MasterArchfiend's Mindscape

Just as she went to unlock the house door to get her work boots and start the day, a squeaking sound caught her attention. Granny Smith was in a rocking chair, looking at the middle Apple with a very serious look. “Granny? What’s wrong? I made it back early just like you expect from me. Did I forget something?”

“I sure hope not with you going out with those gals of yours.” The elder spoke seriously making only the slightest gesture to the chair next to her. “Big Mac and Applebloom will handle the chores this morning. You and I need to talk.”

Applejack couldn’t keep herself from raising an eyebrow, but sat down as told and waited for her grandmother to speak.

“Now, it is perfectly normal for a girl your age to start catching feelings, even for other girls despite what the nut jobs whine about, bunch of idjits, but you need to make sure you’re playing it smart and using protection.” Granny Smith’s words turned Applejack redder than the barn with a fresh coat. “And don’t give the excuse of you all being girls ‘cause most girls don’t got magical horse ears or fancy rocks. Ain’t a stretch to assume magic great granbabbies might be on the table and even with seven of you, ain’t no way you’re all ready for even one youngin.”

The young woman couldn’t even sputter, her mouth had gone so dry that she was sure speaking would just cause sand to fall right out.

“Now, make sure you and your girls get those birth control pills from the clinic before messing around. I suppose rain slicks too. It ain’t right to just assume someone’s bits like that.” If the elder Apple noticed how her granddaughter’s face seemed to fluctuate between extreme blushing and being pale enough to be mistaken for a ghost, she made no mention. “I do think it is awfully sweet that you found those girls, your ma and pa would be overjoyed and lot more ‘mbarrissing that me, they really would.”

It was then that Granny pulled out a shotgun, a surprisingly modern looking one. “Still, one Apple tradition I will not break is letting one be born out of wedlock so you make sure your gals be careful if they don’t want Bessy the Third here to escort them to the alter anytime soon.”

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“Spent the rest of the day sitting in that chair waiting for my mind to process everything and being embarrassed of every other thought that popped into my head.” Applejack groaned, covering her face with her hat before earning a peck to the cheek from Fluttershy and Twilight.

Golden Feather was a bit red from the possibility that her daughter and her marefriends had taken *that* step in their relationship, so she cleared her throat before speaking. “Well your grandmother sounds like quite the character. I’d like to meet her sometime, preferably before any wedding dates are planned.”

The little tease caused all the girls to blush. “Still, um, what is a “shotgun” and why is it named “Bessy the Third”?”

“A shotgun is one of a large variety of firearms humans have created as both weapons of war and hunting. Though these days they are mostly used for the latter, hobby shooting or self-defense.” Twilight explained.

“As for the name, “Bessy the First” was an old rifle Granny’s grandpappy used to hunt deer to provide for the family when we Apples were less fortunate and needed food to get through the winter. “Bessy the Second” was my great grandpappy’s double-barrel shotgun that he mainly used to put suffering animals at the farm out of their misery.” Applejack explained. “So it turns out that “Bessy the Third” is Granny’s personal gun whose purpose is to make sure that I don’t get left a single mother even though I trust my girlfriends to be there if that was even a possibility.”

“That is a bit worrisome.” Golden Feather whispered under her breath before speaking up. “Well I suppose it is someone else’s turn. Any volunteers or shall I pick one at random?”

After a bit of nervous fidgeting amongst them, Fluttershy tentatively raised her hand. “I’ll go.”

Just then a song played from Rarity’s skirt which was silenced as she pulled out her phone. “Well you’ll need to tell it on the tour bus, darling. Our first group activity is scheduled to begin soon.”

“Scheduled activity?” The older woman said with an amused smile, glancing at her daughter and Twilight.

“Well you’re here for two weeks and figured it would be a waste to just spend the whole time sitting around my place waiting for the others to visit. Our friend, Jupiter Montage managed to get the Daring Do movie we played extras in back so you could see it on the big screen.”

It got me thinking…why not do that with tv shows/movies?

Keep the storyline and such, but use the sfx, props and set limitations of a show from stuff more or less 1969 and back. No cgi, big budget sets nor props that you clearly didn’t just slap some silly stuff on to in order to pretend it isn’t something mundane.

People will often praise a show or movie for the writing, sometimes before they praise the rest of the content, so why not see just how much weight the writing carries by demaking everything else about it?