Lucky Horseshoes

by OmegaMysterium

First Day on the Job

“... Is your sister gonna be alright?”

“Eeyup, she just needs some rest is all. Tried tah do the entire Applebuck season on her own and wore herself out. She’ll be fine after a few days rest.”

“That’s good news I suppose,”

“Eeyup,”

Pinkie did mention something about Applebuck-something, Caramel thought to himself as he walked along beside the large stallion. He shot a quick glance up to the top floor of the farmhouse, thinking of the exhausted mare they’d just carried up stairs and gotten into bed between them (which had been rather difficult since they’d had to crabwalk up the narrow staircase with her draped over their shoulders).

“I-I guess that must be like harvest time for you,” he ventured, trying to make friendly conversation.

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh replied, simply.

Caramel kept on telling himself that the stallion seemed fairly friendly and easy-going, but he couldn’t help feeling all the short-answer replies he got were possibly hiding some annoyance considering the events of the night before. It was difficult to tell because the large earth pony’s face didn’t really show much in the way of emotion, like a constant poker face he’d seen from time to time on older ponies playing chess back home. For Celestia’s sake, stop second guessing yourself all the time! He scolded himself. As Toffee always said, he would just make himself ill.

But even so, Caramel couldn’t help feeling a little awkward, another blush rising in his cheeks. He hadn’t really expected to see the stallion again so soon, if ever for that matter come to think of it. It was almost a little too coincidental, running into the farmer the previous night and finding himself employed by him the next morning! Could this be...?

He glanced back at his cutie mark for a moment; the three horseshoes stood out on his flank as they always had, with no visible change at all. He shot them a suspicious look. No funny business, please! He growled inside his head. I need this job, so please-

“Well... we do harvest an’ sell ‘em over the whole year, but Applebuck season is the only time of year they’re all ripe at the same time; so we gotta buck ‘em all down an’ sell ‘em before they go bad.”

Caramel jumped a little as the stallion’s voice snapped him back to reality and his eyes off his cutie mark. He nearly had to double take; that was the first long sentence he’d heard the other stallion speak!

He could see more of the farm properly now as they walked across the yard. Aside from the farm house, there was a chicken coop, a pig sty, a large out-building that was strangely decorated with carrots and radishes which looked like it was used for storage, and several smaller barns in front of a hay field that looked like they were used for storing the bales. All this was surrounded by fields of various vegetables, and, of course, field upon field of apple trees which stretched out over the hills towards the mountains. Caramel had never seen so many apples trees in one place before, not even in books and photographs he’d seen back home. All their branches had been stripped of their fruit, but Caramel could already see a number of trees which were already in blossom again. Hel could only imagine how hard it must have been for one pony to even attempt it alone.

He glanced over at his companion as they passed one of the orchards, the leaves of the trees towering above them rustling in the early morning breeze, his eyes falling on the thick layer of bandages covering Big Mac’s sides. He felt another small pang of guilt.

“Um... sorry again about yesterday.”

The crimson earth pony stopped, blinking down at him, a questioning look in his still soft expression. Caramel could feel himself starting to go red again.

“I-I mean... I should have been watching where I was going...” he mumbled a little, his ears flattening a little.
Big Macintosh looked down at Caramel, the feeling of his blank stare making his smaller companion look down out of shyness. But behind the stallion’s blank expression, were a pair of very kind eyes. Kinda reminds me a lil’ of Fluttershy, he thought to himself.

He took this moment to give the shy earth pony a quick once-over, sizing him up while his eyes were averted. Caramel was pretty typical build for a pony of his age; of course he had nowhere near as much muscle definition as say himself or his sister, but he somehow seemed... smaller, thinner... maybe even going as far as a little scrawny. It wasn’t a word Big Mac particularly liked to use but it was a pretty apt description of the small earth pony. City Pony, he thought to himself. Probably not worked a day in the fields in his life...

He quickly pushed the thought to one side, almost a little ashamed of himself for being so judgemental. After all, his sister’s newest friend had come from Canterlot no less and more than proved her worth not just during Applebuck season but helping his sister out with the Golden Delicious that day when those dratted gala tickets arrived. At least the distraction they’d caused had lost her the bet and he’d been saved from having to wear Granny Smith’s girders into town on market day.

He glanced over Caramel again, silently checking everything from his tan coat to his thick brown mane, two bangs of which wrapping themselves a little over his ears, and a surprisingly neat tail compared to most ponies he’d met previously. His eyes fell on the cutie mark emblazoned on his flank: three blue horseshoes each facing different directions. Was this pony’s special talent... metal working? He doesn’t seem to have the build for it, he thought to himself. I’ll ask him about it later if Applebloom doesn’t get to him first.

Big Macintosh blinked again before smiling gently down on the smaller earth pony, strangely making Caramel blush even more. “As ah said before, don’t worry about it, lil’ no harm done. Could ‘a happened to anypony,”

Caramel smiled sheepishly, hoping his fur would hide his blush. It didn’t, but he didn’t notice until Big Mac did. Caramel didn’t notice the older pony’s smile broaden a little in amusement, or his quiet chuckle. Big Mac smiled down at the smaller stallion as they continued on, while Caramel diverted his gaze again. Big Macintosh could tell he was more than a little shy, and he couldn’t blame him either; being away from home and surrounded by whole town of strange ponies you didn’t know would be daunting to anypony. Again he was reminded of his sister’s friend on the day she’d first arrived, only more shy than in a constant rush to return to the library to read up on what everypony had then thought was just an Old Pony’s Tale. Poor thing probably ain’t made any real friends yet, he thought.

It was obvious that the young pony was shy, and jumpy, and not best-build for farm work. But the farmer could tell that he was keen and eager to work despite these flaws. As he’d seen the previous night the small stallion was also quite quick on his hooves, which was a plus. The least I can do is give him a chance, the workhorse thought.

Caramel seemed to notice Big Mac’s eyes on him, so he quickly looked back to the path ahead, resuming his usual poker face-expression as they arrived at the barn door.

“Anyways, shall we get started then, Partner?”
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“Just try an’ keep a steady pace; if ya slow down it’ll just make it harder to get started again; too fast and ya won’t get it to turn when ya want it to.”

“L-l-like... this?”

“Eeyup,”

Big Macintosh decided it had been a good idea not to start Caramel off on the more strenuous chores around the farm. But maybe it hadn’t been such a good one to start him out on the intermediate ones either. It had taken a fair bit of straining, and push from the out-of-commission earth pony to get the cart moving, but at least now they were making steady progress as Caramel pulled the cart through the hay field, Big Macintosh walking alongside to lend a hoof should a problem arise.

Hay-making season was now in full swing now that the apple harvest was over, and the summer sun was already turning the stalks a pale shade of golden yellow as they dried out ready for cutting. As Caramel pulled the cart through the long grass, blades on the axels would cut them down while the seeds were collected in a bag underneath them. Normally Big Macintosh would have covered finished about half an hour ago and would by now and enjoying a glass of lemonade in the shade of a tree, but as it stood they still had a fair amount of ground (and grass) to cover before the job was done.
Big Macintosh looked down at Caramel as he trudged along beside him, watching his chest heave with every tired breath and sweat running down his face and neck leaving his once tidy mane matted and soggy. Big Mac had to admit he was impressed with how long the smaller stallion had managed to keep going, a lot better than he’d initially expected. Several times he’d had to stop, gasping for breath and looked like he was about to give up; but each time he’d got his breath back, given a great heave and brought the cart into motion again, determined not to let it beat him. Big Macintosh couldn’t help feeling a little guilty throwing Caramel in the deep end, but it was a pretty urgent job that needed doing. Hay was a staple food not just for the Apple Family but for the whole town, and they were going to need as many reserves as they could get ready for winter when they would need it the most. They couldn’t afford to lose the seeds either, otherwise there wouldn’t be a crop next year.

“Almost there,” he said encouragingly, scooping up a fresh stalk and munching down the old one.
Caramel barely heard him; he was too exhausted to walk another yard. But he walked on... and on... His eyes were clenched shut to stop the constant stream of sweat getting into his eyes and his heart was pounding in his chest but he forced himself to ignore it. He just kept trudging slowly onwards, occasionally turning to move onto the next row of stems. I can do this! I can do this! He yelled inside his head. I need this job! I need it! He was straining so hard he barely even registered the hoof tapping his shoulder.

“That’ll do for now lil fella,”

“B...But,” Caramel’s voice was by now being punctuated with deep gasps of breath as he finally brought the cart to a complete stop. “We... we’re not.... not finished yet.” It was true, there was still at least another quarter of the field left.
“Nnope,” Big Macintosh nodded in agreement as Caramel tried to catch his breath. “But if we don’t get it done t’day we can finish it up tomorrow.”

“Sweet Celestia, thank you!” Caramel slumped to the ground in a sweaty, dirty, gasping heap, thankful for the sweet short-lived luxury of a rest. He heard the sound of hooves on the earth but he barely registered them. All he was focussed on now was letting the aching in his muscles die away and getting his breath back. No wonder he’s so buff, he thought to himself, letting his eyes close for a moment.

His thoughts fell on the stallion again as he lay there on the long grass, the heat of the midday sun warm on his back. He’d definitely heard Big Macintosh say: “We can finish this up tomorrow,” but what exactly did that mean? Did that mean he and his sister would do it or did it mean-

“Thirsty?”

Caramel blinked the sweat out of his eyes and looked up. Big Mac stood over him, his usually blank face creased with a small smile and a tea tray balanced on his back. Caramel could smell the cool refreshing lemonade in the pitcher that awaited him, accompanied by the mouth-watering scent of freshly baked apple pastries. He smiled up at the large earth pony; any blush there may have been being masked by the exhausted redness in his cheeks.

“Hehe... Eeyup,”

Comments

[Vectored Thrust]

D'awww, it's adorable. Also, you seem to have fixed the "flow" problem of earlier chapters. No idea what you did, but this chapter reads a lot better

[Spooky]

Really cute story so far. Me is liking this :P

[OmegaMysterium]

2925567 awesomes ^^ next chapter won't be out for a little while though, going on vacation for a couple of weeks but chap 4 is started now though ^_^ none of that naughty stuff will be written for quite a while yet

[Volkonski]

Hmm let me see, the pacing on this one is perfect, the character development is spot on, none of the characters are different from their canon appearance, it's only chapter 3 and we haven't seen the romantic stuff which is a good sign. Yep, I think I'm gonna enjoy this story a lot.

Added to favourites

[Boneywings]

Are you planning on continuing this story?

[BroBpony]

5036054 I think it might be ded. Sure hope it isn't