[Fillydelphia] A Country Field Trip [PM for Invite]

[Hippo]

Remington's dream emptied himself into a large white room with nothing in it. In the corner he could see two ponies laughing, probably at him. Although he wasn't sure what was so funny. And his other side, he spotted a large apple. This apple looked friendly. It grew arms and legs and walked up to Remington.

''Ey Remington, getcherself up!"

"Ey, hehe, wait, what? A talking apple? I Mr. Apple."

"Ah'm sure you don't wanna miss out on how we make apple juice."

"No, I love apple juice. Where is this apple juice?"

"It's a really cool little process!"

"I bet it is, now where is it?"

...

"Mr. Apple?" The apple just stared at him for a second.

But then it walked close to Remington, slapped him across the face and said, "Remington, wake up already!"

"OW! Whatd'ya do that for? Wake up?" He then heard the soft ambiance of the teachers voice, explaining that Remington was just asleep and that he would wake up eventually. "I'm asleep? Oh yeah. I sort of forgot." Remington walked to the edge of the room, where a jump off the edge would give a dreaming pony a fall to the death. He waved goodbye to the apple. "Goodbye, Mr. Apple!" Remington jumped off. His legs flailed as he fell down, and right before he hit the ground...

"Huh, what?" Remington got up and sat straight up, looking at his surroundings, and trying to grab cognitive understanding. He looked at his watch. He had been asleep for almost half an hour. It sure only seemed like a couple minutes to him. Remington got up and dusted the remaining chicken feed on him off. He then perched himself next to Cheerilee. He had no idea what was going on, since he had been asleep, so he thought he'd play it safe and just stick with the authorities for now.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails whewed as the bunny was going to be okay. "Thanks fer th' help Zecora. You are totally awesome! Not even Trixie could heal a bunny. (Ah dont think...) "

His ears drooped as Miz Cherrilee looked Haywire over and decided the punishment.

The colt perked his ears, all the more so when Reno joined in to help the bunny.

"Dont worry Haywre, Ya got Reno here ta help ya with the bunny. "

When Cheerilee asked all the foals to pair up, Snails automatically went to the side of his Best Bud Snips. "Miz Cheerilee, who's pairin' up with Remington? He seems ta be missin a lot a fun stuff."

[SteelEagle]

Caramel had kept her uninteresting mouth shut during the chicken revolution as she had once called the swarming of chicks as a filly, as well as the arrival of valued guests including of all things a zebra. This was something that caramel could not possibly ignore, both for a chance to get to know a fellow being as well as the chance to expand cultural knowledge and possible business contacts. It was a curse at times having a mind constantly concerned with business and one that viewed much through that prism, since she knew at times it robbed her of some rather interesting interactions and side-activities in her day to day. This didn't stop even at the beautiful art and fun that was the making of apple juice, which she could distill into dollars and cents, pints and barrels. Still, she knew a good time when she heard one and she had no doubt that making some apple juice with the class would prove so.

"Well yes, it would be wise to pair up into teams to do this. That way, the adults can orchestrate the foals of your classroom, Miss Cheerilee, we can make sure that they are taught well, dearest sister, and you don't lose precious bits of business, Caramel!" She thought out loud as she trotted around, unaware that she had said the last part. She mosied up to Zecora.

"I shall pair up with this fine Zebra. This way, you two will be able to effective teach and disseminate, and I can learn with these simply adorable fillies and colts!" She said with great appreciation and glee, a hoof over Zecora and pulling her closer as she let out a squee. Why, she could learn more about zebras and triple, quadruple Apple Juice production for free! What excellent and sound business. Nothing could go wrong.

------

There were many things an Apple filly was expected to know and while Sweet Apple Acres wasn't exactly the most well-known of all the farms for apple juice, Apple Bloom certainly knew the basics. She'd seen her big sister do it plenty of times, though her tiny hooves weren't well-suited for the task of crushing apples for juice like she could with grapes for grape juice, but she figured with a partner it would be a whole lot easier. Eight hooves were always better than four and when you had mares around, that could only mean everything would go smoothly. Nothing ever went wrong with her big sister Applejack and while she was pretty super special, she had two smart family members, Zecora, and the best teacher ever. This was gonna be fun- maybe she could get her cutie mark in Apple Juice!

She gasped as her eyes lit up, head shooting over the crowd as Caramel announced they were to head off in pairs. She looked around excitedly for a few seconds before she found her target, Sweetie Belle, who was still over next to Timid. Apple Bloom literally jumped over the pony in front of her as she trotted on over towards her fellow Crusader.

"Sweetie! Ah'm thinkin' we can team up 'ere an' maybe we can try ta get'r cutie marks in apple juice!" Apple Bloom spook quickly and excitedly, her words starting to jumble together near the end as her mind raced with what her cutie mark would look like. Would it look like a pitcher of juice or just liquid in the color of apples? There was only one way to find out and by Celestia they were about to do it!

[Mojo]

"Thanks Snails," Haywire said to the lanky unicorn colt as she turned towards Cheerilee. "Don't ya worry none about us, Miss Cheerilee, we're gonna keep up with ya."

The rust colored filly walked over to Reno who was near Ruby.

"And thank you, Reno, fer wantin' to help me with Ruby. Reckon we need ta fix it up so Ruby kin travel with us. Do ya wanna take turns give'm that bunny a ride on our backs? I know we kin handle the job if'n we work together."

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle perked up eagerly at Apple Bloom's words. "Yeah!" she crowed happily, "We could be Cutie Mark Crusader juicer.. juicin' ... uh ... juice makers!" She grinned eagerly as she paired up with Apple Bloom, following her along. "Is it hard makin' apple juice? Is it like makin' grape juice? I can make grape juice! How do you get the seeds out?"

She had already forgotten about her failure to get a chick-feeding cutie mark, and the catastrophes that had befallen them there! She had juice t'make! And drink! "Maybe we could get a juice-drinking cutie mark, too! Nah, that'd be silly. What would we do with juice-drinking cutie marks? Pose for photos while drinking juice boxes? Who'd be interested in that?"

[AlisonRose]

With a grin as wide as the sun is high in the sky at noon Apple Bumpkin turned about to look right at the silly foals discussing 'Juice Drinking' Cutie Marks. Surely a Juice Drinking Cutie Mark wouldn't help with much in life other then staying hydrated. But that wasn't really the matter when it came down to the fact that the foals would be having fun WHILE learning, it was a win-win. But the best part was that she got more time to think about how to impress Cheerilee and get her to stop being so uncomfortable around her. It was only a matter of time before they would be friends, or so Bumpkin was hoping.

"Well 'Ah don't see why ya'll'd want a juice drinking Cutie Mark, but 'Ah can tell ya that we get the seeds out from usin a filter. It's a pretty fancy creation an't'all but mah sister here," Mid sentence she stops to point a hoof very excitably to her sister Caramel Apple who was busy discussing something with Cheerilee and Zecora, "she went an got tha moneh together an bought us a few of them ta use so we make really really good Apple Juice, but we dun make Cider like they do on Sweet Apple Acres." She said with a giggle, not seeming to take a breath the whole time and finishing it all off by resting her hoof back in perfect place on the ground and then taking a few shallow breaths trying to catch it as it flows past on the wind. She swished her tail a few times as the smile returned to her face not as big as before but still big enough for all around to know that no matter what chaos was happening or was going to happen she was ready and willing to deal with it. It was about time for them to get moving if they wanted to get to the Distillery anytime soon, not that the day was going past fast, in fact it seemed like the day was only just beginning.

[brianblackberry]

Cheerilee watched as some of the class began to pair up. Some of the parings were natural, Snips always gravitated to his inseparable buddy in mischief, Snails. Sweetie Belle teams with Applebloom, which was certainly enough potential hijinxs right there, even without Scootaloo to add to it. Even Zecora and Caramel had partnered up, although thought as adults they didn't need to. Snail's question brought out a problematic realization - there were an odd number of foals left. Cheerilee's first inclination was to volunteer to be that partner for one, but she been teaching long enough to know no foal would want that, no matter how well she got along with the class. Nopony wants to be "teacher's pet." She tapped her front hoof to her chin for a second in thought. "Hmmmm, well, perhaps it'd be best with the number we have here in class with us if we actually teamed up in threes for the students. Remington, why don't you buddy with Snips and Snails. Timid Star, dear, you can team up with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. Haywire, Reno, and Ruby, you stay together with the bunny. That'd be perfect!"

Of course, Cheerilee also got her own partner in the form of Apple Bumpkin, who Cheerilee still hadn't quite figured out yet. Still, the farmer pony was really trying to be friendly, and she was gracious enough to host the class on this field trip, so Cheerilee was determined to put her friendliest hoof forward. “I'll be happy to be your partner, Miss Bumpkin. Will we be picking the apples first before using Miss Caramel's wonderful filter? Either way, it does sound like a lot of fun, I know the class will enjoy this!” Hopefully, without anymore mishaps, mischief, or weird cutie mark acquiring plots.

((OOC Note - I admit, I put them in threes to increase the odd groupings, in order to totally innocently increase the chances for mishaps and hijinx ))

[QuickLime]

Zecora let out a slight oof as Carmel pulled her close and began to squee like a foal at Hearths Warming… “ I suppose it will be easy with the little ones in groups of three” She said glancing at Cheerilee and smiled “I suppose it would do no harm, to pair with this pony clinging to my arm” A chuckle escaped her mouth watching the little ones pair up, handing the bottle that had the carrot orange liquid in it to Reno for the rabbit in case Ruby’s little head started hurting again “ Shall we go see how it is done? I’m sure making Cider is loads of fun!”

Zecora wasn't terribly comfortable with Carmel being so close, in fact it was downright unpleasant but she felt that it wouldn't hurt to tolerate the others clingyness in the spirit of making friends and cooperating, though she didn't quite understand why they needed to pair up since that seemed to be only for the foals... but she was very flattered that the other wanted to spend time with her! It was amazing that instead of being afraid to approach her she instead wanted to embrace her...literately ... Pulling out of the hug she chuckled and shook her head "Miss Carmel what I say is true, it is very nice to meet you"

Reno glanced at Cherilee as she paired him up with Ruby and Haywire, glancing at her he smiled “Yeah Haywire! We’ll take turns takin care of Ruby” He nodded , gently butting his head against her shoulder in a affectionate head nuzzle, though was staying by Pinchy, leaning his head against her “The three of us will be the best bunny take-cariers that there ever were!” He exclaimed, really not giving much of a hoot about the Cider “We’ll take the best care of her Miss Cherilee I promise!” He saluted his teacher with vigor.

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom leapt to and fro in excitement as Sweetie Belle discussed the possibility of having juice making cutie marks. She hadn't ever really considered it a possibility since she smashed grapes up all the time and her flank was still bare, but maybe she was just crushing the wrong fruit! It seemed so simple that making apple juice was a sure-fire ticket to a cutie mark while playing around with grape juice wasn't. What would it look like? Probably just juice. In a cup or just splashed about? It was an exciting process as she had seen her sister d it a number of times, but never had she really been involved in the nuts and bolts of it except for smashing them. And a smashing cutie mark didn't hold much in store for her. Regardless, she grew so excited at the thought that she could hardly slow down in motion, her hooves beating the ground in place whenever she found herself in front.

"Oh Sweetie Belle that'd be so perfect! Ah work on a farm and you come by all tha time, so we wouldn't even hafta to change anythin' to be apple juice makin' ponies and naw we'd-" She stopped mid-sentence, not paying attention as Cheerilee made slight adjustments to the rosters, Timid now attached to them. Apple Bloom's face dropped and her ears sagged as she with great concern tossed a hoof in Sweetie's direction.

"But what about Scootaloo? Ah'd hate for us ta find our cutie marks and leave her as tha last blank flank, couldja just imagine how sad she'd be that she wasn't here ta git it with us!" Apple Bloom's voice, laced with worry and sorrow, crackled with the expectation of getting her cutie mark as she came to a stop. Conflicted emotions to be sure: She was almost guaranteed to get her cutie mark, but she worried that Scootaloo would feel left out, Hurt. What was a filly to do? She shook her head, but her lip and drew closer to Sweetie.

"Sweetie, what do we do?"

Caramel was happy to see- well, hear- that fellow adults appreciated the purchase. At least in theory. It had been somewhat costly since it was a highly specialized piece of machinery and it had been a bust once apple juice season was over, but she was willing to play the long game and give the manufacturer the benefit of the doubt and rely upon the guarantee of no flaws or repairs needed ever. The long game was a guessing game, but rather arrogantly she noted she never guessed wrong. Caramel smiled at the adults as she pondered the question and with haste produced an answer.

"Yes we will Miss Cheerilee. These delightful foals will get to pick from our latest crop of Braeburns, which make the most delicious apple juice. Then we will put them into the machine, which will sort out the seeds and the skin and leave us with the fruit itself. From there, I'm sure we can take it and let the foals have all manner of fun," Caramel said, her words eager but her tone lower and with an even spirit declaring her intent. She then nodded to her sister and smiled broadly.

"If you'd like to take the lead, Bumpkin," An offer presented so kindly that her sister, as excitable as she was, might struggle with any denial of it. Meanwhile, Caramel had already moved on to deciding what question to pose first to her zebra ally here. Nothing came swiftly, discomfort reigning supreme as she realized her lack of great oratory may prove challenging. Especially when Zecora started off rhyming. Did she need a rhyme back? Different cultures!

"Uhh...it is lovely to meet you too, Zecora, though if I am honest I have never met a zebra and find this so....uhh...oh, shoot I can't rhyme...umm..."

[QuickLime]

(Zecora begs you all to not rhyme back lolo)

[Mojo]

Haywire began to feel a little better about the situation. Her carelessness caused all this mess, but at least she had the courage to admit her wrongdoing and then work to make it right again. She was also glad that Reno was with her group because the colt seemed to be genuinely enthusiastic about helping the poor bunny.

"We sure will take good care of this bunny, Reno," the rust colored filly said with determination. "Glad yer with us too, Ruby. Betwixed the three of us, we'll git Ruby Bunny back to health in no time! Hay Reno, what's that thar orange stuff ya got? Medicine fer the rabbit?"

[Imagination]

Little Pinchy mirrored Reno's salute to Cheerilee, like the teacher's own little bunny squad! All they needed was a cool action theme song!

If you have a problem...if nopony else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you can hire...The Bunny Squad.

Da-DaDa-Daa, Da-Da-Daa

Anywho, back to business!

"Yeah! Rubee the Bunny will be safe with us Miss Cheerilee!" Though in reality, this was probably going to end up like giving a priceless vase to the Three Stooges... Well, they'd never break the bunny, just like they'd never break the vase... But what lengths will these three foals go to in order to 'protect' this innocent little bunny? "Ok, so Reno has Rubee... What're we gonna do first?" she asked the green-haired colt, standing close by him with an excited smile. Have this kind of responsibility was kind of exciting! They get to take care of a bunny! All on their own! The last thing Ruby wanted was to let Cheerilee down, and she wanted to show Reno and Haywire that she could be a big help!

[Hippo]

Remington saw spots. He saw them everywhere. They popped randomly in front of him as he tried to focus. His last dream left him in a state of disorientation. However, e knew where he was. He was right next to Cheerliee, Remington's interim teacher for the day. She said something about putting Remington with Snips and Snails. Remington didn't care, and was willing to trust Cheerilee and do what she says. He walked over to the other two colts and shook his head to alert his senses. "So, what are we going to do first?" Remington, being asleep for the last five minutes, wasn't exactly sure how much they had already done. "Er, I mean, what are we gonna do next?"

Remington wondered how long he could last before he unknowingly fell asleep again. And he knew, that if Cheerilee knew what he was all about, she wouldn't let him go anywhere out of her site.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails watched as Ruby Pinch, Reno and Haywire formed a bunny care squad when Cheerilee teamed them up. He half expected them to give a Cutie Mark Crusaders type cheer. Maybe that comes later?...

Then Cheerilee teamed Reno up with him and his best bud Snips. The red pegasus trotted up, still looking a little punchy and asked what they were doing now.

The orangy foal scratched his chin for a moment in thought "Umm ya just helped out a bit on feedin' th' chicks, eh. Now We're gonna help make apple juice. That is going ta be so cool! ...I like apple Juice..."

[SilverSwirl]

Timid was back on an even keel after that harrowing encounter with the chicks chasing after him. Looking up at Cheerilee, he managed a weak smile at her gentle touch in his mane before replying, "I'm okay, Miss Cheerilee."

Hearing her call to pair up in the interests of safety, Timid perked his ears and moved away from Cheerilee, looking about for open foals to pair up with as he rued not bringing Boney with him to be his partner/protector in this field trip.

While he was busy scanning about, the foals had paired up already! Thankfully, one of the foals had brought to Cheerilee's attention that there were an odd number of foals and he was suddenly paired with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle! Timid smiled at his good fortune as he stood near them, waiting to go to the Distillery to continue their learning.

[brianblackberry]

Cheerilee felt relieved for the moment - everything appeared to once again to be working out. She was admittedly unsure about the groupings she put her class into, knowing that some of the pairings ran against the foal's natural grouping of friends, but she felt it was for the best. They did need to learn to cooperate and talk to other ponies outside their own circles of friends; it was a good lesson to teach and one that simply needed practice - not lectures or classes.

Walking over to the orchard, she smiled as she noted the variety of trees - it wasn’t the vast orchards she had regularly seen at Sweet Apple Acres, but there was certainly a good selection. “Miss Bumpkin, would it be alright for the class to buck some apples of their own for the juice making machine? I would think it be great if they experienced first hoof all the hard work you do around here.” Cheerilee gave a wide smile; it might be a slightly risky idea, given the makeup of her class, but still a worthy learning experience. Now hopefully there be no more disasters today, what is the worst that could happen with picking apples?

Cheerilee turned around, giving her biggest smile. “So, class, who can tell me some of the different types of apples here, and what the different types are particularly good for?”

[Corsair]

Well, that hadn't worked out quite like he had hoped... Snips had been hoping that following Haywire would have gotten them out and away from the rest of the group, but the injured bunny had brought them right back to Miss Cheerilee. I mean, he hated seeing the rabbit hurt; he'd been very glad to see the Zecora from Ponyville here when she'd volunteered to help the little creature, but now they were stuck back with the boring tour again.

As Miss Cheerilee called out for the foals to pair up. Snails had naturally come to him. With a mischievous smirk, he murmured to his friend, "You sure you don't want to go with Haywire?" He nudged Snails in the side to get a reaction to his teasing.

Then however, Cheerilee sent the sleepy colt, Remingon, over to join them. Snips still hadn't figured this pegasus out. I mean, Snails said he was cool, but the pegasus had gone from a run to falling asleep on the ground. That was just weird... But the three of them were a group now, and they were going to see how they made apple juice on the farm.

Snips tried to muster some enthusiasm for his friend. "Yeah, maybe we can get some free juice samples or somethin'?" he offered. But the grumpy pony in the back of his mind reminded him that they had apple juice back in Ponyville. So Snips just trudged along to the next stop on the boring farm.

[Hippo]

Remington sparked. "Yeah we can do the apple juice thing! Mr. Apple told me it was a really neat process." Where do we need to go? Remington saw adults in a few directions, but he wasn't sure where to go. He ran over to Miss Cheerilee who was talking to the rest of the class. He tugged on her tail. "Um, Miss Teacher, where is the apple cider made? Me, Snips, and Snails want to go see where its made so we can get free samples." Remington said with a big smile on his face. He was completely unaware that he may have interrupted what might have been a brilliant learning session for the other kids.

[AlisonRose]

Apple Bumpkin was actually very pleased with how the field trip was going, not only did it seem that the foals were having a lot of fun and learning a bit as they went but she couldn't help but notice that Cheerilee herself seemed to be glad to not be the only one looking out for the foals. As Cheerilee posed questions to Bumpkin she slowly rolled them back in her mind to read them one at a time and answer accordingly.

"Well of course we can go buck some apples! Right this way!" Apple Bumpkin had now a huge grin on her face as she trotted down the path and opened the gate into the orchard area of the farm. There were plenty of Apples that had fallen thanks to the high-winds last night but there was still a whole bunch in each tree.

"The trees around here are very sturdy so ya' gotta know where ta hit 'em at ta get yer apples!" She grinned as she flipped out a red ribbon from inside her hoofkercheif and wrapped it around the tree to show off the maximum height of where to land their kicks.

"Y'all have ta buck the tree below this line 'ere and make sure ta hit it hard." She was so excited to show Cheerilee how good she was at bucking but it seemed that all her attempts to impress the teacher had gone un-noticed.

"So who would like ta be the first to try?" Bumpkin was looking around trying to find a foal who seemed out of touch so that they could be the first to attempt. Not spying anyone in particular she put a hoof to her chin and then spoke again,

"Whoever can get the most apples out of a tree with one buck 'Ah'll give you a special treat!" She positively beamed now as she posed the challenge to all the foals.

[brianblackberry]

Cheerilee smiled brightly at Apple Bumpkin's enthusiastically response. "Isn't that great, class? Something extra for those who get the most apples! Now, let's show Miss Bumpkin that Ponyville's school is the best at apple bucking!" It all brought back fond memories from her own youth and these kinds of fieldtrips. She remembered having a quite of bit of fun and being quite proud that she was one of the better kickers in class, outdoing several of the young colts - to their chagrin and her own amusement. She even recalled helping some of the less physical fillies get some apples, especially her friend Rarity, who didn't usually want to exert herself and make herself all sweaty kicking trees.

Before she could walk up to one of the trees herself, she felt her tail being lightly pulled - it was the little red pegasus, Remington, already inquiring about the apple juice. "Now, now, we will all get plenty of Tiny Apple Valley's wonderful apple juice, but we just have to help them make it, first! The more apples you help buck, the more free apple juice we can make." Cheerilee winked, hoping that would encourage him as well as any foal who might still be a bit reluctant about giving it a shot.

Cheerilee walked up to the nearest tree, figuring the best way to start this would be to lead by example. "I hope you don't mind if I give this a shot, Miss Bumpkin! I used to have quite the right kick when I was young, all that cheerleading and winter wrap up practice!" She gave the farmer pony a wink, sure that their host wouldn't object at all. Cheerilee then turned around and gave the tree a stout kick with her hind legs, but not a single apple came down despite her effort. "Oops!" Cheerilee blushed at her awkwardness, and the few giggles she could hear from her young audience. "Let's try that again!" She lined herself up and gave another swift kick with her legs, this time making good contact with the tree, enough to cause a few apples to loosen themselves and fall to ground into the buckets at the tree's base. "Not bad for a first ... well, second try!"

((OOC Note - Okay foals now is your change to try whatever crazy idea or attempts to get down the apples through hilarity! ))

[Bramble Rose]

Sweetie Belle smiled softly to Apple Bloom. "Oh, Abby! We're always looking for our cutie marks, whether we're by ourselves, if there's just two of us, or if it's all three! I know Scootaloo and me have gone looking by ourselves, like with the school paper! Don't worry, she won't be upset! And we probably won't get our cutie marks all at the same time ... but we're not going to stop trying!"

She smiled to Timid, then. "Hi, there! You doing all right, then? Ready to help us get our cutie marks in apple-something? I'm sure it'll be lots of fun! And this time it won't be nearly as dangerous as some of the other things we've tried!"

Sweetie pranced happily towards the apple trees. Truth be told, she was just a little bit nervous - last time she'd tried to buck an apple tree, it hadn't turned out very well ... but these weren't zap apple trees, so it'd probably be all right! She didn't even need the Apple Bumpkin's encouragement - the special reward she wanted was a cutie mark! And Miss Bumpkin couldn't hand those out! Sweetie Belle had an advantage - she spent lots and lots of time at Sweet Apple Acres, and was friends with someone who had been trained by Ponyville's best Apple Bucker! Head down, hooves up ... she gave a solid kick to the tree, and stumbled forward to fall on her chin, letting out a squeaky "Oof!"

She quickly got back up, brows furrowed, feeling terribly self-conscious. "Oh yeah?" she said, "Think a tree's going to beat me?" She took the stance again, planting her front hooves a little more firmly, like she was trying to push the ground away, and gave a more solid *thump* against the trunk! "UNH!" A few leaves fell this time, drifting around her head. She coiled up, then kicked again, and again, beating her hooves against the tree! "Unh! Unh! Unh! UNH! Aw, COMON!" Leaves drifted down around her, till suddenly an apple dropped on her head, breaking her rhythm. She staggered a bit, but far from being upset, she picked up the apple and lifted it up proudly. "YEAH!!"

[QuickLime]

Zecora could not help but giggle at Cheerilee's applebucking attempt and went over to stand behind her, watching her try a second time.. it was really funny and it made the competitive zebra with her strong legs from her years of travel smirk.. "That Miss Cheerilee looks like fun! Let Old Zecora show you how it is done" She said waiting till the other was away from the tree before mimicking the mares stance, lifting her hind legs up and she kicked HARD! Hooves hitting the tree with a solid THUMP! Causing the branches to shake and jerk, dropping the ripe and ready fruits into the baskets making the Zebra grin , though she figured she shouldn't do it again as that one kick had sorta kina hurt... Zecora was NOT old..she had not just pulled her hip...

"See that is how you do it I'v heard them say...the Zebra way" She added and laughed shaking her head glancing around and watched the foals start to try and get the apples down, moving a hoof to her mouth as SweetieBell Put in a ton of effort ... and got one apple! Oh goodness... She walked over and put a hoof on Sweetie Bells head "That is very good my little one! I am glad to see you have such fun"

Reno glanced down at the bottle of orange stuff and shrugged"I think it's t' make her head feel better" He said and grinned as he walked with his two friends , the Rabbit sleeping contently on his back now "Okay well first thing we gotta do is get the MOST apples outa anyone!" he said thinking "Pinchy why don't you and HayWire double team the trees? That way there's twice the force so we get twice the apples!" He grinned...He would buck the apples himself but he didn't want to disturb the sleeping bunny.... He noticed that Snails looked a little..down about the whole thing and waved at him 'Hey Snails! Do you wanna lookit Ruby? She's sleepin right now so I bet you could pet her!"

[Boss_Hoss1]

Snails blushed when Snips gave him a little tease about Haywire "Aw geee.."

The orange foal relaxed when Snips turned his attention to Remington and suggested getting free samples of apple juice.

Snails watched as Remington asked Cheerilee about the samples, and...

"Th' more apples we buck, the more juice dere is? an a surprise fer the ones with the most? Suh-weeet! Ah like apple juice..."

Reno suddenly called to him about the bunny "Aww thanks Reno. Maybe just a quick pettin' before we try an buck apples..."

Snails sidled over to Reno and gave the bunny a soft pat "Aww she's sooo soft....Thanks Reno that made me feel a lot better."

Snails hmmmed, his horn spitting sparks as he thought about how to shake the tree enough to get apples down.

He almost suggested Remington fly up there but did not want to embarass him if he could not fly. the thought of Remington falling asleep in the tree did not help.

"should we surround the tree and kick it or stack up on each other and kick, or what?"

[SteelEagle]

Apple Bloom had always found it odd how apple bucking wasn't a required subject in school. It wasn't just because as a member of the greatest family in history that she was naturally biased towards apples, though she was, but it was the simple matter of it being a nice and simple way to work on the hind legs. All of this running and exercise and all of it could be replaced by apple bucking, which was also a nifty little skill to buck apples! Maybe that would have helped Sweetie as she went about her business, attacking the tree with all of her tiny little power. After showing some leaves who was master of that relationship and teaching the tree what it meant to be tickled, she finally got an apple on the ground. Maybe hanging out and wasting all of her free time over at Sweet Apple Acres came in handy after all!

"Good job Sweetie Belle! Ah reckon that with a few months o' real work, we could make a decent orchard pony outta ya!" Apple Bloom said as she jumped up to congratulate her fellow crusader before taking her place beside her.

Apple Bloom positioned herself properly. Applejack told her that you had to have yourself just right or else your kick wouldn't deliver the most power. You had to get it just at the perfect length away or else you could your hurt your leg. Apple Bloom had thought about naming her hind legs just like Applejack but had been dissuaded from such an action by her sheer inability to equal even filly Applejack's legendary skills. She doubted today would change her fate but she was also fairly certain she could at least help get a few down to make some juicy apple juice.

"Ah'll see what Ah can do ta this here tree," Apple Bloom spoke just as she reared up for a kick, which was delivered a moment later with a tiny thwack against the tree. Delivered to the top of her head were some leaves, which were likely well-loosened by Sweetie Belle's fierce barrage. She wasn't taken aback by this turn of events as she knew she was no Applejack and had assumed it would take a few kicks to achieve the desired results. Luckily, Apples were patient ponies. Apple Bloom re-centered herself and delivered another single-legged kick. Nothing came down. That was the predictable start. She re-centered herself, licked her lips, and set upon herself a fierce expression as she delivered a kick with both hind legs.

She lacked the coordination needed to properly balance so she didn't fall down and promptly did so after the legs impacted against the tree, collapsing straight down. It was worth it as a moment later, four apples surrendered themselves to her might and fell down, the final one knocking against her hoof and rolling towards Zecora. Apple Bloom lit up.

"And that's how we do it back on tha farm!" She shamelessly stole from her sister without a hint of reservation. After all, she was an Apple quoting an Apple on Apple property regarding Apple business!

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Caramel had followed and observed Zecora, somewhat impressed by the sturdy kick she delivered. She hadn't known zebras to be impressive physical specimens. Then again, she didn't really know zebras. Paradigms could be shifted, viewpoints changed, realities altered and all it started with a friendly smile and a willing friend. Or in this case, a zebra who was unresponsive to Caramel's cultural feelers. Oh well; beggars couldn't be choosers. An apple rolled next to Zecora and Caramel gave it a quick glance, approving of the coloration and the skin. Yes, it would do nicely. She picked it up and tossed it in the basket.

"Good job, fillies. These apples will make excellent juice Timid, feel free to join in. It is a lot of fun, I assure you," Caramel insisted, her eyes pleading for her unpaid foal laborer to get to work. She looked around and saw the other nice schoolfillies and colts contemplating the trees with some sort of near mystic wonder. Maybe some information would help them. It always helped her! Failing actually helping them, perhaps she would bore them into the waiting arms of labor.

"Did you know that Tiny Apple Valley has thirty-four Red Delicious trees, sixteen Braeburns, twenty-seven Golden Delicious, fourteen Granny Smiths, and a total of fifteen of all other types? That's only one-tenth the total amount of apple trees in bloom at Sweet Apple Acres, but we have almost a third the amount they produce every harvest? The answer is simple! Proper regulation of harvest cycling allows for the farm to keep a consistent flow of product while at no point overusing our rich soils or killing our trees. The result? Much lower costs, much higher returns! It all starts with the soil. The properties are vital; are any of you deeply interested in the science of agriculture? If so, you may like the chemical differences between the soil we use and what is found in other places. You see, without magic enhanced soil from the Everfree, we have to ensure maximum cyclical vegetative strength..." Caramel began a long diatribe on the workings of the farm in a thoroughly uninteresting fashion, alternating between science and businessmath. By Celestia, she did not stop.

[Hippo]

Remington gave an expressed face of disappointment. All he wanted was to see apple juice being made. Mr. Apple was so convincing. Instead, to Mrs. Cheerilee's encouragement, the little red pegasus was willing to try and buck a tree's apples down. He had never tried this before, of course he knew what it was all about. Cloudsdale wasn't exactly the kind of place that was riddled with several apple trees of all sizes for ponies to familiarized themselves with. Pegasus ponies just flew up and picked them by hoof. And since Remington couldn't fly yet, those ideas were out of the picture. Remington responded to Snail's open-ended question by nodding to him with reluctance. There didn't seem to be much freedom for him to do what he wanted, so he just followed everypony else.

Remington walked up to the nearest tree that was being attempted at. He clopped it with his front right hoof, and beat it repeatedly. But nothing was shaking, and his hoof was only making a rhythmic sound against the rugged bark of the tree. He decided to square himself up and try his rear legs. With both back legs, his little fragile body lightly tapped the trunk of the tree as hard as Remington could practice. The pitter patter of his hooves colliding with the tree was more musical than it was productive. And not a single apple showed signs of having a weakened stem. It was hopeless. Remington was just too weak and light to execute such a powerful blow.

And this time, it made Remington a little impatient. He started huffing and puffing, trying to make his anger aide him striking the tree. After several useless attempts, Remington ran a short distance away from the tree, as he would give himself a running start to hit the tree with as much force as possible. As he ran back towards the tree, he hit it squarely into the center of the trunk, and an apple fell. He immediately lost coherence, but noticed that an apple was falling. He mumbled, "Hehe, yeah! I got one!" The apple fell straight down and hit him on the head. The pressure point that controlled all of his nerves and motions was struck and Remington fell squarely on the ground. He was breathing quite normally, as his immediate snoring indicated. Remington was asleep. Again.