Part 2
Chapter Fourteen: Falling Apples
Again, many thanks to Silver Wrench for co-authoring!
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The day had gone well, and together the group had managed to make quite a dent in the harvest. With the sun slowly setting, and the shared exhaustion setting in with the group, it was silently, but mutually agreed that it was time to stop for the day. Silver was starting to feel more at home here in Equestria, and while everything was almost entirely different from what he knew, it wasn’t all bad.
“Well, we’ll be seeing you later, everypony.” Fluttershy said. She and Phantom had a ways to go to get back home Silver had learned, and even though it was barely just the evening, it would make more sense to leave now to get there before dark.
“Don’t worry, we promise we’ll be back tomorrow with everyone else to help finish out the harvest,” Phantom said with a wink. Silver smiled a bit at that, he’d enjoyed talking to Phantom. It didn’t hurt that Phantom was also a human who’d been magically brought to Equestria too.
Twilight, Silver, and Applejack sat silently, resting, as Phantom and Fluttershy slowly walked off down the road. The work had gone smoothly, but there was just more than they’d thought. Applejack was the first to stand and shake herself off.
“Well, it should be about suppertime now, so we’d best be heading back. You coming Twi?” Twilight nodded, and stood up. Silver sat for a moment longer as the mares set off just ahead of him, trying to let the dull ache in his forelimbs fade. Once he’d realized that Twilight and Applejack were a fair way ahead of him, he pushed himself up, and started walking briskly towards the house.
He got there well after the girls, and was just in time for dinner. The spread on the table looked like it promised to be another amazing meal. He wondered what kind of magic Granny Smith and Applebloom had to be using to make such amazing meals that always seemed to be apple centered.
The chat over dinner was pleasant, and while much of it was over Silver’s head, he managed to catch enough bits of the conversation between Twilight and Applejack to realize that they’d had a very exciting life so far.
“I still can’t believe she stopped that Dragon…”
“….how bout that Ursa Major though….”
“……Discord just got to pullin’ all the wrong strings….”
“….And the tyrant, that was harder than we would have thought….”
Silver felt totally outclassed. He’d fought hard in the Middle East, and seen and done some amazing things, but everything the two of them talked about seemed to be on a whole other level. Big Mac took notice of the look on Silver’s face and knew almost at once what was wrong.
“Feeling small next to them?” Silver just nodded. “It happens. When you are friends with Princess Celestia’s own student, crazy things seem to happen to you. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Before too long, you’ll have some stories of your own to tell.”
“It’s not that I want my own stories, but I just can’t believe that that many crazy things happens around here.”
“They do, and rather often unfortunately.”
Big Mac and Silver kept on that line of conversation until the meal had been finished, and Big Mac went off to clear the table of dishes. Even with just one good foreleg, he seemed to be more than capable of doing any task that was set to him. Silver stepped outside mainly to clear his mind and ran directly into Twilight.
“I’m so sorry.” Silver brushed himself off.
Twilight sighed. “It’s alright. I was just lost in thought, and probably shouldn’t have been standing where I was.”
“Actually, I was lost in thought myself and not looking where I was going.”
“It happens. I wouldn’t worry about it.” Silver nodded, and just as he was turning to head off towards the barn, he realized that he still had a question to ask Twilight.
“Hey, um, Twilight,” Silver began. Twilight turned and looked at him expectantly. “I was wondering, if maybe you could help me with a problem that I’ve been having?”
“Sure. Would you like to sit down?” Twilight gestured towards a nearby table. They walked over and took a seat on either side of the table and started to talk.
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Applejack was washing dishes, enjoying the feel of the warm water on her aching legs. It might have been mind numbing work, but it still did her good. She wasn’t the type of pony who could just sit back and let others do all the work. Granny Smith and Applebloom though were, and the subject that they’d had to talk about would just have to be whether or not she and Silver were going to become a couple.
Applejack had to admit that Silver wasn’t all that unattractive, but she’d only known him a couple of days, and that wasn’t enough time at all to really get to know somepony. Sure, Phantom and Fluttershy had really gotten together long before they’d made it official, and Rarity seemed to have a new coltfriend every week, but Applejack needed some time to really get to know a guy before she could consider dating them.
“And what crazy stories he tells. Being from another pony country. Everyone knows that there are only two…”
“Now Applebloom, don’t be mean. You wouldn’t want to upset Applejack by making her coltfriend look bad.” Granny Smith and Applebloom collapsed into a fit of giggles, while Applejack just washed the dishes faster, trying to get away from them.
She didn’t want to be In a relationship right now anyways. So why was it that her family’s good natured ribbing was rubbing her the wrong way? Normally she’d have joined right in, but for some reason, this time all it was doing was making her angry. Maybe she was starting to care for Silver?
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“You see, I’m not originally a pony.” Silver continued. He’d gone through the gamut of all his confusion, and was just now starting to get to the core of all his problems at the moment.
“Really?” Twilight said skeptically.
“Yes, I used to be a… well, a human.”
Twilight looked a little shocked. She suddenly had the feeling you get when you’ve left a light on, or a door open. It was Phantom all over again. There had to be some explanation of why the spell would have brought ponies in from other worlds entirely.
“Well, I have no Idea what humans are, but I’ve met with this problem before.” Silver wondered if she was referring to Phantom, and even if she wasn’t, It really helped the credibility of his story. Silver was mostly impressed that she didn't freak out like he'd expected. “I’ve actually been researching this problem for a bit, and all I’ve been able to figure out so far is that somepony cast a spell that did not go as planned.”
“Okay, that makes sense, I guess. But is there any way to get me home?”
“I’m afraid that I don’t know. I’m working on it, and I promise I’ll let you know if I find anything out.
Silver sat in silence after that. He’d really hoped deep down that he could still get home. For the first time in a very long time he felt alone. He’d always had close friends, and once he’d joined the Marines, there were his brothers to be there for him. Now he’d lost both, and he felt a rising bout of shame as he realized that he couldn’t be there for his brothers either. Thinking about the Marines brought back to the forefront of his mind the events that had happened just before he’d come to Equestria. One realization hit him hard and he started to break.
Twilight couldn’t help but notice the tears that were starting to slip from Silver’s eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think I can go home ever. I think that I.. that I died….” The thought was bad, but somehow saying it was far worse.
“I…I’m so sorry.” Twilight was at a loss for words. The more Silver thought about it, the more it started to make sense. There had been that terrible explosion, and then he was here. Maybe this wasn’t another world, maybe this was the afterlife. He wasn’t a terribly religious person, but he’d been raised in a somewhat religious family and knew enough to believe that this could be the afterlife.
There was a rather awkward silence hanging over the table now as Twilight tried to figure out what she could say to console the rather shrunken figure in front of her, and Silver sat hunched, his head hanging down, saying nothing.
The silence remained unbroken until Applebloom came out. “Silver, you going to come in? We’re turning off the lights now.” Silver just nodded, and with a rather silent and unheard goodbye to Twilight walked in to the farmhouse. Twilight stood, and with a heavy sigh, walked back down the lane towards the library.
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Applejack and Silver had decided to get an early start on the harvest work for the day. Rather than wait for Applejack’s friends to get there, they headed out after a small breakfast. With only three orchards left to harvest, starting early would help them get finished at least a couple of days ahead of schedule.
“Careful now Silver, Don’t buck too hard. You don’t want to damage the trees now.”
Silver grinned unabashedly as he swung around and successfully managed to buck an apple tree. The apples fell into the baskets, and he set about moving them, happy that he’d finally been able to buck a tree, and not make a total fool out of himself. Applejack walked with him, laden with baskets.
“That was good, but next time, try not to leave a hoof-print in the bark…”
“Sure. I can try.”
As they walked, Silver thought. There had to be a more productive way of harvesting the apples. After all what really was the difference between harvesting apples here, or harvesting apples on earth? Silver’s mind kept coming around to the idea of a conveyer belt. While no machine could match the precision of Applejack’s bucks, a conveyer belt could carry the full apple buckets down to the barn, rather than having to haul them all by cart. Silver had the plans half finished in his mind when he realized that Applejack had stopped walking, and was muttering angrily to herself. When he looked up, he realized why.
Standing in front of the pair were two rather tall unicorn ponies, both wearing striped shirts, ties, and old fashioned straw boaters.
“Well Flim, look what we have here.”
“Looks like a couple of deadbeats to me Flam.” The two unicorns laughed as Applejack leaned back as if to strike out at them. Silver didn’t know what had happened before, but from the way Applejack was growling, (If that was even the right word, chanting voodoo curses might have been more appropriate), he figured that something bad had happened between them.
“Well, from the look on Miss Apple’s face there Flim, I’d say she didn’t know.”
“What don’t I know,” Applejack asked, the look of anger on her face morphing into one of confusion.
“The Apple Family does not own the land that is Sweet Apple Acres my dear,” Flim replied, leaning in with a snicker.
“That means that my brother and I can buy the land right out from under your noses! It looks like you don’t have an opportunity here after all,” Flam laughed. Applejack’s look of confusion changed again, this time into one of horror.
“W-w-what do you mean?”
Silver had seen things like this happen before back home. It never turned out well for the homeowner. He thought quickly about what he could do, but he’d need to do some research first. The biggest thing he needed to figure out was how this situation had happened in the first place. Flim and Flam gave him the answer a second later.
“Well missy, you see, the Apple family settled on the land, but never filed the papers to claim it. It’s still public property, and up for sale!”
“That’s right brother of mine, and all of Sweet Apple Acres, the houses, barns, and orchards too, will be ours tomorrow!” Flim and Flam snickered again, as Applejack turned a sickly shade of green. She knew how tricky the Flim Flam brothers could be, but knowing her Granny she had a horrible feeling that this time they weren’t bluffing. Applejack just stared at
them for a moment.
“Well, we’ll see about that. You ain’t gettin this farm without a fight!”
Silver smiled, enjoying Applejack’s spunk, even as an idea formed in his head.
“You can try missy, but I doubt that even if you sold all the apples you’ve harvested so far, that you could buy even an acre of this land!”
Flim and Flam turned tail and walked off, singing to themselves, (“Oh, we’ve got opportunity in this very community….”) Applejack turned to Silver an almost maniacal look on her face.
“We need to talk to Granny Smith, NOW!” Silver didn’t argue, and the two of them rocketed off at top speed towards the farmhouse.
When they got there, Granny was already asleep in her favorite rocker. Applejack wasted no time in bolting up to her and shaking her awake.
“Who – huh –wha?” Granny Smith mumbled blearily.
“Granny, we need to talk, it’s very important.”
“Why sure deary, what ever about?” Granny sat up a little straighter, and with a few cracks, turned to focus on Applejack.
“Do we actually own this land?” Applejack would normally have led up to the question, but with a matter this important, she needed answers and she needed them yesterday.
“Why of course. When my Family and I settled on this land, it was understood that it belonged to the Apple family. Back in those days you didn’t need a big ceremony or fancy scrolls to tell you what belonged to you.”
“But, did you ever fill out the papers to make it official in Canterlot?”
“Canterlot? What would ponies in Canterlot need with papers for us? We live here in Ponyville. I remember back when my Pa and I were just starting these orchards…..” Applejack let Granny ramble without hearing. Her worst fears had been confirmed. They were going to lose the farm. While she might not have been up on everything, her friend, Berry Sparkle, worked part time for a realtor pony in downtown Ponyville, and she had a fair idea of how much the farm was worth. Flim and Flam were right. There was no way that they were going to be able to afford even a single acre.
In the sudden confusion, nobody noticed Silver slip away quietly and head down the road towards Ponyville. While he had no idea where he was going, and no real clue of what he was going to do, Silver had set his mind to helping, and help he was going to do.