//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 - Job Hunting // Story: A Changing Perspective // by Dragrace //------------------------------// The previous night, Jack, Wings and Biggs attended a 'Welcome to Ponyville Party' hosted by Pinkie Pie. As much as he hated to admit it, he actually enjoyed the company of the other ponies. He was the kind of person who usually wanted to be alone, but would get involved if he was asked. The sunlight had begun creeping through the windows, and Jack lay on the wooden floor of Sugarcube Corner. Many other ponies that had a little too much partying lay with him or in another small group. There was three different blankets scattered across a minimum of 12 ponies, but there was still plenty of space. Shifting slightly in order to get into a more comfortable position, Jack noticed a familiar pink face roughly 2 feet away, a huge grin stretched across her face. It looked like she wanted to say something, but it was evident that she wouldn't with the other 11 ponies still asleep. Jack blinked, and suddenly Pinkie was gone. Maybe it was more than just a quick blink; he was in a state between being certain of being awake and being asleep. With the sun slowly returning to its position in the sky, Jack carefully got up, ensuring not to awaken any of the sleeping population. Reaching the front door to the dessert themed building, Jack felt a little guilty leaving the two clueless changelings along. He found desire to be alone got the better of him. Stepping out, he quickly looked back to take a look at the mares. Finally, he would get some time to himself. He would get a moment where he could finally enjoy the world around him, so he began wandering the city of Ponyville. >---< Ponyville was practically empty at this point in the morning. The few ponies he did see hadn't wandered outside the safety of their own property. Every shop remained closed, seeing as the work day hadn't begun. Jack found it enjoyable to get some time to himself, giving him full appreciation of Equestria. Last time he had been alone, he was trapped in a room guarded by one of his favorite ponies. *THUMP* Slamming into a tree is never expected. Jack was perhaps appreciating what was around him so much, he didn't focus on what was directly in front of him. 'Stupid tree.' Jack thought. 'If this was back where I used to live it would have been considered a safety hazard, just like everything else. The government would have had it removed, that's for sure.' Shaking off the throbbing pain in the frontal part of his skull, Jack noticed he was in one of Ponyvilles parks. 'Weird, doesn't Ponyville have more than one park anyways?' He thought. 'And why would they have more than one if it's such a small town, directly beside a forest...?' Jacks thoughts trailed off, as he begun staring at the clouds. The white, fluffy clouds suspended upon the beautiful light blue sky. He always loved the idea of flying, but he never actually got the chance to go on an airplane before. After staring at the sky a little longer, he remembered something about his new self. Being a changeling and all, couldn't he use magic and fly? It made sense, he knew common changeling magic was quite weak, but he never really knew the flying capabilities of changelings. As much as the thoughts continued to assault his mind, he decided it would be best not to change into a pegasus form in order to maintain his cover. He turned back towards Ponyville, knowing that he should go check on Wings and Biggs. >---< The streets were slightly more populated now, but the working day had yet to start. When leaving Sugarcube Corner, Jack had not seen the Cakes and assumed the store had not quite opened yet. He had seen Pinkie, but only briefly before she took off, going to who knows where. Returning to the market, Jack saw the stall where Applejack had been advertising her apples. That served as a reminder for him; he still needed to get a place to stay and he still needed a job. "You two!" Jack said, turning around. "I'm going to need you to do some work." Biggs rolled his eyes, and gave him a 'We are already working, we are watching you" sort of expression. Jack shook his head; they needed to get some bits so they could actually purchase things. His mind wandering back to the stall, Jack's thoughts returned back to food. Changelings fed off the emotions of others, although he never really felt like he was draining anybody. Wings and Biggs never seemed to do anything as well; maybe it was a natural, passive sort of thing. But during the wedding of Cadence and Shining Armor, Chrysalis did say the love was strong and generated power. Was it only strong emotions changelings could feel? 'Whatever, I don't have time to think of what I could be. Right now I know I'm a broke, homeless pony, and that's all that really matters.' Jack thought. Continuing to wander through the streets of Ponyville, Jack eventually reached a dirt path leading away from the forest. In the distance, the horizon was dotted with trees filled with red fruits. 'I guess now would be the best time to take up Applejack's offer for work.' He thought. Pressing forward, with Wings and Biggs, he continued down the dirt path towards Sweet Apple Acres. >---< Sweet Apple Acres was a solid 5 minutes away from Ponyville. It never actually seemed that far, since he could see the apples littering from the trees all the way from Ponyville. The possibility of him just being a slow walker never really came to his mind. Near the trees closest to the entrance to the farm, Jack saw the two farm ponies hard at work already. Alternating between bucking the trees and carrying apples, neither of them noticed the threesome approaching. "Hey, Applejack!" Jack said, walking right up to the gate dividing the road and the apple trees. "Well howdy there! Ah guess ya'll are here about workin' on the farm?" Applejack replied. "Yeah, we still do need the job. We don't have a place to stay, either, if you could help us with that." Jack said. "Well, ya'll coulda stayed in the barn..." 'Yes! She does have a place for us to stay!' Jack thought, getting a little excited. 'But then why did she say coulda...?' "...But Applebloom and her little group have been tearing the darned place apart!" Applejack finished. 'So close...' "You can offer us the job though, right?" Jack asked. "Of course, with your two friends there, they must know a lotta 'bout farmin'!" 'No they don't. They barely know about pony culture!' "They uhh..." Jack said. 'Comon brain! Think!' "...Know about farming grapes... and y'know, they grow on vines. Also, we're used to tougher soil... Err... Much tougher soil. Almost like clay. They might... uhhh... need some help with this new... type of land?" Jack stammered, significantly increasing the inflection on the last word. "In that case, ah can still give ya'll a job, but it won't be somethin' farmin' related. Me n' Mac just don't have the time to teach ya'll about farmin'! Ah got work for y'all but it'll be a lot of work. Ya'll gotta fix up the farm my sis destroyed..." Applejack responded, looking a little disappointed. "Ah'll show ya'll to it, then." Following Applejack, the three quickly reached the farmhouse. It had been completely torn apart, there were hack marks among the wooden beams, burn marks across the walls, the windows appeared to have been replaced by new glass very poorly, the ground had been dug into and the roof had patches of insulation taped to it. "Well, they gave a shot at carpentry. Not somethin' they're gonna be tryin' again, ah reckon." She stated, while rolling her eyes. "Ya'll should get to work! There's new parts and all just to the side. If ya'll need anythin', ah'll be buckin' trees. Good luck!" Staring at the complete disaster, Jack almost wanted to refuse the job. Without anywhere else to go for the moment, he would have to take it. This job was going to take multiple days, so it should offer him enough payment to stay somewhere and find more work elsewhere. With a quick sigh, Jack picked up a hammer in his mouth and began working. >---< 'How is it physically possible, for three little fillies, to cause so much freaking damage!' Jack thought. He knew the three fillies could sometimes be destructive, but for less than an hour of their work to take multiple days to repair, he couldn't imagine what one of their larger projects would be like. The work was quite stressful physically. Constantly carrying in new wooden beams, planks, panes and so forth, Jack found himself constantly taking breaks. The occasional check up by Applejack was nice; she brought them a basket of apples twice that day. When the door began to open for the fifth time, he was expecting the tan mare with her Stetson hat to poke her head through. Instead, a purple headed unicorn appeared. "Hi there!" Twilight said. 'Well, I'm almost alone. If she has anything to say, she'll probably say it now.' Jack thought, feeling a little upset. "I was just stopping by to ask Applejack if she wanted to help me with a couple of things, but she's behind in her apple harvesting." She said. "So, Applejack said if I needed any physical labor, I should come in here and ask you three!" 'Not quite what I expected...' "But we're getting paid to do this, and we need the money." Jack stated. "She said she would continue to pay you three should you chose to help me, the favor I need is quite grand." "And what might this favor be?" "Well..." >---< Somehow, Jack found himself back in the Tree-brary, although last time he had visited the tree building he had only stopped briefly in the main room before being locked into the basement. In every direction there were stacks of books, all of which looked like they had been used recently. In the center of the room rested a small table, and near a window there was a sleeping owl. Jack assumed it was asleep, since owls were nocturnal, although he wasn't certain since the owl was facing the window. To the right of the entrance was a small staircase, leading up to a small room which was exposed to the rest of the library. In the small room was a small bed, a small basket-like bed, and a large window. "So are you three ready to get started?" Twilight asked. "How did I get dragged into this again?" Jack groaned. "Well, Domina and Cienna don't seem to mind, so I thought you wouldn't either. 'Well they don't seem to care about anything anyways...' Jack thought. How did this even happen? What was it that suddenly made Jack want to help Twilight? Then again, the physical labor of fixing up the farm was quite exhausting. But, getting up into the leaf covered part of the tree just to remove loose branches? Jack never thought he would see himself doing that. Another long groan, and finally Jack went back outside through the front door. "I can easily levitate you three up to that point, but I expect that you three can maneuver you're way through the tree and clear it out." Twilight said. "Alright, let's get this over with..." Jack sighed. Envelopped with a purple glow, the three changelings were slowly lifted off the ground and began levitating towards the branches of the tree. Stopping slightly above a large branch, Jack felt the spell slowly fading, and carefully balanced himself on the branch. Wings and Biggs were nowhere to be seen. Letting out what felt like the hundredth sigh, Jack carefully pushed his way through the mass of leaves. Spotting the branches was no easy matter, so he relied more on feel, gripping each one with his teeth and pulling. If it shifted, he would have to move around the other branches to see if it had broken off. Otherwise, he would continue along the large branch in search of another small branch. Minutes turned into hours, and Jack felt although he had tried every single branch. "I think we're done!" Jack yelled. No response. "Twilight, I think we're done!" Still no response. Perhaps he was too deep into the tree to be heard, so he decided to wander towards the thinner edge of the large branch. "Hey, Twilight! I said I think we-" *SNAP* The end of the branch broke as applied pressure. Jack felt his stomach drop, and he felt himself following standard physics and succumbing to gravity. Flailing his hooves through the air, Jack saw the shocked expressions of a few onlookers nearby. Hitting the ground with a loud thud, Jack passed out.