The Fifth Sign

[revenancemods]

Who: Anyone who wants to participate
What: The zapapple harvest!
Where: Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres, the orchard where the Zapapple trees are growing
When: Afternoon
Warnings: None yet.

A lightning storm crackles over the orchard, lighting the sky with electricity for minutes on end. Only when it fades does a rainbow arch across the sky. As if by magic - and it may well be - the gray apples on the trees suddenly grow to three times their size and gain rainbow stripes. It looks like the zapapples are ripe and ready for picking. There's buckets and barrels in the barn - best get started before the sun goes down and they disappear.

As for that howling in the distance...well, surely it's nothing.

[Anyone can join; this plot is friendly for combatants and non-combatants alike; no tag order; further instructions as events warrant. Have fun!]

Comments

[sailorlaughter]

Pinkie had set up in the Apple family house for the past few days. It was a little weird sleeping in AJ's bedroom without AJ around, but she just had to be there for when the zapapples came!

And, knowing what the lightning storm meant, she was out on the grass the second it was over. "GUYS! GUYS!" She didn't actually know if anyone had shown up to help yet, but her Dream Eaters at least were definitely around. "It's HARVESTING TIME!"

If she heard the howling, she gave no indication.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"So wait, we need to go through and pick all of these apples?"

Drawn here by curiosity and lightning, Edge now stared at the orchard with no small alarm at the size of the task.

[sailorlaughter]

"Yep! Or at LEAST as many as we can get!" Pinkie replied, turning to buck a tree herself. The apples didn't all come down - applebucking wasn't really her forte - but a decent few fell. They weren't all in the bucket, so she set about gathering them up. "We've got more people here than AJ usually has to help her, so it shouldn't be too bad!"

[brodakota]

North had stopped learning to be surprised by anything the dream worlds had thrown at him. Electric rainbow apples were par for the course as he was concerned. But there was excitement about them, and so North figured that he might as well see what the fuss was about.

How did ponies harvest apples anyway?

[fearmylaserface]

Well, Epsilon had finally decided to come back to the pony world again, even if he was a weird little dragon thing when he's in the place. And that pony looked familiar, colorwise. Familiar enough that he decided to move closer. "North?"

Yea. That's a blue dragon talking to you, North.

[brodakota]

In North's experience, baby dragon tended to equate to AI, and it didn't take too long for him to sort out that it was Epsilon.

"Hey, Epsilon. Didn't expect to see you here," North replied, bending down so that he was on a slightly more equal level with the dragon. Theta slid off his back, excited to see the other dragon.

"Hi!"

[statisticallyterrible]

Admittedly, a little of Chell's initial distaste for Ponyville had given way to her curiosity. She had precious little memory of natural plantlife, after all, and this looked like a fairly unique event to get involved in.

Her ears kept twitching at the sound of howling, though. Hadn't she heard the wildlife around Ponyville was gone? ...And unpleasant?

[wavesinherheart]

Unique was certainly one word for it. No other world Aqua had been to had anything even remotely like rainbow-striped apples, and while Aqua wasn't exactly sure what to make of what seemed to go into the process of making jam out of them, that was absolutely no reason she couldn't at least offer her assistance in getting them down out of the trees.

To that end she'd hauled out one of the buckets, before settling it under the tree. Actually managing to get the apples out of the tree might be a little harder, without hands, but that's only to be expected, and somewhere in the process of trying to figure it out, she manages to find the time to offer a nod to Chell. They may not have spoken much, but that's no reason to not be polite.

[realmenknitplushies]

While Kanji's managed to manouevre a few of the buckets out via nosing and kicking at them, the next step has him rather confused.

He looks up at the trees. Down at the buckets. Up at the trees.
Ah. There may be a problem here.

He turns to look over his shoulder, calling out to anyone in earshot:

"Hey, guys! Got any adv-"

Wait, what was that noise? Probably nothing, right? Not around this adorable place?

"-any advice?"

[lessabrasive]

"Try kicking it."

The voice from behind Kanji came from a charcoal grey unicorn, a faint note of amusement in her voice evident even as pale green eyes flicked back briefly over one shoulder. The howling wasn't normal for around here - but perhaps it was linked to the event.

Lin shook her head, short mane dancing, before she looked up at the tree again. "It's as good a method as any, and earth ponies are built for greater strength in that respect."

[realmenknitplushies]

"Kick it? Okay..." Well, it was worth a shot. So, get the barrel under the apples, line up... a couple of test swings, getting used to the motion, and Kanji let loose with a clumsy but vicious hindleg to the tree trunk, loud enough to send a nearby Pricklemane jumping up in surprise.

As for the intended result? Somewhat of a success, at least, with a fair few apples dropping loose. Not all of them ended up in the basket, but for a first try? He couldn't complain. In fact, out of a happy reflex, he caught himself rearing up - "Oh, hell yeah!"

[juniorganymedian]

Jeeves' own interest in curious phenomena eventually won out over his reticence to become involved in something that required the use of polka dots. He wasn't terribly interested in assisting with bucking particularly as he had a 'back condition' to maintain within sight of Pinkie Pie, but he did trot about, looking up at the strange rainbow fruit occasionally casting glances in the direction of the forest.

Eventually, the howling became more of interest, and he asked the nearest dreamer, "Would you happen to know from what sort of creature that howling is coming?"

[sailorlaughter]

"Oh! Those're timberwolves!" Pinkie chimed in. She wasn't the best applebucker in the world, as her stint with Applejack's cutie mark had proved, but she was working hard at it and had gathered most of a bucket. "That's weird, I thought they were only supposed to howl at the beginning of Zapapple season!"

[juniorganymedian]

Jeeves resigned himself to having to deal with the mare once more. He made a point of tugging a few of the apples in the trees down with his magic and floating them toward her bucket. "I was not aware there were animals properly in these realms. My understanding was that dream eaters were the only creatures present."

[guerriera]

Who has 0 use for electrifed magic apples? This aqua-blue pony!

Carolina edged around the outskirts of the apple tree meadow, glancing briefly at some of the newer, unfamiliar arrivals as she trotted on by. No familiar faces sighted yet, but she wasn't overly concerned about that. The howling, however. That was new. And given the worlds' past habits of things changing before Something Big Happened, someone ought to be ready.

Everyone else could go waste their time fetching apples down from the trees if they wanted, but this ponylancer was going to keep an eye on the borders for the farm.

[unrecovered]

Admittedly, Wash hadn't really missed Ponyville too much, namely because he hadn't missed having four legs and no hands. Re-learning how to walk as a quadruped had been all sorts of humiliating, and he was grateful that nobody had been around to witness it, at least.

He wasn't extremely interested in magic apples either, but it was the most interesting thing going on at the moment. It didn't take long to make his way to the orchard. He couldn't have missed seeing Carolina if he tried - that aqua-blue didn't exactly blend in with anything around here.

He didn't even know where he stood with her at the moment. They'd been fighting when he woke up - over Lela, of all things - but a year awake was enough to give him some context on what exactly she'd gone through, and four days here was enough time for things to change, especially since he'd woken up so soon after York had. It probably wasn't worth it to start something in public.

He turned to head to another part of the orchard, and he would have been perfectly happy to do so if Fang hadn't had other plans. The bat beelined it to Carolina, squeaking happily the whole way, and stopped to hover in front of her face. Look look look he found his person isn't that great he's so happy looklooklook!

Well. So much for not starting anything in public.

[guerriera]

Starting things was easy. Escalation? That was the harder thing to avoid.

With her attention on the forest (and distant howls) far over yonder, Fang's sudden dip into her plane of view startled Carolina, and she half-reared in startlement, tossing her head as much to avoid hitting the cheery bat as it was to get a better look at him as he squeaked and flapped his wings at her. Carolina had no desire to upset Fang's happiness - and she didn't have any dream eaters out presently to run interference. Darn it!

"Fine, fine," she replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. See? She's looking!

Consternation faded into something akin to resignation as the mare turned her head to look back the way the bat had come. It wasn't difficult to identify what made the bat so happy, at least, even if it wasn't a feeling Carolina was certain she shared. Then again, Wash had only been gone four days. While much could and had happened in shorter spans of time, it wasn't long enough to dissolve the uneasy truce started by York's disappearance.

Not that Wash could know that. "You shouldn't stray far from him," Carolina chided Fang gently instead.

[fatemeter]

Detective she may have been, but border patrol was never Naoto's style; the only thing she was on the lookout for as she fluttered overhead was somewhere high and quiet, where she could hopefully collect her thoughts. At first, she didn't even notice the pony trotting along in the field below. When the movement caught her eye, she wondered what this presumed other dreamer was doing here, and then what the politest way to inquire might be - but then another piercing howl sounded from somewhere over the horizon, a reminder to Naoto that she probably had more pressing issues to investigate.

Nevertheless, she dropped down a few feet on by now only slightly unsteady wings. "Whatever they are, they don't seem to be getting closer for now," she remarked out loud, to give herself something beside that lingering echo to listen to.

[guerriera]

Red mane was tossed as she lifted her head to eye the pegasus. The diminutive size seemed to reflect age, which ran counter to her voice. The small flyer's colours weren't familiar. But it did appear that, like Carolina, pony-style variations of clothing had carried over into Ponyville for this dreamer as well.

Coming to a halt, green eyes shifted back towards the wood as the howling resumed. "For now," Carolina agreed, "but I doubt it'll stay that way. They've been getting closer since this morning."

Exactly how early 'this morning' happens to be in Carolina's world was up for discussion. "Can you see anything moving from up there?"

THE PLOT THICKENS

[revenancenpcs]

Have those howls been getting closer? Yes, as it turns out, they have, and a pack of creatures bursts from the forest and stampedes towards the orchard. The howling comes from wolves that seem to be made of sticks and branches and leaves - Timberwolves, upset at ponies taking their zapapples. Mingling with them and egging them on are a pack of Nightmares, intent on causing trouble.

Oddly enough, the Timberwolves run right past the trees that have already been stripped bare of zapapples. Looks like they're only upset so long as there are apples in the trees.

[Yep, the wolves aren't happy. Timberwolves will go to pieces when attacked, but reassemble themselves within a minute. Nightmares act like normal Nightmares, but will continue to respawn. Noncombatants should continue to harvest zapapples; combatants, it's your job to protect them.]

Zapapple Harvest

[revenancenpcs]

[Harvesters go here!]

[lessabrasive]

The ground shook furiously, spilling several apples from the trees to the ground below as Lin pointed her horn towards the earth beneath her hooves. The green light sparkled brightly at its point before vanishing in a flash, and a wall of dirt sprang up, stretching out across the field to provide a partial road block. A temporary shield, really, one that would force the oncoming force to go around it - assuming they were bright enough to try that rather than go through.

That done, Lin left the line of defenders to it, turning her attention back to those who'd opted to finish the gathering. "Line up the baskets around the bases before you start kicking at the trees!"

Fighting the Nightmares

[revenancenpcs]

[Combatants go here!]

[brodakota]

It was still an experimental tactic, but now was as good a time as any. North positioned himself in front of some of the trees and created a magic shield. How long it would last was anyone's guess.

Theta, in the meantime, clung to North's mane. He was not going to get lost this time.

Re: Fighting the Nightmares

[notquitedracula]

Between one thing and another - the nightmares, the training sessions with Emizel, and what he was beginning to suspect as the beginnings of anemia - Soma had not been very active in Equestria of late. Even so, word of the strange goings-on there had reached even his ears, and so he was on the scene for this particular event. Admittedly, he wasn't very interested in the harvest; he'd picked one or two of the odd fruit, but he was leaving that mostly to others more capable and interested.

No; he was here as security. Those distant howls reminded him far too much of the werewolves he'd fought against in the Castle, and while he didn't have his full range of powers yet, his strength in this strange world had been growing with the increasing length of the night. Enough so that he could use most of his Bullet souls, at least, though he was still unable to access the majority of his Guardians and Enchantments.

Added to that were a set of foreleg armored plates that roughly equated to the fist loads he'd run across in the Castle; they weren't worth much for range and they bore no enchantments whatsoever, but they made effective shields and enabled him to strike without magic if he needed to. The moogles had outdone themselves.

For his part in all this, Soma will be toeing the line just at the edge of the unpicked trees. Between his natural strength, his new weapons, and his regained powers, he should be able to put up quite the formidable wall; approach at your own peril, Nightmares and Timberwolves.

[Sorry for shortness, consider this a placeholder. Soma definitely wants in on some ass-kicking action.]