[Sweet Apple Acres] Sweet Apple Rustler

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Kira had flown for miles, past rivers and mountains, through deserts and forestsâ€â€Âshe had no idea the world was so big. One day, she came upon a curious town. It was full of ponies, and she had sneaked around near it's edge to get a better look. No one had seen herâ€â€Âso she hoped. They were peculiar, living in houses rather than caves. Practical, she supposed. Her parents had told her stories of houses, which were much like caves but had walls on all sides, and something called a door to enter and exit rather than just a gaping hole. There were even some Griffins who built houses, so she'd heard, but she had yet to meet one outside of her family.

After watching them for a long enough time, she made her way to a forest near the town's edge. It looked a bit creepy, but Kira had never met a creature she couldn't handle. Well, except for Dragons. Her brother had always been a handful when they had staged fake battles. She decided to take a nap until it was dark, when that was the best time to hunt.

She flew out from the trees, surprisingly quiet for her size. Her wing beats mixed in with the sounds of crickets and frogs as she flew silently over the town. She flew higher, searching below for something that would be good to eatâ€â€Âthat was when she spotted it.

Several rows of trees, seemingly arranged in a pattern. She swooped down to investigate, nimbly landing in the midst of the trees. She glanced down at home claw, which had pressed something down into the earth. She picked it up, sniffing it. The sweet smell taunted her, and she took a bite. Crunchy and delicious, the first taste of an apple filled her mouth. Dropping it on the ground, she flew up into one of the trees. It contained several apples, and glancing over she saw that every tree was the same. Her eyes widened at the abundance of food, perhaps she could stay here for awhile...

But for now, the apples on the particular tree she was in were calling her name, and she began to gobble down the apples of Sweet Apple Acres.

[Manestream]

Applejack yawned to herself, blinking away the few morning tears that huddled around the sleepy feeling in her eyes. It wasnt yet dawn, the light of Celestia's work still a while off; the morning twilight just beginning to bleed through the darkness on the edges of the horizon.

Twilight.

Yawning again, this time longer, Applejack paused in her tracks long enough to rub a hoof over her features. Maybe she should spend some time with Twi today, stop by after morning market to say hello. She could just about swear on horse feathers that if books came with food that Twilight would never leave her home for anything. "Might do some good to drag her aroun' town some," Aj muttered to herself sleepily. Shaking the cloudy foggy mist of sleep from her head, and with a smaller, meeker yawn, she continued on her morning path through the trees of Sweet Apple Acres to where she left her apple cart. Applejack looked around, not seeing the applecart that she was certain she'd left here yesterday. Perhaps she'd been dozing while walking a little too much? Perhaps she had passed the cart already, or tucked it under a tree and thoughtlessly forgot.

Applejack gave a mighty sigh for her frame. "Oh horsefeathers. How could I lose a whole cart?" Deciding she'd gone too far, she turned to backtrack when she stepped on a curious apple. It was curious because it had been half-eaten and then discarded. Big Mac and Applebloom were above such wastefulness unless they found a worm or the apple to have gone rotten- but neither were the case. Who would bite into an apple, then just leave it here?

Applejack looked down at the apple for a moment, then looked up to see where it had fallen from.

And saw only the dark shapes of leaves and apples, stirring with the morning air as it woke and rustled through the orchards.

"Hmm." Applejack looked back down at the apple, and decided to leave it for critters that sometimes passed through. It was probably Scootaloo, or one of Apple Bloom's friends. Talking out loud to herself, she returned to her search. "Now, where did I put that cart...."

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Kira had been dozing in the tree after eating her fill the night before. She was sure to climb high enough and hide herself well enough among the leaves that it would be unlikely anyone would see her. One would think a creature of her size would be unable to hide in a simple apple tree, but Kira was a master of hiding.

No one had come to stop her the night before from eating the delicious redâ€â€Âwell, whatever it was. She'd never seen one before, but anything that tasted good had to be food. It was the philosophy she had grown up with. She knew rocks weren't good to eat, because they didn't taste good. She knew that branches and grass were for bedding, not eating, because those things didn't taste, or even smell, good either.

Since the food was unguarded, it was free for the taking. If one wanted to keep something, one had to guard it or lose it. But there was no one around, no one at allâ€â€Âuntil that morning.

Kira's keen ears picked up the sound of someone's voice even in her sleep. She opened her eyes, not yet lifting her head so as not to disturb or shake any part of the tree. She glanced down, tilting her head ever so slightly, and looked straight at an orange pony, who was peering into the tree. She held her breath, not moving a muscle.

She watched as the orange pony walked awayâ€â€ÂShe hadn't been discovered, she sighed with relief. She crawled out onto one of the branches, watching the pony as she made her way across the field full of trees. Kira glanced up, noticing a rather large red building that she hadn't seen the night before. It must've been where the orange pony livedâ€â€Âbut it was larger than most of the other buildings in town, she thought.

She crept out a little further on the branch, having lost sight of the pony. But, as she did so, she heard a cracking noise. She felt the branch wobble and then snap. There wasn't room for her to spread her wings and escape the oncoming ground, so she leaped from the branch, tucking and rolling along the ground until she stopped moving.

[Manestream]

Still rubbing the sleep from her eyes and face Applejack made her way with a sullen irritated frustration at loosing an entire cart. "Ooooh Caaaaart?" She sang in a tired voice to the frigid morning air, "come out, come out where ever you-"

SNAP!

The sleep and wobbly gait Applejack had been wearing like the remnants of her cozy warm bed flew off as Applejack leapt with surprise at the the split in the morning air. Her ears and frame perked with attention.

"...are?"

Suddenly feeling very not alone, she slowly spun around to see what kind of early-morning body might have made such a fuss. Somepony was in the orchard with her, and by the sound of it, they were right where she had been. Thoughts flooded her head while her senses drearily began working quicker. Could it be Big Mac? she thought quickly. He wasn't the one to play pranks... not since he was a colt, and even then it was usually taking her hat from her. No no, it couldn't be Big Mac, she would have seen him. Applejack felt the hair on her coat raise as a shiver shot up her spine. Could it have been Apple Bloom? Or could it be...a ghost? Applejack felt her legs tremble a moment at the thought-

Ah horse-feathers!, she thought to herself. She was being ridiculous! Gettin' so worked up about a whole bunch a' nothin! She was gettin' more worked up than Rarity findin' a loose stitch in one of her dresses. Applejack gave a loud snort, hoofing at the ground to regain her composure. It was just early and dark out. Maybe somepony was just lost, or maybe- somepony was hurt! Shaking the thoughts from her head like leaves caught in her mane, she calmly, but with perhaps a bit of caution she didn't want to admit, returned to the source of the sound. Then it hit her.

The half-eaten apple! There WAS somepony in the orchard! AJ's eyes narrowed with realization, and distaste. Reaching up with a hoof, she settled her lucky hat down over her mane and ears. It was time for herdin'. She had a no good dirty thieving apple-napper to catch! Stamping the ground and dragging her hoof, giving another, louder snort into the early twilight air, she lassoed the building excitement and desire for swift justice, then bolted into a gallop back towards the origin of the sound. Charging along, taking in a deep breath she shouted into the orchard:

"YEEEEEEHAAAAAWWWW!"

Leaves and dust and apples flew by as she whirled around the few apple trees between her and her destination. Just as she came around the last trunk at top speed, she felt her yell catch in her throat- where she thought to find rabbits, or a no good-thief she found a pile of black feathers, with eyes and a beak where the legs should have been, white legs where the head should of been, and it was big. Oh sweet Celestia, I was wrong! It is a monster! Applejack's legs froze up and she dug them into the ground. Scrambling in a wild mass of flailing she tried to turn around and run away, but she'd had too much momentum, her panicked legs caught on one another, and she found herself tumbling over the ground, landing muzzle-first at the foot of the creature. If Applejack's eyes had been emeralds, they would have been large enough to make Rarity faint. Just inches from her own, another set of green eyes stared back back at her. For a moment she didn't know what to say as she searched the other creature's expression, her own heart beating frantically against against her frame. Then, the perfect words for the situation came to her.

"AaaaaaAHHHHH!"

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Kira groaned just a bit, trying to feel if anything was broken. She heard the pounding of hoof beats on the grass, and opened her eyes just in time to see the orange pony tumble towards her. It stopped, just inches from her own face. Kira blinked once, taking in the situation.

At the pony's cry, she leaped up, jumping backwards and flapping her wings a couple of times in surprise. She'd nearly forgotten that she might be hurt, in her haste, but nothing felt broken. She quickly size up the pony, and decided that, even though she looked smaller and mostly defenseless, she wasn't going to take any chances.

Kira took several step backwards, putting distance between them. Her body crouched low to the ground, taking a defensive position in case of attack. Her wings spread out ever so slightly, giving her an appearance of being larger than she was. Her white tail flicking back and fourth through the air. She paced back and fourth watching her new opponent. This pony was not so large. She did not appear to have claws of any sort. Kira could take her on, easily. Perhaps it was time for her combat training to come into play.

She waited for her opponent to make her move.

[Manestream]

Realizing the shock of the encounter had caught both parties off guard Applejack scampered to her feet. It was hard to make out with all the blur of movement and early morning dim-light just who, or what she had run into; but AJ recognized the dark feathery mass. Beak, feathers, wingspan- yup- this was must be a griffin! Applejack hadn't seen too many of them day; but he wasn't born on a barn- well; not figuratively anyway. Thoughts of Gilda rushed into her head and she couldn't help but narrow her eyes with suspicion. That Gilda had been bad news. Callin' her apples rubbish the last time she was in town- was she back for more? Yes, that had to be it, that dark sillhoutte was Gilda, and here she was stealin' the apples she was badmouthin! Oh lemme at her! AJ thought as she snorted testy-hot breath into the morning air.

"Havn't had enough, eh Gilda? Gotta come back and steal mah apples too, now? Well you can just git! Rainbow Dash ah rightly had enough of you, and Ah rightly agree, too!"

Applejack noticed that the griffin was hunkering down, and looking a something mighty threatening. She was a bit surprised, and dismayed for a moment, remembering that griffins had claws- but she wasn't about to let her pride, or her farm get walked all over on by some upstart selfish griffin! Lowering her head, she dug at the ground, dragging her hoof as she snorted, as if ready to charge, letting the griffin know she meant business too!

"Last chance Gilda! What're you doin' here, and why are ya stealin' mah apples if you dislike them so much?!"

[MyLittlePonyTales]

At the pony's mention of a "Gilda" Kira cocked her head slightly. Who was Gilda? The pony must've been mistaken. Either that, or she was just plain crazy, yelling out names and other words Kira didn't know, namely "apples" and "stealin'". This was a different place from Raptorclaw, with all sorts of new sights, sounds, smells, tastes... perhaps these words were related to something Kira knew about...But she couldn't be sure unless she asked.

She saw the pony dig her hoof into the ground and lower her headâ€â€Âshe was itching for a fight. Though why, Kira couldn't quite figure out. If there had been only one tree, Kira would have probably eaten her fill and left, so as to avoid a fight like this. But with so many trees, why would someone choose to fight over this one when they could've gone off and eaten from another one? Though, Kira didn't know how a pony could get apples from a tree so high up. Sure, there were plenty on the ground, but those were not nearly as good and nothing to fight over when there were so many.

Then again, perhaps it was just a misunderstanding about this "Gilda". The light was dim, but brightening, and it was only her good night vision due to her species that allowed her to see the pony more clearly. But a mistake wasn't enough for her to let her guard down.

Scraping one front set of talons across the earth a few times, she replied to the pony's accusations. "I don't know who this Gilda character is, but it's sure not me. And I don't know what else your problem is, but if you're looking for a fight, I'm ready."

[Manestream]

The morning twilight brightened as Celestia's first rays broke over the top of the apple orchard, lighting the tops of every tree with morning glow. Applejack didn't even notice; all her attention was on the apple rustler Gilda in front of her. Or, well, she had thought it might have been Gilda.

"I don't know who this Gilda character is, but it's sure not me. And I don't know what else your problem is, but if you're looking for a fight, I'm ready."

Screwing her expression into a gaze of apprehension and semi-doused suspicion, she considered the griffin in front of her. She didn't sound like Gilda, at least, not that she remembered of the rude bundle of feathers. As the morning light broke through the trees she saw that the griffin was indeed telling the truth; her feathers were of a completely different color, a black and white mix instead of the dusty browns Gilda had sported. Giving up her charging stance, she slowly lifted her head to turn it quizzically to the side, lookin' over the strange occurrence before her. "Ah, well, yer right, yer not Gilda are ya?" Unsure of what to think now, having a strange griffin in her orchard at night, hiding in trees to leap out as soon as she left, it certainly sounded like an apple rustler, but she'd never really had an apple rustler other than the occasional mischievous rabbit or deer. Still wary, she eased her guard, but still remained a little suspicious.

"What are you doing here so early? If'n ya wanted ta buy an apple, ah'll be settin' up shop in town in just a few more flicks of a tail, or we can help you over at the barn, but leapin' out'a trees-" Applejack looked at the broken limb behind the Griffin with a frown "-and breaking them, is generally something we don't allow anypony, or eh- Griffin for that matter, ta do."

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Seeing the pony back down, a suspicious low growl escaped Kira. It could always be a trap. However, she raised her head and drew her shoulders back in a less threatening manner, still remaining acutely aware of her surroundings. It seemed to be a simple case of mistaken identity that had caused the initial hostility from the other party.

Another thing was that this pony talked kinda funny. Sure, she'd never heard another pony talk before...Heck, she'd never even met a pony before. But in addition to speaking so strangely, she used a lot of words that Kira didn't quite understand, and for that matter, had never heard before. Her tone was firm, and perhaps still a bit hostile. The accent, combined with various words Kira had never heard, made it hard for her to follow.

"Well...I slept up in that tree last night." she indicated with a claw. "Y'know, had a snack, took a nap kinda thing. I didn't know that branch wouldn't hold me, heh. Not a lot of trees where I come from. But, uh, I don't quite see what you mean about not being allowed to break allowed to break it. It's just a tree."