[Sweet Apple Acres]...The More Zap Apples Stay the Same. [PM for invite/Apple family welcome]

[Hippo]

Applejack pushed a cart full of bottled apple juice and apples near the outside door to the kitchen. "Here's some refreshments if any o' y'all need a breather. Keep up the good work, everypony! We're making good time today."

Applejack went back into the barn and pulled out a wagon. This wagon was special. It had been modified from its original state. It featured a very large wooden tank, full of water. On both sides of the wagon, there we're several little corks, all inserted into holes and tied to a string. All the strings were strung to Applejack's mouth. As soon as she cleared the barn,she tugged on all the corks and let them loose. Water starting springing out of the wagon on the sides. Applejack started running into the orchard, centering herself between the rows of trees. As she passed them, the appropriate amount of water leaked onto the ground around the trees, for a smart way to water, and the most efficient way to get it done yet!

​

[SunsetSombra]

Macintosh wasnt getting very far in getting answers for the mane dillemma, and thus he shook his head and waved a hoof at Pres, deciding it was better to let it go for the time being. Whatever little magical snafu she'd cast, it no doubt was a small thing and thus he figured he could get her to cure it later...right now, he had things to do that were more important than doing his mane!

" Ah'm not gonna get at ya on this for the moment - if whomever did it would help fix it at the end of todays chores, then that'd be mighty kind of ya, but ah guess it's not exactly gonna harm nopony RIGHT now if we all focus on what we came out here to do! " Big Mac says with a small nod. " Jus' be careful not t'magic up anythin' else, the trees around here are magic an' sensitive to it...who knows what might happen if ya accidentally cast somethin' on one of those bah mistake! "

" Hay! What happened to all of your manes? Did we have some sort of lightning strike? Why was mine not affected? "

The familiar voice of harshwhinney spoke up, and Mac couldn't help but look at her with a small chuckle...she clearly hadn't noticed the rather pufftastic mane style that had appeared. " Ah wouldn't worry about it too much, miss Harshwhinney...ya'all aren't turned into toads or somethin'...an' that means we're all still good to get to waterin' - so let's get right on that! " Mac gave a small grin, before turning away to get back to the task at hoof..

The whole situation clearly didn't have any real bother on Macintosh, as the stallion took up arms {in the shape of a watering can} and proceeded to head to the nearest row of trees and water them...he wasn't gonna let a simple mane reconfiguration get the better of him, not on THIS day!"

[Bellosh]

"Ah'm glad you two could come by and help me with this. It's sorta easy but you hafta get it just right. If ya don't, then everything else fails! We gotta paint this kitchen in pink polka dots, since the zap apples like 'em and this is where we make it all happen! I brought lotsa paint supplies so we can get on it quick as peas! You know how to paint, right?"

Pfft, what was so hard about covering the walls with pink polka dots? Babs Seed knew how to paint plenty well; she used to hoofpaint all the time in kindergarten. How could painting on a wall with a brush be any different? “Of course I do cuz!” Babs affirmed without any hesitation, making her way towards the painting supplies to find a brush; “Dat’s a silly question, everypony knows how to paint.....”

"aah... aah... aah... HA-TCHIEW! .....Uh... B-bless me?"

As the young mare at her side sneezed, Ingrid Marie briefly felt funny around her head. It almost reminded Ingrid of that one time that then-foal Twi immobilized her and her fellow proctors during that one entrance exam years ago… and that in of itself made the magic counselor realize that something was very amiss! Sure enough, most of the other ponies in Ingrid’s immediate area now sported the same style of puffy oversized mane. Oh, this couldn’t be another case of a magic misfire, could it?

Sighing, Ms. Marie knew what she had to do to make things right. She’d have to employ the trusty fail-safe spell to revert the changes caused by that magic sneeze. With intense focus, Ingrid gathered up in her horn all the magical power the mare could muster. After several seconds of powering up, the unicorn blasted forth a shockwave of pale red light to cover the immediate area, which would allow her to undo the effects of the previous magic sneeze all in one shot.

Mere moments after casting the Fail Safe, an exhausted Ingrid flopped onto the cool grass of Sweet Apple Acres, desiring immediate rest from her exertion. Undoubtedly, Mr. Rose’s readings would be all but screwy now thanks to all the magical activity going on.....

[Mojo]

(ooc): So, no pony wants to help Flam with all his bee welts? Well, considering who he is, that sounds right to me!

As Flam continued to moan and groan in pain beneath the white blanket, Granny Smith and Haywire brought their freshly collected honey into the kitchen, just in time to see the crew starting to paint the polka dots on the walls.

"I see we got back here jist in time," the happy elderly mare said as she turned to AppleBloom and Babs Seed. "You youngin's will be perfect fer this job! Now, watch carefully. AppleBloom, you've seen me do this here before so you kin help teach all the newcomers here. Haywire, you pay attention too!"

"Yes ma'am!" the rust colored filly neighed as she saluted her. Granny Smith reached for a paint brush, gently dipped it in paint and then slowly touched the wall with it, leaving a perfectly round painted polka dot.

"Thar ya are, nuthin' to it! Now, let's git busy! Need this kitchen painted before I begin workin' on the fixin's fer the Zap Apple jam!"

Meanwhile, after finishing his latest 'jar lecture', the Germaney Army helmet wearing Apple Strudel walked outside, instantly spotting something moving and strange sounds coming from a white blanket on the ground.

"ACH! UNEEMAL!" the bearded stallion shouted before pulling away the blanket with his teeth. "Herr Flam, vhat happened to you?"

"I had a minor, disagreement, with a hive of bees!" the mustached unicorn stallion yelled out. "And I am in extreme pain here!"

"I can see dat, I vill fetch mein First Aide kit! Don't go anyvhere!"

"Like I had the strength to get up and gallop away," Flam moaned sarcastically as the bearded stallion rushed back into the barn before he returned and began carefully treating the unicorn's bee welts.

"I vill do vhat I can, Herr Flam, though I am no Doktor."

"As least YOU have more compassion for me than your sister, kind sir."

"Vell, considering you und your brother vonce tried to take dee Apple Family Farm avay, I vould say you are lucky to be permitted here in dee first place," Apple Strudel said as he use anticeptic spray on Flam's wounds before starting to wrap them in gauze bandages. "Und I tink vhen I'm finished vith you, you might vant to consider taking off all dese ladies' clothes also."

"I'll keep that in mind.." Flam said in a gravelly voice, not wanting to tell Apple Strudel that it was Granny Smith who forced him to dress like this in the first place.

Ms. Harshwhinney looked very puzzled at Big Mac's last statement to her. While she pondered his words further, the orange pelted earth mare happened to glance down at her reflection in a nearby pond, instantly noticing her magically zapped mane.

"EEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" she screamed. "MY MANE! MY BEAUTIFUL MANE! IT'S RUINED!?"

Now Ms. Harshwhinney was in full panic mode, shouting and screaming in a mad rage! When she finally calmed down, the orange Earth mare immediately deduced that her mane had been changed by magic, and soon singled out the only unicorn in their little work group, Presteza. Galloping up to her, Ms. Harshwhinney growled in anger as she stared at her.

"Alright you little troublemaker! What did you do to my mane?" she snorted moments before Ingrid Marie's spell reversed the effects. Feeling a tingling on her scalp, Ms. Harshwhinney glanced down at her reflection again. Now she blushed deep red before muttering, "Oops, nevermind...."

[Bramble Rose]

Bramble Rose blinked at the sneeze, knocked back a bit as the dance was rather interrupted by the blast of raw magic. As his vision cleared from the flash of light, he saw... well ... silver mane. The slim purple tip of his muzzle and horn barely peeked out from the huge silver afro, and his eyes certainly didn't.

What ... what ... what had just ...

He stumbled back a bit blindly, reached out to try to find something to hold onto... settled onto all four hooves again, and shook his head, feeling the massive mane bobbing around his face. "What just..."

Thankfully, Ingrid Marie's failsafe spell ended that bout before he could consider the implications too much, or look too stupid. "Phew... thank you," he said gratefully. "I suppose as a schoolteacher for a school for precocious unicorns, that spell comes in awfully handy..." he chuckled, then sighed mournfully at his readings. He pulled out a quill and marked down the time and "Unicorn sneeze" by the giant spike in the readings.

"Well, it was bound to happen," he sighed, thinking about how he was going to have to include this in his analysis of the readings ... what long-term effects would an uncontrolled spell during a unicorn sneeze result in? He looked up at Presteza with a frustrated expression, and saw her forlorn look. Sigh. He left his readings be.

"It's all right, Miss Presteza," he said kindly, putting an arm over her shoulders to reassure her. "It's happened to all of us at one time or another."

​

[brianblackberry]

Cheerilee

Cheerilee adjusted her straw hat as she observed the monitor intently, attempting to decipher the mysterious lines that she didn’t recognize, hoping Bramble rose would respond positively to her enthusiastic interest in his work.

Unfortunately before she could ask again, Cheerilee found herself with a magically created giant puff of a mane. As much of a surprise her new, so-called style was, it wasn’t without president as she had seen a few sneeze induced unicorn accidents before in the classroom; par for the course for a young unicorn who’s magic was finally coming to the fore. It was the first time though Cheerilee recalled this happening to an adult unicorn. She sighed; there was little she could do, “well… It may not be the most ridiculous mane style I’ve had in my life.” That wasn’t an exaggeration. Her frustration though turned to amusement when she saw the others, especially Big Mac. She felt up the stallion’s blonde poof of a mane, “I guess we can call you Big Mane for the day!” She gave a sincere, if awkward smile, unsure if her goofy, abet lame, attempt at humor helped with the situation they found themselves in any.

Just as suddenly, the situation was resolved. Cheerilee felt an odd sensation, mildly ticklish, as her mane instantly poofed back into its former style. Unicorns and their magic, it was a strange thing; Cheerilee tried her whole life to truly understand it and yet it was still so alien to her, which sometimes made it difficult to consul young unicorn students. No time to dwell on that now, Ingrid appeared exhausted from her spell. Well Cheerilee wasn’t going to just leave her lying there on the grass; she may be a teacher and not a farmer, but she was still an earth pony, one advantage of which was strength. Cheerilee slide under Ingrid and stood up, allowing the beige unicorn mare to rest of her back, “there you go Ms. Marie! You wouldn’t want to miss today’s activities after all!”

Cheerilee turned to Bramble Rose and put a forehoof around him in reassurance, “I’m sure it wasn’t that much of a disruption.” She gave a bright smile, hiding her uncertainly if his readings were ruined or not. “Why don’t we get to watering, and you can tell me about the readings, okay?”

Braeburn

Braeburn was fortunate; he was outside of the spell’s range and could only look on with a befuddled and bemused expression. Most amusing of all was Bramble Rose, whose mane was so long, it almost looked bigger than the diminutive unicorn when made into a poof. Before Braeburn could make a joke, all the affected manes were set right, “well they always say that magic works all funny like when the Zap Apples are about ready to be picked. Ah never seen anything mahself, well that is until now; if only the harvest down in good ol’ AAAAAAAAPLELOOSA were this excitin’!”

Braeburn hoped there would be no more surprises, but that idea was instantly dashed by Applejack’s debuting her watering contraption. “Say cuzin’ Applejack, if y’all water everything with that there won’t be much of anythin’ for th’ rest of us to do for the day! Y’all don’t have somethin’ extra planned for us do ya?”

[Pretzelparty]

"What just..."

“well… It may not be the most ridiculous mane style I’ve had in my life.”

The mare had to reflexively hold back a chuckle once she saw Bramble's comically oversized mane. The poor stallion's face was almost entirely engulfed by the big ball of fuzz that was on his head. It turned out that the others in her group weren't enjoying their new manestyles much either. The first dissenter was the calm looking stallion she'd seen Miss Harshwhinny talking to during breakfast. Miss Cheerilee seemed to be taking it the best.

" Consarn it, who messed up mah mane?! Whoever made this l'il hiccup'o'hair happen... ah think it only right ya'all apologise an' fix it as soon as ya can! "

The mare's expression grew more regretful as she heard the large stallion sounding rather angry about his mane's state. It seems the stallion put more value in his appearance than one would have originally guessed. Presteza really hadn't intended for this to happen; her magic always seemed to mess up whenever she sneezes... and her allergies where never of any help in that subject. Rubbing her hoof to her nose she sniffled and sighed, wondering where those flourets came form anyway... wherever they came from their presence still left her nose feeling a bit ticklish. The mare sniffled a moment and took a breath before speaking her apology,"I-I'm sorry everypony... I didn' do it on purpose... I don't know the failsafe spell tho--" suddenly she was interrupted by none other than Ms. Harshwhinny.

"Alright you little troublemaker! What did you do to my mane?"

" Ah'm not gonna get at ya on this for the moment - if whomever did it would help fix it at the end of todays chores, then that'd be mighty kind of ya, but ah guess it's not exactly gonna harm nopony RIGHT now if we all focus on what we came out here to do! " Big Mac says with a small nod. " Jus' be careful not t'magic up anythin' else, the trees around here are magic an' sensitive to it...who knows what might happen if ya accidentally cast somethin' on one of those bah mistake! "

The middle ages earth pony was practically nose to nose with the painter from Trottingham. "Blimey, she looks steamed!" thought the silver maned unicorn to herself,"Um... well I uh guess it was some sorta... Frizzin' spell er somethin'?" she said with an embarrassed and cheesy grin. She could tell a charming smile wasn't going to sooth this pony's temper anytime soon, however it seemed that at least Big Mcintosh was willling to forgive her, the mare giving him a bit of a sad smile, "Like I said , sorry... I'll try not ta do that again. " soon though she noticed a bright light shine behind her that engulfed the area and returned everypony's mane's back to their original state.

"Oops, nevermind...."

Miss Harshwhinny seemed to have calmed down for the time, It might be safe to leave her alone for the time being, Bramble rose, however, seemed a bit unhappy for a moment seeing as the sudden magical events set into motion by Presteza's nose. Once he looked in her direction it seemed he was softened for some reason. Soon her put his hoof around her and seemed to be trying to comfort her.

"It's all right, Miss Presteza, It's happened to all of us at one time or another."

The pony smiled a bit,"Thanks, Mister rose... um I'll be back I gotta thank the pony who undid all my damage. when I get back ya can tell me more about all these readin's and stuff." with that the mare went over to Miss marie who was currently taking a breather on the back of the purple pony named Cheerilee.

Going over to the two of them she waved a hoof to the two mares,"Uh... Miss Cheerilee was it? Since it's my fault she's so tired now maybe I should carry 'er?" said the young mare, her slightly awkward chuckle punctuating her embarassment at the situation and her desire to make amends. Trotting over to the side where Ingrid could see her she smiled and tried to introduce herself more officially,"Um sorry about all this. I'm Presteza, it's nice ta meet ya miss... um wot was yer name again?"

[SunsetSombra]

Seemed like things were gettin' a little interesting, for such a normally quiet activity - presteza's magical snafu had caused a little consternation and concern amongst everypony, even Mac, for a reasonable length of time...and for good reason, it wasn't exactly every day that pony manes were poofled into a frizzy mass such as had happened right this moment.

With Ingrid having done the corrective spell, however, all seemed to settle down and the poor nervous mare who made the small error seemed to be easing up a little...her apologetic smile caught by Mac, who nodded his head in acknowledgement and offered a small smile of his own before clearing his throat and heading back towards his original destination in order to get right back to what was meant to have been his focus in the first place...yes, it was time to water those trees at last!

[AlisonRose]

-Apple Pie-

To Apple Pie it didn't matter that there was other fillies helping her and Apple Bloom, but that it was Babs Seed that made it a slightly more interesting point since Apple Pie had only met this cousin roughly twice now. She had met Apple Bloom several times and actually even raced with her one year for the Apple Family Reunion.

"Well hello Babs." Apple Pie said softly.

"Ah yes, painting, that will be quite a simple task with us three fillies on call for the occasion." Apple Pie made sure to add at least a hint of southern twang to her voice as she spoke hoping to not get knocked out by Apple Bloom again. Once was enough for that. It didn't really hurt, and didn't leave a mark but it sure wasn't the most quality time that Apple Pie had ever spent with Apple Bloom.

"So are we going to divide up the work or simply just take a paintbrush and start painting polka-dots." Apple Pie tapped her chin quizzically trying to figure out how in Equestria she could make this the most efficient painting party ever.

-Apple Bumpkin-

Apple Bumpkin was still working on fully getting her energy levels to where they would need to be. She stood there facing the wall of the barn smiling, then frowning, then smiling, then frowning. To a pony who would walk past would see some strange ritual of summoning a tree with some ghastly face on it or something.

"Today will be a good day! It has to be!" Apple Bumpkin said to herself before turning around and noticing that apparently she had in deed missed something. Ponies manes were frizzing out of control and Apple Bumpkin just stood there watching trying to hold in her small but stifling laughter.

"Oh my, what an interesting thing to walk into huh?" Bumpkin let out a small giggle, it wasn't odd for her to see Cheerilee with her mane as it was, in several of the pictures that they had taken together she opted to wear her mane in different styles dependent on where they were.

[Bellosh]

"Phew... thank you. I suppose as a schoolteacher for a school for precocious unicorns, that spell comes in awfully handy..."

“There you go Ms. Marie! You wouldn’t want to miss today’s activities after all!”

“I’m much obliged,” Ingrid Marie wearily thanked Cheerilee as she lifted the magic counselor onto her back; “And yes Mr. Rose, in my line of work, it’s tough to find a job unless you’ve mastered the fail-safe spell.” Feeling strength quickly returning to her, Ingrid bashfully suggested; “You know, I think I can get back down on the ground now, mmkay.” Certainly, the mare didn’t wish to be seen being carried around the orchard while everyone else worked.

"Um sorry about all this. I'm Presteza, it's nice ta meet ya miss... um wot was yer name again?"

With the unicorn who caused the magic incident trotting into her line of vision, Ingrid Marie responded to the request for her name; “Ingrid Marie; Magic Counselor at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It’s probably just me… but I think I’ve heard your name before somewhere.” Ingrid knew that Presteza had neither been a student at the school or some other pony who sought tutoring, so why was the name seemingly familiar? She wasn’t Guest Professor Belle’s little girl, was she?

[SteelEagle]

It was good that Apple Bloom wasn't gonna have to teach the ins and outs of painting to her cousins, even if that would have provided a bit of a reprieve from getting on with the activity itself. She liked painting and she loved zap apple season but it wasn't one of the most glamorous activities of all the many that went into the season. But heck, who was she to say where she should go? She was still a new little foal compared to the experts in the field, only learning the value of the Zap apples and their place in her own history recently. But the surest, most foalproof way to ensure her continued interest in any activity was tossing some of her favorited cousins into the pot with her and allowing them to stir it up and have foalish fun was the best way to go about.

"Well, then lets get to it!" Apple Bloom said with a chuckle to her two favorite cousins- of the moment at least- before going t work. She had learned from a friendly painter by the name of Presteza that art was in the strokes, not in the thrust, but for the life of her dots were dots and she was pleased she didn't have to teach her cousins, either. Made life a wee bit easier. She started painting dots at a quick pace, starting with the shell and filling them in afterwards. It gave her a quick pace and the dots looked clean, and doing it right was the difference between the whole season coming together or ending in a great flood of tears. She prefered to avoid the tears, not that her cousins were quick to cry. Apple Bloom might have accepted that Apple Pie wasn't a changeling or monster, but everything about her still seemed a few ants short of a colony. Abby still loved her. Babs was made of stern stuff as well, even if she had a bit of a weak backside to taunting. Abby still loved her too.

"So, how's Appleloosa treatin' ya, Pie? Ah bet its been real busy this time of the year with tha buffalo and all. And how's tha family in Manehattan, Babs? The CMC up there livin' up ta our reputation? Ah wouldn't have to strike ya from tha rolls down here, hehehe..." Apple Bloom giggled, finishing up some more dots.

[Twitter]

(OOC: sorry everypony for not being on for so long but im back now!! so lets all get on with the fun!!). Apple Susie looked around and noticed that her two cousins Apple Bloom, Babs and another filly who she had not yet talked to were walking into the house while everypony else seemed to working on other parts to prepare for making the actual zap apple jam. Since Babs was probably the only other pony she had talked to here she didn't exactly want to be left alone outside standing like a stranded duck. So Apple Susie trotted towards the house, once she reached the door to the kitchen she nudged it open and then waited for it to close. Once it closed she turned around and saw all three fillies occupying the kitchen with buckets and paint brushes occasionally placing down the brushes in order to talk to each other, "Hey cousins how's it goin'?can I help out round here?", she glanced around certain areas of the kitchen before glancing back at the three fillies for an answer.

[Mojo]

As she put away the jar of gathered honey in the cupboard, Granny Smith walked over to all of the ponies who were painting the pink pokadots in the kitchen. The elderly mare wanted to be encouraging, considering many of the kitchen painters were foals.

"Alrightly now, keep up the good work!" Granny neighed, watching all of them with interest. Applebloom seemed to have the best form when it came to painting, Granny acknowledged this by giving her youngest granddaughter a quick pat on the back and a nod. Hopefully Babs Seed, Apple Pie and Haywire would follow AB's example. It was then that she noticed Apple Susie walking in and asking if she could help out.

"You betcha you kin help paint in here, youngin! Haywire, set up Apple Susie with a brush an' some paint! Join right in, watch AppleBloom's motions and paint the way she does an' ya can't go wrong!"

"Yes ma'am!" Haywire neighed, standing at attention and saluting the elderly mare. However, the rust colored filly forgot she was holding a paintbrush in her saluting hoof, and accidentally sent a stream of pink paint upward, a stream that landed on some of her co-workers. "Uh oh, surry bout that, it was an accident, honest!"

As Haywire set up Apple Susie with a bucket of paint and a brush, outside Uncle Apple Strudel had finished administering First Aide to the bee-stung Flam.

"Dere you go, Herr Flam, I did dee best I could do vith vhat I had to vork vith," the bearded stallion said as Flam struggled to get to his four feet. The unicorn stallion was now wrapped up like a mummy, barely able to move,

"Though I am grateful for your efforts, Apple Strudel, I must ask, are you sure I needed all of these bandages?" Flam asked.

"Vell, you vere stung almost all over your body, und dose bee velts needed to be sterlized und covered so day can heal up. If you vould prefer a doctor, I vill see vhat I can do to summon vone here."

"No no, that won't be necessary, sir. When will I be well enough to help with the Zap Apple Harvest?"

"I tink if you take dee rest of dee day off, den you vill be ready to help out again. Vhy not rest under dis apple tree in dee shade? I still have more jars I must lecture, but I vill try to bring you anyting else you vill need."

"Very well, I will take your sage advice, Apple Strudel, thank you," Flam said as he slowly put one hoof in front of the other, moving towards the shady apple tree.

Meanwhile, seeing that her mane was back to normal, Ms. Harshwhinney had a good look around. There were more mares in this group than she had initially thought. There was the young Presteza, one who could easily turn the head of the orange pelted mare's affection: Big McIntosh! Then she saw Ingrid Marie, who she knew even before the Apple Falmiy unicorn mare announced herself. Harshwhinney saw Ingrid as even more of a threat to her 'plans' than Presteza. After all, Professor Marie was brilliant and could dazzle the big red country stallion with her wit and wisdom. The inner paranoia of the blonde older mare was pressing her hard, she had to make up an excuse to get closer to Big Mac before the other mares horned in on her 'action.' Quickly she galloped up to him, smiling as she spoke.

"Oh Big Mac, I seem to have forgotten the mission of our little group, would you kindly explain it to me one more time, in detail?"

Ms. Harshwhinney smiled as hard as she could (it was a struggle for her, she wasn't used to smiling at all) and flapped her eyelashes, hoping to make a lasting impression on the tall, buff Apple stallion.

[Twitter]

"You betcha you kin help paint in here, youngin! Haywire, set up Apple Susie with a brush an' some paint! Join right in, watch AppleBloom's motions and paint the way she does an' ya can't go wrong!"

"Yes ma'am!" Haywire neighed, standing at attention and saluting the elderly mare. However, the rust colored filly forgot she was holding a paintbrush in her saluting hoof, and accidentally sent a stream of pink paint upward, a stream that landed on some of her co-workers. "Uh oh, surry bout that, it was an accident, honest!"

Apple Susie jumped slightly in surprise since the last time she saw Granny Smith was outside, but smiled happily at Granny Smith's abrupt way of joining her into painting. Her smile grew even wider as the now named Haywire had splattered the rest of the group including herself with pink paint for the polka-dots. She giggled for a bit before picking up the brush with her mouth and stepped forward not remembering the big bucket in front of her, she yelped in shock and slowly stepped out of the bucket so as not to get it on the walls. But as she glanced down she noticed that her hoof prints made a nicely shaped circle on the ground, she glanced up at her cousins with a devious/goofy grin and thought of an idea, "hey cousins guess wha I found out?" She didn't wait for one of them to answer before placing one hoof print on each of their hind quarters and smiling, " our hooves form almost perfect circles so why don't we use em' ?".

[AlisonRose]

-Apple Pie-

It wasn't abnormal for her cousins to ask her how the homestead was doing or how life was treating her. But what was strange was Apple Bloom talking about other branches of the CMC. Granted Apple Pie wasn't allowed to be a member since she already had her cutie mark but she had donated some of her time to a CMC Brunch once where she made apple pies for them all.

"Ah yes, life is going pretty good, nothing to complain about at the moment at least." Apple Pie painted a few dots and made sure that they were perfectly round before moving on to the next ones. "The Buffalo are really nice and actually pretty fun to be around once you get past the fact that they fought us in an all out Pie war. But its easy to put that aside now that we co-exist out there." She nodded her head slowly as she spoke as if looking down at note-cards trying to remember everything she had written down. In fact what it was was a single lock of her mane had fallen out of her bonnet and it was in just the right place to obstruct her vision when she looked at things straight on. She couldn't take the time to fix it yet, the polka-dots were way more important then a bad mane day.

They were now joined by two other fillies Haywire and Apple Susie, this would make for a very interesting but then came the remark about using their hooves instead of the paintbrushes.

"Well, you could try if you wanted, but I have to try and make them perfect circles without a single drop of paint out of place. I am sure that your hooves would make a good starting point though. That is if you wanted to." Apple Pie wasn't trying to sound mean or be mean for that fact, but there was this nagging voice in her head that made her HAVE to make perfect circles.

-Apple Bumpkin-

Apple Bumpkin walked and stood next to Cheerilee.

"That is actually a good question Ah' don't recall what we're supposed ta be doin' either." She let out a small giggle as she looked around at their group that seemed to be a well formed group for doing...something? Surely with Ingrid, Cheerilee, Harshwhinny, Big Mac, and herself they could get anything done no matter how big or small the task. Actually now it started to remind her of the book she had read once, The Lord of the Apples, it was a very interesting book to say the least, but she was only able to finish the first of the four books. One of the most memorable parts is when all of the main characters got together and proclaimed the type of Apple they brought to the group. A sudden urge to scream "AND MY FUJI!" but instead she put her hoof to her muzzle and chuckled a bit before flipping her mane out of her face.

"I will admit though that this is by far the best Zap Apple harvest ever in the history of Zap Apple Harvests!" And she wasn't kidding either, not only was it an extended time to be with her special somepony she also got to watch as Miss Harshwhinny tried her best to woo Big Mac, that was very entertaining to watch since it seemed that Big Mac either didn't notice her attempts or was ignoring them. Either way it was going to make this day and the rest of the Zap Apple Harvest /very/ fun.

[Twitter]

"Well, you could try if you wanted, but I have to try and make them perfect circles without a single drop of paint out of place. I am sure that your hooves would make a good starting point though. That is if you wanted to." Apple Pie wasn't trying to sound mean or be mean for that fact, but there was this nagging voice in her head that made her HAVE to make perfect .

Apple Susie smiled and shrugged her shoulders before nudging her bucket closer towards the wall and dumping her front hooves into the bucket filled with pink paint. She stepped out and rose on her hind legs and stamped her two front hooves onto the wall to leave an imprint. She slowly pressed down a bit more before rising off of the wall and glancing at her masterpiece that were her first two polka-dots. She tilted her head to the side to see if they were as perfectly rounded as Apple Bloom's,Apple Pie's, or Bab's. she smirked at her cousins to find out their opinions to see if they approved of her work before going to make copies or even seeing if they may want to join her.

[Bramble Rose]

Bramble Rose gathered his senses together. Sneezes, readings, strange manes, cute fillies, annoying cowpokes... but all in all, he could handle it. And they kept asking after his work!

"Well," he said crisply, assuming his best student-teacher tone as he had at the university. "What you see is a Aethometer. Each tracer is connected to a different crystal. This primary arm here is the neutral tracer, and recording the building magic in the area. It's been steadily increasing its sway over the last few days. You can see where the readings got clipped at Miss Presteza's sneeze. The second arm is currently hooked up to a geologically attuned crystal sensor, which, I believe, actually comes from a local rock farm, making it particularly attuned to the local nuances. And in turn, these other tracers are hooked up to meteorologically, hydrologically, and astronomically attuned crystals - as each tracer gets progressively shorter, the sensativity to which they can record the local aetheric flucuations decreases, so after the longest arm - which by standard is always the crystal with a neutral attunement - you have to put the arms you are most interested in measuring in turn. In this case, I chose geological as the primary and meteorological as the secondary. While most of the devices in the area are set up in a similar manner, I do have a few with variant layouts just to make sure to indicate any readings contrary to bias with greater detail."

He smiled up. "Just looking at a snapshot such as this rarely shows any significant results - the spike from external influence notwithstanding - but remembering the readings from yesterday, we are able to observe a statistically significant increase in overall intensity, particularly in the readings taken from the primary attuned arm. There are smaller aethometers scattered about which are filled with particularly carefully attuned crystals, all in the geological range... including flora, fauna, pure geological, and several subtler variations, inasmuch as how geological magics relate to their relation with bordering magic of hydrological and meteorological energies. Each of those devices needs to have only a single sway arm, because their delicate attunement in a similar range can influence each other until they lose their particular attunement and become more generically attuned. I'll have to check their readings this morning, but as of last night, they were showing... well... FASCINATING floral-geological readings, but also quite a few other readings! I have to admit, i never expected to get the astronomical readings that I did! Subtle, of course, but still statistically undeniable! It's going to take quite a bit of time going over the data to determine exactly what the results are, but it's very energetic and very exciting! I've never SEEN such a reaction in an agronomic floral specimen across such a wide range of aetheric attunements!"

He takes another deep breath, and chirps merrily, "Any questions?" He felt like he was teaching a class in the field, and not just expounding on his work to ponies he'd just met. It was a very familiar feeling, but as he finished with his simplified 'laypony' explanation, he remembered they were there for a different reason ... "Or should we get on with watering the trees? I would really like to see how that would affect some of the readings, and I'm sure the trees themselves would appreciate it greatly!"

​

[brianblackberry]

Cheerilee

Cheerilee smiled at Presteza when the latter offered to carry the tired beige unicorn, Ingrid Marie, "oh it's quite alright, it is no trouble for me to carry her along, even for the long haul. Besides, it was just an accident Miss Presteza, could happen to anypony, trust me, I know." She wasn't exaggerating. As an earth pony, even one who doesn't work the land, carrying another pony was an easy affair, certainly more so than for a unicorn or a pegasus, and as a teacher, Cheerilee has seen every manner of unicorn magical accident, a few that even required calling in an adult unicorn to fix.

She didn't have to carry Ingrid for long though, the beige unicorn appeared to recover very quickly. It made sense though, Ingrid was a teacher at the School for Gifted Unicorns, she must be powerful at magic. Cherrilee sat down for a moment to allow Ingrid to slide off, "that is the quickest I have seen a unicorn recover; I don't think even Twilight would rebound so fast from a major spell! Is that something you train for or just natural ability?"

Speaking of magic, Bramble Rose, who up to this point was entirely focused on his aethometer, finally became aware of all the questions coming his way. Cheerilee was starting to worry she wouldn't learn much about the magic behind what made the harvest happen and was only distracting him, but when Bramble finally explained, she almost became glassy eyed at the sudden amount of intricate, detailed data the professor threw her way. She was able to follow the basic gist of what the silver maned unicorn was saying- That the aethometer measured magic, and each arm read from magically attuned crystals that sensed magic in the land, the flora, the fauna, the water, the weather, and even the sky itself. What put the mauve schoolmare out of her element was how it all came together, or what it all meant.

At first she just gave an increasingly awkward smile as Bramble droned on, not wanting to give the impression she didn't entirely understand, even though she had to fight to not allow the words to simply pass in one ear and out the other. Still, she needed to show her appreciation for him taking his time out to explain, "Wow, that's amazing! But I shouldn't expect any less from a professor of magic such as yourself. Soooo… What did you discover so far, and what do you hope to learn? If you don't mind sharing your insights while we water, Mr. Rose. I'd love to share any tidbits of your knowledge with my students."

Things were certainly starting to look up, even with the small spell accident. Cheerilee figured the watering itself shouldn't take long at all with all the ponies volunteering, which meant free time for the entire evening. She cheerfully wrapped her hooves around Ingrid and Bumpkin, "say once we are done for the day, why don't we all go down to Berry Punch's little shop and get some cider and fruit drinks? Everypony is invited of course!"

[SunsetSombra]

Mac was rin the zone - his mind set on the rather relaxing task, watering the trees...each and every one that made up the Zap apple harvest!

Sure, the stallion wasn't really one to take on the tedious tasks, but when it was all hooves on deck and the options weren't exactly particularly super complicated for a pony to do, Mac had no problems slowing things down and stepping down a scale in order to do whatever it was that was needed of him, regardless of how mind numbingly tedious it might be...besides, even the Stallion of the Apple family in Ponyville appreciated taking it a little easy now and then - it was very much like his calm, mild mannered nature, afterall.

"Oh Big Mac, I seem to have forgotten the mission of our little group, would you kindly explain it to me one more time, in detail?"

Mac almost dropped the watering can in surprise - he hadn't really expected to have been interrupted NOW of all times, but then again it really wasn't like he was alone out here...the entire armada of ponies working right now was an impressive sight, and one that demonstrated the true power of teamwork.

That, of course, didn't mean Mac was particularly keen on dealing with all of the ponies in the area - it seemed this Harshwhinney mare had let herself get a little too attached, and that wasn't necessarily going to result in a quiet day. Still, he maintains a quiet zen like expression as he points at the orchard, knowing that the task itself was relatively simple in design - how would a pony really be able to describe it in any real detail that didn't sound like they were poking fun a the listener?

" Take a waterin' can, fill it up with the water ya'all see over in the tap nearby, and then go Water some of 'em trees over yonder, s'just about all ya need to worry about! "

It wasn't that he disliked her or anything, it was just that they WERE kind of on some vague and paranormally set time limit here, and he didn't really want to simply stop and explain the principles of how to water an entire orchard of magical appletrees. " Jus' try not t'disturb 'em - they bloom in their own time an' not ours! "

Hopefully, that would make sense to the mare - although he had an inkling that this wasn't likely to be the last thing she'd ask him today!

[Pretzelparty]

“Ingrid Marie; Magic Counselor at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It’s probably just me… but I think I’ve heard your name before somewhere.”

"oh it's quite alright, it is no trouble for me to carry her along, even for the long haul. Besides, it was just an accident Miss Presteza, could happen to anypony, trust me, I know."

"Oh! Ya work at the princess' school? That's awesome! My mum goes there as a guest professor sometimes, Maybe ya met 'er and she said somethin' about me?" Presteza's mother had a bit of a reputation talking about her foals with a great deal of pride and her daughter knew that. Presteza knew she meant well but it didn't make bragging about her children any less embarrassing but at least she managed to keep that topic out of her lectures when she was called in to Canterlot. Before Presteza began her journeys Belle had a been telling other member of the school's faculty that her daughter initially showed more promise with magic than herself when she was a foal but when she entered fillyhood she just never seemed to be able to get a spell right. At this point in Presteza's life she was okay with her own physical aptitude, but not being able to properly use magic was still a bit embarrassing.

Cheerilee seemed to be rather understanding of the painter's problems too even if she was a bit insistent to continue carrying miss Marie,"Thanks, Miss Cheerilee. I really don' know what caused it... I guess the wind jus' blew somethin' my way that didn't agree with me." she admitted with an awkward laugh.

"Well, What you see is a Aethometer. Each tracer is connected to a different crystal. This primary arm here is the neutral tracer, and recording the building magic in the area. It's been steadily increasing its sway over the last few days. You can see where the readings got clipped at Miss Presteza's sneeze blah blah blah"

"Any questions? Or should we get on with watering the trees? I would really like to see how that would affect some of the readings, and I'm sure the trees themselves would appreciate it greatly!"

In the meantime Bramble Rose seemed pretty happy going in depth about his readings and such. With the mention of how her magical mishap messed with his readings, Presteza couldn't help but feel responsible... since she was. Once she heard him ask if there were any questions the mare's hoof shot up in the air like student who was positive she knew an answer to a question a teacher had just posed,"Um, Mister Rose would ya mind if I took on some o' yer workload ta make up fer... y'know messin' up yer readings n' all that?" Most of Bramble's lecture flew over her head but since he showed such passion for it she figured he might welcome the chance to focus more on the readings. While she waited for the stallion to answer he question she made sure to take a watering can, holding it in her teeth before returning to Ingrid Marie and Cheerilee before setting it down again,"Would ya two mind if I stayed close to ya?"

"say once we are done for the day, why don't we all go down to Berry Punch's little shop and get some cider and fruit drinks? Everypony is invited of course!"

After all this work was done with that sounded like a pretty good idea actually... the only problem being that Presteza didn't know who berry punch was or where her shop is. Chances are though that she could follow the party to wherever it was, "That sounds great! How about I buy ya a mug o' cider when we get there Miss Marie?"

[Mojo]

As Granny Smith continued to supervise the 'kitchen painting crew', Uncle Apple Strudel left Flam under an apple tree to rest as the bearded stallion returned to the side barn to 'lecture' more jam jars.

Soon, Flam became bored. Spotting other ponies busy doing chores and tasks, the lanky unicorn stallion sighed.

"There has to be SOMETHING an enterprising young unicorn like me can do. Though my body is aching with bee stings, there has to be some way I can contribute to this grand Zap Apple effort, but how?"

It seems that the 'plan' Ms. Harshwhinney had to keep the other mares away from Big Mac was working perfectly! She was now alone with the handsome stallion, pretending she needed to be re-educated about this group's task. The orange Earth mare smiled, having a lovestruck look on her face as she listened to Big Mac's explanation.

"Oh my, that is SO fascinating, Big Mac," Ms. Harshwhinney said with a wide grin. "I can certainly handle that job. All I needed was a big, strong, handsome stallion to show me the way!"

Quickly, the blonde Earth mare grabbed a watering can and began to water a tree. She turned to stare at Big Mac, not paying attention to where her watering spout was. Unknown to her, she was now 'watering' a skunk who had happened to enter the area. This made the skunk very angry as it turned and raised it's striped tail high in the air, ready to unleash righteous fury on the unsuspecting Ms. Harshwhinney.

Will anypony come to her rescue, or will we all be content to watch her get sprayed?

[Twitter]

Apple Susie stopped her tiny masterpieces and slightly walking over towards Granny Smith who was supervising the fillies as they painted the kitchen walls, but making sure she only stepped on the parts of the floor covered in tarp, "uhh Granny Smith I was wonderin' if we could a- well more I could and if any otha fillies wanted to join me they could, but I was wonderin'........" She looked down at her pink covered hooves and started shuffling her hooves in embarrassment at being embarrassed for asking such a silly question but she breathed out to relax and looked back up at Granny Smith , "I was wonderin' if It doesnt upset the honey an all..could I paint with my hooves instead of tha brush?, I mean I was just wonderin'.....", she shrugged an looked back at her cousins making polka dots while she was asking this rediculous question to Granny Smith.

[Bellosh]

"That is the quickest I have seen a unicorn recover; I don't think even Twilight would rebound so fast from a major spell! Is that something you train for or just natural ability?"

Ingrid Marie didn’t think anything particularly special of her ability to quickly rebound from her fail-safe spell. “Well, I do find myself using that spell often,” she explained to Cheerilee; “So I’ve gotten better used to the after-effects.” That comment about Twilight Sparkle didn’t surprise Ingrid one bit; Twilight was known for pushing herself harder than any other unicorn, and that usually meant reaching the extent of her limits. Being a magic counselor on the other hoof didn’t require such strenuous magical effort… for the most part.

"Oh! Ya work at the princess' school? That's awesome! My mum goes there as a guest professor sometimes, Maybe ya met 'er and she said somethin' about me?"

Not thinking it proper to repeat Duchess Belle’s concerns about her daughter’s magic issues, Ingrid Marie instead smiled politely and focused on a different fact; “Every time she drops by the school, your mother never stops talking about how amazing you and your brother are. Sometimes, it comes off rather like bragging… but I have to deal with those sorts of parents all the time, you know.” For obvious reasons, having their kids admitted into an royally-administered school had that sort of effect on parents.

"Say once we are done for the day, why don't we all go down to Berry Punch's little shop and get some cider and fruit drinks? Everypony is invited of course!"

"That sounds great! How about I buy ya a mug o' cider when we get there Miss Marie?"

Ensnared in a joyous group hug by Cheerilee, Ingrid found both statements to be agreeable. “Oh, how can an educator ever turn down a free drink from another pony?” she giggled, now very eager to start watering those zap apple trees.

"And how's tha family in Manehattan, Babs? The CMC up there livin' up ta our reputation? Ah wouldn't have to strike ya from tha rolls down here, hehehe..."

Well-experienced in the art of using a muzzle for holding paint brushes, Babs Seed had no trouble talking to her cousin while in the middle of painting. "What sort of reputation do ya' mean cuz?" the cocky filly smirked; "'You mean 'da one 'dat we rule and everyone else drools, right?" Expecting an enthusiastic response, Babs extended a hoof to Apple Bloom in anticipation of a hoofbump in response. The filly was already forgetting about her bad day yesterday, thankfully.....

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom was pretty focused on her painting mission. It was pretty dang important to get right, for both farm and family relied on the bank of bots that the zap apple harvest brought in. Every part was as important as the rest and, more importantly, this was Apple Bloom's role and she was gonna see it through to the very end. Good thing for her she was so focused that she didn't feel Haywire's paint mishap slap against her flank. When she did, it was with a stray glance at the paint which had taken on the form of a shooting star by some odd chance of luck of fate. For a brief moment Apple Bloom lit up like the sun and dropped her brush with a splat on the ground as she twirled in place, looking at her flank- and her new cutie mark!

"Sweet Celestia Ah got mah...aww, its just paint," She finished twirling and laughed, putting her brush back in the paint, "ya got a talent for luck thar, Haywire!" she laughed, hoof pulling over her mane despite the bow as she listened to Apple Pie. She could afford a few seconds of peace- she was ahead of everypony else, it seemed.

It was good to hear that eveything was going well out west. Apple Bloom always worried about them out there so close to the end of infinity, and with all the help they needed from others she had reason to worry. They had to deal with all sorts of weather and transportation and animal problems that Apple Bloom was surprised that they didn't hightail it outta there, especially since they didn't have Applejack or Big Mac there and if you didn't have one of those two then you were working with a bad hoof in a game of poker anyway. But everything was working out and they wouldn't need Apple Bloom out west to put everything right, which squashed one of her many ideas for trying to get out west to visit family. Drat, she'd just have to be sappy.

"That's good ta hear, Apple Pie. Ah'm always worried 'bout mah favorite cousins out west, 'specially when they don't write back ta me," she ended with a bit of an accusatory tone, not really needling her but heck, she always wondered what happened to those letters. Speaking of wondering what happened, Susie came back to the present with them and started helping out. After a while- her painting skills were fine enough, no real complaints- she asked Granny Smith if she could hoof paint. Well, this was partially Apple Bloom's mission too, so she let her opinion be heard.

"Well, if ya can keep it real nice 'an tidy and do like tha rest of us, Ah'm sure Granny Smith'd be dandy with it. Aint' that right, Granny?" Apple Bloom tossed the question over to Granny Smith, sure of her answer just as she was sure that Babs Seed had upheld the honor of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Manehattan.

"That's right! Gotta let everypony know that. Ah know Valen and ya, but what 'bout that third member? Remmyton? The pegasus? He's not as good as Scootaloo, right?"

[SunsetSombra]

Big Mac was a little concerned that the mare was getting a little too comfortable to hanging around him - she was a pleasant enough mare, but too much of this unbridled, unchecked attention was going to keep her rather odd idea of love going, and if there was one thing Mac wasn't likely to want happening, it was a mare such as harshwhinney continuing to make a silly pony of herself whilst he was trying to get things done - well, at least if he could actually help it, that is.

Of course, the silly grin plastered on her face as she eagerly reached for and armed herself with a nearby watering can for the task at hoof meant that he was probably just plumb outta luck as far as making any subtle attempts to get her clear on the matter...it was no good, he needed to be clear on this whole thing!

He takes a deep breath, and opens his mouth to speak just as the mare starts to pour. " Now miss Harshwhinney, ah gotta tell ya-... "

Any words he might have said after that were immediately wiped away when he realised he was seeing her just about to sprinkle some of the watery content onto a rather irritable-looking skunk, at which point Mac raises a hoof. " Uh, Ya'all might wanna...pay more attention to where you aim that! "

He hoped that would at the very least prevent something of a disaster, but was he already too late?

Anyhoof, The truth could wait until later at any rate!