[Ponyville] Foalish Introduction [Closed for now]

[SteelEagle]

OOC- -Valen Orange- http://www.canterlot...n-orange-final/

"It is just for a month, son. It will be fun."

What was fun about being sent from your home?

"The Apples are a fine family, very...err, strong morals. I am absolutely sure you will find it a pleasant experience."

Nuh-uh, this is just wrong!

"Besides, one of them is an Element. She is a hero, and how can you say no to that?"

Quite easily, as it were.

"The decision has been made, son."

And Valen had known that since the very start of the conversation. Oh, he knew his parents loved him and he loved them with equal fervor. But he often questioned their mindset, wondered if their lifestyles amongst the cream of the Manehattian crop had made them sickly, deluded and insane. Under what mind was sending a foal away from home to some distant, remote farm, away from friends and a comfortable environment, the proper course of action? A sick one.

He sighed. He knew what they had said made some sense. He hadn't really ever thought about it, but he hadn't exactly prospered in that megatropolis. The family business had little to no grasp on him. He didn't want to be some bean counter and holding large formal parties so he could pry into somepony's pocket, socialization in the name of business. He also had no desire to be sent to some farm somewhere to oversee the day to day business of orange production.

That would have been dull, and since he was never a pony to hide his thoughts, they had manifested themselves quite clearly. Naps when his father tried to teach him about corporate accounting. Daydreaming when his mother tried to teach him about the finer points of oranges. He was focused more on the nice dresses worn by those elegant mares during those large formal sessions that he was in attempting to hawk his family's wares. Never a liability but never an advantage, his lack of interest was one thing that was more apparent than any other facet that his parents could see. They weren't blind to his nature, but rather acutely biased in their perceptions, business and history playing illuminating factors in their every judgement.

But in spite of their bias, they did know some things. They knew he was what the Pegasi of old might call a 'weak foal', though they knew his strength of character was not questioned. He disdained physical labor, though he often kept those thoughts to himself and did what he was told. His appearance was kept impeccably maintained and manicured femininely, and his circle of friends(the few he had) were universally similar. He was smart but never focused on his studies, his eyes moving at the speed of his mouth as he gabbed and gabbed and gabbed and- his parents got the picture. They had their opinions on him, their worries about their unusual colt foal.

These worries manifested themselves uniquely in different types of ponies. Some would sit there and allow their worries to consume them. Others would attempt to hammer the foal into a certain mold. Valen's parents hadn't done either thing, deciding that the proper, responsible thing was to send their little foal on a little trip to their cousins.

Why not the Oranges? Even to Valen, the reasoning seemed weak.There had always been a disconnect between those who lived in the big cities and ran the family business in a corporate sense and the majority who toiled to fulfill the promises of the big wigs. It hadn't created a sense of hate or loathing, but relations could be cold at time. His parents had been worried that the Oranges wouldn't...well, the worry wasn't that he would be mistreated, but that they would use him for some sort of family politicking. It didn't make any sense to Valen that families would fight amongst each other, but such was the case it seemed.

Even then, why the Apples? The Oranges didn't necessarily look down at them, but well, their business was ran from a farm by a bunch of farm ponies while the Oranges lived in the lofty heights of Upper Crust. Plus, from everything Valen had been told, oranges were patently superior to apples. But they respected the fact that the Apples were universally hardworking, loyal to the family, helpful, and kind. Plus, one of them was an Element and after the ceremony in Canterlot after their defeat of Discord, they all had a measure of fame that, perhaps, they knew not of. They never played games and at Sweet Apple Acres, they did both the business of business and the work that went into it. Perhaps he would find himself there- and at the very least, it would probably toughen him up and get him more organized.

It was-

-Valen's head smacked into the front of the seat in front of him, sharply waking him from his sleep as his head staggered back. The train had come to a stop and for reasons explainable only to Celestia, he had been launched forward. Quite rude and little more than annoying, he stood up in the soon-to-be crowded aisle in the train. He sighed. He wished he had been given a room of his own, but the only ticket available had been in...uggh...coach. It wasn't that he was rude, but the other ponies sure did smell. Did all train ponies smell like this? Valen sure hoped not. He had been forced to endure a crazy stallion that had sat next to him when they left Manehattan. He had never once stopped jabbering about cockatrices and some other completely mythical beasts. He had gotten off at a stop not far from the city and Valen had been saved from the encroaching insanity by the swiftness of Equestria's chosen mode of transportation. Still, that had done little to comfort him at night as the train roared across the landscape towards Ponyville. It was cold, too cold for his taste, and the wafer-thin blankets provided by the attendants did little to help him. He had eventually adapted to the cold, but the noise had never quite been settled in his head. Newborn foals crying, the rude unicorns behind him yammering on and on about magic, snoring and generally a lot of unpleasantness abound in coach, and it had taken him nearly all night to fall asleep.

And it figured that it seemed like he had slept for but a second when the train came to a screeching halt and sent him flying into the back of the seat up front. As he recovered, he moved into the aisle beside himself and took a step forward just as everyone else seemed to gather themselves and do the same. In this pony wave, he was nothing more than a drop and he found the pace to be slow as Ponies gathered their carry-ons. He had no carry-ons, just a single suitcase in luggage, and was more than a little annoyed when multiple ponies in front of him found within them the contempt for others to fully open up their carry ons and count their belongings.

Still, progress was made and even though it took several minutes, he was able to squeeze his way out of the exit and nearly trip onto the train station's cement floor.

[Mojo]

Waiting nervously at the train station was a lime green elderly mare with a apple pie cutie mark.

"Where in tarnation is that thar train?" she asked as the gray maned mare began to slowly pace back and forth. "Durn train's late! Back in MY day, trains were pulled by big, strong stallions! Didn't have all these new fangled train injins of today. Now, where's Applejack at? She was supposed to be here with me to greet .... er... somepony.... what .... oh YEAH! That Orange foal! Like that thar telegram said. It's odd, the last telegram pony that delivered over at Sweet Apple Acres was kinda short, had wings too, put me in the mind of one of Apple Bloom's friends... THIS pony was a lot bigger that brung this'n.."

As Granny Smith stood and pondered, the train arrived at the station. Spotting Valen immediately, she started waving a front hoof in the air to get his attention.

"OVER HERE, VALEN!" she shouted.

[SteelEagle]

Valen had never heard an accent as harsh and crumpled up like a piece of paper like the accent that Granny Smith spoke with, her shrill and cutting voice lending her a unique glance from Valen. Still, she was smiling and it was always better to see a smiling pony than one frowning or, worse, so angry she was on fire. Valen had seen a unicorn do that once and it was quite a horrifying sight, one he would be quite pleased if he never saw again. Did all unicorns get so angry at some point that their magic manifested physically as fire around them? He hoped not.

"Hello there, Granny Smith. It is a pleasure to meet you here!" Valen said with all the confidence he could muster from his Manehattan Upper Crust upbringing, trotting towards the elderly mare with a hoof outstretched for a shake. His eyes met hers and immediately was put to rest any concerns he had about his well-being.

Behind him, the workers started to quite literally hurl the luggage from their secure storage, their pace fast and work reckless as they were already late for Trottingham, which was about to get busy with the changing of the season. And with every crash of a suitcase behind him, Valen winced, only the purest horror show of what had happened to his belongings playing as a track in his mind.

[Mojo]

(ooc): Waiting for others to enter the RP

[Hippo]

Applejack hurried herself to the train station. She tried slipping a farm chore in before picking up her cousin Valen with Granny Smith. She knew very well that Valen was arriving today, having read the letter from her folks in the big city. But she got too far into her work. If only peeling apple skins off pink lady apples wasn't so mesmerizing, maybe she would have been able to pay more attention to the angle of the sun.

She ran through the train depot and onto the railway platform. "I'm here! I'm gasping for some of that sweet Ponyville air, but I'm here!" Applejack slowed down to a trot as she approached her Granny Smith and Valen, the adolescent colt that she had read so much about. This wasn't the first time she had ever seen him though. The last time she had seen him, he was taking a nap in a crib at her Aunt and Uncle Orange's place in Manehatten. Applejack had grown up a lot since then including receiving her cutie mark, and really didn't recognize the pony who had once been a baby squeaking unintelligibly just a few prances from the bedroom her folks in the city had allowed her to stay in. Instead, she greeted him just like another pony coming to visit the farm.

Applejack ran up to Valen, grabbed his right hoof, and shook it vigorously. "Howdy-do, orange youngin'. I'm Applejack. We're so glad you've came to visit us on the farm. We're gonna have so much fun. We're gonna teach you everything a pony should know about runnin' a successful farm. From pig-wrangling, to apple bucking, and everything in between. It's gonna be more fun than spittin's at flies on a summer's day!" Applejack gave a huge cheesy smile and revealed her pearly white teeth. At that moment she had realized that she might have gotten too excited about it, and gaged the little one's reaction to her extroverted personality.

[Mojo]

"Settle down, AppleJack," Granny Smith said in a mild tone, "we don't wanna scare the poor kid. Welcome to Ponyville, Valen! I'm Granny Smith, but I reckon you know that already. I can remember see'n you when you was knee high to a grasshopper! AppleJack, be a dear and help your cousin with his luggage, please?"

The elderly mare smiled as she watched the train depart.

"Yessiree, they sure don't make trains like they used ta. I hope ya had a nice trip from Manehattan, Valen. No trouble along the way, was thar?"

[SteelEagle]

Valen hardly had time to say hello before Applejack started shaking his hoof with such intensity that it sent the foal up and down like he was being shaken by some giant. This farm gal sure was strong! He could swear that the last time he had been shaken this hard was...well, okay, never. She was just really strong! He would hate to give thought to how strong her hind-legs were. They were almost universally stronger than front hooves and the terror he felt grow at the thought of her bucking his face clean off. Not a nice thought.

She eventually stopped, letting him down. His brain rattled around for a few moments and his eyes swam in circles. He managed to stand up, his legs shaking and wobbly as his balance had thoroughly been thrown off and he could swear a small flock of birds flew around his head. He struggled to factor in what the bigger pony had said in an intelligible fashion, trying to piece together what the country mare had said.

""Howdy-do, orange youngin'. I'm Applejack. We're so glad you've came to visit-so much fun- runnin' a successful farm- pig-wrangling, to apple bucking- spittin's at flies on a-day!"

As he tried to piece that-

"Settle down, AppleJack, we- scare the poor kid. Welcome- Pony- Valen! I'm Granny- you know that already. I-remember see'n you- a grasshopper! AppleJack, be- luggage, please?"

He finally had time to process what had been said and regain a sense of composure as his mind stopped bouncing off of his skull finally. He hadn't quite caught all of what she had said, but he couldn't say he generally liked anything that involved the wrangling of pigs or spitting at flies, time of day notwithstanding. Still, he wasn't one to try and bring others down or protest harshly when ignorant, and he was very ignorant when it came to this. He just hoped his mane would stay as stunning as it was. And he was slightly less concerned about the prospect of Granny ordering Applejack to scare him as he thought it unlikely, nor did he find her order for Applejack to be luggage as likely a story as him simply missing out on some words. Not that it mattered, because if they DID have ill intent, there was very little he could do to stop it.

He gave a forced smile, trying hard to please his relatives as he trotted towards the pile of luggage. Luckily, his was rather easy to spot, a bunch of "Please don't break this, please?" notes tacked onto a light red- well, his parents called it light red, he just called it pink- suitcase of some weight.

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you as well, Applejack. Truly wonderful to meet such kind ponies with such big...plans. How do I address you? Ma'am? Madame? Miss? Missus?" He asked nervously of his cousin, trying to maintain good social grace while he attempted in vain to put the rather icky idea of pig wrangling to rest. His eyes scanned the luggage, discerning eyes searching for his pink suitcase.

"Yessiree, they sure don't make trains like they used ta. I hope ya had a nice trip from Manehattan, Valen. No trouble along the way, was thar?"

That Granny Smith's memory didn't fail, nor did her sense of polite conversation. He continued his smile.

"Oh, nothing to concern yourselves with. I've never been in coach before and found it a rather...well, I wouldn't say uncomfortable, but something similar. It is likely just a normal experience that I was just unprepared for. Oh, you know us Upper Crust ponies...and how did they make trains in your day, if I may ask?" He continued with a joke and a question, trying to put himself at ease with the two older ponies. Jokes did the job well, especially self-depreciating humor. At least, that's what Brown Noise said, though some called him a trickster. And questions- well, those just showed you listened! Always good, right?

His eyes ran over the suitcase, looking no worse for the wear. It was a large one, packed expertly and to the brim, crisp and clean aside from a few nicks from its pushy and less well-constructed neighbors.

"Aha! There she is!"

[PonyHooves]

((OOC: Gerty Greetings http://www.canterlot.com/topic/5941-gerty-greetings-final/ ))

Gerty Greetings watched her husband leave for work. 'Always in a rush... But, he's still the sweet pegasus I fell in love with all those years ago. He hasn't changed a bit.' She thought to her self. Gerty smiled as she started to fill her saddle bags with paper and pencils. As usual, the earth pony was preparing for her trip to Sweet Apple Acres. It was that time of the year when she needed to come up with new designs for cards. Her cards often needed scenery and apple trees just seemed to fit perfectly some how. From what Gerty had heard, this year's crop of apples were even more shiny than the last. The thought of drawing such beauty on a tree made her feel so joyful and free. Of course, she stopped for a moment to remember her husband's last words to her, before he left the house. 'Watch your step and try to avoid any accidents my dear.' She reminded her self through thought. Gerty Greeting's smiled a cheerful smile. She slipped her saddle bags on her back and left the house.

Gerty trotted towards Sweet Apple Acres. She constantly looked around her. The day felt young to her. It had innocence, beauty and a strange sense of a calming wonder. She inhaled large amount of fresh air and let it go with a deep sigh. Everything seemed perfect until she tripped over a tree trunk. Gerty was unharmed. It was mainly embarrassment that she felt. She was trying to avoid having one of her little accidents. Though the harder she tried, the harder it gotto try and avoid them happening. The mare stood up. She collected her papers that had spread across the ground and placed them back into her saddle bags. "I hope no pony saw that..." She mumbled to her self. After that little blunder, Gerty Greetings continued to trot towards Sweet Apple Acres. She wasn't going to let one little slip up ruin a perfect day. It took plenty more than that for her to have a bad day.

Up ahead, Gerty saw Sweet Apple Acres in all of its natural beauty. Her grin widened. He was even more beautiful than she could have imagined. The apples really did look shiny. Even from a distance, Gerty sould see them twinkling like stars. Gerty began to gallop as fast as she could. The mare just couldn't wait to get started on her sketches for the new card designs. Her heart was pounding and her head was filled with thoughts about the new cards. 'This year will be my best year for cards... They'll be as attractive as the apple trees. Oh I can't wait to sell my first batch. Oh, I bet my husband will love them. He always said get well soon cards with pictures of apples on them cheered up sick ponies. They've really out done themselves this time around.' But Gerty wasn't looking where she was going. She ran head first into a tree. Her saddle bags fell off her back. For a moment she just sat there rubbing her head. Then when she looked around, she noticed that she had collided with an apple tree. That meant only one thing. She had made it to Sweet Apple Acres.

[Hippo]

"Oh, you can just call me AJ." As soon as Valen had pointed out his pink suitcase, Applejack grabbed in by the handle with her teeth and threw it onto her back. "Alrighty then, if that's all you got with ya, then let's get back to the farm!" Applejack began leading the ponies out of the train station, and maintained a rare quite persona. She figured that Valen having asked Granny Smith a question about her pastime might kill the minutes it takes to travel to the southwest end of Ponyville onto the farm grounds. She would be listening to the conversation, regardless. Granny always tells the best stories.

After the three ponies had broken into the sea of apple trees and started making their way up the main farm path to the barn, Applejack noticed a red mare who had managed to run head-on to one of the apple trees that closely breaches the path's white fence. Applejack abandoned the pink suitcase she was carrying, dropping it to the ground. She hurried over to the mare to realize who she was. "Gerty!? Is that you!? Well, heh. What a surprise!" Applejack chuckled gleefully. There was only one thing she enjoyed more than having a visitor to the farm--two visitors. "You've made your annual trip to take some fancy drawings at our apples again, ain't ya?" Applejack helped Gerty up and used her mouth to pick up any surrounding pieces of paper that had escaped her saddlebag.

[Mojo]

As Granny Smith, Valen and AppleJack made the journey to Sweet Apple Acres, the elderly lime green mare shared all she knew about the trains 'of yesteryear' back when Ponyville was first getting settled. She explained how early train engines were very unreliable and how eventually, strong train pulling ponies were used instead.

"That's right, Valen," she continued as they neared the entrance to the farm, "thar's even a few trains that still use REAL horsepower today, like the Appleoosa Express! Course, now-a-days most trains have them thar modern do-hickey engines on'm, like the one that brung ua here.."

Granny stopped in midsentence when she heard AJ greet Gerty and then spotted her in the distance.

"Well bless my soul if it isn't Gerty Greetings!" the gray maned mare shouted as she 'ran' to meet her. "Ain't seen ya in a long spell! How are ya gittin' along? Gerty, you know Valen, right? He's traveled a fer piece to visit with us too!"

[SteelEagle]

Valen listened intently to the words of the elder Apple for many reasons. One, he had asked a question and it was impolite to not hear an answer to a question you had asked. Secondly, she was an elder and while he readily admitted to a great deal of personal faults, being disrespectful was not something he wanted to be known as. And third, her answer was very interesting- who would have guessed that not only was there a time when large, strong Earth ponies were the best option for train travel, but that there were still areas where it was used?! How silly, incredible, and quaint! He listened to her story as they made the short jaunt over to the farm.

Once there, he was struck mute by the sheer size of it for so long. How many ponies must work this orchard? Thirty? Forty? Easily at least twenty! The trees seemed to roll on in endless waves of red, green, and yellow apples. Farm equipment was strategically laid out, though to his naked eye it may as well have been controlled chaos. The more he looked, the larger it got. He felt a sense of awe that perhaps a farm pony felt when he or she visited Manehattan for the first time. Counting the trees was too difficult- he didn't know if he could even count that high, let alone try to formulate the will to do so. The barn and living quarters seemed like small, miniscule buildings in a sea of green.

The air was so different, too. It was clean, which he expected, but not clear like he had been told. It had a smell to it, and a mixture as well. Apples for sure, fresh pine and trees, and the unsettling but acknowledged odor of sweat. It mixed together and created an aroma that was sweet and subtle, tinged by a small sense of desperation. It was like one of the perfumes his mom sometimes wore, very subtle and slight yet all the more powerful for it. He wondered if the farm ponies knew the smell as unusual or if they had grown accustomed to it, and gave thought to the possibility that there were smells in his home that he was ignorant to as well.

What he wasn't ignorant on was how freakin' strong Applejack must be. That suitcase was no lightweight, yet she had tossed it on her back like it was nothing at all. It was almost disquieting in a sense: If a mare who looked no worse for the wear was this strong, that must have meant she did a lot of really hard physical labor on a consistent basis. He was pretty sure he was expected to do some heavy physical labor as well, which was bad enough, but when you added it to the fact that he thought that the suitcase was going to be a factor of some concern...well, he wasn't sure how he'd fare! But he consoled himself that it was better to labor in air tinted with sweetness than toiling away in some Manehattan office building.

He had been trying to distract himself from how intimidating the farm was. It looked like simply too much of...everything! Luckily, another pony caught the attention of the Apple family distracting them from Valen's nervous gaze. She looked a little dazed and a nearby apple tree's leaves shook slowly as if recovering from an impact. Did that silly mare collide with the tree?

Applejack- AJ- dropped his suitcase and cantered over to the mare in question. Valen reared up in shock, his face stretched out in a comically silent scream for a second. He galloped over to inspect it cautiously. He jostled it- okay, he hadn't heard any loose pieces of glass. He breathed a sigh of relief and fell on his rump, a pleasantly exhausted smile on his face.

""Gerty!? Is that you!? Well, heh. What a surprise! You've made your annual trip to take some fancy drawings at our apples again, ain't ya?"

AJ started to help pick up pieces of paper which were uncommonly pillowing out from the site of the impact. He spotted one trying to board the last gust out of the farm, and clamped down on it with his hoof as quickly as he could. Success was his; he stopped it from escaping! He grabbed it by the mouth and started trotting towards the mare.

"Well bless my soul if it isn't Gerty Greetings! Ain't seen ya in a long spell! How are ya gittin' along? Gerty, you know Valen, right? He's traveled a fer piece to visit with us too!"

Valen came up right behind Granny as she finished, his offering to this Greetings character being a single piece of now-dirty paper. But what had Granny Smith meant by Gerty knowing Valen? Was this a relative? Was he supposed to know her, or her him? It didn't exactly play heavily on his mind as he knew that the way these ponyfolk talked could sometimes provoke confusion in his head, and so he dutifully laid the paper on the ground and offered his hoof out for a shake.

"The name is Valen Orange, like Valencia Orange! Nice to meet, ma'am!" He said, eyes closed to accommodate his wide smile. Maybe if he kept his eyes closed, the farm would suddenly become smaller and look less intimidating. He opened them as his smile grew less foolish- nope, it was still intimidating.

[PonyHooves]

"The name's Gerty Greetings... But you can just call me Gerty. Everypony does." Gerty spoke kindly to Valen Orange. She kindly shook his hoof, before placing the piece of paper back in her saddle bag. Gerty then looked at Granny Smith. "I'm doing fine... I've only had thirty little accidents this month. I only needed to go to my husband's clinic for twelve of them. Maybe one day I'll stop having little accidents." After speaking to Granny Smith, Gerty turned her attention to Applejack. "Your quite right there Applejack... It looks like this year's crop is the best so far." She smiled at the three of them. Even though they had seen her little slip up nothing was going to ruin her day. She'd met a new pony who seemed to be quite friendly and both AJ and Granny Smith seemed to be in the best of moods. "As usual I really have to thank you for letting me draw your apple trees. My cards never seem to look right without them being there."

[Hippo]

Applejack smiled at her guests. "Alrighty then! You go ahead and make yourself at home, Gerty. If you need anything, just holler, I gotta bring Valen to the barn so I can show him a thing or two about the joys of apple farmin'! Come on, fella!" Applejack slowly walked towards the barn. When she got there, she swung open one of the double doors. A strong smell of earth radiated from the barn, and depending on a pony's lifestyle, the fragrance could make or break their daily sensitivities. "This here's our barn. We do just about everything you could imagine in here. Especially on days when it's really hot outside."

Applejack enthusiastically pushed Valen towards a large trough. She then grabbed a rotten apple from a barrel next to the trough. "See this? This is a red delicious apple." The apple had bruises and dis-figurations. "But, these aren't for us to eat or sell. So we feed these to the pigs, since they don't care what the apples looks like." Try dumping this barrel into the trough, and I'll bring the pigs.

[Mojo]

"That thar's a humdinger of an idea, AppleJack!" Granny Smith neighed, nodding her gray maned head in approval. "If Valen wants to see what we do on this here farm, start with the livestock! We got pigs, chickens, sheep and so forth. We even have a farm dog round here somewheres."

Granny Smith turned to talk to Gerty. "Hay Gerty, y'all seen our dog Wynonna? She should be here helpin' AppleJack with the chores. Maybe she's with Big MacIntosh er AppleBloom. Who knows?"

Suddenly, the lime green mare got a confused look on her face.

"Now what was I gonna do? What was it? Oh yeah! Betcha Gerty and Valen's hungry, do y'all want me to russle ya up a snack in the kitchen? Course, yur always welcome to have an apple or two. Goodness knows we sure got plenty of'm!"

[SteelEagle]

Valen trotted behind Applejack, her eagerness infectious even if he believed partially the reason he followed so swiftly was to try and get out from under the spell of seeing Sweet Apple Acres in her vastness. He would later wish he had been less excitable in following her.

The smell of the barn hit him like a bag of bricks directly into his face, leaving him bleary eyed and dazed as he tried his best to follow the farm pony further inside. It was the smell of earth, all right, but not the sort of earth that one would actively seek out unless one had a penchant for seeking out foul odors and what he assumed was the aura of sadness.

He heard Applejack speak, but could process no response to her words until he heard the barn door close. He turned around as quickly as his dazed head woozily turned around to mutter a complaint. However, the opening of his mouth allowed the foulness to have a taste, and he quickly shut it. He made the decision to hold his breath as he turned around to the barrel of bad apples as if he was facing his executioner.

He was barely tall enough to reach in and grab the apples, each one seemingly less digestible and agreeable than the last, their squishy exterior and odd smelling juice launching a one-two attack on his senses as he very slowly started to transfer the apples to the trough. It was evil, evil work- what animal could possibly eat these? He knew no reason why ponies even kept pigs, what good did they serve beyond being pets for some ponyfolk? He made a note to never let one touch him as the transfer continued slowly until he heard Granny Smith's kind, generous, life-saving offer.

he turned to the front of the barn to shout out his agreement with the whole, "Get food in the foal's belly" plan, but still had his mouth shut to prevent what he assumed were noxious gasses from entering. He settled on a few muffled affirmations to her offer and, in desperation, jumped up and down a few times and waved his hooves in the air like he really cared, nudging the barn door open- or trying to- with his non-icky front hoof.

[PonyHooves]

Gerty grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. The mare rested her rump in the shade of the apple tree which she had earlier ran into. She looked up to one of the apple trees that was standing tall in her sight. She mentally blocked out the other trees in sight so she could visualize only one. With the pencil in her mouth, the middle aged mare began to sketch a mighty apple tree on her paper. Gerty added as much detail as possible, including how light seemed to be dappled onto the leaves of that tree. She made each apple on that tree shine as much as it really could be. A look of concentration was set upon the land pony's face. Her work meant alot to her because it made other pony folk smile. The mare grapped a send piece of paper. This time she was just drawing an apple on it's own.

Suddenly, her stomach rumbled loudly. Gerty Greetings blushed slightly. She knew she shouldn't have had a light breakfast before she left her home. It wasn't enough to sustain a pony who happened to be hard at work. Her stomach rumbled once again. Gerty was really hungry. 'Shouldn't have left the house after eating a meal that small, especially since I'm going to be surrounded by apples for most of the day... It isn't wise to ignore my hunger, even if I want to get these little sketches finished so I can leave the apple family in peace. A pony can't work on an empty stomach... I just wish my husband would see it that way. The number of times he's forgot his lunch isn't worth the count.' The thoughts were swimming in her head. She couldn't help it though. Gerty always ended up thinking about so much when she was hungry.

[Hippo]

Applejack pulled on a rope that hung from the ceiling in the barn. As she pulled it, a large gate opened on one end of the barn that released all of the pigs, in all of their round and pink pudgy glory. They squealed and oinked as they ran and picked up dust towards the direction of Valen and the trough. "Here they come, Valen, git ready!" Applejack at one point knew exactly the kind of excitement Valen was in for. However, she hadn't had a chance to be sensitive about it yet. Just like everything else, Applejack liked to introduce herself, and everything about the apple family farm with a surge of excitement. The ability to think about the withdrawn attitude towards such things never really occurred to her, unfortunately for Valen.

As the pigs darted towards Valen, Applejack walked just outside the barn and had heard the ever so faint rumbling of Gerty's stomach from a far. "Granny! We got a hungry pony at 4 o'clock!" Applejack shouted towards Gerty. "Get your keister inside the kitchen right this instant! Why didn't you tell us you was hungreh!"

[Mojo]

"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!" Granny Smith neighed. "I kin tell a hungry pony when I sees her! C'mon up to the house with me, Gerty, and I'll git ya somethin' good to eat! Thar ain't no sense in runnin' around hungry when we got plenty of fine grub to munch on up at the house! Foller me!"

Granny Smith slowly started to make her way to the farm house. Her plan was simple: Prepare a substancial meal for Gerty while getting a snack ready for their newest arrival. The lime green mare realized how much little Apple Bloom appreciated a nice snack several times a day, so she would have one ready to bring him once he was done with AppleJack. When she reached the kitchen, the gray maned mare turned towards Gerty.

"What'll ya have, Gerty? Got plenty of apple pie, apple fries, apple fritters and apple cobbler. If'n ya wants somethin' other than apples, I can toss ya a classic Granny salad with lettuce, carrots, celery and diced apples in it! Say the word, tell ol' Granny whatcha hungry fer!"

[SteelEagle]

Stories of stampedes were one of many things even cityfoals like Valen had been read. There was something rustically heroic about a single pony stopping a stampede of buffalo or bulls or whatever else stampeded towards innocents. However, none of those stories included getting ran over by pigs, and was therefore not nearly as heroic a deed.

Not that he was heroic at all as he turned around and saw the incoming wave of pink, pudgy beasts as they rumbled towards the trough in all their energetic frenzy. He opened his mouth to finally let out a sound, but was ran over by the swarm of pigs, who seemed to carry him towards the trough with the sheer inertia of their charger. It smelled awful, and Valen was being dragged along in the dirt. Any concerns he had once had about his hoof touching those dastardly apples were dashed when he realized he looked like he had just crawled through mud. His mane felt sticky and rough, no longer pilfered and perfectly attuned. That matched rather effectively the rest of him being trampled over by pigs was a decidely unpleasant experience.

He tried to stand up, but found himself pinned against the trough facing the apples he had just placed inside. Behind him, the pigs were jostling for position, their snouts leading their impudent faces as they searched for a way in. One pig tried to leap over Valen, instead landing on him. This forced the poor pony's head into the trough.

There was more than just apples inside. Unsatisfactory crops, bad corn and carrots, old, rotten cider, the whole shebang of rotten farm produce. Valen's head was dunked for what seemed like hours, though he guessed no more than ten seconds, in this awful, pungent mixture. The taste, the smell- his senses overloaded and he almost felt a searing numbness about his head. The pig on his back fell off, and Valen pushed off and managed to climb atop the pig behind him.

Face drenched in the vile juices of the trough and body both battered from the stampede and dirty to the tenth degree, he stumbled over the backs of the pigs in a comical fashion until he was over them and fell to the earth. His eyes floated inside his skull for a few seconds.

"Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiid anybody get the name of that carriage driver...?" He asked in a woozy fashion, stretched out on the floor of the barn facing the front.

[PonyHooves]

Gerty had placed her sketches and her pencil back in her saddle bag. The mare calmly followed Granny Smith. The mentioning of all the foods that came out of the elderly mare's mouth made Gerty's stomach rumble louder than it ever had in a long time. But there was one problem. Gerty Greeting's didn't know which food item to pick. They all sounded so delicious. She red pony trailed off back into her own thoughts again. 'Ooh, apple pie sounds nice... But I haven't had apple cobbler in a long time. I've never tried apple fries before... I wonder if I should pick them. But I love apple fritters too! What about that salad? That sounds just as tasty as everything else. Why is everything always left down to choice? Well, I shouldn't just stand there looking like a statue... I'll have to say something and fast. My stomach is getting so loud that some of my thoughts are really being blocked out here.' After forcing her self out of her own thoughts, Gerty managed to say. "Ooh, err... I can't decide... Everything you've said sounds delicious! But still... I don't want to seem greedy or anything."

[Hippo]

Applejack grabbed Valen by the tail and lifted him off the ground so that he could stand. She then dropped him on his four hooves. "Quit foolin' around Valen, we got more stuff to do. You can play with the pigs later. Right now, we gotta move on to behind the barn for the next chore I wanna show you. You're going to love this one!"

Applejack walked out of the barn and led Valen behind the building to reveal a chicken coop. "Ok. This here is our chicken coop. We got a dozen hens that lay eggs for us everyday! We need these eggs for our meals and to bake Granny's great baking creations." Applejack finally looked back to see an ill-enthused Valen. "Oh, now come on, Valen, this one's gonna be fun, I promise! Just get inside and grab as many eggs underneath the chickens you can and put them in this here basket." Applejack tossed Valen a small basket big enough to hold about a dozen eggs. "Apple Bloom loves doing this chore." She chuckled. "I hope she doesn't get mad cuz I'm lettin' you do it."

[Mojo]

The rumbling of Gerty's stomach reached the elderly ears of Granny Smith, causing her to go into a panic.

"Lands sakes! I best getcha some hot grub lickety split!' the gray maned mare shouted as she rushed (well, as fast as Granny Smith can rush) to the pantry and grabbed a small jar with her mouth. Opening it quickly, she dumped the contents into a saucepan and began to heat it up, being careful to stir it every so often.

"Don't ya pass out er nuthin'! I'ma heatin' up this here soup as fast as I kin fer ya!" she said. In a manner of minutes, Granny Smith had a steaming hot bowl of soup on the table for Gerty. She then frantically rung a triangle that hung nearby repeatedly.

"SOUP'S ON!" she shouted as she rung it, perhaps forgetting for the moment that she was only serving soup for one.

[SilverSwirl]

Sunrise Wisp, a short, dark green pegasus mare with a dental mirror cutie mark, had just closed up her dental clinic in Ponyville for the afternoon and decided to visit the Sweet Apple Acres to pick up some apples for baking. Flying above the trees, she heard the sound of a bell and Granny Smitth yelling something about soup. Slowly down considerably as the entrance gate of the farm came into view, she extended her wings and glided gently to the entrance.

Opening the gate she yelled out, "Hello! I dropped by to pick up some apples!". Smiling, she began to walk towards the house and towards the smell of soup as her stomach rumbled in agreement. "I guess I am a little hungry.", she said to herself as she knocked on the front door.

[SteelEagle]

Valen gave a nearly voiceless eep as Applejack roughly pulled him by his tail and dropped him on his hooves. Never had he been so roughlt handled, as if he were an item rather than well-to-do foal. If it had been anypony else, and if he had been in a more solid mindset not rattled and shaken by the stampede of pigs, he would have fired a few verbal salvos of disgust and angst at her. But as he wobbled behind her, he found his toungue being bitten. Part of it was fear, since these country folk seemed like the type to react negatively to such comments. Another part of it was respect, as he was a guest and it would be rather unkind of him to say anything uncouth. Lastly, his face covered in the muck of the trough knocked him out mentally for more than a few seconds.

Applejack started her next round of chore-related fun time propaganda, Valen more than a little unnerved by her excitement. Were all the farmers in Equestria as excited by pigs and chickens as these folk were? Valen certainly hoped not, if not for the sake of the farmers, for the animals. His lack of enthusiasm showed.

"Oh, now come on, Valen, this one's gonna be fun, I promise! Just get inside and grab as many eggs underneath the chickens you can and put them in this here basket."

That didn't seem fun, but he didn't have time to protest as she tossed the basket at him, his reaction too slowed to catch it. It slammed against his face and temporarily disoriented him even more.

"Apple Bloom loves doing this chore. I hope she doesn't get mad cuz I'm lettin' you do it."

Apple Bloom was that...little filly, if the letters were true. And if she liked it, then it couldn't be that bad! Valen's smile grew.

"Okay, Applejack. I will do this quick and easy, you'll see!" He said as he grew close to the hens. He couldn't smell anything anymore, so he could only assume that the coop smelled like scrambled eggs. He was always a positive foal.

"Quick and easy!" He said, approaching one of the smallest hens. There was a nice oval egg under creature, and she looked at him with her head cocked. No doubt, she was wondering who this egg-fetcher was.

"Hey there, Missus Hen! I'm just here to take your egg." He said with a wide smile, reaching right under the hen and grabbing-

-OWW!

The hen had none of it. Perhaps it was because he was rather impudent in just reaching under her and snatching the egg, or maybe it was because he was a stranger and she was expecting Apple Bloom. It didn't really matter, because a moment after he reached under the hen, the hen had made a beeline for Valen's face and now launched a vicious sortie against him, that tiny little beak moving far too fast for him to respond to besides fall back and try to cover his face.

"Hey- wh- hen! Chicken-hen-Ahhh! No! No! Get off of me!" Valen said, finally clambering on all fours and running around the coop, that crazy hen following him and pecking his hooves wherever they presented themselves like some demented specter of annoyance. He didn't even have time to process what, if anything, AJ was doing or saying as he flew around the coop like a pegasus. Finally, the hen ran into a pillar and fell unconscious for a second. He sat down and took a deep breath in relief before he looked up around him.

All that for one egg?

He sighed, picked the basket up, and went about gathering the rest. It was a blur, each hen apparently deciding to use him as target practice for a few seconds of their lives after he stole their eggs. As he gathered the last one and hoof-over-wobbly hoof wandered over to AJ, he decided that he was the chosen warrior of all ponykind against the dreaded chicken menace. Or he was just a walking sore.

[PonyHooves]

"Well that was fast!" Gerty laughed. "I've never known a pony make soup so fast at the sound of a rumbling stomach." Gerty Greetings then heard the door. A little thought passed through her mind. 'Sometimes I wonder if Granny Smith wants to invite the whole of Ponyville to lunch. Never the less, it's always good to have company to sit and eat with. She's such a kind old mare.' Gerty smiled brightly at Granny Smith. "Thank you so much... Your always so kind to me. I just wish I could thank you properly." The middle aged mare began to eat her soup. It was delicious. Well, all of the apple family's meals were delicious. They were experts on good food. It always seemed that way to Gerty.