Post by Applejack on Oct 3, 2013 1:53:23 GMT -5
It was a strange evening. Derpy's unexpected, funny, and very derpy visit eventually became a much more solemn discussion of the injustices of birth that have been bothering Applejack after she tried and failed to visit Twilight to partake in the transformation wishes.
Sweet Apple Acres Farmhouse
Derpy knocks on the door with a hind hoof. She has a thin but densely packed duffel bag on her back.
Applejack says, "What in tarnation?"
Applejack trots past her siblings and opens the door.
Derpy is standing there, hind leg raised, looking back and grinning. Her grin becomes sheepish as she lowers her hoof. "Hello day, Applejack. Have brought my tent!"
Applejack says, "Uh, howdy, Derpy! Ya brought... yer tent? What fer? Somethin' happen ta yer house? Are y'okay?"
From camera left, in pops Apple Bloom, head first, waving, directly in front of Derpy. "HAW DERPY!" Nopony knew she was even there!
Derpy takes a deep breath to explain, but then Apple Bloom shows up and lightens the mood. Derpy takes a few steps forward and raises her front half for a hug, and the duffel bag tumbles to the floor, blocking the door. "Apple Boom! How are doing? Ready for camp trip?" She looks up with a hint of apology to Applejack.
Applejack blinks. "Yer goin' on a campin' trip?" She turns to AB. "With Derpy?... Just Derpy?"
"Campin' trip?" Apple Bloom says, a little confused. "This here trip's news t'me, sis! Ah was gonna go check on th'hangar frame." Apple Bloom looks confused to Derpy.
Derpy is also confused, as evidenced by her roaming irises. She snaps out of it after a few seconds, though. "Then is camping check! What kind hanger?" She leans in mischievously. "Coooat hanger?"
Derpy rily-pily.
Applejack says, "Uh... Derps, th' hangar's only over in th' east field there, ain't hardly a campin' trip away. Are ya sure yer okay, sugar? Uh, wanna come in, maybe have a cup o' tea or somethin'?"
Derpy nods grateful and sits down on the floor. "Am fine. Thank you! Are you how? I mean, how are you? Will tea is fine, or can roast over flame!"
Applejack sets the kettle on the family's old-fashioned stove, then gives Derpy a slightly forced smile. "Ah'm just fine! How're y'all? An'... what's with th' campin' gear?"
Derpy kicks the duffel bag very gently, causing it to clink. She turns back to Applejack with a tender smile. "Is good day. Do know why?" She waits for a moment, her pinions slightly raised, but there's no way Applejack can actually guess. "Have finally pain off DEBT! No longer owing money to homeachers whose vases break." She raises a hoof solemnly to her heart. "Time to celebrate!" Now where did Apple Bloom go?
Applejack says, "Well, congratulations, Derps! That sounds plumb great! But, uh, celebratin' with mah sister? Ah mean... if'n she wants ta, but, ain't ya got friends our age ta celebrate with?"
Derpy's face grows confuddled and her eyes roam high and low, respectively. "You are not friend?" she asks fragilely, leaning forward a trifle.
Applejack grins hugely! "Why shore Ah am! Thought ya didn't want ta see me, 'cause y'all were only askin' fer Apple Bloom!" The kettle begins to give off a high, keening whistle. AJ lifts it with her teeth and carefully fills a couple of waiting, pre-teabagged cups. From the next room, a low, gurgling snore is heard: Granny Smith must have fallen asleep with her knitting again. Applejack sets out sugar and milk on the table and noses one of the cups towards Derpy.
Derpy grins and stands up, relieved. She walks into the kitchen and takes in, generously inhaling the scent of the farmhouse. Her ears cant curiously to Granny's snoring. And she sits happily at the table before the proffered cup. "She was so excite!" Now Derpy leans forward, her chin nearly brushing the cup. "Are yooou ever excite?"
Applejack nodnods. "All th' time! Like at th' Siblin'hooves Social, or any kinda shindig goin' on - boy howdy, been awhile since we had us a proper hoedown 'round these parts, ain't it? Ooh, or when Bardigan told me he was gonna let me- wait, Ah prooob'ly shouldn't say nothin' 'bout that. But it WAS excitin'!" She beams.
Derpy blushes at this last item, even if it's unfinished. "Sometimes Bardigan lets me," she confesses, grinning like a sheepish sheep. She takes a demure sips of her tea, and her left eye rolls about. "In that case? Will help celebrate!" She hops to her hooves and goes to drag the duffel bag away from the door, into the main room, and unzips it.
As usual, Mac has spent the day in the fields. His heavy hoofsteps can be heard out front before the big draft stallion appears in the kitchen doorway with a hefty basket of apples on his back. "Ah brought y' in more apples AJ" he says before pausing upon noticing Derpy, seeming to clam up a little and offer a friendly tip of his head to the mail mare in greeting as he makes his way across the kitchen to set the basket down in an out of the way corner.
Applejack peers over at Derpy as she opens the b- oh, Mac's back! "Oh! Thanks a bunch, Mac! Honestly, how th' hay do we go through so many in here? Heh, good thing we grow 'em, we'd go broke BUYIN' 'em, heh heh." Then she turns back to Derpy. What HAS that odd pony brought?
Derpy is pulling a connected series of metal pipes with internal cords out of the bag, which mainly means repeatedly gripping one in her teeth, pulling back, and hoping something comes out. She hurries back to the kitchen for another sip of tea and sees Mac at the door. For a few moments she's rapt with the joyous surprise of seeing a basket of apples in the Apple household! Then she bows politely to Macintosh and follows after the basket on delicate hooves. "Hello Mackie! Want to camping?"
Big Mac chuckles to Applejack as he glances to Derpy as she darts outside, staring at the door for a moment before returning to AJ, giving her a quizzical look. With a family of apples an' a mare bakin' all th' time with 'em, ah wonder..." he answers with a smile just as derpy returns, following the trail of the apples. Looking between the basket and Derpy, he eventually reaches out to pluck one from the basket and offers it to Derpy with a smile. "Uh, jus' you 'n me?" he asks awkwardly to the mail mares question.
Applejack steps over to watch the two other ponies remove... what in tarnation IS that?... from Derpy's distended duffel. "TWO mares an' a filly, Ah reckon. What d'ya got there, Derps? Some kinda... pipe sorta..." She stares for a few moments. "Ah got nothin'. What IS that?"
Derpy accepts the apple, grins and bows again, or...shrinks like a violet, perhaps. "You and me and Apple Bloomer and maybe Applejack!" She looks happily and hopefully at the mare of the house. Then she runs back to the bag, puts the apple inside, and yanks out a long length of dangling pipes, and some bits that look like they may be made of cork. "Is camping tent!" she explains. The apple falls out again.
Big Mac blinks to Derpy before looking back up to applejack, curious as to what his sisters take on this offer is, especially after it apparently involves her. "Ah, s'pose ah could..." he says, shuffling a hoof a little. "Do they even have tents mah size?" he asks, following back to the doorway to watch Derpy tuck the apple into the tent bag, only to have it fall out again.
Applejack looks skeptical. "That's a *tent*? That there looks more like one o' them wire puzzle things Twi likes." She paws at one of the bits of tubing, which makes a forlorn little metallic 'schhing?' sound. "Ah wouldn't mind a bit of a trip! Applebuck season starts next week, don't it, Mac? Be nice ta get in a little campin' before we gotta harvest everythin'. ... Ah thought y'all HAD a tent, Mac? Dang, has it been THAT long?"
Derpy listens to the -sching- with a somewhat forlorn countenance. She redoubles her efforts and is soon extracting a big green expanse of canvas, which process makes more noise than one would expect as it tugs on the sides of the too-small duffel. She pauses to look Big Mac over. "Am sure will all fit," she says, dismissing the worry. Out comes the monstrosity, bit by bit. More chunks and pieces clatter to the floor.
Big Mac tilts his head as he watches Derpy struggle with what is suppose to be a tent. He steps forward as if to help, but doesn't seem quite sure where to begin. "Y'all need a hoof?" he offers, rasising one of his large hooves to do just that. Looking back over to Applejack, he nodnods deeply, answering both her questions with a deep "Eeyup!" before returning bak to Derpy. "Maybe y'all will..." he says skeptically, trailing off.
Apple Bloom, without fanfare or event, or even chaos, walks right back into the scene.
Applejack reaches out one of her hooves, too, but she interrupts the unpacking. "Uh, Derpy... we ain't gonna camp in our KITCHEN, are we? Maybe ya wanna save th' Tent that Ate Manehattan fer an actual campsite or somethin?"
Derpy passes a corner of the green square of reinforced canvas to Big Mac, delighted to have help. She trots over to the opposite corner and pulls, whether he has hold of his end or not. But then Applejack raises her objection. Derpy pauses, momentarily caught off guard. Then she looks around and shakes her head. "Coursely not!" she says, chiding Applejack for her silliness. "In living room!!"
"Hello, everypony," squeaks a familiar yellow...doe, sticking her big blue eyes and bulbous black nose in through the open farmhouse window. "I, um, I-I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I just heard some kind of din as I was frolicking by and I wanted to make sure you were all right." Really, she stood there for, like, fifteen minutes trying to decide if this would be inappropriate or not. She actually knocked, too, but you probably couldn't hear it. Because she's Fluttershy.
Big Mac had just barely taken hold of the corner that was offerd to him upon his offer to help, whch turns out hes helping her /remove/ the tent than put it away. He nods deeply in agreement to APplejack's suggestion, even though it doesn't seem to get through. Mac rolls his eyes a little and gives a shrug to APplejack, seeming a bit bewildered as to what to do. Upon Fluttershy's arrival, the big stallion offers the not so unfamiliar doe a wave of a hoof.
"Haw everypo-- Fluttershaw?" Apple Bloom says, staring in shock at the doe. "Wa-wa-wait... yer not Fluttershaw, who're y'all?"
Applejack wth-faces. "In th' livin' room? Are y'outta yer cotton-pickin' mind? Why would we go campin' in th' house a'tall? We should get this here packed up an' then decide if'n we're goin' somewheres." She tries to put some pieces back in the bag, and is concentrating on this when she hears Fluttershy's voice. "Oh! Howdy, Flutters! Yeah, Reckon we're all just fine here, nice o' y'all ta check in. What do ya mean-" She looks up. "-'frolic... uh... in''... F... luttershy? That y'all? Uh... What happened?"
Derpy also stares, but she doesn't remain baffled for long. Luckily for her self-esteem, the new arrival distracts her in time to keep her from noticing AJ's upbraiding. "~Is~ Fluggershy!!" she concludes, dropping the fabric and flap-floating over. "Have been Lunafied. No, wait." She applies her nose to the doe's slender leg. "Have been ~Twilified,~" she concludes, straightening up.
"Um." Fluttershy's eyes rove down to where Derpy has decided her foreleg, which is propped up on the windowsill, is a good place to stick a nose. "I-it's true. I *am* Fluttershy. And, um...yes. I-I asked Twilight to change me into a deer at the Eventide Festival." This may or may not be a name Fluttershy made up. "It's only for three days, but, um...you know. I-I was curious, and...I wanted to see the Earth in different hooves. And to frolic."
Fluttershy gives Applejack a look, a look that says, 'Um, I'm sorry you didn't get to go, and I know how much it would've meant to you to see everypony changing places for a little while. I didn't mean to upset you or make you jealous. I'll go away if you don't want to talk right now. But I asked Twilight to save you a spot, and she's having another session at her library later if you want to go talk to her about it. Um, I just thought you should know.' Apology is a rich language.
Big Mac shrugs a little to Applejack "Could jus' do th' sleepin' bag thing." he suggests, simplifying the camping in the living room problem. WHile he still holds the corner of the tent, he looks quite perplexed on if hes suppose to be putting it back into the bag, or taking it out. at this point when APplejack notices the doe'd fluttershy. "'kinna looks like 'yer friend..." he offers his sister helpfully as others chime in as well.
Applejack has pretty much forgotten Derpy for the moment. Derpy happens. But this is... this... "TWILIGHT did this? Ah didn't have no idea she was this... powerful!" She pins her ears and stares for a moment, then relaxes a little. "She, uh... didn't have nothin' ta do with alla them Pinkies again, did she? Ah didn't even know she was back in town... What made y'all think t' even ask her ta do this? This is... pretty goldarned extreme, is what this is! Y'ain't even a pony no more!"
Derpy tries to interpret Fluttershy's apologetic glance, but she just gets something about muffins and shakes it off as probably interference. "ALL frolic!" she decides, throwing open her wings in excitement and tossing a keystone pipe joint across the room that she was holding for some reason. Applejack's surprise catches Derpy by surprise, but she only wilts a little in sympathy, since this time the yelling isn't directed at her. She then catches sight of Apple Bloom and smiles knowingly. "Camp by east hanger," she decides, addressing the room. "Is special day! Today, paycheck have all digits back! No more owely or goose egg!"
"Um..." Fluttershy droops a little. "W-well...she was offering it to *everypony*. I-I mean, offering to change ponies into other kinds of ponies, or...other things." She twiddles her hooves in the window, which are cleft, of course, just like a deer's. "I...I thought of asking to be a seapony or a Glow Pony, b-but I thought, maybe, um, that might be asking for too much. I...um, c-congratulations, Derpy!"
Big Mac, still holding onto the corner watches, glancing between ponies. He's not entirely sure whats going on or why Fluttershy is a doe, but... he's helping with the tent, and that's good enough for him at least. That's what he's telling himself, anyway. Seeing Derpy's enthusiasm over her debt being paid off, he does raise his hooves in celebration, opting to hold the corner of the tent in his teeth as he shares his enthusiasm for Derpy's good news.
Applejack's face falls. "Offerin' t'... everypony? Makin' their dreams come true, sorta thing, but... not fer..." She rallies and visibly forces a grin. "Shucks, ain't gonna need nothin' like that, huh? Granny always said what matters is a pony's character, an', an..." - she swallows hard - "An' Apples're Earth ponies. Always were, always will be, Ah... Ah reckon. Right, Mac?"
Derpy falls to the floor and shares a grin with Big Mac. She returns to her bag and now isn't sad at all as she starts to pack everything back inside. Getting the huge piece of canvas back in looks nigh impossible, though, even if it weren't for the big framework of metal tubes. She lets Fluttershy and Applejack have their own moment while she prepares for camping in the east field--since nopony objected, after all!
"Is she still offerin'?" Apple Bloom asks curiously to Fluttershy. Imagine the possibilities if she could be transformed...
"W-w...I..." This is just what Flutters was afraid of. Do you see how afraid she is? Afraid of hurting Applejack? You'v ebeen keeping your 'Fears of a Modern Flutter' chart up to date, haven't you? "Well, yes. Um, sort of. She said she's willing to do some more if you catch her. I, um...I asked her...to save some magic for you," she says to AJ, with a droppy-eared look of inconsolable guilt.
Big Mac tilts his head a little at AJ as she begins to behave a bit oddly, a hoof raising to rub at his head a little. He's never quite seen AJ act this way before, but he can tell something's bothering her. "Uh... eeyup, ah s'pose.." he says, glancing downward again himself before busying himself with helping Derpy who is clearly trying to put things /back/ in the bag this time. He holds the bag with his hooves, allowing her to tuck the remainder of the tent in easily, at the very least easier than she would alone. His ears perk up at Apple bloom's sudden interest in the offer from Twilight and flashes a concerend look to AJ once the tent is back in its back (or catastrophically failed to do so, whichever *chuckles*)) He raises himself and makes his way for the door, turning back to the group. "Reckon ah'm gonna put th' equipment away b'fore dark." he says, giving a tip of his head to everyon, or at least those he might not get to say goodnight to otherwise before excusing himself.
Applejack glances at Apple Bloom, then back at Fluttershy, and stares at the deer. "Y'all asked her? Ta... ta save some magic fer me? Uh..." AJ looks over as MAc makes for the door, visibly relieved to be distracted for a moment. "Yeah, that's... a dang good idea, Mac. Let me know if'n y'all need a hand, 'kay?" She turns back to Fluttershy, then leans in towards her and very quietly whispers, "is this... on accounta what we talked 'bout?"
Derpy is happy to have Mac's help in stretching the bag, which seems amazingly elastic is his expert hooves. The equipment all vanishes within. "But Macintosh! Will camping! Come back sooon!" She titters like a titmouse on first piccolo and turns back to Applejack and Othershy. "Was Equal Nacht! Was special barrel, so climbed in!" She sits down shyly. "Wonder if Dinky want magic," she reflects aloud.
Fluttershy just nods gently.
Apple Bloom is getting that look. You know the look. THAT look. The one look. The "I have a scheme and am not about to tell anypony" look. "Ah think ah need t'wash the... uh... the..." Apple Bloom tries to think of a good cover for her departure. "...south field..."
Applejack watches Apple Bloom go with a look of concern. "Maybe... maybe Ah shouldn't go. Ah mean... MAGIC, right? What if she done got it wrong, or, uh, made a... mess..." She trails off and stares at Fluttershy. "ah ain't never gonna have a chance like this again, am Ah?" Another pause, then she grins at Fluttershy, slightly - just slightly - manically. "Carpet deem, Bardigan said! YEEHAW!" - and she takes off, running toward Ponyville!
Derpy is left alone, confused in the Apples' farmhouse. She spins around on one hoof a few times, rocked by Applejack's sudden burst of speed, but then sets down her other three hooves and lets her eyes stop spinning. Oh--Fluttershy is still there! "Hello Fluttershy," she says very delicately. She walks over to Applejack's abandoned teacup and brings it over for the woodland creature to sip if she so chooses.
Fluttershy smiles softly. "H-hello, Derpy. Um...many happy returns," she adds, for lack of anything else appropriate to say. And she takes the teacup in hoof and... "You don't think AJ will mind, do you?"
Derpy seems delighted by that sentiment. She drinks deeply from her own cup. "AJ is gone. Maybe to ask into moose, or hephalump." Her eyes spin merrily. "If Applejack griffon, will easier planting? Or harder bucking?" She giggles with the wit of her question, not unlike a loon being drunk through a reed by an elephant.
"A-a-a hephalump?!" Zoinks! Fluttershy's much larger ears stick and stretch out. She may be a deer, but she's still the same little Flutter with a heart of gold and an adrenal gland the size of a Manehatten milkshake. "I-I hope she's not a hephalump. But I don't think she'll make any changes that...um, drastic." Sip sip. "I just hope she stays happy."
Derpy's adrenal gland is probably shaped like macaroni. She jumps a few inches into the air and sails down for no obvious reason. Then she winks at Fluttershy. "Maybe squirrel?" She finishes off her tea and sighs with satisfaction. Then she leans in further and winks even more playfully. "Maybe eggplant?" Then she gasps. "Maybe apple plant!"
Applejack...the tree? 'B-but that's *my* schitck!' thinks Fluttershy unbidden. "You think so? Maybe she'd try to get closer to her trees! Like Bloomberg."
Derpy nods somberly, ears quivering. She leans in to whisper into the doe's large aural orifice. "Sometimes? Dream about being muffin," she confides.
Fluttershy flutterblinks...and blinks...and blinks again. You might hear the wind whistling through those gigantified ears o' hers. "...really?"
Derpy smiles and sets down her teacup. "Muffin is heart," she answers. She then sticks her nose briefly into one of Fluttershy's ears and wiggles it around in there. Hee hee!!
Squeeeak! The ears shoot straight up, stretching into points.
Derpy ducks out and looks at Fluttershy, smiling faintly.
Flutters smiles back, blinking somewhat dazedly.
Derpy pushes the cup of tea and its saucer closer on the windowsill.
Flutterstyle sips again. And sips. And...Derpy seems to really want her to have tea! It would be rude not to partake, um, wouldn't it?
Derpy goes and sits down on her duffel bag. "So how does feel?" she asks through the window.
Flutterblinks again. She blinks and lowers the cup, but doesn't dare put it down. "H-how does what feel? ...being a deer?"
Derpy nods slowly. "Tell me in sixteen word," she commands.
"What?" Oh shoot! Did that count as a- do words you THINK count? Fluttershy assumes not. "Well, I feel a lot lighter, a-and springier, and it's weird not having wings any more."
Derpy doesn't even appear to count, having made her oddly specific request. She flaps her wings giddily, rising unevenly for a moment before resettling with a tiny click. "Have sprung over log?" she asks. "Over brook?" She ambles closer. "Over tuffet??!"
Fluttershy leans back. "W-what? I--um, yes?"
Derpy inhales in amazement. "~All~ of those?" She giggles like a plume of teenage dragon's flame escaping a crevasse. "Are ~best~ frolic!" She sighs happily and sits down. "Is good to know yourself," she philosophizes, looking vaguely away.
Clouds are a contrivance of mere vapor, or so one pegasus warrior-poet stated, on the eve of an extraordinary battle. Presently, the battle which vexes Rainbow Dash is the one to find a good work-life balance, and to correct the preponderance of the former she has deigned to break off her Third Re-Inspection of Everything in favour of some casual hijinks, the substance of which she has, however, yet to define. Basically she was bored and thought she should chill at AJ's again, or something. As she soars over the vast farmlands abutting Ponyville she happens to catch a glimpse of familiar faces below. Sort of. That /looks/ like Fluttershy, but she's...taller? Springier? What? "Heey guys, what's- whoa!" Coming down from on high, she blinks twice as she inspects the new Fluttershy. "Whoa, I mean...whoa!" she declares, flailing her forehooves about.
"Whoa?!" Fluttershy is snapped right out of whatever bizarre existential reverie zone Derpy is generating, and suddenly it's all she can do not to tumble back from the window! Luckily she catches herself and saves her cute little teacup, cradling it between her hooves. "Rainbow Dash?"
Derpy is worried for the teacup, but when she runs forward and sees it's all right, she knows that Fluttershy, too, is unharmed. "Rainbow Gash!" she exclaims in surprise out the window. "Come and see new stretch-ed Flubber!"
Rainbow Dash gawks at both of them, Fluttershy for being different, and Derpy for being Derpy. A long silence prevails. "So, uhh..." she utters, finally. "You look...different, Fluttershy...?"
"Oh." There's a loooong, long beat here. Finally, Fluttershy shifts a cloven-split hoof. "I'm sorry."
Derpy pokes her head out the window, looking up and down and up again, saying nothing.
Rainbow Dash blinks. "OK, I should probably just go ahead and ask /Why are you a deer Fluttershy/!?"
"Um, b-because..." Rainbow's noise is a little intimidating, it's true, although Fluttershy knows her oldest friend can't help it. "Because...Twilight did it."
Applejack is here now, too, having returned from Ponyville, trudging up the lane to the farmhouse. Every drop, every tiny iota of excitement that Fluttershy set off in her before has rotted into bitter disappointment. "Yup. Her highness did it. Howdy, Rainbow."
Derpy withdraws her head and goes to eat the apple Big Mac gave her earlier. This should occupy her for a while.
Rainbow Dash blinks again as she slowly puts two and two together. "...Right, right! I heard there was some kind of funky...changing magic during the equinox, but...wow, really? Wow..." Her barriers of propriety thus eroded, she begins to inspect Flutterdeer closely, hovering about her and tugging on her ears and tail. "What's it like? Is it true that deer like to bounce around everywhere?"
"Oh, um...let me see." Fluttershy starts tabulating answers. "Yes, and, um, yes. I-I've been really light and bouncy since I changed. I...h-hello, APplejack..."
Applejack looks... exactly the same. "Hay, Fluttershy. Twi wasn't there. Saw her *barrel*, though. Reckon it was mah own dang fault fer gettin' all worked up, shoulda known better."
...crunch. Did you hear that? That was the sound of Fluttershy's hopes buckling in. The ones she sets aside for helping her friends. She knows AJ is probably feeling worse right now, though. "I...o-oh, no. I...I forgot. Applejack, I'm so sorry. B-but I don't think that was Twilight's...if it helps."
Had Rainbow Dash possessed something of Twilight's methodical curiosity, she would have likely asked for a demonstration of these new aptitudes, for the purposes of research, but being Rainbow she's probably gonna try to get the same result by challenging Fluttershy to show them, for the purposes of gawking. Applejack, however, provides the requisite distraction. "Hey, AJ, you looking down," she comments, finding the dissonance between the two situations to be striking.
"Barrel? What?"
Double crunch. This one was the sound of Fluttershy's face contorting into the most grimacey grimace a pony has ever grimaced that didn't involve a goofy purple monster suit. "Rainbow, um, I-I think Applejack is upset over...someting personal."
Applejack shakes her head and gives Fluttershy a sad little smile. "Ain't yer fault. Ah shoulda known better. Yeah, Ah found this barrel. It was empty, but looked like it'd been used ta punish anypony who... who asked what Ah was gonna ask. It was a dumb idea. Dodge Junction dumb, prob'ly. Ah'm... Ah think Ah need a little cider, y'all wanna come in an' join me?"
Rainbow Dash is, by now, thoroughly confused. Fluttershy being a deer is bad enough, but now AJ is having some kind of crisis? She taps her temple, a bit overwhelmed by this multiplicity of vicissitudes. "Yeah, I could use some cider, too," she says, as if to demonstrate her inner state.
Derpy nodnods enthusiastically! "Cider is tasty and also tiny bubble," she observes, getting up and walking over, having decimated her apple. "Barrel was too small. But sometimes suffering dream."
"Well..." Fluttershy normally doesn't drink hard cider, only soft or sparkling. But this..she might make an exception for? "O-okay."
Applejack leads the pegasi and ex-pegasus inside and waves them to the table. After a few moments of rummaging in the cupboard, she produces four tankards (gripped in her teeth for now) and a small, slightly dusty keg with a cork in the end. After setting the tankards down, she pops the cork out and fills them. "Sorry if'n this here's a bit strong. We're outta th' good stuff. All's Ah've right now is this here cider Ah made by myself... ain't got th' knack yet, usually Mac an' Granny make th' good stuff." Indeed, there's a sharper, 'greener' smell to the drink than usual. Applejack sits, picks up her tankard and looks at the three of you for a few moments, then makes a toast: "To wings, an' other kinds o' cheatin'." Schlurp.
Rainbow Dash has already put the mug to her lips, but Applejack's toast provides a tactful interruption. "Yeah, yeah, to all that and stuff," she says, having a drink. Hey, not bad! A bit earthy, perhaps. "And to, uh...changes...in life...?" She's got nothin.
... (slurp)
Derpy happily takes her seat at the table, and while she does sniff the drink extensively, she doesn't frown nor comment on it, instead holding her tankard like a precious object. But at Applejack's toast, she flexes her wings and looks back at them, frowning. She refuses to drink until Rainbow Dash offers her (in Derpy's mind) superior toast. "To change," she echoes, raising her tankard for a good ten seconds and downing only about a tenth of it.
Applejack snorts a laugh, making a small splash of fizzing juice. "Change? Here? Ah doubt it. If it weren't fer mah family, Ah'd... well. Reckon they make it worth it, huh?" She slurps again. It *is* rather strong.
Rainbow Dash peers at AJ; even she knows that something's up. "OK, you've been really antsy and stand-off-y lately. What's going on?" she broaches.
... (sip.) Fluttershy is definitely avoiding drinking too deeply of this concoction. She looks kind of hunched an uncomfortable in general, actually.
"To family," says Derpy, drinking again and leaning way back.
Applejack puts her tankard down and looks from face to face. She sees concern and worry reflected in all of her friends' eyes. (Well, except Derpy, whose eyes are reflecting the floor and ceiling respectively.) "Uh. Ah have? Dangit, Rainbow, Ah'm sorry. Ah been kinda... feelin' a little hinky ever since Twi's coronation." She sips again, putting off continuing for a few seconds. "Ah mean. Ya know, right? Not that Twi did nothin' wrong... but... Dangit, it ain't FAIR!" She slams down the mug, making a small splash, and glares at each of you before realizng what she just did and bluishing hard. "Whoops. Ah'm, uh, real sorry." Sip. And in a very quiet tone, almost into her tankard, she says, "cadence was a pegasus."
Derpy is reflecting worry and concern too! You just have to know the code. Worry is the floor and concern is the ceiling. Derpy is leaning forward again, starting to feel lubricated, and ready to tell a story when Applejack slams the table. Now her eyes are totally unfocused and she looks indistinctly disturbed. Her storytime is forgotten.
For a long while Rainbow Dash is silent as she gazes at her orange friend, mulling over the existentiality of the present time. A cry of...what? Frustration? Jealousy? Self-loathing? No? What? She cannot even begin to describe the vague shadows of ideas that inhabit the back of her mind, and once again she denounces her mental limitations with what barely adequate power she can muster within her brain. Cadence was a pegasus. So what, she wants to say, but no, something deeper is involved. Something...like change. "AJ I hope you're not having some kind of identity crisis on us!" she deduces, having experienced something herself when she read 'Daring Do and the Orbs of Antimos', when Daring gets her personality switched with her sometime rival LeTrot.
"Um, Applejack?" says Fluttershy, setting her tankard down (and well away from her lips.) But when the hooves cmoe down, she just shrinks back, and nothing more is said--no eye contact is made.
Applejack sighs and rubs the bridge of her muzzle. "Dangit, Ah'm sorry, Ah shouldn't be botherin' y'all with this kinda thing. Ah ain't havin' an, uh... ta be honest Ah ain't rightly sure what an 'identity crisis' is. But Ah ain't havin' one. Ah'm just worried fer mah family, an' what's gonna happen years from now... maybe not ta me, but if Ah have foals, or even grandfoals... Unicorns are th' nobility an' run th' government, an' once in awhile become royalty. Pegasi -" she gestures at the three of you "- are soldiers an' politicians with yer own cities th' rest of us can't even visit, usually... an' once in awhile become royalty." She drains her mug. "Th' rest of us, we... dig. We farm, we mine, we build, an'... we're taken fer granted. Like we ain't worth nothin', 'cause we ain't wizards an' can't fly..." AJ emits a short, sharp sigh of disgust, seemingly with herself. "Look, just... ferget it, okay? It ain't fair, nothin's fair, an' wishin' don't bring th' harvest in."
Derpy hangs her head in response to Applejack's speech. She sits there silently in contemplation.
Rainbow Dash frowns, the full weight of comprehension suddenly bearing down upon her previously idyllic perception. Thousands of years of tradition and history, barely questioned and acknowledged, come to the forefront of her mind, and for a moment Rainbow has a glimpse of the great chronicle of ponykind, a constant drama of shifting ideals and stubborn loyalties. She wants to say something, to assert the contrary, but she cannot. Her talents lie resolutely outsie the sphere of academic insight, and thus she is doomed to merely let her head and heart droop in response to her friend's distress. "I....I'm real sorry that you feel that way," she said. "I mean...I always like to think that it's OK to not be good at everything, 'cause I'm not as smart as Twilight or as nice as Flutters or as strong as...as you." She looks at Applejack with pointed pathos.
Fluttershy raises her eyes just a little. They're full of shame.
Applejack stands up. "Ain't about bein' good at stuff, Rainbow. It's about who even gets ta try. Don't matter, though. Ah'm, uh, real sorry Ah been in a bad mood lately, Ah'll try ta do better, 'kay?" She offers Rainbow Dash her hoof, and glances sideways at Fluttershy. "Reckon Ah'd best be hittin' th' hay. We got us a lotta work ta do tomorrow, applebuck season starts next week."
Derpy stands up and backs away solemnly from the table, pushing her tankard forward without looking at it. She's had just two draughts, and it's still mostly full by normal standards. Still, she seems a little disoriented as she turns toward her duffel bag. Can you tell? Probably not. "Then not camping," she says resignedly.
Rainbow Dash is left with her dark musings on matters of class and opportunity, aided only by memories of fondly received advice from beloved elders and the thoughtless comfort at the bottom of her mug.
Fluttershy sits for a long time. She really should go, she has animals to take care of, but she just can't bring herself to leave Applejack--though whether it's due to sympathy or shame, she isn't sure any more. Eventually she does get up and leave, glancing back one last time. "...I'm sorry."
Applejack deflates a bit more, which is saying something. "No... no, Ah reckon not. Sorry, Derpy. Ah ain't toon sure Ah'd be good company tonight anyhow." She gives Fluttershy a small smile. "Aw, Ah don't think y'all did nothin' wrong. Ah'm just bent outta shape tonight. G'night, all y'all." She watches the others file out, then trudges upstairs to bed. The farm needs her in the morning.
Sweet Apple Acres Farmhouse
Derpy knocks on the door with a hind hoof. She has a thin but densely packed duffel bag on her back.
Applejack says, "What in tarnation?"
Applejack trots past her siblings and opens the door.
Derpy is standing there, hind leg raised, looking back and grinning. Her grin becomes sheepish as she lowers her hoof. "Hello day, Applejack. Have brought my tent!"
Applejack says, "Uh, howdy, Derpy! Ya brought... yer tent? What fer? Somethin' happen ta yer house? Are y'okay?"
From camera left, in pops Apple Bloom, head first, waving, directly in front of Derpy. "HAW DERPY!" Nopony knew she was even there!
Derpy takes a deep breath to explain, but then Apple Bloom shows up and lightens the mood. Derpy takes a few steps forward and raises her front half for a hug, and the duffel bag tumbles to the floor, blocking the door. "Apple Boom! How are doing? Ready for camp trip?" She looks up with a hint of apology to Applejack.
Applejack blinks. "Yer goin' on a campin' trip?" She turns to AB. "With Derpy?... Just Derpy?"
"Campin' trip?" Apple Bloom says, a little confused. "This here trip's news t'me, sis! Ah was gonna go check on th'hangar frame." Apple Bloom looks confused to Derpy.
Derpy is also confused, as evidenced by her roaming irises. She snaps out of it after a few seconds, though. "Then is camping check! What kind hanger?" She leans in mischievously. "Coooat hanger?"
Derpy rily-pily.
Applejack says, "Uh... Derps, th' hangar's only over in th' east field there, ain't hardly a campin' trip away. Are ya sure yer okay, sugar? Uh, wanna come in, maybe have a cup o' tea or somethin'?"
Derpy nods grateful and sits down on the floor. "Am fine. Thank you! Are you how? I mean, how are you? Will tea is fine, or can roast over flame!"
Applejack sets the kettle on the family's old-fashioned stove, then gives Derpy a slightly forced smile. "Ah'm just fine! How're y'all? An'... what's with th' campin' gear?"
Derpy kicks the duffel bag very gently, causing it to clink. She turns back to Applejack with a tender smile. "Is good day. Do know why?" She waits for a moment, her pinions slightly raised, but there's no way Applejack can actually guess. "Have finally pain off DEBT! No longer owing money to homeachers whose vases break." She raises a hoof solemnly to her heart. "Time to celebrate!" Now where did Apple Bloom go?
Applejack says, "Well, congratulations, Derps! That sounds plumb great! But, uh, celebratin' with mah sister? Ah mean... if'n she wants ta, but, ain't ya got friends our age ta celebrate with?"
Derpy's face grows confuddled and her eyes roam high and low, respectively. "You are not friend?" she asks fragilely, leaning forward a trifle.
Applejack grins hugely! "Why shore Ah am! Thought ya didn't want ta see me, 'cause y'all were only askin' fer Apple Bloom!" The kettle begins to give off a high, keening whistle. AJ lifts it with her teeth and carefully fills a couple of waiting, pre-teabagged cups. From the next room, a low, gurgling snore is heard: Granny Smith must have fallen asleep with her knitting again. Applejack sets out sugar and milk on the table and noses one of the cups towards Derpy.
Derpy grins and stands up, relieved. She walks into the kitchen and takes in, generously inhaling the scent of the farmhouse. Her ears cant curiously to Granny's snoring. And she sits happily at the table before the proffered cup. "She was so excite!" Now Derpy leans forward, her chin nearly brushing the cup. "Are yooou ever excite?"
Applejack nodnods. "All th' time! Like at th' Siblin'hooves Social, or any kinda shindig goin' on - boy howdy, been awhile since we had us a proper hoedown 'round these parts, ain't it? Ooh, or when Bardigan told me he was gonna let me- wait, Ah prooob'ly shouldn't say nothin' 'bout that. But it WAS excitin'!" She beams.
Derpy blushes at this last item, even if it's unfinished. "Sometimes Bardigan lets me," she confesses, grinning like a sheepish sheep. She takes a demure sips of her tea, and her left eye rolls about. "In that case? Will help celebrate!" She hops to her hooves and goes to drag the duffel bag away from the door, into the main room, and unzips it.
As usual, Mac has spent the day in the fields. His heavy hoofsteps can be heard out front before the big draft stallion appears in the kitchen doorway with a hefty basket of apples on his back. "Ah brought y' in more apples AJ" he says before pausing upon noticing Derpy, seeming to clam up a little and offer a friendly tip of his head to the mail mare in greeting as he makes his way across the kitchen to set the basket down in an out of the way corner.
Applejack peers over at Derpy as she opens the b- oh, Mac's back! "Oh! Thanks a bunch, Mac! Honestly, how th' hay do we go through so many in here? Heh, good thing we grow 'em, we'd go broke BUYIN' 'em, heh heh." Then she turns back to Derpy. What HAS that odd pony brought?
Derpy is pulling a connected series of metal pipes with internal cords out of the bag, which mainly means repeatedly gripping one in her teeth, pulling back, and hoping something comes out. She hurries back to the kitchen for another sip of tea and sees Mac at the door. For a few moments she's rapt with the joyous surprise of seeing a basket of apples in the Apple household! Then she bows politely to Macintosh and follows after the basket on delicate hooves. "Hello Mackie! Want to camping?"
Big Mac chuckles to Applejack as he glances to Derpy as she darts outside, staring at the door for a moment before returning to AJ, giving her a quizzical look. With a family of apples an' a mare bakin' all th' time with 'em, ah wonder..." he answers with a smile just as derpy returns, following the trail of the apples. Looking between the basket and Derpy, he eventually reaches out to pluck one from the basket and offers it to Derpy with a smile. "Uh, jus' you 'n me?" he asks awkwardly to the mail mares question.
Applejack steps over to watch the two other ponies remove... what in tarnation IS that?... from Derpy's distended duffel. "TWO mares an' a filly, Ah reckon. What d'ya got there, Derps? Some kinda... pipe sorta..." She stares for a few moments. "Ah got nothin'. What IS that?"
Derpy accepts the apple, grins and bows again, or...shrinks like a violet, perhaps. "You and me and Apple Bloomer and maybe Applejack!" She looks happily and hopefully at the mare of the house. Then she runs back to the bag, puts the apple inside, and yanks out a long length of dangling pipes, and some bits that look like they may be made of cork. "Is camping tent!" she explains. The apple falls out again.
Big Mac blinks to Derpy before looking back up to applejack, curious as to what his sisters take on this offer is, especially after it apparently involves her. "Ah, s'pose ah could..." he says, shuffling a hoof a little. "Do they even have tents mah size?" he asks, following back to the doorway to watch Derpy tuck the apple into the tent bag, only to have it fall out again.
Applejack looks skeptical. "That's a *tent*? That there looks more like one o' them wire puzzle things Twi likes." She paws at one of the bits of tubing, which makes a forlorn little metallic 'schhing?' sound. "Ah wouldn't mind a bit of a trip! Applebuck season starts next week, don't it, Mac? Be nice ta get in a little campin' before we gotta harvest everythin'. ... Ah thought y'all HAD a tent, Mac? Dang, has it been THAT long?"
Derpy listens to the -sching- with a somewhat forlorn countenance. She redoubles her efforts and is soon extracting a big green expanse of canvas, which process makes more noise than one would expect as it tugs on the sides of the too-small duffel. She pauses to look Big Mac over. "Am sure will all fit," she says, dismissing the worry. Out comes the monstrosity, bit by bit. More chunks and pieces clatter to the floor.
Big Mac tilts his head as he watches Derpy struggle with what is suppose to be a tent. He steps forward as if to help, but doesn't seem quite sure where to begin. "Y'all need a hoof?" he offers, rasising one of his large hooves to do just that. Looking back over to Applejack, he nodnods deeply, answering both her questions with a deep "Eeyup!" before returning bak to Derpy. "Maybe y'all will..." he says skeptically, trailing off.
Apple Bloom, without fanfare or event, or even chaos, walks right back into the scene.
Applejack reaches out one of her hooves, too, but she interrupts the unpacking. "Uh, Derpy... we ain't gonna camp in our KITCHEN, are we? Maybe ya wanna save th' Tent that Ate Manehattan fer an actual campsite or somethin?"
Derpy passes a corner of the green square of reinforced canvas to Big Mac, delighted to have help. She trots over to the opposite corner and pulls, whether he has hold of his end or not. But then Applejack raises her objection. Derpy pauses, momentarily caught off guard. Then she looks around and shakes her head. "Coursely not!" she says, chiding Applejack for her silliness. "In living room!!"
"Hello, everypony," squeaks a familiar yellow...doe, sticking her big blue eyes and bulbous black nose in through the open farmhouse window. "I, um, I-I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I just heard some kind of din as I was frolicking by and I wanted to make sure you were all right." Really, she stood there for, like, fifteen minutes trying to decide if this would be inappropriate or not. She actually knocked, too, but you probably couldn't hear it. Because she's Fluttershy.
Big Mac had just barely taken hold of the corner that was offerd to him upon his offer to help, whch turns out hes helping her /remove/ the tent than put it away. He nods deeply in agreement to APplejack's suggestion, even though it doesn't seem to get through. Mac rolls his eyes a little and gives a shrug to APplejack, seeming a bit bewildered as to what to do. Upon Fluttershy's arrival, the big stallion offers the not so unfamiliar doe a wave of a hoof.
"Haw everypo-- Fluttershaw?" Apple Bloom says, staring in shock at the doe. "Wa-wa-wait... yer not Fluttershaw, who're y'all?"
Applejack wth-faces. "In th' livin' room? Are y'outta yer cotton-pickin' mind? Why would we go campin' in th' house a'tall? We should get this here packed up an' then decide if'n we're goin' somewheres." She tries to put some pieces back in the bag, and is concentrating on this when she hears Fluttershy's voice. "Oh! Howdy, Flutters! Yeah, Reckon we're all just fine here, nice o' y'all ta check in. What do ya mean-" She looks up. "-'frolic... uh... in''... F... luttershy? That y'all? Uh... What happened?"
Derpy also stares, but she doesn't remain baffled for long. Luckily for her self-esteem, the new arrival distracts her in time to keep her from noticing AJ's upbraiding. "~Is~ Fluggershy!!" she concludes, dropping the fabric and flap-floating over. "Have been Lunafied. No, wait." She applies her nose to the doe's slender leg. "Have been ~Twilified,~" she concludes, straightening up.
"Um." Fluttershy's eyes rove down to where Derpy has decided her foreleg, which is propped up on the windowsill, is a good place to stick a nose. "I-it's true. I *am* Fluttershy. And, um...yes. I-I asked Twilight to change me into a deer at the Eventide Festival." This may or may not be a name Fluttershy made up. "It's only for three days, but, um...you know. I-I was curious, and...I wanted to see the Earth in different hooves. And to frolic."
Fluttershy gives Applejack a look, a look that says, 'Um, I'm sorry you didn't get to go, and I know how much it would've meant to you to see everypony changing places for a little while. I didn't mean to upset you or make you jealous. I'll go away if you don't want to talk right now. But I asked Twilight to save you a spot, and she's having another session at her library later if you want to go talk to her about it. Um, I just thought you should know.' Apology is a rich language.
Big Mac shrugs a little to Applejack "Could jus' do th' sleepin' bag thing." he suggests, simplifying the camping in the living room problem. WHile he still holds the corner of the tent, he looks quite perplexed on if hes suppose to be putting it back into the bag, or taking it out. at this point when APplejack notices the doe'd fluttershy. "'kinna looks like 'yer friend..." he offers his sister helpfully as others chime in as well.
Applejack has pretty much forgotten Derpy for the moment. Derpy happens. But this is... this... "TWILIGHT did this? Ah didn't have no idea she was this... powerful!" She pins her ears and stares for a moment, then relaxes a little. "She, uh... didn't have nothin' ta do with alla them Pinkies again, did she? Ah didn't even know she was back in town... What made y'all think t' even ask her ta do this? This is... pretty goldarned extreme, is what this is! Y'ain't even a pony no more!"
Derpy tries to interpret Fluttershy's apologetic glance, but she just gets something about muffins and shakes it off as probably interference. "ALL frolic!" she decides, throwing open her wings in excitement and tossing a keystone pipe joint across the room that she was holding for some reason. Applejack's surprise catches Derpy by surprise, but she only wilts a little in sympathy, since this time the yelling isn't directed at her. She then catches sight of Apple Bloom and smiles knowingly. "Camp by east hanger," she decides, addressing the room. "Is special day! Today, paycheck have all digits back! No more owely or goose egg!"
"Um..." Fluttershy droops a little. "W-well...she was offering it to *everypony*. I-I mean, offering to change ponies into other kinds of ponies, or...other things." She twiddles her hooves in the window, which are cleft, of course, just like a deer's. "I...I thought of asking to be a seapony or a Glow Pony, b-but I thought, maybe, um, that might be asking for too much. I...um, c-congratulations, Derpy!"
Big Mac, still holding onto the corner watches, glancing between ponies. He's not entirely sure whats going on or why Fluttershy is a doe, but... he's helping with the tent, and that's good enough for him at least. That's what he's telling himself, anyway. Seeing Derpy's enthusiasm over her debt being paid off, he does raise his hooves in celebration, opting to hold the corner of the tent in his teeth as he shares his enthusiasm for Derpy's good news.
Applejack's face falls. "Offerin' t'... everypony? Makin' their dreams come true, sorta thing, but... not fer..." She rallies and visibly forces a grin. "Shucks, ain't gonna need nothin' like that, huh? Granny always said what matters is a pony's character, an', an..." - she swallows hard - "An' Apples're Earth ponies. Always were, always will be, Ah... Ah reckon. Right, Mac?"
Derpy falls to the floor and shares a grin with Big Mac. She returns to her bag and now isn't sad at all as she starts to pack everything back inside. Getting the huge piece of canvas back in looks nigh impossible, though, even if it weren't for the big framework of metal tubes. She lets Fluttershy and Applejack have their own moment while she prepares for camping in the east field--since nopony objected, after all!
"Is she still offerin'?" Apple Bloom asks curiously to Fluttershy. Imagine the possibilities if she could be transformed...
"W-w...I..." This is just what Flutters was afraid of. Do you see how afraid she is? Afraid of hurting Applejack? You'v ebeen keeping your 'Fears of a Modern Flutter' chart up to date, haven't you? "Well, yes. Um, sort of. She said she's willing to do some more if you catch her. I, um...I asked her...to save some magic for you," she says to AJ, with a droppy-eared look of inconsolable guilt.
Big Mac tilts his head a little at AJ as she begins to behave a bit oddly, a hoof raising to rub at his head a little. He's never quite seen AJ act this way before, but he can tell something's bothering her. "Uh... eeyup, ah s'pose.." he says, glancing downward again himself before busying himself with helping Derpy who is clearly trying to put things /back/ in the bag this time. He holds the bag with his hooves, allowing her to tuck the remainder of the tent in easily, at the very least easier than she would alone. His ears perk up at Apple bloom's sudden interest in the offer from Twilight and flashes a concerend look to AJ once the tent is back in its back (or catastrophically failed to do so, whichever *chuckles*)) He raises himself and makes his way for the door, turning back to the group. "Reckon ah'm gonna put th' equipment away b'fore dark." he says, giving a tip of his head to everyon, or at least those he might not get to say goodnight to otherwise before excusing himself.
Applejack glances at Apple Bloom, then back at Fluttershy, and stares at the deer. "Y'all asked her? Ta... ta save some magic fer me? Uh..." AJ looks over as MAc makes for the door, visibly relieved to be distracted for a moment. "Yeah, that's... a dang good idea, Mac. Let me know if'n y'all need a hand, 'kay?" She turns back to Fluttershy, then leans in towards her and very quietly whispers, "is this... on accounta what we talked 'bout?"
Derpy is happy to have Mac's help in stretching the bag, which seems amazingly elastic is his expert hooves. The equipment all vanishes within. "But Macintosh! Will camping! Come back sooon!" She titters like a titmouse on first piccolo and turns back to Applejack and Othershy. "Was Equal Nacht! Was special barrel, so climbed in!" She sits down shyly. "Wonder if Dinky want magic," she reflects aloud.
Fluttershy just nods gently.
Apple Bloom is getting that look. You know the look. THAT look. The one look. The "I have a scheme and am not about to tell anypony" look. "Ah think ah need t'wash the... uh... the..." Apple Bloom tries to think of a good cover for her departure. "...south field..."
Applejack watches Apple Bloom go with a look of concern. "Maybe... maybe Ah shouldn't go. Ah mean... MAGIC, right? What if she done got it wrong, or, uh, made a... mess..." She trails off and stares at Fluttershy. "ah ain't never gonna have a chance like this again, am Ah?" Another pause, then she grins at Fluttershy, slightly - just slightly - manically. "Carpet deem, Bardigan said! YEEHAW!" - and she takes off, running toward Ponyville!
Derpy is left alone, confused in the Apples' farmhouse. She spins around on one hoof a few times, rocked by Applejack's sudden burst of speed, but then sets down her other three hooves and lets her eyes stop spinning. Oh--Fluttershy is still there! "Hello Fluttershy," she says very delicately. She walks over to Applejack's abandoned teacup and brings it over for the woodland creature to sip if she so chooses.
Fluttershy smiles softly. "H-hello, Derpy. Um...many happy returns," she adds, for lack of anything else appropriate to say. And she takes the teacup in hoof and... "You don't think AJ will mind, do you?"
Derpy seems delighted by that sentiment. She drinks deeply from her own cup. "AJ is gone. Maybe to ask into moose, or hephalump." Her eyes spin merrily. "If Applejack griffon, will easier planting? Or harder bucking?" She giggles with the wit of her question, not unlike a loon being drunk through a reed by an elephant.
"A-a-a hephalump?!" Zoinks! Fluttershy's much larger ears stick and stretch out. She may be a deer, but she's still the same little Flutter with a heart of gold and an adrenal gland the size of a Manehatten milkshake. "I-I hope she's not a hephalump. But I don't think she'll make any changes that...um, drastic." Sip sip. "I just hope she stays happy."
Derpy's adrenal gland is probably shaped like macaroni. She jumps a few inches into the air and sails down for no obvious reason. Then she winks at Fluttershy. "Maybe squirrel?" She finishes off her tea and sighs with satisfaction. Then she leans in further and winks even more playfully. "Maybe eggplant?" Then she gasps. "Maybe apple plant!"
Applejack...the tree? 'B-but that's *my* schitck!' thinks Fluttershy unbidden. "You think so? Maybe she'd try to get closer to her trees! Like Bloomberg."
Derpy nods somberly, ears quivering. She leans in to whisper into the doe's large aural orifice. "Sometimes? Dream about being muffin," she confides.
Fluttershy flutterblinks...and blinks...and blinks again. You might hear the wind whistling through those gigantified ears o' hers. "...really?"
Derpy smiles and sets down her teacup. "Muffin is heart," she answers. She then sticks her nose briefly into one of Fluttershy's ears and wiggles it around in there. Hee hee!!
Squeeeak! The ears shoot straight up, stretching into points.
Derpy ducks out and looks at Fluttershy, smiling faintly.
Flutters smiles back, blinking somewhat dazedly.
Derpy pushes the cup of tea and its saucer closer on the windowsill.
Flutterstyle sips again. And sips. And...Derpy seems to really want her to have tea! It would be rude not to partake, um, wouldn't it?
Derpy goes and sits down on her duffel bag. "So how does feel?" she asks through the window.
Flutterblinks again. She blinks and lowers the cup, but doesn't dare put it down. "H-how does what feel? ...being a deer?"
Derpy nods slowly. "Tell me in sixteen word," she commands.
"What?" Oh shoot! Did that count as a- do words you THINK count? Fluttershy assumes not. "Well, I feel a lot lighter, a-and springier, and it's weird not having wings any more."
Derpy doesn't even appear to count, having made her oddly specific request. She flaps her wings giddily, rising unevenly for a moment before resettling with a tiny click. "Have sprung over log?" she asks. "Over brook?" She ambles closer. "Over tuffet??!"
Fluttershy leans back. "W-what? I--um, yes?"
Derpy inhales in amazement. "~All~ of those?" She giggles like a plume of teenage dragon's flame escaping a crevasse. "Are ~best~ frolic!" She sighs happily and sits down. "Is good to know yourself," she philosophizes, looking vaguely away.
Clouds are a contrivance of mere vapor, or so one pegasus warrior-poet stated, on the eve of an extraordinary battle. Presently, the battle which vexes Rainbow Dash is the one to find a good work-life balance, and to correct the preponderance of the former she has deigned to break off her Third Re-Inspection of Everything in favour of some casual hijinks, the substance of which she has, however, yet to define. Basically she was bored and thought she should chill at AJ's again, or something. As she soars over the vast farmlands abutting Ponyville she happens to catch a glimpse of familiar faces below. Sort of. That /looks/ like Fluttershy, but she's...taller? Springier? What? "Heey guys, what's- whoa!" Coming down from on high, she blinks twice as she inspects the new Fluttershy. "Whoa, I mean...whoa!" she declares, flailing her forehooves about.
"Whoa?!" Fluttershy is snapped right out of whatever bizarre existential reverie zone Derpy is generating, and suddenly it's all she can do not to tumble back from the window! Luckily she catches herself and saves her cute little teacup, cradling it between her hooves. "Rainbow Dash?"
Derpy is worried for the teacup, but when she runs forward and sees it's all right, she knows that Fluttershy, too, is unharmed. "Rainbow Gash!" she exclaims in surprise out the window. "Come and see new stretch-ed Flubber!"
Rainbow Dash gawks at both of them, Fluttershy for being different, and Derpy for being Derpy. A long silence prevails. "So, uhh..." she utters, finally. "You look...different, Fluttershy...?"
"Oh." There's a loooong, long beat here. Finally, Fluttershy shifts a cloven-split hoof. "I'm sorry."
Derpy pokes her head out the window, looking up and down and up again, saying nothing.
Rainbow Dash blinks. "OK, I should probably just go ahead and ask /Why are you a deer Fluttershy/!?"
"Um, b-because..." Rainbow's noise is a little intimidating, it's true, although Fluttershy knows her oldest friend can't help it. "Because...Twilight did it."
Applejack is here now, too, having returned from Ponyville, trudging up the lane to the farmhouse. Every drop, every tiny iota of excitement that Fluttershy set off in her before has rotted into bitter disappointment. "Yup. Her highness did it. Howdy, Rainbow."
Derpy withdraws her head and goes to eat the apple Big Mac gave her earlier. This should occupy her for a while.
Rainbow Dash blinks again as she slowly puts two and two together. "...Right, right! I heard there was some kind of funky...changing magic during the equinox, but...wow, really? Wow..." Her barriers of propriety thus eroded, she begins to inspect Flutterdeer closely, hovering about her and tugging on her ears and tail. "What's it like? Is it true that deer like to bounce around everywhere?"
"Oh, um...let me see." Fluttershy starts tabulating answers. "Yes, and, um, yes. I-I've been really light and bouncy since I changed. I...h-hello, APplejack..."
Applejack looks... exactly the same. "Hay, Fluttershy. Twi wasn't there. Saw her *barrel*, though. Reckon it was mah own dang fault fer gettin' all worked up, shoulda known better."
...crunch. Did you hear that? That was the sound of Fluttershy's hopes buckling in. The ones she sets aside for helping her friends. She knows AJ is probably feeling worse right now, though. "I...o-oh, no. I...I forgot. Applejack, I'm so sorry. B-but I don't think that was Twilight's...if it helps."
Had Rainbow Dash possessed something of Twilight's methodical curiosity, she would have likely asked for a demonstration of these new aptitudes, for the purposes of research, but being Rainbow she's probably gonna try to get the same result by challenging Fluttershy to show them, for the purposes of gawking. Applejack, however, provides the requisite distraction. "Hey, AJ, you looking down," she comments, finding the dissonance between the two situations to be striking.
"Barrel? What?"
Double crunch. This one was the sound of Fluttershy's face contorting into the most grimacey grimace a pony has ever grimaced that didn't involve a goofy purple monster suit. "Rainbow, um, I-I think Applejack is upset over...someting personal."
Applejack shakes her head and gives Fluttershy a sad little smile. "Ain't yer fault. Ah shoulda known better. Yeah, Ah found this barrel. It was empty, but looked like it'd been used ta punish anypony who... who asked what Ah was gonna ask. It was a dumb idea. Dodge Junction dumb, prob'ly. Ah'm... Ah think Ah need a little cider, y'all wanna come in an' join me?"
Rainbow Dash is, by now, thoroughly confused. Fluttershy being a deer is bad enough, but now AJ is having some kind of crisis? She taps her temple, a bit overwhelmed by this multiplicity of vicissitudes. "Yeah, I could use some cider, too," she says, as if to demonstrate her inner state.
Derpy nodnods enthusiastically! "Cider is tasty and also tiny bubble," she observes, getting up and walking over, having decimated her apple. "Barrel was too small. But sometimes suffering dream."
"Well..." Fluttershy normally doesn't drink hard cider, only soft or sparkling. But this..she might make an exception for? "O-okay."
Applejack leads the pegasi and ex-pegasus inside and waves them to the table. After a few moments of rummaging in the cupboard, she produces four tankards (gripped in her teeth for now) and a small, slightly dusty keg with a cork in the end. After setting the tankards down, she pops the cork out and fills them. "Sorry if'n this here's a bit strong. We're outta th' good stuff. All's Ah've right now is this here cider Ah made by myself... ain't got th' knack yet, usually Mac an' Granny make th' good stuff." Indeed, there's a sharper, 'greener' smell to the drink than usual. Applejack sits, picks up her tankard and looks at the three of you for a few moments, then makes a toast: "To wings, an' other kinds o' cheatin'." Schlurp.
Rainbow Dash has already put the mug to her lips, but Applejack's toast provides a tactful interruption. "Yeah, yeah, to all that and stuff," she says, having a drink. Hey, not bad! A bit earthy, perhaps. "And to, uh...changes...in life...?" She's got nothin.
... (slurp)
Derpy happily takes her seat at the table, and while she does sniff the drink extensively, she doesn't frown nor comment on it, instead holding her tankard like a precious object. But at Applejack's toast, she flexes her wings and looks back at them, frowning. She refuses to drink until Rainbow Dash offers her (in Derpy's mind) superior toast. "To change," she echoes, raising her tankard for a good ten seconds and downing only about a tenth of it.
Applejack snorts a laugh, making a small splash of fizzing juice. "Change? Here? Ah doubt it. If it weren't fer mah family, Ah'd... well. Reckon they make it worth it, huh?" She slurps again. It *is* rather strong.
Rainbow Dash peers at AJ; even she knows that something's up. "OK, you've been really antsy and stand-off-y lately. What's going on?" she broaches.
... (sip.) Fluttershy is definitely avoiding drinking too deeply of this concoction. She looks kind of hunched an uncomfortable in general, actually.
"To family," says Derpy, drinking again and leaning way back.
Applejack puts her tankard down and looks from face to face. She sees concern and worry reflected in all of her friends' eyes. (Well, except Derpy, whose eyes are reflecting the floor and ceiling respectively.) "Uh. Ah have? Dangit, Rainbow, Ah'm sorry. Ah been kinda... feelin' a little hinky ever since Twi's coronation." She sips again, putting off continuing for a few seconds. "Ah mean. Ya know, right? Not that Twi did nothin' wrong... but... Dangit, it ain't FAIR!" She slams down the mug, making a small splash, and glares at each of you before realizng what she just did and bluishing hard. "Whoops. Ah'm, uh, real sorry." Sip. And in a very quiet tone, almost into her tankard, she says, "cadence was a pegasus."
Derpy is reflecting worry and concern too! You just have to know the code. Worry is the floor and concern is the ceiling. Derpy is leaning forward again, starting to feel lubricated, and ready to tell a story when Applejack slams the table. Now her eyes are totally unfocused and she looks indistinctly disturbed. Her storytime is forgotten.
For a long while Rainbow Dash is silent as she gazes at her orange friend, mulling over the existentiality of the present time. A cry of...what? Frustration? Jealousy? Self-loathing? No? What? She cannot even begin to describe the vague shadows of ideas that inhabit the back of her mind, and once again she denounces her mental limitations with what barely adequate power she can muster within her brain. Cadence was a pegasus. So what, she wants to say, but no, something deeper is involved. Something...like change. "AJ I hope you're not having some kind of identity crisis on us!" she deduces, having experienced something herself when she read 'Daring Do and the Orbs of Antimos', when Daring gets her personality switched with her sometime rival LeTrot.
"Um, Applejack?" says Fluttershy, setting her tankard down (and well away from her lips.) But when the hooves cmoe down, she just shrinks back, and nothing more is said--no eye contact is made.
Applejack sighs and rubs the bridge of her muzzle. "Dangit, Ah'm sorry, Ah shouldn't be botherin' y'all with this kinda thing. Ah ain't havin' an, uh... ta be honest Ah ain't rightly sure what an 'identity crisis' is. But Ah ain't havin' one. Ah'm just worried fer mah family, an' what's gonna happen years from now... maybe not ta me, but if Ah have foals, or even grandfoals... Unicorns are th' nobility an' run th' government, an' once in awhile become royalty. Pegasi -" she gestures at the three of you "- are soldiers an' politicians with yer own cities th' rest of us can't even visit, usually... an' once in awhile become royalty." She drains her mug. "Th' rest of us, we... dig. We farm, we mine, we build, an'... we're taken fer granted. Like we ain't worth nothin', 'cause we ain't wizards an' can't fly..." AJ emits a short, sharp sigh of disgust, seemingly with herself. "Look, just... ferget it, okay? It ain't fair, nothin's fair, an' wishin' don't bring th' harvest in."
Derpy hangs her head in response to Applejack's speech. She sits there silently in contemplation.
Rainbow Dash frowns, the full weight of comprehension suddenly bearing down upon her previously idyllic perception. Thousands of years of tradition and history, barely questioned and acknowledged, come to the forefront of her mind, and for a moment Rainbow has a glimpse of the great chronicle of ponykind, a constant drama of shifting ideals and stubborn loyalties. She wants to say something, to assert the contrary, but she cannot. Her talents lie resolutely outsie the sphere of academic insight, and thus she is doomed to merely let her head and heart droop in response to her friend's distress. "I....I'm real sorry that you feel that way," she said. "I mean...I always like to think that it's OK to not be good at everything, 'cause I'm not as smart as Twilight or as nice as Flutters or as strong as...as you." She looks at Applejack with pointed pathos.
Fluttershy raises her eyes just a little. They're full of shame.
Applejack stands up. "Ain't about bein' good at stuff, Rainbow. It's about who even gets ta try. Don't matter, though. Ah'm, uh, real sorry Ah been in a bad mood lately, Ah'll try ta do better, 'kay?" She offers Rainbow Dash her hoof, and glances sideways at Fluttershy. "Reckon Ah'd best be hittin' th' hay. We got us a lotta work ta do tomorrow, applebuck season starts next week."
Derpy stands up and backs away solemnly from the table, pushing her tankard forward without looking at it. She's had just two draughts, and it's still mostly full by normal standards. Still, she seems a little disoriented as she turns toward her duffel bag. Can you tell? Probably not. "Then not camping," she says resignedly.
Rainbow Dash is left with her dark musings on matters of class and opportunity, aided only by memories of fondly received advice from beloved elders and the thoughtless comfort at the bottom of her mug.
Fluttershy sits for a long time. She really should go, she has animals to take care of, but she just can't bring herself to leave Applejack--though whether it's due to sympathy or shame, she isn't sure any more. Eventually she does get up and leave, glancing back one last time. "...I'm sorry."
Applejack deflates a bit more, which is saying something. "No... no, Ah reckon not. Sorry, Derpy. Ah ain't toon sure Ah'd be good company tonight anyhow." She gives Fluttershy a small smile. "Aw, Ah don't think y'all did nothin' wrong. Ah'm just bent outta shape tonight. G'night, all y'all." She watches the others file out, then trudges upstairs to bed. The farm needs her in the morning.