MLP FIM Season Three Episode Five Part One

Episode 5: Mad Hatter' Applejack!



Crickets could be heard chirping as the scenery of Apple Acres was lush as ever. After Starlight's first full week of school, and staying with Twilight, as planned, it was now Applejack's turn to watch over the small colt, and she was excited as ever. While there was Big Macintosh, she considered the little pony like a brother to her family, just as much as she considered Applebloom a sister to her's...although they were more genetically related. Either way, she was happy to have another growing colt around the farm, excited at all the stuff she had personally planned on teaching him. As Starlight continued to snooze the rest of the night away, sleeping on the red leather chair in the living room and a small blue blanket, the two Apple-sisters both leaned to the sides, looking at him somewhat excitedly before giggling to each other.



"Ready when you are!" Applejack whispered to Applebloom, plugging her ears while lowering her head. Applebloom chuckled silently before grabbing a blow-horn, taking in a deep breath before blowing into it.



*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!*



"AHHHHH!" Starlight suddenly yelped in fright, the jump alone causing him to fall off the couch with a thud. "Ow..." He moaned, rubbing his forehead a bit.



"Up and at 'em!" Applejack announced, standing firmly in the middle of the room. Starlight yawned sleepily as he rubbed his eyes, Applebloom standing up proudly next to him.



"Huh?" Starlight asked confused, still with half-opened, sleepy eyes.



"Rise an' shine there, Starlight! Time for work!" Applejack stated, walking over to the front door as Applebloom followed right behind. Starlight raised a brow though, never having to get up this early before.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



"Alrighty then! Everypony ready?" Applejack questioned, looking back at the too. Currently, the trio were now in the barn itself. Attached to them in a saddle-like position were two wooden buckets each, all of which were meant for one obvious thing: Apple pluckin'. Naturally, Applejack's buckets' were much bigger, given her older age and size, while the two younger ones had buckets just fit for their size. It was still a bit of confusion for Starlight, however. He never really was used to getting up this early in the day time, never even being up before the sun rose in the morning. And he found it an even bigger mystery as to how the two apple-ponies could possibly be up at a time like this.



"Ready!" Applebloom said enthusiastically, looking to Starlight after. Starlight's eyes continued to droop more and more, even yawning as the seconds went by. He appeared to be having more trouble simply trying to keep his head up, but surprisingly managed to stay standing. He only gave a slight nod as he looked up to her.


"Why-" he paused briefly to yawn again, "why are we up so early?" He asked.



"Early mornin' early working! Apple family tradition to wake up early before shine', get more work done through the day and more time to relax later!" Applejack explained professionally, walking to the front of the line that was formed. "Al'right y'all! Let's moooooove out!" Applejack declared, marching somewhat army-style as Applebloom walked behind her through the barnyard doors. She even started a small army-style chorus as they did. "Ah don't know what it's been told-"



"Apple pluckin's never old!" Applebloom said happily, singing alone.



"We don't stop until we're done-"



"Or until we're dead and gone!"



"Sound off-"



"One, two!"



"Sound off-"



"Three four!" Applejack shifted her eyes back briefly as she paused in the song.



"C'mon Starlight, you sing along! Sound off-"



...



"Ah said Sound off-!"



... Applejack began to furrow her brows for a few seconds before coming to a stop.



"Company, halt!" She said firmly, clacking her hooves' together as she stood straight. Applebloom jerked somewhat forward from the present halting, but managed to stop before walknig into Applejack. As Applejack looked to the back of the line, she let out a grunted-sigh as she rubbed her forehead. Apparently, Starlight, still not entirely used to the whole "early-hours" wake up calling, took it upon himself to fall asleep right inside the barn where he stood. Surprisingly, he was still standing where he was earlier, despite the fact he was sleeping. Applejack simply moaned a bit irritantly to herself before walking over to him, megaphone in-hoof. Once she reached him, she cleared her throat quietly, planning to shout into the megaphone, but at the same time,  assured to maintain a quiet, gentle, voice...or not...



"WAKE UP PRIVATE! YOU CAN'T WORK SLEEPING ON THE JOOOOOB!" She shouted into it, causing a ringing vibration to echo around. The sudden wakeup call was enough for the small alicorn to yelp from frieght,  quickly bursting from his spot as he shot forward like he usually did when he was frieghtened, leaving the glowing trail behind him.



*CRASH!*



It took no more than three seconds before this sound was heard. Then again, upon an entire apple orchard, it wasn't surprising that he smacked into a tree within only a few seconds, landing face first into it. Interestingly enough, the impact was forceful enough to shake the entire tree, causing all the apples to fall carelessly to the ground, but surprisingly all landing in the bucket, much to Applejack's surprise as she scratched her head, and Applebloom, either more surprised by the sudden dash he took off in, or the fact he managed to knock down an entire tree's worth of apples into his bucket. Either way, the end result stayed the same as he almost instantly fell back asleep, sliding down the tree to the ground, and snoring soon after.



"Huh...guess he can work while sleeping on the job..."





My Little Pony...


My Little Pony...


Aaah aah aah aah...


(My Little Pony)...


I used to wonder what friendship could be...


(My Little Pony)...


Until you all shared its magic with me....


Big adventure...


Tons of fun...


A beautiful heart...


Faithful and strong...


Sharing kindness...


It's an easy feat...


And magic makes it all complete...


You have My Little Pony...


Do you know, you are my very best friends...





  "Heads up!" Applejack shouted out, kicking back aganst the latest tree. The apples fell accordingly all at once, but fortunately, the two little helpers managed to catch them all in each of their buckets, only a few here and there rolling out. Although Applebloom was ready, willing, and able, Starlight was currently the opposite of the term, as he was more along the lines of exhausted, grumpy, and slow. It wasn't so much as his fault for his current foul mood or crankinesss, but as hinted by the somewhat shadey wrinkles under his eyes, he was dead beat tired.



It couldn't be said that it was uncommon for a new pony around Ponyville, esspecially one that started work at a farm. But he was dead beat tired! Not once in his life, or at least his new life in Ponyville which wasn't saying much, he's never had to wake up at practically 5 in the morning, never even being up before the sun was before. In addition to this, he didn't really get the chance to have breakfast either.  It's not so much that they "skipped" breakfast, but like the rest of the Apple family traditions, the family had a quick five minutes to eat before work started. Unfortunately for Starlight, he barely managed to stay awake at the table as it was, actually passiong out from sleep temporarily until his head fell into the bowl of cereal, instantly waking him up again.Yet, before he could even take a bite, he was already pulled away from his meal as it was time to get to work.



Getting back on track with things, said events and numerous causes were the result of the small colt seen now. He was doing the best he could to stay awake for the most part, but with each drozy nod his eyes got a tiny bit more bloodshot, eyelids got a bit more heavier, and his winkles appeared a bit more winkly, although, that was more likely a result of the previous two results. Even with this, his exhaustion became more and more apparent by the minute, like how his wings started to slouch to the ground more and more, and his posture was slightly leaning closer to the ground by the minute. Still, he had a job to do, and he was determined to see it through, even if it kills him; which at this point of exhaustion and reasonability, he was hoping towards more and more.


Meanwhile, Twilight hummed casually to herself as she walked down towards the farm, carrying her saddle bag on her left side. She smiled to herself as she entered the acres, planning to look for Twilight to start her lessons. While she wasn't in charge of Starlight for the week, it was her turn to start teaching him some magic this week, and she was a bit excited for it to say the least. She never had anypony to teach as her own personal pupil before, and strangely enough, she found humor in the point it made her feel like Princess Celestia when she was still directly teaching her. She was so caught up in her thoughts, she didn't even notice the log she suddenly tripped over, landing head first to the ground.



*Oof!*



Twilight groaned as she rubbed her forehead, mostly irritated about the log she tripped over. "Ow...stupid log..." She mumbled, standing back up agian.



"Purple unicorn..." the log "insulted" back, much to her surprise. As she looked back, she grew even more surprsied as it turned out said log was actually Starlight, lounging around flatly on the ground with his wings spread out, laying on his belly as his head touched the floor.



"Oh, sorry Starlight!" Twilight quickly apologized, somewhat embarassed and regretful for her comment. "Didn't see you there."



"Yeaaah, I bet you use that line a lot..." He grumbled in a somewhat sarcastic attitude. Twilight blinked a bit confused, mostly due to Starlight's strange behavior.



"Uhhh...Starlight? Are you feeling okay?" She asked.


"Wha, me? No I'm not Twilight," He began mumbling, standing up in a bit of a dazed-like fasion, "Twilight's my sister...or maybe cousin?" Starlight paused for a bit as he starred into thought. " Then again, she does remind me alot of my grandma..." That last statement made Twilight's eyes widen a bit before looking down at the little alicorn somewhat irritantly.



"Starlight, what are you talking about? It's me, Twilight!" She announced. Starlight squinced his eyes a bit more as he tried to focus. Unfortunately, from his point of view, there appeared to be several different Twilight's in one place.



"Wha- huh? Twilight? When'd you get five sisters?" Twilight moaned on this inside at this comment, having a mixed sense of de sha vue from earlier, but was actually more surprised as she looked deeply into his eyes; he looked terrible! From Twilight's point of view, he had wrinkles under his wrinkles, if his eyes were any more bloodshot, you'd think the red viens would crossover, and there was a large amount of noticable crust around his eyes. Interestingly, however, the crust itself appeared to have a sparkling shine to it like glitters or stars seen in space. It was the only thing Twilight could find interesting at the moment, mostly due to the fact everything else disgusted her at this moment.



"Starlight, you look horrible!" Twilight said bluntly, lowering her head closer to his as she patted his head. "What happened?" Starlight struggled enough trying to look directly at her, eyes looping about out of control.



"N-Nothing happened," he mumbled, lowering his eyelids again, "just can't fall asleep. Otherwise the sergent will start yelling again..." He yawned. It only took Twilight a moment to realize who he was talking about before she stood up again, giving a mild glare as she looked back towards the barn.



"Applejack..." She grumbled.



"Now if you'll excuse me," Starlight said, walking away, wobbling back and forth, "I have some apples to collect-"



*Thud*



He didn't even manage to take more than ten steps until he walked right up to a tree, hitting his head against the bark. Fortunately, it was only a minor bonk, but that alone was enough to make the small pony collapse to his stomach again, groaning in exhaustion. This only made Twilight slightly more worried before continuing towards the barn. At the same time, Applejack was happily loading her cart full of buckets, each one filled over the top with apples upon apples upon...well more apples! She was also glad that Starlight managed to help for the day too. She's finished past her current daily deadline supply faster than she normally would today, and there was still plenty of time in the day to do a little more extra work. And with Starlight's help, she might even get two-days' worth of work done- at least that's what she intended, up until she turned around again and jumped, frieghtened briefly as Twilight was right in front of her with a rather irritated look.


"Oh, howdy there Twi! What brings you around here?" She asked casually, giving a nice smile.



"I came here to get Starlight because we were supposed to do magic training this afternoon. And would you mind telling me what you did to him?" Twilight replied in a somewhat demanding tone.  Applejack just raised a brow as she grew confused.



"What do ya mean? He's fine, see?" Applejack replied, pointing to him. Even as Twilight looked back, the sight annoyed her even more; due to his current exhaustion and extreme sleepiness, he couldn't even pull off picking an apple that fell to the ground, grabbing the stem by his teeth, but apparently struggling to even get it off the ground as if it wieght a ton. Despite this, being the small friendly alicorn he was, he continued to press on as he pulled harder and harder, seeming to be using all his might in an attempt to get the small red applea off the ground. Eventually, he finally managed to pull back, but not due to the apple coming off. In this case, it was him pulling out the stem itself, the pluck of it surprising him enough as it threw him back into a tree with a small "crash", knocking down the dozens of apples which piled all around him, burrying him up to his neck.



"Apples 'er done..." He said groggily, letting out another long yawn as his head wobbled a bit. Applejack actually teared up slightly as her eyes began to water.



"Ah've never been so proud!" She stated, wiping her tear away. "Thanks to him joinin', Ah've gotten twice as much work done in a single day with his help and mah little sis'."



"It's also making him exhaustion beyond belief..." Twilight commented, shifting her eyes back.



"Ahhh don't worry about that, early mornin's and hard work make anypony a fine worker."



"Exactly...how early are you waking up?" Twilight asked curiously.



"Ah, no worries, only been up since five this mornin', workin'." Twilight practically gasped to herself at that statement alone.


"You've been having him work since five this morning?!" She yelled in disbelief.



"Well what's wrong with that?"



"It's Twelve noon!" Twilight stated.

"Hey, it's not that bad. Applebloom's been doing it too since she was a little 'un." Applejack commented, pointing to Applebloom as she filled up another bucket with the apples she collected. Applebloom smiled back as she heard the two chatting.



"It was a bit hard at first, but ah got used to it after awhile.."Applebloom commented, pausing briefly to yawn. This little stunt alone only made Twilight more uncomfortable as she looked back.



"See? Even she's tired after doing it constantly." Twilight complained.


"It ain't that bad Twilight," Applebloom continued, rubbing her eye a bit sleepily, "Ah'm mostly just tired from school the day before. Other than that though, Ah feel fine."



"Well either way, Starlight doesn't! And he's not even used to being woken up this late, Applejack." Twilight stated.



"Look, Ah'm sorry and all, but Ah'm afraid Ah'm missing you point?" Applejack commented, growing confused.



"He has enough stuff going on right now, Applejack. Just let him sleep in like usual. Waking him up for school is fine too, but not like 5 o'clock in the morning." Twilight pleaded. Applejack simply sighed as she shook her head.



"Ah'm sorry Sugarcube, but no can do."



"Why not?" Applejack looked back to her.



"Cause Ah consider the little guy family 'round here. And apple family traditions clearly state all family members must help out when it comes to family business." Twilight simply moaned at this, actually somewhat pleased Applejack considers the small alicorn as part of her family, but at the same time, irritated at the fact she's enforcing her traditions on him too.


"Look, I think that's nice and all, but can't you just let him sleep in at least for the morning? At least then he'll be less exhausted." Twilight pleaded, only to still be denied.



"Like Ah said, sorry Twi. You can still take him if you want to do your magic practice though." Applejack suggested. Twilight simply grunted to herself as she walked back towards Starlight, lifting him up with her magic before placing him on her back, walking away again.



"C'mon Starlight, you can take a nap at my house. I seriously can't believe how early she woke you..." She muttered. Starlight let out another exhausted yawn as he curled up within his wings slightly, resting his head already.



"Alright miss, but I can't stay too long..." He let out another exhausted yawn again. "Twilight's expecting me to do some magic stuff later on, and she'll get mad if I'm late." Twilight rolled her eyes at this comment, surprised he was still oblivious to who she was at all.



"Tell me about it." Twilight mumbled to herself as the two left the farm. Applejack just stood there in confusion, scratching her head as she watched the two leave.



"Ah don't get it, what's her problem?" Applejack asked aloud, wondering to herself.



"Beat's me, guess she just doesn't like the idea of Starlight working so early in the morn'." Applebloom suggested. Applejack looked back to her, raising a brow.



"But it's not that bad, is it? Ah mean Ah just ask you to help out twice a year, don't Ah?" Applebloom frowned slightly.



"Why can't Ah help out more often?" Applejack smiled a bit while rubbing her sister's head.



"We've been over this before, Ah ain't gonna let you wake up like this everyday, it's a burden on most ponies to wake up this early. After all, y'all saw how Ah was when Ah tried harvesting the entire apple orchard mahself when Big Mac couldn't help." Applejack explained.



"But Starlight gets too!" Applejack blinked confused again.



"Wha'? No he doesn't! Heck, this was just to give him the taste of the farm life, " Applejack replied, bringing somewhat relief to Applebloom.


"Oh...Ah thought that's what you two were arguing about earlier...Does Twilight know?"



"Know what?"



"Ya know, about the whole "not-being-everyday" thing?" Applejack's brows raised somewhat surprised, looking off in the direction Twilight walked off with Starlight.



"Huh...maybe Ah should go clear thing's up..."



At the same time, Twilight found herself with an annoyed and irritating predictament as Starlight continued snoozing on the floor. There was a number of problems she had at the moment, most of which involved the fact she had an entire schedule, as usual, for her first time training her own pupil, and now that was thrown out the window as of now. The minute she brought him inside he almost instantly passed out from exhaustion, and even after an hour of resting, he still couldn't get up. But she knew it wasn't his fault, she was actually angrier with Applejack.



While she still respected her family ways and all, she was upset about Applejack taking it upon herself to wake him up so early in the first place! Sure it was respectful and all, and she did appreciate the fact Applejack took a liking towards the small alicorn despite any of his little quirks. But not only was she worried about Starlight being exhausted constantly, her other problem was whether or not this would be a constant thing with her, because if it was, not only would she be unable to get any magic training done with him, Rainbow Dash wouldn't be able to get any flight training during the week too when her time came to train him. On that note, Fluttershy would've volunteered to train him too in flying, but Rainbow Dash kept being more persistant about wanting to train the alicorn, and Fluttershy being...Fluttershy, simply gave in to letting Rainbow Dash being in charge.



The last thing that really got to Twilight was he amount of sleep Applejack provided during these family traditions. Sure, maybe to an average farmland and such, they would be getting up and early to work for the long hours of the farm day. But to simply have kids doing these things during said time was unthinkable to her! Even if it was a weekened, depicting wthat Starlight and Applejack informed her about how early they got up, she was surprised as it was seeing how Applebloom managed to stay awake the way she was, even if she was used to this by now. It was around this time Spike started walking back down the stairs, sweeping the floor while humming to himself. That's when he noticed Twilight, who's been sitting at the table with the whole "I-am-frusterated" look on her face.



"Something up?" Spike asked curiously.



"Gehhh, it's nothing much, just Applejack..." Twilight moaned, flipping through the pages of her spellbooks while studying.



"What happened?"



"Ahh, it's nothing much. She just insists on keeping Starlight awake really early in the day, and it tires him out as it is." Twilight explained, walking across the library while looking at different books to study. "I can't expect to get any trainning done with him if he's exhausted like this, and neither can Rainbow Dash." Twilight let out another small huff as she gathered another book from the second shelf, reading it while walking back over to the table.



"Did you try explaining that to her?" Spike asked, taking a small break from clean up as he sat on the stairs.



"Of course I did, but she considers him family as much as I do, and I don't want to start some family fued thing with her."



"I'm...pretty sure you're not gonna start a fued between her entire Apple Family and you, Twilight..." Spike commented, rolling his eyes mentally. Twilight just sighed to herself as she continued her studying.



"I just...I don't know, I just wish she could see how important it is for a young colt like Starlight to get some sleep in the morning..."



"Huh, seems simple enough to me." Spike stated, going back to sweeping the floors with the broom. "Why not just use one of your spells to keep her up for a whole day or something? Show her what it's like to be exhausted." Twilight's irritated frown slowly grew into an excited smile as she gasped suddenly.



"Huh! Spike, you're a genius!" Twilight yelled, quickly running back to the shelves before running back with a new book, flipping through it quickly. Spike smiled to himself as he puffed his chest out.



"Well, I don't like to flatter myself but-" He opened his eyes soon after a bit, looking back to Twilight in confusion as he scratched his head. "Umm...exactly why am I a genius?"



"Why else? You're completely right about the plan!" Twilight answered, looking back through her book. "If Aplpejack just had a taste of what exhaustion she's putting the kids through, then she' would understand why it bothers me so much." Spike raised his brow questionably at this.



"And you're just gonna go ahead and zap her with a spell? You really think she wouldn't notice any glowing magicky things while you're doing this?" Spike asked. Twilight smiled as she found the page in her book she was looking for, on the left side.


"Won't have to Spike. Not with this, the "Wakey-Cranky Potion"!" Twilight stated, causing more confusion to the baby dragon.



"The hanky what?"



"Not hanky, Cranky! It's all detailed right here; it's suppose to keep a pony up for a full night, but it doesn't get rid of any of the negative side effects like drowziness after, it's perfect! They even labled the ingredients on the right side, which we just so happen to have." Twilight deemed, walking across the library again to the basement. "Come along, number one assistant! We've got some magic to make!" She declared, opening the basement door as she walked down the stairs. Spike simply sighed as he leaned the mob against the wall, walking over to the basement right behind her.



"Why do I get the feeling this is going to backfire like usual...?" He asked himself, closing the door with a loud slam behind him unintentionally. That slam was just what the little Alicorn needed to bolt awake again, jumping a bit at the sudden noise. He yawned again as he was still drowzy from the earlier morning, proven by the wrinkles still in his eyes, and the eyelids that couldn't fully open. They did open slightly bigger, however, as his stomach let out a hungered growl. It finally occured to him again as he slowly wobbled to a stand that he didn't have anything to eat all day. He would've told Twilight earlier, but by the time he even got halfway to her house he fell asleep. He looked around in confusion as she mumbled softly.



"Twi-", he paused briefly as he yawned again, "Twilight? Hello?" Starlight yawned again as he rubbed his eyes sleepily, a bit delerious to the sight. "Where is everypony?" He asked himself curiously. The growl from his stomach caused him to moan again, rubbing it as he tried to soothen it. "Ugh...so hungry..." Starlight complained, looking around the room, even with his dizziness. As he looked around, his sight sudden froze as he laid his eyes upon one thing; the sparkling, glowing, most delicious, scrumpcious sandwhich he ever laid his eyes upon, watering his lips as he slurped hungrily. As he started walking over to it, however, it soon reverted back to what it truly was from a regular point of view; Twilight's spell book which she had forgotten to bring with her to the basement. That seemed to matter very little to the little alicorn, however, who simply thought it was a sandwhich the entire time.



"Mmhhh..." He sniffed, believing the "sandwhich" was acutally giving off a smell. "Twilight must've left it behind for me before she left..." He stated, pupils widening at the mere sight of it. With no hesitation, he took a large bite out of the left side of the sandwhich, chewing on it quickly so as to eat it and begone with his hunger- it took no less than three seconds for reality to strike back at him again as his eyes widened again. Looking back to the "sandwhich", his eyes widened in shock as he discovered it was a book he was currently eating, or more specifically, the right page from the section the book was on.



"Blegh!" He gruffed, spitting the piece of paper out of his mouth as he wiped his lips. "Ick, why would anypony think this is good to eat?" He asked himself, carrying the chewed up piece of paper to the waste basket as he tossed it away. "I wonder if I can ask her for something else to eat..." He wondered, walking around the library as he looked around.



*thud*



His attention suddenly shifted back to the door as it opened, Twilight walking through it with a common-happy look on her face.

"Oh, hey Starlight. How was your nap?" She asked , walking over to the table for her book. He let out another small yawn again as he rubbed his eyes.



"Still sleepy..." He replied, strengthening his reply with another yawn. "And hungry," he added, "I didn't have anything to eat all day." Twilight frowned slightly at this as she looked back.



"Oh, I'm sorry. After I'm done, I'll fix you up a nice lunch." She replied, using her magic to carry it back with her to the basement. Starlight tilted his head curiously as he watched her.



"What're you doing?"



"Oh, I'm just making a uhh "motovational" potion for Applejack. I just forgot to bring the book with me."



"Can I help?" Starlight asked, somewhat hopeful. Twilight just gave a small smile at this.



"Sorry Star, but it's kind of...advanced. I need to make sure everything goes right. But you can come and watch if you want." Starlight smiled at this as he nodded.



"Okay!" He said excitedly as he followed her to the basement, the both of them completely unaware of the single page that was accidentally thrown away, and even more unaware of what page took it's place...





Later...





*skrrrrrrughh-*



The door to the basement slowly creaked open a short while later as Twilight walked out, carfully carrying a tray of what appeared to be a tea pot with some cups on it with her magic. Following behind her, Spike was still talking to Starlight as they came out.



"And that's the story of the incredibly handsome dragon who married the queen of the unicorns! The end." Spike stated, ending the heroic tale he was telling Starlight. For all it's worth, Starlight seemed absolutely excited by it.



"Wow, that was cool!" Starlight yelled, jumping a bit.



"And it's all based on a true story." Spike added, earning a smirk back from Twilight.



"Some of it might be a bit more exaggerated than other parts." She commented, setting the tray down on the table.  



"Uhhh n-no it's not! It's all true..." Spike said defensively, and slightly nervous.



"Yeah!" Starlight agreed before rubbing his chin confused. "Although, there was a lot of couincidences in it. Like the setting taking place somewhere called "Tonyville", and a lot of the characters had really similar names to ours. Like Queen Pariky sounding a lot like the Rarity we know?" Spike began to blush slightly as he looked away, rubbing the back of his head.



"W-Well..."



"And come to think of it, the dragon Mike that marries her almost has the exact same name as you Spike. Wierd, huh?" Starlight shrugged, still not seeing the connection. Spike just chuckled nervously as he poked his own fingers together.



"Ehh heh heh...y-yeah, wierd couincidence..." He mumbled, earning a chuckle from Twilight.



*knock*



*knock*



*knock*



Twilight looked back to the door curiously as she heard the knocking.



"Huh, wonder who that could be?" She asked aloud as she walked over. Using her magic to turn the handle itself, she suddenly grew surprised at the sight of the Apple-family pony smiling back to her.



"Howdy there, Twi." Applejack greeted.



"A-Applejack!" Twilight replied, still a bit surprised at the convienant timing. "What are you doing here?"



"Well, for starters Ah sort'a wanted to apologize 'bout earlier. Didn't mean to leave you walkin' off in a hiffy." Applejack stated with an apologetic smile as she walked through the door. Twilight grinned mentally to herself, unable to think of a possibly better timing for her to show up.



"O-Oh! Not a problem. I totally understand." Twilight replied, walking over to the tea set. Applejack blinked a bit at this.



"Really?"



"Yup," Twilight began with a nod, "there's no need to explain yourself. I understand your reasoning just fine." she calmly poured some of the tea into two of the cups before offering one to Applejack. "Tea?" Applejack gave a sweet smile back at this.



"Well, Ah'm not usually a tea pony mahself, but what the hay? Ah wouldn't want to impose anyway." She replied, grabbing a cup as she sipped a small bit for taste. She hummed to herself gleefully as she let out a nice sigh of relief. "Mmhhh! Golly, that stuff's better than Ah thought. What's this stuff made of?" Twilight playfully rolled her eyes as she swayed her hoof.



"Oh, ya know, just some spice, some hot water..." She commented.



"And magic!" Starlight said excitedly, causing Twilight's pupils to shrink in worry. Luckily, being a number one assistant, Spike quickly covered his mouth as Applejack looked back at them.



"Say what now?" She asked.

   

"Oh ya know, some herbs, a bit of fruit. Ya know? Some good ol' cooking "magic"! Heh heh..." Spike replied nervously, much to Starlight's confusion. Twiligth shifted her eyes back between Applejack and him nervously as Applejack continued looking at him.



"Huh......" Applejack paused briefly as she stared at her cup for a bit, causing Twilight's nervousness to grow more and more. Fortunately, the barn pony simply smiled as she shrugged.



"Ya don't say?" She replied, taking another sip of it. Twilight let out a quiet breath of relief, glad the cover wasn't blown. Spike sighed relieved too before quickly bringing the kettle into the kitchen.



"I'm gonna go make some more!" He stated quickly. The sound of cups and dishes could be heard shuffling as he worked, also secretly pouring the rest of the contents down the drain to get rid of it.



"Well, Ah'm just glad we got all this sorted out, " Applejack commented, taking a seat near the table in the library, "Ah was kinda worried you'd al' be mad and stuff about the whole "wakin' Starlight up to early" an' all." Twilight simply gave a minor chuckle as she shook her head.



"Haha, oh no no, I understand. Family comes first . And I really wouldn't want to ruin any tradation. After all, the fact you care enough to consider Starlight family is just enough for me." Twilight commented, smiling as Spike came back with some actual Tea, taking a small sip of it. Applejack paused suddenly as she firmly set the tea down on the small glass plate, making a light "clang" noise.



"Twilight, Ah'm afraid Ah really owe you an apology."



"What for?"



"Well, to be honest, Ah half expected you to hold some sort've graude against me or somethin'. Even expected more of a chance for you to have some "revenge scheme" to try an' teach me a lesson in all of this." She added, sipping her tea again. Twilight chuckled nervously as she looked away, a small bit of her kinda regretting this plan.



"Heh heh, yeah, like I would ever do some lame brain thing like that." She replied, looking down at the tea with a frown, noticing her reflection in it too.



"Yeah, but even if you did plan somethin' like that, it wouldn't matter anyway." Applejack stated, chukling slightly. Twilight looked back to her with a raised brow.



"Huh? Why's that?" She asked, taking a sip of her tea. Applejack chuckled some more before she replied.


"Tch heh heh, because Ah forgot to mention, Ah only do this sort'a thing twice a year! Hahaha, silly huh?" Twilight's eyes nearly burst open as she suddenly spat out the tea in the baby dragon's direction.



*PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT-*



"Ugh! Hey!" Spike complained, looking as Twilight's backwashed tea dripped from him. Starlight simply tilted his head curiously as he looked at the drippings from the baby dragon. At the same time, Twilight suddenly began to cough as she patted her chest, trying to clear up her lungs again from the sudden hiccup of tea that went down her throat. Applejack frowned slightly as she patted her friend's shoulder.



"Woah, hey, you alright Sugarcube?" She asked, somewhat worriedly. Twilight coughed for a few more seconds before taking a big breath again, panting slightly as she tried to control her breathing.



"W-Wh-What did you just say?!" Twilight asked in a mix of nervousness and fear. Applejack simply smiled to her.



"Yeah, Ah forgot to mention since we were arguin' a bit back at the acres. Ah only do this whole wake-up call twice a year. Ah promised mah little sis Ah'd do this for her twice a year, give her some experience in what it's like being an apple farmer." Twilight's worried state only grew more and more as she explained.



"B-B-But b-back at the f-f-farm-!" She studdered, being filled with an over abbundance of guilt, nervousness, and regret. And that didn't even inlcude the fear factor yet.



"Yeah, Ah know. It was mah fault for not explainin' mahself clearly. But no biggeh, right?" Applejack asked, taking the last sip of her tea. Twilight could only gulp what saliva was left in her throat as she moaned mentally with worry.



"R-R-Right..." She mumbled, looking away nervously as she took another sip of her own tea. Applejack smiled as she took a glance at the clock within the library, stretching a bit as she stood up agian.



"Ahhh, well Ah'd better be gettin' back about now. Time to do a little "magic cookin'" of my own for dinner tonight. C'mon Starlight, time to back. And don't worry, this time, you can sleep as long as ya want through tomorrow." Applejack said a bit teasingly, causing the small alicorn to smile a bit. Applejack gave a friendly wave goodbye to Twilight as she walked out the door again.



"Yaaa!" He cheered, quickly looking back to Twilight as he left. "Bye Twilight!" Twilight could only chuckle nervously as she gave a minor wave back.



"Ehhh...bye....heh...." She moaned again when the two left, worrying to herself about the possible consequences from this. All this time from working for the last two hours, the only thing on her mind at the time was getting back at Applejack to teach her a lesson about how important sleep was. Now, she was filling with guilt from her earlier story about not getting revenge on her, and was now regretting the fact she ended up being wrong about what Applejack was doing in the first place, making the first problem only that much worse.



Even as Spike eyed her unsurprised, she knew they were both thinking the same thing at that point: she was going to end up regretting this later. On the other hoof, however, she still would be able to prove her point now that she thought about it. Although she would regret the misunderstanding they would eventually have the next day, at least this way Twilight would still be able to teach the lesson like she intended earlier. Still, she knew Applejack would be a bit angry (or a lot) after she found out the next day, and with these thoughts in mind all Twilight could do was sigh with a slight moan, gathering the spell book again before heading back to the basement.



"Where ya going Twilight?" Spike asked curiously.



"To make an antidote for Applejack. At least if we make an antidote, it'll lessen the chance of ruining our friendship with her." Twilight stated somewhat regretfully.

Spike raised a brow at this comment as he crossed his arms.



"What do you mean "our"? Last I checked, you made the antidote, so it'll only ruin your's." He commented. Twilight simply raised a brow as she grinned back.



"Yeah, but who was the "Number One Assistant" who assisted me with the potion?" Twilight questioned. Spike's proud face instantly turned pale as he moaned, walking over to the basement somewhat grumpily.



"Huff, I'm coming..." He complained, earning a small chuckle from Twilight as she walked into the basement with him.



"Relax Spike, sleep spells are almost always easy to fix. What could go wrong?" Twilight asked with a positive additude, closing the door as they got to work.