//------------------------------// // Bucking trees never hurt so much // Story: Steam Powered Orchard // by Elden andel //------------------------------// “Oh Applejack, I can’t believe I never noticed what a strong, and reliable mare you were before,” Lady Rarity was standing close enough to Applejack that she didn’t have to speak above a whisper. Her eyes were half lidded, and she smile was soft. “Ah'm just glad that you finally did,” Applejack whispered back, as she took a small step forward so that their muzzles were almost touching. “Applejack, I want to tell you something. It’s something that has been on my mind ever since I started working with you, here on the farm. A feeling that has been growing steadily over the last few weeks we’ve been together,” Rarity whispered to her, her voice as soft as silk. Applejack’s heart started to race, and her front legs began to shiver, “Why, you can tell me anything Lady Rarity.” Rarity’s smile grew a bit wider, and a bit more playful. She opened her mouth to tell Applejack just what that feeling was, but what passed through her lips wasn’t words. In fact the sound that came out of her mouth was even equine. It was a harsh, irritating, and constant ringing. Applejack’s eyes shot open and she turned over in bed to face her alarm clock. Applejack glared daggers at the tiny device, and instead of swatting the offending gizmo across the room, she settled for simply turning it off. With a sign she flung off the bed sheets and started her morning routine. She pivoted her body so that she could put her legs on. She reached for the left leg first, hauling it up onto the mattress so she could lock it onto the socket that was connected to the stub of her former left leg. She was extra careful with the leg this morning so as not to aggravate the light burns around the connection socket she had gotten from yesterday. Once she had it secured and in place she took the cover and secured it to the top of the leg, so that the connection point was nice and hidden. She gave the strap one last tug and then started on the right leg. Once they were on she grabbed a can of gas and a kettle of water and filled the respective chambers with the appropriate fluids. After all of that Applejack hit the ignition button, put on her signature stetson, and with that she was fully operational and ready to face the day. Or she would be, as her rumbling stomach reminder her, once she was her stomach was all fueled up. Applejack made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Granny Smith was surrounded by various bags of grains and heaps of apple. She had already begun making breakfast for the morning, and was currently concentrating on a large pot of oatmeal. “Good Morn’ng Granny,” Applejack yawned out. “What’s that deary?” Granny asked, straightening up from the pot of apple cinnamon oatmeal she was stirring. Forgetting that she had a spoon in her mouth, Granny Smith took it with her as she straightened up and got drops of oatmeal all over the stove top. “Ah fiddlesticks, now look what ya made me do.” “Sorry granny,” Applejack quickly grabbed a hoof towel from the rack and started cleaning up the splatters of oatmeal, being careful to avoid the heat coils. “No no, clean it up after Ah’ve finished making breakfast,” Granny Smith said, scooting Applejack out of the way. “That way if’n something else gets split you only have one mess to clean! Now dice up those there apples, your brother is fetching me an extra bag of flower,” having given Applejack her marching orders Granny Smith turned her attention back to the oatmeal. Applejack put the rag back where she found it, rubbed some of the sleep out of her eyes, then grabbed one of the knives from the drawers, grabbed one of the apples from the small mountain next to Granny, and went to work. It wasn’t long before Big Mac showed up, and after he dropped the bag off on the counter next to Granny Smith he when to work alongside her and Applejack, mixing, cutting, and baking various grain and apple dishes. By the time that Apple Bloom made her way into the kitchen the only thing that hadn't been finished was the last batch of hay bacon being fried up by Big Mac. “Morn’ng,” Apple Bloom muttered, still half asleep. “Morning sugar cube,” Applejack said, and then tussled her hair, making her sister’s bedhead slightly worse, on her way to her seat at the kitchen table. “What do ya want?” Apple Bloom took her seat at the table, and looked over the massive spread of apple based foods that covered almost every inch of the table, “A stack of the pancakes, and some of the apple syrup.” “Coming right up,” Applejack nudged a full stack of flapjacks onto the filly’s plate, and poured a healthy dose of syrup on the stack. After everypony had food on their plate they all dug in. “So Apple Bloom,” Applejack said between bites of food. “Anything interesting going on in school.” Apple Bloom shook her head, “Nope nuthin special.” After a moment or two Apple Bloom asked, “Is Lady Rarity comin’ back over today so you can make goo-goo eyes at her.” Applejack nearly choked on some apple cobbler. Once she got the rebellious food stuff to go down she replied, “Ah have not been making ‘goo-goo eyes’ at Lady Rarity.” Granny Smith started laughing and thumping the table with her utensils, “Oh yes you were deary! All throughout lunch and dinner. Why, Ah haven’t seen it this bad since Ah hired yer mother, and yer father started making those same eyes at her.” In a last ditch hope Applejack turned to Big Mac, “Ah wasn’t making ‘goo-goo eyes’ at Lady Rarity, was Ah Big Mac?” Big Mac looked at her, tried to hide a smile, and went back to his hay bacon and apple sauce. “Well pony-feathers to you all, Ah was not, and will not be making ‘goo-goo eyes’ at Lady Rarity. Now if you will excuse me, Ah am going to get ready for the day,” and with that Applejack got up from the table and made her way back up to her room. She started looking through her dresser, trying to find her second best vest and shirt, since she had already worn her very best one yesterday. She finally found it, a vest shirt that was nearly identical to the one she had worn the other day, only this had a few small holes in the sleeves. Next she gave her mane and tail a quick brushing before putting both into a ponytail. When she was finished she strapped her shoes on, and headed out to start her day. The sun had only just begun to peak over the nearby foot hills, so that it lit only the very tops of the trees in the orchard and the nearby Everfree Forest. The only tree with more than the top few branches basking in the early morning rays was the great Everfree Tree. Applejack looked up at the tree and admired how the early morning light made the old Mare In the Tree look as if it was glowing. Applejack stood their and basked in the calm of the early day, listening to the sounds of the birds and breeze and watching the morning mist move gently through the orchard. After a minute she headed off to the barn to start laying out the baskets under today’s section of trees. The sun had made it’s way over the foothills, and was shining brightly down on the farm as Applejack nudged the last basket into place. Wiping her brow, she made her way over to the entrance to the farm to wait for Lady Rarity. As the appointed time for her arrival came and went Applejack tried to peer down the road for the regal dressmaker, but she didn’t see horn nor hair of her. So she waited for another minute, and that minute turned into five, then ten. At fifteen minutes Apple Bloom left for school and wished her big sister a good day. Applejack returned the pleasantry, and then returned to waiting. It wasn’t until a half hour had gone by that Lady Rarity had finally shown up. She was wearing a dress that was colored in various greens, browns, and an orange or two. It had tassels that all along the train that ended in little fuzzy green pompoms, and had three overlapping layers of fabric. She was also carrying a saddle bag that seemed to be bulging with various art supplies. “Howdy, Lady Rarity,” Applejack said once she had reached the fence. Once Applejack was able to get a proper look at Rarity she realized that she looked plumb tuckered out. “Are you alright?” “Hmm? Why, yes of course I am darling. I feel right as rain,” Rarity replied. “Well you are a mite late, and ya look like you have one wheel down and the axle draggin’.” Rarity paused for a second, “I’m sorry, I look like what?” “I mean ya look tuckered out. Ya’ll have them bag under yer eyes, and yer walking slower than Granny Smith on a rainy day,” Applejack explained. “Yes, well I may have been a bit… preoccupied last night, and didn’t get much sleep.” It was Applejack’s turn to pause and consider what she might mean by “preoccupied”, thought about it for a moment and then decided she didn’t need to know, an it was probably none of her business. “Ah suppose yer here now. Come on let’s get’er started, were burning daylight,” and with that Applejack trotted out into the orchard, while Lady Rarity quietly sighed and trudged off towards the barn to start charging the lightening cell. Applejack got down to the first tree of the day, lined herself up with it, gave it a good solid buck, and yelped out in pain. She turned around and looked at the burns around connection sockets for her legs. She knew that she had been testing the limits of what her mechanical appendages could safely handle yesterday, pushing them to work twice as hard with half as many breaks, all to show off in front of Lady Rarity. Applejack looked out at the acres of trees she had put buckets under just a short while ago, thinking of the small pain and discomfort each buck was going to bring. ‘Well ya’ll wanted to play the show pony, and now yer gonna have to live with the consequences,’ Applejack thought as she took in a small sharp breath, steadied her resolve, and moved on to the next tree. And so the morning dragged on with Lady Rarity sluggishly loading the crawler with buckets of apples as Applejack bucked the trees, just like the previous day. The only difference was that Applejack had to stop and rest frequently, to both prevent her legs from overheating and so that she could let all of the little aches from her burns subside. While both of the mares moved slowly across the orchard, Lady Rarity was still the slower of the two, and it wouldn’t be long before Applejack lost sight of her and the cart. As she bucked her way down an adjacent row of apple trees Applejack took note of just how far behind her Lady Rarity was in the previous row and sighed to herself, noting that it would be another long day, even with Rarity’s help. When Applejack made her way down the next row she looked back and saw that none of the baskets had been picked up in the previous row, or the row before that. With a frown Applejack continued bucking her trees, albeit at a much slower pace than before. When she looked back again Applejack began to worry as when she looked back at the other rows again none of the baskets had been picked up. Instead of continuing on down the row, Applejack tore herself from her trees and went looking for the missing mare. She checked among the nearby rows of trees, in case Lady Rarity had gotten lost on one of her trips back from the barn, as it was hard to tell one row of apple trees from the next without a set of trained eyes. Applejack searched through the rows for a few minutes without finding hide nor hair of her. Next, the farm mare went and checked with both Big Mac and Granny Smith to see if they had seen Lady Rarity, but both gave her a negative. Finally she went to check out in the barn, and there she saw the crawler parked inside, with a few baskets of apples still in back. “Lady Rarity? Are ya here?” Applejack called into the barn. A small squeak and the sound of ruffling paper answered her. Lady Rarity pop her head up over the other side of the crawler, “Oh! Applejack! Why, I wasn’t expecting you, did you need something?” Applejack made her way around the crawler and saw that Rarity was surrounded by various papers and drawing implements, ranging from charcoal pencils to oil paints. The papers were either crumpled into balls or had half finished designs for dresses, many of which had notes next to the designs. “Well, Ah hadn’t seen ya for a good few while out there,” Applejack went over to one of the drawing and made to pick it up, but before she could set a hoof on it, it zipped out of reach, pulled by Lady Rarity’s magic. Applejack continued what she was saying, unfazed by the sudden action, “and Ah wasn’t sure where ya’ll went, or if’n you were alright.” Lady Rarity brushed off some of the dirt that had gotten on the design as she had pulled it away, “Ah yes, I suppose I did just wander away on you. I do apologize for that Ms. Applejack, but my horn just hasn’t been right, and every time I go to charge the cell it feel like it is going to crack in two. So while I was letting it rest I was struck with inspiration, and simply had to act on it, and the time must have simply gotten away from me. You understand don’t you?” Lady Rarity said, voice sprinkled with remorse, her lower lip began to pout, and her eyes seemed to grow just a hint wider. Those little touches were enough to cause Applejack to start to blush a bit. She pulled the brim of her hat down and turned her gaze to the side to try and hide it, “Ah suppose Ah do, and anyway it’s getting mighty close to lunch time. Why don’t we head on back to the house and help Granny Smith finish up with the lunch.” “A capital idea,” now that the moment had passed Rarity bounced back to her prim and assured self, the small hints of vulnerability gone from her. “I’ll join you there in just a minute, I simply need to pack all of this back up.” Applejack nodded, and started to make her way over to the house, her heart still beating a bit fast. When she entered the kitchen Granny Smith stopped what she was doing and looked at her granddaughter with a healthy dose of bewilderment. “Applejack? Now just what are ya doing back in here? Lunch isn’t going to ready fer another while, and Ah told ya before Ah haven’t seen that unicorn anywhere around these parts.” “Ah know Granny, Ah already found her. She was out in the barn, said that her horn felt like it was gonna’ split in two, what with all the charging and lifting she was doing. So Ah figured that we could take a small break an’ just help you finish up lunch.” Granny Smith watched as Applejack reached up for one of the large metal bowls used for mixing on a high shelf, and noticed how she winced when she put extra weight on her back legs. “Mmm-hmmm. Yeh sure that that she’s the only one that needed a break?” “Of course Ah’m sure. Ah could buck trees all day long, you know that Granny,” Applejack’s voice was flat and hard at the accusation. “Hmmm.”Granny Smith wasn’t convinced that was the case, but she decided to let it go. A minute or two passed with Granny Smith chopping apples, and Applejack mashing up applesauce, when Granny spoke again, “Sounds to me like Miss City Hooves is just a mite lazy. Even if’n you have to charge the cart, it sure beats hauling those apple by hoof.” “Ah don’t think that’s fair Granny. Sure that cart is better than hauling all those apples back to the silo by hoof, but Ah figure that having to charge those lightening cells is just as hard fer a horn as hauling is fer your legs,” Applejack replied, not looking up from the apples she was mashing. “Still seems lazy to me,” Granny Smith said. Applejack chuckled, “Granny, you’d call a boiler with no coal lazy fer not making steam.” It was then that Lady Rarity entered the kitchen, the discussion was dropped. For the next half hour both mares were given tasks by Granny Smith, and as soon as they were finished with one she would have something else ready for them to do. All the while Lady Rarity was under Granny Smith’s constant scrutiny, with the older mare constantly looking over her shoulder and pointing out mistakes she was making. “Nope, if yer gunna peel an apple then ya need to get it off in one go, like this. “Ya gotta stir along the rim of the pot. If ya keep stirring around the center, yer not going to get all the spices mixed in evenly. “No no, that’s to many cuts. Give that knife here. Ya go one, two, three, four, turn! One, two, three, four, done. Then ya just push it off the board and into the bowl.” After a grueling half hour of his work all of the food had been prepared, and Lady Rarity was lightly trembling where she stood, ready to go back to the nice simple task of hauling apples. Applejack looked over at her and chuckled, “Ah know that feeling. Ah remember when Ah was a filly, and Ah had to help Granny prepare all the food for the Apple Family Reunion. Had to find a good place to set and cry for a while after a good few hours.” Rarity just nodded in response. “Applejack, go get yer brother, just hafta wait on Apple Bloom and then we’ll be ready,” Granny Smith said. “Sure thing Granny,” and with that Applejack headed right on out to the fields to hunt her brother down. Lady Rarity found a chair at the table and slumped into it, thoroughly worn out from the gauntlet of tasks she had undertaken this morning. Granny Smith didn’t waste a second, and began to wash the pots and pans that had been used in the previous cooking frenzy. “So,” Granny Smith started, making Rarity jump a bit in her seat, “your Hondo’s oldest ain’cha?” “Erm, yes, I am,” Lady Rarity answered, wondering where this line of inquiry had come from, and where it might be going. “How’s that dogged old colt holding up these days? He still chewin’ off more than he’s got any right to swallow?” “Oh, well, I suppose he is keeping busy, yes. Mother had to practically drag him from his desk to go on a vacation with the rest of the family a few months back,” Lady Rarity smirked at the memory. Granny Smith smiled, “Sounds like ol’Flanks hasn’t changed a bit. Back when he used to stop by the farm, if he got some cockamamie idea in his head, why there wasn’t nothing that was going stop him from carrying it out. Ah still remember the time when he got the idea that we should have a big ol’ boiler that could power just about everything on the farm. Only problem was that we didn’t have all that much in the way of steam machines at the time, so Ah had put my hoof down and told him that we were fine the way we were. Two nights later Ah hear some kinda’ banging and take a look outside and you know what Ah see?” “I haven’t the slightest clue,” Rarity smiled to herself, knowing exactly where this was going. “It was mah son and yer father digging the biggest hole Ah ever done seen out by the barn. Well Ah start hollering about how Ah was going to tan their hides, and yer father calls up and says to me ‘But Miss Smith, Bright Mac here thought that it was a good idea’. Well if he thought that mah son was going to overrule me on how to run the farm, before Bright Mac had even gotten his cutie mark no less, he had another thing coming! Next thing they know Ah’m chasing them all over the fields with a riding crop!” Granny Smith started cackling. “If anyone else had been awake then it woulda been quite the sight, me shouting mah head off and those two colts running it terror.” Lady Rarity was also chuckling at this point, imaging her father running around in the middle of the night being chased by this little old mare armed with naught but a riding crop. It was then that Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom walked in on the two mares cackling and giggling, “Now what is so dang funny you two?” Applejack smiled quizzically at the two mares. Once Granny Smith got her cackling under control she replied, “Oh just tellin’ Ms. Rarity a story or two about her Pa. Now hurry up and get yer flanks in these chairs! Lunch is gunna get cold,” and with that the rest of the Apple clan took their seats and tucked in. All throughout lunch Applejack made a point of keeping her eyes on her food, so that none of her kin would get the idea that she was somehow mooning over Lady Rarity. ‘Ah mean ye’are,’ said a small corner of her mind. ‘Especially every time she turns around to get into that cart and-’ ‘Aw hush you! Ah am not mooning over her,’ Applejack thought back at the small corner of her mind. “Applejack?” Lady Rarity said interrupting Applejack’s short internal dispute. “Would you be a dear and pass me that plate of apple cinnamon scones?” “Why sure thing,” Applejack looked up at her food and was practically beaming at the mare as she passed the plate to her. The rest of the Apples all tried to hide a grin or a snicker at this. “Ah hush you lot,” and with a sour look on her face, Applejack went back to staring at her plate of hay bacon and apple crisp. Once lunch was finished and the table cleared of dishes, everypony went their separate ways to get back to their tasks. The afternoon dragged on much like the morning had, with both of the of the mares working at a slower clip than they had the day prior. Before long dinner had come and gone and soon enough the moon would be rising. Three rows of trees were left with buckets under them, but as Applejack looked back she knew that their wouldn’t be time to finish bucking them, since Lady Rarity was a full five rows behind where she was. Applejack trotted over to the pale unicorn who was levitating baskets into the crawler in an almost lackadaisical manner, most likely due to how tired she was. “Alright Lady Rarity, Ah can haul the rest of these here apple right out to the silo. Y’all can head on home now.” Rarity immediately dropped the basket that she had been lifting into the cart, a few of the apple bounced out onto the ground. “If you say so, I shall be seeing you in the morning Applejack dear,” Lady Rarity replied cheerfully and speedily. Applejack nodded, “Just make sure that y’all get here a mite earlier than ya did this morning, all right?” “Oh but of course darling, I was just so dreadfully tired this morning, I’ll make sure that it won’t happen again. Now then ta ta!” Lady Rarity gathered up her saddle bags, double checked their contents, and all but galloped for the front gate of the farm. Applejack watched as she hurried off, then looked back at the remaining rows of trees, each with a few buckets under them. She cracked her neck a few times, and set to work gathering up the baskets. By the time Applejack had finished hauling all the apple from both the field and the barn out back to the silo, the full moon had reached its peak for the evening. Earlier Big Mac had came out and offered to help his sister with the task, but she waved him of saying that she could handle it on her own. Now there was a small twinge of regret at having turned her brother down, but in the end she had handled it, even if it meant that she was going to be a right wreck in the morning. As she made her way sluggishly up the stairs of the farm house to her room two thoughts helped to ease the wariness in her bones. The first thought was that the silo was just about full, meaning that tomorrow was a sorting day. That would give her around about a day or so to let the burns on her legs heal up a bit. The second thought was of her and Lady Rarity working close together, side by side, sorting apple all throughout tomorrow. It was that thought that brought a smile to her face as she drifted off to sleep.