened to her makeshift helmet, but she still had her noble blade! Er... broomstick! And she was putting it to good use! As soon as the girls caught up with her, they'd have vanquished this fiend!

But the trap door slammed shut above her, leaving her trapped down here! The feral took away her broomstick, seized her with its slimey, powerful hooves! The darkness closed in on Sweetie, and she let out a terrified, fillyish little wail! "Noooooooo!" she squirmed! Then ... that voice!

...

"Applejack? What are-"

But then there was the light, and she squinted as she saw the direction Applejack was charging. "No! Wait! Stop!"

Too late! Sweetie hit the floor and covered her eyes. She couldn't watch!

​

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom was having none of this feral pony nonsense, these Tartarus bred beasts trying to get into her house so they could destroy everything that the Apple family had built over the years and while doing so destroy the young lives of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. They were Crusaders and Crusaders were as eternal as the spotless heart of Celestia herself and Apple Bloom would be a worm on a hook before she betrayed her friends! So she WHACKED that hoof and she WHACKED that hoof with all the strength she could convey, smacking and whacking and smacking and whacking like a smacking, whacking, rock 'em sock 'em robot pony. Just as she went in for another harsh strike, carrot Fields finally went full heel and pulled her up by her perfect little tail. She dangled in the sky, unable to reach anything or anypony- or anyferal- with her now impotent hammer.

Why had he decided to go on their side? Was he secretly a feral, just a super smart one? Sent amongst the pony populace to trick and lead ponies to their ultimate feral doom if they so much as dared to tread close to the Everfree? Was this all actually Apple Bloom's fault? She always went into the Everfree and was trying out all sorts of things there that may anger the ferals. Thank Celestia that her family was out, otherwise Carrot's nefarious plans may have consumed those she loved so very much. Buuuuuttt....maybe he was telling the truth. Maaaaaaayve this was all a big misunderstanding. It had beena fairly far fetched story but he had sold it so well and had been acting so odd. Unless of course he had been acting normal the whole time and it was the Crusaders who were acting odd but in all of Apple Bloom's years she had never heard an idea so preposterous.

But it was a possibility.

"But...if..." she began as she dangled upside down, brows furrowing in concentration. Just as she was starting to come back to reality, Sweetie's shrill scream split her worry back into two equally worried halves. She looked towards the door and overturned table in time to see the feral pony charge up, blasting the door and table into many pieces and sending Scootaloo flying as her resting home had been chaotically decimated. The impact send shards of wood flying into Apple Bloom's face,. forcing her eyes shut. By the time they opened, the feral was launching a ferocious punch at Carrot Fields. So he wasn't working for them, but that didn't mean a lick of good when he was just as incapacitated as she was. As the wild punch hit home, Apple Bloom did all she could to throw every ounce of power and energy into a blow aimed at head of the Feral-

-Applejack?!

Uh-oh.

[brianblackberry]

Carrot Fields felt he finally had some measure of control over the chaotic situation. Sure he was still tied up with honey on his face and all sorts of bows in his mane and tail, but as he held Applebloom by the tail with his teeth, he knew that she couldn’t hurt anymore innocent animals suspended in the air as she was. Even Scootaloo appeared to have listened to him! As for Sweetie Belle, all Carrot could hope to do is convince the unicorn filly to come back upstairs. “Sweetie Belle, Ah need ye back up haur reit noo!”

He couldn’t hold Applebloom like this forever though, but he needed assurances before he like the ruddy maned filly go. Perhaps now she had a moment to think about what she was doing, she would have calmed down and see reason again. “Applebloom, I’ll pit ye doon as lang as ye tryst nae to-“

Before carrot could finish his sentence, before he could even react, a sudden pony shaped blur of brown, orange, and blond came flying out of the cellar door. The next thing the poor, tied-up stallion could remember was a hoof connecting to the side of his face, and then he didn’t remember anything.

It was suddenly all black and the only voice was his own disembodied mind, “whit happened"?

[Lux]

Scootaloo did her best to try and get up after falling with the kitchen table onto the trap door. She heard the constant hammering sound of her friend Apple Bloom desperately trying to defend her home from the invading feral ponies. The orange filly had no idea why Carrot Fields wanted them to stop unless he didn't want them to get hurt. Maybe that was why he took the hammer from Apple Bloom, that he was willing to fight to protect the three Crusaders from what lay down in the basement. Suddenly Scootaloo realized that Sweetie Belle was nowhere to be found unless... That was when the Pegasus heard the ear splitting scream of her friend coming from under the table, like she was being tortured by the savage feral pony.

"Sweetie Belle, hang on! I'm coming..."

Before she could get off the table she felt a great shaking going on from under her as if there was an earthquake. Did feral ponies create earthquakes too? Before she could even answer that the table suddenly exploded into bits of wood sending the orange filly flying into the air.

"Hey, I'm flying! Look Apple Bloom, I'm..."

Her words were cut short as Scootaloo hit the nearby wall and then slid down into the garbage can, knocked out cold from the rough crash landing.

[Hippo]

Never before has a hoof punch felt so satisfying. And to Applejack's surprised, her force seemed more than adequate to take the villain out. But what or who was it? Applejack stood straight up, stared around the room to adjust to the sudden light, and used her hooves to rub her eyes of any glossy distortions. She looked over him. Wait. Was that Carrot Fields? "Oh gosh!" Applejack looked around the room. She saw Sweetie wincing and her sister pouting and Scootaloo crashing. A few heavy pants fell from Applejack and she went to Carrot to feel him to make sure he was still alive. And he was. "Girls, help me. Go help Scootaloo, and get some towels and a large bowl of water." Applejack was suddenly hit with a wall of guilt. All of the stress she had been under, her desperate attempt at trying to get inside. And the first thing she does it light up a true friend, a gentlecolt who was nice enough to help her in a dire situation. Sometimes, things just never go right.

Applejack used all her strength to pull Carrot to the living room couch. She propped him on it belly side up, and immediately covered him with a warm blanket. "I'm so sorry, Carrot. Can you hear me?" Applejack peered over Carrot's head with the curiosity of his consciousness. Her face, which was still mostly muddy from being outside in the rain, featured bloodshot eyes and bags of tiredness that hung deeply under her lids.

​

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle squeeked and nodded, and ran off for the sink. Well, the big bowl was still sitting outside, but there were smaller bowls, and she put it into the sink, then hopped up on the counter so she could throw her whole weight into using the pump, reaching up to grab hold, then lifting herself up into the air and hanging on while the handle slooowly descended... then letting it up again and jumping up once more, hanging on tight. The second time, a bit of water came out, and the the third time there was more, filling the bowl quickly. She landed on the counter, tossed the bowl of water up onto her back, and trotted quickly over to the couch where Applejack had laid down the trussed-up Carrot and covered the rope-wrapped pony with a blanket. "Oh no, poor Mister Fields! Is he gonna be all right, Applejack?"

She was moving before she even finished talking, though, hurrying over to her friend Scootaloo and being ever-so-careful about making sure she was laying down comfortably on the floor, her little hoof brushing tenderly over Scootaloo's short-cropped mane as she leaned over her friend from a few inches away. "Scootaloo? Can you *hear* me?" she asked, her voice cracking in her fear! How had things turned out so wrong?!

​

[SteelEagle]

Well, everything had certainly turned out for the worst, hadn't it? Applejack had decked Carrot with the force ot a typhoon. She didn't doubt that he would be out for a while. She'd seen her big sis knock out a particularly unruly bull one time with a fierce uppercut and a lariat. Well, that may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but she was a strong one.

Scootaloo had flown for about as long as it took for her to smack into the wall and fall into an out of place open garbage can. That was slightly less expected but they both had one thing in common: It was all Apple Bloom's fault. If she hadn't bought into Carrot's story and gotten so worked up, this would have been fine. In fact if she hadn't asked Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle over, then this would have been much better. Her fault no matter how deep she dug and by the end all she had was a hole of her own making.

She went to go help Carrot by getting some water, but Sweetie Belle was on that like a pink and light purple motion blur. It would have been better if she just used some of the fresh water stores on tap in the cellar now that they knew that there was not a single feral pony to be concerned about, but how was Sweetie to know. Then after a few moments of wonderment she went to go help Scootaloo, but the motion blur that was Belle beat her to the punch and had Scootaloo well in hoof. Sweet Celestia, she was faster than anything she could imagine! But that also meant Apple Bloom had nothing to distract her from the fact that Applejack would start to have some very serious questions, and everypony else was completely occupied. Well, she might as well go through the grinder- she deserved it. Apple Bloom walked towards Applejack and Carrot, eyes on the floor.

"Is Carrot gonna be all right? Ya hit him harder than ya buck trees."

[brianblackberry]

Carrot Fields was in a dream world, one where he stood in front a beautiful and tall beige and brown barn, looking upon seemingly endless fields of carrots and other assorted vegetables that extended to the horizon. Beautiful forests and gently rolling hills stood out in the distance to complete the exquisite scene. It was sunny, and yet somehow one could see the stars, an odd mix of both night and day. It didn’t make sense but it felt like it didn’t matter, it was perfect!! Everything felt just right, the smell of country was everywhere on the light, warm breeze. Best of all there she was next to him, affectionately smiling, content and proud, the mare that he always dreamed about. Just… he couldn’t quite tell who it was with the bright sun standing behind her, this mare, who he knew in his heart, was the love of his life. As he looked closer all he saw was a joyful smile in return and a flowing mane of what color he could not tell… Just had to get closer… Just then she mouthed something....

"I'm so sorry, Carrot. Can you hear me?”

Suddenly it all faded away in a wash of gray, permeated first by a familiar tone, then two, then three, all asking after him, and with it the return of a dull, aching pain right on his noggin. Carrot instinctive went to reach for it but found he could not move his arm. What the hay? Carrot’s eyes blinked open and over him stood a startling sight, causing the stallion’s eyes to widen and pupils to dilate, “Fa? Whit? Gahh, fa ur ye?” Then the familiar came into focus, the blond mane, the hat, the bits of orange fur that stuck out from the muddy brown, “Applejack??!” He blushed; he may be in pain but the idea of her standing over him, so close, her muzzle right by his…

Then he realized where he was and what had happened, well at least up into the point where it all went black. "the fillies, whit happened tae th' fillies? Thes Sweit Apple Acres? Wa am Ah tied up?!” He winced, his head sure hurt, what the hay hit him?

Only thing that made it worse is that he just remembered… He still had all those bows in his mane...

[Lux]

The waste basket containing now Scootaloo suddenly tipped over, causing her and a mound of garbage to tumble partially out onto the kitchen floor. Scootaloo lay there with bits of food scraps clinging to her body, her eyes shut. For some brief moments she could hear her name and the familiar voices of ponies around her, but what they were saying was beyond what she could comprehend as they were all jumbled up. What she didn't realize was her head was still in the trash can, preventing her from hearing much clearly.

"Huh... wha," she groaned as a pony pulled her out of the trash. Her eyes slowly fluttered open to see a concerned Sweetie Belle staring down at her stroking her mane.

"Sweetie Belle? Are you ok? What happened? Was the feral pony defeated? And why do I smell like garbage?"

[Hippo]

"Don't panic, Carrot. You hit yer head. Or, I mean, I hit yer head. Just relax while I try to get these ropes off." Applejack visited the kitchen and came back with a knife in her mouth. A knife that was the sort that you couldn't possibly imagine what it's primary use was for. "Hold still." Applejack stuck the knife blade between the stallion's body and the rope that bound him, and jerked into a free direction, breaking the bind and loosening his extremities. Applejack then dropped the knife and pulled all the rope out and tossed it aside.

Behind her, Apple Bloom approached ears first, her head concentrating on the puzzling lines naturally grained into the floorboards. "He's going to be ok. So, Apple Bloom," Applejack stated with a stern disappointing voice. "Mind telling me what the hay happened her before I gave Carrot here a knockout? Why wouldn't you let me and Big Macintosh in?"

As Sweetie Belle's bowl arrived, Applejack grabbed a spare cloth and soaked in the liquid, and then rung it out to place it on Carrot's face. Carrot's face, which was always normally as gray as the rest of his pelt, contained a purple texture around his left eye, remarkably resembling the shape of the country mare's hoof. "Heh, looks like I left a mark." Applejack the reacted to a coming sneeze, pointed away from everypony and then sneezed violently.

​

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle let out a scared little noise, but smiled to see Scootaloo coming out of it. "Oh, thank goodness!" she cried, giving the little orange filly a hug. "I dunno what happened to you, you were like that when I got up here! And I dunno what happened to the Ferals but Applejack's here now and she'll help us defend the house from the Feral Ponies cause she's tough, too! I think she was outside fighting the Ferals and corraling them and other cowpony stuff, and then she got inside and got involved in the fight in the cellar, and then she thought Mister Fields was a Feral Pony and she bucked him pretty good! And then..." She took a deep breath ... "And then I came to help you and that's what's going on! Are you OK? You need anything?"

​

[SteelEagle]

Sweetie Belle and to a lesser extent Scootaloo still thought there were feral ponies? She couldn't blame them. Apple Bloom started piercing it together s;lowly at first but as one piece fell into place the next piece quicker until the mystery was being solved in behind the locked doors of an ashamed mind. Applejack's hoof through a window, her neighing and sneezing, all the little signs that it had been her sister all along. Of course they didn't know because who the hay would, aside from Apple Bloom? The signs had been there all alone but she had been so ingrained into the myth of the feral that she hadn't considered the possibility that they were wrong. It made Carrot's protests and worries make a lot more sense in hindsight, instead of being slowly taken in by the ferals or mind controlled he had simply been the only one without his head up his rear. It was all mighty embarrassing, and Apple Bloom was all for going over there and breaking the somewhat joyous but fraught with an awful subcurrent of the little Apple filly being punished forever by a rightfully righteously indignant big sister.

But just as the thought with the right amount of nerve crossed her mind, Applejack lit into her with those cutting eyes of anger and more importantly, disappointment. Under such a stare, Apple Bloom could simply wither. Her head dropped down along with her ears as she let out a little whimper before gathering herself back up. She was an Apple darnit, and even when they made a mistake or a series of them or a huge, massive, epic series of them, they took what was coming to them like stallions and mares. She sighed and looked back up.

"It's mah fault, Applejack. Ah had Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo come over an' we played a bit with 'is mane and made some food and made a mess of tha place. Then he told us a scary story 'bout these feral ponies from the Everfree that come an' snatch ya up an' then Ah suppose you came home and scared us rght outta our coat. We thought y'all were ferals tryin' ta get us so we barricaded tha house, uhh, ineffectively, Ah suppose. And then ya smacked Carrot right upside the head. Don't be angry at Sweetie or Scootaloo, wasn't thar fault one bit. It was mine. Ah'm sorry. If ya have to exile me ta the Everfree for a year, Ah understand."

[brianblackberry]

For Carrot Fields everything was still a bit murky, although at least he recognized Applejack in all her muddy glory, somehow she still remained as stunning as ever; more importantly, it sounded like all the foals were in the room. The only part he still wasn't clear on was how he ended up unconscious int he first place, Applejack said something about it but he still hadn't entire recovered his faculty to clearly recall what she had said.

One thing he would always remember though was that knife she used. If it had been anypony else, he would have protested, even if he could do little. After watching wide eyed as the Apple mare slipped the huge blade between his chest and the ropes, cutting his bonds free, he immediately slipped out of the bed onto all fours.

And promptly stumbled and fell over in a woozy fashion. Whatever struck him, it was powerful, "Hoo th' hay did Ah end up in bed wi' a purple yak." Carrot shook his head and sat back up as best he could, the Carrot stallion pride of his father, which he inherited, wouldn't allow him to look helpless in front of the fillies and Applejack. It was that moment Carrot heard again what happened to him, this time from Sweetie Belle, and this time clearly enough for him to understand. All of this foolishness with the ferals lead to the mare he had a crush on giving his a cross-hoof to his face.

Could this be any more embarrassing?

Carrot closed his eyes, as painful as that was for his left one, and quietly sighed as he counted to himself for a few seconds, doing his best to collect himself. He reminded himself was all an accident, and the fillies didn't mean anything by it. Besides how could he stay mad at the absolutely adorable trio? They were just foals after all. The ruddy maned stallion opened his eyes and gave Sweetie a weak smile, "the ferals arenae real Sweetie, they ur jist an auld tale ponies tauld their wee foals back in Fet Loch as a bedtime story, an' tae hopefully keep wee ponies frae wanderin' th' moors aloyn. Dornt fash yerse, thaur is naethin' ootwith by cloods, trees, an' animals." He gave the filly unicorn a playful, encouraging rub on the mane, "Still Ah am sae glad ye waur brae abit it; aw ay ye." He couldn't help but forgive them, his just had a special place in his heart for foals, even ones as rambunctious as these.

Still he did want one more problem solved, "noo if ye wooldnae min', coods Ah gie these bows out?"