Storybits

[foolishwren]

STORYBITS: THE DRABBLENING

Over time I've accumulated a lot of random Route-verse or generally Heather-based drabbles! Here's a post compiling them all in one place. See comments for the stories!

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Berry-Bucking

[foolishwren]

3. Berry-Bucking

_{Context: rodeopony requested a tale of Applejack making Heather laugh! (EN ROUTE)}

The sky was clear-- a brilliant blue reserved only for those crisp autumn days where the air had a bite to it that made even the most sluggish of people feel like getting out and doing stuff.
Which meant, of course, that it was a perfect day for apple-bucking.
The trouble was, as Applejack discovered when she strolled through the city's outskirts that morning, there didn't seem to be any apple trees in Johto.
Which was what led her to do what she was doing when Heather, on her way to the pond to let a floaty-wearing Godzilla do some paddling around, walked past and just... paused.
"... Uh, hey there, AJ... why're you... um... kicking a tree?"
Pausing with one foot planted against the tree's trunk, the ex-pony turned around and beamed brightly at the other girl.
"Berry-buckin'!" she replied.
At Heather's blank stare and raised brow, she turned back to the tree to give it another kick. "See, back home, my job's to buck all the apples down from th'family orchard! S'how we make a livin'! These human legs sure don't hold a candle compared to what they can normally do, but I figure if I keep at it, why, I'll be the best berry-bucker Johto ever saw! Might make a pretty penny sellin' 'em to folks who don't feel like climbin' up to get 'em themselves, too!"
WHAM! A particularly hard kick made the leaves on the tree rattle.
Beaming at her progress, AJ continued kicking.
"'Sides, I gotta keep in shape just in case I get turned back into a pony again, and-- hey, whatchu gigglin' about back there?"
She paused in her efforts and looked over her shoulder to Heather, who'd covered her mouth with one hand and was making some very distinctive snerking noises.
"I-- pffft, sorry, no offense or anything," she snickered after a moment, raising her other hand to show she wasn't trying to be mean. "But anyone looking out their window right now to see a random girl kicking a tree is probably wondering what's going on pretty hard right now. Since I don't think any of them would've heard of... uh, berry-bucking."
AJ blinked, then drew herself up with a confident smile.
"Well, you humans look pretty silly whether you're kickin' trees or not, so I won't take that personal! 'Sides, if you could see me doin' this in my OWN body, you wouldn't be laughin', I'll tell you tha--"
She cut herself off with a small gasp as-- having been jostled slowly loose by all the kicking, a single berry snapped off of its stem and fell, hitting her right between where her ears would have been if she'd still been a pony. ... Of course, not having anything close to the firm consistency of the apples she was so used to bucking, the berry merely burst into a small pile of blue mush.
The sight made Heather first gape in surprise at the sheer timing of it all, and then double over, hands on her knees and shoulders shaking with unrestrained (but good-natured) laughter.
Mildly surprised, AJ blinked once or twice... before breaking into a grin, both at the situation and the sight of her buddy laughing so hard.
"... Well, I'll give ya this one. This'd be a pretty silly sight on anypony."