"Rise and shine, Ink Blot!"
I sat up in the unfamiliar bed and rubbed my eyes, not entirely rested but still better off for having gotten what sleep I had. Apparently your mind didn't rest properly on the first night in a new place, which right now felt at least a little true. Applejack, the orange one with the hat, had knocked and stepped into the guest room to wake me
"We've got a long day ahead of us, so come get some breakfast before it's gone!" she said before stepping back out.
My stomach rumbled. Breakfast sounded good, smelled good too; I could smell the cooking from here. I washed up and headed down. Outside, the sun was barely beginning to peek over the horizon.
Sure enough, Big Mac was in the kitchen frying away, pouring batter onto a skillet and flipping it expertly. On the table was a stack of pancakes, as well as a thing of syrup and two jugs, one with apple juice and one with orange. Applejack and Apple Bloom had already dug in, leaving two empty place settings for myself and Big Mac. I greeted them as I took a spot and started eating as well.
The pancakes were good, nothing super special to say about them other than that they were fluffy and the syrup was genuine maple. We ate our fill, and the four of us went outside. Like yesterday, the most essential chores were taken care of quickly before we made our way out to the fields. The rest of the chores would be completed by myself and Applejack once most of the day's work was done.
"So, applebucking." I prompted Applejack as we made our way out into the fields.
"Th' easy part is gettin' them down, the hard part is movin' all the baskets and packin' the apples. Normally we sort of balance it 'tween th' three of us, but an extra set of hooves will make it easier," she explained. "Big Mac an' ah will do most of th' buckin', but you can try your hoof at a few trees if you want a go."
I nodded in understanding and we stopped outside of one of the sheds. Inside there were several types of harnesses, but the ones Big Mac brought out were rather interesting. They were designed with hooks above the legs and across the sides of the chest, with which the baskets could be picked up by the handles. It would allow one person to carry multiple baskets at once, leveraging more of their leg and body strength. We put them on and went to work in the orchard.
We quickly worked out a flow to the job. Apple Bloom and I were on basket duty, transporting as many baskets as we could carry to the packing area while Applejack and Big Mac filled them. I could carry two without much trouble, one on each side. Apple Bloom, deceptively strong for her age and size, could carry three - one on each side and one balanced on her back. The baskets filled up startlingly quick, with Applejack and Big Mac systematically going from tree to tree with practiced ease. With one or two bucks the trees dropped the vast majority of their apples. By the time the sun had risen high into the sky, I'd lost count of how many trees we'd cleared.
"Would ya look at that," Applejack said when she called for a breather. "You two are doing a fine job."
"It goes a lot smoother with two of us, that's fer darn sure." Apple Bloom replied.
"It's not hard, just leg work mostly," I shrugged. "These harnesses are pretty nifty though."
"It's a family specialty. Granny designed it when they settled here." said Big Mac. It was the first thing I'd heard him say that wasn't a yes or a no.
Our breather included a stretch, and a brief sit down where we had our fill of water. The sun was strong today, but a nice breeze blew through the orchard, rustling the leaves.
"You know, I'd like to have a go at applebucking." I said eventually.
"Alrighty then, you see that apple tree there?" Applejack pointed.
"The one with the two knotholes?"
"Yep, that's her, give it a try yourself and we'll give some pointers." she nodded.
I hesitantly squared myself up with the tree, looking at the way the apples hung, looking at the trunk to see where the best spot to hit it was. Once I'd found a spot and angle that looked right, I spun around and gave it a kick with all my might. The impact gave off a thick woody thunk, and the whole tree shook. I felt the shock resonate in my leg bones, and was rewarded by the sound of apples landing in the baskets we'd laid out earlier. However, it was only a fraction of the apples from the tree.
"Not bad, not bad, considering you've never tried it before," Applejack began.
"I'm sensing there's something I'm missing?" I asked.
"For starters, you don't know what ta look for in the apples yet. If you were ta pick them by hoof, the easiest way is ta twist towards the branch, right? There's too many apples for that, but it's a similar idea. You need ta hit the tree so that the shakin' works them loose. 'Course there's the follow-through on the kick too, you don't leave your hooves on the trunk because you'll mess with the tree's shakin'. Watch what ah do closely." she described as she did her best to demonstrate for me. She picked a different spot than I did, which I noticed was opposite the side of the tree which had the most apples. I saw what she meant by the follow-through; almost bouncing her hooves off the tree, hanging in the air a moment, then returning to the ground as the apples fell to the baskets.
Applejack gestured to another tree, and I went over to it another go. I followed what she'd demonstrated, and while this time I didn't get nearly as many apples as she did there was still a marked improvement over my first attempt. She had me do it a few more times, giving a few more pointers on maximizing apple drop, but there was only so much she could tell me. Most of the technique would only be developed with practice and experience.
While Applejack was having me practice, Big Mac and Apple Bloom quickly got to work moving the filled baskets. Big Mac alone could carry six of them, owing to his size and strength. We quickly worked out a rhythm, and I managed to start clearing the trees in less than three hits. When I tired out, Big Mac switched back to bucking and I got back to the carrying. By the time lunch rolled around, it seemed like we were almost done.
"So whereabouts is Sugar Belle? I would have thought she'd be out here since it's all hands on deck." I said to Applejack as we were going back to the house.
"Naw, she's working at Sugarcube Corner, apprenticin' under Mrs. Cake. That's why she came ta Ponyville, asides from bein' with Big Mac." she shook her head.
"Eeyup." Big Mac said, blushing a little
"Hands?" asked Apple Bloom.
"Baking's a good business, I hear." I commented.
"An' Sugarcube Corner is the best bakery in town," Applejack said. "They'll probably be able to start a second location down in Appaloosa with her help."
Lunch was leftovers from last night, warmed in the oven. It wasn't quite the same, and there wasn't any cobbler left, but it was still quite good. Instead of continuing to harvest in the orchard, we turned our attentions to packing up the apples. They went into an assortment of crates and casks, packed with straw so they wouldn't bruise during transport. These were loaded onto a very large cart, which Big Mac pulled with ease.
"If you don't mind me asking, where are the apples going?" I asked Applejack once Big Mac had taken the first cart-full.
Applejack wiped the sweat off her brow. "Well, th' other day some big-wig from Canterlot came asking about our apples, and was willing to pay a lot of bits to get a lot of them quickly. He cut a deal with the Railroad company to let him bring the apples up on the Express, so Big Mac is bringing the cart to th' station."
"How quickly did this guy want them?" I asked.
"Ah said we could fill the order in a week an' a bit. He offered a bonus if we could do it quicker. Never did say what they were actually bein' used for."
That was reasonable enough, and I didn't want to pry any further. The rest of the afternoon we spent packing up apples, loading them onto the cart, and sending them off with Big Mac to the station. There must have been a few hundred of the various containers. When the last of what has been picked was packaged up, Apple Bloom excused herself on "Crusader Business", leaving Applejack and I to do the evening chores.
It was much the same rotation as we'd done last night. The chickens and pigs were fed, the fields were watered, various bits and bobs were returned to the sheds for the night and prepared for use tomorrow morning.
"You were a big help today, Ink Blot." Applejack said as we finished up.
I shrugged. "All I did was move baskets and fill barrels."
"Don't need to do more than that to be a big help, sugarcube. Sometimes the smaller apples taste the best."
"Like wild berries versus store-bought ones. The storebought ones tend to look pretty good, big and plump and juicy, but fall short in the flavour department." I said.
"Well, that's what ah said!" she chuckled. "We'd have probably needed to work into tomorrow if you weren't helpin' with the movin' and packin'."
"I'll help out as long as you've got work. Past that, I'll need to look into something with a paycheque."
We were silent for a while, just walking back to the house. I was trying to be modest, but compared to yesterday everything was finished much earlier. The sun was lowering, and it seemed to give everything a soft golden glow. I'd been focused on working all day, focused on getting through it, that I didn't know what to do now. My mind started to buzz with questions about myself. Nothing major, but little things. What did I do with my spare time? Did I do sports? Did I play games? Music?
I didn't have any answers for myself, at least without some sort of catalytic experience like I'd done last night. At the edges of my mind the fog began to slowly build up. The mental fog seemed lighter than it did yesterday, but it was just as impenetrable. At a certain point some threads of memory just... ended. I could recall strange things like the order of operations, and the fact that it was taught differently in different places, but I couldn't figure out where I'd learned it, and which place my version was taught in. And that was only scratching the surface.
"Well, we've got a bit of time on our hooves, any thoughts?" Applejack asked.
Thoughts? I had lots. Who am I really? Where am I? Why am I here? What took away my memories? How am I going to make a living?
"Ink Blot?"
"Sorry, what? Did you say something?" I sputtered.
"I asked if you had anything you wanted to do." Applejack said with a look of concern.
I took a quick moment to think. "If it were up to me, I'd have a refreshing drink and relax a bit."
"That sounds fine by me." she agreed.
The sun's glow was captivating. Hard to imagine that it was so far away, doing the things it did, when it was close enough to give us light and warmth, close enough to make things beautiful.
Applejack and I had gotten out some lounge chairs and set them up on the balcony looking towards the sun. Between the loungers was a side table, where a variety of bottled drinks sat in a bucket of ice. I selected one of the colas, something called "Sparkle-Cola", and gave it a try. Sweet, with a mild carroty aftertaste, and a good fizz. Applejack selected another one, a sort of sarsaparilla with a sun emblem. We simply sat there and sipped our drinks.
All the questions I asked myself filled my head again. I took a deep breath and tried to organise my thoughts and lay out what I knew. I didn't remember my identity. I was somewhere I didn't recognize. I didn't know why I was here. all of my memories had chunks blocked out. On the plus side, the Apple family was kind and welcoming, and willing to put up with me as long as I could offer my help.
I needed answers. I couldn't get those answers by myself, at least not yet. Until I got those answers, I was lost and confused. The wise thing to do when your own means failed was to turn to others for assistance.
"Applejack," I began. "What do you think of me?"
"Ah think you're a good worker. You've got drive, and aren't afraid to try new things. Heck, ah could tell you were willin' to put in the work to improve. This mornin', you hadn't ever done any applebuckin', but you listened to what ah said and tried your best." she replied. "Why do you ask?"
"I appreciate your honesty. Do you think there's anything weird about me, something strange or off?"
She thought for a moment. "You haven't used your magic once for the whole time you've been here. Not to work, not to eat, nothin'. Most ponies like you can't last a day without magickin' somethin' or other, but ah don't have any magic an' ah do just fine."
Magic. That tracked with the whole unicorn thing, not to mention Sugar Belle had been making liberal use of levitation last night. "I don't have a really good grasp on what's "normal" around here. That's why I asked." I said. The words felt awkward in my mouth.
"Well that's alright, you're not from around here. Nothin' to be ashamed of." said Applejack.
Something in her voice put me at ease. She spoke her mind when asked, and was willing to forgive my ignorance. I should probably just go ahead and tell her my conundrum. Maybe she knew someone who could help. Besides, I should answer her honesty with my own.
"There's no easy way for me to say this," I sighed. "I think I can trust you not to think I'm deranged, but this won't be easy to believe."
She frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I lost my memories and woke up in the woods yesterday. I don't actually know who I am, or where I am, or anything about myself." I said.
"You can't remember... anythin'?" Applejack looked at me. I could tell she was mulling over my words, trying to make sense of them.
"There's some things here and there which sort of pop up but everything else is in a sort of fog in my mind. I could have been enchanted, I could have been hit on the head, I could have just had a bad night on the town, I don't know. I just... don't know." I tried to explain.
"It don't make a lick of sense, but ah can tell you're tellin' th' truth." she said finally.
"Oh, thank god." I said in relief. "I wasn't sure you would trust me."
A tense silence started to rise between us. Maybe I'd sprung it too soon. Maybe I'd misjudged her character. I sipped more of the carroty soda, allowing the silence to grow.
"I probably shouldn't have told you. You've got a lot on your own plate anyway." I finally said.
"No, no it's alright Ink Blot. Just thinkin', is all." she reassured me.
I chuckled to myself a bit. "Don't suppose you know anybody who could help out?"
"There's one pony ah know who's good with memories, an' that's Starlight." Applejack nodded. "Only, she's a mite busy these days."
"When's the soonest I can meet with her?" I asked.
"She's in charge-a th' School of Friendship, an' that usually takes up most of her time, but she could meet with ya outside of school hours. Ah could bring you by tomorrow mornin' even." she replied.
"You won't need any help with the applebucking or the other chores?"
She shook her head. "We've just about filled th' whole order, all we've really got to do is bring th' last of it to th' station an' send it off. Big Mac an' Applebloom can handle that just fine."
"Then it's settled." I concluded.
In the distance I heard the creak and clatter of the cart as Big Mac returned. I went to get up but Applejack stopped me. "If they need us they'll holler. There's somethin' ah should explain to you too, since you're bein' straight forward."
"You don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable with it." I tried to assure her, but she stopped me with a look.
"It's not me, it's Granny. She does a good job at hidin' it, but she's slippin'. Sometimes her mind goes back to a different time, she calls us kids by our parent's names, she talks about folks long gone like they're still around. We've been puttin' up with it, but some days she's actin' like a stranger in her own house." Applejack sighed.
My heart sank. There was only one way this story would inevitably end.
"Some days are better than others, like yesterday. Ah think she knows what's comin', more than she lets on. At first th' Docs put her on some medications, but those didn't help much. Made her act funny, and took a lot out of our savin's. When she found out how much it cost, she insisted we take th' shipment job you were pitchin' in with. She also said she doesn't want us to spend any more on her than necessary." she continued. "We probably wouldn't have finished on time without you."
"You trust me that much? It's more personal than I expected."
"It's an open secret. Anypony could ask if they wanted to know. Most folks don't, out of respect for Granny. She founded Ponyville, you know. Her and the rest of the family, selling Zap Apple jams and jellies and bakin'." Applejack said with a half smile.
She would have said more, but a holler came from downstairs that it was supper time. We finished our drinks and went in to wash up.