After a week of working on the farm, Sprocket had gotten a little used to waking up at the crack of dawn… though he still found the herculean effort of getting out of bed like somepony had strapped a couple of buildings to his back. Still, the important thing was that he was waking on time, at least, and the morning in question proved no exception.
“YAAAAHHHH!” he yawned with a stretch of his forelegs and as much of himself as he could. “My oh my how I wish my folks named me ‘Early Bird’ instead. Way too dang early to do anything but dream--”
He stopped himself midsentence, tired, bloodshot eyes going wide in shocked epiphany as he remembered what last night’s dream had been. After slapping himself silly for such silly inner thoughts, he said, “Never mind,” and went to the bathroom to wash the sleepiness out of his eyes with some hot water before heading down to the kitchen for some breakfast.
The rest of the family came in soon after he did, and he and the younglins of the Apple clan sat at the table in relative silence till Granny Smith was done fixin’ up those scrumptious pancakes of hers and set down everypony’s plate of them on the table.
Applejack smiled and thanked her Granny kindly before she remarked Sprocket’s way, "Well, look who's up and about at this hour, fer once."
He let out a yawn as he replied, "Yeah, well, what can I say? Ya’lls’ crazy work ethic is finally rubbing off on me… even if I feel like that old, moldy, coldy apple cobbler granny thought was a fresh one she had made we all got sick from. Speaking of which, good morning, granny. That bubbly mail pony finally come and bring your new contacts yet?"
“Son, you done best sleep with one eye open,” Granny Smith chuckled humorously right before taking a sip of her warm mug of apple juice that had ‘World’s #1 Granny’ written on it,’ as was her custom this early in the day, with one hoof before setting it down on the table for a little bit so that she could place his stack (all of the stack were resting on her back, ya see) right in front of him.
Sprocket placed his forehooves against his head and began massaging it like he was kneading dough. “Yeah, well, to tell ya the truth, I’d eat a million of them bad cobblers if it meant I’d learn the secret as to how you all could be such extreme, no nonsense early risers.”
After thankin’ granny himself, he grabbed his fork and began to slowly, mechanically, dig into his pancakes, eyes shutting in and out of consciousness as readily and predictably as the ticking of a clock.
Applejack smiled a bit wider and said, "Well ain’t that just the bee’s knees you're so eager to wanna know how to be all punctual like for work… cause yer gonna have ta get used to wakin’ up even earlier.”
Sprocket’s eyes now as wide as the pancakes laid out before him, he saw Applejack barely able to contain her smirk as she whistled a jaunty little tune like nothing was the matter as she poured a heaping helping of apple syrup on her own delicious morning vittles.
"Uhhh… AJ, can I call you AJ, or are we not on those kind of speakin’ terms yet?”
“We sure as sugar are, surgarcube” she said before taking a big slice out of her stack and chowing down. “Mmmm… sugar…”
“Okay…” Sprocket said, eyes blinking owlishly as they moved back and forth from side to side like a metronome. “Please tell me you're joking."
Big Mac took that moment to answer for her.
"Nope."
Sprocket's head promptly fell into his stack of pancakes.
Applejack smiled comfortingly. "Now dontchya be goin’ and worryin’ up a fuss, now. We'll just be gettin' ya up fifteen minutes earlier at a time… for the first few weeks, anyways. Enough time ta help us out with a few early mornin' chores."
“First few weeks!?” Sprockets somehow drudged up the energy to shout into his pancakes
“Well yes,” Applejack said calmly. “Then in the second few weeks, we’ll wake you up fifteen minutes earlier than that so that you’re awake thirty minutes earlier than you usually are now, and we’ll keep doing that so on and so forth until we can work ya up to waking up a grand spankin’ total of two hours earlier than usual. Now doesn’t that sound like a hoot?”
Sprocket lifted his head out from his stack and groaned out, "FIIIIIIIIIINNNEEEE!” He then let out a sigh and asked, “Well, we got anything else for breakfast? Being honest, while these here apple pancakes are amazing, too much of a good thing can get pretty tiresome after awhile."
"Well, all we have left is some oatmeal. Some rats've gotten inta all the other food we got in the pantry, so Fluttershy's comin' by later ta take care a those varmints."
Sprocket raised a brow. “If that’s the case, how in the hay did ya get the mix, apples, and apple syrup for these pancakes?”
“Simple. Me an’ mah kin always keep rations of all that stuff and more. In case of apple emergencies ya see,” Applejack said, grinning.
"O...kay…” Sprocket replied slowly. “So, what are we even gonna do on the work side of things so early today?"
"You’n Big Mac'll be workin' over on the east field today. Ah'll be sellin' apples in town."
"Got it." Sprocket let out another yawn. Then he got hit by a splash of warm water, drenching his entire body and warming it up by several degrees farenheit. He yelped, "What the--!?"
He looked towards the other end of the table, seeing Apple Bloom with an empty bucket and a totally-not-guilty wide grin. "Ah figured it might help ya wake up and stay up."
Sprocket deadpanned. "Thanks. I’m sure that’ll help until I’m done.”
“Yer welcome!” Apple Bloom said, beaming and seemingly completely unaware of the ten ton chunk of sarcasm Sprocket had hurled her way.
After breakfast (and lots of heavy sighing on Sprocket’s part), they all headed off to work. Sprocket was still having trouble summoning the strength or finesse (maybe both) needed to kick the trees assigned to him hard enough to knock down all the apples. He was still stuck on the first tree and the only thing he managed to free (aside from some leaves and a few sticks) was a single apple that promptly fell on his head.
He rubbed his aching noggin and glared at the tree in question. "I'm positive these trees hate me now. Everytime I try getting them dang apples, they drop one right on my head, and that’s the only one they give me!"
Big Mac, a piece of straw hangin’ from his lips, calmly replied, "Just takes some practice."
Sprocket looked at Big Mac with a cocked head like he had an alien growing out of it. "Ya know, that’s probably the most I've ever heard you say in a single sentence."
"Eeyup."
Sprocket chuckled as he kicked the tree again, finally getting a few more off, none of them hitting his head this time. He gave it a third kick, getting the rest off. "This is probably the hardest work my rear legs have ever had."
"That's parta yer problem."
Sprocket raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Ya need ta use yer front legs as much as yer back ones. Like this." Big Mac demonstrated on a nearby tree, empty tree, the one he had just been working on. "See? It takes yer full body ta do it right."
Sprocket nodded. "Alright." He reared up and leaned forward on his front hooves slightly, before using the strength in both his front and back legs, and he got all but one of the apples off the tree. "Hmmm... looks as though the only one not off the tree was the one above me." Just as he looked back down and was about to try kicking yon apple down again, the red delicious fell down and hit his head. Big mac had a small amused grin on his face. Sprocket gave him a mock glare. "Shut up."
The two continued working for a few more hours, until they saw Apple Bloom and her two friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, running towards them like their tails were on fire because their eyes had laid witness to a ghost. As they passed, Sprocket and Mac looked to where the fillies had came from and saw wolves made of wood… headed straight for ‘em.
Sprocket's eyes widened and his pupils shrank and he shrieked out, "Are those wooden wolves comin’ over here!?"
"Eeyup,” Big Mac said calmly before spittin’ out the strand of straw in his mouth. “They’re called timberwolves, fer good reason."
Sprocket nodded as he replied, "Well I sure as sunup can see that. So… we gonna run?"
Big Mac replied, "Nope. Why should we? They're just like hitting trees."
"Except with teeth!"
"Eeyup." Big Mac took off in a gallop whose sudden swiftness left Sprocket even more wide eyed. After some panting, Sprocket sighed and followed after.
Big Mac, in the meanwhile, quickly turned and kicked the first wolf, shattering it into nothing but a hundred pieces of split wood.
Despite the fear holding his heart in a vice, Sprocket smiled at seeing how, apparently, these things were easy to break apart… and their bark truly was worse than their bite, pardon the pun.
Courage breaking fear’s grip, Sprocket’s half-hearted cantle turned into a proper gallop and he leapt onto Big Mac's back then launched himself off, kicking through two more wolves. He then kicked another, but as soon as he did that, he saw the wood of all the wolves they had taken down give off an eerie green glow before forming into a bigger, meaner-looking, wooden wolf.
His eyes widened and he exclaimed, "Now that just ain't fair!"
"Nope."
"Now can we run?"
"Eeyup."
Now it was their turn to run like their tails were on fire because their eyes had just laid upon a ghost.
"How in the hay can you guys live all the way out here in the boonies knowin’ these things are right next door!?"
"They usually keep put in the forest."
The two continued running, until Sprocket noticed a pile of junk that he had made his first day on the farm.
He smiled as a proverbial lightbulb went off in his head. "Hey, Big Mac! I think I got a plan! Since I'm smaller and weaker, it'll follow me! I'll lead it into the barn! You go and grab the old axle and get its attention! When it opens its mouth, throw it in there! That might kill it!"
Big Mac nodded and they split off.
What Sprocket quickly realized, though, was that since he had taken out more wolves, they chose to chase down Big Mac.
He slid to a halt.
"That is not the plan! BIG MAC! LEAD THEM TO THE BARN!"
Big Mac ran into the barn. Sprocket ran to the pile of junk. After a quick look, he grabbed a smaller piece of metal (as he was not strong enough to throw the axle) and ran in. The wolf had Big Mac in a corner at the back wall of the barn, but there was a hole there and Big Mac managed to escape right out. The biggest wolf tried scratching at the wall to get to Big Mac, but turned its head back and growled the moment it heard Sprocket whistle at to get its attention.
"Come and get me, bingo!"
The mega wolf opened its mouth to howl, but Sprocket threw the metal in his hoof like a spear, and it went right clean out the back of the lupine lignum’s throat. "Hmmm... I'm better at throwing a spear than I thought.”
The wolf then fell over, dead.
The other wolves, however, which had followed right on the heels (or at least less than a few feet away) of their now deceased, bigger kin, looked towards the now shaking pony with a serious case of tunnel vision that was able to take down said fido giganto down a peg.
They growled.
They growled a lot.
"Oh boy." He tried turning back for the exit, but another of the timberwolves he had missed was right there behind him. He tried turning back to the hole Big Mac had escaped through, but, again, he remembered that the little entourage that had followed the mega wolf was there and slowly making their way while growling up a storm as well. So, Sprocket backed up into one of the few places he could, into one of the side walls as they all closed in on him.
He gulped.
He gulped a lot.
Then suddenly, an old axle went through the wolves, who had more or less been lined up straight enough. killing them.
Sprocket turned to see Big Mac standing by the barn entrance and casually waving a hoof his way.
Sprocket nodded.
He nodded a lot.
"Thanks."
"Eeyup."
Sprocket then turned back to the wolves. "So what we gonna do with them?"
Big Mac thought for a moment. "Firewood."
Sprocket chuckled. "Ironic. They tried to make us lunch, so as due punishment, they'll be helping us to make lunch." He chuckled a bit before catching himself and saying, "Huh. First time I ever made an attempt at a joke."
Big Mac smirked. "Just don't quit yer day job."
"Why? So you'll have somepony to help you around the farm when Applejack is selling apples?"
"Nope. So somepony'll be able ta pull yer flank outta the flames… errr… sharp, wooden teeth, in this case."
Sprocket raised an eyebrow. "Yeah… who saved who from a giant timberwolf again there, big fella?"
"Who saved who from that pack of firewood over there?"
"Touche."
The two walked out and headed into the house for lunch. When they entered, they saw Apple Bloom and her friends huddled inside with kitchen utensils as weapons and armor.
Sprocket asked them, "So, why were those timberwolves following you?"
Apple Bloom and her friends quickly shed their armor and weapons. Apple Bloom exclaimed, "You two seem hungry! Do ya want us ta cook ya a meal?"
Sprocket thought for a moment and nodded as he replied, "It’d be a nice gesture, sure. And, while you're at it, you can tell us all about why them timberwolves were following you like I asked."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle immediately pointed to Scootaloo and said, in stereo "It was all her idea!"
"What!?"
Sprocket just kept his stare and replied, "Now I don't rightly care whose idea it was. Just please answer my question." His tone had become slightly more forceful and left no room for arguing.
Apple Bloom's head fell, as did her ears. "We was tryin' ta get our cutie marks in timberwolf wranglin'."
Sprocket blinked a couple times and rubbed the inside of one of his ears, hopping he heard wrong. "I'm sorry now, but: did you say 'timberwolf wrangling'?"
Apple Bloom nodded.
"Now what in hay were you three thinking!? Were you even thinkin’!? Even a little!?"
"Well, we figured that since we hadn't tried that yet, it might be a way to get our cutie marks for sure," Sweetie Belle said.
Sprocket was at a loss for words. When he finally found his voice, he said, "Have you tried getting your cutie marks in something a little less dangerous? Like say tea making, or maybe corn cob doll making, or wood carving?"
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Boring!" She then though for a moment. "Maybe we can get them in tree scultpering!"
Sprocket's eyes widened. "NO! That is way too dangerous! And it’s sculpting, not sculptering! Either way, now that I think about it, hay, just wood carving may be too dangerous!"
Apple Bloom pleaded, "Oh please, oh please, oh PLEASE let us try tree carving!"
"No." The three crusaders then began to pout, tears filling the corners of their quickly enlarging, large, eyes. In short, they looked so cute they could give an elderly pony a cuteness-induced heart attack. "Ummm..."
They then asked, in their cutest possible voices, "Please?"
Somewhere, someway, Sprocket could swear he heard multiple kittens die out of envy.
Sprocket was sweating bullets and the word no was unable to come out. So, he turned to his partner in timberwolf taking down and said, "Uh, Big Mac? Little help here?"
Big Mac turned to the fillies with closed eyes and said in regards to their pleas, "Nope. Now, git yerselves cleaned up fer lunch and set to be grounded for a long, LONG time after this little, stupid, insanely dangerous stunt of yours."
The three sighed and went to go do as they were told. Sprocket sighed in relief. "Thanks."
"No problem. Applejack'll be comin' in soon fer lunch. Go n' help her bring in the wagon n' tell her what happened."
"Got it." He trotted out the door and it wasn’t too long before he saw Applejack coming in. He walked up to her and asked, "Do you want me to take the wagon for you?"
"Nah, I got it. Anything interestin’ happen while Ah was gone?"
Sprocket nodded. "Yep. We got some firewood." When he saw Applejack raise an eyebrow, he explained, "Apple Bloom and her friends thought they could get their cutie marks in timberwolf wrangling."
Applejack shook her head and cleared out her ear before asking, "Ah’m sorry, but did you just say, 'timberwolf wranglin'’?"
Sprocket chuckled. "Heh, that’s exactly what I did when I heard it the first time too. Big Mac and I told the girls they were grounded for a long, long time… after we took down the timberwolves running after ‘em and turned them into lots and lots of kindlin.’ So, yeah. We got some firewood alright.”
Applejack shook her head as she unhitched herself from the cart. "What am Ah gonna do with that filly? I swear, one of these days, heck, maybe tomorrah after what you just told me, I’m gonna put her in a cell she can’t get out of for her own safety till she learns that doing stupidly dangerous nonsense not only ain’t gonna get her mark, but it’s liable to get her hurt or… or worse!”
"That… actually may not be such a bad idea… especially if all that unnecessary risk taking is as chronic for her as you make it out to be.” He sighed and put a chin to his hoof. “But where in the hay are we gonna build something like that? I have a few ideas on how to build it, but where are we going to get the materials for something like that? So many questions… ah!” After shaking his head a bit, he looked at a staring Applejack before coughing into a hoof to regain his composure. “Sorry. I’ll uh… I’ll have some more concrete plans for stuff drafted up in a couple days if that’s what you want me to do and you weren’t totally serious and exaggerating even a teeny, tiny bit.”
Applejack deadpanned at him and replied, “While it would be much safer fer her, Ah’d prefer not makin’ mah little sis an actual prisoner in her own home.”
“Ah, but who said it had to be in the home?” Sprocket said, smirking.
Applejack smirked. “While that’s mighty considerate of you, yes, I was exaggerating… a lot, though, not by as much as you’d think. Believe me, when she’s through with the grounding she’s gonna go through, she’ll feel pretty darn close to a prisoner in her own home. Speakin’ ah which… would you mind running along down Sweetie’s and Scootaloos’ place and telling their parents about what everything? I reckon they’ll have about as many words to say to them as I do for Apple Bloom.”
Sprocket nodded and was about to speak when his stomach startled grumbling something fierce.
Applejack chuckled. “Alright, alright, Sprocket. It can wait till lunch. So, the sooner we get to it, the sooner you can get to what you gotta do.”
She walked past Sprocket into the house, and he followed after, rubbing his still undulating tummy.