//------------------------------// // Small Talk // Story: My Little Caboose: Blue is Magic! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// "So are ya friends with Sarge?" Granny Smith asked idly as she continued her dish. "I generally tend to not befriend shisnos." Gary said testily. "Especially one's who can't see life for what it is." "Oh? And what is life then?" Granny Smith asked bemusedly. "It's a stage where you get to see bad things happen to others, and where the best course of action is to laugh at those struck by misfortune." "That's an odd way of lookin' at it." Gary Smith said curiously, before turning to him expectantly. "Ya'll done with that apple?" "I think so." Gary muttered, holding up the roughly peeled apple. "Not th' best ah've seen, but that's t' be expected." Granny Smith shrugged, grabbing the apple from Gary to begin dicing. "Mind doin' it on a few more?" "Can't you find some other shisno to do this? I'm really more of the moral support type..." "An' who should ah ask t' help?" Granny Smith asked jokingly, looking around the room. "Ah don't see anypony else here 'sides you." "What about him?" Gary asked as Sarge came into the kitchen, giving Gary a wary look. "Ya'll set up in your room now?" Granny Smith asked curiously. "Just about." Sarge nodded, taking a seat at the table Gary was peeling at. "Give me the peeler." "Now I sort of want to keep it." Gary said, bringing the peeler closer to him. "I don't care. I don't feel safe with you cooking the stuff that I eat." "Are you saying you don't trust me?" Gary asked with a smirk. "No, I'm saying that I'll never trust you." Sarge grunted as he grabbed the peeler away from Gary. "I for one can't see you changing, and that Tex thing was just a one off." "I think the important thing is that I'm trying." Gary sniffed. "Sure you are." Sarge muttered as he sat at the table and grabbed an apple. Gary watched with disinterest as Sarge slowly but surely setting to work on the apple, trying to peel off the entirety of the skin. "Even I did it faster than that." Gary muttered. "That's because I'm not just peeling an apple. I'm practicing keeping the skin in one piece." "Practicing for what?" "For the nuclear winter, where I will peel off Grif's skin and use it as a coat to keep me warm!" "And you're fine with him talking this way about others?" Gary asked Granny Smith. "Well, ah wouldn't say fine..." Granny Smith said truthfully. "But Sarge is someone my family can trust, and that says somethin' more than words ever will, even if they are a lil' on the violent side." "You haven't heard violent until you've heard O'Malley." Sarge muttered. "Done." Sarge threw the apple behind his head, and Granny Smith grabbed it out of the air without even looking. "So what is goin' on anywho?" Granny Smith asked. "We rentin' out the barn t' a bunch of random stallions?" "You don't seem to bothered that you're letting a bunch of strangers stay in your home." Gary noted. "Are you sure you're a shisno?" "Ah don't see the problem since have more than enough food t' spare, it's just a matter of gettin' th' food." Granny Smith shrugged. "And with more workers, the faster we can get everythin' done. When Sarge came, we finally got a chance t' take breaks." "And that was me going easy on you guys. If I went all out I could run this operation." Sarge laughed. "Ah'm sure ya could." Granny Smith chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Done." Sarge grunted, tossing another apple behind his head and into Granny Smith's hoof. "You don't think I could handle it?" "Sure ya could, ya'll would just be asleep when you're doin' it, that's all." "If I can run a troop, then I could run this place. It's basically the same principles. Go in, kick everything you come across, yell out some profanities masked as encouraging talk, then get others to do the work for you." "Summed it up nicely." Granny Smith noted dryly. "Thank you." Sarge smiled, peeling the apples faster. "Maybe ah'll let ya try t' run th' farm for a week..." "That seems like a stupid idea." Gary chortled. "This shisno is just as lazy as every other one." "Shut it." Sarge said snappishly, before turning back to Granny Smith. "If you do, you'll beg me me to take over." "Sure ah will." Granny Smith snorted, looking at all the apples she had cut. "That last one should do it." "Alright." Sarge murmured, quickly finishing the apple. "Now, ya don't wanna buck, and ya don't wanna peel." Granny Smith said, turning her attention to Gary. "Any ideas on what ya can do besides joke around?" "Well, I can tell you about the great prophecy." Gary smiled widely. "What in tarnation is the great prophecy?" Gary and Sarge looked into the other room to see Applejack standing next to Big mac, whom's head was hanging lower than usual. "A delightful tale, really." Gary said. "Uh-huh. Well BM here has somethin; he wants t' say t' ya." Applejack said, patting Big Mac on the back. "Ain't that right big guy?" "Sorry." Big Mac stated simply. "For?" Applejack pushed. "Tryin' t' hurt ya. It won't happen again." "Well this is awkward." Gary coughed. "That reminds me of a knock knock jo-" "Hey AJ, mind if I have a word with you?" Sarge interrupted, not wanting to hear another one of Gary's terrible jokes. "I was about to ask you the same thing." Applejack said with the same mind set. Sarge hopped off his chair and made his way past Big Mac to go talk with Applejack in private. "You want to start?" Sarge asked. "Already talked with Big Mac, so ya'll an go first." "Alright. How do you really feel about these AI fellas staying in your barn?" "What do you mean?" "I mean how much do you trust them to keep to their word?" "Not sure, really. Gary's not really violent, just has a few screws loose, so he ain't that bad." Applejack said slowly, smiling lightly. "But ah do kinda find it ironic how outta deceit, rage and creativity, deceit is th' one we seem t' be able t' trust th' most..." "I wouldn't say trust." Sarge muttered. "Poor choice of words. But ah just mean that Gary is just a lil' messed up. That O'Malley fella seems overly violent, so we'll have t' keep a super close eye on him. And that Sigma fella..." Applejack trailed off with a shudder. "That one gives me the heebie-jeebies. There is no way we can trust that one. Well, there's no real reason we should trust any of 'em, but those three and Epsilon-" "Epsilon? You mean Blue?" Sarge interrupted. "Yeah. Ah mean, ya heard Delta and Sigma, right? Talkin' about the Alpha, and how dangerous he is. He even went as far as t' yell at the Princess. Ah feel like if we do one wrong thing, he'll snap like a twig." "And I wouldn't blame him." Sarge said honestly. "That boy has lots of reasons to be upset. I mean, for one he's a Blue. That's enough to get anybody angry, but he's had life shit on him for who knows how long. Going crazy would be a godsend for him at this point." "Ah guess..." Applejack said slowly. "But ah still just feel like we can't trust him." "Of course you can't trust him. You should barely be able to trust me. Just try to imagine if you were in his horseshoes." Sarge said sternly. Applejack nodded thoughtfully, trying to put herself in Church's situation, but finding it difficult. "In fact, it's sort of disappointing how fast you trusted me. What if an enemy gets hold of this information and uses it against us?" Sarge asked. "Ah don't know, maybe the fact that ya risked your life a number of times." Applejack said jokingly, hitting Sarge in the shoulder. "Fair enough." Sarge grunted. "Listen, I'm not saying you can trust him completely. Far from it. I'm just saying that you're mistrusting him for the wrong reasons. You need to find a real reason to mistrust someone." "Like him bein' blue?" "Exactly."