There Will Be Apples
Chapter 9: Chapter VIII: The Accident
Previous Chapter Next Chapter Everypony was celebrating about the new hope for the future of Applelooza until deep into the night. Applejack and Applebloom headed towards their temporary home and went out like a candle. All was peaceful and quiet until deep in the night, when a stallion worker burst in their home. "Applejack!? Applejack?" he cried as he went over Applejack and shook her awake, "Applejack! Come. Quick!". "Arrggghh. What in tarnation do ye got for wakin' me up so late?" Applejack growled. "Oh no. There's been an accident! A terrible accident. A stallion's dead...." replied the worker. "What? Who? Did I know him?" asked Applejack. The worker replied "....No... I believe not... His name was Joe." Applejack replied, "Alright. How did it happen?" "Technical difficulties." answered the worker, "He slipped, fell into one of the water wells." Applejack got up and put on her hat, trotting frantically, "DAMNIT! DAMNIT! DAMN IT ALL!" she yelled, "HOW CAN YOU BUCKING HELP PONIES IF THEY CAN'T HELP THEMSELVES?! THIS MISERABLE LIFE OF THIS HERE BUSINESS!" They made their way to the well, where the workers fished Joe's body out of it. It was wet with blood, and a bone piercing out of the neck. On his body, a pin given by Twilight for the church. Applejack was furious, and turned to the workers, "THERE IS A COVER FOR THIS DAMN HOLE, AND IF ANY PONY GOES HERE, YOU SLIP IT INTO PLACE. THAT IS THE WAY. THAT IS THE WAY WE DO THINGS!" and stormed off.
The next day, Twilight was performing a sermon, and was going full throttle. ".....And Celestia shall bless you all. Blessed with her blood. Every Earth Pony, ever Pegasi, every unicorn, even every griffon. All shall receive equal pardon. Even if you do not have faith. An infidel once came to me and said, 'But I don't believe in this form of salvation. It does not seem right.' So, I said, 'TO TARTARUS WITH YOUR IDEAS, YOUR BELIEFS OF WHAT IS RIGHT! DO YOU BELIEVE CELESTIA IS COMING DOWN HERE TO CONSULT YOU WITH YOUR GREAT INTELLECT AND WONDERFUL BRAIN AND FIND OUT WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT BEFORE SHE DOES IT? YOU MAKE ME SICK! YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T BELIEVE THAT IT ISN'T TRUE?! FOOL!" She began to calm down. "That ends my sermon. Let's close today with a divine healing." She looked towards an elderly pony named Mrs. Hunter, and walked towards her. "I had a vision." Twilight said, "Yes, last night, I had a vision. And I felt Celestia's breath go through me, and it moved down into my stomach, and sloshed around, and my stomach spoke in a whisper, not a shout-'Touch this mare with your hands, and caress her.'". She grabbed Mrs. Hunter's hooves. "My dear Mrs. Hunter. You have arthritis, don't you?" she asked. Mrs. Hunter replied, "Yes, I do, Twilight." "Yes." Twilight responded, "The Devil is in your hooves, and I will suck it out. Now, I will not cast this ghost out with a fever, for the new spirit inside me given by Celestia HERSELF has shown me I have a new way to communicate. It is a gentle whisper." She began rubbing and caressing the elderly mare, bringing her hooves to her face and smoothly rubbing it. Twilight began to whisper, "Get out of here, ghost. Get out of here, ghost. Get out. Get out of here, ghost. Get out of here, ghost." The whisper, however, slowly began to rise, and Twilight began to rub harder and faster with her voice rising and rising. "Get out of here, ghost! Get out of here, and don't you dare turn around and come back, for if you do, all the armies of my hoof shall KICK YOU IN THE TEETH!" She stood up and began walking towards the entrance of the church, hooves clenched, face red, and horn glowing. "AND YOU SHALL BE CAST UP AND THROWN! IN THE DIRT, AND THRUST BACK TO PERDITION! AND AS LONG AS I HAVE TEETH I WILL BITE YOU! AND IF I HAVE NO TEETH I WILL GUM YOU! AND AS LONG AS I HAVE HOOVES, I WILL BASH YOU!". She was now at the entrance, and began to emit bright rays of light from her horn, leading out of the church. "Now..." she said, "GET OUT OF HERE GHOST! GET OUT OF HERE GHOST! GET OUT OF HERE.....GHOOOOST!" and climaxed with one final ray, this one, being the most forceful and bright. She turned to her audience and cried, "And it left!".
When the sermon was over, and only Twilight remained in the church, Applejack approached and said, "Uhh. Hello.....Twilight..." Twilight whirled around, "Applejack..." Applejack told her there was an unfortunate accident, to which Twilight said she knew. "Joe Ghunda was a stallion of considerable faith, so if ye wanna say a few words, his burial's at noon, tomorrow." said Applejack. Twilight responded, "Applejack. his accident could have been avoided. It is terrible to think of all of this, these multiple orchards, this whole plantation, working away out there, unblessed...." "Yes it could have." said Applejack, "Those stallions are working twelve hour shifts and they need their rest. If they don't get it it, they start to make stupid mistakes...." Twilight retaliated, "I've seen some of them drinking. Don't you think that has something to do with it....?" We need them workers well rested to work." responded Applejack, "They can't get that if they're up here listening to your gospel, and then these orchards ain't gonna produce and blow gold all over the place..." "I wish I had more time with Joe Ghunda. More could have been done...." mourned Twilight. Applejack replie, "Well then the orchards can't produce, and blow gold all over the place. Now, would ye kindly see to it that his personal possession's find their way back to his family, please? Thank ye mighty. Heard ye were planning some renovations?" Twilight chirped, "Yes. Our congregation is growing strongly. We need more room." "Well, that was one damn helluva show back there." said Applejack as she trotted away. Twilight called back to her, "It was a pleasure seeing you..." Applejack came back to Twilight, "I know there are two revelations in the holy word of Celestia, so what in tarnation is the third? Why do you call your church that?" Applejack asked Twilight, no longer being able to containher curiosity. Twilight grinned, "Me. I'M the Third Revelation...."
More days past, and it came to the ponies' attention that there started a gas leak in the plantation. Applejack and the rest of the workers were busy trying to patch it up. Some time later, Applejack decided to take a break, and sat down away from the workers. Mr Sunday saw Applejack and approached her. He asked her if he could sit down. She didn't respond, but Mr. Sunday sat anyways. Mr. Sunday asked, "In your.....'Church of the World'.... do you know the phrase, 'backslider'?" Applejack was frustrated with this, and said nothing. Mr. Sunday retaliated, "....Sometimes I think if you were to be more honest that some of this.....misfortune.....would pass..." Again, no response. Abel said to Applejack, "Many of the new faces here have joined Twilight down at the Church of the Third Revelation. I know you don't got the time, but I know that to lead a full life, you must take the time. I know that if Twilight blessed the plantation that it would bear fruit, metaphorically and really. Don't be a backslider Applejack.... It's a bad path...." Applejack turned to Mr. Sunday. "Am I Mr. Sunday....? Am I....?" she said irritably. "You don't respect my family" Mr. Sunday replied, "But one day....you will see.... My faith is stronger than yours....". At this moment, the workers came back to Applejack and informed her they had patched up the gas leak. "Great." she replied, "Don't want all of this ta go up in flames." Applejack stood up, looked at Mr. Sunday, and smiled. "You don't have a single idea..." she told him, "Of what I am going through. And ye know what? I think you turned Twilight into a lunatic. Hell, I take it back, everypony is a lunatic, huh? Everypony is my competition. And you..... are the weakest and most pathetic stallion I ever seen.... I an damn happy ownin' your property, and ta make a livin' off of it when YOU couldn't... ALL of you are lucky I'm here! Get away. Yer very looks disgust me. Go back to yer pathetic little ranch and rot..." and left.
The next day, work resumed on the orchards. All was quiet; everypony working and Applebloom sitting watching them work while Scootaloo played down below. When break time came, everypony left, except Applebloom, who was daydreaming, and one of the workers, named Leonard. He was home sick the day they found out about the leak, and lit a cigarette and began smoking it. "Where in tarnation is Lennie?" called one of the workers. He turned and saw him smoking in the plantation. "Lennie?" he asked nervously. Applejack turned and saw Leonard, about to flick his cigarette and cried, "NOOOO! You fool! There's still ga-" until she was interrupted by the creation of flame + gas. The orchard and Leonard burst into flames as Applebloom was thrown back by the explosion. She flew like a rag doll and landed with a *THUMP* on the ground below. Blood was coming out of her ears. The trees and newly emerged gas fueled the fire, as it raged endlessly. The ground began to cave, and oil burst out in a straight line, creating a column of fire. Applebloom raised her head, immovable out of shock, until a worker came and grabbed her. She was brought to Applejack, where she rushed to Applebloom. "Are ye alright....? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" she asked shaking Applebloom, "DAMNIT! TALK TO ME APPLEBLOOM! WHAT'S WRONG?! WHAT HAPPENED?! SPEAK! Please...." Applebloom was crying. Her vision was fuzzy, and she felt dizzy. Applejack grabbed Applebloom and galloped to the mess hall. Applebloom begins to lose it, and begins screaming, "MY EARS! I CAN'T HEAR MY VOICE! I CAN'T HEAR MY VOICE! APPLEJACK!". Tears were in her eyes. Applejack looked nervous. She said "Uhhh. It's alright. Yer fine, silly filly..." and chuckled nervously. Appleboom didn't hear a single word and was still screaming. "AHHHHHH!" she exclaimed, "WHAT'S HAPENIN'?! I CAN'T HEAR MY VOICE!" All the families base camping at the orchard flooded into the mess hall for safety. Scootaloo came to Applebloom. "Applebloom? What's wrong....?" she asked, scared. Applejack told the families to stay calm and watch Applebloom and left to check on the orchard. Se was barking orders at the workers to help extinguish the fire. However, nothing coud stop it's seemingly endless fuel. Applejack stood, stunned, staring at the raging fire and the smoke filled sky, entranced by the dancing flame until deep into the night. The workers finally extinguished it, but Applejack was still petrified, grinning and glowing with excitement. The workers looked at Applejack solemnly. Applejack eyed them, grinning. "Why the long faces?" she asked. "Applejack..... the orchard..... It's burned...." Applejack stood up, "Damn the orchard! Don't ye see?! We've got an ocean of oil under our hooves! This whole time! And not a soul can get to it but ME! That's who!" Applejack dashed to the Mess Hall and went to Applebloom. She was still crying hysterically, "I can't hear... Applejack... I can't hear anything! Please, make me hear my voice.... I don't want this..."