Applejack at the Edge of the World

by MagicS

Apples, Strawberries, and Pears, Oh My! III

The next day Applejack and Wild Strawberry were together in another part of Elysium’s View where the meeting between the three families was to be held. Obviously none of them would accept meeting on one of their farms. It wasn’t back in the town in the middle part of Elysium’s View, but in the hills to the east of the farms where Applejack had originally seen other buildings and settlements on her arrival to Elysium’s View. The building they had chosen was apparently an old courtroom that was mostly repurposed to handle things like this instead of normal trials or hearings. Anypony could rent it out and use it if they had something formal and important to discuss.

And the problem of every apple, strawberry, and pear going bitter was definitely important.

Everypony had arrived by now and Applejack was pleased to realize she recognized most of them even if just from passing. It was mostly some of the Pears she didn’t recognize—not having even gotten in their home. A few ponies, when they had the time to bother, looked over and noticed her as well. She got quite a wide variety of reactions. It probably didn’t help her case that she was sitting with the Strawberries and not on her own, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that.

She wasn’t even allowed to talk according to Wild Strawberry and Mr. Berries—since she wasn’t from here and had no official stake in what was going on.

Though if things got bad she might have to break that rule. Wouldn’t be the first time she got rowdy at what amounted to a town hall meeting.

There were a couple of things she noticed before the actual meeting got under way. While most ponies were keeping to their own families and not even acknowledging the others yet, talking in hushed voices and throwing nasty glances at most, a few were different. In particular she saw Sunshine discreetly wave and smile at the Pear twins—and Maybelline caught the eye of Big Hoof and turned away with the slightest blush on her face.

Interesting… Applejack thought. Whether it was forbidden romance or just friendship in some cases, Applejack recognized the signs. It was already apparent that not everypony was so deadset against each other, but none could go against their parents.

Ol’ Honeycrisp then started rapping her hooves on the desk in front of her to quiet things down and get everypony’s attention. Seems with everypony here it was finally time to get things started. Although she wondered right off the bat if Mr. Berries and Mother Pear Jam would be annoyed that Ol’ Honeycrisp seemed to believe that she had the right to start their meeting. Either way things indeed got quiet as the little individual conversations died off and the three families of farmers all sat with each other and faced off. There were quite a few venomous gazes being thrown around already.

Mr. Berries cleared his throat. “I’ll just come out and say this then—we still haven’t been able to fix the bitter problem with our strawberries. I’m assuming you haven’t had any luck with your apples or pears either?”

“Nope,” Ol’ Honeycrisp frowned in annoyance.

“Not at all,” Mother Pear Jam replied.

“Okay,” Mr. Berries nodded before narrowing his eyes at the two matriarchs. “So are either of you finally going to take responsibility for what’s happened so we can deal with it?”

Applejack and Wild Strawberry both groaned and slammed their heads down on the table in front of them while angry shouting erupted throughout the courtroom.

Apples, Strawberries, and Pears alike were all trying to yell over one another. Even some of the more reserved ponies she had met or seen were stirred up by the accusations. Not that she could blame them. Applejack would be pretty dang angry too if some pony had accused her of poisoning their orchards—and in turn accidentally poisoning her own. She wasn’t sure if Mr. Berries, Ol’ Honeycrisp, or Mother Pear Jam actually believed that one of the other families had done this or if they just wanted somepony to blame.

“Your ugly strawberries were probably always bitter! It had to be you who sabotaged our farms!” An Apple shouted.

“Don’t you dare speak about our strawberries that way!”

“It was probably the Pears—they were the last ones to admit their fruits had gone bitter!”

“You’re jealous that we’ve been selling more than you lately!”

“Well none of us are selling anymore thanks to your sabotage!”

“We didn’t sabotage the fruit—one of you did!”

“The Apple family was here first and we would never-”

“No you weren’t, our Strawberry family was here first!”

“You Strawberries have always been dirty, scummy, and untrustworthy. At least pears and apples both grow in trees!”

“That’s what makes strawberries special! They’re sweeter, tastier, and just plain better than pears or apples!”

“How dare you!”

Applejack slumped over and rubbed her temples, trying to drown out the pointless arguments and insults that were being slung back and forth. At this point there were only a few ponies even attempting to regain any order. Next to her, Wild Strawberry despondently looked out around at the chaos, taking her hat off and resting it on the table with a sigh. This was going nowhere fast and Applejack didn’t know what she could do about it. If she had figured out why the fruits had gone bitter and knew how to fix things then maybe she could get them to get along again. But with things the way they were? There was far too much animosity and it was all getting worse and worse cause now their business and their livelihoods were being directly affected.

Eventually though, with some clamoring from the heads of the families as they got their ponies’ attention, the chaos of the courtroom started to die down once more. But there was a noticeable edge in the air as Mr. Berries, Ol’ Honeycrisp, and Mother Pear Jam all glared at once another. Any veneer of civility and politeness had been tossed away.

“Well then, regardless of who’s responsible for this or not or how we’re going to solve it, the Council of Lords has contacted all of us by now. Correct?” Mr. Berries asked.

“That’s right,” Ol’ Honeycrisp said while Mother Pear Jam merely nodded.

“They’re very upset with our harvests… it could damage Elysium’s View entire economy, food stores, the tourism industry. Our farms were central to the development of Elysium’s View after all and now they’re… failing,” Mr. Berries bit out.

“Those Lords can take their decree and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine!” Mother Pear Jam slammed a hoof down.

“For once I agree with the Pear,” Ol’ Honeycrisp snarled. “They got no right whatsoever to take control of the farms and kick us off! Not like they know how to grow our own fruit better anyways!”

Applejack’s eyes widened in shock. Things were actually a lot worse than she had thought, this Council of Lords—apparently whatever passed for the government in Elysium’s View—was threatening to take their farms away if the fruit didn’t go back to normal? No wonder everypony was this on edge and angry. And yet they still refused to get along and solve their problem together.

Mr. Berries folded his hooves and sat back in his chair. “True, but they’ve made their decision. We have a week to solve the bitter problem before they take ownership of all three of our farms.”

That sent a wave of angry and worried grumbling through the chamber. This time the ponies stayed talking to their own families, asking about what would happen to them, if the Council of Lords could really do that, wondering if there was something they could do. And of course—why nothing they did changed how bitter the fruit they were growing continued to be. Applejack was privy to hearing them talk about how they had changed soil, examined the water, checked for infestations, watched the trees 24/7 to see if any animals did anything, tested preserves against newly made jams and jellies, went over absolutely everything and anything that went into their farming methods.

And nopony came up with a single answer as to why this was happening. Applejack was starting to wonder if maybe it was somehow the result of magic, a wayward spell, a curse, anything. Since she had no way to explain it with her knowledge of farming. Or maybe it really was some kind of sabotage—even though with how much these ponies vehemently denied it she doubted it was any of them. Maybe somepony else was behind it? Or maybe even some kind of strange thing was happening to all the land in Elysium’s View and it was affecting the farms? After all, the Everfree outside of Ponyville could occasionally do things like that.

There was just no solid explanation Applejack could think of right now. And she didn’t want to boast but if she couldn’t figure out why all these apples had gone bitter she highly doubted anypony else could. And the apples, pears, and strawberries were all connected and in the exact same boat.

This was definitely the friendship problem she was here to solve but she didn’t know how! She had helped solve so many other problems but she at least had one of her other friends there with her. On her own like this she didn’t know where to start—bullheadedness probably wasn’t the right answer but that was usually what she brought to the table in situations like this. And it wasn’t just that the ponies here preferred their own fruits, they didn’t even respect the work the other farmers did, nor the differences and good things about the other fruits beside their own.

In that moment Applejack realized she had to take a slice of humble pie, since she had been just as bad in the past occasionally.

“One of you has to be at fault! We’ve done everything, short of moving the farm and growing our apples somewhere else entirely there’s nothing we can do!” Ol’ Honeycrisp yelled.

“Why don’t you let us inspect your farm if you’re so sure it was one of us who started this,” Mother Pear Jam glared at her. “Maybe some outside eyes can figure out what’s wrong with your apples.”

“All you would do is find some way to blame us—or plant whatever poison it is you used! Let us inspect your farm first!” Ol’ Honeycrisp accused right back.

“Maybe you’re both secretly in cahoots and this is all a trick...” Mr. Berries ground his teeth in paranoia. “It’s some way to get my land taken from me and then you’ll divide it up together. I bet maybe you’ve even gotten some of the Lords on your side...”

That accusation of course started up an entire new round of loud arguing as everypony tried shouting over one another once more. Some of the worst insults and suspicions a pony could sling at another got thrown back and forth. And all the while Applejack was getting angrier and angrier as well. Her already strained patience was close to breaking.

“Are y’all really going to just let this happen?” Applejack said.

She spoke at normal volume though so only Wild Strawberry could hear her. The filly looked up at her in confusion while the other ponies continued to argue.

“Are y’all really going to just let this happen,” Applejack repeated—louder but still drowned out by the arguing.

At last she slammed her hooves on the table with enough force to crack it. “ARE Y’ALL REALLY GOING TO JUST LET THIS HAPPEN?!”

The courtroom went quiet as all the ponies looked over in surprise at her. At most a few whispers were traded as some of the ponies not totally familiar with her asked their family who she was. Mr. Berries frowned, and Ol’ Honeycrisp and Mother Pear Jam were both glaring at her. She was an outsider, one who hadn’t even been here for long, and she hadn’t exactly made friends with any of them. Yeah, they had plenty right to be angry at her right now. But that still didn’t change the fact that Applejack needed to speak up.

“How can you sit here and argue like this when everything’s about to be taken away from you! Can’t you tell that there are bigger things that need to be done, that this affects everypony and every farm? You need to set aside your differences and figure out why all your fruit has gone bad! These sort of accusations aren’t helping anypony! Don’t you want to be able to pass your farm down to your children and to your children’s children? Isn’t that what should be the most important thing? Instead you’re about to lose everything because of these petty rivalries. Even if you don’t like each other can you really not even tolerate one another? Is that too much to ask? I know none of you are responsible for why your fruit has gone bitter—it’s something else! Stop accusing one another out of hate and paranoia and start working together!”

Applejack stopped her speech and started breathing a bit heavier, a little out of breath. She was getting a lot of different looks for sure. Some surprised, some engaged, some sad, and most of all—angry. And unfortunately three of those angry gazes were coming from the three current heads of the farms. She had broken the rules, she knew, but she couldn’t just sit here and listen to all that go on. There were a few sympathetic faces out there and even maybe a few that agreed with her, but the ponies who made the rules and decisions here were unswayed.

Ol’ Honeycrisp scoffed and pushed back her chair, standing up. “I think we’re done here. This has been just as pointless as I thought it would be—we’ll solve this problem on our own.”

“So will we,” Mother Pear Jam said and stood up as well. “The Pears will look out for their own, we don’t care what happens to your farms.”

“Well then you’ll both have to see our strawberry farm as the last one standing. When we figure out what you’ve done we certainly won’t share how to stop the bitterness,” Mr. Berries defiantly said.

“Bunch of hot air,” Ol’ Honeycrisp snorted. “Come on everypony! We Apples are heading home!”

The Pears got up as well and started to file out while Mr. Berries shot an unamused glare at Applejack before the Strawberries started to leave too. Wild Strawberry patted her on the back a little while Applejack continued to sit and stew in all her negative thoughts. This hadn’t gone well, nopony was even really willing to listen to or acknowledge her at all. Hopefully she was still going to be welcome at Strawberry Manor...

“We’ll figure something out,” Wild Strawberry said to her. “Not everypony was against what you said or doesn’t want to work together.”

“Mm...” Applejack grunted. “You’re right, and I’m certainly not giving up until we’ve helped these ponies here and can save their farms.”

Comments

[RoboRed]

Situation definitely isn't getting any better, it seems.
...You know, I wouldn't put it past this Council of Lords to be sabotaging the farms, quite honestly. And the heads of the three families are all too stubborn to even take a closer look.

There were a couple of things she noticed before the actual meeting got under way. While most ponies were keeping to their own families and not even acknowledging the others yet, talking in hushed voices and throwing nasty glances at most, a few were different. In particular she saw Sunshine discreetly wave and smile at the Pear twins—and Maybelline caught the eye of Big Hoof and turned away with the slightest blush on her face.

Interesting… Applejack thought. Whether it was forbidden romance or just friendship in some cases, Applejack recognized the signs. It was already apparent that not everypony was so deadset against each other, but none could go against their parents.

Still, it looks like Applejack might yet have a way around this...🍎🍐🍓

[Fanwriter]

Now the Lords whoever they are definitely might be doing something...three established farms one little spell or something and boom instant profit on the cheap. X(

Applejack needs Wild Strawberry and two other ponies from the other families to help solve this since no one else is. and Ponies beware...Applejack is not a pony that can be pushed around...especially if word of her past deeds become known...

[redmar]

It's pretty obvious that the fruit families are obsessed with paranoia and can't even consider the fact that the others are not to blame. Someone clearly stands to profit from the families losing their farms.