Just for Kicks
I followed Applejack into the orchard. The trees at the entrance were scattered around and not many of them were around, until we walked up a hill and reached the top. It revealed the rest of the orchard, which was very dense and spanned a good hundred acres, it was freaking huge!
"Oh please don't tell me we have to buck all these trees..." I said worried.
"Nah, don't worry suger. Even ah can't buck all these trees by mahself", said Applejack giggling lightly. "Ah' learned that the hard way, too..."
"What happened?", I asked.
"My mouth made promises my legs couldn't keep."
"I see... So how many acres are we going to work on this morning?"
"Just hold on one sec, bud. Do you even know how to buck them trees?" she interrupted, "hold yer horses!". We shared a few chuckles from the accidental pun she made, then she continued, "Ah'll show you how it's done once or twice and give ye sum tips on how to get the most out of yer kicks.".
She walked over to one of the carts lying around the orchard, filled with hay-weaved baskets. She then placed them under a tree nearby and prepared herself to kick the tree.
"The best way to get a nice buck is to be at the right spot next to the tree. Not too far, not too close." She was facing her back against the trunk, and was about 2 feet from it. She lifted her hind legs and balanced on her front legs for half a second, before jerking her hind legs towards the trunk at a crazy speed, letting out a loud thud when she hit the tree. The shockwave was strong enough to knock away all the ripe apples from the tree, and shook a few apples from the trees nearby. My jaw dropped from so much display of power. "Just like that", she crossed her front hooves and smirked.
"Remind me not to stay behind you when you do that...", I commented, which she chuckled and made me walk to another tree nearby.
"I'll set up the baskets, cuz it needs a lot of technique to place them just in the right place for the apples.", she said, and brought the baskets to place around the tree trunk. Until we got interrupted by Applebloom yelling from far away.
"Big sis! Where are you?!" yelled Applebloom in her southern but thicker accent than her older sister.
"Over here Applebloom!", she yelled back. Then she rushed to the last tree she bucked and picked an apple from the baskets. She threw it up in the air and gave it a swift kick upwards, sending pieces of the apple sky high. The perfect improvised flare for the occasion.
"Oh I see what you did there..." I commented, giggling a bit for using that silly meme.
"Learned from Rainbow Dash when she was talking 'bout the books she read.", she said. "She might be a daredevil, but deep inside, she has a little egghead in her", she chuckled. Applebloom joined us a few seconds later, running as fast as her tiny legs could, making the cutest hoofstep sounds ever as she did.
"Hey, sis...did I... miss... anything?" she said, taking breaks to breathe from running so fast.
"We were just gettin' started. Johnny's 'bout to make his very first tree buck.", said Applejack.
"Ye think he's gonna knock all the apples in one try?", she asked her big sister.
Applejack chuckled a bit. "Heh, nopony makes their first buck, Applebloom. Now go on, Johnny, give it a try!"
I walked over to the trunk, turned my back to it and lifted my hind legs before jerking them back. It let out a nice loud thud. I felt my bones shake from the force, and I was expecting a rain of apples to crash down on me. But the only thing I got was about 3 or 4 apples scattered around.
"Not bad, Johnny. Just walk a bit closer to the tree and you should knock'em all down!", cheered Applejack. I nodded and walked a step back, and gave the tree another kick. This time the thud was considerably stronger, but nothing as close to Applejack's. More apples fell compared to my first try, but there were a few stragglers hanging from the branches.
"You'll get there, just need a bit of practice", said Applejack as she approached to collect the baskets and place them in the cart. "We'll keep going til' lunch, then I'll let ya go back to Twilight and solve that little problem of yours."
I think we covered about 2 acres of the orchard in the next few hours. The carts were full with apples and Big Mac stopped by once in a while to pull them back to the barn. My hooves were aching and my flanks were burning from so much kicking. Applejack didn't seem to break a sweat. And Big Macintosh pulled those carts like they were filled with pillows instead of apples! Applebloom had helped with catching the apples by balancing baskets on her head, and occasionally threw some apples at us to eat, so none of us were too hungry, peckish at the very least. It seemed like AJ and Aplebloom were the loudest of the RD Chewers Club, 'cause damn those were some loud bites!
We gathered in front of the big barn next to the orchard entrance, which Big Mac opened to pull in the carts filled with the day's harvest. I did't get to see much inside the barn, since we were unloading the apples on a space right next to the door. I got a glance at some basic farming tools and piles of hay all over the place, a but nothing big like a combine harvester (which makes sense, it doesn't sound possible for a horse to drive machinery). Once we finished unloading the carts, Applejack and I walked out to the farm's entrance to say our goodbyes.
"So how did ya like working 'round the farm, JB?", she asked.
"Do you guys only farm apples? Don't you get tired from kicking hundreds of apple trees?" I asked her.
"Oh we got other kinds of trees, they're a bit deeper into the orchard", Applejack replied.
"All you guys do is... kick trees?" I asked reluctantly.
"'Course we don't!" she laughed. "We got tons of other foods to grow like carrots, 'taters and wheat. We just happen to be in apple season, and we're gathering tons of apples before winter. Whatever we have left over we use fer making cider and sell 'em fer the whole town."
"Cider as in... non-alcoholic cider or foamy alcoholic cider?" I asked.
"We got both of them ciders, we make the non-alcoholic cider on the spot. The foamy cider we have them stocked a while before we sell 'em. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie can go through the day's stock in half a day!"
"Wait... they don't get drunk from drinking all that cider?" I asked. All that cider and not get wasted from so much alcohol? Sweet!
"Well... we sell the non-alcoholic cider once more so they don't go crazy all over the place" she said. "Just don't tell 'em that...". She continued, which I nodded in agreement. I couldn't imagine what Pinkie Pie would look like if she got tipsy. If she is already that hyper without alcohol, adding that to the mix sounds like a train-wreck waiting to happen... As for Dash she would probably be crashing all over the place, because I know I would.
"Anyways, t'was great having you 'round to help, JB. Would ya like to do this again sometime soon?", she asked me.
"Why not? I enjoyed the exercise, which is something I don't get often. Once I sort this missing pony thing out with Twilight, of course."
"Aw shucks, ah'm probably making you late fer Twilight." she scowled herself. "Lemme grab the bits you earned for today and you can go." She rushed to the family house and came back with a small bag a minute later. "Here ya go, suger. Enjoy!" she lobbed the bag over to me, and I grabbed it with my mouth. The coins inside made quite a noise, indicating my "paycheck" was pretty decent. Since I couldn't talk while biting on a cotton bag I simply nodded and flew back to the library in a rush.
"Ye forgot your sunglasses!", Applejack yelled when I was almost back in town. I sighed heavily and turned back to the farm. It's either them forgetting to say something or me forgetting something instead...
"Thks" I muffled to her with the bit bag still on my mouth, I was still hovering a few inches above ground.
"You're welcome", she smiled, and put the sunglasses on my forehead instead of my eyes. "You look better that way, too"
"Thks fr th advch" I muffled again.
"Any time, JB. G'luck with yer 'missing pony' thingy", she said. She tipped her cowboy hat and turned back to the farm, and I turned the opposite way back to Ponyville. When I reached the "tree-brary", Twilight was standing outside the door talking to Rainbow Dash, who was holding a book under her wing.
"If you happen to finish it before I get back from Canterlot, Spike will take care of it for you", I heard Twilight say as I approached them. "Oh hello, Johhny Streak, how was it with Applejack this morning?", she said when she turned to look at me. I could sense a humorous tone when she said my two names. It was for the best, I guess. This whole thing wasn't too exciting to be involved in.
"Johnny-what now?" I asked after placing down my bit bag and raising a brow.
"Just a name we made up until we sort this out. Thank Rainbow Dash for the name. Honestly I was thinking of Carbon Bass... but she said the two names don't mix very well."
"I was bored, it just came up to me while Twilight was explaining the poster problem" Rainbow Dash added.
"Boredom does that, I understand" I said. "Just please promise you'll drop the name once we sort this out. Johnny Streak sounds like something out of a horror movie..."
"How does it resemble a horror movie?" Twilight asked. "Doesn't ring a bell to me", she shrugged.
"Here, let me make an example: A streak of blood caused by the evil guy when he dragged Johnny on his face across the pavement."
"Eh... if you say so", said Rainbow Dash shrugging. "I can come up with worse scenes in my sleep, just saying."
"Oh really, Dash?" I asked in a challenging tone. I recalled spending a night reading some SCP pages, and telling her some of these stories would tone down her confidence. "If you want we can have a little competition when I get back from Canterlot, you up for it?"
"Is that a challenge I hear?" she asked raising her voice. "I am going to wipe your stories on the floor!" she started hoof fighting the air. "You're on!", she grinned.
"Just so you know, she just happened to have some horror books loaned from the library early this morning, her mind will be fresh" Twilight approached and whispered to me.
"I got an ace up my sleeve. Don't worry..." I whispered back. Whatever Rainbow Dash had cooking would be no match for an SCP case!
"Well, we can have a sleepover when we get back. How does that sound, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked her
"Sure! It will make it even better!", she said confidently.
"Alright then, we gotta get to the train station in a few minutes, we'll see you later Rainbow Dash!", Twilight said and turned to me. "You can leave your bits in your room. I'll wait here."
"Aight, see ya later, you two!" said Rainbow Dash. And with that she took off to the clouds.
I placed the bags on the study desk and went back outside, Twilight was now talking to Spike. Probably giving him some last minute briefings before leaving the library in his hands -or claws, in this case.
"Don't go setting the whole place on fire, alright?" she said jokingly.
"You know that you just jinxed Spike with that, right?" I interrupted. "My mom said that once before leaving me alone in the house and I ended up setting a cloth on fire inside the oven. I smoked the whole house."
"Well, there's no oven in the library, because I'm the one who bakes everything with my breath", said Spike trying to tease her. Now she was getting nervous and was beginning to regret leaving Spike alone.
"Relax, Twi, you've known him since he was born. You obviously would know if he had any pyromaniacal tendencies"
"Or would she?" Spike added with an devilish grin.
"ALRIGHT, TIME TO GO!", she burst out loud pushing me ahead of her and towards the train station. Spike stood by the library door waving at us while both me and Spike laughed like a pair of hyenas.