The door to the apple cellar slammed shut with a loud crash.

“Hey! Who turned out the lights?” Rainbow yelled.

“Just a sec, folks. I’ll get ‘er opened back up.”

“Uh… it ain’t budgin’. Who all’s in here?”

“Me!”

“Um… me too…”

“Me three!”

"I think all of us are here."

“Just peachy. Say, Twilight? Ya’ think you could do that glowy thing so we can see?”

A magenta glow illuminated the dark, but freshly reorganized, cellar. Shelves filled with sacks and apple bushels lined two walls, and a stack of barrels sat by the third. The light also revealed the six ponies who’d just spent the morning putting it in order. 

Applejack stood on the stairs, frowning. “Rainbow, come on over here and help.”

“No problem!” Rainbow flew to the bottom of the stairs and crouched in a starting position. “Outta the way, AJ.”

“That ain’t a good idea, RD. That thing’s stuck tight, and it’s--” Applejack pressed against the wall as a rainbow canon ball blasted past her, slamming hard into the closed trapped door.”-- built to keep out a tornado.”

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, flying up to where Rainbow was sprawled across the top steps. 

“Just… fine… I’ll go again… soon as the room stops spinning.”

“No, ya’ ain’t.” Applejack and Fluttershy helped Rainbow down the stairs. “We’re gonna sit tight for a bit, until Mac gets back from market.”

“From market?" asked Rarity. "As in, when the market closes for the evening?”

“That’d be when we usually get back from market, so yup.”

“And until that time, we’re going to sit in a hole in the ground?” Rarity arched an eyebrow.

Applejack raised both eyebrows. “It’s an apple cellar, and a right nice one too.”

“It’s a perfectly nice cellar, and I’m sure we’ll have a good time.” Twilight smiled. 

“Let’s do something fun!” Pinkie suggested.

“Like what? There’s not a lot to do in an apple-cellar-style hole in the ground.” Rarity sniffed.

“Um…” Fluttershy spoke up. “I’m hungry.” 

“Help yourself, sugarcube. There’s plenty apples for everypony.”

“What about to drink?” Twilight asked. “Is there any water or apple juice down here?”

Applejack bit her lip. “There’s, uh, stuff to drink.” 

“Stuff like…?” Twilight pressed.

“Are ya’ thirsty?”

“Not yet…”

“Then it don’t matter right now.” Applejack’s expression tried desperately to convey something to Twilight regarding Rainbow.  

“I’m thirsty!” Rainbow announced.

Applejack glared at her. “Horse hockey, you’re thirsty.” 

“I am if it means you have to tell us what there is to drink…” Rainbow smirked.

Applejack huffed and took a step to the left. “Fine, there’s cider in those barrels--”

Rainbow made a beeline for the barrels, only to stop short as she reached the length of her tail, which Applejack was not-so-accidentally standing on. 

“Ow! Hey!”

“But it ain't the stuff we usually sell,” Applejack explained to Twilight. “It’s the hard stuff.”

“Oh… yeah, we should probably hold off on that.”

“Um, why?” Rainbow asked. 

“Because we don’t want to end up drunk all afternoon?” Twilight answered. 

“We don’t?”

“Rainbow’s right,” Rarity pointed out. “What harm can it possibly do if we did become intoxicated?”

Pinkie’s eyes lit up. “Oh! We can all start talking about stuff like who we want to have sex with and don’t want to have sex with and we can reveal really embarrassing stuff about ex-special someponies and end up having sex and kissing each other!”

Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy gaped at Pinkie with blinking, stunned expressions. 

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Sounds good!”

“Ahem.” Fluttershy quietly cleared her throat, but Rainbow was already looking over one of the barrels for a way to open it. 

“Ahem!” Fluttershy said more clearly. Rainbow looked over. 

She met icy eyes that pierced her soul and chilled not just her bones, but her muscles and organs and some stuff that Twilight would probably argue wasn’t even inside a pony. The words that followed vibrated through all of those things. “[i]Do not lay a HOOF on that cider.[/i]”

“‘kay,” Rainbow squeaked, backing away from the barrel to the other side of the room, where she sat down to pout.

The room was quiet for a few long seconds before Applejack said, “Ya know, those apples are plenty juicy! I reckon we’ll be just fine...”

“How about Twenty Questions?” Twilight suggested nervously. 

“Lovely!”

“That’s a right good idea!”

Fluttershy nodded, quietly eating an apple.

“Me first!” Pinkie announced. “I’ve got one!”

Rainbow frowned. “Awesome. Is it bigger than the stick up Fluttershy’s--”