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

[lessabrasive]

Lacking the horn required there, kid. Lin tended to credit age and expansive bending skill for why she had one - though that did not explain why Eraqus was only an Earth pony when he possessed a range of magics in human form.

Lin sat back a bit on her haunches as she eyed the tumble of apples. She couldn't catch all of them - she'd been working on her skills, certainly, but they only extended so far at present - but she netted more than previously, and deposited them into the bucket proper. Only once that was done did her own dream eater bounce forwards to assist again, pausing to chitter at Kanji's. You should be helping the Persons!

"If we set out a ring of baskets, that could speed up the collection time," Lin mused, stepping towards the tree trunk thoughtfully. The success of that kick was definitely better than what she could manage at present.

[realmenknitplushies]

"Okay, you can have one per tree. But you've gotta pull your weight," he told his companion, before looking over at Lin.
"Yeah, that should work. I'm kinda sending them flying, huh." Still rather awkward and clumsy about it, he nudged at the few stray apples that Lin'd missed. With a flick of its tail, his Pricklemane finally joined in with the collection efforts.

[sailorgenerous]

A light blue magic that should be familiar to those present picked up the rest of the stray apples and deposited them neatly into the basket. "You're doing very well," Rarity told Kanji, trotting up to join them. "Nopony is perfect on their first try, after all. And the Zapapples are nice raw, but they're much better as jam."

She froze for a moment, eyes flickering towards the forest as another howl sounded. "We'd better hurry up, though. Those Timberwolves don't sound happy." She hadn't thought there were any Timberwolves here, aside from Amaterasu, but she wasn't going to question it with them so close.

Spike opted to stay close to Rarity. He could help, sure, but if there were dangerous things nearby he was not taking any chances. Nothing was hurting his person on his watch!

[realmenknitplushies]

"Timberwolves? Is that what that noise is?" Kanji looked in the direction of the sound, tail flicking - and feeling a little odd as soon as he'd realised that he'd done just that. Even if he was getting used to this form, the little things still kept catching him out.

"Sure, let's get going. No point hanging around when there's stuff to be done, huh?" He started to kick the buckets along towards the next tree, but paused for a second - "Uh, question, though. What is a timberwolf, anyway?"

[lessabrasive]

"Good morning," Lin nodded at the native unicorn as Rarity approached, her own green-lit magic collecting up a few baskets. "Are these zapapples an uncommon occurrance? Pinkie Pie seemed excited to see them."

"Are they actual wolves made of wood?" Given how literal some of the magic and objects and, well, natives were in Ponyville, it wasn't quite as absurd as it could otherwise have sounded. Lin pawed the earth with a foot irritably when the next wave of howls entered earshot. "I thought nightmares were the only other creatures present in the dream."

They weren't going to be faced with another Meta, were they?

[sailorgenerous]

"They're rather unpredictable, actually, and Zapapple harvest is always popular," Rarity answered Lin, neatly placing a basket under a full tree. "Though most ponies prefer the jam."

She paused again as a lull in the conversation gave way to more distant howling. "They are, yes - sticks and leaves, mostly. They go to pieces if you can get a good hit in, but they put themselves back together fairly quickly. I hadn't thought there were any here, aside from Amaterasu, but she's friendly. Usually somepony scares them off at the beginning of the harvest - they tend to be a bit possessive of Zappapples if they can get their paws on them." And if they came after the orchard with everypony in it...well, that would be a problem.

[realmenknitplushies]

"Possessive? Like they take the things instead?"

Wolves eating apples? That's new. But - then again, Kanji could hardly call himself an expert on normal wolves, let alone wooden ones. Anything goes, here.

"...These've gotta be some damn good apples if they're gonna do that." He looked up at the trees, down at the baskets- "Guess I'd better get a move on, huh? Here goes nothin'..."

And this time, he went for an outright buck.

[lessabrasive]

"You won't find fruit like this on my world, that much I can tell you." Weird animal combinations? Sure. But magic fruit? Pft. So says the woman that can bend metal and control earth with her mind. "Given Pinkie Pie's enthusiasm, as well as her ability to cook, I suspect we'll have the opportunity to--"

Get rained on by apples, apparently. Lin ducked instinctively, horn glowing bright green, which resulted in her shoring up a small shell-wall of earth to protect herself. The apples bounced harmlessly off it, and the unicorn blinked twice before shaking her mane out. "A little more warning in future would be nice."

[sailorgenerous]

"Or they try to prevent ponies from harvesting them," Rarity replied, arranging baskets under several full trees. "Zapapples are only ripe for a day - the ones still on the trees disappear after that, so we need to work quickly. I'm sure Pinkie and I can remember how to make the jam between the two of us."

Luckily, Rarity was well out of the way when Kanji decided to resume applebucking. She took a moment to make sure Lin was alright before picking up the dropped zapapples and depositing them in buckets. "Just like that. Just make sure that nopony else is beneath the tree before you start, please."

[realmenknitplushies]

"Ah, crap, sorry!" Okay, maybe he did get a bit carried away there. He backed away, head dropped, looking a spot embarrassed. "Just lemme know when you're ready for the next one, okay? If we ain't got time to hang around..."

[lessabrasive]

There was a faint /hmmf/ from Lin, but her expression gave way to amusement at Kanji's obvious embarrassment. "It's fine, just be more aware of your surroundings," she informed him, before eyeing her small curved wall. Lifting into a half rear, she held her position a moment, before drumming both forefeet into the earth again: the wall vanished, sucking itself back into the dirt and leaving only a square-ish mark in the grass to indicate its previous position.

"Well. Seems the more some things change.." Lin was pleased. Then she scooped up a few more loose apples.

"So, is this the only location to grow these apples in your world, Rarity?"