Jump to content

Hippo

RP Certified
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,536

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    120

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Hippo

  1. Hippo
    Applejack leaned back in a pause as the sight and sound of Coloratura galloping her way yelling her name. After the frills of seeing what kind of following the pop star had in a not-so-large community of Ponyville, she was surprised to see her unhindered by cameras or obsessed fans. Either this train stop was more secluded than Applejack had originally thought, or Ra-Ra lost a lot of fans in the toning down of her image. Applejack sat her suitcase down with her mouth. "Hey. Oh it was, fine." Applejack said plainly, the discomfort from being away from home written on her face. "Oh, ok, if you think you can handle it. It's not the lightest of travel cases." Being away from home never bothered Applejack that much. But the knowledge of having a planned extended stay periodically made her stomach turn upside down. Even the negotiated freedom of being able to go home whenever she wanted wasn't enough of a verbal contract to make her feel comfortable about what she was doing. She would feel even more nervous if she felt like she had to unleash the powers of her singing performances passed what she was comfortable of doing. She knew that her alter ego sometimes had a mind of her own, and she wasn't entirely trustful of the flowery colored hats that made her old act so entertaining to the many few who were lucky enough to see it. When asked about the ranch, Applejack nervously responded. "Does it have a bedroom for me? As long as I have a place to lay my head, I'm sure it'll be fine." The two walked through a part-time township, seemingly populated with ponies who mind their own business. It was better than the annoying attention music stars typically got, but to Applejack it was still eerie to see a lack of bonding on the part of the community. Or maybe today was just a holiday. No wonder Coloratura wanted Applejack to come out. It had the lookings of a pony being lonely. "You're by yourself right now?" Applejack asked with the intent to ponder on Coloratura's social well-being. Applejack wasn't sure if it was her nerves or if she was being a sour apple. But at first it seemed that this was going to be a trip with many underpinnings of things that would make Applejack irrationally uncomfortable.
  2. Hippo
    Saturday it was. Silverstream would have to spend a weekend with farm ponies in order to pay for the apples her friends were going to use for snacks during studying this week. Which is ironic, considering Silverstream typically spent her Saturdays doing extra studying on things she was curious about during studying. Time was currency. She smiled gleefully at her professor as she hitched the wagon back to her collar, the challenge of pulling it immediately evident. She struggled to pull it at first, but gained her footing and started to move more easily once she got going. "Alright, see you in class, Professor!" Before she got too far down the road, she unhitched herself from the wagon, and flew back to the front of the line. "Oh, Smolder, you can have your meal voucher back. Turns out they don't accept them anywhere outside the school." She giggled with a futile attempt at covering her mouth with a talon, while her other was handing the ticket with Smolder's identification stamp to the orange dragon. "See ya tonight in the library." Silverstream flew back to her wagon and pulled it the rest of the way back to the school where her friends and she would see the fruits of whatever labor Silverstream had yet to perform.
  3. Hippo

    Day 2 of Cider season has begun!  

    Any new and returning characters are welcome!

     

  4. Hippo
    Another day, another cider camp-out. The sun was just peaking up over the rolling hills of the orchard when Applejack started to walk out to the cider stand to greet the ponies and creatures reaching for a sip of the sweet apple nectar on day two of the season. But she was noticeably jumpy. Something had gone wrong last night. As Applejack, her family, and the farm aides were helping to process more apple cider, one of the treadmills fell apart, its gears and cogs seemingly worn out. This left only one out of the three treadmills operational, an thus, only left one treadmill's worth of cider to reserve for the next day. Applejack feared how little cider there might be, but to save herself some grief, she decided to not even count how many barrels there were. Instead, she would continue as normal, doing her best to pretend like this would be like any other day. And honestly, it was like any other day, and Applejack would face the challenges just like she would normally, her friends and family to support her by her side. "Alright ya'll! It's day two of cider season. Soup's on!" Applejack winked back at her sister, giving her the ready signal for the next round of insanity. There were just as many who attended today, but they did not seem as happy. She even saw some who had been lucky to get a taste yesterday back in the line today. There would be no way to tell if somepony got to taste already, so as far as Applejack could best they would just continue to serve the next in line, no matter who it was. Oh, a line. Right. That didn't exist on days like today. And much like the day before, the cider counter started becoming crowded by ponies and creatures eager more than ever to get their cup filled by the yellow apple filly. Some were noticeably patient, while others were more urgent to get as close to the front as possible. "Take it easy, just be patient, there will be enough for everyone..." Applejack turned and muttered under her breath, "...eventually." Current fresh cider supply: 100%
  5. Hippo
    She was blinded by a flash of yellow. It pounced on her back just as Silverstream's flight response triggered and her wings unfolded. But before she could remove herself from the ground, Apple Bloom successfully mounted her and stole a kiss on her left cheek. As Apple Bloom rolled off, Silverstream reacted to look her way, which gave Applejack free reign on her right cheek. The attack was quick. Silverstream took four steps back and looked at Applejack who was giving a confident loving wink. The hippogriff was so taken aback that she fell on her rump and was held speechless for a moment. When that moment passed, she smiled wide and blushed, holding her talons to her face. "Oh my gosh, you guys. That was so strange!" She giggled, and then spoke with analysis. "And interesting. Do you kiss everycreature like this?" Silverstream never properly understood the whole point of the kiss for apples. She felt like it was given to her as a requirement, instead of the bonus affection it was intended to be for. "And does this mean I'm allowed to take the apples now? Oh, and when do you need me to come by and help on the farm?"
  6. Hippo
    "Yeah yeah, later though, come meet Gallus." Silverstream acknowledged her brother's desire to speak with her on what seemed to be a private matter, which she would dwell on in the back of her mind for the time being. But she didn't want to delay including Gallus in on the conversation due to him being a complete stranger to all things Seaquestria. Once Terramar had issued his official greeting of the fierce seagriffin, Silverstream took this time to grab a couple kelp chips. She would continue to put food in her mouth while her brother and Gallus conversed pleasantries until there was a moment where she felt she had to say something, which was likely only a few seconds at most. "Wait. Is it day? I could have sworn the sun was setting when we arrived." Silverstream looked up at the distance airy surface to detect the amount of light coming in from above. From what she could tell, most of the lighting was coming from the aquatic luminescence of Seaquestria, and from the underwater disco party that was happening right in front of them. "Terr, you must have been partying so long, you lost track of time," she snickered as she jabbed her brother lovingly in the fin. Silverstream had to rearrange herself mentally to remember all the things she wanted to show Gallus while he was down here. "It feels like we just got here, but we did the transformation, that was fun. We talked to mom who was at home at the time. And then we saw the whales, and we did some shell-stringing, and then we d-danced, heh." Silverstream got momentarily nervous when she uttered her last word, but then interrupted her own hesitation to divulge on the feelings with more ideas. "Oh! We should take the flow! I hear they redirected it this year so that it goes faster for seaponies to ride!" The flow she was referring to was an underwater current strong enough to send a swimming creature more than twice as fast as their swim speed and serves as an underwater theme park ride during events like these. When the party is not in session, it's used to get other places near Seaquestria proper in a short time.
  7. Hippo
    Applejack gave her little sister a quick hug with one leg. "Well, Granny Smith has a large pile of rejected apples over yonder. Maybe you can heap them out of here and giv'em to the pigs." Peering out over the crowd of customers slowly dispersing, Applejack saw that some were disgruntled but many of them were taking the moment to chat with friends they haven't seen for a moon or two. At least this year wouldn't need added security. Applejack started cleaning off the counter and started rinsing out some of the used mugs using a water pump a short walk away. Silverstream responded immediately to Gallus' invitation. "Do I!? Let's camp here for the night! Lemme go pack an overnight sack and I'll be back." Silverstream pranced with talon and hoof in place, clawing and stamping the ground simultaneously. "Ooooo, I'm so excited!" With a burst of energy and a small cloud of smoke, Silverstream zipped back up the road to Ponyville to get to her dorm were she would gather the things she needed to sleep outside. The closer to Granola got to the counter, the further Applejack got from her. Having to fight the leaving crowd caused her to not be able to walk against the grain and she was pushed back further away from the stand. "Aw, crabweeds, the day's sale is done already? I'll need to arrive first thing tomorrow before the sale starts, that'll probably be the best chance at grabbing Applejack for a short conversation." Granola grabbed seeds out of her back and held them in her hoof carefully. She whispered to them, "And maybe then you little guys will see what it's like to be grown by the best apple grower in Equestria." Current fresh cider supply: 0% ((The day will reset in 7 days, on November 11th 12:00am UTC))
  8. Hippo
    Zap felt the support from his mother underneath him, but was only focused on his own ascent. As he got tired, he began to really slow down his flapping, and once he felt the lack of progress coming from his feathered extremities and the weight of his body laying on his mother's back, he regarded his attempt as futile and stopped flapping his wings. He breathed heavily to return to a more relaxed state but found it troubling only a little. The air at this height was different, it wasn't as breathable and it made Zap make larger inhales than he was used to. What a workout. Flying was hard. As Zap lost focus of his body, and started looking around, he could see Cloudsdale in the distance but bigger and closer than he had ever seen it before. But they were flying towards what looked like a giant playground on a mountain top, full of obstacle courses and a rainbow river that poured from the industrial complexes from Cloudsdale above it. The buildings were all combed with clouds but the trees on the mountain still gave it that grounded feeling. There lots of other pegasus ponies there too, flying through loops and congregating with each other, many of them wearing flight suits. "Whoa! Where are we going? Is this where you live, Dashie?"
  9. Hippo
    The train began to slow down its chunking melodies and the whistle blew its signal that it would refrain its momentum. Applejack's train had met its destination. She had been to Mustangia before for apple-related business of course. But she had not been out this far down the tracks since she learned about her fillyfriend Coloratura set up out her during her rise as a famous pony musician in the pop music scene. Applejack was pressured to take a break. A long break. From her duties and from her family. It didn't make her feel too comfortable, and the leave from the farm to the train was one of the hardest goodbyes she had to make. Having full intent on returning, she was not a pony to venture too far from home for such a long period of time. Considering she was the only one who thought she should stay home, she made the trek to the southern peninsula against her better judgement. With her, she had a saddlebag, an old large suitcase only used on family vacations, and on her back she wore her trusty guitar, the same one her mother played on hundreds of moons ago. The train had come to a screeching halt, and out of the smoke from the engine, Applejack emerged from the train towing her oversized bag with her mouth, her expression being one of concern. She just wanted to make sure she walked off on the right station. Where was Coloratura? Or rather, where was her security?
  10. Hippo
    Zap loved spending time in his airborne mother's house. It was a change of pace. Farm living was what shaped his bring-up the most, but his pegasus nature could not be overlooked and a place that was basically a floating cloud appealed to the young winged pony's internal instincts. As a plus, there was no high chair! Zap was starting to grow, much to the surprise of all the older ponies around him. They always commented on how much he had done so. He was ready to move on though. Move on from the high chairs, and the strollers, and the leash. A makeshift leash made from traditional rope Applejack made in order to keep her flighty son from getting away on what she deemed mandatory walks. Emphasis on the walk. "Hm-hmm!" Zap agreed, as he finished the last of his applesauce and stepped off his cloud chair to walk around the kitchen. Zap knew his mothers had big plans for today, but he had always assumed that he would join them. He always did. Why would they have someone watch him? And who was this him? "Who is watching me?" As Rainbow Dash continued to quickly throw some of Zap's things in the living room for activities, she mentioned his name was Gallus. "Gallus?" Zap tilted his head and spoke with a little adolescent sass. "Is that one of the Wonderbolt reserves?" In truth he was thinking about Soarin, who had been a professional Wonderbolt for many years, but always appeared to Zap as much less competent than his mother. He had met him once during a Wonderbolt social event. As Dash flew around the rooms to gather material for him, he quickly got the feeling that he would be left out, and he did not like the idea of having somepony he didn't know watch him for an entire day, while his parents had fun without him. "But, Dashie." Zap knew Applejack as mom. And Rainbow Dash had gotten regulated to the cute shorter version of her name. But sometimes a Momdash would slip. "I don't want to stay here and be foalsat. I wanna go with you and Mommy." Suddenly he heard with his mother the descending flapping of wings followed by a confident knock on the front door. It didn't have the same familiar pound that usually would come from the hard surface of a horseshoe.
  11. Hippo
    Silverstream was relieved to see the bat pony she was curious on wasn't so abrasive to her invasion as much as the dark griffon close to him that seemed annoyed for him. "An areion. Wow! I haven't learned about you ponies at the school yet." Silverstream hovered up and held her talons to her cheeks in typical astonishment. "And your eyes! Your eyes are so so cool!! They're like... up and down!" She exclaimed as the bat pony drifted away from her towards the front of the line. The pink hippogriff zipped back to Gallus, which took her a few minutes to see where he had moved, which happened to be close behind. "Gallus, this is incredible. If I had known there would be creatures I had never seen before, I would have insisted we camp out together to get a good spot in front of all the different things to see!" Silverstream did not know how cider season was typically run. The moment she would find out about a second day, she would plan her entire evening around preparing for it. Applejack saw that the spigot was sputtering on the last barrel, as Apple Bloom poured the last drink. She hopped on top of the cider counter to get a good look at all the crowding ponies and griffons, and bat ponies, and whoever to soapbox her planned speech at this time of the day. "Alright ya'll. That's it for today. We knew we'd run out, and its that time that we ran out." She paused for expected groans. "But, with the help from a few friends, including my new best farm-paw over there helping me press apples, we should have plenty of cider to sell first thing tomorrah. Just give us tonight to make some more, and we'll be back to selling the best cider in Equestria!" Applejack hopped down and stayed nearby to receive any criticism to block any that would be unfairly directed at any other member of the family. Even though Apple Bloom would declare she could take it, Applejack would never want her to. Meanwhile, in the crowd of ponies, Granola was attempting to reach the front but failed to get closer enough to the orange mare who was addressing everyone. She would continue to stand close for an opportunity to talk with the apple orchard's future matriarch. Current fresh cider supply: 0% ((The day will reset in 7 days, on November 11th 12:00am UTC))
  12. Hippo
    Despite how friendly Silverstream was, the proposition for a kiss to seal the deal of the sale on a cart full of apples made Silverstream oddly uncomfortable. She would never be able to hold her emotion for expressing her affection for a close friend, unless it was a crush she didn't know how to handle yet. But she was typically the one to initiate this sort of affection. And it seemed so trivial but at the same time forced. "So, you want to kiss me?" Silverstream blushed. She had a hard time separating the concept between a strong earth pony like Applejack earning a hard bit, also having this strange incentive to adorn her customer's face with pony lip contact. And the more confused Silverstream got about it, the more infatuated she also felt. She awkwardly rubbed her neck and suddenly became nervous and anxious about getting a kiss. So this is what all of her friends must feel like when she squeezes them when they don't expect it. "Wh-wow. I've never been kissed before." She started to explain more informatively. "Well, except for my father, my mother, my brother, my three cousins from Seaweed Sector, Queen Novo that one time. Also I think I remember a stray fish I once kissed. I got a fish kiss. Have you ever gotten a fish kiss?" She continued to ramble, which served as a form of procrastination more than anything else. "It feels slimy, yet smooth. Kind of like a polished wet rock, except not as hard. Oh, did you know there are eighty-three different classifications of colored rocks in Seaquestria? There's blue, red, yellow, aqua-blue, green-blue, sea-blue, blue-blue, light blue and light-blue-blue, turquoise, and of course turquoise-blue..."
  13. Hippo
    Adults are just older kids.
  14. Hippo
    As Applejack saw the two student creatures fly away, she waved a happy goodbye. But when she turned to walk back to her stall to setup for the day's sales, she couldn't help but daydream about Gallus foalsitting Zap Apple. It just didn't feel right. But of course, if anyone who wasn't blood related was to watch the pegasus colt, it would feel strange. An entire life on the farm never required a foalsitter, so it was strange to Applejack that finding a sitter would even be required. But on the other hoof, Rainbow Dash was a different kind of pony who was brought up in a much more independent way. Applejack smirked at the idea of a young Rainbow Dash being supervised by a friend of the family. All of this was to suggest that on top of Applejack and Rainbow Dash needing a day together that didn't involve making sure Zap wasn't getting into trouble, it was probably best if she didn't worry so much about the livelihood of Zap with a sitter. Gallus was a young griffon who had a lot to learn. But all the same, he could be trusted to carry on a task that would honor his professors. His dedication in the classroom and with his friends proved that he could be trusted. Everything tomorrow would be fine, she thought, and Rainbow Dash will make sure Gallus has everything he needs to watch him for the day. Although, she hoped that Zap wasn't being fed something with sugar for breakfast.
  15. Hippo
    The hippogriff's feathered ears fell back at the unfortunate news that according to Applejack, the meal vouchers the students were given were completely worthless outside of the school's campus. Her smile left, too, her beak curling downwards to match the trajectory of her mood. As Applejack expressed her understanding that her customer had no real money, Silverstream looked down with embarrassment, thinking subconsciously about how she would have to explain this to the gang. But then, the apple mare gave her an out. Silverstream would have to earn the money used to buy the apples herself in the near future, and she would have to take a class on money. Things were looking up, and Silverstream was immediately pleased with this kind of deal. She didn't even want to be blamed for trespassing onto the farm but now she would have a work-related reason as to why she would come here to come across inevitable new discoveries. There was only one thing troubling the pink birdpony. "That's sound's fair, Professor Applejack. But um, I just have one question." Silverstream perplexed herself on the hearing of a phrase that seemed randomly thrown in by the earth pony. Could it have been a mistake? Does Applejack even make mistakes? "You said something about kisses on the cheek? Is that some sort of Ponyville expression?"
  16. Hippo
    As Smolder included herself in the conversation, Silverstream chuckled at the mentioning of the fiery library incident. It was funny to her, not only because it created a priceless moment involving Gallus that she would never forget, but also because Silverstream had gotten close enough to Smolder to no longer be weary of her abrasive attitude and had come to take the dragon's blunt tone of speaking as a personality quirk. Trying to overcome her own giggles, Silverstream added, "Yeah, hehe, all of us just decided to throw in a meal voucher in order to get these apples." Silverstream pondered. "You know, I never understood how Sandbar was able to get apples from the orchard without needing our vouchers. He comes to you, right Professor?"
  17. Hippo
    "Oh, the project went great! Gallus and I weren't sure if we should focus on the integral foundation of Appleloosa or the rise of Ourtown's individuality resolution. We ended up doing a presentation on Appleloosan society since there were more written accounts on the settlement. Plus, when trying to ask some of the school staff about Ourtown, I either couldn't find the ponies I was looking for or they seemed to not want to talk about it. Sugar Belle wasn't at the Ponyville marketplace like she usually is, and Councilor Starlight suggested we shouldn't do a project on Ourtown. She didn't say why." Silverstream shrugged, knowing only so much as to what the result of her findings were, while at the same time having little clue as to the context of such a circumstance. Silverstream reached underneath her right wing and pulled out six pieces of folded paper. "Um, I'm not sure how much forty bits is in meal vouchers." Silverstream put all six vouchers on the counter. Each of the vouchers had an identification stamp on them. One from Gallus, one from Smolder, one from Sandbar, one from Ocellus, one from Yona, and one from Silverstream herself. "Is that alright?" The students that came to the school were sponsored by their kind who enrolled them. The cost of their attendance to the school was often dealt with without the knowledge of the students as to how. They were given rooms and meal tickets and most other amenities at the school were provided to them. Silverstream was lucky to get any spending money from home as an allowance, but she wouldn't be sure what to do with the bits if she had them, or what they would be worth. Being in the royal family in Seaquestria already provided the situation of a young hippogriff not having experience with the use of currency. Tack on to that the lack of financial responsibility in a young student and you have a cute pink hippogriff unaware of the value things to buy and sell at. Gallus was rumored to be poor and without a family to lean on financially, but he also had meal tickets like any other student at the school. And so to Silverstream, she thought of herself as equals among her fellow classmates and hadn't thought of wondering what the going rate of a bushel of apples was. Sandbar probably knew.
  18. Hippo
    Applejack saw a lot of confidence in Gallus, obviously responding to the hints of hesitation in her own voice when she found out he would be the one to watch Zap all day tomorrow. But she knew when someone went too far promising things outside of their own range of ability. "Whoa, hold on there, Speedy. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I would really rather you just watch Zap. He's more than enough for most to handle, and if you're as good as you think you are, then this should be pretty easy. Maybe bring some homework to work on while you're watching him. I don't want any adventures at the cloudominium. The more boring it is, the better." Applejack chuckled. A yellow earth pony student walked up with two of her friends behind her. "Professor, we all finished our conversations to the marketplace ponies. Can we leave now?" This was Applejack's last class of the day and thus, the last class of the week. "Sure. Ya'll have a good weekend." She stated the same thing she always said at the very end of every single one of her lessons. "Be true to your friends and know when to help. But most importantly, be honest with yourself." A few ponies recited the saying with her before departing the marketplace, some of them running to the rest of their day's plans. Silverstream hovered up and landed next to Gallus and Applejack. "Oh, we can go? Gallus, lets go to the library, we can wait their for the rest of the gang. I need to do some extra research on the mechanics of sewing machines and how they work." Overhearing Silverstream's assignment, she was slightly perplexed, as sewing machine mechanics didn't seem like something Rarity would actually teach, even though she used the thing almost every day. "Rarity lectured on the inner workings of sewing machines?" "Oh, no. I already finished her assignment, an essay describing how not to act when entering a boutique for the first time. I just wanna find out how sewing machines work. They are so incredible!" Silverstream squawked her irrational excitement for the stitching gadget. "Um. Ok. Well. Tomorrow you can pick up the pie whenever you're available. Granny Smith will make the pie tonight so it'll be ready and she will also have instructions and a map on how to get to Goldie Delicious' place. Don't forget. And you, Gallus." Applejack leaned into the griffon's ear so he could catch the seriousness of her voice. "While me and Rainbow Dash are away, if you let anything happen to my sweet, adorable, treasured little colt Zap Apple, I cannot be held responsible for how I will react." She smirked as she said it, knowing full well it would strike a motivating fear in the griffon's mind. Silverstream responded with a happy nod. "Come on Gallus, lets go!" Silverstream started flying towards the school.
  19. Hippo
    Silverstream walked up once the grey pegasus had excused himself. She smiled as she returned Applejack's greeting. "Hey, Professor Applejack! Um, I need to fill this wagon up with some apples. I volunteered for snack duty for study group with my friends." Silverstream unhooked the hitch of the wagon off the collar she was wearing. Other than her shard of the pearl, it was strange for her to wear anything at all. But unless she wanted to airmail three times her weight in apples to the dormitory, she had to settle for a wagon that Sandbar lent her. Sandbar pulled the wagon with a typical pony girth, but the girth was too large for Silverstream. And instead of getting her own sized girth, she decided to get a well-fashioned collar to hitch the wagon to. It was a stylish thin black collar, a long toss comparison from the heavy duty plowing collar's many of the farming stallions wore around Equestria's countryside. She decided against the standard metal girth because she did not like the feeling of her wings being clamped by the cold steel ring around her waist. Also, Professor Rarity said she looked fabulous in the one she ended up wearing.
  20. Hippo
    A brown earth pony with green mane and tail walked down the path to Sweet Apple Acres. A typical journey she would make any other day to collect different resources from different farms for her botanical studies, the dusty path was now extra-trampled having seen the fresh hooves, paws, and talons from a plethora of four-legged beings gathering for a taste of the famous cider. Granola Gracie paused her leisurely canter upon seeing so many crowding around the entrance to the farm. "Cider season started today!?" Granola had completely forgotten about the annual cider season and that it was today that the Apple family would make an effort to process as much of the cold-pressed apple mash to make the perfect apple cider. The plan was that she would come by to introduce to Applejack a new breed of apples she discovered in order to see if it would pass the sales test. Not wanting to add to the madness, Granola tried to jump a peak over the crowd to see if she could find where Applejack was. It was likely even if she did, the orange mare would be too busy to deal with Granola's findings. And in truth, her findings could wait a day or two. But Granola's walk back to her tree shack in Whitetail was a far enough walk where she would rather just wait out the crowds. Like she was at a rock concert, she would slowly squirm her way towards the front. "Um, excuse me. Sorry, not trying to get cider, just need to get close. Don't mind me, I wont step on your tail, don't worry." Applejack was pleased with the response to the lucky few who were able to get their hooves on a mug of cider so far. Their smiles said it all. This was one of the few moments Applejack could relate to Pinkie Pie in searching for joy and happiness. She had tried so hard to perfect the process for apple cider making and it was very satisfying to her that she could create a drink to make ponies smile, almost like it was some kind of elixir. Prince Blueblood, having gotten a mug of cider, approached Applejack by the fence to tell her about the Prench vineyards and how she should visit them some time. He even implied that her down to earth farming nature could be blood-related with the ponies who grow the grapevines. "Oh, I don't know. Heh. I have a large extended family, but if they were really a distant cousin, I probably would have seen them at a reunion at some point. It's sounds like a great place for me to vacation to, but I can't imagine leaving the farm for more than a few days. If you get word of one of those grape ponies traveling around Equestria, you tell 'em to meet me here." Blueblood then made his way to Taira who was building up quite the sweat on the treadmill. As they made small chatter, Applejack noticed the reserve barrels were completely gone. They were down to their last barrel for the day. She sighed and swallowed nervously. It was going to happen eventually, but the cider would soon run out and customers were going to be upset. Since Taira seemed to be getting tired and his production wouldn't matter for the next hour or so, she spoke relief at the magical canine, "Alright Taira, you can take a break now." She even whispered to the wolf yokai information related to exclusive employee privileges. "There is a workers-only barrel of cider behind the broken treadmill. Help yourself to a cup." Current fresh cider supply: 2%
  21. Hippo
    The scarred unicorn pony had received her apples and mandatory kisses. And when she started to turn away, the hippogriff began to step up with her wagon behind her to be the next customer in line, her eyes closed as she gleefully trotted up to Applejack. But, right as she approached the apple stand a light grey pegasus walked in front of her and started talking to Applejack with no hesitation. Although the pony seemed cordial with Applejack, he also appeared overly nervous. Silverstream was just confused as to where he came from, as she was sure she was next after tempered unicorn. She scratched her head as she thought out loud. "Um, I'm confused. Was he ahead of me this whole time?" She honestly didn't know, and was unsure how to proceed. The line she was in wasn't all that long, but she had been waiting at least five minutes for the chance to dumb Ponyville's token fruit into her wagon.
  22. Hippo
    Silverstream's curiosity had soured the moment it spurred, as the stranger she inspected was disturbed enough to pull away. Just as he did so, the Chancellor walked by expressing his own perspective on the social blunder Silverstream would so commonly make. Although the role model would quickly get in line ahead of them, a line which lost it's meaning every second that passed. And the griffoness near the batpony was also outraged at her breach of conduct, calling her something she had never heard before. She would have to ask the elderly griffon about it later. She rubbed the back of her neck and looked away at the ground. She chuckled as she explained herself. "Oops, sorry. I just get so excited about things I've never seen before. I grew up in Seaquestria where we don't have many of the things that you can find on dry ground, and because I was born into a society trying to escape the Storm King, we never got many visitors either, especially a..." Silverstream looked around the batpony for a clue to the name of his kind, but she could not think of what it could be and she refused the obviousness in her head. "What kind of pony are you? Like a vampire pony or something?" She didn't think he was a vampire, but now that she said it out loud she started to notice the incredible length of the pony's fangs and began wondering if vampire ponies were actually a thing and not just a silly campfire story Gallus told her when they went camping not too long ago. Current fresh cider supply: 29%
  23. Hippo
    Zap was born in a barn to earth ponies. He spent a great deal of time inhaling the rustic air that blew through and around the apple orchard. And mother Dash was there, too. But almost like a visitor. Zap understood that his pegasus mom did not live where he lived, but he never knew why. His imagination might have brought him to conclude that Rainbow Dash never sleeps and thus never needs a place to lay her head. But that would be proven incorrect as a few times he saw her napping on a cloud, the same way Granny Smith did in a rocking chair, albeit with a little less grace. So the excitement in Zap Apple rose as he realized he was going to visit the place where she lived. Was this house a place where he could sleep? Where there toys there? "Oh. Kay." Zap muttered as he tried to ready himself for a high flight. He knew how hard this was for him, but he only needed to trust his mother to help him get to the destination. He started to flap his wings quickly, at first with irregularity and then consistently. He hovered slowly up and attempted to increase his speed upwards. He dared not look down, knowing that even if he doesn't fear heights, that he gets distracted by how excitingly far away the earth had become. He was able to flap his wings without strain by the time he could see the tops of all the buildings in Ponyville. Zap Apple started to grimace as he started noticing the tops of trees underneath him. His ascent would continue but at a slower rate.
  24. Hippo
    Shortly after speaking with Silverstream, the hippogriff fluttered to some of the marketplace tables to make conversation for classroom purposes. Meanwhile, Applejack had found Gallus return from his quick completion of his assignment, and asked him about helping Silverstream make a delivery tomorrow. The catbird's explanation of his agenda made Applejack pause. "What?" A short second of thought and she understood how this would come to pass. She slapped her hoof on her forehead, causing her hat to tilt back slightly before moving it back to its intended stylish position. "Oh! Pfft. So you're the one Fluttershy ended up asking." Applejack had no idea a non-pony would end up being asked to watch her little bundle of joy. It wasn't completely out of the question, but it was in her own context that a reliable pegasus student would end up accepting the responsibility of practicing motherhood or fatherhood. Applejack had experience dealing with griffon types through sales distributed to lands with higher griffon population, but her first real exposure to a griffon came when Rainbow Dash's old friend Gilda visited Ponyville. Gilda was trouble, and it made Applejack cease trusting any creature with talons for many months after the griffon stormed out of Ponyville at the expense of Rainbow Dash's feelings. As time went on, Applejack would learn to trust many creatures that inhabit Equestria and the adjacent nations in all their cultural differences. But she wouldn't be honest if she said she trusted them completely. "You know, don't take this the wrong way, Fledge, but I was kind expectin' one of Fluttershy's pony students." She cracked a friendly smile with the observation. "I guess she didn't have many pegasus ponies she could trust for the task, heh. But hey," she slapped Gallus on his back. "If Fluttershy trusted you enough to ask you, then that's good enough for me." Applejack had a small amount of apprehension related to Gallus being a foalsitter for Zap. But she was almost just as concerned for Gallus as she was for her son. Zap Apple had been getting to a more rambunctious age where his energy bar never seemed to deplete and his attitude was growing as fast as the breadth of his wings which were now allowing him to fly with relative ease. "You must have some experience watchin' little chicks, huh?"
  25. Hippo
    "Oh! Wow!" Silverstream was easily impressed by the sights of creation and collaboration. A simple tool invented by ancient earth ponies would even cause a paradigm shift in the hippogriffon's mind in the right context. Eventually, she answered Gallus' small talk. "I just decided to see what it was going to be like today over here. I didn't realize it was going to be this big of a deal. That must be the best drink ever! But I was in line way back there." Silverstream acknowledged the line had ceased it's integrity, but she was not about to suggest following the mob. Although she could be talked into making a dash for the front, if Smolder were here. She looked around at all the different ponies and creatures around her. Silverstream was very observant, and liked to creature-watch sometimes in the parks of Ponyville. The way others around her acted was all interesting to her. Suddenly, her eyes caught a glance at something she had never seen before. It was so disrupting to her, she had to blink a few times, rub her eyes, and look again with more focused vision aided by her talon on her forehead aiming her sight-line. What she saw was incredible. "Is that a pony? WITH BAT WINGS!?" Silverstream screeched happily. She flew towards the mysterious pony chuckling all the way. When she got closer to the batpony, while not making eye contact, she looked at his extremities. With disregard for personal space, she softly grabbed one of the batpony's wings and looked under it to examine his appendage. The customers were rabid. But with enough force, Applejack was able to get them to act at least a little bit civil. After a half dozen customers, Apple Bloom started getting into the swing of things, and the movement of cider was becoming routine. The customers were still overly excited though. Applejack couldn't blame them, the cider was darn good. But sometimes she wondered if her loyal patrons were more obsessed with the fruit than she was. As the pump was working as intended, barrels of cider were quickly emptying. As they emptied, Applejack would relay it towards the filling spigot that was piped from the press. As Taira's efforts were made, cider was slowly filling up a barrel. But as Applejack retrieved the next empty barrel, she could only set it aside as despite the canine's hurried gait, he filling faucet was still only beginning to fill the first barrel. She sighed, having known this would be the pace. "Yeah. we're going to run out today pretty fast. Taira, when we run out of cider, you'll just have to keep running past our sellin' window. The more time you put on the mill the more we'll be able to stock up for the next day. I may even help you too, if I can figure out what part I need to replace on that spare mill." Applejack maintained a calm pace as she trotted to other parts of the operation, and perhaps bucking some apples off a couple trees. Current fresh cider supply: 63%
×
×
  • Create New...