Apples Out and About and Other Warnings (BlueRiver)

[SteelEagle]

She checked her son for any unusual bumps and bruises. She checked him again She moved his mane around, she checked his eyes, you would swear she had heard that he had been dropped off of a mountain. It was all too much for Topaz, who slowly but surely melted away with 'Zappers' and 'Zappy' being useful pieces of information for later. Applejack for her part was soon content with the fact that there was nothing too wrong. "I think so," she replied to Ambrosia as she picked him up. Well, mostly fine. The question he asked made her question her abilities though. Despite all of the physical evidence being, fine, he sure did ask a weird question.

 

She cocked her eyebrow. "Uhh, no. Yer a pegasus," she made sure his wing feathers were all in place. "Though if ya were a zebra, Rainbow'd have a lot of questions for me, Ah'm sure. You'd still be the most handsome zebra ever, though," she laughed before making sure he was going to be fine as she transported him like a precious little foal to the cart. She nodded for Ambrosia to head into the cart before she hitched herself to it. "Who wants ta have some real lunch?" She asked, trying to move on from this horrifying, terrible, no-good injury. They'd had some snacks, but growing ponies needed real meals! 

[Blueblood]

Despite her real concern for her brother, the silly question he asked couldn't help but make her laugh.  Silly, silly big brother, with no stripes he didn't look anything like a zebra.  In fact, the only thing he had in common with zebras was that his name started with a Z.  Hm, that would make it pretty fun to say.  "Zappy Zebra!"  She called out delightedly, unthinkingly setting in motion the first prank Zap Apple would ever be the victim of by his friends at a sleepover, where they'd paint him with stripes.

 

But that was the future, the present was lunchtime.  "Yay, lunch!  I'm hungry!"  Apples never turned up to the table without an appetite, and petite cute unicorn she may have been, Ambrosia was still an apple through and through.

[Hippo]

After being placed in the cart, Zap resumed an uncomfortable sitting position as the cart moved away. He was mostly fine, but he was still a little off. When he heard his mother mention lunch, he blurted out instinctively, "I don't like cabbage," which was a thing his family already knew about him.

 

As he slowly gained his marbles back and put them in place, he started looking around from the cart he was riding in. He saw a flock of pegasus ponies flying above them. He laid back in the cart, and started daydreaming as he looked up at the flying ponies. After a moment, he closed his eyes.

 

And there he was, flying through a storm. The wind was violent, the lightning strikes always near misses. He dodged the storm's rage and traversed through the torrential weather pattern. Eventually, he tied up a dark scary cloud and kicked it into submission. He did it to another and another and another.

[SteelEagle]

 

Her mind wandered a bit, deciding just what it was they should eat. The responsible mother in her suggested some nice, healthy salads and fruits. Something healthy and kind to the body that would see the Apples through to the end of the day the right way. Of course, she wasn't always the most *responsible* mother of all time, simply the *best*, and being the best meant sometimes you shirked responsibility in favor of doing something everypony would like instead. And it was with that solid piece of parenting in her mind that she decided to instead take them to someplace they would like to eat, instead of someplace they should eat. "How about Haydonald Diner?" Applejack asked, her voice edging in excitement. Everypony who wasn't ashamed of eating some darn fine hayburgers and fries despite how sloppy they could get loved themselves some Haydonald Diner!

 

The diner was one of the busiest places in town. Applejack knew that it wasn't the fanciest places a pony could eat and that was probably the single greatest qualities you could ask for when you were eating with little fillies and colts. That, and she reckoned they would like hayburgers and fries more than the dainty stuff. Applejack hitched her cart to the outside and helped anypony out who needed it, making sure to inspect her colt in public for any more damage. Once inside she took a deep breath of the warm, warm air and nodded to a table nearby. "Take a seat and get comfortable. Whatcha wantin?" Shew asked, her own mind already settled on some old favorites of hers. She used to save it for aftr a rodeo or something else exhausting...but now it qualified as 'two kids in town' fare as far as she concerned, and she thought of it fairly.

[Blueblood]

Ambrosia was actually too young to remember clearly the last time she'd eaten at Haydonalds, but it was clear that momma was giving them a treat from her tone, so she gave a cute little "Yay, Haydonals!"

 

The funny thing was, as far as her tastes in food would end up developing, she would actually prefer fresh, non-greasy fare.  Heck, she even didn't mind cabbage, unlike her brother!... if it was raw.  Cooked cabbage was just stinky.  In fact, if Applejack was paying attention, she might want to persuade Ambrosia to get out of The Dress before they started ordering.  The tear at the school had been one thing, but getting sauce and grease stains all over it?  Both she and Rarity would not give her an easy time for that...

[Hippo]

 

Zap continued his acrobatic glides through the clouds, kicking them out one by one. Ahead of him, though, he saw a big cloud. He licked his lips and planned to pierce right through it. But when he got to the cloud, he thudded into it like it was a brick wall.

 

Zap sat up and looked around. He was at HayDonald's and his mother was trying to help him get out of the cart. He reached for her help and he was placed on the grass on all four of his hooves, a gentle dusting from his mother to fix his appearance. Zap was so good at pretending to not like things all day that he momentarily forgot how to react when he got to do something he enjoyed. "Mom! I want a hayburger!" Zap proclaimed more than he had asked. It was as if she didn't already intend for that to be his meal.

[SteelEagle]

 

Applejack nodded along with a smile. "A hayburger? Well, that ain't a bad idea, is it? Think Ah'll get somethin' similar," she said winking, as she leaned in and gave her son a kiss on his forehead. She then looked over at Ambrosia and pondered for a minute. "How about a grilled haybacon ranch salad?" She asked, trying to remember just what was the least Haydonalds item could be on the Haydonalds menu. she liked the older, simpler Haydonalds menu. Just Hayburgers and fries for her, thank. Now everything was getting to be so health conscious but this was Haydonalds! Why the heck did they have to make it so weird and complicated? She was becoming an older mare. Maybe Rainbow could russle up some clouds for her to yell at.

 

She stood up. "Amby, be careful with your dress. We don't want to get it too messy," she said as she looked at the line- thankfully, not too long. They came at the right time, right before the lunch rush. Timing! She trotted into line and ran through the order while her delightfully well-behaved and amazing children did well to not burn the place down. When the time was right, Applejack put her front hooves on the counter. "Howdy! Ah'll take one double hayburger, two foal's meal hayburger and hayfries with waters, an' a grilled haybacon ranch salad with an apple par-fay. Uhh, please," she ordered with a belated smile, taking her hat off to toss her mane. The younger mare behind the counter nodded and gave her the total, her receipt magiccally zapping onto the counter. Applejack fished out the bits- since when was everything so dang expensive?- and trotted to the side to wait for her family's food.

[Blueblood]

Amby clopped her little hooves together as Applejack suggested something that sounded great!  Haybacon was a rare weekend treat for breakfast, and she liked salad, and ranch!  "Yummy!  And I'll be careful, mama."  That was one thing about the filly, separate from the rest of the family, she always took great care to not be a messy eater.  Unlike Zappers.  Maybe she should scootch her seat some distance from him, actually; he kind of had a splash zone with anything especially greasy.

[Hippo]

Zap helped Ambrosia up to her chair to sit at a table while waiting for their mother to get the food. As he sat himself and waited, he leaned close to his baby sister and whispered, "Amby, I think if we are good, Mom will get us ice cream if we ask nicely." He winked, hoping she would understand the right time to do so. All Zap had to do was not break anything.

 

It was then he spotted the ball pit in the corner of the restaurant. It was for little ponies, Zap thought. Littler ponies than him. He had to be too old for it now. But the more he stared at it, the more he wanted to participate. The slide was short but sweet, and the other two young ponies playing in it seemed to be having fun. He unfolded his wings to take off for it...

[SteelEagle]

 

After what seemed like a bit too long for her liking, the young mare behind the counter finally summoned her. Applejack trotted up and took the tray. "Thank ya kindly-" she said as she looked it over, and noticed something was wrong. She needed it just right for her youngins. Still smiling she returned to the counter. "Hey, uhh, Ah don't mean ta be a problem, but this ain't what Ah ordered. Ah ordered one double hayburger, two foal's meal hayburger and hayfries with waters, an' a grilled haybacon ranch salad with an apple par-fay," she said as she put the tray down. 

 

The young mare behind the counter looked her up and down and got the sassiest little raised eyebrow of all time up. "Ya sure 'bout that?" she asked. She wasn't chewing gum but she should have been with how she looked at Applejack. "Yes, Ah'm sure. Ah didn't order one double hayburger, one foal's hayburger meal with milk, an a small ranch burger," Applejack responded, trying to keep her cool.

The young mare rolled her eyes. "...Okay, whatever. We'll make it again, thank you," she said, taking the trays in her magic and sassing off to sassland or wherever the heck it was young ponies like her got all that sass. Applejack felt an urgent desire to talk to somepony's mother, but reeled it in before got too far. No reason to get a manager involved just yet.

Applejack trotted back to her seat, muttering to herself all the way. "Ah swear when Ah was a teen nopony talked ta adults that way..." she said as she sat down, absent-mindedly giving her daughter a hug. Her natural motion was disrupted by the absence of Zap Apple however. "Where's yer brother?"

[Blueblood]

Ice Cream!?  A rare treat, but one which Amby had started to notice orange-mama being willing to indulge her in on several occasions.  Given that sweet and creamy things were entirely appropriate to a pretty filly with Princess aspirations, the good behavior inducement was enough to make her sit still and smile sweetly, even as the minutes without food stretched out longer and longer...

 

Well, as long as it wasn't too long, she could sustain herself on her own cuteness and familial affection, which came in spades from Applejack.  "Zappers went to the ball pit, mama.  Does that mean he doesn't get any ice cream?"

[Hippo]

Zap dove straight into the ball pit, swam through the plastic balls as if he was on some kind of secret mission to investigate the pit. The other foals in the pit noticed him and were surprised by him swimming around, not sure what he was doing. Zap stuck his head out at some point and looked back at the table his sister was sitting at, and Applejack had come back from the front counter. Zap assumed he was in trouble, only because he left his sister my herself. Though it wasn't for long, he thought for sure his mother would have something to say about it. All he could do is hope his sister didn't rat him out as soon as mom asked about where he was. He dove back underneath the balls in case his mother looked his direction.

[SteelEagle]

 

"Oh, if your brother wants ta play in tha ball pit he can play. Ain't nothing wrong with that," she said as she ruffled Ambrosia's mane before her eyebrow arched up. "Wait, ice cream? Who said somethin' about ice cream, you silly filly?" She asked as she leaned over to try and see her son play in the pit. From here she could only see a side view of the entrance, so once he was inside she couldn't really see him. No matter. She trusted that he wouldn't get into any trouble and if he did...well, ya know. She'd be here. Hopefully just waiting for that sassy filly up front to get her order right this time. "An' why aren't you wantin' ta play? Don't wanna play with the other fillies?"

 

High Bar was one of those fillies but she was perhaps the surliest little filly of them all. She was deep in the ball pit, on a little raised part that led deeper into the ball pit-slide set that made up the playplace of the Haydonalds. She dangled her bottom two hooves in the pit, kicking them back and forth and counting the seconds until she was allowed it. Imprisoned in a ball pit; what a world. She never wanted to go to the Haydonalds in the first place! It was a dirt-poor restaurant for dirt-poor ponies with no taste or sense of grace. She was sooo above this trash that the smell of the place made her want to vomit. And if she was home, it would be that simple.

 

But no, the bodyguard her father assigned to her during her time in Ponyville had different ideas. Apparently, he liked Haydonalds, or that's what she could gather from him stuffing his face in the corner seat of the playplace, ostensibly monitoring the area. She had done well enough to force down the junk that passed for food here and thought that would be the end of it. But as she watched him slowly eating and reading the paper, she had a sneaking suspicion that his excuse that she needed to socialize with ponies her age was little more than an excuse. Just a hunch.

 

It could be worse, she guessed. As surlky as she could appear to be and with as little enthusiasm as she had for being forced into a ball pit of anything, she didn't mind the fillies and colts all that much. Sure they were country rubes and all, but she preferred simple and smiling over fast-talking and backstabbing. She was sure there were tons of others out there, but her experience was limited. And speaking of limited experience, Zap's last dive sent a few balls careening towards her. She used her magic to stop some of them, but failed to stop it entirely. "I see you're just full of it today, Zap," she said as she smiled at the colt. What he was full of, she'd leave to him. "See the pegasi earlier?"

[Blueblood]

Oh, so this wasn't a "Wait like a good filly for mama" place, this was a "go and play with the other fillies" place?  Sometimes grown-ups could forget that little foals didn't always know the difference.  Although, to be fair, Ambrosia was the rare filly that naturally erred on the "wait for mama" side.  But if playing wouldn't risk ice cream priviliges, why not?  The fact that no such privileges had actually been offered by mama were secondary.  She could see a stallion eating ice cream some tables over, along with other things.  And, if you brought a little foal to a place that served ice cream, ice cream there would be.  QED.

"Can I go play, mama?"  Once the inevitable OK was given, she would happily hop down to go and join her brother, though she didn't dive into the ball pit alongside.  Instead, she was drawn to the surly-looking filly on the edge, who surely needed a dose of her own cuteness to cheer her up.  "Howdy!  I'm Ambrosia!"  She said, beaming in a bright and freckled way that had never failed before to turn a frown upside-down!

[Hippo]

In an attempt to cover any evidence of his presence by the balls, Zap heard the snark from the filly close to him. "Ugh. I'm tryin' ta...  SHHHH!" Zap exclaimed in a whisper. He was then curtailed in his frustration again. "Grrr. No! I didn't see the pegasi today, no thanks to my mom! We've been too busy walking around Ponyville slowly, looking at dresses and buying things I don't need." He poked his head out a little just in time to see his sister trotting close to the pit. "Chu- Mmaa...  Amby don't come over here!"

[SteelEagle]

High Bar gave a false pout at his answer. "Aww, what a shame. They were really cool. I bet little wings like you really look up to them, right?" Shen answered sweetly, her words dripping with sachharine ruthlessness that was hard to argue with. "Maybe one day they'll let you...I dunno, at least watch them. Can't hurt to dream, right?" She asked again, this time dropping one of the balls on his head with her magic. Uggh, pegasi. She didn't dislike them as much as she was annoyed by their bird brain antics. Always trying to show off and be super cool when they were totally not cool. Who would want to fly around and get stinky when you could just walk in nice, perfumed air with a cool horn? They should just try harder. Especially the colts. Gross.

 

What was certainly not gross was his little sister, a cute little unicorn just like High Bar, except smaller and more high pitched. Well, at least one good thing came trotting out of that smelly old farm in smelly old Ponyville. High Bar knew the filly by reputation more than anything else, having caught glimpses of her while in town and hearing about her whenever Applejack was out in the market. And by hearing about her, Bar meant the Apple mom wouldn't stop talking about her filly and colt even when all you wanted was a discount on apples. So maybe High Bar had it in for them, just a bit. "Oh, hey there, Ambrosia. I'm High Bar. Your horn is super cute, by the way," she said as she used one of her back hooves to push the colt away and into the sea of the ball pit.

[Blueblood]

Ambrosia was going into this conversation almost certain she'd come out of it with a new friend.  Mostly this came from the unspoiled innocence of a young filly, though being raised as the child of two of the Elements of Harmony would have something to do with it!  Anyway, she was sure that the two of them had things in common they could bond over, like how cute their horns were and how stinky colts could be sometimes.

"Thank you!  Yours is too!"  If there was any latent hostility coming from High Bar, Amby seemed utterly oblivious to it as she trotted up to the edge of the ball pit.  She giggled a bit, watching Zappers flounder in the balls.  "Is your momma here?  Mine's right over there!"  She pointed at Applejack over at the table, before looking around the restaurant to see if she could spy the family of her new friend-to-be!

[Hippo]

Zap's feathers were being rustled. And even though he knew that High Bar was just being antagonistic and passively insulting, he couldn't get over the way it made him feel. He was not old enough to be the bigger pony, and even if he was, he takes after his pegasus' mother's ego. "Hey, I can go see the pegasi right now, my mom just wont let meeEEE-yaa!" Zap fell back into the ball pit from the light touch from the unicorn filly. His legs and wings were not positioning himself in a stable manner, and he flailed in the pit for a few seconds because stabilizing himself. By then, his sister was laughing at him. "Amby, don't listen to her, she's mean!" Zap did no favors to his defending against High Bar as his face and attitude were well underneath the two fillies' grace and cordial posture.

[SteelEagle]

Ambrosia's sweetness was well received by High Bar. She may be a little deceitful and a bit of a bully, but nopony could take too much advantage of a sweet little unicorn like Ambrosia too much. And for now, why would she want to? "Aww, thanks. Yeah, one time I chipped it back home and my dad got sooo mad that he spent, like, ten thousand bits making sure it was fixed and polished right. I even got this cool little engraving it, some sort of runic thing for protection," she said, leaning in to show off her horn with a little showmareship. She liked the sister. "I think it's pretty neat that our horns are so pretty and capable, don't you?"

Besides, it helped distract her from the stinky colt.
"My mom's back home. I'm here with my bodyguard," she said, pointing at the large stallion who was now laughing at the comic strips in the paper. "Cause I'm super important, pretty cool right?" She said as she gandered at the floundering Zap Apple. "As if I'm mean. I'm super nice. You're just being a dramacolt," she said as she picked up another ball and dropped it on him. "I thought colts liked to play?"

[Blueblood]

Hearing High Bar talk about chipping her horn caused the big-hearted Ambrosia to wince in empathy.  "Owwie!"  She exclaimed, almost as if she had felt the pain herself.  But, her mind quickly slotted back to what was the more important topic for her, family.  "You have a daddy?  I have two mommies, but the blue one acts like a daddy lotsa times.  Sometimes momma even calls her that!"  The walls in the Apple house were wood, and not always the best insulated...

 

Speaking of family, her floundering brother brought out a pang of sororal sympathy, though she felt he was being unfair.  "She's not bad, you just need to be nicer!"  She did love her brother, but it was obvious to all and sundry that he just didn't know how to deal with fillies.  Not that most colts did in her opinion.  Still, she did have to speak up on his behalf, her horn lighting up to catch the ball before it bopped Zappers on the head, "Momma says its not nice to throw stuff at other ponies they're not ready to catch."

[Hippo]

To avoid detection from his mother, and to remove himself from the filly conversation that seemed to lead down the path of humiliating him, he dove into the pit and swam beneath the balls, displacing them wherever he went. He could not avoid true detection, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that he felt concealed. Sneaky. Like a shadow. Invisible. Like a pony shark. In truth, he didn't remember why it was so important for him to avoid detection from his mother. He assumed he would be caught doing something he wasn't supposed to, he supposed, a classic default position of mentality for a colt like Zap. During his short swim, in which he could be heard humming involuntarily, he noticed the tail of High Bar in front of him, and decided to do the only thing that came to mind. He tugged on it real hard.

[SteelEagle]

Applejack had waited quite a while for the food to be fixed, but finally it was. The teenage filly behind the counter couldn't help but roll her eyes somewhat fiercely when she returned, smile wide on her face, she stomached the filly's attitude as best she could. She quickly returned to her seat and took a breath. Her foals were having fun in the ball pit with some other little filly. It would be okay if she just ate a little while in peace, right? Ain't nothing wrong with that...

 

She looked at the colt and tossing the ball at him seemed like the best use for him. In her experience colts were generally stinkier than they needed to be, crasser than they needed to be, and more rough than they needed to be. She didn't have to deal with that last part very often- that's what the hired help was for, after all- but this little eatery smelled and sounded in all the ways to confirm her thoughts. So when Ambrosia caught the ball and defended her brother, all that High could do was roll her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought he was paying my attention. Good sticking up for your brother. Hey-" she turned to say a very half-hearted sorry to the colt, but he was long gone. "...in any case...two mommas must be good. Less belching I hope. Its why I like my mom more," she leaned in conspiratorially even as Ambrosia still held the ball, "...which one do YOU like more? Momma-momma or momma-dadda?" She asked with a grin that spoke to her love of gossip- and no small amount of mocking such a rural way of referring to one's parents.

 

Before she could have her answer though, she was pulled into the ball pit by her tail, a quick shot of pain causing her to yelp as she was submerged in the ball pit in what was clearly the most vicious assassination attempt in the history of all colt-filly relations! She was lost in the ball sea, thrashing and kicking before she regained herself and her head popped up at the top of the pit, not far from where she had once been sitting- starring daggers at the EVIL colt who had touched her beautiful tail!

[Blueblood]

The trouble with descending to the level you thought other ponies were is that, often enough, you ended up a good deal below where they actually were.  All that talk of 'momma-momma' and 'momma-dadda' left poor Amby a little confused, but she got the general gist.  High Bar was asking her to pick a favorite parent!  Now, of course, the right and proper answer was that she loved them both equally.... but just as each parent would secretly have a favorite foal, each foal would secretly have a favorite parent.

 

Or, in Ambrosia's case, not-so-secretly.  Leaning in with obvious conspiratorial intent, she pointed at the orange mare now digging into her hayburger.  "That momma."  She whispered in a low, hoarse voice, before suddenly seeing her interlocutor disappear beneath a splash of colorful spheres!  Unaware of her brother's meanie maneuver, she giggled, thinking this to just be the playfulness of her new friend, as she dived in after her with a gleeful, "Wheeee!"