Hauntings

by NightInk

Hard Work

“Mr. Trip! Guess what number I’m thinking of!”

“It’s just Trip. Can this wait? This plow is heavy.”

“It’ll just take a moment!”

*sigh* Trip was… annoyed. When he thought farm work, he figured it would be easier than a high society heist. But then he hadn’t thought of a yoke six sizes too big through a field that hadn’t been worked in years. Especially not while fillies ran around him and pestered him with questions that meant nothing. His idea of a farm life had been picking apples and eating good food in the shade. He was woefully misinformed.

The sweet, high-pitched voice called to him through his cloudy mood. “Mr. Trip! Did you pick a number?”

He groaned. She wasn’t going to leave if he didn’t guess. “Seven hundred and sixty two trillion.” She stared up at him like he had just told her he was the goddess herself. He shook his head and changed his answer. “Three.”

She beamed. “That’s right!”

“Great, can I go back to work now?”

“Um… there was something AppleJack wanted me to tell ya too… Uhh…” She tapped a grubby yellow hoof against her chin. After a moment of quiet deliberation, she shrugged. “I don’t remember. But that probably means it’s not too important!”

Trip rolled his eyes and nodded. “Right. Enjoy your number. Run along and let me work please.”

He watched for only a second as she happily bounced away, frowning. His aching back didn’t let him stay still long, crying out for him to finish this job as quickly as possible. He turned and began to pull again, having to exert a bit of extra force after stopping to get moving again. The old plow groaned behind him as it started again, tearing into the ground. He didn’t think much when he was hooked up. He tried to save his energy for the physical work. Today, though, for the first time in the week he had been here, he thought while he worked. Each rock broken by the plow jarred a new thought. Why was he sticking around so long? He didn’t have to stay here. He could have easily slipped out of the house every night, even with Mac and AJ taking turns trying to guard him. Officially trained guards hadn’t been able to do that, why would they think they could?

Of course, they still didn’t know the whole story. They didn’t know any more than he had told them the night they had caught him. Anytime they asked, he fed them the same nonsense about being haunted since a little before his botched job. They didn’t believe him, but at least he had memorized the lie thoroughly by now. They trusted him a little around the fillies. He hadn’t done anything to frighten them at all. In fact, they seemed to enjoy asking him about himself. They liked hearing most about the places he had been. AppleJack listened closely to their talks, probably trying to find incongruences in his stories. Anytime she found one, she would let him finish and then pull him off to the side, asking for an explanation. He always passed it off as it being a story, nothing more. The fillies always seemed to enjoy them, even when he missed a detail. Though he wouldn’t admit it, it was kind of neat for him to see someone look up to him, even if they didn’t know what the full story was. He was good with kids, but he hadn’t realized he liked them so much when they weren’t in the way of his work…

No, no. That was just from being in contact with them for so long. They were always underfoot, getting in the way, causing problems… “Eek!” Speak of the devil.

He turned and found the little white filly standing near where the plow was about to run. “What?!” he snapped. “I can’t get any work done with somepony bothering me every ten minutes!”

She shriveled up into the size of one of the rocks he had just split with the plowblade. “I’m sorry…” she whimpered.

He sighed and turned a little further, about as far at the harness would let him. “I’m sorry. I’d just like to get this work finished. What do you need?”

She stood up a little bit straighter and smiled a teeny bit. “Apple Bloom Remembered what she was supposed to tell you earlier! Well, really AppleJack remembered after Apple Bloom came back and didn’t remember what she had been supposed to say, and I remember things a little longer than she does. That’s why AppleJack sent me this time, and because you haven’t tried to hurt us. Oh!” She squeaked. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you about that…”

“It’s ok, I won’t tell. What did you need to tell me?”

“Umm… Oh! Lunch was ready a half hour ago!”

Sighing, he began to shrug the heavy yoke off of his neck. It hit the ground all at once, landing with a massive thud. He groaned and straightened his back, feeling the vertebrae crack and pop in protest. He shuddered at the feeling. Never did like that feeling, of bones popping and shifting. He looked down at the little white filly. She was looking at the dirt on her hooves like it was formal. From what he had heard of her sister from the young ones, dirt may very well be foreign to her.

He inwardly groaned and crouched a little, saying “Hop on.”

She gasped and giggled, hopping back and forth on the ground before jumping up to his back. She was light, and her rapidly shifting hooves felt nice on his back. He waited a minute for her to settle down a bit, then started the trek back to the old house. It wasn’t a long trek back, but it still took a few minutes. The little girl on his back shifted to a more comfortable position every now and then, and when she did he slowed down to help make sure that she didn’t fall off. Drawing near, he could see a form standing in front of the barn. The closer he got, the more impatient it looked. AppleJack, though she had been a little nicer to him recently, she still didn’t trust him a lot.

“Ya’ll took your time!” She called out to them as soon as they were near and trotted out to them, like she couldn’t stand to wait any longer. “Sweetie Bell, come down off of him!”

“She’s fine, I offered to carry her.” Trip spoke softly as Sweeite jumped off his back.

“Thanks for the ride, Mr. Trip!” she squeaked.

“It’s just Trip.”

Apple Bloom and the other one, the orange pegasus, both came running out through the door. “Aww, we didn’t get a ride!” they both chimed in unison.

He couldn’t help but smile a little. “Maybe later.”

AJ looked at him suspiciously. “But maybe not. Go back inside girls, finish your lunch.” They all trotted back inside, protesting under their breath. Once they were out of earshot, she drew a little closer to him. “Ah’ve been kind, but I just want to warn you again. If you hurt those three fillies, you’ll be sorrier than a mug of Flim-Flam Apple Cider.”

“I’ve had that stuff. Not bad, really.” Her face got red at that, so he made note to not compliment anything made by the two brothers. “Sorry. Didn’t think it meant anything to you. You gone up against them?”

“I’ve met them, but I don’t mind their mention.”

“Mmm, see now, that’s a lie. It bothers me to hear you lie. You aren’t good at it.”

“I’m an honest pony.”

“Exactly, so stop lying. Honest ponies shouldn’t lie. And in a way, dishonest ponies should maintain their lies.”

“Like the lies you’ve fed us?”

He knd of expected her to have something prepared. She usually didn’t press him this much about his habits, past, or truthfulness. Making sure not to appear like he knew what she was talking about, he shrugged. “What lies? I told you the truth. I botched a job, used the river to escape, and now I’m here.”

The faintest smile played across her lips. Gotcha! “I did some readin’ at the library in Ponyville. That river don’t connect direct to anyplace in Canterlot. You would’ve had to jump in from a reservoir either in the Everfree Forest or… well, you’d have had to been in the Everfree Forest.”

Damn. He hadn’t thought of that. “The searches for me had chased me through the countryside, all the way through to the forest.”

“Which makes me ask what you had to try to steal to have been chased so far.”

“I can’t answer that.”

“You will if you don’t want me to turn you in.”

He sighed, trying not to growl. He did ok. “What if I just tell you where?” She thought for a second, then nodded. “I was trying to get into a high class party and acquire a string of jewels. It wasn’t really serious, but the owner of the jewels was rich enough and influential enough that she got the police to follow me.”

She frowned deeply. “Who was your target?”

“I don’t remember the name very well. Fleur De Lis, I think. Some high society wife.”

AppleJack sighed. He still wouldn’t give her a straight answer. She got the feeling that he was telling half-truths more than anything, but didn’t have anything to back it up with. She turned back to the door slowly, but stopped. Looking back over her shoulder, her hat shading her eyes in a way that made her seem a little bit dangerous. “Don’t hurt my family.”

He nodded. “Never planned to.”