//------------------------------// // 21~Farmwork // Story: The Emperor Preserves // by Centurion Pike-Wall //------------------------------// Anton emerged from the perimeter of the woods, sliding the field cap onto his head. The brim was pushed up with by his horn, offering little protection from the rays of the sun. He growled, shifting it around slightly, before finally managing to get it in a position where it wouldn't be forced up by the horn. Sighing, he trudged down the road towards the farm. He felt the sun beating down on him, even as early in the morning as it was. He shifted his back, the webbing tugging down hard in certain areas of his jumpsuit. He had removed most of the ammunition packages and other things, only keeping the canteen and entrenching tool straps, as well as his laspistol and power sword holsters. He entered the gate and walked down the path to the small compound. As he did so, he saw Bright Macintosh and his children, standing outside of the melta-bomb red storage facility. Perhaps he simply hadn't noticed it before, but he could now see a brace mounted on Bright Mac's leg. It was mostly made out of what appeared to be a kind of thick canvas, with a few metal plates and bars strapped around the joint. Above the leg, the fur had mostly grown back from that time, with a few strands of red contrasting against the yellow fur. "Ah, Aquila!", Bright Mac said. "Glad ya could make it." "Morning", Anton said, coming to a stop next to Applejack. He clicked his rear hooves together, drawing all eyes to him. He looked at Big Mac and Applejack, keeping his head aligned with Bright Mac. "Uh... Right. Good morning to you too", Bright Mac said, his children echoing his greeting. "So, what exactly are we doing?", Anton said, biting back the urge to add 'sir' to the question. A frie-Someone who wasn't hostile though he may have been, no Xenos was to receive such an honorific. "Well, ah'm still a bit lame", Bright Mac said, lifting up and shaking his damaged leg. "But I'm in good enough condition to take care of some of the simpler stuff. Big Mac's gonna be workin' the plow in the lettuce and cucumber patches. You and Applejack can clear out dead branches from the trees in the west field." "Alright!", Applejack said. "Come on, Aquila. Let's get started." Applejack ran off, while the two males chuckled. "Heh heh heh. Ah remember when ah was that eager ta help out", Bright Mac said, he grabbed a bundle of large buckets, passing it to Anton by the handle. "Take this. The smaller branches will either be blown away, break down on their own, or be used by critters for nests or somethin' like that. Take the biggest ones; we'll sell 'um ta Burnt Oak or burn 'um ta make fertilizer." Anton took them from the taller male, nodding. He looked past the trees, where the orange shape of Applejack quickly disappeared through the cluster of brown and emerging green. He sighed, then took off in a dead sprint after her. +++++~+++++ He caught up with her as she slowed down at a small section of fence, which Anton couldn't help but take a look at. It was short, only just up to his accursed neck, and wasn't even solid. There were massive gaps in it, made up of only a lattice of painted material as opposed to the solid mass of a proper barricade. He gave it a push, and found that it wasn't even rockcrete or something like it; it was made of wood! "Somethin' wrong?", Applejack asked. Anton turned to her, saying, "No. I mean, maybe? Do you mind telling me why this barricade is so... flimsily constructed. I think I could push this over myself." "It's not a barricade", Applejack said. "It's just a dividin' fence. Helps us keep track 'a the various fields and keep some of the animals out of the crops." "This isn't going to offer any protection in that regard", Anton said, pushing it back and forth in its place in the ground. "Again, it offers no secure firing position. It's almost pitifully constructed. It doesn't even have any kind of camouflage." "That's... kinda the point. Ah think?", Applejack said. "Look, we ain't workin' on the fence taday. We're clearin' out branches. Ah see pa gave ya those buckets." "Right", Anton said, placing the buckets down. Applejack grabbed one of them, setting it down next to the base of a tree. Anton did the same, taking it over to another one of the trees. He looked up, spotting a few withered and bare branches among the others that were packed to the brim with green leaves. He looked at them, ready to ask Applejack how they were supposed to get the branches down, before a loud thud and crashing noise flared up behind him. He whipped around, his laspistol yanking free of its holster. He leveled it at the noise, the magic closing around the trigger and depressing the trigger. A loud shriek came out as the bolt slammed into the tree, sending splinters flying out and the wood blackening. He looked up, raising the barrel up as he looked. Applejack had jumped out of the way, laying as close to the ground as she could. She had her hooves clasped over her ears, trembling with her eyes clamped shut. Looking up, he looked at the smoking hole bored into the tree. The wood was blackened around it, with the hole bored through it almost completely. Anton flicked the safety back on, putting it back and walking over to her. He held out a hoof to her, sighing. "Sorry. I was... startled, I guess." She opened her eyes, looking up at the outstretched hoof. She took it, somehow gripping it and helping herself back up. The two looked at one another for a few seconds, the silence settling as if it were after a firefight, putting Anton on edge. "I... Uh, I-" "D-don't worry about it", Applejack said. "It... uh..." "I panicked", Anton said, unconsciously pawing the ground. "I guess... I didn't expect you to... What did you do, exactly?" "Ah bucked the tree", Applejack said, gesturing to the branches scattered around the base of the tree. "It's how we do things here. Wh-what did ya expect?" "I don't know", Anton said, pulling his sword partway out of the scabbard. "Something like this? Trim them down?" "Well, uh...", Applejack said. "Look, let's just move on. Ya can use that, ah'll buck. Try not ta blow mah head off again, ya hear?" "Right", Anton said. The two slowly moved to other trees, moving on. The same silence reigned over them as they continued to work, wood splintering and being cut down as they filled the buckets. Several times, they filled them up completely, before taking them back to the barn and dumping them in a bigger bin. By the time the sun was at its apex, the two had done at least two hundred and fifty trees, before limping back with full buckets. "Y'all did pretty good", Bright Mac said, smiling as they dumped the buckets into the bin. "Come on. Yer granny made Grilled Cheese." "Grilled... cheese?", Anton asked, drawing a laugh. Big Mac said, "Ya'll like it. Come on." The two native males walked ahead, leaving him and Applejack to finish emptying the buckets of branches. "Look, about the shot", Anton said, trying to find the right words. "Ah won't say 'water under the bridge'. But it's fine", Applejack said. "Now, come on. Ah'll educate you on the art of the grilled cheese." "How do you grill cheese? Doesn't it melt?", Anton asked, following after her towards the house.