//------------------------------//
// Calf (4/23/2017) 
// Story: A Pony a Day 
// by OfTheIronwilled 
//------------------------------//

The baby cow scrambled across the field on shaky legs, running up to its mother with aplomb. At once the dam turned to her calf with a nuzzle, and the rest of the herd turned to watch with watery eyes as she did so. Rosie's birthing had been a rough one, and for a while the other cattle thought that she and Aster wouldn't make it, at least not together. But thanks to those ponies...

"Aw," Petunia cooed, pawing a hoof into the dirt. "Why, I've just got to thank that little Fluttershy again. If it wasn't for her, oh, Rosie, I don't know what would have happened."

Rosie nodded. Below her, Aster started to suckle, and despite her exhaustion from the past few days, she looked so very happy. "Yep, don't I know it," she laughed. "This li'l one nearly went early, he did. Don't know how I could have gone on without that girl savin' him, like."

A couple feet away, a few more cattle stared at the pair.

"Those ponies sure do take care of us, don't they?" one of them said.

"Always taking care of us, and all."

"And keeping us safe from predators."

"And letting us graze, don't forget about that!"

"Making sure we don't starve is a big one, yess'm. I've heard stories about them cows that go off on their stampedes and don't get corralled back in. Get lost and don't know what to do with themselves. Fate's sealed by mornin', it is."

"Yes," Rosie agreed. She nuzzled her baby once more when he was done feeding, and then gave a grateful smile. "We're lucky to have gotten such a good farmer like Applejack."





Applejack leaned on the fence and stared at her livestock, and tried to smile.

The uncomfortable twist in her gut was just the jitters about having a new baby in the herd. Or at least that's what she told herself.