Chapter 39
With the throttle wide open, the Farmall roared across the field at eight miles an hour, the discbine whining behind as it effortlessly cut the tall, thick grass into neat and tidy windrows. Even though this was one of Allen’s smoother fields, with very few bumps and ruts, that didn’t mean there were no bumps or ruts, and every time he hit one, he felt it.
“Urk!” he grunted as his seat bounced wildly up and down, its old hydraulic cylinder and springs bottoming out each time Allen hit an imperfection in the field.
I’m gonna feel this tomorrow, he thought regretfully as he came to the end of another row. Pulling the torque amplifier lever back towards him, he felt the tractor lurch roughly as the TA did its duty and ‘down shifted’ the tractor, slowing it so that Allen could turn.
Keeping one eye on the end of the row, and one on his rear wheel, Allen waited until his rear tire had nearly cleared the uncut section of the field before rapidly spinning the wheel to the right with the palm of his hand. The tractor's hydraulic steering whining as he hit the stops, the tractor practically spinning ninety degrees on a dime before he spun the wheel back to the neutral position and straightened out. Looking back over his shoulder, he smiled when he saw the discbine make the turn effortlessly, and with no uncut grass left behind.
The perfect turn, he grinned to himself, turning forward and readying himself for the next turn, which was rapidly approaching. Again, he effortlessly made the turn and found himself pointed back towards the front of the field, where everypony else was watching with interest.
Back on the long straightaway, he pushed the TA lever forward, the tractor surging with power as the TA gave him more speed as he rocketed down the long straightaway. He glanced to his right and examined the remaining grass to be cut.
Looks like another two, maybe three passes, and we’ll be done, wonder how much time I have left? He pondered idly to himself as he drew closer and closer to the group of ponies and the end of his current row. Years of practice meant that he could effortlessly split his attention between keeping the tractor and mower on course and making sure they were operating correctly.
Reaching the end of the row, Allen watched as the mower easily cut the last of the grass, and with a nudge of a lever, he lifted the mowing deck up. The blades now cutting nothing but air now as he made a wide turn to the left and then back to the right, so as to line up with the other side of the uncut section of the field. It was just one of the little quirks you had to deal with near the end of a cutting session, especially on a rectangular field such as this one, as the uncut section got narrower and narrower. Eventually, you just couldn’t make the turn anymore because it was too awkward to do so. Which necessitated Allen’s current maneuver.
Getting lined up on the previous windrow, Allen put it between his front tires and lowered the mowing deck as he hit the edge of uncut grass. The mower scything effortlessly through it as he made another run up the field. To many people, the back and forth nature of cutting grass would grow boring very quickly, but for Allen, it was a satisfying, and uncomplicated job, it was just him, his tractor, and nothing else, no angry customers to deal with, no overbearing boss nagging you about a mistake on your TPS reports, no emails or phone calls bugging you, just you, your mechanical steed and nature.
Coming to the end of the row once more, Allen could see that there was only a single pass worth of grass remaining. So as he finished his current pass, he again swung the wheel left, the tractor dutifully following its master's orders without hesitation. Once far enough out, he turned the tractor back to the right and easily lined up on the final row.
Dropping the mowing deck a final time, Allen gave the Farmall more throttle, the tractor speeding up as the end drew near. Thankfully, the final row was narrower than his discbine, which meant that he wasn’t going to have a ‘row of shame’ to go back and cut. This made the odds that he would finish in time and win the bet more in his favor.
Aaaaand... done, he thought happily as the mower cut down the last few feet of standing grass, leaving a perfect windrow of drying hay behind. Throttling down, he flipped the lever behind his seat, disengaging the PTO, the mower soon whining to a halt. Raising the mowing deck up, he aimed his tractor at the gate and gently rolled to a stop next to the small crowd of gathered ponies.
Putting the tractor in neutral, he turned it off and waited to hear the results.
Glancing down at his watch, Fancy Pants cheerfully announced, “Allen is the winner with thirty-three minutes remaining!”
“What?! I lost?! How could I lose?!” exclaimed Rainbow in disbelief as Allen leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest, a satisfied smirk on his face as he reveled in his victory, even if it was a minor one. After all, knowing roughly how long it takes to cut a field that you’ve been cutting for twenty years makes it pretty easy to win a bet on how long it would take you to cut it, barring a random breakdown of course.
Chuckling to himself, Allen recalled many summers gone by when he was out bouncing around on a tractor making hay.
As soon as my feet could touch the pedals, dad had me out there cutting hay.
Uncrossing his arms, he hopped down and shook his head with a grin, replying, “Sorry, Rainbow, but a deal is a deal.”
Rainbow grumbled something under her breath. “I’ll get you the money next week after I get paid,” she said out loud.
Allen shrugged, in truth, he wasn’t really interested in the money, he was just as happy with knocking the boisterous pegasus down a peg or two. Though the money was a nice consolation prize. “Eh, you can give it to Fluttershy instead, that’ll cover half the bill for her coming out and clearing this field for me.”
Rainbow looked like she had just bitten into an especially sour lemon. Giving a jerky nod of her head, she forced a smile and said, “Sure, no problem.”
“Don’t forget about the money you owe me and Thunderlane, Dash,” cut in Cloud Kicker in an overly happy voice as she gleefully reminded Rainbow of her other debt obligations.
Her forced smile took on a more rictus look as she turned her attention to Cloud. “Yep, I didn’t forget about you guys, don’t worry.”
It was then that Fluttershy trotted up and handed Rainbow and Allen their respective bills. “Um, payment is due in seven days, if you can not pay the full amount by then, we can work out a flexible payment plan... if that’s alright with you of course.”
Looking the bill over, Allen shrugged and passed it to Penny, who folded it up and tucked it away.
“Penny handles that stuff for me,” replied Allen, while Penny nodded her head.
“I’ll also be the main point of contact in regards to future service requests,” she added helpfully.
“Oh, I see, well... um, if that is the case, then I’ll need some contact information from you... m-mine is on that billing statement I just gave you.”
“I’ll be sure to give that to you before you leave. We’ll need to schedule an appointment to get the rest of Allen’s hay fields cleared as well. How does next Tuesday sound, say around noon? We could have a working lunch, my treat,” she replied with a professional smile.
Fluttershy nervously nodded. “T-that s-should work, I think.”
“Super, I’ll see you then, my office is across from the bank at the corner of Market Lane and Saddle Street,” explained Penny happily as she gave Fluttershy a business card, though, from the looks of it, Fluttershy wasn’t as enthused about venturing that far into town to meet with her. Still, business was business, and so long as she had Angel with her, she’d be alright.
“W-well if there is nothing else that you need from me, I guess I’ll go home now,” said Fluttershy as she slowly backed away from the group and headed towards her cart.
“Hey, Fluttershy! Wait for me, I’ll pull your cart home for you!” yelled Dash suddenly as she chased after the shy pegasus. Allen figured she just wanted to get away from Cloud’s teasing more than anything else and grabbed onto this as an excuse so as to not lose any more face in front of everyone.
“Welp, there she goes,” commented Cloud Kicker as they watched Rainbow runoff.
“Yep, there she goes,” repeated Allen.
“So... what’s next?” Twilight curiously asked after trotting over to Allen and Cloud.
“Oh, I’ll wait a couple of hours and come back and ted the hay, after that just normal chores and stuff,” replied Allen with a shrug. “I’m gonna go and have lunch real quick and get the tedder hooked up in the meantime.”
“Would it be okay if we tagged along, please? I have so many more questions to ask you,” begged Twilight, a hopeful look on her face.
“Sure, just don’t get in the way, I’d hate to run you over by accident,” replied Allen as he made to climb back up on his tractor.
“Allen, before you go, may I have a word with you?” called out Blueblood.
Pausing, Allen turned around and asked, “Sure, what’s up?”
“I’m afraid that Fancy Pants and I must depart, we have an afternoon engagement that we cannot miss, I’m afraid.”
“Alright, well thanks for coming, I guess,” said Allen as he waved goodbye.
“Thank you for letting us come,” replied Blueblood with a thankful nod, “it was a very interesting experience. Seeing you take down that much grass in such a short time by yourself was quite a sight. I look forward to when you are ready for full-scale production.”
“As soon as Fluttershy clears some of your land for us, we’ll be running as fast as we can. Though for how long, I don’t know, but we’ll run it for as long as we have the supplies to do so.”
Cocking an inquisitive eyebrow, Blueblood asked, “What supplies are you low on?”
“Baler twine mostly. Though fuel will become an issue sooner rather than later,” he nodded his head towards Penny, who was busy speaking with Checklist and her father by the gate. “I already told Penny, and she’s asked for some samples of what I need, that’s why she brought that little cart with her today. Hopefully, she’ll be able to find a supplier for me soon.”
Sensing an opportunity, Fancy gently cut in. “If it is hard to find materials you are looking for, I would be happy to assist where I can.”
Remembering the business card that Fancy had given him earlier, Allen reached into his front pocket and pulled it out. It was slightly crumpled from having been in his pocket while he’d been up on the tractor, but it was still intact. Looking it over, he saw that it had Fancy’s contact information on the back, and nodding he handed it to Penny, who had just returned, having finished talking with Checklist, for safekeeping.
Taking the card from Allen, she looked it over in turn and replied, “We would be happy to see what you have to offer us.”
Smiling, Fancy Pants replied jovially, “Splendid! I will have one of my ponies get in contact with you tomorrow and make the necessary arrangements.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Allen with a nod.
Giving Fancy a gentle nudge, Blueblood cut in, “While I am glad to see you expanding your business contacts old friend, we really must be going,” giving Allen, and Penny a nod of farewell, Blueblood hurried his friend along, “thank you for having us here Allen, and until we meet again.”
“See ya, have a safe trip,” said Allen as he and Penny waved goodbye. Both Blueblood and Fancy returned his wave with one of their own as they climbed into their chariot and departed, the pegasus guards getting a running start before with several powerful beats of their wings, they were airborne and heading north towards Canterlot.
Looking around, Allen could see that their initial group had shrunk considerably, besides Twilight, Lyra, and Cloud Kicker, the only other ponies left were Just Cause, Checklist, and Zubchatoye.
“Hey, you guys planning on sticking around or heading out?” called Allen.
“Is it alright if we stay?” asked Checklist hopefully.
Allen shrugged. “Sure, the more, the merrier,” waving them to follow him, Allen climbed back up on the tractor and started it up. Fiddling with the hydraulic levers to the right of his seat, he swung the discbine back into its traveling position behind the tractor, and satisfied that it was good, put the tractor in gear and headed back for the barn.
Watching Allen expertly navigate his machinery through the gate and onto the road, Twilight and the others followed along as Allen shifted into a higher gear and left them behind. By the time the group of ponies caught up with him, Allen had already backed his mower into the shed and unhooked it; he would clean it off later.
Jumping back on his tractor, he sped off to hitch up to his hay tedder which he kept in a smaller shed elsewhere on the property. While they waited for Allen to return, Twilight and the group decided to sit on the front porch as it was out of the way and provided a decent field of view of the farmyard.
They didn’t have to wait very long before Allen returned. Coming to a stop near the shed he put the mower away in, Allen shut the tractor down and hopped off, disappearing inside. Twilight, deciding to get a closer look at the new piece of equipment, got up and trotted over to inspect it, the rest of the group following along behind her.
Reaching the tractor, Twilight saw that Allen had returned and was busy greasing the mystery machine. Clearing her throat, she asked, “So Allen, what is this?”
Glancing up from his task, Allen replied, “It’s my hay tedder or as you guys call it a ‘wuffler’.” Detaching his grease gun from the zerk fitting, he used an old piece of cloth to wipe the end of it off, keeping it clean for later use.
Stepping closer, Twilight looked the machine over, it looked like it had been in use for a long time as there were various dents and dings in the tube frame, and small spots of rust marred the faded orange paint. Spotting what looked like a company logo, she leaned in and used a hoof to wipe some of the dust away to get a better look. It was a red diamond with bold white lettering.
“Kuhn? That’s an odd name,” she said, reading the name out loud.
“I think it’s a French company,” replied Allen as he checked the tire pressure in the two small tires along with the hay tines. This took a couple of minutes as they were each attached to the end of a metal arm, and there were twelve arms to check, with six to each rotor, and since he couldn’t easily turn the arms manually, he had to walk around the machine to look them over one by one for broken or missing tines.
“But they build some of the best hay-making equipment on the market, so a lot of farmers in my area use them,” he explained as he finished his final inspection.
“Interesting,” muttered Twilight as she jotted down several notes. “So how long before you go back out?”
“A couple of hours, it’s pretty sunny out and with this light breeze, the hay will dry nicely,” replied Allen as he finished his tasks and put his tools away.
Walking over to a corner of the shed, he called over to Penny and said, “I’ve got those material samples for you to take, Penny.”
“Wonderful,” she replied as she brought her cart over for Allen to load. “I’ll get to work on finding suppliers immediately.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Allen with a nod. “You mentioned that you could help find me some help to put hay away as well?” he asked.
Penny nodded in reply as she lifted one of the twine rolls into her cart and secured it with some rope. “Yep, how many do you think you will need?”
Lifting a yellow fuel can into the cart and tying it down, Allen replied, “Well, usually my dad, sister, and I were all we needed to put a small field away like that as we generally only got at most seven hundred or so bales off it during first cutting and less for each subsequent cutting. But, considering how thick the grass is, I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up with double that amount, which means I’ll be baling a good chunk of the day. Plus I’m not sure how well ponies can handle small square bales with hooves.”
“I think you might be surprised what an experienced pony laborer can accomplish,” cut in Checklist, in defense of her fellow equines, “regardless of tribe, all of us are used to using our hooves and mouths to move and manipulate things of varying sizes and weights.”
“I never intended to make it sound like I thought ponies couldn’t do the work,” replied Allen, his hands up in a placating gesture, “I just meant that I wasn’t sure how many workers I would need, ideally, you want three, one to put a bale on the hay elevator, one to take it off and pass it up to the final person who then stacks it. Anything less than that, and you’ll be going slow. My concern is that we’ll need more ponies to pass hay bales up the stack once it gets tall enough because of how unwieldy a forty to fifty-pound bale can be when you’re carrying it up said stack. Plus you have to take into account the issue of worrying about putting a hoof into a gap in the hay and getting hurt. I've lost my footing numerous times and fallen into gaps in the haystack, and I only had to worry about two legs, let alone four.”
Penny nodded, seeing the point that Allen was trying to make. “Yes, I see what you’re saying. We’ll also need to take into account stacking hay on the wagons and moving it from the field to the barn.”
Allen shook his head and replied, “Naw, we don’t have to worry about that, I’ve got a couple of hay baskets, so we don’t need anyone standing on the wagon stacking hay. Though I do like the idea of having a pair of ponies pulling the baskets between the field and the barn, it would save me from having to stop baling to deliver the hay.”
“What is a hay basket?” asked Lyra curiously, she’d also conjured a notepad and pencil from somewhere and was rapidly writing things down in it alongside Twilight.
“It’ll just be easier to show you, come on,” said Allen as he waved for them to follow him with his arm. The group falling in behind him.
They didn’t have far to go, as once they cleared the second machine shed, Allen came to a halt and pointed at a pair of three-wheeled contraptions parked next to the shed.
“There they are,” he said, pointing at the nearest one. It was very tall, nearly as tall as the shed’s eve. It had three wheels arranged in a triangle, two rear wheels connected by a thick axle that could carry the heavyweight of a full load of hay, and a single pilot wheel that could spin in a three hundred and sixty-degree arc. It was painted red, though after years of sitting outside, the paint had long since faded and there were several visible rust spots. The actual basket itself sort of looked like an upside-down triangle made of metal tubes welded together with a long chute starting just in front of the pilot wheel and angling upwards until it terminated at the top of the basket. A small sign on the side of the basket bore the name of the company, EZ-Trail.
“Each one can hold around eighty to a hundred bales if you really stuff them, but that requires stopping and climbing up top to move the bales around,” explained Allen as he pointed up at the basket closest to them.
“How do you get the hay in them?” asked Checklist curiously.
“The baler pushes the bales up this chute and they drop into the basket, you’ll have the occasional broken bale, and some of the bales can get deformed if they land wrong, but it’s a small price to pay for turning a two or three-person operation into a single person one,” replied Allen as he happily patted the chute with a hand.
“How do you get them out?”
Pointing to a lever next to him, Allen replied, “Pull this lever, and that will release a latch at the rear, allowing the entire back end to swing out, dropping the hay on the ground.”
“Ingenious,” said Zubchatoye in amazement, the possibilities of such a labor-saving device running through his head. “You said zer is baler zat goes vith zis hay basket of yours?”
Allen nodded and gestured back the way they came. Guiding the group of ponies, he escorted them into the first machine shed and pointed at a squat, boxy-looking yellow and red painted machine sitting in a corner, with the words, New Holland printed on the front in bold yellow letters, and said, “There she is, my family’s square baler.”
Trotting over, his hooves beating an odd cadence on the concrete floor as his prosthetic didn’t quite have the same sound as if he had a real flesh and blood leg, Zubchatoye looked the little baler over with a barely restrained look of wonder and amazement. He desperately wanted to tear this machine apart and see what made it work, but that would be rude, and he didn’t want to end up with extra spare nuts and bolts when he put it back together.
How zat happens, I vill never know, he wondered to himself as he inspected a chamber at the front of the baler. It was obvious that this is where the hay entered the machine. Though as to how Zubchatoye wasn’t sure.
Turning to Allen, he asked, “So, how does zis vork?”
“Well,” began Allen as he strode up next to the curious pony, “when the baler is running, these,” he pointed at one of the metal tines set in between a pair of metal slats, “are attached to a mechanism inside behind these metal guards that turns in a counterclockwise motion. As the tractor pulls the baler along behind it, these tines will pick up the hay and feed it into this feeder chamber here,” he pointed at the rectangular chamber just behind the pickup head. “Inside, either an auger or in this case a feeder tooth will pull the hay into the bale chamber where a giant plunger will squish the hay into flakes,” he pointed at a square hole in the side of the feeder chamber. Squinting his eyes, Zubchatoye could make out the front of the giant plunger. He noted that it had a sharpened edge and winced at the thought of what it would do to any pony unfortunate enough to be caught in it.
Walking around to the backside of the baler, Allen opened a metal box and said, “This is where the baler twine is kept,” he pointed at several rolls of twine inside, “when I put a new roll in, I tie it to another one, so that way when the first roll runs out of twine, the second will begin feeding automatically.”
Propping the lid open, he traced the twine with his finger to where it entered the baler. “Here is where all the magic happens,” he said as he lifted another metal cover-up exposing the complicated mechanism underneath.
Hopping up on his rear legs, Zubchatoye rested his forelegs on the top of the bale chute and took a closer look at what Allen was pointing at. Inside was a mess of gears, levers, screws, and chains that Zubchatoye desperately wished to tear apart and figure out how they worked. However, he held himself back and waited for Allen to explain.
“This is the most important part of the baler, and the most finicky,” he began, “here is where the twine is wrapped around the bale and knotted. If the timing is off, you could end up with poorly tied bales or even wreck your baler, so it’s very important that the knotter mechanism is adjusted just right.”
Nodding his head in understanding, Zubchatoye pointed at a pair of crank handles just past the knotter that were attached to a long metal bar set above where the hay would exit the baler. “Vat are zese for?” he asked curiously.
“Those set the tension bar here,” replied Allen, as he pointed at the bar Zubchatoye had noticed earlier. “You can adjust them to make bales heavier or lighter depending on conditions. If you find too many of your bales are breaking, loosen the tension, if you have too many that are deforming or are too squishy, tighten it.”
“Amazing,” he replied as he pushed off the baler and returned to all fours. Trotting around the other side, he spotted a small little box with some random numbers on it. Pointing at it, he asked, “Vat is zis?”
“Oh, that’s my bale counter, every time a bale is made, that will record it. It’s not one hundred percent accurate, but it’s good enough,” Allen replied as he bent down to inspect it. “Huh, looks like I didn’t clear it last year,” he muttered to himself upon seeing the counter. Pulling a little lever on the side of the box, he reset it to zero.
“There, all good now,” he said as he straightened up and moved on. Zubchatoye gave the baler one last look, before following Allen.
Walking out of the barn and towards the house, Allen called back over his shoulder, “Do any of you guys want some water? I can get that for you while I’m cooking my lunch.”
“Yes that would be nice, thank you, Allen,” replied Twilight with a thankful nod. Both Lyra and Cloud Kicker also voiced their thanks, while Zubchatoye, Just Cause, Penny, and Checklist merely nodded, grateful smiles on their faces at the thought of a cool refreshing glass of water to chase away their building thirst.
Seeing that everypony wanted some water, Allen nodded and hurried inside, while his guest loitered around on his front porch.
Hopping up on a wooden bench seat, Twilight and Lyra quietly compared notes while Cloud Kicker took off with the intent on finding a replacement cloud couch, as the one she’d had earlier had since wandered off, pushed along by a random breeze.
Zubchatoye, Checklist, Just Cause, and Penny contented themselves with various spots on the floor and steps of Allen’s porch. The faint sounds of kitchenware being jostled about drifted out from the open front door, and with nothing to do but wait, the ponies passed the time with idle chit chat.
“So how long do you plan on staying here in Ponyville?” asked Penny.
Checklist replied, “Not very long, unfortunately, both Just Cause and I have a meeting in Manehattan tomorrow, so we will be leaving on the evening train. My father however plans to stay and watch the hay-making process from start to finish. If that is alright?” she asked hesitantly.
Penny smiled. “I’m sure that will be fine,” turning to Zubchatoye, she asked, “Are you staying at the local inn?”
He nodded. “Da, it is very nice, very comfortable. Zey also have free breakfast!”
Giggling, Penny was about to reply when Allen returned, a rectangular serving tray in his hands with plastic water glasses for everyone. Setting it down, he let everyone choose which cup they wanted before heading back inside leaving the ponies to resume their earlier conversation.
Humming softly to himself, he made a couple of sandwiches, the soft sounds of conversation drifting in through the screen door. Pulling up a chair, he sat down at the dining room table and chowed down, making short work of the pair of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Getting up, he put his dirty plates in the sink and glanced up at the clock.
Hmm, not much longer and the hay should be ready to ted, he thought to himself as he slowly made his way to the front door. Stepping through the screen door and onto the porch, he saw that Cloud Kicker had returned and was lounging lazily on her own cloud having an afternoon snooze. Meanwhile, Twilight and Lyra were still comparing notes and whispering between themselves.
Turning to look at the rest of the group, Allen saw that they were talking amongst themselves.
“So what is it that you do back home?” asked Penny as she took a sip of her water.
Swallowing his own sip of water, Zubchatoye replied, “I run vorkshop, ve make and repair zings for ponies.”
“What kind of things?” asked Penny curiously.
Zubchatoye shrugged. “Vatever ponies vant. I usually repair vork tools or make new ones. Though sometimes I repair machines. Last veek I fixed important pump in ze local coal mine, vas good job, very good pay. I hope to get more vork like zat in future. Ever since ze new duchess took over, zings have been improving in Serveryana, slowly, but zey improve so I no complain too much. I even make enough money to take on apprentice to help me in ze shop now zat my daughter is grown up and gone,” he smiled, looking at his daughter with pride. “It makes me happy to see her so successful and happy.”
Checklist blushed in embarrassment as her father put a hoof around her withers and pulled her in for a hug.
She only offered token resistance as she whined, “Dad, please don’t embarrass me in front of everypony.”
Zubchatoye looked at his daughter in faux shock and put a forehoof to his chest. “But I am your father! It is my job to embarrass you! Besides, I tell ze truth! You vorked very hard to get to vere you are! I vould be poor parent if I didn’t tell other ponies of how proud I am of you!”
Her cheeks still red, Checklist leaned into her father's embrace and muttered, “Thanks.”
Having gone unnoticed by everypony so far, Allen announced his presence by letting the screen door close with a loud bang, causing everypony to jump and turn to look at the source of the loud noise.
Pulling away from her dad, Checklist jumped up and made it as if nothing was wrong, but Allen wasn’t fooled. However, he decided to not embarrass the flustered mare any further and instead said, “Well, I think it’s about time to head back to the field and get this all wrapped up for the day,” he pointed to the tray he’d left sitting on the porch, “You can leave your glasses there, I’ll get them later.”
Pushing past the group of ponies, Allen made his way over to the barn, Penny falling in alongside him.
“How long will it take you to get the tedding done?” she asked.
“Not very long,” replied Allen, “An hour or two at most. At least on a smooth field like this, otherwise you need to go slower so as to not damage the equipment.”
Walking up to the tractor, Allen stopped, turned, and said, “Why don’t you go and get the group moving over to the field. I’ll catch up with you guys in a minute.”
Nodding Penny returned to the group.
“Allen said to go ahead, and he’ll catch up,” she said as she gently pushed the group along.
Watching them go, Allen climbed on and fired the old tractor up. He let the engine settle for a minute before putting her in gear and giving her some throttle, the tractor slowly rolling forward. Lifting the tedder up so that the tines were off the ground, he slowly drove out of the yard, and once out on the driveway, Allen put her in a higher gear and the Farmall lurched forward as the gears engaged. In no time at all, he was back at the entrance to the freshly cut hayfield.
Slowing down, he gently lowered the tedder back down and flipped the lever to engage the PTO, and with a quiet clunk and clatter, the little tedder lazily whirled to life. Allen watched as the little implement gently tossed hay in all directions, including into the small strip of uncut grass he had left along the fence line. Normally, he would go and grab the hay rake and rake the cut grass away from the fence line so that way the tedder wouldn’t fling the hay into the uncut grass, but he hadn’t gotten around to getting the hay rake ready yet, and didn’t feel like messing with it.
Meh, it’s for my animals anyways, so if I get some green stems mixed in it won’t be a big deal. I’ll just take it easy on the first pass, and I should get most of it, he shrugged to himself as he turned around and dropped the tractor into a lower gear before increasing the RPMs, the tedder’s arms becoming a blur as they spun faster. Letting out the clutch, he let the tractor roll forward, the tedder following happily along behind as it did its job of throwing hay around like an excited toddler on a sugar bender.
Keeping the windrow between his front tires, Allen would shift his attention between the tedder behind him, and the row in front on a regular basis. Coming to the first turn, Allen expertly guided the tractor and tedder through it with no issues. Still keeping the same steady pace, he made his way up the field and made the second left turn, followed shortly after by the third which put him on the fence line bordering Sweet Apple Acres.
Glancing to his right, he spotted Applejack and Applebloom inspecting some of the nearby apple trees. The roar of his tractor's engine had caught their attention and both ponies had paused their work to gawk as Allen drove past. Giving a neighborly wave, Allen watched as Applebloom’s eyes lit up in excitement and she raced over to the fence to get a closer look, much to the apparent annoyance of her elder sister who appeared to call after the little filly. However, Applebloom ignored her and skidded to a halt next to the fence as Allen drove by.
Smiling at her antics, Allen just shook his head and returned his attention to the task at hand. Making the fourth and final turn, Allen quickly passed by the much smaller group of ponies by the gate and started on his second round of the field. This round went much the same as last time, keeping the windrow between the tires and staying aware of his surroundings and equipment.
However, as he passed by the spot Applebloom had been standing at earlier, he noticed that Applejack had trotted over and was carefully watching him with an unreadable expression as he went by. Thinking nothing of it, he just mentally shrugged and turned his full attention back to the task at hand.
He went another two rounds around the edge of the field in this manner, slowly working his way further in from the outside edge. However, as he finished up the fourth pass around and he started on the fifth go-round, he changed things up. When he made it to the second turn and turned left, he didn’t continue his circuit as he had previously, instead, he elected to skip two windrows and make a left turn to go down the third one. It was at this point that he changed to a higher gear, the tractor surging forward like a race car that had just left the pit lane to rejoin the race.
Speeding down the field, the tedder bouncing along behind him every time it hit a minor imperfection in the field. These imperfections didn’t bother the tractor much with its larger tires and heavier weight but caused the smaller and lighter implement to bounce around like an excited puppy on a leash.
Nearing the end of the current row, Allen slowed the tractor with the assistance of the TA, and expertly executed a sharp left turn, skipping the untedded windrow to his immediate left and slotting in on the next one over.
It was a little trick he had learned when he was younger to make tedding easier and faster. Instead of trying to turn into the row to his immediate left, he would skip two rows and go down to the third row, which meant that when he was ready to make the return trip he would just skip a single row and continue this pattern as he went down the field. This made it so that he didn’t have to do any fancy maneuvering at the end of the row, and with how thick the windrows were, it was easy to tell which ones he had already gone over, and which ones he hadn’t yet.
Falling into a comfortable rhythm, time passed quickly and before he knew it, Allen was cruising down the last windrow.
Hmm, looks like Applejack and her sister are still watching, he thought to himself as he drove past. Little Applebloom excitedly waving a forehoof at him. Chuckling, he returned her wave with one of his own. He watched as Applejack gently guided the excited filly away before turning his attention forward again as he drove the tractor through the gate. Cutting power to the tedder, he watched as it spun to a stop before turning the tractor off as well.
Hopping down, he wiped some sweat from his forehead, and seeing that everyone had gathered around, he asked, “So what did you guys think?”
“Very impressive,” remarked Just Cause, “usually it takes a lot of ponies to cut and spread this much hay in a day, even with the help of tools, let alone a couple of hours.”
Allen nodded. “Yeah, the wonders of mechanization, though,” he smiled, “if this impresses you, you should see what the new equipment is capable of doing. I’m doing this with stuff that’s anywhere from twenty to sixty plus years old.”
“Well, while that might be so, to me it is an impressive feat. You are able to do the work of many ponies in a fraction of the time, and you are doing it with equipment that is older than most of us. I believe it is a testament to the craftsponyship of those who built these machines,” remarked Just Cause.
Allen smiled and gently patted the old Farmall. “Yeah, they don’t make things like they used to, that’s for sure. Anyways, that’s all for today, depending on the weather, I might be able to rake and bale the hay tomorrow, but it’s unlikely with how thick the grass is. Getting it to dry down quickly will be difficult,” he paused and glanced up at the sky, “if it were in the nineties, with a decent wind, the hay would probably go tomorrow, but as it stands, I think it unlikely.”
“Well that is fine,” replied Penny, “I will need some time to find helpers. How many do you think we’ll need?”
Allen rubbed his chin as he pondered. “Well, we’ll need at least one pony to put hay on the elevator, one to take it off, one maybe two to stack it, and possibly another two to pull the hay baskets back to the barn and dump them. So probably six or seven in total? I’m not sure how well they will be able to handle stacking hay, so it might be better to err on the side of caution and make sure we have plenty of hooves this first go-round.”
Penny nodded as she jotted some notes down in her little booklet. “I’ll see what I can do,” she turned her attention to Checklist and asked, “Do you think the local DOTI office would be able to help us find some temporary workers?”
Checklist nodded, a happy smile on her face. “Oh, absolutely!” she replied easily, “They should be able to point you to ponies looking for extra work without any long-term commitment. If you want, I can take you over and introduce you to them on our way back to the train station.”
Penny gave her a grateful smile. “That would be wonderful,” pausing, she turned and asked Allen, “do you need me to stick around for a bit more?”
Allen shook his head. “Naw, I’m pretty much done, so there wouldn’t be much left to see.”
“Alright then, let me just grab my cart, and we can go,” she said to Checklist, who nodded as she made to follow her.
“Well, I better go too, Dash is probably off sulking somewhere, and unless I kick her lazy tail into gear, she’ll just mope around all day,” said Cloudkicker as she hopped down off her cloud seat and offered Allen a hoof bump, which he easily returned.
Chuckling, he replied, “Heh, well good luck with that, glad you could come.”
“Thanks for letting me, it was fun. Well, catch ya later,” and with that the pegasus spread her wings and took off, a couple of feathers floating gracefully to the ground in her wake.
“We should probably get going too,” said Twilight as she and Lyra stepped forward to offer their own goodbyes.
“Yeah, we’ve got a lot of data to go over,” added Lyra cheerfully.
Allen chuckled. “Well just remember to eat some food and get some sleep you two, all-night study sessions aren’t good for you.”
“Pfft, I can sleep when I’m dead,” Lyra replied, flippantly waving a hoof.
Twilight rolled her eyes and said, “Spike will make sure we eat and get enough sleep I’m sure.”
Allen chuckled as he bid the two mares farewell before turning to the remaining ponies.
“So, what did you guys think?” he asked.
Checklist smiled and excitedly bounced on the tips of her hooves. “Oh, it was really invigorating, Allen!”
“Da, it vas very interesting,” agreed Zubchatoye, “I look forvard to seeing your baler in action.”
“And I look forward to having you here,” replied Allen with a nod of his head.
Glancing up at the sky, Just Cause cleared his throat and cut in, “I believe we should be going. It’s getting late, and if we want to stop at the local DOTI office with Ms. Penny, and leave enough time to make our train, we better get going now.”
“Let me go get hitched up real quick, and we can get going then, see you later Allen,” said Penny as she rushed off. While the others followed along at a more sedate pace.
Waving goodbye, Allen watched the group give Penny a hoof before they all waved goodbye in return and set off towards Ponyville.
Watching them go, Allen felt a small smile tug at his lips.
Well, I’m finally in the field and everything is off to a good start.
Turning around, he climbed back up in the tractor’s seat and started it up, the engine roaring back to life. Putting it in gear, he pointed himself towards home, a smile on his lips.
Yep, today was a good day. Here’s hoping tomorrow is as well.