//------------------------------// // Chapter 6- Worse than the Windigo's // Story: My little Pony- Keeping Friendship is magic // by DreamWings //------------------------------// Chapter 6- Worse than the Windigo's Sour groaned and grumbled to himself as he picked up the heavy bucket filled with apples. He had been doing this work for days now and no pony had come to help; they were too busy arguing to actually try and do their work. If any pony should have been shirking off work in anger it should have been Sour, but as it is, he was the only one in this whole disgraceful town that was actually doing something productive. The idea that, for once, he was actually doing something worthwhile shocked and disturbed the young stallion to such an extent that he began to try and work harder to work off all of his added confusion. The scary thing was, he actually appeared to be enjoying working in an orchard again. It had been years since he had ever offered to help his Mother and Father down in their family orchard; it had been years since he had walked in satisfied with how much he had helped somepony else, and these thoughts were the things that had terrified Sour. Big Mac had completely disappeared from the farm altogether after a dispute with young Apple Bloom over a certain doll that the red stallion had stashed in his room. Apple Bloom had never previously shown any care for the doll at all, so why she had suddenly cared so much for the tatty thing was very puzzling indeed. Sour had come across many angry, upset ponies walking along the paths near Apple Acres. Most of the fights had been rather tame; all featuring raised voices and a pointless subject. There was only one time when Sour had speculated on a fight that had become a bit heated and unruly. It had only started off as a small argument between BookWorm and Carrot Top, two of the daily residents of Ponyville, but it had quickly turned into a full out battle between them both. There had been so many bruises and cuts by the end that the only reasonable thing Sour could have thought of doing was getting them both to hospital as fast as possible. Unfortunately BookWorm and Carrot Top did not agree with his rational decision, and suddenly Sour found himself being targeted by their anger. He ran before the violence would also be targeted his way. It was a long time before Sour had felt that it was safe enough for him to come out of his hiding spot. All of the ponies were crazier than he had even first thought: badly dressed and with anger issues; so much for this harmonious feel this area was famous for having. He scorned all of their behaviour, sighing when he realised something he had never thought would happen, he missed the Filly Isles, he missed his family and all of the sane ponies. True he had DreamWings to go to whenever he needed help but even she spent more time helping the angry elements then she did with him. Her interest seemed to have left his side as soon as she had met up with her old friend again, the 'oh so precious' Twilight Sparkle. These harmonious ponies had been a thorn in Sour's side since their existence had been spread around Equestria. They had always been the talk of the town everywhere anypony would travel, and now Sour found they weren't measuring up to what he thought they would be. They were much worse than he had ever conisdered. In fact in some ways they just seemed like hypocrites; telling other ponies to be really kind and considerate and then suddenly changing their minds and being really harsh towards everypony they knew. Sour was many things, but at least he stayed true to what he said. Nopony could ever call Sour a hypocrite, he said what he meant and carried on acting like he'd told others to. It was in his nature to not fear about expressing his opinions. He spied his blonde cousin sitting next to the barn, her stetson hat covering her face whilst she chewed on a long ear of wheat she had pulled from the farmland. Sour grew infuriated. He was doing all of the work and she wasn't doing anything, it was just unfair, he wasn't even used to doing the hard labour that she often did. Sour stepped forward, considering going over to her and demanding she got a move on but then stopped himself. He couldn't do that. She could want to start a fight like BookWorm and Carrot Top had wanted too, and Sour was far too much of a gentlecolt to even consider fighting a mare (as well as he knew there was no way he could beat his much tougher cousin). He peered over at the large expanse of trees to his side and groaned. There were so many trees to shuck; there was no way that he could do all of them by himself. There must be somepony who wasn't angry with him that could help. His ears twitched hearing sounds from all different positions on the farm. So many loud angry voices all shouting at once and they weren't calming down. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were complaining to each other about certain ideas of what they should do on that day. 'Oh for heavens sake, just go read a book,' thought Sour, rubbing his aching ears. Sweetie Belle had a much louder voice then you would ever conisder for her dainty posture. In the background an old, muttering mare could be heard shouting through the window, seeming to be arguing with a squirrel that had scampered onto her windowsill. Sour rubbed his ears more, the noise almost deafening him. How was he ever going to get any work done with all of this happening? He shuddered. He couldn't believe that he actually wanted to work, this was not a feeling he was used to. He would rather work than listen to all of this rucus. AppleJack did not help his poor ears with her constant snoring from her now sleeping body. That mare could snore, it was like a hippo bellowing to get rid of its enemy. Sour was just gald that she wasn't awake to argue with anypony. He had heard about the elements behaviour the other day. He had heard how all of them had gathered into a discussion on what was there roles in the friendship, and how all of them had lost. They had quickly run off to their prospective homes vowing never to speak to one another again. It would only last a few days, but Sour still wasn't enjoying his greatest enemies defeat to their anger. He'd thought they would be much stronger than that. He shuffled his hooves along the floor, peering down at the soil on his hooves. Well, this was a new low even for him. It was tiring all of this fighting and catcalling and whinning. Even Rarity had befallen to this hatred, not even making any new outfits for her customers whom she seemed to despise at this moment in time. Sour supposed that this may be good, he could've sneaked in and stole her work, but he didn't have the heart too. It would be unfair considering the predicament the whole town seemed to be in at the moment. "Hey you no good varmint!" Sour looked around trying to find the source of the voice that had broken his concentration. Nopony seemed to be in the orchard, so it wasn't coming from there. AppleJack still dozed in the corner, so it certainly hadn't been her, unless she had suddenly mastered ventriliquism without him noticing. Big Mac didn't have the voice of a mare, even if he acted as dismissive as one sometimes, and Sour could hear very clearly that the Crusaders had not given up on their argument just yet. Where was it coming from? "Up here ya' nincompoop." Sour looked upwards towards the top window. An angry Granny Smith glared down at him from above waving a walking stick around in the air as if she was striking an imaginary fly that happened to be there. Sour frowned. What did she want? "Stop lollygagging and get back to work." No, He wasn't going to be ordered around like that. He turned his snout downwards to the floor, refusing to even acknowledge his elderly Great-Aunt. She was not impressed. A large splash landed on his head and he moaned, running his hoof through his striking mane to find a giant ball of saliva curled up inside. Why...the rotten mare. Who did she think she was? "Now, get back ta work." He mumbled and moaned but set off for his job. He didn't want another forecast of spit or he could become as angry anf uncouth as the other ponies in this loathsome place. He was not happy.