It was getting well past noon. The sun at it's peak, beaming down its rays of spring warmth. With it at their backs, ponies could bask in said warmth without any fear of an overdose. The sunshine was perfect for a walk. Two earth pony mares could be barely spotted enjoying such perfection on the outskirts of town. Keeping clear of any unwanted glances as they made their way along the perimeter of Ponyville.
Pinkie Pie had decided Earth-Chan deserved a grand tour! Which sadly had to be adapted given their current circumstances. Pinkie tried to suggest they use the hay bale again, but Earth-Chan made it clear she wasn't comfortable in confined spaces, which wasn't the real reason, but not necessarily a lie either. The poor pony looked devastated, having felt like she'd forced her new friend into such an uncomfortable predicament. Earth-Chan was left to console the silly pink pony as they walked side by side, making sure things were still okay every other minute or so.
Pinkie Pie was a whirlwind of emotions sometimes. It was mind boggling to figure out where the wackiness ended and the sweet caring pony started. She could really do without the headache since it wasn't enough she had become a fugitive in the span of a single day, no now she had a friend. Pinkie Pie, for all her quirks, bells, and whistles was her first friend as a pony so she might as well play along every now and then. As crazy as that word seemed to Earth-Chan, it really fit the pony she used it for. Of course she'd heard the word friend before. She'd made connections with humans before, using the word as a term of connection and endearment.
Though, this time around, the word had a sense of force to it. For reasons unexplained, it tingled her lips when she used it. Earth-Chan noted the word made her ears flicker by themselves too as if an aurora of feel good wind suddenly engulfed her when she spoke it. Everything about the word was kind of exciting and cheerful. She'd ask for some explanations, but for now, chalking it up to weird pony stuff seemed to do it enough justice. Still, it rolled around in her head a lot as they walked and talked. Earth-Chan got distracted with all this whimsy, she'd completely missed Pinkie's last sentence.
"Earth to Chan. Earth to chan, hello. Are ya in there?" Pinkie's hoof waggled in Earth-Chan's face, causing her to blink out of her stupor and react with a gasp. She'd been holding her breath!
"Oh, oh my gosh. T-Thank you, Pinkie. That was...That was getting intense!" The pony sputtered a couple of times as she gasped in a few more breathes before finally regaining herself.
"Hehe, wow. That was crazy. Your hair was fluttering, your eyes crossed, and you started turning purple. Did you just forget how to breath?"
Earth-Chan was left a little embarrassed by that question and turned her head a way from her friend, blushing. "N-NO. I didn't forget, I was getting to it. There's a lot to think about today and sometimes the uh.... the order gets jumbled.... it's a work in progress."
Pinkie happily nodded along in quick acceptance. "Oh, tell me about it sister. I can't tell you how often my other gal pal Twilight has to remind me to take a breath. Usually it's because of how quickly I can rant. Hehe, haven't ever had a problem with just walking though." Her snickers underlined that last sentence annoying Earth-Chan quite a bit
"Let's just appreciate the fact that things are calming down and leave it at that. Where are you taking us by the way?" Earth-Chan shrugged that last part off and trotted ahead leaving a giggling buffoon in her dust. Looking around, Earth-Chan noticed the dirt path start to break into splotches. Fizzing out with each smaller spot before nothing but grass touched their hooves.
With the road gone the scenery began to gain more and more foliage. Trees began to speckle their path, making them have to accommodate as they walked. What began as simple tangled thicket slowly became more organized the further they went. Trees started to have their own rows. It was quite perplexing to see such an unnatural growing pattern, but it all came to light the second Earth-Chan looked up at the leaves. She'd been such a silly pony. It was clear where they were. They were surrounded by a paradise of fruit. One of her absolute, all time favorites! They were in an orchard! Her friend had brought her to an apple orchard!!
Breaking out into a gallop, Earth-Chan led the charge as Pinkie followed in tow behind her with a gentle bounce, giggling all the while at the blue mare's reaction. Before she knew it, Earth-Chan was frolicking through the orchard, huffing heavily as she picked up speed. She didn't have to focus on where she was going, the trees kept everything on track. It was nothing but power, her hooves exploding underneath her as she kicked up splashes of dirt in her wake.
It was amazing to have so much confidence in her own foot work. She'd nailed this running thing to a tee, and her mastery was on full display. Earth-Chan tore across the landscape, focusing on a lake in the distance as her destination. She could use a drink.
Things were getting hard to see, both the wind and her own pace bouncing the world around her and blurring it with watery tears. It got to be uncomfortable, so the pony opted to close her eyes. And for a few seconds life felt carefree. There was no bounty on her head. No awkward feelings that muddled up her thoughts. No weird ponies... "Hey, wait up!" Okay, not as Many* weird ponies. Something about working up a sweat was so addicting. So exhilarating. She could get lost in this orchard forever and it wouldn't even matter.
"The hay are y'all doin' on mah farm! Pinkie? Why'd y'all come the back way?"
"Earth-Chan! Left! Go left!" She could go left, but why? Straight was faster. Straight was easier. Straight was great! Though the moment left a hint of deja vu in her mouth. It tasted a lot like a tree. Well, she could tell where this was going. Just replace the tree with a thick accented farm pony.
"Wait, are ya blind?! You're headed right for.."
Earth-Chan winced slightly, her eyes still closed as everything seemed to slow down.
Here she was again, another predicament. A literal run in with a new pony. Another surprise waiting for her. She'd done this before. She was starting to get into the routine of things. All she had to do, was let it happen. Maybe things will end well this time. Maybe she was destined to crash into every pony on this planet. Maybe it was fate to slowly bash her head in with the force of her own clumsiness. But, hey, at least she was developing a tolerance. That was good. A strong head meant stronger thoughts. Structure was important after all.
With all her preparation in order, it felt so drawn out to wait for the inevitable. So, with that, things went as they should. Just as they were meant to be.
Opening her eyes, Earth-Chan blinked away some tears from the stinging earlier. It was a split second, but she noticed an orange blur wiz past her. The blur had just left the corner of her gaze before she realized what the real hub-bub was about. She was headed straight for a lake! It'd gotten so close so quickly, of all the trickery. She was convinced it was brain damage this time. Not splashes! This was going to be the fountain all over again! If it wasn't one constant, then it was another!
"Hang on, Ah got cha!"
Suddenly, there was a pinch behind her. Then a tug. Then a yank. And in one rapid move the poor filly was yanked by the bushels of her own tail and halted dead in her tracks.
"Yaaaaaaagh!" Her hooves left the ground, still propelled by her momentum, only to come whipping back. Her body momentarily stretched in an unimaginable manner before snapping back to a more imaginable form. So quick was the whiplash, she didn't even have time to squeak before her own yelp was muted by her eating the dirt.
"Oof, that's an owie." Pinkie Pie quickly approached, the sound of her bounce against the ground making Earth-Chan's ears twitch, even as she lay muzzle buried in the dirt. She perked her ears and followed the sounds from above like a beacon, picking out from all the inner ringing, she heard two voices chatting away.
"Pleh! Shucks, Ah'm awfully sorry about that one. Saw ya going towards the lake, figured you were looking for a swim. Woulda loved to let ya too, but ah can't just be opening my lakes up to anypony like that. It'd encourage trespassin'!" Farm pony walked around from behind Earth-Chan so as to properly talk to her. The filly kept her muzzled muffled with grass and dirt though as she grumbled briefly. Earth-Chan could have thought of a thousand different ways to stop herself and none of them had anything to do with yanking someone's tail like a savage!
Pinkie walked around the opposite side of her fallen comrade and sat closely next to her in her time of need. She patted that pretty blue and green mane, ruffling up what was already a pretty nasty case of bed head, combined with all the battle damage from today's events. Even Pinkie had to hold her tongue least she say something offensive about her neglected locks of mane.
Earth-Chan appreciated the gesture all the same and turned her head to look at Pinkie. Her mouth speckled lightly with small clumps of dirt, looking like something close to a messy snack gone wrong.
Pinkie snickered at the sight and reached a hoof down to wipe away a few of the dirt bits.
"It's cool AJ, she's with me. Hehe, plus that's probably not even her biggest fall today. This pony is addicted to falling down."
Earth-Chan rolled her eyes at that and nudged her hoof away from her mouth, huffing out a very bemused breath. "I am not addicted! I am a victim of circumstance."
"Aren't you being chased for stealing a blanket for no reason?"
"Pinkie! That is completely different! And I had every right to that blanket as he did, he gave it to me."
"Loaned* it to you. For one night."
"If there were terms and conditions I figured he would have said something!"
Pinkie blinked at that before snickering all over again.
"What?" Earth-Chan was beside herself. She was innocent! At least, she felt she could argue her case.
"Well, usually pony's don't have to spell it out that 'This is not a permanent gift'. It's kind of just assumed." Shaking her head Pinkie turned her once comforting pat into something a little more playful and condescending. "Poor Earthy, just can't seem to figure out this pesky foriegn equestrian culture."
"Excuse me for interuptin' but Ah was wonderin' if ah heard right. You're the filly everyone's fussin' about?"
Pinkie stopped petting Earth-Chan and stretched her arms out as if showcasing the blue mare to 'AJ'. "The one and only!"
'AJ-Pon3' seemed to grow a tad more deadpanned in her voice. "Really, Ya stole a blanket and three bars of soap?"
"Four* bars of soap."
Earth-Chan groaned, slowly starting to pick herself up, having grown tired of the floor. "Those soap were Not stolen! They were used for cleaning purposes!"
"Four though?" Turning around, Earth-Chan was met with a perked eyebrow and very inquisitive stare. It seemed quite obvious that the orange mare wasn't very approving of her escapades.
"Look, this was dealt with the night it happened. He told me it was bad, I felt bad for being bad, and then everything was suppose to be good and not so bad. Now I'm in the rough, the entire town probably hates me, and I've had to revolve my entire morning around some kind of pony hunt thought up by a cranky old police pony with a soap n blanket complex!" Earth-Chan was panting by the time she'd finished her tirade. Today had been absolutely ridiculous and it showed on her face along with the exasperation in her voice.
'AJeet pai' let out a sigh, shaking her head as things started to piece together for her. "Ah don't care for how he went about it, but ah can understand why Bright Star went so far."
"Because he's a cranky old watch-pony whose overdue for some RnR?" Pinkie gave a good guess, one Earth-Chan was more than willing to accept.
"No, it's more than that Pinkie. It's not like ya to forget something like that."
"A joke does not mean I forgot, AppleJack! I just rather not bring it up out of nowhere like that." Pinkie gave a huff and turned her head away hawtly. Her cheeks puffing out as she adorned a rather sour expression.
"Ain't out of nowhere. This here filly deserves some facts. It'll help her get an idea." Applejack looked to Earth-Chan with a sigh, taking her in for what seemed like a long draw. Both ponies stared at each other for a moment, the mood slowly getting translated. Things were getting uncomfortably somber, Earth-Chan's ears started to splay back against her head as she began to feel uneasy.
"No point beating around the bush. The uh... The blanket ya took was prolly a gift from Bright's late wife." Letting out a breath, she broke eye contact and looked off to the side. "Ya, ah reckon there's some sentimental value to that blanket. Ah also reckon he made it a point of catchin' you over it."
Earth-Chan slowly nodded at that, lost to the shock of realization. "B-But, he let me use it..."
"He probably didn't think of ya as the thieving type. That, or it didn't dawn on him to think twice. Poor fella goes the extra distance all the time, blocks his judgement sometimes." Applejack let it all sink in for a second before continuing. It was clearly hard for her to recount. She had to blink the tears away before the started.
"Like ah said, good or bad, some of his decisions are hard to get behind. But, I get this big ol' fuss. Still, ain't lookin' to guilt ya anymore than ya already might feel. It just seemed like you should know where the 'complex' came from is all. There's more to the stallion than just having a few screws loose. Ah just wish he'd give it a rest already." Slowly the mare shifted back onto all four hooves before walking in front of Earth-Chan and giving her a stern look.
"Ah don't know ya much. There's not too much to go on. But, Ah know Pinkie keeps good company. Ah know ya haven't lied yet about this whole ordeal. And I know you mean well. Which is all a good start... But, you owe that stallion an apology."
Another quiet nod, Earth-Chan suddenly feeling very small all for what shes done. It was so hard to imagine holding value like that for an inanimate object, but loosing a loved one rang the right bell. She couldn't really pretend she knew the weight of marriage and romantic love, but she'd connected with many humans... and a couple ponies now, that she cared for. She valued those she'd lost. It was just another concept that took some thinking over. Suddenly, putting value in objects didn't seem so far stretched. Still, a silly way to remember those who've passed.
"Mmm... You're right... if I can get some more time alone with him sometime soon I'll make sure to say I'm sorry." That was all she could think of to say. It'd probably lead to a conversation a lot deeper than a simple sorry, but that was for another time.
"There's still the whole soap thing too. Were they gifts as well?"
Applejack smirked at that, her hoof used to wipe under her eyes to clear a few tears. "Nah, ah think he just used the soap as an excuse to raise your profile. It's one thing to snatch a blanket, but you add soap to it and that chalks up to a decent five bit ticket."
"Wha, a profile?! He used soap to give me a profile!?! And what the heck is a ticket?!" How could such a sad story end in outrage? She'd been on the brink of tears for this pony one second, the next she was ready to throttle him.
Thankfully Applejack was courteous enough to explain the concept of tickets. Which lead to a deeper explanation about what bits were. All leading to a couple of very apt questions.
"How the hay do ya not know what money is?!"
"It's never come up!"
"Whatcha mean it's never come up? Ya can't do nothin' without money these days!"
"Look, all I'm saying is that since I've gotten here, I have not once needed money." It was the truth and she was determined to hold to it.
"Okay, but before that what did ya do?"
Tilting her head, Earth-Chan could only stare in confusion. "I'm sorry?"
"Before ya came to equestria, whatcha do without money?"
Oh sweet creation, it was a universal necessity! Earth-Chan had no plan for these kinds of questions. It was one thing to avoid questions about where she came from, but concepts like money couldn't be swept under the rug. No amount of culture shock could clean up after the fact that she had never dabbled in currency of any kind.
If only she'd been given a run down of society, a book or something would have worked wonders. Blending in was a simple concept, but Earth-Chan couldn't fill certain gaps herself. Humans were complex creatures with a knack for building societies. But even with what connections she'd actually made with humans, for all her worth, she could not remember a time where money had come up. She knew her trees had eventually fallen prey to the necessity of trade and goods, but that was were her knowledge stopped. Greed had been a common emotion she'd felt radiating from the human populace off and on again, but that gave no incite into the reason. The more she listened to Applejack the more complex it seemed to get.
Apparently Equestria and more over all of Equis(Which with a little questioning, Earth-Chan learned that that was the name of planet they were on) used a very bare bones gold and gem value program. It's what her humans had started with if she remembered correctly. Applejack's explanation of how their currency is mined from the planet itself felt all too familiar to the mines that had been dug into her to find Earth-Chan's resources.
The origin of the materials was where the simple part ended though, as suddenly the value aspect was introduced. It seemed like every single country on Equis had their own value system, each one evolving in different fashions. It was all the same gold and gems, but apparently different amounts of the same thing could be bought at different places for the same price. By the time they'd scratched the surface of pony economics all three ponies were left bored out of their minds.
Applejack, while knowledgeable, didn't have all the answers to some of the questions Earth-Chan asked. What little she did ask that is. This led Applejack stumbling over her own train of thought more than once before she flat out gave up on the explanation all together, much to the relief of both fillies listening to her.
"Since ya won't have the bits for the ticket, Bright Star will probably work a deal out with ya instead to work off the money. So I wouldn't worry about all the specifics. Still, the fact ya've gone this long in life without worryin' about money. Pardon me for sayin' but I'm a tad envious." Shaking her head in disbelief, the farm pony started up walking away from the two. Looking her over her shoulder as she did she beckoned the girls to follow her.
Earth-Chan looked to Pinkie who had merely fallen into step behind AJ with her usual bouncing and figured the 'Grand-Tour' was gonna be held off for later. She could probably consider this the first tourist attraction which wasn't a stretch given the apple tree paradise surrounding them. Earth-Chan quickly ran to catch up, not wanting to be left out of the conversation. Surrounded by apples, talking with some company, and having a walk. It was a nice first stop. I slower change of pace.
Earth-Chan walked with a sense of hesitation though. There was a pattern here. Set in place by recent events. She could just be getting a little paranoid, but one could only wonder when the next crash would be. It was a very small worry that was pushed aside to answer one of Applejack's question. But like all bad feelings, Earth-Chan's worries lingered. As well as a certain feeling that someone was watching.
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The Universe adverted it's gaze for a second before going back to watching intently, suppressing it's presence as much as it could. The celestials were aware of it. There would be consequences. No, there were already consequences. But this had been worth it. This had all been worth it. She was living. She'd even smiled. She was having some fun. This was all good. It made up for the pain. It made up for all the confusion and repairing. The sacrifice had been worth it.... but, maybe it could do a little more~
A new plan grew. It began anew. The Universe was up to no good.