Children of Harmony

Family Vacation

Apple Jewel woke up tired as she headed down to the kitchen that morning. She passed her cousins, who were already up. Apple Sprout, the oldest of the cousins, was Uncle Big Mac and Aunt Cheerilee's son. He looked like his father, but had streaks of magenta in his mane. Next was little Cousin Apple Butter, daughter of Aunt Apple Bloom and Uncle Pipsqueak. She looked like her mother, but had a brown spot over her right eye.

"Mornin' Sis." said her little brother, Apple Shield, who was the same age as Apple Butter.

"Mornin', little Bro."

"What day is it?"

"Let me check, it's…" she looked at the nearby calendar, only for her to be frightened by the sight of the date, "Oh, no!"

"What? What is it?"

Instead of answering, she shouted out, "Apple Sprout! Apple Butter! Get in here!"

"What?" said Apple Butter, "What's the matter?"

"That's what I want to know!" pointed Apple Shield.

"It's family vacation time!" she yelled.

They gasped and panicked.

To the kids, family vacations were not fun. It's always too much packing that takes too long, the long hours riding in the wagon, and the grown-ups fighting over which direction to take. They didn't want to go on a vacation, not if they could help it…

"Apple Sprout, you hide the camping stuff!"

"Eeyup, you said it, cuz." he galloped off.

"Apple Butter, hide the maps!"

"You got it!" she saluted and ran to the next room.

"What do we do?" Apple Shield asked.

"The one sure way this vacation is not going to happen…"

They were the barn, where the family wagon was. Apple Jewel was underneath it.

"Wrench?" she held out her hoof.

"Wrench." Apple Shield gave her one.

"Screwdriver?"

"Screwdriver."

"Hammer?"

"Hammer."

She rolled out, "I think that'll do it."

"Do what, exactly?"

"The minute Mom and Uncle Mac set up the wagon, it'll break! Which means… No family vacation!"

"Genius!" they hoof-bumped.

The cousins were in happy spirits while eating their breakfast. The parents noticed their strange behavior.

"You four are being awfully cheery…" said Apple Jack.

"Anything exciting happening?" questioned Cheerilee.

"Nope, but there will be…" Apple Butter giggled and Apple Shield joined her.

AJ and Spike gave each other confused glances. Then, she went to the calendar.

"Let's see, what's on today's to-do list…" she found the date, but then had a wide grin spread over her face, "Well, I'll be… It's finally here!"

"What is?" asked Pip.

"Family vacation time! Hee-haw!"

"It is?!" Apple Bloom, Spike, and Cheerliee said simultaneously.

"As plain on this here calendar!" she pointed out. "Hitch up the wagon, Big Mac!"

"Ee-yup." the red stallion said as he headed out. The kids stifled their giggles.

"In the meantime," said Cheerilee to Apple Bloom, "we have some packing to do."

"Spike," AJ says, "you and Pip get the maps."

"Will do." Spike replied.

She turned back to her own kin, "And I'll go help your uncle to get that wagon going."

Once she got out the door, they quickly moved to the window watching them getting the wagon out of the barn.

"When's it going to break?" Apple Butter asked.

"Any second now…" Apple Jewel watched with anticipation.

But it seemed the wagon was still in mint condition and no sign that had been tampered with.

"I thought you said the wagon was going to break…?" said Apple Sprout.

"It should've! I don't understand how it could not break!"

"Yeah! We both worked on making sure it would!" exclaimed Apple Shield.

"Apparently, you didn't do enough…" pouted AS.

"Well, there's no way Dad and Uncle Pip are going to find the maps." she said.

On cue, Spike and Pip walked in, carrying scrolls.

"Got the maps!" announced Spike.

They turned around in surprise.

"And how's the packing coming along, Apple Bloom love?" Pip called out.

"Almost there!" she shouted out.

Once Pip and Spike left the room, the kids gave Apple Butter a glare.

"What?! I really hid them good!"

"Then how in the hay did they manage to find them?!" Jewel demanded.

"I don't know! Maybe there's extra copies of the map!"

They could only sighed in defeat.

"Looks like… we're doomed to another vacation of long hours, bickering parents, and taking forever to get home… Unless… we call in reinforcements!" Jewel stomped her foot, "Quick, I need a quill and paper!"

Apple Shield and Apple Butter ran around the room and eventually found what they looking for. Shield handed her the paper and Butter the quill. Jewel wrote the words SOS on two sheets and wrote down a small message. When she rolled them up and blew green fire on them, the messages dissipated.

In mere moments, Screw Ball popped up and Fire Spark flew in from an open window.

"I came as quickly as I could!" Fire raced to his marefriend.

"What's wrong? Your message said, 'SOS, emergency at Sweet Apple Acres!'"

"Oh, guys, it's a disaster!"

"What is?!" both said.

"Is the barn falling apart?!" Screwy questioned.

"Are the apple trees dying?!" Fire inquired.

"No! It's… a family vacation!"

The light purple earth pony and the light orange pegasus stood there for a moment, their eyes blinking in confusion.

Screwy finally said, "Seriously? That's the emergency?"

"Um, Jewel," he nervously chuckled, "I fail to see how this calls for needing help."

"But Fire, it's more than just a vacation… Tell 'em." she gestured to her brother and cousins.

"The long boring hours of being stuck in a wagon!" Shield said.

"The fighting over directions!" shrieked Apple Butter.

"And we can never get a moment's rest…" said Apple Sprout.

"If anything, we always need a vacation from our family vacation!" Apple Jewel finished for them.

Screwy couldn't help but laugh, "Jewel, I hate to break to you, but that's every family vacation…"

"Maybe so, but have you ever seen an Apple Family Vacation? I don't think so!"

"Jewel…" Fire put his hoof around her, "Families are always going to have the worst of something… You just got to look on the positive of this. Your parents and aunts and uncles want to spend time with you… and I'm sure you want to spend time with them…"

"I do… it's just… so hard to put up with it…"

"You got to try…" he comforted her.

She sighed and looked straight into his blue eyes; she always did admire those eyes of his…

"Okay… Thanks…"

"Hey, anything for my girl…"

"Blech!" Apple Shield gagged, "Why don't you two just kiss already?"

The couple gave him a look.

Suddenly, they heard thumping coming from the stairway.

"Careful, Pip!" Apple Bloom's voice could be heard.

"Sorry!" he replied.

"We better go." said Screwy, "Look, it's going to be alright. Hey, weren't you the one to never back down from a challenge?"

"I suppose you're right…"

"It's going to be alright…" Fire assured her and then the three friends had a group hug before Screwy teleported herself and Fire Spark out of there.

Spike lugged behind him a giant suitcase while Pip was holding one in his mouth. Apple Jack and Big Mac walked back in.

"Well, I reckon' we're all set. We all ready here?"

Apple Bloom answered, "Yup, we all set here!"

"Then let's all hit the road. Yee-haw!"

The kids gave each other grimaces.

"Yeah…" Apple Butter said in unenthusiastic tone.

"Sure am excited…" Apple Shield breathed.

Moments later, they were on the road. The kids leaned on each side of the wagon and sulked while the adults sang songs.

"Come on, youngins'! Join in the fun!" said Apple Jack.

They could only roll their eyes; they knew what was coming up next.

"AJ," Spike motioned as he looked at the map, "where exactly is the route to Hollow Shades?"

"It's north by north to east." she pointed out on the map.

"No!" Apple Bloom moved in, "It's north by north to west!"

"I believe you are mistaken," Cheerilee came in, "It's north then northeast."

The grown-ups started bickering over directions.

"Hey, at least I haven't lost a map in a long time!" shouted out Apple Bloom.

"Only because I never trusted you to hold one again!" AJ yelled back, "So your sense of direction is way off!"

They kept fighting until Apple Jewel couldn't take anymore and shouted, "Stop it!" Then, she stomped her hoof, only for the wagon to start creaking and just like that, it broke apart! "Oh, now it breaks!"

"What in tarnation?! Apple Jewel, you better have a good explanation for this!" her mother demanded.

"Oh, do I ever! Every year, ever since I was little, we took these bad vacations and they always ended in the worst way! They don't bring us together; they drive us apart and I was trying to prevent that from happening this year!" she finished with near tears.

"And we helped…" Apple Shield went next to his sister. Apple Sprout and Apple Butter did the same.

The adults were surprised to see this.

"Whoa…" said Spike, "I didn't think it was all that bad. Sure we had our moments of some bad vacations, but I didn't think it was all the time…"

"You all feel this way?" Apple Jack asked the kids.

They nodded in response.

"I'm sorry, Mom…" Jewel faced AJ, "I was so desperate, that I went as far as to wreck the wagon, now… we have no way to get home…"

"I'm sorry, too, sugar cube…" she pulled her into a hug, "we should've took notice of your guys' feelings…"

"Well, we always did hide it pretty good…" she turned back to her cousins, who were next to their parents and Shield was next to their dad. "Because we always knew how important the family vacations were to you guys…"

"How about we all agree to take a family vacation when we all feel like it…?"

"That sounds perfect," said Cheerilee, "as long as it won't be during the school year."

Both Apple Butter and Apple Shield groaned. The family couldn't help but laugh to that.

"Well," AJ looks over the wagon, "looks like we won't be going anywhere anytime soon, much less to get home…"

They sighed, then Apple Butter's eyes slatted, "Hey… What's that?"

They turned to her direction to see a nearby town in the distance.

"Where do you suppose...?" Spike turned the map around.

"I don't know and I don't care," his wife told him, "but we need some pony to help fix this wagon. We'll spend the night and be on our way in the mornin'."

As they walked their way towards the town, they saw an inn. Apple Shield and Spike's stomachs began to growl.

"Sounds like you two could use a bite to eat." pointed Apple Jack.

"Me, too!" Apple Butter was holding her tummy and fell over.

"Let's get you inside, then." Apple Bloom took hold of her.

When getting in the building, the inn was somewhat empty and there was no pony at the desk. Shield found a bell and pushes on it, making a dinging noise. In an instant, an old stallion came up.

"Yes? May I help you?"

"We'd like a couple of rooms for the night." said AJ.

"But of course." he turned the register to them, "Just sign your names and have a seat in our dining room. You must be famished."

"Why, thank you," she replied, "We are. You see, our wagon broke down about a couple miles from here and we need some help repairing it."

"I will offer the services of our resident handy pony. Your wagon should be fixed by tomorrow morning."

"That's mighty hospitable of you! And we appreciate that." They headed to the dining room and were served all sorts of food fit for a pony or dragon…

Each family had a separate room. When Spike and Shield were down for the count, Jewel apologizes again.

"I am sorry I gotten us stranded in the first place…"

"When we get home, you can make that up by taking on extra chores."

"It's a deal!" mother and daughter hoof-bumped.

"But it is sweet of you looking out for the family… You're just like me when I was age. Well, maybe with a hint of your father, if you went as far to sabotage the wagon…"

"But Dad said you wrecked the barn when you were in charge of the family reunion way before I was born."

"Yeah… that was an accident and your father can't tell it straight because he wasn't there himself."

"Then why did Aunt Apple Bloom back it up?"

AJ slatted and grumbled, "Oh, when I get my hands on that…" she sighed and patted her daughter's head, "Point bein', next time you have a problem, come to me first."

"You got it, Mom…" they embraced before going to sleep.

When the entire family woke up the next morning, they had a nice breakfast provided for them and when they had gone outside, they saw the wagon all repaired and looking better then new!

"Land sakes!" the original Apple members and their kids' gasped.

Once Big Mac hooked up and the family went in the wagon, he pulled away as they headed in the direction going home. When the kids looked back, they were shocked to see the town had suddenly disappeared before their eyes!

Apple Jewel shook out of fear, "Where… where did it…?"

When the parents looked back, they, too, were quivering.

"I don't know," spoke Spike, "But let's get out of here!"

"Eeyup!" Big Mac agreed and sped up.

They were home at last and Apple Jewel met with her friends in her room to tell them of her recent adventure, especially the part about the ghost town showing up out of nowhere and disappearing again.

"No way! You're so lucky!" said Screwy.

"How is that lucky?" inquired Fire, "My marefriend could've been in danger!"

"Aw…" Jewel kissed his cheek, causing him to blush, "I was never in real danger, not without my family there, but it's nice to know you care…"

"So I take it the family vacation debacle is over?" Screw Ball asked.

"It sure is. Aw, shoot, I need to get going. I have some extra chores I need to do after wrecking the wagon."

"All and all, I think that's my favorite part of the story." smirked Screwy.

Jewel grabbed her pillow off the bed and threw it at her. That caused Screw Ball to make more pillows appear and a pillow fight started. The cousins and Apple Shield saw the commotion and joined in on the fun. That's how it was for the rest of the afternoon and Apple Jewel had learned her lesson.