//------------------------------// // 22 - Harvest // Story: Just a day in Equestria // by dave89898989 //------------------------------// Chapter 22 – Harvest “Time ta work the orchard, Destiny…” Braeburn whispered while standing over me. “Ugh…this early?” I asked, rolling over to snatch more bed covers and avoid the blinding rays flowing through the window. “Sure this early, it’s the best time to get our harvest!” Braeburn answered as he nudged me out of bed. I stretched my legs as far as they could go, and then checked myself in the mirror. My hair had better days. I yawned right in Braeburn’s face to make him do the same. “You ain’t gonna convince me ya know Destiny; ah’m not lettin’ ya go back ta rest. Come on now, get!” Braeburn almost chucked me down the stairs as he ushered me out of the house. “So what have we got to get?” I enquired. “Apples ya silly, that’s all we got growin’ on them trees! After we get ‘em down we gonna pack some up, or we gonna crush some into cider, the usual kinda stuff.” Braeburn explained excitedly. He hadn’t been back here in a while so the sandy-haired colt was raring to harvest his fruits again. “Alright, let’s get started then!” I shouted as I grabbed a bucket, attached it to the saddle and slung it across my back. I made my way to the closest tree, faced away from it and raised my hind legs slowly to gather strength. I could feel the muscles tensing up and gaining power as they rose. When it was time, I pushed my back legs out as fast and hard as I could to buck the tree, causing the apples to fall out of the branches in unison. They all dropped into the bucket, and I felt pleased with the result, but a sweat broke out. Already this was becoming hard work for this inexperienced mare. I laughed at myself as I noticed my partner had kicked down many more apples than I had already. Even so, I kept doing my best with what little skill I had. Braeburn even tried racing to the tree I was about to go to, in his cocky ways. I lifted my full buckets and emptied the contents into a cart, ready to be taken away to somewhere else in town. “Destiny, ah’m just gonna take these carts to th’ storehouse, so you just sight tight now,” Braeburn told me as he attached the cart to his saddle. “Sure, see you later Brae!” I replied in a happy, but exhausted voice. I found some shade under a tree and collapsed. This work wasn’t something to be taken lightly, and I have no idea how Braeburn can handle this so easily. But then again, he’s the farm colt, and I’m somepony who rarely uses her strength. It will improve though, or maybe I could use my wings to my advantage. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, then I could rub it in Braeburn’s face, heheh. Those apples would be shot into the buckets as I fly past the trees. I think my wings have enough power, so I could try to test my idea. I stood up, put my buckets back on the saddle, and took to the sky. I targeted the tree with the most apples left on the branches, and dived towards it. And like they was designed for this purpose, the apples easily gathered in the bucket closest to the tree as I flew past. This was much better progress than my last attempt on the ground. Ha, Brae’s gonna be proud of me for this idea. “Hey missy, how did you get all these apples so fast?” Braeburn asked when he came back, to see me resting under that same tree I collapsed at. “Well, seeing as I’m a pegasus pony, I could fly by the trees while collecting the apples, do you get it?” I proudly explained. “...That’s a new way of goin’ about it, well done missy!” The settler colt praised me. “We could speed up production by quite a bit! Heh, and that’s why ah love you Destiny, you’re brilliant!” “Why thank you, I love you too, Brae,” I replied, and he gave me a pretty tight hug. “Say, d’ya wanna go to the bar? Ah bet ya feel thirsty after that work!” Braeburn offered as he already began walking in the direction of the saloon. “Sure, I could use a drink, haha!” I followed my lovers’ trail and felt the dryness of my mouth enticing me for the sustenance I needed. When we got to the bar, we chose the vacant table in the corner, and sat down. The old bar was visited every day by every member of this small town, as it was one of the only places to go if ponies needed some relaxation or entertainment. The townsfolk knew each other mostly from meeting in this very tavern, so the air was filled with the sound of friendly chatter, and the strong smell of alcohol. Although, the night made the atmosphere change a little, since that was when the rougher ponies of the town come out to play. Word goes out that a new, villainous gang has arrived in this town, and has taken over one of the run down buildings on the edge of the area we live in. Hopefully they won’t cause trouble though, they might just get up and leave because this isn’t the best of places for them. “So, what ya gonna have, Destiny?” Braeburn asked me. “Oh, just some plain old cider, please,” I requested. “Sure thing, ah’ll be back in a sec.” The sandy-haired colt moved towards the bar and ordered our drinks. He got my cider, and he got himself some whisky. A bit strong for the middle of the day, but it’s his choice for what he has. “Hey again Brae,” I politely said as he returned to our table. “Hey miss. Come on now, drink up, you deserve it!” As he finished his sentence, he took a sip from his glass, and so did I. It burned my throat a little, but it went away after the next sip. The apple and alcohol mixed taste excited my tongue as it sloshed around my mouth. The flavour was perfect to take my mind off the heat of the day, as it calmed my nerves and made the pain of hard work flow away. “I should have more of this drink, it burns a little, but it tastes so good!” I told my drinking partner, as he took a small gulp of his own whisky. “Sure, we’ll come here every time we get some work done, how’s that sound?” Braeburn proposed. “Yeah, sounds like a plan!” I replied, glad that we’ve settled into this good life as a happy couple. A few rounds of drinks later, we suddenly noticed that the sun was setting over the desert hills. We got up and stumbled out of the bar, laughing uncontrollably as we went. A train had just arrived at the station, even though they don’t run this late, which was weird. I shrugged it off and continued walking home with Braeburn, and we mumbled drunken words to each other. In the distance were some shady stallions leaning against Braeburn’s fence of his orchard, possibly waiting for...us? As we approached, they looked even more menacing to us. They were definitely that new outlaw gang. “Well well, what do we have here, boys? Some stupid ponies that can’t handle their drinks properly...” Said the largest of the colts in front of us. There were about six or seven of them, I couldn’t really tell with my blurred vision, but they surrounded us, I know that. “Hey... ah’m shure ya can’t handle yer drinks either, mister...” Braeburn piped up to counter the mean stallion’s words. “Brae...keep it down will ya? We don’ wanna get hurt ya know...let’sh jusht go...” I tried convincing my overconfident partner to pull back and move on. “Shall we roughhouse ‘em a little, Boss?” A colt sounded from next to the largest. He had visible scars on his body, probably from the many fights this gang has been in. In fact, all of them have signs of violence on them. “Heheh, we haven’t for a while, and since they’re drunk, they won’t feel a thing! What a good idea, my little minion,” The so called ‘Boss’ Replied. And then the surrounding ponies jumped and attacked us. Blows to the face for Braeburn, and some kicks to my body, crippling my wings in case I tried to fly away. Each colt from the evil group got a chance to hurt us both. We couldn’t escape this flurry of punches and bucks, so we had to get our bones broken before we could be set free. Blood spattered over the floor, a tooth or two might have been knocked out as well. “Alright, that’s enough now fellas!” The Boss shouted in his deep, crushing voice. The gang pulled back and left us. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow morning, when you’ll be able to feel the pain again.” I and Braeburn moved into the house, washed the blood from our mouths, and went to sleep without saying a word. We didn’t know what had really just happened, so we stayed in a confused state. “Ugh...mornin’ Destiny, how’d you sleep?” Braeburn asked me as he shook me awake. “Badly...ooh...I’m hurting so much. My head is killing me, and my body feels like it’s been galloping for miles. How about you?” I replied, really feeling the burning agony from every inch of my being. “The same...Celestia it stings!” There were some bruises on the colt’s body, coming up as large, purple lumps. I seemed to have the same kind of bruises. “How in Equestria did we end up like this? I know we drank a lot, but I didn’t know it would affect you and me like this...” I cried as Braeburn got out of bed, stretched, and looked out of the window. “Uh...there’s some mean lookin’ ponies standin’ outside ya know,” He worriedly changed the subject. I got up to look with him. “Oh no...they aren’t that new gang hanging around, are they?” I asked my love, scared. “Uh, ah think they are. But why are they waitin’ outside for us?” Braeburn limped down the stairs and out of the door, and I followed him, trying to ignore the pain intensifying through each step. “Hey, you just get yer flanks off our property, ya hear? We don’t want you around here no more!” The sandy colt courageously shouted. “Haha, you’re awake now, are you? How are your hangovers?” The large pony standing in the middle of the group said, with his deep, gruff voice. “Heh, yeah Boss, hangovers...” The stallion standing next to the ‘Boss’ continued. “You ready to take another beating? Get ‘em, boys!” The Boss shouted as his cronies came at us, pushing us to the ground with brute strength. They all laid into us, dealing powerful punches, making the pain we already felt even worse. Every second got more and more agonising for us. Blood was spilt on the floor, and our bones sounded like they were going to get broken. Nopony was around to help us, so all we could do was take it. We were both pinned down, and I tried squirming, but it was no use. “Stop that. Now.” A voice, loud enough to be heard over the beating could be heard from behind the bullying stallions. But nothing else happened, we just kept getting pummeled. “I said. Stop.” I could see huge balls of darkness smash the colts on top of us away, and these strange rabbit creatures wrapped them up in what seemed to be tentacles coming from them. The rabbit-things took the gang away, leaving this one mare behind. “So petty. So weak. All of you. I saved you from that small time gang because they were wanted, so I could take the reward. Alive or dead. It depends on the Lepouri’s moods. They say the work for nopony, but I think differently.” The mare standing in front of us was wearing a grey-green coat, covering her face and most of her body. But her hair was orange, and very shaggy. She had what looked to be barbed shackles on her legs, with dried up bloodstains surrounding them. Her tail was cut up and charred slightly. She didn’t even seem recognisable. “...Blue?” I called to her. “That’s not my name anymore. I removed my identity because I’m no-one.” She called back. Her voice was never so deep or evil-sounding before. “What happened to you?” I asked. Even though I hated her already, I couldn’t help the pulling feeling in my heart. “I became real. This is the real me. My eyes were opened when the Lepouri came to me. And now I embrace the darkness like it is myself.” This ex-friend explained. “You...you’re not who I used to know. What went wrong?” I felt like tearing up, but at the same time I felt an overwhelming anger. “...Have a nice life now. I’ll come back for you both some day, once I’m finished with the rest of this planet. Everypony and everything else will perish in the blink of an eye, when I give my word. Spread the word, before it’s too late. Maybe you can stop me.” The pony turned and began to walk away, leaving a trail of pure dark energy behind her. “But you didn’t explain-” “You have three days to bring back the orbs. Our former ‘friends’ had the other six. I’ll be on the Princesses’ throne if you need me. Good day.” A small rabbit-thing stole the last apple hanging from the tree and gave it to the dark mare. “Ah hope we don’t see her again...you need to choose yer friends more carefully next time Destiny,” Braeburn turned and spoke to me. “Now come on, let’s go get patched up, hey?” “Uh...alright, let’s do that. I think we both need a bath and some bandages after that ordeal,” I replied, struggling to get up, and then helping my partner up. The train in the distance sped away from the station, faster than normal. What did she mean? She was too messed up with her words for me to understand. But I knew she was going to do something extremely bad. And why did she say she was on the throne? Ugh, it just doesn’t make sense. How did she change so quickly? Through that month she was gone from our sight, those rabbit-things, or Lepouri or whatever, took over and the lives of ponies were just getting thrown away like they were nothing. She left us defenseless when she had experience with those things. She used to be so good-natured, but now she’s this...monster. Ah...a quick soak in the bath to wash out the bloodstains and give us some relaxation is good. Luckily no bones were broken, thank Celestia for that. Braeburn wrapped a few bandages around my wounds, and I did the same for him. “Hey...Brae? Why do you think Bl- she saved us?” I asked, with a heavy heart. So many thoughts were racing through my mind... “Ah don’t know... maybe she’s still good somewhere? Maybe she needed us for somethin’?” He replied, with more questions in turn. “She almost always looked so serious when I was with her, it was like she was never a good pony in the first place. She talked about some pretty bad stuff sometimes, too.” I started to reveal how she acted around me and others. “Bad stuff like what?” Braeburn urged me to continue. “Uh, like how she wanted to kill ponies sometimes...it was strange, only a few other ponies gave us a hard time, and it wasn’t even that hard a time. And also, she was usually lost in her thoughts when we stayed in our tree house. They were probably sad and lonely thoughts; I could see it in her eyes,” I sighed as I reminisced briefly. “It sounds like she was never happy...but she smiled when she was with our group, so how come it was like that?” The dirty-blond colt enquired. “Maybe she found comfort in a life like that at the time, surrounded by friends who wouldn’t leave her side for anything,” I answered, actually becoming concerned for her soul. “Now that ah think about it, why did we all split up again?” So many questions came from my partner. “Maybe...maybe she brought us all together. It wasn’t that easy for all of us to be together as friends, but everypony had her, and she had us. Now that she was exiled, we didn’t really need to stay anymore.” I couldn’t believe how that happened so fast, it was like she stopped existing and we forgot about her, so we moved on. “Wow, no ah’m startin’ to feel sorry for the poor gal...” Braeburn slid his front hoof around a little, as a sign of regret. “It makes me wonder why we were all so quick to blame her for causing that month of chaos, but she wasn’t there, and nopony knew how to save us from those awful Lepouri.” I did the same hoof movements as the colt in front of me did. “Lepouri?” He asked. “Yeah, it’s what she called those rabbit things. If she knows their names, she must know more about them than we all do,” I confirmed. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I left Brae to go and answer it. Ha, of all the ponies, Cyan Crumble was standing outside. “Oh, hello Cyan, what are you doing here?” It was a weird time for him to be around here. “Well, I couldn’t find that other partier around Ponyville, so I went home. Hey, what’s with all the bruises?” Cyan wondered with his excited, but worried tone. “Oh, them? Uh, we kinda got forced into a fight...” I was embarrassed, but it couldn’t have been helped. “It looks more like a senseless beating to me...are you guys alright?” The enthusiastic colt asked. What’s with all these questions anyway? “Well, it hurts a lot, like pulsing agony, but apart from that, we’re fine, ha.” I tried to keep ignoring the pain and give a smile. “Hey Cyan! Why don’ ya come on in?” Braeburn called as he came up to us. “Hey Braeburn, thanks!” Cyan hopped into the house and shut the door behind him.