Stranger in the Forest

by TrixterCat


Chapter 10 - Neighbourly

“I’m heading out now. See you at lunchtime, Big Mac.” Applejack said to her brother as she stepped out of the front door.

“Eeyup.” Came the reply from the kitchen.

It was early morning as Applejack trotted to the barn to start on the day’s work. The sun had barely risen past the horizon, yet the entire Apple family were already up and getting to work. Today, Big Mac would go to the market to sell their products, leaving Applejack to tend to the orchard alone. She took several baskets and placed them in a cart, before hooking herself in to it and trotting out of the barn. She was heading to the south field, and she would be working on it for today. Applebloom was left to take care of the other minor chores around the house with Granny Smith before she would head for school.

As Applejack made her way amongst the trees, she could see a rainbow contrail moving in the sky. Contrary to popular belief, Rainbow could be a very early riser on some days. Her sleeping schedule was a bit skewed at times, which led to her napping often. Twilight introducing books to Rainbow hadn’t helped the matter, with her staying up at night, reading.

“Mornin’ Rainbow!” Applejack hollered. She could see Rainbow slowing down, before changing direction towards her.

“Hey AJ. You’re up early as always.” Rainbow commented as she landed next to her.

“Of course. I need to take a good bite out of south orchard today so that we don’t fall behind schedule with the harvest.” Applejack noticed that Rainbow was carrying saddlebags. “Where are you heading off to so early in the morning?”

“I need to visit Cloudsdale.”

“Weather stuff?”

“Yeah. I have to submit this month’s weather report and make a visit to the weather factory. Might as well make the trip myself.”

“Mmhm. Well, seems like we both are busy today, so better get to it.”

“Yeah. See you later Applejack!”

Rainbow gave a mighty flap of her wings and ascended back to the sky. Applejack waved her hoof at Rainbow, before resuming her walk. A gust of wind blew past her, making the leaves rustle, and causing a few lose strands of her mane flow in the wind. A small smile made its way on to her face. Today promised to be a pleasant day.

********************

Applejack swiped sweat from her forehead and sat down against a tree, deciding to take a small break. It was getting close to noon, and the sun’s scorching heat was beating down mercilessly on the poor farmer. Taking shelter in the shadow of a tree felt heavenly.

Applejack looked around the orchard and at all the trees she had harvested. She had managed to get a bit more done than she had estimated earlier. She decided to harvest the current row to its end, then stop for lunch. It would be too hot to work while the sun was so high up anyway, so she’d have to wait for it to get a bit cooler before continuing.

Just as she was about to get up and continues working, she spotted movement amongst the trees. Soon, Scruffy emerged from behind them. He was wearing his camouflage clothes again. He quickly noticed her, and waved with a smile.

“Hey.” Applejack greeted and got up. “What are you doing here, sugarcube? Nopony else with you today?” She looked around but didn’t spot anypony.

Scruffy looked around the orchard in wonderment. He looked like a foal in a candy shop. But then he suddenly turned around to look at her, then at the apple trees, and then finally at the baskets. He frowned, before pointing at her and then an empty apple tree.

“What’s wrong?” Applejack asked. He repeated the motion, but also pointed a tree with apples still hanging from it.

“What? Are you asking why I haven’t collected the apples yet?” He nodded. “Hmph. I’m allowed to take moment to rest, thank you very much! It’s a mighty hot day, if you haven’t noticed!” Applejack said a bit heatedly. The nerve of the creature, waltzing in and immediately asking why she isn’t working.

The creature blinked at her a few times, clearly not having expected her reaction. He scratched his cheek with one finger, before walking to a tree. He pointed at her again, picked a low hanging apple from the tree, and places it in a basked. He looked at her and shrugged with a questioning look.

“What in the name of Celestia are you on about?” Applejack asked. The creature scratched his head. He pointed at himself, then at his right hand. He then pointed at her, and then at her hooves and shrugged again.

“Yeah, you have hands and I have hooves.”

Scruffy went back to the tree and picked another apple from it easily, before pointing at her, then one of the apples higher up, and rising one eyebrow.

“Oh…oh…you weren’t telling me to get back to work, you were wondering how I get the apples down from the tree!” Applejack realized. A small blush lit up on her cheeks. “Erm...aw shoot…sorry I got a smidge angry at you, sugarcube.” She said remorsefully and kicked the dirt.

Scruffy again looked like he hadn’t expected her reaction to be what it had been. He knelt and patted her head while saying something that Applejack didn’t understand. He had a understanding smile on his face.

“Let me show you how we do it.” Applejack said and walked to one of the trees. She leaned forward and bucked the tree hard and all the apples rained down. Scruffy looked at her with jaw hanging open, before he burst in to laughter. Applejack didn’t quite know what the creature found so funny in the situation, but it was pleasant to listen to anyway.

“I gotta get back to work, so uh…you do whatever it is that you do.” Applejack said and started to collect the apples from ground. To her surprise, Scruffy leaned down and also started to pick them up. When they were done and Applejack moved to the next tree, he brought empty baskets with him in a clear indication that he wanted to help.

“Thanks, sugarcube.” Applejack said with a smile, and together they made a quick work of the row they were in. With all the apples collected, Applejack hooked herself in to the cart and made her way back to the house to store them. Scruffy followed after her with a brisk walk.

After the apples had been stored away, Applejack headed to the town with Scruffy. She had agreed to help Fluttershy with some repairs around her house, but she would meet up with her brother first and have lunch.

Now that Scruffy had been introduced to the ponies, he got far less stares than two days ago. It might have been Applejack’s presence, but many ponies greeted them as they walked past, although some of them seemed to be slightly unsure. Scruffy offered them a smile and a hand wave.

“Hey Big Mac.” Applejack greeted her brother as they finally found their way to the stall Big Mac was in at the market square. His greeting was a simple nod to both of them. “How’s the market doing today?”

“Well, I guess. How’s the south field?” He said with a calm, baritone voice.

“Got more done than I anticipated. Scruffy here helped too, and we got one more cart than usually.”

“That so?” The stallion eyed the creature up and down.

“Eeyup.” Applejack did a very good imitation of her older brother, much to his chagrin.

“He seems mighty helpful. Helped with the dishes when he first visited, and now with the harvest.”

“I recon he just wants to leave a good impression, if he ain’t seen ponies before he came here like Twilight suspects. I just wish we could talk to each other, so that I could properly thank him for his help.”

“Mmhm.”

“Enough ‘bout that. Let’s go get something to eat.”

********************

While Applejack and Big Mac were eating, Scruffy had wandered off when he had seen Lyra. The two of them found him and Lyra sitting on a park bench, while Lyra was playing her harp. There were a few ponies gathered around them, listening. Applejack and Big Mac sat down with the rest of the small crowd.

After Lyra had finished her song, Scruffy searched his pockets and pulled out a harmonica. He took a while to prepare, and then started playing. Jovial music filled the air as he expertly played a music piece nopony had ever heard before. Lyra closed her eyes, her ears twitching as she listened, before she took her instrument and adjusted herself. For a moment, she pawed the air with her hooves, waiting for the right moment, and then she joined Scruffy. Together the two of them weaved the magic of music together in Ponyville’s market square, and for a moment, everypony stopped to listen.

When the music ended, the gathered crowd stomped their hooves in approval. Scruffy hadn’t seemed to notice how big the crowd had gotten and was slightly startled by the sound.

“Hehe. That was really good Scruffy!” Lyra cheered when the crowd started to disperse and get back to what they were doing.

“That was really fun to listen to.” Applejack agreed as she and Big Mac walked to them.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac nodded. Scruffy seemed to get the meaning behind their words as he blushed slightly and rubbed his neck.

“We have to play together again at some point. But for now I need to get going before BonBon starts wondering where I have run off to.” Lyra said as she hopped down from the bench. Scruffy also got up. “See you later Scruffy!” Lyra said and waved at him, before trotting off.

“Well ain’t you full of surprises?” Applejack said. Scruffy turned towards her and tilted his head slightly.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac nodded. “I better get back to our stall. Those apples won’t sell themselves.”

“And I need to go help Fluttershy. See you in the evening, Big Mac.” They waved each other goodbye and headed off to their own directions. Scruffy seemed to ponder for a while before following Applejack.

“Heh. Still coming with me, are you? I’m sure Fluttershy will be happy to see you.” Applejack said with a smile.

********************

The walk to Fluttershy’s house was done mostly in silence. Not much to talk to a creature who can’t talk back. They were greeted by a few of Rainbow’s colleagues on their way, but other than that their only company were birds singing in the trees. After a quick walk, they found themselves outside of Fluttershy’s cottage. Applejack knocked on the door.

“Fluttershy, it’s me.” She announced loudly. They both could clearly hear a cacophony of sounds coming from inside.

“Just a minute.” Came a soft reply. Scruffy turned his head towards a window. There were many different animals looking at them on the other side, most of them curious.

After a few moments, Fluttershy opened the door and peeked outside.

“Hey Applejack…Oh! Hey Scruffy.” She greeted them both with a big smile.

“Hey Fluttershy. I came to help with the knickknacks as I promised.”

“Oh, right! I almost forgot about that, I have been so busy today.” With the door open, all the noises Fluttershy’s animal friends were making were much louder.

“Uh, everything all right, sugarcube?”

“It’s…it’s okay. Ms. Fluff is on a bad mood because of a tooth ache, so some of them are a bit agitated, and I was just about to feed everyone.” Just when she finished speaking, angry hissing could be heard inside. “Oh dear.” Fluttershy said and went back inside. Scruffy nudged Applejack and when she turned to look, she could see worry on his face.

“Everything’s okay sugarcube. We’ll just have to wait for a minute.” She said as they patiently sat down to wait for Fluttershy.

“Sorry about that.” Fluttershy said when she returned to the door.

“It’s okay. So, what did you need help with?” Applejack asked.

“Um, well, when we had that storm a few days ago, my chicken coop got hit pretty hard. The coop is unusable, so the chickens are staying inside with me.”

“I hope none of them got hurt.”

“Nothing serious, fortunately.”

“Anything else you need fixing?”

“Well, if you could also patch up the fence, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Ain’t no problem at all Fluttershy, I’m always happy to help. And if Scruffy here wants to help too, we’ll get it done lickety-split.” Applejack said and bumped Scruffy's leg, which made him look down on her and raise one eyebrow.

“I’ve already gathered some material near where the coop is.” Another angry hiss came from inside the cottage. “I uhh…I need to go tend to Ms. Fluff. I’m so sorry that I’m just leaving you to do it by yourselves.”

“It’s okay sugarcube. You need to look after your animal friends. We’ll manage.”

Fluttershy nodded with a smile and disappeared back inside. Applejack motioned for Scruffy to follow her. They circled the house to find a chicken coop in desperate need of repair. The ramp leading in to the coop seemed to have been completely blown off its hinges, one of the legs was broken and needed to be changed. The roof would also need to be repaired so that it wouldn’t leak in the rain.

“Seems like our work has been cut out for us.” Applejack said as the two of them surveyed the damage. She also noticed a hammer and box of nails, a saw and a couple of wood planks set aside for the repairs. When Scruffy noticed the tools, he smiled and nodded eagerly.

********************

Applejack was pleasantly surprised yet again when it became clear that this wasn’t the first time Scruffy was using a hammer. They quickly figured out what was the best way to approach repairing the damage, and got to work. The broken leg was easily changed, and they noticed that one other leg was slightly wobbly, so they changed that too. Scruffy worked to change the boards on the roof while Applejack took a quick trip to town to get a few items they didn’t have. With the roof made waterproof again, the last thing was the ramp. The ramp also served as a door for the coop, so it took them a moment to figure out how to best repair it.

Those hands are mighty useful, Applejack though as Scruffy hammered the last few nails in place. They were much more flexible than pony hooves, and could manipulate objects much more easily. Applejack had to cringe each time Scruffy hit a nail the first time, however. She was afraid that he was going to miss the nail and accidentally hit his fingers with the hammer, which would undoubtedly hurt much more than hooves would. Luckily, he didn’t miss even once. With the coop repairs done, they used the remaining wood they had to replace a few of the fence poles.

“Thank you so much.” Fluttershy said and hugged both of them.

“It was no problem at all.” Applejack suppressed a snicker at Scruffy’s embarrassed smile as Fluttershy affectionately hugged him.

“I’ll make sure to repay you.”

“Aww, you don’t have to pay me, Fluttershy.”

“Well I’ll think of something else then.”

“Aw shucks. If you really want to.”

“Mhm.”

“I better get going now. I still have a lot of apples to harvest today.”

“Thank you one more time.”

“You coming?” Applejack asked Scruffy and indicated towards Ponyville with her head. He looked from her to Fluttershy, and after a moment, shook his head.

“Okay. You two take care then.” Applejack said and waved.

“Bye.” They waved back. After Applejack had left, Fluttershy turned towards Scruffy with an excited smile. “Let’s go inside so that I can introduce all my animal friends to you!”

********************

Applejack returned to Sweet Apple Acres to continue working. It was already well past noon and approaching early evening, and the temperature was getting to be more tolerable for working. As she walked past the house, she could see Granny Smith sweeping the floor with a broom.

Good old Granny Smith, even her old age can’t prevent her from making sure the house is as spotless as Winona’s food bowl…except when she falls asleep I suppose, Applejack though to herself. She trotted to the barn to get the cart, then making her way back to the south field.

********************

“Hey sis!” Applejack turned towards the voice. She could see Applebloom galloping towards her. She angled her head to look at where the sun was and surprised to see how low it had gotten. She hadn’t realized how long she'd been working.

“Hey Applebloom. How was school today?”

“Boring. We had a long history class today. We even had somepony visiting from Canterlot as a guest lecturer, but he was just. So. Boring!” Applebloom allowed herself to fall on the ground. “Half of the classroom was asleep after the first 5 minutes. Even Cheerilee seemed to be nodding off.” She muttered.

“I see.” Applejack chuckled. She remembered her own school days and how boring they often seemed. “You aren't crusading with your friends today?”

“Scootaloo was almost sleepwalking when the class finally ended. I think she headed straight for bed when school was over.”

“Would you like to help me with the apple harvest then?”

“Yes. If I stay put for another minute, I feel like I’m going to be as rickety as our old barn!” Applebloom hopped up from the ground. Applejack chuckled again.

“Then let’s get to it!”

********************

The two sisters toiled at the orchard for the rest of the day, with Big Mac joining them after the traffic at the market died down. The three Apples worked hard in to the evening hours, and only when the sun was starting to get behind the trees did they decide to call it in for the day. They were surprised, however, when Fluttershy and Scruffy walked to them.

“Hey everypony.” Fluttershy greeted them.

“Oh. Hey Fluttershy. What brings you here?” Applejack responded.

“I came to thank you for your help today.” She said and nudged the basket Scruffy was carrying. “I wanted to bake something for you as thanks. Scruffy also wanted to bake something, after he saw me doing it. He went and got some ingredients from his home in the Everfree, I think, and he baked…well…I don’t really know what they are.” Fluttershy explained.

Scruffy places the basket down and the Apples gathered around, curious. Fluttershy lifted the cloth that was covering the basked, and instantly a smell of freshly baked goods hit them. There was a blueberry pie in the basket, and then several things that none of them recognized. They looked like some sort of small rice pies.

“They do look a little…weird…but they are actually quite tasty.” Fluttershy said. She pointed at a small bowl with something yellow in it. “He made that from eggs and butter. It’s supposed to be put on the, uh, rice pies.”

“Why are they so wrinkly?” Applebloom asked.

“I don’t know. That’s just how Scruffy made them.” Fluttershy admitted.

“Well, let’s go get Granny Smith and test them. We don’t want to make them go to waste.” Applejack said.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac agreed.

The group marched towards the Apple household, with Applebloom galloping a little in advance to get Granny Smith. They set up their impromptu picnic close to the house under an apple tree when Applebloom and Granny Smith walked to them.

Just like Fluttershy had said, Scruffy’s creations were quite tasty, if very odd looking. Applejack had to admit that she preferred them without the butter/egg topping, and she could easily imagine these being done by Granny Smith. Scruffy seemed pleased that everypony had taken a liking to his rice pies, and he chuckled to himself when initially they all looked at the butter/egg topping suspiciously. The rest of the evening was spend together talking and enjoying each other’s company. Applebloom told in more detail what had happened at school, and even Big Mac told about a thing or two that happened in the market.

Yup, Applejack thought to herself as Applebloom and Fluttershy giggled at Big Mac’s tale. Today was definitely a good day.