Ch 8.
I open my eyes and the only thing I see is Rainbow’s cloud house that is getting further away from me every second. I think that Rainbow bucked me out of the house. The ground is rapidly approaching, maybe I can hug it. I shake my head a bit. I just need a glass of water.
Luckily I fall through a cloud and I get a face full off water. I have no idea what is happening and the only thing I feel is a lump on the side of my head.
The ground is approaching and I open my wings, somehow. I flap a bit and my descent slows down a bit. I slowly flop down on the ground and I lay there for a bit.
And I lay there until I see Applejack walk past with a cart. “Howdy, partner. Whatcha doin’ there? Did Rainbow kicked you out?” She asked, the last sentence a bit angry.
“No, no, nothing like that. I was cleaning some dishes and during that I got a bit of water on her. And that turned her into a banshee. She then kicked me out of the house, literally kicked me.” I say while slowly crawling back on my hooves.
“That ain’t kind o’ her. I should go to her and show her her place. You shouldn’t let this got over ya. She’s got a problem with her pride for a long time.” Applejack says while helping me up. “Ya want ta come back to the farm and train yer bucking with me.” She looks at the sky. “It is getting a tad late, so do ya wanna stay with us for the night. We’ve got enough space anyway.”
“Sure, why not?” I say. I still think that I need to find a dictionary to find the meaning of the word ‘buck’.
So we walk towards the orchard, not meeting any pony on the way. When we arrive I see that Applejack’s brother Big Mac is bucking some trees over there and I see her little sister Applebloom run over to her with two other fillies, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle .
Applebloom trots towards Applejack. “Hey, sis. We’re goin’ crusadin’. See ya.” And she runs off, the two fillies in her wake.
“What are they going to do?” I ask, keeping stupid once more. I have the feeling that I am going to be doing that a lot more.
“They want their Cutie Marks so badly that they try everything, even stuff like bear therapy. It is fine as long as they don’t hurt themselves.” Applejack says as she puts the cart in the barn. She grabs two apples from the pile in the cart and throws one over to me. She gestures me and walks towards the training tree. I follow in her wake.
“Let see if ya learned anything from those books ah gave ya.” She points to the training tree.
“I haven’t read a lot. Most of my time was filled with sleeping, eating and running from Rainbow. But I’ll try.” I position myself in front of the training tree. I tense my muscles and kick out hard. I feel a hard vibration. I look back and see a total of 3 markings glow.
“Well, at last ya did better than last time. Ya improved by 200%. That’s good. Heh, heh.” Applejack says, trying to reassure me. It doesn’t work. “I’ll let ya try some more while I buck some more apples and ya go train some more.” She walks towards a large row of trees, leaving me to myself.
To the bucking! I could use a training montage, like Rocky. I train until the sun almost hits the horizon. By that time I have hit mark 6 many times and even the occasional 7. The trick is to plant your hooves on one spot, but not with all your force. Because you need to let the tree vibrate as much as you can, not destroy it.
I see Applejack walk back from the trees towards the big red farm. She yell’s over. “Come get som’ grub. Ya have been working for long enough. Granny has made some apple stew.” She walks out of my sight.
Apple stew? The Apples eat apples like it is the only thing there is. I think they even have apple soup and apple soufflé and apple (insert food here).
I walk towards the barn and open the door. I immediately am bombarded with a large amount of good smelling smells. I walk towards the smell and from where I hear talking. I walk into the kitchen, which is very large and has a just a bit less large table in the middle. It is occupied by Big Mac, Applebloom and Applejack. I see Granny Smith at the kitchen top, but I’m not supposed to know her name. So I sit down next to Applejack. “Who is that on the stove?” I ask Applejack.
“That’s Granny Smith, ma grandmother. She’ll probably ask a around Equestria. She will want ta know everything to know what there is there to know. So get ready for a beatin’.” Applejack says while grabbing a glass of water.
“Oh, I got rained upon by questions before, so that wouldn’t be a problem. Let it come.” I say while grabbing a glass of water too.
Granny Smith picks up the large pan of stew and sets it down on the table. “Eat up!” She almost yells.
The next few seconds were a blur. In that moment everypony in the room, except me, lunged at the pan with their spoons to full up their bowl. Suddenly my bowl is filled too.
“Ya gotta be fast, partner. Otherwise there is nothing left.” She says to me while grabbing a spoon and she starts digging in. “We of the Apple family are always hungry. So if there is any food it is gone within seconds. So dig in.”
“I’m sure that this will taste wonderful. ” I say while grabbing the spoon and tasting the stew. And damn that tastes good.
Granny Smith looks at me and Applejack. “So, Applejack. When were you goin’ to introduce me to ya new coltfriend?”
A fine spray of apple stew flew over the table and an resounding ‘What!’ sounded over the table, coming from two ponies sitting aside each other.